‘Everyone Who Disagrees with Me is a Russian Agent’: Edward Snowden Calls Out Establishment Democrat Smears
On Tuesday, Edward Snowden tweeted:
https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1493649423871713285
The NSA whistleblower was likely being sarcastic, but he is—rightly—mocking a common neoconservative tactic that many on the Left now also use: Arguing that not wanting a new U.S. war over Ukraine (or any other country) means you are siding with the enemy.
Or as leading neocon Bill Kristol tweeted on Tuesday:
https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1493638891122966529
Independent journalist, and arch enemy of neoconservatives, Glenn Greenwald couldn’t let that one go:
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1494003396151590918
Greenwald says the numbers even show that the Democratic Party is now dominated by neoconservatives:
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1494004353803427844
Why the shift?
Well, the Democrats invested heavily in the Donald Trump-Russian collusion theory over the last six years. (Ultimately a conspiracy theory that was eventually disproven by Robert Mueller’s probe and has recently shown to be even more based on lies by John Durham’s probe). Yet this partisan investment has made Democrats reflexively against whatever they imagine Vladimir Putin is for.
For so many on the Left, it’s Putin = Trump and vice versa. There’s just one problem: this isn’t true.
Of course, Democrats’ feelings don’t care about Mueller and Durham’s facts. Here is popular left-leaning “The View” host Joy Behar claiming Trump and Fox News are in bed with Russia just last month:
https://twitter.com/MythinformedMKE/status/1484560496506417159
When lefty ice cream makers Ben and Jerry recently tweeted out an old school, progressive antiwar tweet, many of the comments accused them of pushing Russian propaganda.
Read the comments to their tweet yourself:
https://twitter.com/benandjerrys/status/1489393235655106562
As ridiculous as this tactic is, it is not new.
Just ask “Russian Stooge” Rand Paul, who once committed the unpardonable sin of wanting diplomacy with Russia instead of war. The late Senator John McCain accused Paul of “working for Vladimir Putin” for opposing bringing Montenegro into NATO (aka preventing war). Or recall when former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused former Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of being a “Russian asset” due to the veteran Gabbard’s non-interventionist views.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said of Trump in 2018, “Just as I have said to the president: With him, all roads lead to Putin,” further fueling the conspiracy theory that continues to permeate her party.
Right now, the debate over whether or not the U.S. should take military action is the primary determiner of which Americans are or aren’t Russian agents in the minds of many Democrats.
If you oppose a new war, you might be one.
Thankfully, a handful of progressives have put their antiwar principles above their Trump hatred and are opposing military action over Ukraine. Notably, this includes Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar and Ro Khanna. The more high profile Bernie Sanders is also saying sensible things.
Too bad Bernie is a Russian agent.
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