Truthdig
WikiLeaks Should Be Applauded for Removing the Mask of U.S. Power
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/wikileaks_should_be_applauded_for_removi
ng_the_mask_of_us_power_20161013/
AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to MoreShare to Email
Posted on Oct 13, 2016
By Eric Ortiz
Editor in Chief Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks in 2006. (Elekhh / CC
BY-SA
3.0(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange#/media/File:Sydney_Wikileak
s_2010-Dec-10.JPG) )
The latest chapter of WikiLeaks' courage is exposing the cowardice of the
United States political system.
Julian Assange should be praised for having the guts to stand up to power
and reveal how the sausage gets made in Washington, D.C. His journalism-and
that is what WikiLeaks is doing-is a public service. Instead, the Podesta
emails(https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/) have reconfirmed a sad truth:
There are more characters on Mahogany Row than character. Right about now,
many of them are looking for the real-life Winston Wolf.
Of course, the Clinton campaign and Democratic Party want inconvenient
truths to remain in the shadows. The emails released by
WikiLeaks(https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/?q=&mfrom=&mto=&title=¬itl
e=&date_from=&date_to=&nofrom=¬o=&count=50&sort=6#searchresult) may not
show they have done anything illegal, but their actions straddle the ethical
line. Admit nothing. Deny everything. That is the company mantra. How
refreshing would it be if our leaders took responsibility for their actions,
acknowledged their wrongs and served the will of the people?
Deflection is not a show of strength. By choosing to demonize WikiLeaks,
blame Russia and vilify Donald Trump, the Clinton camp and the oligarchs and
plutocrats in their orbit are embarrassing
America(http://www.npr.org/2016/10/12/497698455/whats-in-the-latest-wikileak
s-dump-of-clinton-campaign-emails) and exposing the illusion of
democracy(http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/democracy_in_america_is_a_usef
ul_fiction_20100124) . They also are missing an opportunity to show
leadership and be presidential.
Donald Trump's "locker-room talk" turns the presidential race into even more
of an un-presidential sideshow. Yes, his conversation with Billy
Bush(http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/trevor_noah_isnt_buying_the_locker
_room_excuse_20161011) was lewd, crude and rude. Anyone with a conscience
should be repulsed. Indeed, Trump deserves a punch in the
face(http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2016/10/robert-de-niro-wants-to-punch-d
onald-trump) by Robert De Niro.
But is 1992 Trump or 2005 Trump any different from 2016 Trump? His words and
actions are who he's always been-an entitled, trust-fund ego looking for
publicity. When he was leaking stories to Page Six or playing a tyrant on TV
or getting played by Howard
Stern(http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/howard-stern-donald-tru
mp-2016-214322) , it was entertainment. Now he's the big, bad boogeyman?
Trump is the distraction, a first-rate heel, exploited by the Hillary
Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee. Their strategy on the
GOP was outlined in an attachment to an
email(https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/emailid/1120) dated April 23,
2015.
To: The Democratic National Committee
Re: 2016 GOP presidential candidates
Date: April 7, 2015
Friends,
This memo is intended to outline the strategy and goals a potential Hillary
Clinton presidential campaign would have regarding the 2016 Republican
presidential field. Clearly most of what is contained in this memo is work
the DNC is already doing. This exercise is intended to put those ideas to
paper.
Our Goals & Strategy
Our hope is that the goal of a potential HRC campaign and the DNC would be
one-in-the-same: to make whomever the Republicans nominate unpalatable to a
majority of the electorate. We have outlined three strategies to obtain our
goal:
1) Force all Republican candidates to lock themselves into extreme
conservative positions that will hurt them in a general election;
2) Undermine any credibility/trust Republican presidential candidates have
to make inroads to our coalition or independents;
3) Muddy the waters on any potential attack lodged against HRC.
Operationalizing the Strategy
Pied Piper Candidates
There are two ways to approach the strategies mentioned above. The first is
to use the field as a whole to inflict damage on itself similar to what
happened to Mitt Romney in 2012. The variety of candidates is a positive
here, and many of the lesser known can serve as a cudgel to move the more
established candidates further to the right. In this scenario, we don't want
to marginalize the more extreme candidates, but make them more "Pied Piper"
candidates who actually represent the mainstream of the Republican Party.
Pied Piper candidates include, but aren't limited to:
.
Ted Cruz
.
Donald Trump
.
Ben Carson
We need to be elevating the Pied Piper candidates so that they are leaders
of the pack and tell the press to them seriously.
The Clintons and certain key members of the DNC evidently wanted to elevate
Trump. Perhaps that's why Bill Clinton talked to
him(https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bill-clinton-called-donald-trump
-ahead-of-republicans-2016-launch/2015/08/05/e2b30bb8-3ae3-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc4
4e5e2_story.html) a few weeks after the DNC's GOP plan was discussed. The
DNC officials in league with Clinton apparently believed Trump could destroy
the Republican Party. The Clinton Machine knew Trump would make Hillary look
more
presidential(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2
016/08/01/howard-stern-makes-his-pitch-why-hillary-clinton-should-do-my-show
/) . Much of the media has played along.
"The American liberal press, in falling over themselves to defend Hillary
Clinton, are erecting a demon that is going to put nooses around everyone's
necks as soon as she wins the election, which is almost certainly what she's
going to do," Assange told The New York Times during an Aug. 31 interview on
Facebook Live(https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/videos/10150889048719999/) .
What Hillary Clinton does if she is elected president remains to be seen.
But if how she has handled the WikiLeaks case and her campaign is any
indication, integrity may not be at the top of her agenda.
To be fair, Clinton has some good ideas. And not all of Trump's ideas are
rotten, either. But dissecting the ones that are, as if they were part of
the Zapruder film, is straight out of a page from the DNC playbook-shoot the
messenger, muddy the message. In other words, take American eyes off the
ball. Bury important stories. Use the media to marginalize
insurgents(http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/why_the_major_media_marginali
ze_bernie_sanders_20160331) (Bernie Sanders) and third-party challengers
(Jill Stein and Gary Johnson). Avoid honest discussions on key issues that
are being underreported: climate change, education, military spending,
universal health care, and homelessness, to name a few.
Politics is a dirty business. Things are not always as they appear. That is
why we-America-get bread and circuses.
As the poet Juvenal wrote, in his tirade against the Roman
people(https://fee.org/articles/of-bread-and-circuses/) , some Americans now
care more about the spectacle than the struggle.
. Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have
abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out
military command, high civil office, legions - everything, now restrains
itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.
WikiLeaks has removed the
mask(https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/786561698303881221) of U.S.
empire. It is revealing the true machinations of
power(https://www.rt.com/usa/362641-wikileaks-podesta-emails-six/) .
Thank them.
Robert Scheer: Why Does Freedom of the Press Protect Newspapers but Not
Whistleblowers? (Video)
'Saturday Night Live': Creepy Trump Leaves Unempathetic Clinton Virtually
Unchallenged (Video)
Were Kansas Men Self-Radicalized Future Terrorists or Were Their Actions
Inspired by Donald Trump?
Fact-checking Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the Billionaire's Tax
Break
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
C 2016 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
Signup for Truthdig's newsletter
