From liberal beacon to a prop for Trump: what has happened to WikiLeaks?

[babylonsister]

From liberal beacon to a prop for Trump: what has happened to WikiLeaks?

A series of hacked emails appear designed to aid Donald Trump fight back against Hillary Clinton, while raising questions about Russian involvement

David Smith

Friday 14 October 2016 03.24 EDT


How did WikiLeaks go from darling of the liberal left and scourge of American imperialism to apparent tool of Donald Trump’s divisive, incendiary presidential campaign?

Thursday brought another WikiLeaks dump of nearly 2,000 emails hacked from the Hillary Clinton campaign, allegedly by Russians. As usual, they were inside-the-beltway gossip rather than game-changing: the campaign tried to push back the Illinois primary, believing it would make life harder for moderate Republicans.

That has not stopped Trump trying to make hay from the leaked emails and deflect attention from allegations of sexual harassment against him. “Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks,” he tweeted on Wednesday. “So dishonest! Rigged system!”
If Trump leaks are OK and Clinton leaks aren't, there's a problem

Clinton’s speeches to Wall Street banks were apparently revealed in an email dump last Friday, just minutes after the release of a video in which Trump was caught boasting about groping women – timing that many felt was more than just chance. This follows a hack in July designed to embarrass Clinton on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.

Robert Mackey of The Intercept website wrote in August: “The WikiLeaks Twitter feed has started to look more like the stream of an opposition research firm working mainly to undermine Hillary Clinton than the updates of a non-partisan platform for whistleblowers.”


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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/14/wiileaks-from-liberal-beacon-to-a-prop-for-trump-what-has-happened?CMP=fb_us

[madokie]

1. Birds of a feather and all that

[Trust Buster]

2. They were never a liberal beacon. You just changed your perspective. You changed.

[baldguy]

3. +1

[Johonny]

22. +1

[obnoxiousdrunk]

28. +100. n/t

[mythology]

33. It's not necessarily that anybody changed

WikiLeaks has always had a radical and frankly reckless approach to privacy and transparency (other than Assange's privacy and transparency when it comes from hiding accusations of rape). At one point they were getting documents that some liberals perceived as supporting an anti-war view with out realizing that WikiLeaks real aim is chaos and in particular screwing with the US.

It's the danger of why motivations matter. Many liberals lauded WikiLeaks because it seemed to agree with the anti-war stance, but for very different reasons. Many liberals dislike war in general. WikiLeaks disliked it for anti-US reasons. Sort of like how Republicans hated WikiLeaks before, but love love any leak purporting to show how EVIL Clinton is.

[Egnever]

34. Absolutely

They have always been a tool used against democracy

[bhusar]

4. Oliver Stone loves them...

.....also said the Russian hack is a great fiction, he has heard from insiders that the DNC hacked themselves. Defends Assanage, even though Snowden has criticized him badly, and defends Putin, who is no Gorbachev. And Oliver is a liberal, supporting Jill Stein.

[Fast Walker 52]

23. Really? Source?

[bhusar]

41. ://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com

...

[Fast Walker 52]

44. OK, I googled it. Well, that diminishes my respect for him.

[bhusar]

45. I still like his films

But he only has 3 issues this election, our wars, our survaliance state, and climate change. Neither are talking about it, so he is supporting Stein, in his Twitter Q and A he called her the peace candidate. So our economy is not a big deal obviously for him. I still love his films, but he seems more intent on defending Russia. He has a documentary on Putin coming out and the crisis in the Ukraine, which he has said the CIA was behind it. He no longer seems like a filmmaker.

[Archae]

60. I never any respect for Stone, after he made "JFK."

He made a fantasy movie "based on" real events.

He also celebrated a raging homophobe in Jim Garrison.

[Fast Walker 52]

61. I think JFK is a great movie

and it took real guts to do that. I do admire Stone's films overall.

[ananda]

5. I know. This is painful!

I was a big Wikileaks and Assange fan for a good while.

But this past year has been awful. Assange is off his
rocker now if he thinks allying with Russia against
Clinton is a good idea.

What a sad devolution ...

[True_Blue]

49. Same here

Wikileaks has become very selective about what info is leaked. There's enough dirt on Trump to fill the Grand Canyon, but crickets when it comes to Trump. Sadly Wikileaks has become no more than Russian propaganda or maybe it always was and I'm just realizing it now.

[msanthrope]

6. Never a liberal beacon.....some of us were never fooled. nt

[ismnotwasm]

37. Yup

If shit rolls downhill--Wikileaks had a huge pile of it at the top

[Democat]

7. Some liberals knee jerk support anything anti-American government

So they fell in love with Wikileaks and Snowden without stopping to realize they were right wing shills trying to undermine Obama.

[BlueCaliDem]

11. ^^^This!^^^ k&r eom

[OKNancy]

15. +1000 they are anarchists, not liberal n/t

[Jim Beard]

53. Bill Press was in love with Snowden for a long time. At least until 6 months ago.

He may have changed his mind since then.

[iandhr]

9. They were never a liberal beacon.

[underthematrix]

30. Thank you.

[greatauntoftriplets]

10. They always had their particular axe to grind.

Recent events have just made that agenda clear, and it's not good. Until recently, I never felt comfortable saying that here. It feels good to be able to say it now. I doubt that I'm the only one.

[OKNancy]

17. not the only one. Of course since I know the young woman Manning punched in the face

I'm not fond of Manning at all. But aside from that Manning is not motivated by anything other than narcissism.

[SticksnStones]

56. +1 /nt

[beachbum bob]

12. Wiki leaks a liberal breacon?...that's a joke

It's used to undermine US Govt and been subversion attempt....

[Blue_Tires]

16. They're in bed with the Kremlin and other bad actors

and have been for some time...The only difference now is Assange doesn't even try to keep up appearances anymore, and all of the benefit-of-the-doubt goodwill among the political left that he banked up 6-8 years ago is 95% gone...

Only the conspiracy kooks, alt-left emos and the #AnyoneButHillary crowd even try to defend Assange these days...

[geek tragedy]

18. they've always been a tool of Russian intelligence, it's just that their anti-Americanism

is now more firmly intertwined with US domestic politics, at the direction of their fascist supreme commander, Vladimir Putin.

[Dreamer Tatum]

19. Anyone who tries to claim that DU was always anti-Wikileaks

Is full of shit.

When they uncovered bad shit about the Bush Administration, it was all utter fact and Assange was a deity, hassled by the Man.

When the same guy sends out embarrassing stuff about the current Admin, none of it is true and the guy is a rapist and an asshole.

Assange didn't change: YOU DID.

[Fast Walker 52]

26. well, let's not lump all DU together

it is a big diverse message board.

I bet there were people unhappy from the beginning about them.

[Dreamer Tatum]

46. FAR FAR FAR fewer than now. nt

[KittyWampus]

27. Many of us here didn't jump on the Wikileaks bandwagon. So your blanket assertion about DU

is incorrect.

And it's been noted again and again, Wikileaks doesn't "do" Russia.

[Foggyhill]

32. I didn't , just had less info on motivation

With less track record it is harder to judge someone

The fact he seems less about uncovering general malfeasance and more into fucking up shit that specifically aligns with Russian interest is much clearer now

His disregard for civilian collateral damage or the truth of what he passes on is also clearer now

Finally, the fact he uses his org to settle personal scores, especially against Hrc is also quite clear

His general assholishness have been demonstrated even by collaborators

[msanthrope]

39. Excuse me? Not this DUer. nt

[Dreamer Tatum]

47. I didn't mean "all," bust I certainly mean "almost all." nt

[awoke_in_2003]

48. I was an early supporter

from my memory, it seemed to me that the pro and anti were fairly evenly split.

[stonecutter357]

55. in fact i have had post hidden because of my anti-Wikileaks views and post.

[The2ndWheel]

20. We're a tribal species

Attack the other side, you're awesome. Attack my side, you're dead to me.

[davidn3600]

51. Yep. That's exactly what it is.

If Assange was leaking stuff about the RNC or Trump right now....he'd be a hero on this website.

[Retired George]

21. Она стала российской пропаганде

Управляется Путина

[Fast Walker 52]

24. Good question, but I never really trusted them

seemed like some sort of disinfo/misinfo operation from very early on, given the way Assange never questioned 9/11.

[KittyWampus]

25. It was never a "liberal beacon". And The Guardian took the Snowden/Greenwald bait

without properly investigating what was going on.

The Guardian had to. It was going under financially.

[riversedge]

29. I have always thought hacking was wrong-no matter which does it.

[randome]

31. No business model equals eventual ineptitude.

When all you have going for you is publishing what others steal for you, you're eventually going to find yourself with nothing to do. Ergo, you gravitate to the nearest safe harbor, which proved to be Trump/Putin.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[Rex]

35. Turned out to be a den for Russian trolls.

Not very surprised in how the entire mess has ended up, Russia and Wikileaks are great comrades. Some people saw this coming and others ran off to make up CTs about pooty poot and the leakers.

[Agnosticsherbet]

36. Wikileakes was never a libeal Beacon. They have not changed.

Russia has engaged in conflicts in Georgia and the Ukraine, and move militarily against other states. When did Wikleaks expose them. How about China? Have they exposed China's secrets. India? They exposed leaks concerning TPP that involved other states, but their focus has remains tightly on the US.

[bluesbassman]

38. Possible that Trump made a deal with Assange to pardon him and allow him in the US?

Hey, this IS Trump we're talking about!

[Throd]

40. They were awesome until they weren't.

It all depended on whose dirty laundry was being aired.

[WhiteTara]

42. Glad to see Intercept is creating space between them

and Wikileaks

[Starry Messenger]

43. I think I enjoyed their juicy revelations early on.

I can't remember what I posted about it. I know my opinion has turned, about the time it appeared they'd left Chelsea Manning out to take the consequences.

[davidn3600]

50. If WikiLeaks was trashing Republicans, no one here would have a problem with them

It's all about politics.

[Tarheel_Dem]

52. I think ASSange knows the Dump is extremely blackmail-able. He probably has tons of stuff on Dump.

That, in itself, should be disqualifying for Dump.

[stonecutter357]

54. Julian Assange is KGB,I have called it from day one.

[GreenEyedLefty]

57. Of course they are rooting for Trump

Just think of all the fodder they would uncover if he were to become president.

They were never about principles, they are all about the $$.

[Bradical79]

58. Horseshoe Theory?

Really though, most of us didn't analyze Wikileaks in depth and only paid attention when an infodump was directly relevant to our interests (positive or negative). I'd say their forward facing goal always sounded more libertarian than what we call liberal, but there is some crossover in values.

I also mentioned "horseshoe theory" in that some far left liberals kind of end up in the same place as their far right counterparts in a lot of respects. The worship of Russia is a good example. Lots of people who fall on a certain spectrum of socialist beliefs can't seem to wrap their minds around Putin's Russia being far more fascist than Communist for example. Or go out of their way to defend Maduro's destructive idiocy, not realizing what a terrible "socialist" he is.

[karynnj]

59. Wikileaks was ALWAYS more a libertarian, not a liberal darling -- where you saw "liberals" cheering

them, they were people better described as left libertarian.

I remember in 2008, when I was speaking to one of my brilliant daughters then in college - noting that it was fantastic that such a big percent of her peers were for Obama and would likely always see the world as liberals. She cautioned me then that many were antiwar, anti Bush and anti authoritarian, but often moderate or conservative on economic issues.

As to Wikileaks, note that they did not leak anything in the Bush years that embarrassed them. Then consider the Manning leak - had they leaked JUST the tape of abusive behavior in Iraq, you could argue that it was done to put a cost on behavior that was wrong. However, the dump of ALL the cables that Manning pulled - many which might be best described as "raw" input - that embarrassed the Obama administration and compromised some intelligence sources. I agreed with the administration from the beginning - and never bought the idea that "nothing should be secret".

The hacking of various Democratic sources seems almost done as a vendetta by Assange because the Obama administration's reactions to his and Snowden's leaks.

[backscatter712]

62. I think two things happened.

1. Assange let things get personal with regards to Hillary because of his personal legal troubles that left him shacked up with the Ecuadorean embassy. That's clouding his judgment.

2. The Russians are using Wikileaks as a vehicle to selectively leak stuff to influence the US elections, and of course, Putin's motivated to leak stuff that's potentially damaging for Hillary.

That said, I think Assange and the Russians have blown their wad. They would have us believe that the email thing is a mountain instead of a molehill, and the Republicans would have us think the same thing.

But let's see. Judgment errors surrounding an email server, versus a long history of rapey and disgusting behavior by the Donald? Choice is pretty simple to me.