Name:   copperline - Subject:   The scariest scenario Date:   10/1/2016 6:20:35 PM

During this election season, we have seen some new developments in terms of how the candidates campaign, how they organize & promote various storylines that will embellish their credentials and denigrate their opponent’s qualifications.  We’ve even seen the use of unpaid advertising that comes from media attention to outrageous & larger-than-life behavior.  So much is different this time around…..

            But I’ve been thinking there are other things going on…. Just beneath the radar of both conservatives AND liberals this year.  And those things might just turn out to be more important than we know, IMO. 

            Hackers from Eastern Europe… most likely Russia… have been regularly intruding into the computers of the Democratic Committee, the GOP, even now state election systems.   We know that the Russians released emails that revealed information about what the likes of Colin Powell thinks about the candidates, about strategies within the DNC, etc.   The purpose of those releases so far seems to be to sow disruption and create argument within the body politic.

            Thinking about why this matters brings me to a scary thought.   What if the ultimate aim of Russian hacking is not to elect one candidate over the other … but simply to create doubt about the integrity of the election?   What would be the effect on us if we lost confidence that we could vote and have those votes fairly counted?

            Perhaps the real motive of Russian hacking is just that….  to make us doubt that the outcome of a national election was clean, fair, and ultimately that the right person takes that seat in the Oval Office? 

            Watching here on the forum, I’d say that rumors are already underway to cast doubt on this election if Trump loses.  Donald Trump is already openly promoting the idea that “the election is rigged”, and you can imagine what that narrative is going to sound like if he loses the election in November.     

But it is also possible that Clinton supporters like me could be looped into doubting the legitimacy of an outcome we don’t like.   Either way, we could end up with a sharply divided country where conflicts about the legitimacy of our leadership increasingly undermines the ability of the US to function as a stable democracy. 

            Fundamentally, I think Putin is probably using the tactics of a KGB trained professional… his manipulations designed to shape public opinion in his ‘target’ country… If Putin can play up the already existing doubt that many US citizens have about their government, he will have won a huge prize… and we will have fallen deeper into a trap of our own making.