The Left’s original conspiracy theory finally came crashing down Monday night with the release of special counsel John Durham’s report on the FBI’s handling of Trump-Russia collusion allegations. The GOP electorate, however, was vindicated.
The report comes after a nearly four year probe into how the FBI initiated and executed its investigation of the Trump administration, known internally as operation Crossfire Hurricane. The probe has been exhaustively reported on over these past four years, with revelations about the sourcing of the infamous Steele dossier and how it was used to justify surveillance of the Trump campaign slowly dripping out in increments. Throughout this time, the Left has derided any allegation of wrong-doing on the part of intelligence agencies as a rabid, conservative fever dream. However, Durham’s final report shows that all of the individual developments coalesce into a larger picture: this so-called conservative fever dream is in fact a reality.
Ultimately, the core finding of the report confirms what conservatives have suspected all along—that “neither U.S. nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement” of the investigation; that “certain personnel” (i.e. Peter Strzok and Lisa Page) investigating Trump had a “predisposition” to do so; and that the standard used to open an investigation into Trump was a “noticeable departure” from the standard used against Hillary Clinton.
Durham did not mince words in the report. “The objective facts show that the FBI’s handling of important aspects of the Crossfire Hurricane matter were seriously deficient,” he firmly stated, explaining that the FBI used “raw, unanalyzed, and uncorroborated intelligence” as a basis of the Trump investigation. (RELATED: FBI Admits Durham Report Is Right)
He continued by placing the blame for the loss of confidence in the FBI squarely at the agency’s own feet: “As the more complete record now shows, there are specific areas of Crossfire Hurricane activity in which the FBI badly underperformed and failed, not only in its duties to the public, but also in preventing the severe reputational harm that has befallen the FBI as a consequence of Crossfire Hurricane.”
Even the corporate press, which for years covered for the intelligence agencies, had to admit the gravity of the situation. The Hill reported that Durham’s report issued a “scathing assessment of the FBI’s process,” while CNN issued an uncharacteristically spin-free headline on Durham’s core finding that the “FBI never should have launched” the full collusion investigation. Unfortunately, the press will never admit a complete failure on their part, but will continue to uphold the narrative where they can. Much of the reporting emphasized that Durham recommended no new criminal charges be filed and that his findings were at odds with previous investigations, before getting into the meat of the damning, core conclusion.
This was wholly predictable, however. As time goes on, the Left, including the entire corporate press, will focus more on haggling over the semantics in the report rather than addressing its key points. Perhaps this is a calculated strategy to protect their own reputation after years of being willing dupes of the intelligence agencies. Perhaps they are less calculated and merely trying to insulate their egos. Either way, it is clear that journalistic truth has not been a priority for quite some time and it is unlikely to become so anytime soon.
Furthermore, their audience is unlikely to hold them to account. While the legacy media cares mostly about ratings and protecting their own status, their audience cares mostly about maintaining the steady diet of moral superiority they have been fed since Trump walked down the golden escalator in 2015. Neither will ever admit that Trump might have been right. (RELATED: ‘Complete Dud’: Joe Scarborough Dismisses Durham Report)
But for once, the miasmatic media environment is not fully to blame. Most reading or writing the headlines were just going along to get along; they had no real say in or understanding of what got reported. Those who initiated the investigation and developed the narrative–the intel officials, key Democratic party leaders and strategists, and media executives–are to blame. They are the handful of nefarious actors who consciously made the choice to lead America down the path of division and destruction. These are the very same people who are now attempting to whip Americans into a frenzy over so-called “voter suppression.” Yet they are the ones who suppressed the vote in 2020 and are attempting to do it again in 2024.
By portraying Trump as a Russian asset for years on end–an allegation they knew was false–they waged informational warfare on the American public in pursuit of domestic power. Virtually every power center in America–from media to academia, and pop culture to big business–echoed this claim based on the authoritative legitimacy of those proclaiming it. In 2020, this resulted in the effective disenfranchisement of untold millions of moderate voters who likely would have voted differently if they had not pushed into a delusional hatred of Trump under egregiously false pretenses. Heads Need To Roll’: (RELATED: Nikki Haley Hammers FBI, DOJ Over Trump-Russia Probe)
This is the true legacy of the Trump-Russia collusion story. The truth has finally come to light, but it must not become just another headline in the 24 hour news cycle. Americans must dwell on it, they must reflect, or it will happen again.