What If ???

This is not an allegation. It's not an accusation. It's a serious question that many in our country have been thinking about or very seriously worrying about,  especially over the past few days as more bits of information have come out relative to the midterm elections, interference and in effect cyber attacks.

The question became more relevant in my mind as Facebook announced its latest findings about a serious and continuing disinformation campaign that has been identified on their platform. I would suspect that others like Twitter will follow.

Here, it is probably important to define what we're talking about when we discuss a disinformation campaign. The simplest definition I've found follows: false information deliberately and often covertly spread (as by the planting of rumors) in order to influence public opinion or obscure the truth. A disinformation campaign can take many forms but the main purpose is to confuse, build fear, create mistrust of institutions and of each other. Our intelligence agencies do it and all of our perceived enemies and allies do it. Disinformation campaigns have been used for years to influence people's perceptions of political movements on the left and the right. Recognizing that, it is usually people working against a country's interest but can be done internally against those who disagree with a particular point of view.

In hearing about the disinformation campaign aimed at our midterm elections, I began to think about many of the things that have come out of the White House over the past year and a half. Much of it has been contradictory at times, some of it has been hateful with finger pointing and insults and some has been confusing. People are at each others throats. Families and old friends are arguing at best and not speaking to each other at worst. The media has been identified as and called the enemy. The truth comes from the flock or cluster we're part of and lies come from the folks we don't agree with. Honestly people don't know what or who to believe. What all of this proves is that disinformation works and it works well. All we have to do is look at each other and the extreme splits that have been developed among us.

So here's the question - What if Donald Trump and a number of his aides are in fact, knowingly a part of a planned disinformation campaign? What if we find our selves in a situation where the President of the United States is knowingly assisting a foreign power in confusing people in our country about facts and issues? Many can agree that there have been untruths told and spread by the President. The facts about these statements just don't lie. But the question becomes one of purpose and intent. Donald Trump can be either an incompetent person put in charge of a world power or a willing partner in a plan to disrupt political life and balance in the United States. There's not a lot of room in between. So there you have it, the what if question without many answers on my part. In the end, I think this matters a lot. How people react and deal with the potential of a foreign entity disrupting a political system to the point of controlling who a leader is and how they govern is pretty special indeed. But ah yes, we've been a part of it before.