Thread by @DavidAFrench

In my newsletter (🔒) I look at the impact of the Senate Intelligence report on two Russia hoaxes. Yep, two. The first is represented by the extravagant claims of the Steele Dossier. It still doesn't hold up. It never did. But what's the second hoax? /1 frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-senate-i…

This one comes from the right, and it's the persistent minimization (especially on this website) of Trump campaign misconduct and the argument that the "real" story is that the campaign was the victim of a deep state smear job and government abuse of power. Wrong. /2

Yes, the Mueller Report should have decisively debunked the "move along" defense of the campaign, but the right waved it off as a partisan witch hunt. But what about the bipartisan Senate conclusions? The Manafort/Kilminick disclosures alone are extraordinary. /3

No GOP official or talk radio celebrity would find equivalent conduct by a Democratic campaign chair remotely acceptable. And the infamous Trump Tower meeting? The intent was clear, and two of the participants had closer ties to Russian intelligence than first believed. /4

I could go on (and do in the piece), but the very idea that the Trump campaign had clean hands is its own hoax. And no, none of that excuses any misconduct in the investigation, but the Trump campaign's conduct was unacceptable. I conclude with these four truths. /end