Jeffrey Goldberg wrote in The Atlantic on July 2016: “The Republican nominee for president, Donald J. Trump, has chosen this week to unmask himself as a de facto agent of Russian President Vladimir Putin.” Goldberg is perhaps the LEAST reliable narrator in all of US journalism
That declaration from Goldberg is under-recognized as a catalyzing event for the wider Russiagate melodrama, which from that point on consumed elite media and Dems, after they’d been given license by the all-important, Smart, and Serious Atlantic 
Josh Marshall’s infamous (and error-riddled) blog post from July 23, 2016, which drew on the themes set forth by Goldberg, was cited by FBI officials Strzok and Page in their infamous texts. “Crossfire Hurricane” investigation was formally launched on July 31
In sum, the idea that Jeffrey Goldberg of all people has this well of credibility that should compel everyone to accept his characterizations at face value is a farce, but emblematic of many corrupting pathologies in elite media
