Russiagate is Coming for Bernie Sanders

Matt Taibbi made an interesting point on his weekly "Useful Idiots" podcast with Katie Halper. The Buttigieg boom in Iowa and New Hampshire actually aids the campaign of Bernie Sanders because it subtracts voters from Biden and Warren. Even if Mayor Pete manages to win Iowa and New Hampshire, the primary campaign moves on next, after Nevada, to South Carolina where Buttigieg is polling at 0% among black voters. It doesn't get any better for Buttigieg on Super Tuesday.

I suppose that's why Bloomberg's primary strategy is built around a big showing on Super Tuesday. Bloomberg will grab the neoliberal baton from a flagging Buttigieg. That's of course assuming that Democrats will cast an appreciable number of votes for a conservative billionaire Republican.

So, yes, it's looking pretty good for Bernie. I think he knows it -- he was surprisingly relaxed and in good spirits during last week's debate -- and the oligarchy knows it. Hence the rehabilitation of Russiagate during the final day of impeachment hearings in the House Intelligence Committee in the form of testimony by New Cold Warrior Fiona Hill.

That was Thursday. Friday and Saturday there were frontpagers in The New York Times featuring Hill's warning that the Russians are up to their dirty tricks again and they will steal another election in 2020 unless the U.S. government is vigilant.

Sunday evening 60 Minutes televised a rehash of "Russia Stole My Election!" National Security Division Assistant Attorney General John Demers admits on camera that the main point of a Russiagate prosecution isn't to bring anyone to justice; it's a psyop directed at the American public.

The Justice Department's National Security Division is overseeing the Russian hacking case.

Assistant Attorney General John Demers runs the division, along with deputies Adam Hickey and Sean Newell. DOJ attorney, Heather Alpino, worked with special counsel Mueller on the Russian indictments. All have access to the underlying intelligence, and have no doubt the Russians interfered in the 2016 election.

Bill Whitaker: This really happened.

John Demers: Yes. That really happened. And we believe that if we had to we could prove that in court tomorrow using only admissible, non-classified evidence to 12 jurors.

Bill Whitaker: Do you ever expect to get the 12 Russian officials to trial?

John Demers: I would be surprised. But the purpose of the indictment isn't just that, although that's certainly one of the purposes. The purpose of this kind of indictment is even to educate the public.

Educate the public about what? Not to read social media?

Wait and see. If Bernie rolls along in the Democratic primary, as Taibbi thinks, then we'll see Russiagate revivified and applied to the Sanders campaign.