Julian Assange has been on the run since 2012 when Swedish prosecutors accused him of raping two girls. He remains on Interpol’s Most-Wanted list. Instead of facing the charges, he fled the country and has been holed up inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for four years.
That gives you insight into what kind of person we’re dealing with.
But for many Trump supporters Assange is viewed as the last, best hope for Donald Trump’s struggling presidential campaign. Early this morning conspiracy-conservative Alex Jones went on air promising Assange would be releasing information that would be “Hillary’s October Surprise.”
Trump strategist Roger Stone tweeted this:
Wednesday@HillaryClinton is done. #Wikileaks.
— Roger Stone (@RogerJStoneJr) October 2, 2016
At one point over 60,000 people were watching Assange’s live press conference, but, alas, he ended up releasing no new information. In fact, he told the audience, “I would never do that at 3 am.”
Alex Jones, angry and confused, proclaimed, “I’ve never been trolled like that.”
Let this be a lesson: If your cause depends on a terrorist to save your campaign, you should probably lose.
Courageous whistleblowers, and I’ve been lucky throughout my career to meet several of them, discover and collect information from big government, or big corporations, that endanger the public good. In bringing the wrongdoing to light, they can risk everything, from their careers to their lives.
Big government and big corporations hate whistleblowers. But free loving people should appreciate them.
But do not confuse Assange with a courageous whistleblower.
Through his organization WikiLeaks, he receives “confidential” information collected by hackers for big governments like Russia (he is especially close to Russian president Vladimir Putin). After receiving the information, Assange sometimes tables it for weeks if not months. Assange loves to tease the public as he continues to evade the law.
For Julian Assange it’s all about the publicity.
He’s been at war with Hillary Clinton, who says he belongs in prison, since 2010 when he published more than 250,000 diplomatic cables from Bradley Manning. Clinton, then secretary of state, said it “tore at the fabric of government” and pledged “aggressive steps to hold responsible those who stole this information.”
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have called Assange a “high-tech terrorist.”
Former Gov. Sarah Palin called Assange, “an anti-American operative with blood on his hands.” She also asked why he was “not pursued with the same urgency we pursue al-Qaida and Taliban leaders?”
“WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange isn’t some well-meaning, anti-war protestor leaking documents in hopes of ending an unpopular war. He’s waging cyberwar on the United States and the global world order,” said K.T. McFarland, a Fox News National Security Analyst. “Mr. Assange and his fellow hackers are terrorists and should be prosecuted as such.”
The fact Roger Stone, Alex Jones and other Trump supporters are dancing with this devil is a reflection of how desperate this campaign has become.