Slate: The Nunes Memo is a Big Win for Donald Trump
“The memo is so silly, and technical, and logic-defying on its face that it’s easy to miss the fact that its genius lies in precisely that,” argues Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick. “If the point here is to raise doubts about every investigatory agency capable of scrutinizing Trump, it has been achieved.”
It’s easy to dismiss the release of the Nunes memo as the desperate act of a fearful White House. The 4-page document is filled with very little credible information to support the allegation that officials at the FBI are somehow biased against President Trump. And yet Dahlia Lithwick in Slate gives voice to a disconcerting possibility, which is that the memo’s assertions are immaterial to its overall effect. Trump has raised doubts about the career investigators looking into his ties to Russia. His stalwart supporters, including most Republicans in Congress, seem eager to support him; the memo will be a source they cite ad nauseam, even if, on closer inspection, it substantiates no claim of bias. It’s enough to make you, well, nauseous.
