In the wake of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the American left, bolstered by segments of the media, intelligence community, and political establishment, constructed and relentlessly advanced a narrative of Russian collusion that promised to expose a sprawling conspiracy threatening the very core of American democracy.
However, recent declassifications by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard demonstrate that there was a conspiracy, but rather than involving Trump and Russia, it involved Obama administration officials, including DNI James Clapper and CIA Director John Brennan, who manufactured and politicized intelligence post-2016 election to fabricate a narrative of Russian interference favoring Trump to subvert his presidency.
The released documents highlight discrepancies, such as pre-election assessments denying Russian cyber influence on outcomes in contrast to the expedited January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) which claimed high confidence in Putin’s efforts to aid Trump via hacks, leaks, and disinformation.
The latter assessment was allegedly heavily influenced by unverified sources like the Steele Dossier, which itself was paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign. Tragically it shows how legitimate concerns over foreign interference in our elections, metastasized into a political weapon. The result was a prolonged and hyper-politicized crusade that damaged the country and its institutions in numerous ways. The Russian collusion narrative exposed media corruption, the abuse of power within the FBI and intelligence agencies and continues to distort perceptions of Russia as a hostile geopolitical force.
This left’s catastrophic abuse of power in the Russia hoax has had lasting consequences. Rather than strengthening America’s ability to respond to Russian aggression, it created a growing faction, particularly on the right, that now views Russia not as a threat, but as a convenient scapegoat in a partisan witch hunt. This miscalculation not only undermines national unity at a moment of geopolitical volatility but hands a strategic gift to Moscow. A revanchist Russia, unshackled and emboldened, continues its campaign of territorial aggression, cyber warfare, and sophisticated disinformation, exploiting the very fractures America’s political elites helped deepen.
The original claims were not invented out of thin air. The 2019 Mueller report did document “sweeping and systematic” Russian interference in the 2016 election, particularly through hacking and online influence operations as it has in effectively all previous elections. Moreover, that interference went in both directions (pro-Trump and pro-Clinton). But the public rhetoric from many on the left vastly exceeded the evidence, promoting the idea of direct collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Kremlin as an established fact.
The Mueller investigation, despite its exhaustive scope, found no conclusive evidence of such coordination. More than half of Americans believed the Mueller investigation was politically motivated. Yet today that legitimate sentiment has morphed into disbelief that Russia is a bad actor at all.
Today, half of Americans now call Russia an enemy, down from 61% in 2024. For Republicans, there was an 18% percentage drop. That partisan divide is not just a polling gap. It is a national security liability. Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin has destabilized Europe, committed war crimes, and weaponized energy markets. Yet some on the American right continue to downplay these realities or even express disdain for the victims of Russian aggression rather than the aggressor. That sentiment, nearly unthinkable during the Cold War, portends the collapse of bipartisan resolve if not addressed.
This was not inevitable. It was the consequence of the left using Russia not as a foreign adversary to be countered, but as a domestic weapon to delegitimize political opponents. In doing so, they diluted the urgency of confronting a nation that thrives on Western weakness. Russia’s modern playbook—cyberattacks like the 2020 SolarWinds breach, electoral interference, and disinformation campaigns led by bots on platforms like X —requires a unified American response. Instead, we are more divided, more cynical, and more vulnerable.
Rebuilding a credible, cohesive front begins with intellectual honesty. The left must abandon rhetorical excess and return to evidence-based warnings. The right must resist the impulse to treat Russia as merely a partisan talking point or, worse, a model of strength. History is clear: during the Cold War, it was bipartisan consensus that restrained Soviet ambitions. Today, only a similar unity can meet the moment. Otherwise, the damage will go beyond the political. It will be strategic, and it will be enduring. The left’s abuse of power will not just have discredited itself. It will have made America weaker. And Putin stronger.
Meaghan Mobbs, PhD, is the Director of the Center for American Safety and Security at Independent Women. She is the President of the R.T. Weatherman Foundation, a private operating foundation, providing humanitarian support in Ukraine. She is a presidential appointee to the Board of Visitors at the United States Military Academy at West Point and a gubernatorial appointee to Board of Visitors at the Virginia Military Academy.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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