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The US is sending a signal to Vladimir Putin: we're listening! Also, the rank hypocrisy of Herschel Walker's defenders, a midterm update and why sports are the best!
I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality of American politics. If you received this email - or you are a free subscriber - and you’d like to subscribe: you can sign up below.
This Week’s Lesson On Media Consumption
Here’s a helpful news consumer hack for when you read a story based on anonymous leaks — the story itself is often far less important than who leaked it and why. Case in point: an article last week in the Washington Post on what’s happening inside Vladimir Putin’s brain trust.
A member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle has voiced disagreement directly to the Russian president in recent weeks over his handling of the war in Ukraine, according to information obtained by U.S. intelligence.
The criticism marks the clearest indication yet of turmoil within Russia’s leadership over the stewardship of a war that has gone disastrously wrong for Moscow, forcing Putin last month to order the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of troops in a desperate bid to reverse recent battlefield losses.
The information was deemed significant enough that it was included in President Biden’s daily intelligence briefing and shared with other U.S. officials, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.
The discontent that the member of Putin’s inner circle expressed related to what the insider considered mismanagement of the war effort and mistakes being made by those executing the military campaign, according to one of the people.
The insider’s identity could not be confirmed, although the name has been included in U.S. intelligence reporting.
This is an interesting news story because it suggests that a) Putin is hearing opposing arguments about the war in Ukraine and b) it shows that second thoughts about the war are penetrating Putin’s inner circle. But that’s not why this story is important. The key takeaway here is that the United States knows about this disagreement. And the intended audience for this revelation is one person: Vladimir Putin.
I strongly suspect this leak has very little to do with what Putin is hearing from those around him and everything to do with American intelligence agencies wanting to mess with Putin's head. Instead, it tells Putin that the United States knows what he’s doing, what his aides are telling him, and, perhaps even more disquieting, someone in his inner circle is leaking information to the Americans. I imagine Putin already knew this, but it can hardly fill him with glee to see it splayed out on the front page of the Washington Post. And even if he doesn’t know who the spy is, it may feed his paranoia.
Now, to be sure, I’m speculating here. I don’t know that this was a Psyop by the US government to discombobulate Putin, but why leak it? Why potentially expose a spy within Putin’s inner circle? Certainly, keeping that asset safe is more important than revealing this information, which isn't all that groundbreaking in the larger scheme of things.
But I suspect this goes beyond wanting to mess with Putin’s head. US officials are perhaps trying to send a signal to elements within the Russian military, who might be thinking about taking matters into their hands, that there are those within Putin’s inner circle who consider the war a disaster and might be supportive if they moved against the Russian President. The even more likely explanation is that with the talk of nuclear weapons ratcheting up, US officials wanted to send a message to Putin that if he starts planning to use nukes, we will know about it. In other words, “Vladdy, don’t think you can keep it a secret.”
Whatever the reason for the leak (and it certainly could be all three explanations), the story is secondary to what these revelations tell us about US insights into Putin’s decision-making process. In other words, US intelligence agencies are using the news media to send a message to the Russian president — and in much the same way they leaked key information about Putin’s plans for Ukraine before the war began.
So when you’re reading a news story featuring obvious leaks, always ask yourself: who leaked it and why? The answer is often more compelling than the actual substance of the leak.
Craven, Cynical, and Immoral Is No Way To Go Through Life
In my latest column for MSNBC, I wrote about Herschel Walker’s abortion scandal and what it tells us about the anti-abortion movement in America:
Walker getting caught in a lie is about as unusual as a day that ends in “y.” After all, this is the same candidate who once inveighed against absent fathers — before it was revealed that he’s fathered four children with four women. But what is most revealing is that these latest allegations haven’t dented Walker’s support among conservative, nominally “pro-life” voters. Their nonchalant reactions exposed the lies and contradictions at the heart of the anti-abortion movement.
….Republicans, who regularly moralize about the evils of abortion, are more than happy to look the other way on Walker’s transgressions because his success is in their political best interest. So what if Walker is, by his and their logic, now accused of murder? He’ll vote to make abortion illegal, Republicans say, and that’s enough — just as it was enough to look the other way on Trump’s outrageous behavior because he had stocked the federal judiciary with conservative judges.
The hypocrisy on display here is so intense that it almost feels like Walker’s candidacy is an elaborate plot to expose anti-abortion conservatives as frauds. If you believe abortion is murder — a foundational belief of the so-called “pro-life” movement — then someone who pays for a woman to have an abortion because, in Walker’s words, it was “not the right time” is a murderer. Walker’s actions are particularly toxic because he wanted his girlfriend to have an abortion, not because he would then have to raise the child (that doesn’t appear to be his thing) … but because then he’d have to support it financially.
Conservatives, who have railed against absentee fathers for years, also seem entirely unbothered by Walker’s indifferent attitude toward his four children. The former girlfriend for whom Walker subsidized an abortion later had a child with Walker, and in text messages, with the now ten-year-old boy, one can get a clear sense of how much Walker cares about his offspring.
Walker sent that same “Love you” message to his son frequently, no matter how many times it went unanswered. Sometimes the child would write short notes back—inviting Walker to a baseball game, wishing him a Happy Easter, sending a photo of himself with gifts. The pace accelerated in 2021, when Walker was gearing up to announce his candidacy.
Between June 4 and June 12 of that year, the texts show, Walker sent seven “Love you” messages, and nothing else. The boy replied, “You to,” on June 13, after which Walker asked how he was doing. The boy invited his father to watch him play baseball, and Walker said he would like to see him play, but according to the woman, the last time Walker saw his son was January 2016.
Then, between July 1 and Oct. 11, the texts show, Walker sent his son 34 unanswered brief text messages. All but six say “Love you,” with the vast majority of them coming between midnight and 3:41 a.m.
On the evening of Oct. 13, his son replied, “What’s my favorite color? What grade am I in?And how old am I”
Walker responded the next afternoon: “God bless you, love you”.
Walker didn’t send another text message for more than a month, at which time he wrote: “Your dad loves you so much” on Nov. 21.
Isn’t this the opposite of the anti-abortion movement’s oft-stated sermonizing? They constantly tell us that every life is precious, in fact, so precious that it justifies denying women bodily autonomy. They tell us that the family is the building block of a strong and moral society. But when push comes to shove, they are happy to forgive Walker’s transgressions if it gives them greater political power. Indeed, conservative commentator and odious gun-lover Dana Loesch summed up best the lack of any moral core at the heart of the anti-abortion movement. Calling Walker’s former girlfriend a “skank,” she said, "I don’t care if Herschel Walker paid to abort endangered baby eagles. I want control of the Senate.”
Apparently, there is one abortion exception that evangelicals will accept - when the viability of a Republican Senate candidate is threatened.
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