Well-known journalist Glenn Greenwald has once again sparked intense debate on the Left by refusing to conform to any level of group-think.
On Friday he mused about the ongoing Julian Assange extradition trial in London, offering an explanation as to why mainstream US media has seemingly dropped Assange from its radar, despite during the early years of the most bombshell WikiLeaks revelations working closely with Assange in terms of corroborating coverage.
It’s true that one reason that the Assange prosecution – despite its extreme dangers and consequences – is receiving so little media attention is that it doesn’t have a partisan angle.
But another is that many liberals believe their political adversaries deserve to be in prison. https://t.co/bViOmUAKDi
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 18, 2020
Greenwald started with a tweet acknowledging that Assange’s plight, which includes the possibility of being extradited to the United States where he faces certain life in prison, has received “little media attention” ultimately because it doesn’t have an easy partisan angle.
“But another is that many liberals believe their political adversaries deserve to be in prison,” Greenwald stated, going on the offensive.
And that’s where the most famous founding journalist at The Intercept began going off on liberals’ exaggeration of what Trump represents and how he came to power:
“If you start from the premise that Trump is a fascist dictator who has brought Nazi tyranny to the US, then it isn’t that irrational to believe that anyone who helped empower Trump (which is how they see Assange) deserves to be imprisoned, hence the lack of concern about it,” Greenwald said.
If you start from the premise that Trump is a fascist dictator who has brought Nazi tyranny to the US, then it isn’t that irrational to believe that anyone who helped empower Trump (which is how they see Assange) deserves to be imprisoned, hence the lack of concern about it.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 18, 2020
Essentially Greenwald is saying, ‘no, Trump is not a Nazi’ — and this flawed belief will only compound errors when it comes to other pressing issues such as Assange’s fate.
Greenwald previously addressed the “authoritarian arguments” which claimed the WikiLeaks founder does not deserve journalistic protections.
One of the most dangerous and authoritarian arguments you’ll hear from those who support Trump DOJ’s attempt to imprison Assange is that it doesn’t endanger press freedoms because “Assange is not a journalist.” Leave side the huge stories he’s broken & journalism prizes he won… pic.twitter.com/J94n5E5tMO
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 9, 2020
Earlier this month President Trump shocked many national security state insiders by suggesting be might be open to pardoning Edward Snowden.
While the Assange case would no doubt be a much higher hurdle for Trump in terms of the ‘deep state’ fierce pushback that would be sure to follow any similar consideration, it remains a possibility, especially were to Trump take the White House again after November.
