Six years and millions of dollars later, the “Durham report” released on May 15th confirmed once again what I’ve been saying all along–that Russia-gate was a massive fraud perpetrated on the U.S. public. What the report alluded to and what is important to remind the public of, is that the “investigation” by the FBI of the Trump campaign constituted a full-blown counterintelligence campaign. Dubbed “Crossfire Hurricane,” the investigation of a presidential contender–Trump–was initiated by the Clinton campaign. That’s right. The FBI Russia-gate probe was not only baseless, but they investigated Trump despite warnings that the conspiracy theory they were pursuing was generated by his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Going further, the political and cultural phenomenon known as “Russia-gate” could be legitimately characterized as a state-sponsored domestic psy-op. However, the report also made clear that no one in the FBI or CIA , or even in the Clinton campaign, will be held accountable for efforts made to influence the outcome of the 2016 election and to denigrate Trump personally using what they knew to be lies. This should hardly be a surprise to anyone with a passing familiarity with US history. The FBI are political police. Their mission is to protect the capitalist state and status quo.

The Durham Report is also confirmation of the brutal effectiveness of the propaganda apparatus that’s been constructed over the last hundred years. Both Edward Bernays and Joseph Goebbles would have understood intuitively the power of the Russia-gate “big lie” that was repeated endlessly until believed by a sizable portion of the population. In the process, not only did corporate media elite suffer zero consequences, but the ones who pushed it the hardest were rewarded and went on to bigger and better things, while those brave journalists who got the story right were punished.

I think there’s a lesson here.

However, his behavior is hardly a surprise. The corporate media is designed to advance the interests of the powerful, not to report the news, and to separate Americans into two tribal enclosures designed to make you to hate the opposing team. The print and TV media, which serve as propagandists for the ruling military/security complex and Wall Street elites, make certain that Americans have nothing but bogus orchestrated information. Every household and person who turns on TV or reads a newspaper is programed to live in a false orchestrated reality that serves the tiny few who comprise the ruling Establishment or deep state.

Ultimately, Russia-gate stemmed from the fact that Trump challenged this deep state without realizing that it is more powerful than a mere President of the United States. Trump was always in over his head and payed a huge price. He had no experience in government and no bench of qualified foreign policy administrators so he was easy meat.

Going further, Russia-gate was the result of the deep state, military/industrial/complex (MIC), national security state, etc. wanting war with Russia while Trump proposed peace. Trump calls Russia-gate a “hoax” but it is in fact much worse. Ultimately Russia-gate was used to make the case for the proxy war in Ukraine. The MIC initiated the 2014 coup in Ukraine with the plan that they could seize Crimea and the Russian naval base at Sevestapol. This was the opening gambit in a regime-change operations, Color Revolution that would overthrow Putin and reestablish a comprador regime like they had under Yeltsin. All was scheduled to proceed under the expected Clinton Administration.

The brutal reality that Russia-gate illustrates is that there is nothing the political establishment will not do, and no lie they will not tell, to hold on to their prestige and power. The fact that Durham brought no charges against the principle actors tells you all you need to know–they won and the false narrative Russia-gate promoted has become accepted wisdom. For example, in a brazen bit of projection Hillary Clinton is still whining about losing the 2016 election and still blaming the Russians. She further stated that if Trump were to prevail in 2024–“it would be the end of democracy in the United States, it would be the end of Ukraine. It would become a –you know, he will pull us out of NATO if he wins again. And just like he pulled us out of the Iran deal, he pulled us out of the Paris Accords. He will pull us out of NATO.”

As you can see, Russia-gate will not die as long as it is a useful tool for intimidating the public. Overall, Russia-gate is part and parcel of the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country. It has been especially useful in goading liberals into full on bellicosity by linking Trump and Russia. During the first Cold War it was conservatives who wanted to drop “the big one” on Russia, now it’s liberals.

Pretty fucking impressive propaganda, if I do say so.

The only problem is that the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine that was initiated largely through the Russia-gate psy-op is going badly. No matter. The neocon lunatics steering the Biden Administration are doubling down, with the latest move to send F-16 fighters to Ukraine.

Remember kids, there is no alternative to neoliberalism and war.

Unfortunately, this brings us to the final confirmation–the main lesson of the recent Durham Report is that nothing will be done to address the lawlessness of our feral elite.