Why the US must not cry foul over Moscow’s alleged role in Trump winning the White House

Allen Yu says Americans shocked by both the ‘fake news’ phenomenon and Russia ‘hijacking’ their presidential election must not forget that the US has often done far worse to influence politics abroad

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Graffiti artwork depicts Russian President Vladimir Putin and then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump outside a bar in the old town in Vilnius, Lithuania, on October 30. Photo: AP

Published: 3:00pm, 28 Dec 2016Updated: 10:33am, 6 Jan 2017

It is clear that, while the US election may be over, much of the rancour remains. In a season of surprises, the latest controversy now swirls around how a long-time adversary – Russia – hijacked America’s election to secure a Trump presidency.

Americans seem to be transfixed by this latest thriller, with President Barack Obama promising retribution, but Donald Trump warning against politicising US intelligence. American concerns about foreign interference, however, appear to be much ado about nothing.

Lest Americans forget, up until election eve, Trump had little to no chance of winning. The Princeton Election Consortium – in line with many news organisations – placed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s chances of winning in the 90 per cent range.

Russian intent and desires aside, Americans cannot escape the fact that whatever bad blood the Democratic National Committee emails might have created between the camps of rival hopefuls Bernie Sanders and Clinton, she was able to unite the party quickly. However embarrassing the Podesta emails, on deals involving Clinton’s campaign chair John Podesta, were for her personally, these were by far eclipsed by the release of a video of a younger Trump bragging about groping women. Controversies over Clinton allegedly using a private email server or sex scandals involving those close to her were certainly distracting, but they never dominated the news cycle the way reports accusing Trump of racism, sexism, or hate, did.

Watch: FBI says no charges against Hillary Clinton

Hackers and whistle-blowers have always harboured private agendas, yet we judge information by the merits of the information, not by the intent of the leakers. So why the fuss about Russia now?