, Columnist
John Bolton Makes the Case for Hunting Witches
The national security adviser twists history in likening Russian trolling to the Red Scare.
That era’s demagogue.
Source: Getty Images/Hulton Archive
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Usually when someone analogizes the U.S. government's current campaign against Russian influence to the Red Scare of the 1950s, it's meant as a cautionary device. Let's not go back to black lists and "un-American activities."
This week, however, National Security Adviser John Bolton reached back to this era to describe in earnest what the U.S. intelligence community believes it's up against. In an interview with the conservative radio host Mark Levin, Bolton described the kind of Russian and foreign influence the U.S. government is trying to foil with a direct reference to the bad old days: