Glenn Greenwald is quite confident in even his most contested opinions.
Greenwald, one of the journalists who revealed major National Security Agency surveillance with classified information from former CIA employee Edward Snowden, loves to take down his enemies in fierce debates. Recently, one of his frequent debates has been over whether the omnipresent fear of Russian election interference is overblown. In an interview with The New Yorker, published Monday, Greenwald explained that he wanted clearer evidence of the effects of Russian meddling before he was willing to consider it a "grave threat" to the U.S.
Unfortunately, that kind of evidence is often classified. Even when U.S. intelligence officials doubled down on alerts that cybersecurity concerns threaten to influence the midterm elections, and when Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted a dozen Russian nationals for hacking activity, Greenwald called for "skepticism." Later, he told The New Yorker that he had changed his mind somewhat, and now believed there was genuine evidence of Russian interference — but he didn't want to go public with his change of heart. "If I did it on Twitter, it would be 'Oh, Glenn Greenwald admits he's wrong!'" he said. "I don't actually think I've been wrong about anything."
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He still thinks Democrats use Russian interference as an excuse for losing the 2016 election, and says the Kremlin's effort to influence the U.S. election was "a very pedestrian event." He chided President Trump's critics for forming a "#Resistance" against the administration while simultaneously embracing state agencies like the FBI, but also expressed excitement that Trump's unpopularity might really just serve as one big civics lesson for the country. If nothing else, Greenwald said, Trump's presidency will help Americans decide "what kind of country we should be." Read more at The New Yorker.
