EDITORIAL: Progressive hysteria over Russian meddling

Last Friday, Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian citizens on various charges stemming from an effort to “sow discord in the U.S. political system.” None of those accused is in the United States and thus will likely never see an American courtroom. The allegations are that they manipulated social media to spread fake news about various issues and candidates leading up to the 2016 election.

There is no evidence that this actually accomplished anything or changed the election results. Nor did the indictment offer evidence of a conspiracy involving the White House. But it has nevertheless elicited outrage among many on the left who argue that the meddling threatens the future of American democracy. One commentator compared the Russian online mischief to the 9/11 attacks. For real.

That’s not to say the Russian interference shouldn’t be taken seriously. The president and Congress must make it aggressively clear that there will be consequences for these actions — whether they include additional sanctions or other financial and diplomatic responses. We must not tolerate a hostile foreign nation conducting such a campaign.

But all this progressive indignation seems manufactured. Would these partisans be similarly incensed if Hillary Clinton now occupied the White House? Or is their concern over Russia and the future of our democracy really just a proxy for a passionate hatred of everything Donald Trump?

Remember it was only six years ago that Barack Obama and his fellow travelers ridiculed Mitt Romney for identifying the Russians as a major threat. “The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War’s been over for 20 years,” Mr. Obama responded, as Democrats hooted and twittered at the GOP nominee.

And speaking of the Cold War, let’s not forget that the Soviets spent the better part of five decades meddling in American affairs, whether it was cultivating high-level government spies or funneling money to support “peace” protests, anti-nuclear demonstrations or other movements.

To the surprise of nobody on the right, The New York Times reported in 1983 that, in addition to traditional espionage, the KGB engaged in “active measures” with the intention of creating a desired political outcome abroad. This occurred routinely in Europe, where protesters manipulated by Russian intelligence often took to the streets in the 1980s to rail against Ronald Reagan. The extent to which the Soviets supported or nurtured various leftist movements within this country remains a matter of debate, but rest assured their fingerprints were all over the place.

Back in the day, none of this triggered any hand-wringing from those now hyperventilating about the 2016 election — indeed, up until the fall of the Berlin Wall many members of America’s liberal intellectual class routinely expressed admiration for the Soviet “experiment” while deriding their own country’s institutions. Clearly times have changed.

Yes, Mr. Trump should condemn the Russians and take action. But let’s keep this in perspective. The United States survived the Cold War, driving the Soviet Union into the history bin. This country can surely overcome the challenges presented by a Russian social media trolling operation.