Russian influence is like the Zombie Virus
Back in the day, the rightwingers all had hard-ons for the 24 scenario: a common dramatic situation on the Kiefer Sutherland drama. If you're holding a terrorist who knows about a ticking bomb that will undoubtedly kill scores of people, is it a valid strategy to torture the suspect to reveal the information to stop the bomb and save people?
This scenario is a movie plot; a straw-man sort of thing that probably would never happen in reality the way it does on a fictional TV show. However, many of them liked to float this situation to convince people that routine torture of suspected terrorists was justified.
In my opinion, this Russian influence thing parallels another TV show: The Walking Dead. On that show, it's a routine practice to terminate individuals infected with the zombie virus who will invariably turn into a zombie themselves. It's done before the infection peaks as a "mercy kill" so the victim won't experience the terror of becoming a zombie, and for safety; putting the victim down before they turn and become a dangerous threat is a cold reality in the fiction of the show. Many characters accept that with no cure, this is the smartest move for healthy survivors, and accept it bravely.
Just like 24, Russian influence was an almost unbelievable scenario, but the reality has become clear: Flynn was "infected", and yet the Administration wants to perceive his resignation as the solution and resolution to the entire crisis, dust their hands "problem solved!" and go on like no big deal. This is akin to cutting off a zombie-bitten arm in hopes the virus doesn't continue to spread throughout the body. In zombie shows, this almost never works as the tragic characters expect, and often leads to a future catastrophe that plays out in the worst possible way. The type of "infection" that the potential Russian influence apparently posed to our election (and now our government) does not exist in a vacuum. It's a virus that spreads and offers no benefit to its perpetraitors unless there is collusion.
More of our elected civil servants are infected, and may be unwittingly more dangerous than they realize; they "don't remember" speaking to Russian personnel who neglected to wear their "Hello! I am a counterintelligence Spy!" badge or interacted with foreign entities in an unassuming manner where they themselves don't realize exactly how they've been compromised. The only sure thing for the safety of our government is to make sure every single person who risks continuing the taint of Russia's meddling with our political body from the inside is to purge absolutely everyone who could possibly be affected. It's a rough idea, and a hard one to swallow, but it's the only way to keep our democracy and our government healthy and not just existing as dead meat.
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