By Nathaniel Smith, The Times of Chester County, Jan 13th, 2017

If those allegations weren’t news before January 10, they sure are now.

The post that contains the download to the full 35-page version of the allegations was viewed over 5,000,000 times in its first 3 days online. (The 2-page executive summary has not been posted.) Here is Buzzfeed’s self-justification:

“BuzzFeed News is publishing the full document so that Americans can make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of the US government.”

Are Americans really qualified to make up their own minds about any matter of public policy? If not, they need more practice. The 2016 presidential campaign centered on allegations and counter-allegations.

Now that we can see the current lurid and potentially damaging document, we can look at the evidence and at what public figures and commentators have to say. And of course we need to figure out why they say what they say, not just their surface explanations but also their built-in interests: partisanship, job security, preconceived notions.

Here are what I think are the underlying questions:

1) Should the allegations be treated as news?

Yes. These allegations involve no military secrets, have been circulating for years, and have been under scrutiny by US intelligence since at least June 2016. The time has come for proper airing.

2) What if Trump is being blackmailed by Russia?

Then it would have been better if these allegations had been made public a long time ago….

read more at The Times of Chester County