One might have thought that the failure of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation to sustain allegations of collusion between Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and Russia would have snuffed-out the growing neo-McCarthyism plaguing the foreign policy debate in the United States. Such optimism clearly was misplaced. Smears directed at analysts and political figures who favor a less confrontational policy toward Moscow predated the accusations against Trump, and they have persisted after Mueller issued his March 2019 report. Indeed, they show signs of intensifying and becoming even more promiscuous. Hillary Clinton's ugly innuendo that presidential aspirant and fellow Democrat Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was a Russian asset is indicative of just how bad the intolerance of foreign policy dissent has become. 

The drumbeat of allegations from the intelligence bureaucracy and its media allies about Russian activities designed to aid Donald Trump and Trump's complicity in those activities has not abated despite the tepid outcome of the Mueller investigation and the failed impeachment campaign to oust the president. On February 20, 2020, yet another Russia-bashing story broke in the New York Times—this time about a classified intelligence briefing given to the House Intelligence Committee the previous week regarding Moscow's continuing efforts to influence U.S. political outcomes. In a familiar pattern, other media outlets quickly picked up and amplified the New York Times story.