They really are good at this. Not to mention shameless.
And it appears to be working.
Behind it "all."
Expect these talking points to be coming out of the mouths of Democratic partisans and cable news anchors' mouths (but I repeat myself) shortly.
The news itself is interesting, and this does appear to be a deep-ish fake that had made the rounds some months ago.
But we've been talking about Biden-China corruption for months, not the least of which was the $1.5 billion his private equity firm apparently walked away with from the state-owned Bank of China while his dad was Vice President and that was confirmed by the New York Times.
NBC is now trying to conflate this sketchy document (and it does appear to be sketchy) with the current laptop scandal.
They start with the headline.
"How a fake persona laid the groundwork for a Hunter Biden conspiracy deluge."
"Laid the groundwork."
One has nothing to do with the other. It's like saying burning your toast last week "laid the groundwork" for overcooking tonight's pork loin.
After discussing the earlier sketchy document, they make the connection.
"The document and its spread have become part of a wider effort to smear Hunter Biden and weaken Joe Biden's presidential campaign, which moved from the fringes of the internet to more mainstream conservative news outlets."
An unverified leak of documents — including salacious pictures from what President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and a Delaware Apple repair store owner claimed to be Hunter Biden's hard drive — were published in the New York Post on Oct. 14. Associates close to Trump, including Giuliani and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, have promised more blockbuster leaks and secrets, which have yet to materialize."
It's all "part of a wider effort to smear Hunter Biden."
It's all part of a conspiracy. If one thing isn't true, none of it can be.
"…including salacious pictures."
Sounds tawdry. I don't even remember that. But I do seem to recall there being more to the story than just salacious pictures. Ah, probably not worth looking into.
"…claimed to be Hunter Biden's hard drive."
"Claimed." They haven't denied it. In fact, they've gone out of their way to not deny anything.
"No" would have been a lot simpler. Maybe there's a problem with just saying no. Not sure what that could be.
"…promised more blockbuster leaks and secrets, which have yet to materialize."
You mean like a credible eyewitness coming forward, other email recipients verifying authenticity, and a trove of texts and emails and reports of an existing FBI criminal investigation?
Maybe they didn't read the paper that morning.
Oh, right, they did. It just wasn't in there.
To sum up:
A story allegedly discrediting an earlier scandal discredits a newer totally unrelated scandal that no one has directly denied and for which there is credible evidence because even if it was true it still isn't a scandal and we won't tell you anything about it regardless.
You've got your marching orders.
