Meddling cuts deeper than votes

By Sandra Miner, Las Vegas

Wednesday, June 28, 2017 | 2 a.m.

The Russian hacking of the DNC, voter-registration systems, state voting machines does not get to the root of the problem.

When former Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson stated before the House Intelligence Committee that Vladimir Putin certainly directed these attacks, my high school study on Pravda came to mind.

Pravda was the “one voice” propaganda news of Russia in the 1950s and ’60s. It dealt in disinformation, manipulating thoughts and betraying hearts.

Being a skeptic, I take nothing at face value. People who are kind and trustworthy, who have not known liars, believe what they are told. I have an elderly friend who told me he voted for Donald Trump.

Being a Democrat, I asked him why. He said because Barack Obama took “In God We Trust” off our money. I told him this wasn’t true, and had to prove it to him. He asked me, “Why would someone lie to an old man?” He was bewildered.

What the Russians have done goes much deeper than voting machines. They have entered the minds and hearts of voters, building on prejudice and manipulating hearts.

This is the reason America is so violently divided on truth: We are operating on two different versions of truth! The reinforcement of this alternative truth has made it possible for Donald Trump to say that he could shoot someone and get away with it.

Hearts have been hardened. Pravda is alive and well and living in the United States. Voter beware: Vet your information. Test the spirits.