Attempting to figure out whats going on in Julian Assanges head is a daily struggle. After moving into the Ecuadorean embassy in London seven years ago to avoid extradition to Sweden on since-dropped sexual assault allegations, the 46-year-old has remained holed up there with Twitter as his main means of communication. From the embassys confines, hes kept himself busy leaking a slew of hacked DNC emails,CIA exploits,and generally inserting himself into world events in which he plays no part. Now, it looks like Assange is doubling down on his attempt to join the Trump clan. <\/p>\n
A few hours after Donald Trump Jr. tweeted out an absurdly incriminating email chain in an apparent attempt to pre-empt a New York Times story about those emails, Assange tweeted this: <\/p>\n
Todays humble brag follows a slightly more veiled attempt at currying favor with the Trump administration that occurred earlier in the week. On Sunday, the WikiLeaks Twitter account replied to a Trump tweet and suggested the president name Julian Assange as head of an impenetrable Cyber Security unit the president claimed he discussed forming with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Aside from the fact that Assange is not an American citizen, this idea seems pretty ludicrous in light of the fact that Trumps Justice Department is reportedly considering bringing criminal charges against Assange and WikiLeaks for releasing classified government information. Even still, WikiLeaksand probably Assange himself, whos often the operator of the accounttweeted: <\/p>\n
This is also really weird. <\/p>\n
But lets get back to todays tweet. On one hand, Assange seems to be implying that he knew about the Times scoop well before the paper published its very damning story. On the other hand, Sundays tweet implies that Assange is begging Trump Jr. to bring him and, presumably, WikiLeaks into the presidents inner sanctum, a disgustingly powerful collection of President Trumps allies and confidants. What an odd thing for Assange, a self-described information activist who claims he has dedicated his life to exposing the truth, to do. What strange allies hed find in Donald Trump and his closest aides, a group of people who simply cant stop lying about issues central to the worlds most prominent democracy. What a weird coda for Assanges already controversial career. <\/p>\n
Then again, if youve paid much attention to Assange and his curious character in recent years, these attempts to cozy up to Trump make total sense. Assange, you might say, loves him some anarchy. And as Risk, the new documentary about WikiLeaks and its founder, paints in painful detail, Assange is obsessed with power. He wants to be close to those who have it, and he wants to stockpile it for himself, however hes able to do that. Theres a scene in Risk that shows Assange considering how his organization could influence the 2016 presidential election. It appears that the then-accused rapist (the charges were subsequently dropped) was literally looking for ways to tamper with the democratic process, not necessarily because he favored one candidate over the other but because he could. Eventually, by publishing a slew of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 presidential campaign, Assange did. <\/p>\n
Where does one go from there? According to Assanges recent behavior, you try to advise the leaders who you helped tilt the election towards. It remains unclear whether the leaked DNC emails that WikiLeaks released came from the Russian government. Assange insists they didnt, although he also refuses to reveal his sources. <\/p>\n
At this point in time, though, its safe to assume that this Assange character isnt exactly trustworthy. Is he a sociopath? Thats for the psychologists to decide. Is he a lackey for seemingly authoritarian regimes? Thats for history to determine. Is he a twerp? He sure is. <\/p>\n
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