Member-only story
America the Credulous
Why do Americans keep falling for fake news?
It feels like forever ago, but the French elections only concluded in May of last year, with Emmanuel Macron securing a decisive victory over Marine Le Pen. Following the success of populist campaigns around the globe — Brexit, Poland, and Donald Trump — it was assumed by some that 2017 would be the year in which the Le Pen family would finally put up a real fight. Indeed, just before the voting started, a haymaker came Macron’s way, France’s own version of an “October Surprise.” On May 5, 2017, private emails from Macron’s campaign were hacked and subsequently released to the public. What’s worse, thanks to France’s election laws, because the emails were released less than two days before the election, Macron couldn’t take any action to defend himself even if he wanted to.
However, instead of a mild panic ensuing, the French people kept a cool head and helped Macron sail to a resounding victory. The punch never landed. Surely, anyone following the plot of this dramatic series knows this isn’t how things are supposed to go. So, what happened?
The National Security Agency (NSA) actually determined beforehand that the French election was vulnerable to Russian meddling. They warned the French that Russian hackers were attempting to disrupt the political process the same way they had…
