It's the year of the politically absurd
The US election seemingly hit rock bottom on accusations of rape against Donald Trump that were countered by counter accusations against Bill Clinton.
At the time it sounded like political mudslinging in a desperate, tight election.
What we're finding out is that it's part of the new political normal. Everything is fair game regarding your rivals, even if they're rivals in your own party.
If you missed it late yesterday, the first real political story of 2017 is about what Trump likes to do in Russian hotel rooms. Or it's about a 4Chan joke that shows his opponents will believe and repeat anything.
At the same time, it shows that institutions don't matter anymore. This isn't a US intelligence report but it probably sounds like it is to most of the public and the result is that they have even less faith in the intelligence community (which also bungled the Hillary Clinton email investigation).
The underlying message is that the truth doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is winning so there is free reign to spread lies and all that does is undermine the public's faith in institutions.
