“We had it coming”: The 2016 Russiagate and its aftermath revisited

Abstract

This paper examines the reactions to a complex case involving a series of developments labeled in the United States as Russia’s meddling in the 2016 American elections. The paper addresses major developments or political fallouts of Russiagate. First, some politicians, mostly in Russia but only few in the West, insisted that there has been no meddling or interference. Second, to other commentators, especially in the West, the meddling with US elections indeed took place. Yet to others, and this is the third development, the problem was not necessarily about the act of the 2016 meddling, but rather about the following “collusion” between Donald Trump and some Moscow’s operatives, on the other, and their attempts to “cover up” their mutual illegal affairs. In the context of these policy narratives, this paper’s conclusion refers to the “We had it coming” phenomenon in international relations. The Russiagate became a subject conveniently fitted in the political narratives of both national capitals. In Moscow the belief has been that this case had been totally fabricated and fueled by anti-Russian sentiments in Washington. In the United States, there is little doubt that Russia has meddled with the elections and would do it again. Both sides used the case to advance their strategic domestic foreign policy narratives.