The battle against ISIS and Vladimir Putin's invasion of Crimea in 2014 woke up the American national security apparatus to the notion of "hybrid war" - the impact of social media activity on battlefield results.  Beginning with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, this national security apparatus was aimed away from external enemies and turned inwards against American citizens - any of those deemed to be engaging in "Disinformation".  "Disinformation" formerly meant to refer to false information, *deliberately* planted by a foreign government. It is now a term used to refer to nearly any false or simply disfavored view or opinion.  The national intelligence services, in cahoots with Big Tech (Google, Twitter, Facebook - staffed HEAVILY with former intelligence officers) activated against any citizen engaging in wrong think - whether it was the idea that Donald Trump won without Russian interference, that the COVID-19 virus leaked from a lab, or that Hunter Biden's laptop was real and contained newsworthy info.  Jacob Siegel is an Iraq War veteran and senior editor of Tablet Magazine. He has written the definitive piece summarizing the Unholy Alliance of the National Security State and Big Tech fighting the "War on Disinformation".....against the American people.  He joined me this week to discuss.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices