Media types hit panic button over CIA Russia assessment

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Concern Russian hacking threat not taken seriously

Bias Bash: Ellen Ratner on why the media should not be simply going along with the story that Russia is behind recent government hacks

It may be time for a deep breath.

In the wake of a CIA assessment that Russia interfered in the U.S. election to boost Donald Trump, some media personalities are seizing on the report as proof Moscow just installed its own version of a Manchurian candidate.

The Washington Post first reported on the CIA assessment Friday. But despite internal disagreements over the analysis -- the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has not embraced the CIA finding, and neither has the FBI -- the report has fueled efforts to derail Trump in the Electoral College and call the entire election into question.

Ryan Lizza at the New Yorker concluded America now finds itself in an “unprecedented” situation.

GOP strategist John Weaver concluded the country has been hit by “cyber 9/11” and Russia “committed a Pearl Harbor cyber attack” to put Trump in the White House.

Those were the more restrained reactions.

Joy Behar of "The View" called on Trump to step down over his disagreement with the CIA assessment over Russia’s involvement. (Trump called the finding "ridiculous" in an interview with "Fox News Sunday.")

“He has to step down before the inauguration before they give him the nuclear codes. We are at risk when the president is fighting with the CIA,” she said to applause from the audience.

Talking about connections to Russia in members of Trump’s team, including former campaign boss Paul Manafort and pick for secretary of state Rex Tillerson, Behar asked: “Do we have to wait until the hammer and sickle is on the American flag before we stand up to this guy?” (The hammer and sickle has not been on the Russian flag since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.)

GQ’s Keith Olbermann offered this summary of the state of the nation:

"We are at war with Russia, or perhaps more correctly we have lost a war with Russia without  battle. We are no longer a sovereign nation, we are no longer a democracy, we are no longer a free people, we are the victims of a bloodless coup – so far a bloodless coup.”

If Olbermann is right about America being at war, the WWII British motto “Keep Calm and Carry on” doesn't seem to be the operative expression right now.