Hunter Biden’s Laptop “Totally Irrelevant” Says Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum

At a conference hosted by The Atlantic and the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy,” Atlantic staff writer Anne Applebaum spoke with David Axelrod discussing Russia’s disinformation efforts, and what makes some conspiracy theories so successful. However, when college freshman David Smit asked a question about the Russian disinformation label being placed on the Hunter Biden laptop story she says, “My problem with Hunter Biden’s laptop is that I think it’s totally irrelevant” . . . “So, I don’t find it to be interesting.”

Introduction: Ladies and Gentlemen please welcome to the stage and Applebaum staff writer for the Atlantic and David Axelrod founding director of The Institute of politics.

Daniel Smit: Thank you, thank you for doing that, it’s really appreciated. I’m Daniel Smit, I’m a freshman at the University of Chicago. My question is for Ms. Applebaum. In 2020 you wrote, “Those who live outside the Fox News bubble do not, of course, need to learn any of the stuff about Hunter Biden,” referring to his laptop, of course. A Poll, later, after they found out that if voters knew about the content of the laptop 16 percent of Joe Biden voters would have acted differently. Now, of course, we know a few weeks ago the New York Times confirmed that the content is real. Do you think the media acted inappropriately when they instantly dismissed Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation and what can we learn from that in ensuring that what we label as disinformation is truly disinformation and not reality.

Anne Applebaum: My problem with Hunter Biden’s laptop is that I think it’s totally irrelevant. I mean, it’s not whether it’s disinformation, I don’t think the Hunter Biden’s business relationships have anything to do with who should be president of the United States. So, I don’t find it to be interesting. I mean, that would be my problem with that as a major news story.