Assange could go back to running WikiLeaks and would probably run it better now. What you need to run WikiLeaks is the trust of sources, and all of the attention that has been given to Assange can only help.
Snowden would also be able to repeat his acts, because you can pass clearance if you have no criminal record, and he's never been tried.
>because you can pass clearance if you have no criminal record, and he's never been tried.
>(The second one is a joke, the first is not.)
Stranger things have happened although this would be pretty comical. Maybe the pendulum swings so much that we get a super progressive Millenial president and she makes Snowden head of NSA to clean up the agency. :)
Nonsense, FDR was only able to implement his transformative policies because the populace were on the verge of going after the elite in the country. They had to throw them some crumbs in the form of Social Security Act. This paved the way for Medicare and Medicaid. The country shifted to far leftist until the pendulum started to swing back to the right with the Civil Rights Act being the catalyst.
We are in similar circumstances in this decade where the nearly unrestricted capitalism of the Reagan era has clearly failed. What will be the breaking point that forces the pendulum back? I don't know. Maybe it will end up being the long tail of destruction in the post-COVID or era maybe something we haven't seen yet.
We will see a far leftist paradigm in this country in our lifetimes but it may end up being a time where many young people here will already be reaching older age. Oldest Millennials are 40+ now so many of them will never recover from the damage done already. Gen-Z may still have a chance. Hopefully Gen Alpha will not have to bear too much of the brunt of the current collapsing right wing paradigm and they can benefit from a Left leaning paradigm when they come of age in 20 years.
Why would any rational actor trust Assange now? He's shown himself to be a grand standing sociopath. It's also been made plain he's had and has an axe to grind against Western governments. He's a fellow traveller with Russian intelligence if not an unwitting asset (to be charitable).
Who would believe anything he has to say? Based on WikiLeaks' history under his direction no one could look at a WikiLeaks story and think they were getting any unvarnished truth. They could be sure they'd get posts disparaging or attacking Western governments...and that's about it.
Snowden would also be able to repeat his acts, because you can pass clearance if you have no criminal record, and he's never been tried.
(The second one is a joke, the first is not.)