It’s more like democrat war rooms,media matters,etc that’s messing up searches...
I don't see that.
I'm complaining about non-political searches.
Google used to be able to come up with relative obscure net posted data/info about all sorts of obscure, narrow, focused topics. Maybe those resources are no longer available on-line, but it would seem that Google should be able to pick pages out of the WAYBAC files. Maybe it's Entropy at work.
Yeah, that's not getting enough attention. What should be reviewed is Search Engine Optimization, and how even a resolutely 'agnostic' algorithm can be steered when you learn how to push and pull it. I don't expect 1 in 10 pols grasp how this functions.
I immediately suspected this kind of steering even before the research on how manipulating instant search bar autofill selections negatively or positively would affect large swathes of people's perceptions. I think even Scott Adams blogged about it during the last election.
The Russia! Russia! Russia! story is really to detract from how successfully Trump's team leveraged online marketing. They don't want to ditch the machinery, they just want to make sure someone else doesn't co-opt it again.