This truth cuts both ways though. Good information and good people are sometimes discredited by their associations. It's possible that disinformation and bad guys are accepted as often as they are dismissed. But the reverse is also possibly true. I've had brushes with deep state people and even collaborated with a couple. Afterward, those same forces used that fact to label me a disinformer.

I subscribe to being professional, open minded and to do good work you can stand behind. Then any associations you have are mostly inconsequential.