How the useful idiot has weaponized fake news fed by Russian Propaganda

Yeah I don't know how Republicans & Trump fans can keep coming on TV and on forums like this and keep saying "There is no Evidence", and equating this story as to some sort of crazy conspiracy theory. There is massive evidence that almost with precision the Trump campaign was pushing Russian Propaganda, and doing things like accurately predicting that very specific things were about to come out (Podesta emails, etc.)

Its true that Trump might have not committed any crimes himself, but there is a lot there that will get used against them for the foreseeable future. The big item I'll be looking for in the next few weeks that will probably take this up to the next level of smoke leading to fire will be if we learn how the Russians obtained voter roles of registered voters that they were targeting specifically with precision. They would have had to gotten that from someone... was that person or persons an American or part of the Trump campaign. That's a big one there to look out for.

However.... the probability chart is very interesting. Its possible that Trump is just a useful Idiot. Mark Cuban also thinks this is true. Do Trump fans really think this is a good thing? At this point its likely best case scenario for Trump to be found by. Much like with Comey coming out about Hillary and saying she committed no crimes, but here are X,Y, and Z things that she did that were inappropriate, I expect at the very least something like this to happen with these investigations where Comey at the very least comes out to condone this type of vetting of campaign officials, and lose coordination with a foreign power that wants to hurt our country.

Not sure why Trump fans think this is going to have a happy ending either way. Hillary's use of a private server was used over and over and over again for years which ultimately corroded her as a political figure to the point where it got Trump elected. Being "Just" a Useful Idiot for Russia will forever haunt Trump.

But we still have a lot of questions left to be answered. Starting with how Russia obtained voter role information for them to target people that specifically.

 

Since the election is over and he won't face re-election for 3 more years, I don't think any of this will hurt him too badly. His re-election campaign will succeed or fail based on his tenure as President and on the opponent running against him, not Russian interference in 2016 that is at least partially speculative. If the Democrats run someone as terrible as Hillary and Trump is at all an effective President, he would sail to re-election. This won't be helped if they are relying on a four year old scandal based almost entirely on circumstantial evidence and supposition. If Trump is a disaster and the Democrats find a warm body that isn't beset by scandal, he will not get a second term. No one wins an election by relying on attacks against the incumbent's first winning campaign.

 

I couldn't disagree more, SupidMoniker. The Russian interference isn't a fantasy. If all 16 Federal intelligence agencies and the Director of the FBI all say that the Russians actively interfered with the 2016 presidential election, you shouldn't dismiss it. Frankly, I'm surprised by your post. Out of curiosity, where do you typically get your news? I get mine from a host of different sources, and would be happy to disclose some of them. How about you? I'm wondering why you are so blasé about a hostile foreign power interfering with our national election. It doesn't matter who you were for, or what political party you associate yourself with, if any. As an American, I am very, very ticked off about it. Why aren't you?

 

Bush and Rubio didn't get bogged down in scandals or leaks or anything like that. Their messaging just didn't resonate with a conservative base that moved further right. They looked too establishment, too elite, too soft, and too much same-ole-same-ole for the voter mood in 2016. Maybe the trolls participated, but I have to credit Trump for reading the zeitgeist better than them and doing what he needed to do to get the votes. I certainly don't see how hacking made a difference.

 

Find out when Trump like to read Twitter and bomb him with fake news during those time, hoping that he will spread some of it.

They actually saw traffic that show Russia doing exactly this.

 

Actually a lot of what he says is true, most of the Americans only care about how they are doing. That is one of the big reasons why Trump won this time, many of the white voters in the Midwest are not doing well, Trump promised them the moon and they voted for him. Russia effected the election, that is true, but many voters won't care about that in 2020. If Trump can deliver on his promise of making many of the white voters improve their standard of living, he have a good shot of winning the reelection, if he cannot deliver, he is out.

 

There is a great deal of truth to that. If I was an advisor to the Democrats I would be telling them to focus my message on Economics and healthcare with policy to back it up because your message has got to be "My plan works, and Trumps plan was a con artist bait and switch approach to jobs & healthcare".

It wont be hard to prove his message was a Con (geez look at the healthcare bill, his budget etc. that punish his voters), but the trick will be explaining your message, and not going off on a tangent about Trumps corruption on the campaign trail. Your message has to be clear, concise, and your own. Russia will certainly be an issue that follows Trump till the end of his relevancy, but as a Democrat trying to win back those voters, you gotta stick to message, and not get diverted in Russia Russia Russia.

 

Apparently just like we try mightily to manipulate elections all over the world if we don't like one side, the Russians undoubtedly tried to do so with our elections. Trump insiders had business ties to the corrupt Putin like the Clintons Foundation with regimes like Azerbaijan etc. and the Bushes with the Saudis etc. The news media certainly finds this a juicy story rather than policy issues. Spies and possible "deep throats" maybe some proxy wars or even nuclear brinksmanship to spark media ratings.

The Clinton/Obama status quo wing of the Dems is loathe to consider not just Russia, but maybe Hillary lost running as the as a continuation of the Obama/Hillary status quo; wasting months on women being grabbed by their p*****s or similar "issues" ; calling Trump supporters "deplorables"; saying little about her cautious policies except go to her website to read position papers; choosing the uninspiring Tim Kaine to be her VP. In her arrogance Hillary did not go to Wisconsin even one time; largely left Michigan to surrogates; wasted lots of tv money in California concerned about possibly losing the popular vote while just winning the stupid slavery remnant electoral college vote.

The Hillary/Obama wing of the Dems seem still basically satisfied (except for Hillary's loss) to continue with uninspiring incremental policy proposals massaged by pubic relations consultants and vetted by their Wall Street/big money donors. (OK, they should massage such messaging a bit for millenials.) If these type of Dems can just keep pounding Russia "gate" and Trump so crazy memes to resist Trump like the GOP used Benghazzi and birtherism they can return to power without alienating their funders by resorting to those pesky spending tax and trade policies of the Bernie Bros and those irresponsible "populists "outside of the Beltway and Silicon Valley.

 

Surely you left something out in your tirade against the Democratic Party. Something like it's a big ****ing deal when a hostile foreign power intercedes with our national elections. You should be very concerned about that, glynch, but you'd rather take another shot at Ms. Clinton and the Democratic Party, because you're still have a wet dream about the loss of Senator Sanders, a very nice fellow that happens to NOT be a Democrat. I guess that's how you get your rocks off these days.

One would think that you'd remember another time in our history when few believed an American president was capable of illegal acts while in office, and that said president couldn't possibly be attempting to coverup his crimes. But no - you type a very long and clearly bitter tirade that belittles the outrageous Russian assault on our democracy. Heck, that isn't enough for you. You have to attempt to equate past US actions with an attack on the heart of our political system.

You have to either be bored out of your mind, or striking out mindlessly against the world, particularly our part of the world, because your pet project, Venezuela, is falling deeper into a bizarre dictatorship. Heck, perhaps that regime can buddy up with Putin, like Mr. Trump has. After all, they have a lot in common. In my humble opinion.

 

Deckard, first I did vote for Hillary even though in Texas it was basically symbolic. I do hope you do not favor nuclear brinkmanship in which with an error could lead to nuclear war with Russia? Hopefully you are not in favor of a a mutli-trillion Cold War like Hillary and the Cold War liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Do you acknowledge the tremendous and open efforts made by the US to interfere in the Russian elections and install Yeltsin? (Try some research perhaps). Can we perhaps agree that even it is Trump it might be good to deescalate with Russia.

Do you see Russia or Bernie as the main reason why Hillary lost? Do you think that the Democratic Party establishment as dominated by the Clintons and Obama has any responsibility for losing 66 out of the 99 state houses and a great chunk of the working class to the GOP. Or again, just the Russians and liberals/ democratic socialists in and outside the Democratic Party. Speaking of that, Bernie did run as a Democrat and he has brought many young people to the Democratic Party.

If it turns out that Trump has committed crimes or actionable treason and has covered them up he should be removed, but irrational Russia phobia should not permit us to fail to go about this in a proper manner.

As far as Venezuela, I assume that you support United States sanctions and our attempts to interfere with their elections and our aid to right wing parties who try to overthrow Maduro who is still the elected president of Venezuela. As far as dictatorship there, can you accept the Carter Center (Jimmy Carter is a Democrat btw) who said he won a fair election? It appears due to a number of reasons (and not the Chavistas being "commies" such as Maduro not being as charismatic and talented as Chavez, economic errors by the Maduro Administrtion, the fall in the price of oil and , big business sabotage internally and externally Maduro is losing popularity. Explain what sort of dictatorship acknowledges losing elections as Maduro did in the midterms when the folks you support took over the legislature. I hope you are not for a violent right wing coup as the Republican and Hillary admirer Henry Kissinger promoted in Chile.

 

Glynch, you voting for Hillary in the general makes as big a difference as me voting for Bernie in the primary. None at all. Attempting to equate what happened in Russia 25+ years ago with what the Russian's did with our 2016 presidential election is absurd. The situations were vastly different. As for the failure of the Democratic Party to use modern technology like the GOP did to scientifically gerrymander the hell out of about 190 House seats for $30 million bucks in 2010 (which is what it reportedly cost), there is plenty of blame to toss around, as there is for the failure of the party of adequately fund state Democratic organizations. And Bernie a Democrat? Please - I like the guy, but he isn't a Democrat. He made that perfectly clear. As for bringing in all those young people, where were they in November of 2016? Having a picnic at the park? Going to see a flick? A hell of a lot of them didn't vote Democratic. So much for "following Bernie." Perhaps we wouldn't be dealing with Mr. trump today if Bernie hadn't dragged out conceding to Ms. Clinton, tossing word bombs at her and the Democratic Party, whose banner he was running under, the entire time. His action, and inaction, played perfectly into the "fake news" that was being driven by Russian intelligence. Did that hand Trump the "victory?" We don't know that, not yet. It certainly did nothing to help a flawed Clinton campaign win.

And Venezuela? Give us all a break. You're seriously still defending Maduro? Still blaming everything on everyone except the remnants of Chavez's political movement? Still ignoring the current regime's on-going outright destruction of democracy in that country? Really? you are hopeless, with all due respect.

Oh, and folks? The conversation between glynch and I illustrates perfectly why the Democratic Party struggles to work together and win elections as often as they should. We're too busy arguing with each other.

 

7M in and the Admin is happy to do nothing. Let's take a lesson from our sister, shall we.

Hackers Came, but the French Were Prepared

Lessons from France for Fighting Russian Interference in Democracy

 

RUSSIAN BOTS ARE STARTING TO ATTACK THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

Russian-linked bots and trolls have caused a surge in use of the hashtag #ResignPaulRyan on Twitter over the last 48 hours, just as the Republican speaker of the House was returning to his home state of Wisconsin for a month-long respite from Washington, D.C.

The unusual boost in Russian bots targeting a Republican lawmaker was first observed by the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy, created after the 2016 presidential election to “defend against, deter, and raise the costs on Russian and other state actors’ efforts to undermine democracy and democratic institutions.”

A monitoring dashboard established by the Alliance noted the uptick Monday morning. It coincided with surges in the use of other hashtags by Russian bots, including #TrumpTV, #Magnitsky, #Fake and #ConfessYourUnpopularOpinion.

It hasn’t been a common occurrence for the Alliance’s dashboard to pick up on Russian bot activity targeting members of the GOP since the site was launched last week by former FBI special agent Clint Watts. But Ryan wasn’t the only member of Trump’s party to face countless bots demanding his removal. A campaign calling on the president to fire National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster received widespread support from bots and trolls over the last several days using the hashtag #FireMcMaster, eventually getting picked up by some right-wing fake news sites that seem to have the president’s full attention, including Breitbart.