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Vladimir Putin has been actively engaged in manipulating the USA through the dark arts of digital disinformation for at least a decade. Russia manipulating American democracy via social media and having bought Trump some time back is going swimmingly. A brief look at the state of the Republican Party and the Trump candidacy for President can confirm that. America has been split down the middle with progressives on one side and the MAGA led conservatives on the other. The cosy coalition between MAGA and Putin’s Russia would strike cold warriors from the 1950’s as completely bizarre. Americans backing the military aspirations of an eastern demagogue and his police state is what we appear to be seeing. WTF?
Putin’s Russia Leading American Democracy a Merry Dance
For anybody who has been studiously ignoring the Russian machinations in America I would advise that it is time to pay attention. The world is heading into very dangerous territory with extreme greed and caveman bullying tactics leading the charge. Putin’s Russia has identified America’s points of vulnerability and gone to town on them with bots aplenty. Democracy has always largely been about the art of persuasion, ever since those early days in ancient Athens. Getting the vote via scare campaigns and corruption have been with us for millennia.
American’s Too Dumb To Realise Who Is Stealing Their Lunch
Americans are so dumb. Why? Because they always make everything about money. The Internet and the world wide web were developed by US government bodies. Then in 1993 President Bill Clinton privatised it and handed it over to the market with bugger all safe guards in place. Many of the problems we have with social media platforms not being held accountable for their content are because of this lack of meaningful oversight. The neoliberal mantra – let the market take care of it – reveals yet another black hole. It is actually the abdication of government responsibility and yet another societal failure costing lives and potentially destroying democracy.
“Congress has followed the Supreme Court’s lead and enacted Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. Section 230 offers internet service providers immunity from liability for content posted by third parties on their platforms. Brown notes that courts apply this liability shield broadly. Section 230 has protected providers from claims pertaining to intentional infliction of emotional distress, terrorism support, and defamation.’
Congress Is A Proven Failure
Congress is a proven failure in addressing crucial crises effecting America, as witnessed by their inability to get gun control laws passed. The politics rules the beast in the US; and right now the Trump led MAGA GOP exposes the very worst manifestation of this governmental failure. Some 400 million people are being coerced and manipulated by special interest forces like corporate lobbyists. The system has been corrupted and taken over by these vested interests to the detriment of ordinary Americans. Americans know this but half of them are rusted onto the camp controlled by the worst aspect of this distortion of democracy. The GOP lead with social issues and gather their support around identity politics. Christian Nationalism, anti-woke BS, white supremacy, and the intolerance for things like gender and sexual preference diversity. Meanwhile they are in bed with big business and the rentier economy, which has been decimating the wealth of the middle class since Reagan.
Russian Bots Fuelling The Polarisation Of America
Much of the inflammatory stuff on the Internet has been coming from Russian bots for many years. Winding up folk on forums and in online chat rooms is a Russian speciality. Spreading disinformation via the Internet and on social media in particular has been a winning strategy for Putin. Many Americans are too dumb to get this. Lots of ordinary folk have no idea how the Internet actually works. Ignorance provides a great operating ground for those with a dark intent to do their stuff. It has been an incredibly cost effective means of paralysing American democracy. The 2016 election of Donald Trump was greatly aided by the Russians spreading anti-Hillary Clinton stuff online. Fake news was rife on social media about Hillary. Americans are used to the lies and misinformation during elections, just this time it was coming from outside of the country for the purposes of spreading disinformation. Similarly, the Russians were at it big time in Britain in the lead up to the Brexit vote. Britain leaving the EU was a big win for Putin – it weakened both Britain and the EU.
The US Has Been Made Weaker By The Trump Years
Russia manipulating American democracy makes the US weaker internally and externally. If you look at the last decade much of it has been taken up with Trump. Trump has filled the airwaves with chaotic crap about him everywhere you look. The nation has never been more polarised. Threats of violence from Trump supporters are never far away, as they try to lean on the institutions protecting democracy. Men resorting to caveman bullying and violence as exemplified by the January 6th, 2021, insurrection at the Capital. Extremism is most often a reactionary response to societal anxiety by a section of the community. Following the pandemic we have seen the rise of far right groups and Naziism in terms of increased visibility and numbers participating in marches and demonstrations. Fear of death is a powerful call to action but it can lead some in the wrong direction.
Trump makes a habit of saying shocking things in public. This keeps him in the news and in the public eye. He is buffoon-like and this becomes a mitigating factor in the mind’s of many of his supporters. “Oh, that is only Trump talking!” However, around the orange Jesus are some very serious and nasty people capable of doing untold damage to the lives of many Americans. Indeed, history tells us that a similar false sense of levity surrounded Adolf Hitler in his early years. Many Germans did not take him too seriously until he became the Fuhrer. Of course, by then it was too late and the dictator went on to kill tens of millions of people globally. American democracy is becoming undone by the forces coalescing around Trump. Stupidity, greed, and the politics of grievance are fuelling the popularity of Trump’s second coming. Putin is in his corner, of course, pulling strings wherever he can.
Tucker Carlson Useful Idiot Interview With Putin
“US talk show host Tucker Carlson’s interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin began with a rambling half-hour lecture on the history of Russia and Ukraine.
Mr Carlson, frequently appearing bemused, listened as Mr Putin expounded at length about the origins of Russian statehood in the ninth century, Ukraine as an artificial state and Polish collaboration with Hitler.
It is familiar ground for Mr Putin, who infamously penned a 5,000-word essay entitled “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians” in 2021, which foreshadowed the intellectual justification the Kremlin offered for its invasion of Ukraine less than a year later.
Historians say the litany of claims made by Mr Putin are nonsense – representing nothing more than a selective abuse of history to justify the ongoing war in Ukraine.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of Money Matters: Navigating Credit, Debt, and Financial Freedom.
©MidasWord
