Now that the Russians have their propaganda machine comfortably esconced in the Internet and have no concerns about blowback from President Trump, they’re off and running. NBC News has the report on their first bit of mischief:
The Russian propaganda machine that tried to influence the 2016 U.S. election is now promoting the presidential aspirations of a controversial Hawaii Democrat who earlier this month declared her intention to run for president in 2020.
An NBC News analysis of the main English-language news sites employed by Russia in its 2016 election meddling shows Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who is set to make her formal announcement Saturday, has become a favorite of the sites Moscow used when it interfered in 2016.
Several experts who track websites and social media linked to the Kremlin have also seen what they believe may be the first stirrings of an upcoming Russian campaign of support for Gabbard.
Since Gabbard announced her intention to run on Jan. 11, there have been at least 20 Gabbard stories on three major Moscow-based English-language websites affiliated with or supportive of the Russian government: RT, the Russian-owned TV outlet; Sputnik News, a radio outlet; and Russia Insider, a blog that experts say closely follows the Kremlin line. The CIA has called RT and Sputnik part of “Russia’s state-run propaganda machine.”
So what should the responsible voter do? S/he could simply try to divine the true intentions of the Russians and vote against them. This could become quite difficult, though, as we get into the He knows that I know that he knows that I know loop.
So my suggestion is that a good list of Russian propaganda web-sites should be made available or otherwise obtained, and then just ignore those sites. Find some good sites, such as mainstream sites that have decades of experience as being solidly American, and use them to gather up information about candidates you may wish to vote for.
Divining the intentions of the Russians is too hard for the average citizen, so just discard tainted information and make your judgments from there.
