"Useful idiots"

[billvon 3,092]

I haven't seen much coverage of this here.  

Two weeks ago, two Russians - Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, both employees of Russia Today - where charged with conducting a money-laundering operation that spent nearly $10 million on efforts to sway public opinion in the US and interfere with the upcoming election.  The money went primarily to three right wing influencers - Dave Rubin, Tim Pool, and Benny Johnson - funnelled through a right wing media company called Tenet Media.  One of the influencers got $400K month, plus a $100,000 signing bonus, for making four videos a week for Tenet.

RT mocked the charges, posting "Hahaha!"

As part of the filing, they included some Kremlin documents that asked the influencers to post articles that:

-Portray Ukrainian President Zelensky as corrupt and inept
-Amplify any news about migrants crossing the US border
-Emphasize how illegal immigrants are a threat to white Americans
-Demand border security and aid for homeless vets come before funding for Ukraine
-Create content "proving" that the LGBT community is a threat to white Americans

How odd that these align so exactly with GOP talking points as of late.

Merrick Garland stated that these attacks are increasing as the US gets closer to an election.  The election of Harris would be a diaster for Putin.  He needs Trump to win so that he can win in Ukraine - thus the amount of money being poured into this election interference effort.  And by using American influencers, he can claim that Russia has nothing to do with this; it's all Americans!  Blame them!

Which also plays into his goal to weaken America.  Several people close to Putin have said that Putin views an American civil war as the best possible outcome from his efforts.

For their part, Rubin, Pool and Johnson have maintained their innocence, claiming that they had no idea where all that money was coming from.  They have continued their spreading of Russian propaganda in the meantime.  Vladimir Lenin called such people "useful idiots" - people who could be manipulated into doing a foreign power's bidding, against their own interest, through facile lies.

[ryoder 1,590]

Devin "LegalEagle" Stone did a 26 minute report on this 2 weeks ago:

 

[JerryBaumchen 1,451]

Hi folks,

More really good deals for the Useful Idiots:  Trump hawks $100,000 watches as he leverages his candidacy for profit | CNN Politics

But, will they keep on ticking when Trump takes a licking?

Jerry Baumchen