āJill Stein is a useful idiot for Russia. After parroting Kremlin talking points and being propped up by bad actors in 2016 sheās at it again,ā DNC spokesman Matt Corridoni said in a statement toĀ The Bulwark. āJill Stein wonāt become president, but her spoiler candidacyāthat both the GOP and Putin have previously shown interest inācan help decide who wins. A vote for Stein is a vote for Trump.ā
Russia is bad and all, but sheās much more directly a useful idiot for Republicans who are not only more directly focused on directly harming the people Steinās campaign is targeting, but have a significantly greater ability to actually accomplish it. No one needs to trust the US establishment that Russia is bad, they know Republicans and how theyāre bad.
Also, DNC, why are you making this news on The Bulwark? Way to undercut your message.
Well thatās the whole point, Putinās goal is to destabilize the West, thatās why he backed Trump and Stein in 2016 and 2020, itās why he backed Brexit in 2016.
Now, for the DNC and Bulwark, thereās a more strongly worded article on democrats.org which is straight from the DNC, unfortunately the DNC doesnāt meet our credibility guidelines for posts. LOL.
https://democrats.org/news/icymi-jill-stein-to-campaign-today-with-alleged-russian-assets/
"Engaging with foreign assets is a pattern for Stein. Previously, theĀ Senate Intelligence CommitteeĀ investigated links between Steinās 2016 campaign and Russiaās efforts to interfere in the election, while an indictment brought byĀ Special Counsel Robert MuellerĀ found that the Kremlinās Internet Research Agency had used social media to promote her candidacy. In 2015, SteinĀ attendedĀ a gala in support ofĀ Russian propaganda television network, RT, where she sat at the head table alongside Vladimir Putin andĀ Michael Flynn. Stein hasĀ repeatedly parrotedĀ Kremlin views and posted aĀ campaign videoĀ from Moscowās Red Square with language āripped from Putinās talking points.ā
Despite her ties to the Kremlin and Putin, the GOP has still embraced Jill Stein as a spoiler candidate.Ā Donald TrumpĀ praised Jill Stein, saying he likes her āvery much.āĀ Additionally, the GOP has beenĀ helping Stein with ballot accessĀ in an attempt toĀ prop up her spoiler candidacy.Ā "
Putin isnāt all that powerful a force in our society. He has limited influence and capability to disrupt operations. The GOP on the other hand has the ability and intention to drastically curtail our freedoms while sacrificing our well-being so rich people can get marginally richer. Theyāre the ones who can spend billions of dollars running sham efforts to get Stein on the ballot, theyāre the ones who can give money to her campaign, and theyāre the ones who have the cultural knowledge to run truly dangerous influence operations.
Iām much more worried and angered by a āleftā voice allying with the GOP than I am with some idea of foreign influence. The foreigners arenāt the problem. There are plenty of fascists right here at home and no remote ideological excuse for working with them in any fashion regardless of how angry you are with the DNC.
Youāre understating the Russian influence:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/russias-2024-election-interference-already-begun-rcna134204
https://apnews.com/article/russian-interference-presidential-election-influencers-trump-999435273dd39edf7468c6aa34fad5dd
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/04/russia-accused-of-trying-to-influence-us-voters-through-online-campaign
Do you really think buying Facebook ads and running upvote farms is a major contributor to the temperature of the country? Iām sorry but Iām just not convinced. I think that the corporations and billionaires that own all of our media outlets are responsible for 99% of disinformation and that Putinās efforts are a fart in the wind in comparison.
Absolutely. Russia did the same thing in the UK leading up to the Brexit vote because they recognized the value in a weaker European Union.
Top UK Google searches following the vote:
āWhat is Brexit?ā
āWhat is the EU?ā
https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/06/24/480949383/britains-google-searches-for-what-is-the-eu-spike-after-brexit-vote
They didnāt even know what they were voting on but the propaganda stream got them to vote yes.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1669273/russian-meddling-brexit-referendum-funding-spt
Bulwark has been on a good article blitz recently.
Theyāre fine, but they were explicitly founded as Never Trump conservatives, which is not the outfit you want to go to when trying to discredit challenges that are nominally based on the Democrats being too conservative.
Good to know, thanks. That might explain some of the articles popping up lately.