Dianne Feinstein is the second most tweeted topic by Russian trolls in the past 48 hours

[Upstate One]

No wonder her name was trending for so long yesterday.
alliance for securing democracy
https://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org

[James48]

1. Where is this found?

Do you have the link to see this screen shot ?

[Princess Turandot]

3. Go to the link in the OP...

About halfway down on the left, the 'Trending Topics' graph card corresponds to the screenshot. (It looks a bit different as the screenshot appears to be taken on a smartphone, not a PC. Also, the numbers are likely dynamic, so they've changed some.)

[Hortensis]

2. We have good enemies and need to spread it around. :)

Of course, posts here only ended up establishing the respect Feinstein is held in generally, that she is polling well, and also that her closest competitor for her seat, though far behind right now, is also a respected party leader, not a member of a faction attacking from within.

All in all, Russia's attempt to shine a light on Feinstein did not at all reveal what they wanted it to. It did encourage Dems, and no doubt hopeful Pubs, to take note of what's happening in California, and at this point that's a healthy, united party and two good choices.

[JI7]

4. she released the transcript of the Fusion testimony

so they are going after her

[BigmanPigman]

6. Putin has a problem with strong, smart females.

He all know what he did to Hillary and how he tries to intimidate Merkel.

[Exotica]

20. That is why he likes Jill Stein

[Demsrule86]

16. With help from so called progressives...disgusting.

And there is something the GOP can exploit with De Leon apparently. (look down another poster).

[Renew Deal]

5. They thrive on division

Democrats need to stick together and be wise about when we have major disagreement.

[Demsrule86]

14. Well...I hope Feinstein wins or we could lose that seat...no doubt the Russians are after her...she

is very effective on the judiciary committee...you would think some would be smarter.

[ehrnst]

7. No surprise. She's effective. And she's a woman, and an older woman.

And they likely know that de León's history will make it much easier to neutralize him closer to election day than Feinstein's.

But the Los Angeles Democrat is facing a momentous challenge of his own in his first statewide campaign: No sooner had he announced he’d challenge one of California’s first two female U.S. senators than the Harvey Weinstein scandal unleashed a torrent of of sexual harassment allegations that engulfed the California Legislature.

Women in the Capitol community – including female lawmakers – have exposed deep-seated problems with sexual harassment. Misconduct allegations have led to the resignations of two state lawmakers. State Sen. Tony Mendoza, with whom de León shared a Sacramento apartment until he learned about Mendoza’s alleged behavior, is under investigation after The Bee reported that the Artesia Democrat invited a young woman seeking permanent employment in his office to his home to review résumés.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article192859954.html

[Honeycombe8]

23. That's not it. They're encouraging discord that already exists. They're egging it on.

That's what they do, is my understanding. That way, people don't show up to vote, or vote for a third party, or make enemies w/in the party..anything that keeps them from cohesively working together. They don't create it. They feed it and egg it on, to increase the already existing discord.

It's about Feinstein because that's the most common name bandied about in the discord.

[ananda]

8. Al Franken was the most effective senator ..

.. and .....

[ehrnst]

9. And Feinstein's primary opponent will be an easier target for the GOP than Franken

And therefore also easily nuetralized if he is too effective, like Franken:

But the Los Angeles Democrat is facing a momentous challenge of his own in his first statewide campaign: No sooner had he announced he’d challenge one of California’s first two female U.S. senators than the Harvey Weinstein scandal unleashed a torrent of of sexual harassment allegations that engulfed the California Legislature.

Women in the Capitol community – including female lawmakers – have exposed deep-seated problems with sexual harassment. Misconduct allegations have led to the resignations of two state lawmakers. State Sen. Tony Mendoza, with whom de León shared a Sacramento apartment until he learned about Mendoza’s alleged behavior, is under investigation after The Bee reported that the Artesia Democrat invited a young woman seeking permanent employment in his office to his home to review résumés.

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article192859954.html

The only way the Russian bots can neutralize how effective Feinstein is, is to use misogyny and divisiveness to get her primaried.

[Demsrule86]

11. That is what I though...you would think the people wouldn't fall for their tricks...I had no

knowledge of any sort of weakness the GOP and their Russian troll buddies might exploit, but I figured there was something.

[Jim Lane]

40. This is completely wrong because of California's jungle primary.

You're assuming that, as would be true in most states, there will be a Democratic primary picking our nominee, and a Republican primary picking the GOP nominee, both of whom qualify for the general-election ballot. Your predictable implication is that progressives who consider an incumbent Democrat to be too conservative should just STFU and not try to effect change.

In California, however, there are no partisan primaries, except for President. There will be one big primary ballot, open to all registered voters, with the five Democrats plus any Republicans, Libertarians, Greens, independents, and everyone else all on one ballot. If any candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, that candidate is elected. Otherwise, the top two, regardless of party, go to a runoff. “Jungle primary” and “top-two primary” are names given to this system.

California is so blue that, when Barbara Boxer retired, the runoff for her seat was between two Democrats, with Kamala Harris beating Loretta Sanchez. There's a good chance that this year’s runoff will be Feinstein versus De León.

It's unlikely that a Republican will even make it to the runoff, let alone win.

[ehrnst]

47. Tell it to the Bee.

[Jim Lane]

49. There is absolutely nothing in the Bee article that contradicts what I wrote.

Your post surprised me. I thought, "Is it possible that someone writing for the Sacramento Bee doesn't understand the jungle primary?"

I should've known better than to ask. Having read the entire article, I stand by every word I wrote. The confusion about the California system is not to be found in my post or in the Bee article.

[George II]

48. But what you're ignoring is that the republicans as a party despise Feinstein, just as they....

...despised Clinton. That's why they (may have) enlisted the Russians to attack Clinton. They'll do the same thing in California.

It's a very good bet that the two candidates in November will be Feinstein and De Leon. But the republicans, even though they won't have a candidate, would probably prefer a less seasoned, less famous, and less experienced Senator. So, chances are they'll be attacking Feinstein in the General election. They're already doing it, they have been frothing at the mouth since Feinstein didn't get the endorsement this weekend. Check out what Hannity said yesterday.

They may not be openly supporting De Leon, but they'll be fighting like crazy to get Feinstein beaten.

By the way, some polls now have Feinstein around 47% in the primary. A little more and she's in.

[Jim Lane]

50. I'm not ignoring it. I just don't let the Republicans dictate my support.

If there are two Democrats in the runoff, perhaps the news that Republicans back one candidate is all that some people need to back the other. I disagree. The Republicans don't possess reverse infallibility.

Also, even for people who hang on the Republicans' every word, it's not at all clear that they'd back de León. For some Republicans, for example, health care is an important issue. If they can't have a Senator who'll vote to repeal the ACA, they might decide to settle for one (Feinstein) who echoes the right-wing talking point that single payer means a government takeover, if the only alternative is a candidate (de León) who favors single payer.

Would the Republicans automatically prefer a "less seasoned" Senator? If I were a Republican strategist, I'd be inclined to say: "If Feinstein wins this time, there will probably be an open seat in 2024. If de León wins, he'll probably be running for re-election as an incumbent. Whatever chance we might have in 2024, if California has turned purple by then and/or there's a GOP wave, we'll have more of a chance at an open seat."

[Hortensis]

53. Exactly. I don't understand quarreling over normal

political developments here. Talk about a nothingberger.

Of course our party is producing more than one candidate to run in our primary. Good. That's normal, and it's the way it's supposed to be. If nothing else, maybe think of running two or more candidates as having some spares handy. And of course the Republican leadership will attack the frontrunner harshly and try to promote a weaker candidate they can beat in the general.

And neither DU nor the people who attend these conventions reflect the makeup of California Democrats -- by a long shot. So it's not wise to regard these typical partisan squabbles as more meaningful than they are.

Speaking of, they did finally endorse a candidate to run against Rohrabacher. But not until some styling themselves as outsiders spent some hours complaining that their preference didn't have the power behind him of the insider candidate and didn't represent "the people," i.e., them.

OC Register: Despite five Democratic opponents to Hans Keirstead uniting in an effort to block his endorsement, the stem-cell biologist was picked by the party in the race to unseat Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, ...

Go Hans! https://hansforca.com/

[Eliot Rosewater]

55. Oh the republicans dictate my vote ALL the fucking time.

Because you see we have a 2 party system, so the worst democrat alive is ten million times better than anyone else due to the fact that the party with ONE more seat decides

E V E R Y T H I N G

[Jim Lane]

56. In this context (especially), your comment is silly.

We're talking about which Democrat to favor in the California primary. Even assuming that the Republicans really do hate one more than the rest, that doesn't give any useful information about which of the Democrats is best.

BTW, it's also not true that the party with one more seat decides everything. The GOP learned that with the defeat of the AHCA. The right-wing Republicans in Arizona whose primary challenge to McCain failed would be able to explain to you that, on occasion, it matters which member of the party won the seat.

[Hortensis]

57. Don't agree with that. Repubs take out our best

if they can. Basic warfare. See who they attack and you know who they fear.

Same for the Russians.

A person could do a very good job of deciding how to vote just by checking out the Democratic Party's and its candidates' enemies. I'm particularly proud of the ones on our right, but glad not to own the ones on our left as well.

[Jim Lane]

58. I doubt that Feinstein's partisans would apply that rule.

I speculated in #50 that, if the Republicans can't elect a Senator from California this year (as they almost certainly can't), they'd probably prefer that Feinstein be re-elected. If that turned out to be true, I doubt that anyone who's now backing Feinstein would switch.

That's not a criticism of Feinstein supporters. If they think she's the best choice, I don't think they should switch just because of what the GOP says.

[Hortensis]

62. Feinstein is a stabilizer who can work with either side.

Tough Democratic competence hardly suits the anti-regulation plutocrats or the Russians. Both of those would love to replace the current leadership that's focused on stopping them with the kind of people who are too foolish to pay attention to the forces gathered outside the Democratic Party fires.

As we saw very clearly in 2016 when together they all managed to take out the biggest, most dangerous threat to all their various plans, our candidate for POTUS, Hillary Clinton.

(Btw, Toto, you're not in 1970 anymore.)

[Jim Lane]

64. You're right that we're not in 1970 anymore.

Back in 1970, the ability to work with either side meant something. Now, it's become much less of a factor. The Republicans in Congress are so far to the right that we can rarely hope for more than picking off a handful on an occasional vote (like the AHCA).

Another difference from 1970 is that, back then, California had partisan primaries. The subsequent change in that law has a major effect on strategic considerations. Quite a few posts in this thread reflect an ignorance of the difference.

[Eliot Rosewater]

59. One good thing about this thread is I have added one more person I dont need to ever respond to

again...no, not you.

[Hortensis]

63. Glad that's not me.

[Honeycombe8]

25. +1. nt

[Hortensis]

52. Ananda, we lost a good senator in Franken, but he wasn't

even the most effective in the public hearings that generated most of this admiration. Even there he stumbled over his words occasionally and frequently had to gather his thoughts. I forgive him for being no Kamala Harris. She was a professional prosecutor, after all, and coming fully prepared with a well organized mind and nailing people with questions is natural for her.

In order to put Senator Franken in perspective, why not read up on his record, and perhaps read one of his own books to get to know him a bit? And maybe for a few others who are suffering from severe cases of voter underappreciation.

[volstork]

10. Democrats continue to play

right into Russian hands as we massacre our own (eg— Franken).

[R B Garr]

44. Exactly. No one hears a word from Franken's replacement.

We heard Franken's devastating barbs against Trump/Russian almost daily.

[leftofcool]

12. Democrats are going to need lots of luck in the mid-terms.

[ehrnst]

15. A Dem Senator of her seniority, strength and lack of scandals is very valuable at this point

in history.

They know this.

[Honeycombe8]

21. That's not it. It's the discord in the party...they encourage more discord.

That's part of their pattern, what they do, is my understanding. She is actually friendlier to Trump than her opponent is. That's not what Russia cares about at this point. They want to split the vote, get Dems fighting with each other. Not vote at all or vote for a third party. Anything but focus together to vote someone in and fight Trump.

[ehrnst]

26. In what way is she "friendlier to Trump?"

Than de Leon?

Anyone less experienced and effective than her would be better for Trump.

[ehrnst]

46. Crickets.....

[Farmer-Rick]

17. I don't mean to be stupid but

How do you know it is Russian trolls causing it to trend?

[Exotica]

22. go to the link

https://dashboard.securingdemocracy.org/

Top Themes
Updated on February 7, 11:53 PM
Between January 14 and January 31, we examined 159 unique articles that were among the top URLs shared by Kremlin-oriented accounts on Twitter. “Deep state” narratives and attacks against the FBI, DOJ, and Mueller investigation accounted for 31% of the top URLs linked-to by the network. Half of those articles (24 in total) focused on the release of the FISA memo—a topic that was particularly prominent towards the end of January. As with past weeks, the most popular individual target was Hillary Clinton (11% of reviewed URLs). Other notable targets of attacks were Andrew McCabe (5%), Lindsey Graham (2%), and Jay-Z (2%). Anti-immigration was another notable theme (10% of all URLs), with most of those articles highlighting crimes committed by undocumented immigrants in the United States or migrants/refugees in Europe. Europe was the focus of 5% of the examined URLs; all of those URLs were coded as promoting anti-migrant or anti-Islamic narratives (and usually both). Overtly pro-Russian or pro-Putin content accounted for 5% of the top URLs. Syria and Ukraine were featured in 3% and 2% of the examined URLs respectively.

Content Tweeted by Bots and Trolls
Last Updated February 26, 3:08 PM
Activity from 600 monitored Twitter accounts linked to Russian influence operations

How to Read This Dashboard
The charts and graphs here display hashtags, topics and URLs promoted by Russia-linked influence networks on Twitter. Content is not necessarily produced or created by Russian government operatives, although that is sometimes the case. Instead, the network often opportunistically amplifies content created by third parties not directly linked to Russia. Common themes for amplification include content attacking the U.S. and Europe, conspiracy theories and disinformation. Russian influence operations also frequently promote extremism and divisive politics in Western countries. Just because the Russia-aligned network monitored here tweets something, that doesn’t mean everyone who tweets the same content is aligned with Russia. For a detailed discussion of this dashboard’s methodology, click here.

[Farmer-Rick]

28. Thanks that helped a lot.

[Exotica]

29. yw!

[Sancho]

18. The Ruskies hate her...and look at the number two...

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-uncovers-massive-weapons-depot-belonging-isis-deir-ezzor-video-2/

Fascinating to watch the bots now that we know they are there.

[Honeycombe8]

19. Whenever there's discord in the party, THAT'S what they tweet about ...

to encourage further discord.

So it makes sense it would be Feinstein right now.

[dalton99a]

24. Their job is to make a Grand Canyon out of every crack they see

[Me.]

27. So Are They Trying To Elect De Leon?

[Kirk Lover]

30. I don't believe they really care...the goal is to create discord...or add to it. Cal Dem's created

a nice little opening for it. I'm not blaming them or saying they shouldn't...but all these scum Russ's need is a tiny fissure and they sure do know how to exploit it. Good thing is at least we the Dem's have a hope of seeing what is going on and squashing and EXPOSING...unlike the deplorables who just eat it all up.

[George II]

31. How did Cal Dems create an opening for this?

[Wounded Bear]

51. As I read it, it's part of their bylaws...

They only endorse a primary candidate when they get 60% approval or so. It's not like they're endorsing the Repub opponent.

[Me.]

35. Just Seems Strange

That they would be boosting the candidate that is polling at 17% against the candidate who has 3 challengers and is polling at 49%. Is he their preferred candidate?

[Kirk Lover]

38. They just want to add to the discord that is going on. The Cal Dem's are not endorsing

Feinstein.

[Me.]

39. They Are Not Endorsing Anyone

but gave him 54% of the vote...so it seems the Russians are not the only ones choosing him.

[George II]

54. They didn't endorse anyone. Not uncommon for a state party to not endorse anyone.

[librechik]

32. hope she employs a food taster and bodyguard. This is war, and Feinstein is Putin's enemy n/t

[dalton99a]

33. +1

[Fresh_Start]

34. losing ranking position on judiciary and intelligence...hmmmm

could that have anything to do with protecting the orange shitgibbon if there is an impeachment trial?

[Me.]

36. Good One

I believe you have it. WE'd lose that position and bring in a corporatist to replace her. Lose/lose.

[Jim Lane]

42. We'd never lose the position -- just change who fills it.

If the Democrats are in the minority next year, there will still be a Ranking Member on each committee. Right now the other top Dems on Judiciary are Leahy, Durbin, Whitehouse, and Klobuchar. I don't think any of them will be on a mission to protect Trump.

The only way we lose the Ranking Member position is if it passes to a Republican, because a Democrat becomes Chair!

[Egnever]

61. Simple civics is often lost on this board

Something I constantly find mind boggling on a political discussion board.

[Hortensis]

65. Sure, and no fuss about newbies either. Learning to run

a nation without destroying it can't be much harder than becoming a x-ray technician, right?

A certificate course, learning where the cloakroom and bathrooms are, and the new senator's ready to figure out how to turn an unfamiliar brand of machine on and start irradiating.

[Jim Lane]

66. I suspect this devotion to experience is often situational.

In 2004, I voted to oust the experienced holder of the highest office in the land. In 2008, I voted for a very junior Senator over one with much more time in that office (who had also served in the House).

This year, I hope that Dean Heller and Ted Cruz will both be removed from the Senate in favor of newcomers.

[R B Garr]

43. Yes, this is it. nt

[leftstreet]

37. Your link is a group run by Michael Chertoff and Bill Kristol

I'll pass

LOL check out their 'advisory council'
http://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/team/advisory-council

[jalan48]

45. Fear mongering with the intent of producing conformity of thought.

[R B Garr]

41. Her committee seniority and her stances on Russia means

she's a threat. That's why she of all politicians needs to remain until Trump is perp walked. Especially after Franken was ousted. We need experienced politicians in place to see this investigation through. GOP and Trump need to be exposed, and Feinstein has enough clout and seniority to deliver. No one hears a peep from Franken's replacement. We heard Franken's barbs almost daily.

[Blue_Tires]

60. Epic kick!

Don't fall for the bait, folks...