Russia meddling in DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES...

[spanone]

New York Times: Lawmakers Are Warned That Russia Is Meddling to Re-elect Trump

Though intelligence officials have previously told lawmakers that Russia’s interference campaign was continuing, last week’s briefing included what appeared to be new

information: that Russia intended to interfere with the 2020 Democratic primaries as well as the general election.

-paywall-
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html

[Squinch]

1. Well, clearly. But let's all keep fighting among ourselves. Because that'll help.

Democracy: fun while it lasted.

[malaise]

2. The Con is interfering

You think his rallies in primary states aren't part of the disruption?

[spanone]

13. A Russian asset doing what Putin wants...

[iluvtennis]

15. Exactly. nt

[ancianita]

24. Abso-fuckin-lutely. This speculation here taints all of us. We need to stop flying with HYPE.

[shanti]

27. It infuriates me that he's doing this!

Watch, he's going to go full tilt here in California.

[Peregrine Took]

36. Me, too. We will all lose faith in the elections from now on.

If he "wins" we know he will have cheated again.

[Iliyah]

3. Yep . .

[UniteFightBack]

4. I wonder who Russia is 'for' as the Democratic nominee? Care to take any guesses?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. I would be happy to speculate in the DP forum.

[Squinch]

7. Same one they were for last time.

[Maru Kitteh]

20. Bingo.

[helpisontheway]

8. 🤔 It does not take a genius to figure that out. 😂nt

[mindem]

5. No worries,

our dear leader feels it is in the best interest of the country to let the ruskies interfere. We are not supposed to question the dear leader.

[CentralMass]

9. Lets put as much sunlight on these primaries and caucuses

as possible. Can we have election observers. Video and photograph every bit of it because this is really sounding like an excuse for the direction this primary is heading.

[JudyM]

12. Best use of Bloomberg $, IMO. Plus outreach for registration and fixing voting infrastructure.

[global1]

10. One Can Surmise That Russian Interference Is Alive And Well Here On DU.....

Just look at some of the posts on 'Democratic Primaries'. Clearly it appears that many of the posts there are meant to incite controversy amongst us. I find it hard to believe that many posters here at DU would fall for this tactic and play along and even contribute to even more derisive language in their responses.

This is exactly the tactic that the Russians/Putin and Trump want to employ - to divide us.

Why does it look like some here are falling prey to it? We're smarter than that - I thought.

Come on people - don't fall for this crap. Any Dem is better than Trump and his criminal enterprise.

I thought we all agreed to 'Vote Blue No Matter Who'.

Don't let Trump/Putin get in your heads. Too much is at stake.

[rainin]

17. We have to consider that even the replies are part of the strategy.

Are DU members even engaging with them or are they presenting both sides to create an appearance of division that discourages us?
For now, I'm going to try to have faith in our members and assume that most of us aren't being persuaded. This is beyond ugly. I hope we survive it

[bdamomma]

26. I agree with your

post, this should push everyone to vote even more. never

Not all of us are ignorant to the fact that they are using propaganda, this is right from the Russian tactics.

[Coventina]

11. This should be in the primaries forum. n/t

[Maru Kitteh]

21. No not really. it is a story about Russian fuckery, not a primary candidate

per se - even if they do already have a proven propensity to promote one candidate for the Democratic Primary.

[dalton99a]

14. Kick

The Russians have been preparing — and experimenting — for the 2020 election, undeterred by American efforts to thwart them but aware that they needed a new playbook of as-yet-undetectable methods, United States officials said.

They have made more creative use of Facebook and other social media. Rather than impersonating Americans as they did in 2016, Russian operatives are working to get Americans to repeat disinformation, the officials said. That strategy gets around social media companies’ rules that prohibit “inauthentic speech.”

And the Russians are working from servers in the United States, rather than abroad, knowing that American intelligence agencies are prohibited from operating inside the country. (The F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security are allowed to do so with aid from the intelligence agencies.)

Russian hackers have also infiltrated Iran’s cyberwarfare unit, perhaps with the intent of launching attacks that would look like they were coming from Tehran, the National Security Agency has warned.

Some officials believe that foreign powers, possibly including Russia, could use ransomware attacks, like those that have debilitated some local governments, to damage or interfere with voting systems or registration databases.

Still, much of the Russian aim is similar to its 2016 interference, officials said: search for issues that stir controversy in the United States and use various methods to stoke division.

One of Moscow’s main goals is to undermine confidence in American election systems, intelligence officials have told lawmakers, seeking to sow doubts over close elections and recounts. American officials have said they want to maintain confidence in the country’s voting systems, so confronting those Russian efforts is difficult.

Although the intelligence conclusion that Russia is trying to interfere in the 2020 Democratic primaries is new, in the 2019 report of the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, there is a reference to Russian desires to help Mr. Sanders in his presidential primary campaign against Hillary Clinton in 2016. The report quoted internal documents from the Internet Research Agency, a troll factory sponsored by Russian intelligence, in an order to its operatives: “Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest except for Sanders and Trump — we support them.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/us/politics/russian-interference-trump-democrats.html

[SunSeeker]

33. That last line says it all.

“Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest except for Sanders and Trump — we support them.”

[dalton99a]

34. Putin must have read this 2011 article:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/oct/21/bernie-sanders-socialist-vermont-interview

Bernie Sanders: America's No 1 socialist makes his move into the mainstream
Paul Harris
Fri 21 Oct 2011 15.19 EDT

But, he explains, he is not interested in the White House. "I would likely end up causing a right-wing extremist to be president of the United States. That is not something I would be happy to do," he said.

Then he added for emphasis: "It would likely be a futile and losing campaign. That would not be too smart."

[SunSeeker]

35. What happened to 2011 Bernie?

[randr]

16. I fear a lot of negative info on Bloomberg spread because Trump does not want to run against him

Any interference from Russians will be to direct us to nominate the candidate Trumps feel he can best beat.

[Caliman73]

22. The sad thing however, is that the negative info is accurate.

It would be one thing to spread lies, but the information being provided is vetted and accurate.

I will still vote for Bloomberg over Trump any day of the week, but he is not my choice in the primary.

We can't say, "vote Blue no matter who, with reservations". The primary is the time to vote for your preference but the general is the time to vote for the Democratic Party candidate, no matter who.

Another thing to ponder. Perhaps Trump is bluffing about the candidate he thinks he can beat. He has been known to do that.

We do need to be vigilant about misinformation and we need to be able to disagree and desire certain candidates and policies but we need to be respectful and come together once the primary is over.

[randr]

25. Republicans held their noses and voted for Trump to beat Hillary

Their hatred of the Clintons trumped, pun intended, their distaste for the Donald.
We have a similar choice to make.

[Caliman73]

30. Trump won by something like 77,000 votes, across several states.

More people actually voted for Hillary than Trump. More people voted for ANYONE other than Trump than for him. Plus there was the typical cheating that Republicans engage in from Gerrymandering to voter purging and suppression.

It wasn't that Republicans held their nose and voted. It was that they were able to keep turnout low enough to cheat to the electoral college win.

This election is about turnout. There are way more people who support progressive policies than conservative ones. That has been shown in poll after poll and study after study. The problem that we get into is when people believe their vote does not count or that the election is somehow determined before anyone votes. We as Democrats need to keep our message clear that we are fighting on behalf of all Americans, that government can be used to help people have better opportunities and protect the vulnerable. The rich will be fine. They will ALWAYS be fine. We cannot cater to the fears of the 1% or 10% and communicate to the 90% that they maybe will get some relief after the rich are taken care of. We have to give people something to vote for, not just rely on someone to vote against.

[CanonRay]

18. Makes me wonder how much they were involved in Iowa...

[Bengus81]

19. Yeah so why spend time BASHING Bloomberg for two hours on FREE TV??

Such a WASTE the other night..

[Caliman73]

28. I think there is some honest frustration

The thinking from some of the candidates is that Bloomberg bought his way onto the debate stage. Bloomberg, while hating Trump, was a Republican for most of his political life. The policies he enacted as mayor of New York were not necessarily in line with the Democratic Party platform.

That said, Bloomberg would be 1000 times better as President than Trump. He could use his money to run his own campaign or to help another candidate (which he has said he would). Every candidate on that stage thinks that they can beat Trump and that they have some of the answers to bring the country back from the state it is in right now.

We have to be careful about swallowing the media narrative about, "Trump was the winner last night". Trump was not involved. Every candidate on that stage will hit Trump with everything they have once they are the nominee and We will need to get behind that candidate. I don't particularly support Bloomberg or Biden, but I will fight like hell to get them elected President if either are the nominee because we need a President that will restore dignity to the office and ANY person on that stage will do so better than Trump.

[librechik]

23. Just the notion itself is meddling. We must all fight like blazes.

But we need more volunteers and specialists. We need more like Bill Gates offering secure voting systems FOR FREE to any state that asks. We need nerds to watch our servers! My son and grandson are both computer geniuses. There must be many more like them around the country who can help.

[pioche4]

29. "Meddling" is not the verb. It is a Cyber Attack. We need NSA/CIA to attack back

I'm sooooo sick of this verb 'meddling'. Meddling is for junior high, high school, pta, This is the FIGHT for our Country, and everyone needs to be WIDE awake and ready to vote and donate to help bring back ORDER to our country.

[ashredux]

31. Bernie Boys Russian Bots

[Duppers]

37. THIS ⬆⬆

A guaranteed win for Trump.

"Socialist/Communist/Going to raise your taxes"
And that'll work in too many states which, in turn, will screw the Electoral College again.

[bucolic_frolic]

32. Russians want our weakest candidate, or a divided Party where half stay home

Don't accept their gaslighting online. This election is dictators vs democracy. We must get stronger!

[Chainfire]

38. Unlike the last election

Unlike the previous election the Russians have a smaller target to attack. The will support fighting among Democrats with the hope that disgruntled voters will stay home when their favorite candidate fails to gain the nomination. Install a weak candidate, grab a bag of popcorn and sit back and wait for the predictable results.

B.H.L. Hart wrote an entire book about the value of The Strategy Of The Indirect Approach. You can bet that Putin read the book.