It's the Russia, stupid.

[garybeck]

If the truth ever comes out, it will be shown that all roads lead to Russia

Trump
MTG
Boebert
Gaetz
Santos
$millions$ of political donations funneled through NRA
Hannity
guns
insurrection
social unrest, polarizing, anger, and divisiveness being promoted
2016 election meddling
GOP promoting a default on our debt

and so many more. at first glance it all just looks like a clusterfuck.... like WTF is going on in our country?

but the more you start to see Putin and Russia's interest and connections in all of these things it starts to come together an make sense.

Putin wants our economy to tank
Putin wants unrest in our country
Putin wants US out of Ukraine
Putin wants lots of guns in the streets

Many of these players have direct connections to russian oligarchs, spies, or putin himself.
Notice in nearly every political issue these players are advocating for things that make russia strong and US weak

It's clear. Russia has infiltrated the GOP in a very real and deep way.
it's not far off from Manchurian Candidate.

It's the Russia, stupid.

[Quakerfriend]

1. And yet, so many don't make the connection.

If you watch closely, you can see the ‘bots’ as they instigate the next distraction, next cultural war.

Drives me crazy that the dems aren’t bringing more attention to this!

[erronis]

2. Please, let's give the US/foreign plutocrats and libertarians a bit of credit.

Throw in some RW 'to hell with everybody' and lots of weaponry.

So where did Putin get all that tradable cash to buy up so many (r)epuglicons? I don't think he could just mint a bunch of worthless rubles and send them in suitcases to the RNC/NRA - even DeutschBank would probably not want them.

Koch, Thiel, Mercer, Murdoch, etc. are awash in spendables. Funneled through the xian front organizations. Still, that is a big spend.

[Dustlawyer]

33. Don't forget the aluminum plant that was going into Kentucky when Turtlehead was up

for re-election. Oleg Derapaska, Russian oligarch was going to build it until Turtlehead won.

[Andy823]

3. Exactly!

What trump is doing now is all in Putins plan. He will destroy the republican party, and will do his best to destroy our democracy. It all leads back to Putin, as you have posted above.

Thanks for the good job off putting it together.

[keithbvadu2]

4. As his master Vlad approaches:

As his master Vlad approaches:

[SouthernDem4ever]

24. Sickening

[usonian]

5. Old post of mine. Nothing changes

When you start with the premise that Russia has instigated a campaign of disruption in the U.S. to bolster its aims, ALL the pieces fit together perfectly.

1. The conservative movement took a hard swing right from its Limbaugh days of conservative issues and hate to pure hate and destruction. This coincides with the breakup of the Soviet Union. Anti-Soviet messaging ceased.

2. Russia’s economy is extremely oil-dependent. Oil interests control many legislators, and reap massive subsidies and favors.

3. Russia is an Orthodox “Christian in name only”, mostly white state. The church blesses nuclear warheads and Putin has declared his intention to expand his White Christian Nationalism.

4. Putin wants Ukraine. Arguably, that is the cause of his interference in the 2015 election to install an asset as president and weaken NATO, effectively delivering him Ukraine.

5. Bots spread lies and divisive messages to get Americans to fight one another.

6. A major news outlet repeatedly praises Putin, when there’s nothing apparent to gain by doing so. On the surface, anyway.

7. Russia financed and infiltrated the NRA with the goal of replacing constitutional government with mob rule, and domestic terrorism.

Putin's Puny Power can only beat America by destroying it from within.
If you're in a parade, you don't want the elephants AHEAD of you.

[garybeck]

7. ditto. n/t

[Takket]

10. #5 makes me particularly sick

We've done all the forensics on the 2016 election. on facebook, twitter, cambridge analytica.... we can argue all we want about who knew what, whether drumpf had direct knowledge, etc etc...... in the end that only matters for making indictments but WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. We know as a matter of absolute proven FACT that Russia helped target American voters in swing states with propaganda to turn them off from voting for Hillary, and that is why she lost THE PROCESS. (NEVER say Hillary lost the vote. She won the vote. She lost the process).

And here we are in 2023 and the same SHIT is happening all over again with a right winger in charge of twitter who says he's just worried about "free speech" and he doesn't take favorites on either side..... as he's photographed with Rupert Murdock, banning left wing accounts, and allowing bots to not only run wild but even have a "verified" check mark as long as putin shells out $8 a month for it, which is a damn good deal for Russian troll farms!!!!

it is like watching a million people die in car accidents but refusing to mandate seat belts.........

[royable]

30. The solution is so frustratingly simple.

Primarily: Don’t look at or use social media and you can’t be influenced by the bots. Secondarily: Use ad blockers on your web browsers or use browsers that value privacy so as to avoid targeted advertising. Don’t use any internet product that feeds you information you didn’t request.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. "christian" Ruzzia has bombed 131 churches in Ukraine, I read. . . . . nt

[usonian]

15. Not "Christian" enough.

Fascists everywhere corrupt and pervert organized religion and de-legitimize those who won't "go along".

[erronis]

34. Never hurts to repost such a good piece. Thanks.

[LaMouffette]

40. Number 5: "Bots spread lies and divisive messages . . ." and the radical Supreme Court upholds the

rights of social media giants not to get sued over these messages.

So I'm thinking you can add number 8: Russia, through Republican organizations like the Federalist Society, gain control over the Supreme Court to prevent any successful legal action against Russia and the Republicans' democracy-destroying actions.

[garybeck]

6. i think our best hope at the moment is

Jack Smith hopefully sees all these connections like we do

[dweller]

8. It's been made clear before

✌🏻

[bucolic_frolic]

9. It's the reverse of the postwar period in eastern Europe

We wanted private banks and free enterprise, Russia wanted state banks and communism.

We wanted free and fair elections, they wanted Joe Stalin elections.

We wanted a free press, they wanted Pravda.

We wanted rule of law and a functioning judiciary, they wanted show trials.

This is the payback, the flip side.

Don't forget Pootie was KGB. Do they ever retire? Prob not, just like over here.

[LiberalLovinLug]

17. From day one in office Putin was on the clock, looking for ways to destroy the US and the west

Probably before that under the direction of his KGB bosses.

It has always been his goal. He's worked on it every day for his entire Presidency. His eyes must have popped when he first saw and heard of Donald Trump. And started to concoct ways to use him. And when he inevitably f'd up his businesses and needed money, and American Banks had had enough of his bankruptcies, Putin pushed Russian banks into financing him. Don Jr.; "We get all the money we need from Russia"

Agents began working on him, exploiting his character weaknesses. To drag him further into their lair.

Frankly, I think they have been working on Musk as well for years. Every low IQ wealthy or powerful, populist, celebrity they can affect they are actively working on. My gawd, Musk looked absolutely terrified of George Soros in saying he truly believe Soros, who is like 500 people down from him in the wealthiest category, "wants to erode the very fabric of civilization" and "hates humanity"

Soros, who tried (but failed) to keep Hungarian democracy alive, and whos organization's main goal is promoting democracy around the world. Actually Democrats should be praising Soros more, but are too afraid of Fox News.

[Martin Eden]

11. It's impossible to make America "great again"

...by being useful idiots for Russia or knowingly aiding their efforts from inside the USA.

Sparking internal division and dysfunction is one means to defeat a stronger foe.

Another means is to manipulate the foe into wasting its own power in misadventures that will fail or cause more harm. Al Qaeda employed this strategy to lure GW Bush into two long Mideast wars of occupation that increased jihadist violence and recruited the next generation of terrorists.

How, after what happened then and is happening now, can Republicans claim the mantle of "strong" on national security?

[calimary]

19. He never finished that sentence. Probably deliberately.

“… make America great again (as a target for takeover).”

[Snoopy 7]

31. Don't forget

We had republican politicians go to russia on our 4th of July. Thinking they could slink in and out without the media noticing. And when it was brought up they claimed some political BS. We all know russia has paid for the far right communist we have in political power at this time. The problem, as it is here in Texas, is people DON'T VOTE. When some people claim that voting doesn't matter, I just tell them if it didn't why have the republican party spent billions telling you it doesn't matter as they gain power?
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/395719-gop-senators-visited-moscow-on-july-4/#:~:text=A%20group%20of%20GOP%20lawmakers,annexation%20of%20Crimea%20in%202014.

[TygrBright]

12. I believe some day we'll find ties between anti-vax and Russia...

...long pre-dating Covid.

A lot of early anti-vax garbage came from British and European sources, and Russia's "soft" operations have been very deeply embedded there for many decades.

I'm not asserting that morons like Wakefield were 'Russian agents'. However, Russia encouraged, funded, and in some cases infiltrated a good many intellectual and social movements that focused on various types of apparently 'non-ideological' resistance to science, public health, etc., largely cloaked in 'anti-capitalist, anti-establishment' rationales. That has always been an element of Russian "soft" targeting.

And they provided the grist for more organized, direct black-prop ops as the Internet geared up.

I doubt we'll ever have a clear and unequivocal documentary evidence map that Russia deliberately attempted to undermine Western scientific and social progress with operations that included anti-vax efforts, but the circumstantial evidence is certainly compelling.

Especially when you take into account the horrific state of public health in Russia and the worsening trends of alcohol addiction, epidemic disease, and mental illness that Russia has been in denial about on the world stage since forever.

speculatively,
Bright

[erronis]

35. I know you're right. It doesn't take much to nudge people in the direction you want them to go.

A few dollars here, some more there. Sex, blackmail, trips on yachts and vacations with billionaires (Hello, Clarence.)

[Warpy]

14. The invasion of Ukraine gave the west the perfect excuse to isolate them

and freeze their assets outside the country, cutting them off from the banking system outside it.

Russia is spending down all their oil money trying to keep going, boht the war and the country, itself. La Pierre is going to have a lean year this year and most likely following years, as well.

[Wicked Blue]

16. 100% correct

[bullimiami]

18. brexit.

[erronis]

36. Absolutely. And Farage and BoJo are still walking around causing havoc.

[NullTuples]

20. Putin was head of the KGB. He's "nation building".

Our CIA has done it since post-WWII, going into other nations and over many years breaking the economy, the systems of governance, providing funding and bribes, and growing insurrection movements and so on so they can install a puppet. The KGB did the same. And now the ex- head of the KGB is using those techniques against his old enemy. As if the Cold War isn't over until he wins. James Bond villain kind of stuff. My question is...why isn't our CIA acting to stop him?

[Thunderbeast]

21. The most successful intelligence operation in history

They started grooming him in the 90s.

[keithbvadu2]

25. The best investment Putin ever made was putting money into Trump.

[AllaN01Bear]

22. remember , that many rs went to russia on july 4th rather than celebrate,

they were asking for money from overseas (russia)

[SouthernDem4ever]

23. Now if only we could get that thru the bobblehead right wing media watchers.

[erronis]

37. That's not going to happen. Let's hope their children see through the lies.

After all, the children will have to clean up the mess - if there's anything left.

[orthoclad]

26. No. A lot of roads lead to Wall Street, too.

For instance, Zuckerberg played a large part in getting Trape elected.

Oligarchs gonna oligarch.

[Botany]

27. Never forget that the NYC's FBI office top agent on

Trump and Russia, McGonagall was on Putin's payroll
via Oleg Dirapaska in 2016 and Oleg was the money behind DeVolder aka Santos in 2022.

The GOP and Fox is in bed with America's enemy.

[Picaro]

28. Bingo

[Hekate]

29. Nancy Pelosi was right. She's always right...

[Buttoneer]

32. Yep! BTW, have you listened to Rachel Maddow's, "Ultra" podcast?

It was frightening, and here we are again only with Putin-backed Nazis

[garybeck]

38. and the scary thing is

95% of the people in this country don't know it's happening

[bagimin]

39. k& highly recommended