Democrats are falling for fake news about Russia.

[Cattledog]

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/5/19/15561842/trump-russia-louise-mensch

President Donald Trump is about to resign as a result of the Russia scandal. Bernie Sanders and Sean Hannity are Russian agents. The Russians have paid off House Oversight Chair Jason Chaffetz to the tune of $10 million, using Trump as a go-between. Paul Ryan is a traitor for refusing to investigate Trump’s Russia ties. Libertarian heroine Ayn Rand was a secret Russian agent charged with discrediting the American conservative movement.

These are all claims you can find made on a new and growing sector of the internet that functions as a fake news bubble for liberals, something I’ve dubbed the Russiasphere. The mirror image of Breitbart and InfoWars on the right, it focuses nearly exclusively on real and imagined connections between Trump and Russia. The tone is breathless: full of unnamed intelligence sources, certainty that Trump will soon be imprisoned, and fever dream factual assertions that no reputable media outlet has managed to confirm.

Twitter is the Russiasphere’s native habitat. Louise Mensch, a former right-wing British parliamentarian and romance novelist, spreads the newest, punchiest, and often most unfounded Russia gossip to her 283,000 followers on Twitter. Mensch is backed up by a handful of allies, including former NSA spook John Schindler (226,000 followers) and DC-area photographer Claude Taylor (159,000 followers).

There’s also a handful of websites, like Palmer Report, that seem devoted nearly exclusively to spreading bizarre assertions like the theory that Ryan and Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell funneled Russian money to Trump — a story that spread widely among the site’s 70,000 Facebook fans.

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[mvd]

1. Is there really that much that can be discredited after how fast things are moving?

Yes a couple things mentioned there are ridiculous, but not a lot surprises me.

[Scoopster]

2. I like how you neglected to mention...

The fact that Louise, Claude and John have all been correct on a number of occasions as to what's going on, including the FBI investigation and grand juries.

Honestly, why is it such a problem for conservatives to speak out against those in their own circle who are doing wrong and help us try to correct a grave mistake?

[Eyeball_Kid]

5. It's the "broad brush" effect.

Conspiracy theorists are always nut jobs because they fall for EVERY "conspiracy" out there. But it's as if a conspiracy is always fantasy held close by fantasists, which suggests that a conspiracy, by definition, is a false story.

Of course, there ARE real conspiracies, some not recognized by the corporate media as legitimate.. until they can no longer be ignored. (Remember all of those JFK "conspiracy nuts"? They were off their rockers until the evidence proved them to be correct. And still, now, we hear smatterings of the once-treasured falsehood that Oswald was the lone assassin!) And people like Mensch, Taylor, Schindler, and others are always irresponsible purveyors of fiction-- until they are proven to be correct. But in the case of Mensch, et al., even when they are consistently correct, they are STILL discredited because... well, because they aren't the NYT or the WP.

This morning, Mensch went through a rant about ALL of the scoops that she reported weeks before they were picked up as big news by the NYT and WP. And it's true. She has her own time-stamped scoops on her blog to prove it.

[PdxSean]

3. I should be ashamed to agree, but I'm not.

I should be ashamed that I approved of the "left" fighting fire with fire, i.e. spreading highly questionable rumors or out-in-out lies to counter the right wing media machine devoted to spreading highly questionable rumors and out-in-out lies. The sad reality is many people are comfortable being spoon fed sugary snack "information" so they don't lose time keeping up with the Kardasians and Momma June. Either you feed them your fruity loops or the Roger Ailes of the world will stuff them with theirs.

[SonofDonald]

4. This isn't about Russia

It's about 45, and lying, and big money, and what may be mental illness, and the worlds biggest ego being brought to task.

At this point russia is just a qualifier, like the fact that they are seeming to be from the republican side only.

Russia is just their bank and paymaster.

[frazzled]

6. If I were king

Such sources would be immediate grounds for post removal. The TOS specifically disallows posts that use "fringe sources," and we've always disallowed items from conservative sources. If these aren't fringe sources, I don't know what is.

These fake news tweets and blogs are truly harming our efforts at resistance, and making us look as gullible as the ignorant right. Their promulgation discredits our agenda and standing as serious political citizens of the left. That these broken clocks are "right" twice a day (usually only when they are retweeting actual journalistic source material) is not only unsurprising, it's part of their game to hook the dupes.

Personally, I think it's tragic that they are allowed to exist here. Ignoring them isn't enough. Their presence will eventually marginalize the standing of this site and any progressive agenda.

Think, people. A nobody photographer and a former conservative romance novelist are not going to be the recipients of high-level intel. You're being scammed.