So, anybody here have a good idea of who is behind the "Rat" whisper campaign

[eilen]

against Pete Buttigieg? My son- who is not on DU but is on a lot facebook communities mostly populated by other young people (who are often self described as social progressive or "woke&quot is seeing a lot of "Buttigieg is a rat" postings. He is not a Pete fan but finds it very disturbing. He says they basically claim he is a liar and that he is a rat.

My son is studying to be a clinical psychologist and his hobbies are reading about philosophy, religion and history and says this is really disturbing because it uses the language of disgust = defensive out-group target language/propaganda. He commented on it because of the similarity of language in all the posts he seeing-particularly calling the man a rat. He thinks the alt right is probably really pleased by it and possibly encouraged to engage in pile ones and create deep fakes to reinforce such sentiments.

[jezebel321]

1. the Bernie Sanders twitter crowd started and spread it, as well as the Wall Street Pete thing. Its

disgusting and shameful.

[George II]

2. It certainly is a coordinated effort, no doubt by high level members of Sanders' campaign....

She's not using the "rat" reference here, but Nina Turner took yet another shot at Buttigieg last night here:

Link to tweet

And this morning David Sirota is pushing the "#PetesBillionaires" theme here:

Link to tweet

[rzemanfl]

3. She's hinting at it IMHO. n/t

[jezebel321]

4. yep, they loved the "nibbling at the edges" part. It's not even subtle. nt

[Skidmore]

13. Staff meetings at HQ

must be noxious.

[Cha]

14. Go Pete!

[peggysue2]

18. Oh Gag!

Here we go again. Throw out those billionaire and corporate accusations and we're right back to the time before. When We Lost. To Frigging Trump.

As for calling Pete B. a 'rat.' Why not go for the whole wad and use the term 'vermin'? Because that's what's being suggested in a not so subtle way.

Senator Sanders needs to get a rein on his people. But something tells me (maybe a little birdie) he won't. Because?

He's just fine with this crapola. Same old, same old.

[Celerity]

30. Nina Turner is a damn liar.

https://peteforamerica.com/policies/mental-health-and-addiction/

HOLD THE DRUG MANUFACTURERS, DISTRIBUTORS, AND PHARMACIES THAT EXACERBATED THE OPIOID CRISIS FOR PROFIT ACCOUNTABLE, AND ENSURE THERE ARE SYSTEMS IN PLACE TO PREVENT A REPEAT OF THIS EXPERIENCE.

Work with state Attorneys General to support state-level lawsuits.

Revamp the Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) role in monitoring prescription of controlled pharmaceuticals.

[Bradical79]

5. Not sure I'm allowed to give my opinion -nt

[left-of-center2012]

6. Meanwhile, Bloomberg attacks Trump

Bloomberg is the adult in the race,
while the other candidates throw mud at each other.

[dalton99a]

7. Same bunch who smeared Beto with stupid memes last year

[Cha]

15. And Kamala.

[dalton99a]

19. Yep.

[MustLoveBeagles]

21. And it worked unfortunatly

[TexasTowelie]

26. Yes it is

and then they play the "Bernie is the victim" card.

[Mike 03]

8. Your son sounds like a wonderful and informed person.

In the 1930s in Germany that type of language, the "language of disgust" as you so perfectly put it, was used in propaganda to associate Jewish people with rats, lice, unhygienic living conditions and vermin. It's so hard for educated people to believe this could be effective, but as we all know it was (of course in the case of Germany, it was propagated over years and years).

It's a disgrace that this is happening. But IMO it's even harder to believe it could sway people in this day and age, although maybe it won't this time.

[eilen]

12. Thanks, I happen to agree

Thing is, he is not even a Pete booster-- I think he likes Amy and (oddly) Tulsi.

[ancianita]

9. Maybe he'd feel better to see this line today for Buttigieg's NH rally.

It's what we all should do in every primary state when these whisper campaigns and social media pile-ons start.

[Scurrilous]

10. 'Kamala is a cop.'

Switch out the name, change the slur. The assholes are getting repetitive and lazy and leaving obvious fingerprints.

[Cha]

20. Exactly.. and exactly why

they should not "win" anything.

[comradebillyboy]

11. Only one campaign endulges in non-stop smears of it's opponents.

It's pretty clearly the strategy of the campaign and not just some random actors behaving badly.

[Cha]

22. ..

[tishaLA]

16. Same crowd that gave us "Kamala the Cop"

I'll leave it at that.

[eilen]

17. Wow, I just saw one of those posts

and yes, it used a phrase "nibble on" like the one by Nina Turner. Basically saying he was "nibbling on a cinnabon.. just like a rat would do."

Really Cringey. And classless.

Peter Buttegeig has good points and bad points like any other candidate. Real issues that are important to discuss. But this is bullshit. Honestly, I don't know if they are Russian trolls --- almost hope they are instead of average Americans supporting an opponent.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

23. "rat" is the lowest you can go amongst gangsters ...

Sounds like a slur that originated with trumPutin's gang, pushed out through the most malleable bunch they could find.

[Kaleva]

24. Facebook is not the place I go for political discourse

I belong to a couple of communities at Facebook but they don't talk politics in either.

[eilen]

36. I just ran into another one on Reddit. nt

[showblue22]

25. If Bernie is the nominee...

and loses to Trump, this is going to be why. It's what I fear. It's going to be hard for some folks to reward bad behavior and vote for him. I want Trump gone people!

[hangaleft]

27. I'm growing increasingly concerned

My concern is that the way things are going there will be large numbers of disaffected Democrats who will not support our nominee. And if that happens we can kiss our Democracy goodbye.

Hopefully we’ll all come together once we have a nominee. But this isn’t like past years where, for the most part, we did. The divide between the left and the middle is wide, and I don’t know if the two camps will come together once the fighting is over.

It’s all well and good to say our first priority must be to beat Trump. But many Democrats seem to be getting away from that and are digging in their heels among ideological factions.

I’m worried. Our Democracy simply won’t survive another four years of Trump.

ETA — I’ve been a Warren supporter from Day 1 and remain a staunch supporter of Liz. And I truly believe she is the only candidate currently running who would be supported by both camps. Just another reason to support Warren. As things are shaping up, I believe she would have the best chance of defeating Trump.

[showblue22]

35. I think you're right about Liz.

Some folks will never be happy but I too think she could bridge the divide better than most.

[redqueen]

29. Facebook is ground zero for disruption campaigns.

Wherever it started - and my guess would be some website popular with hobbyist shit stirrers, who love mocking people for their appearance - you can bet that any and every disruptor will spread it all over Facebook.

[Celerity]

32. Twitter is also horrid, especially when the MSM picks up the shit-stirs and amplifies them nt

[Renew Deal]

31. Buttigieg is the biggest threat to Trump

And republicans know it. He is everything that Trump isn’t, so he provides the most stark choice.

[dsc]

33. they want to call him fag and can't so they do this instead

[aikoaiko]

34. Haven't seen it. Please ask your son to screenshot some examples and post.

[eilen]

37. Hmm, he won't do that but even if I saw them and

screenshot them, I am hesitant to do that here. This is really supposed to be a supportive place for Democrats. I guess I could post a link to a post that I see on Reddit. I don't want to break the rules of the board here.

My son's FB groups are different than the ones I belong to. Most every group I belong to on FB is non-political. Actually, I plan to give up FB/IG for Lent this year.