I believe that Russian trolls are STILL TROLLING

[nyabingi]

99. A troll under every bridge

Like a lot of the DU supporters of Bernie Sanders, I haven't visited DU much since the end of last year's Democratic primary after it was strongly implied by the operators of this site that anything but full-fledged anti-Trump bombast/glowing words of adoration for Hillary Clinton would be acceptable. I had promised then not to return until after the general election and a new president was inaugurated, and I kept that promise. I've only returned at this moment to gauge the mood of the site, the trending topics, what is being widely discussed, etc., and I stumble across this post. Wow.

The Democratic primary revealed to everyone that there was a looming battle over the ideological foundations guiding the party, that there was an increasingly widening schism that threatened to swallow up electoral unity and the fight against the regressive forces running the Republican party. It is saddening to see that this ideological gulf is becoming wider and that instead of Democrats actually talking to each other and acknowledging those real differences, it seems to have become acceptable practice to tar dissent with the label of "troll", "Russian troll", "Putinist", etc., and dismiss it outright without engaging in any kind of dialogue which would address the differences we have.

What's missing from the current drive towards "unity" (i.e., Bernie and Perez's "unity" tour) is an honest accounting of what really happened last November. The constant obsession with Russia and Putin has prevented the Democratic Party from confronting the actual reasons many Democrats weren't inspired to even bother voting during the general election and why Democrats suffered such a humiliating and embarrassing loss. Even if Vladimir Putin is the Svengali puppeteer controlling Bernie supporters, Trump and all of the Republicans, dominating all online parlance, etc., that people give him credit for, it doesn't diminish the fact that the Democratic Party is in serious trouble and has done very little (if anything at all) to actually unite its factions at odds with each other.

Vladimir Putin doesn't have to spend money hiring "trolls" to divide the Democratic Party - the Democratic Party is doing a very good job of dividing itself without the help of the Russians and seeing "Russian trolls" under every bridge is not making anything better. Let's try a little more rational discussion and little less paranoia and witch hunting.