Russians launched pro-Jill Stein social media blitz to help Trump win election, reports say

[DonViejo]

Source: NBC News



Building support for Stein was one of a “roster of themes” the Moscow-sanctioned internet trolls “turned to repeatedly,” report says.

Dec. 22, 2018 / 7:00 AM EST

By Robert Windrem

Two days before the 2016 presidential election, an Instagram account called @woke_blacks posted a message in support of long-shot Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

“The excuse that a lost Black vote for Hillary is a Trump win is bs,” it read. “It could be late, but y’all might want to support Jill Stein instead.”

According to a report commissioned by the Senate, the account was a fake, part of the Russian campaign to sway the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump.

The report was one of two that leaked this week saying the Russian effort to disrupt the election specifically targeted black voters and harnessed America’s top social media platforms. But the reports contained another finding that was largely overlooked — the Russians also focused on boosting Stein’s candidacy through social media posts like the one from @woke_blacks.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/russians-launched-pro-jill-stein-social-media-blitz-help-trump-n951166?cid=public-rss_20181222

[yuiyoshida]

1. uhuh

[BumRushDaShow]

2. This specific thing I think had an impact here in PA

and notably here in Philly.

When Stein ran in 2012, she got about 2100 votes here in Philly. However in 2016, she got almost 7000, literally tripling her count.

In 2012 -

Statewide - 21,341
Philly - 2,162

In 2016 -

Statewide - 49,941
Philly - 6,679

And I expect college kids (and here, the urban colleges like Temple, Penn, Drexel, LaSalle, Community) were targeted as they are the biggest users of social media.

[groundloop]

3. Putin's investment in our election is paying him handsome dividends

Chaos in the middle east, tanking US economy, outed CIA agents.... Putin must be very proud of himself right now.

[yardwork]

4. Russian trolls infiltrated social media and promoted anti-Hillary lies.

People who fell for this helped elect Trump.

[paleotn]

5. I'd not be surprised if Stein was directly knowledgeable and involved.

Another individual I'd like to see in jail house orange.

[chwaliszewski]

6. Aren't we past this yet?

Last edited Sat Dec 22, 2018, 11:12 AM - Edit history (1)

[still_one]

7. No. It is still occurring, and it is a legitimate news story

[chwaliszewski]

8. *sigh*

And this will help change the outcome of past elections, how, exactly?

[MrsCoffee]

9. It isn't about Past elections.

How does moving on help us in future elections?

Sunlight and disinfectant are the only remedy. Without any kind of investigation and analysis this is just going to keep happening.

Talking about Russian interference and the beneficiaries shouldn’t make anyone who is a fan of democracy uncomfortable.

[RhodeIslandOne]

35. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

[Mr. Ected]

10. Honestly, you're asking that question? With the Trump/Russian collusion knot tightening daily?

This story NEVER went away. The passage of time has nothing to do with it. It is not in the "passed" tense, and deflecting in that way plays into the hands of our enemies, literally our enemies.

That doesn't mean we don't have to prepare to win future elections, but simply overlooking conspiracies to overthrow our elections because they happened TWO WHOLE YEARS AGO is reckless and counterproductive. These crooks need to be brought to justice, or what the hell good is a democracy?

[chwaliszewski]

11. Yes, I'm honestly asking that question!

The problem isn't Russian interference, it's ignorant voters. I knew exactly who I was voting for before the elections even started by doing my own research on all of the candidates. No amount of Russian 'trolling' on Facebook or whatever else was done was going to affect my vote. Shenanigans with the voting machines, district gerrymandering, etc., is a different story but swaying people's votes with disinformation has been around since forever. It's up to us to educate people on who would be the better candidate. Look at how many sheeple are swayed by the crap coming from Fox news.

[zaj]

13. Please understand.... Russian "education" is a powerful solution to ignorant voters

...the solution means addressing the propaganda issue as well as the education issue.

[MichMan]

15. Do you think a significant number of black voters were influenced to vote for Stein?

"The report was one of two that leaked this week saying the Russian effort to disrupt the election specifically targeted black voters and harnessed America’s top social media platforms. But the reports contained another finding that was largely overlooked — the Russians also focused on boosting Stein’s candidacy through social media posts like the one from @woke_blacks."

[politicaljunkie41910]

30. They may have been, and then they may have been pursuaded to just stay home rather than standing in

long lines after work to vote for Hillary who by that time had been pretty beaten up with all the lies being told about her.

[Adrahil]

37. I sense a raw nerve.

Stein was a tool of Russian propaganda. That’s just the truth.

[chwaliszewski]

38. Your senses are incorrect.

The info about Jill has been know for awhile. I'm just getting tired of hearing about it ad nauseum.

[Hortensis]

39. Why? I understand that it would be unpleasant for those few

who now realize they were suckered by the Kremlin into believing lies about Democrats. However, most of the "alternative-fact" voters who are capable of understanding that refuse the lesson anyway, clinging to their notions that while Russia may have been involved Democrats are nevertheless bad anyway.

But this is Democratic Underground, Trump's in the WH, Republicans are actively betraying their nation in congress, Russia's trying to keep them there, and the blizzard of anti-Democrat lies has never ceased, only lessened a bit in intensity while preparing to return to full smother next year.

Instead of being "tired," why not attack the lies themselves and try to reach the weak-minded fools who still believe them? After all, Russian support of Stein, Sanders, and Gary Johnson was never about electing them, it was about suckering voters into helping them defeat Democrats.

Democrats are the big enemy Putin's Russia must keep out of power if its kleptocracy is to survive and Russia's hegemony over 24 adjacent nations restored.

Surely even for those who have trouble knowing what to think that great thing about us is undeniable? Putin believes it.

[chwaliszewski]

40. There will always be 'weak-minded fool' voters out there...

just as there will always be false information being presented and bad mouthing of the competitors. I voted Bernie in the primary because I wanted him to represent the Democrats. When he didn't get the nomination, I voted for Hillary in the general because I wanted a Democrat to represent this country as POTUS. My support of Bernie does not make me a sucker or non-supportive of Democrats. I'm sure there's others who feel the same as me.

[Hortensis]

41. Great. I looked seriously at Sanders in the beginning

(alternative to Warren as she wasn't running); for me that scrutiny removed him as a possibility, but we ended up in the same place.

But how about helping others understand? Too many of those who claimed to believe in liberal progressive government but angrily rejected Democrats in the GE are set to do it all over again in 2020. They're only a small, noisy percentage, but we wouldn't have Trump if they'd only understood HOW to vote their principles.

For instance, having soaked up right and far left propaganda for so long, many literally have no idea that most who run as Democrats believe in good government of, by and for the people. Did you know that our people in congress average MORE liberal, or left, than Democratic voters? True. Nancy Pelosi certainly knows it. She's actually, belied to casual view by compromises her position requires, one of us (surprise!). And Sanders knew it all the time he was, extremely unfortunately, portraying his colleagues as mostly just Republican lite. (At least I think he did. The door's open to the possibility that he managed to believe it. )

But we're good people. One way some can know that is by looking at who and what we are not. And that brings us back to Stein.

[chwaliszewski]

42. Again, I really feel like the heart of the problem is this...

this great country of ours is, unfortunately, occupied by too many stupid people. There really is no other way to describe it. George Carlin said it best...

[Codeine]

12. What, just pretend it didn't happen

and bury it like it doesn’t matter? I don’t fucking thing so.

[Tribalceltic]

14. No and "We" will not get past it until

People quit blaming the Voters for "losing" the election

Bernie Bros and Jill ho's admit they had a hand in disrupting the 2016 Election.

This is not oops sorry .. come to think of it I'm sorry I screwed the election up has never been mentioned

[DonViejo]

20. I suggest you write to Sen Schumer and/or Sen Warner demanding they stop releasing the results

of investigations the various U.S. Senate committees conduct. Or, perhaps even better, tell the media to stop reporting on the findings of those committees.

[louis c]

23. Why?...

...I'm sorry Don, but I don't agree. Ignorance is not bliss. It causes catastrophes.

Jill Stein is as much of a traitor to this country as is Michael Flynn and everyone in this country should be aware of it.

[chwaliszewski]

24. Don's response is to me and I think he was being sarcastic.

My point is do we have to keep re-re-re-rehashing what happened during the 2016 election? Had Hillary won, would this much attention be paid to Jill Stein? The biggest problem in this country is the plethora of ignorant and/or gullible voters out there. We need to get our message out to them so that they can make informed decisions. Disinformation in politics has been going on since at least 1780 and isn't stopping anytime soon so we need to increase our canvasing to all voters instead of pointing the finger at someone and claiming "It's your fault we lost."

[LiberalLovinLug]

31. Right on!

Putin would love nothing better than for liberals to be fighting each other. The Green Party and the Democratic Party share many of the same positions. The Greens may be a bit more hawkish on fighting climate change.

Yet for some on here, Jill Stein and the Greens are their biggest enemy. Just like Putin wants. Yes, lets get all hot and bothered over a party that took 1% of the vote. And black voters still overwhelmingly voted for Hillary despite these kinds of social media bltzes aimed at them.

Stein even launched a recount for Hillary, in a desparate last ditch effort to prevent Trump from taking power. Yet all she got and gets from some is derision and hatred. At least she tried! Give her some credit.

NO, don't vote Green at this time. A proportional representation voting system would be the best solution, like in Europe because then Greens could put Dems down as their second choice, and Dems could put Greens down as their second choice. And so either way, we'd have more liberal reps. And we wouldn't be spending so much time inventing fake news stories based on one public dinner invitation. Spending so much demonizing a leader of a party that shares our values, that only gets 1%. Meanwhile Libertarians are stealing 3% from mostly right wingers. Funny though, with all the conspiracy theories coming from the extreme right, I don' t hear any talk of how the Libertarian party is, say, working secretly with George Soros.

I just think its a waste of energy to invent enemies where none exist, when we have a very real enemy traitor and the support party behind him.

[chwaliszewski]

36. +1

[dlk]

26. Is Trump Still in the White House?

[JI7]

29. trump is still in office

[mcar]

33. Why?

Why should we be past the fact that Russia tampered with our election? Who is in the WH because of it?

[riverwalker]

16. What happened to the recount money?

Unforgivable how she used vulnerable broken hearted Clinton voters for her recount scam.

[MichMan]

17. I can't believe that so many gullible fools gave her the money in the first place

Including some members here. The fake "recount" had zero chance of working and anyone with any amount of intelligence could see right through it

[JackRiddler]

25. Why don't you look it up?

https://www.jill2016.com/recount

Recount 2016 Budget Update: April 20, 2018
As part of our commitment to transparency around recount fundraising and budgeting, the Recount 2016 team has prepared a recount budget update detailing expenses as of 4/20/18:

Total amount raised: $7,129,524
Attorney’s fees: $2,642,843
Filing fees:
$2,347,831* After refunds from WI and MI

WI=$1,494,085; MI=$632,125

Media: $363,901
Staff support: $509,555
Recount observer costs: $184,776
Travel and Events: $125,768
Compliance reserve: $150,000
Remaining balance: $932,178

--

There are a series of further reports on the spending that follow.

The recounts were bogged down and run selectively in MI and WI (two states where the outgoing and highly authoritarian Republican governors even since the 2018 wins by Democrats have sought to cripple the incoming Democratic governors), and stopped in PA. Eventually, this year, PA was forced to go to a paper ballot system by 2022.

[akraven]

18. Anyone who fell for her act -

deserves what they got. sTrumpet.

[Maxheader]

19. We are the puppets of...

All the rogue nations with colleges, institutes of higher learning..offering
degrees in computer science...we are an open door to them...

The americun people have no idea who is pushing their buttons...

[Scurrilous]

21. K&R

[louis c]

22. I blocked one of Jill Stein's sycophant's here on DU

I hope (s)he reads this OP.

[uppityperson]

28. Turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let sit for 4 minutes

[SunSeeker]

32. K & R for exposure.

[Tarheel_Dem]

34. K&R! There's a contingency on the left who will never acknowledge Russian interference was the....

cause of the 2016 election debacle. They still, cynically, promote the notion that it was Hillary's fault for not setting up house in Wisconsin, or some other such nonsense. Stein, and her apologists have much to answer for, and I will never get past it, and I will never forgive them for their actions.