Last edited Mon Dec 26, 2022, 10:30 PM - Edit history (1)
I don't think that Putin necessarily favors the right or the left and perhaps originally, the left was targeted, since a key part of Republican platform used to be pro-defense and resisting Russian expansionism. However, in order to justify efforts to limit regulation and taxes, as well as promote voter apathy, Republicans have long encouraged Americans not to trust their Government. Ironically, one of Reagan's most quoted lines was: “The top 9 most terrifying words in the English Language are: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.”
Thus, Republicans created an ideal environment for a campaign that is built on misinformation and distrust. On the left, you did have the "anti-establishment" talking point that was very popular in 2016, but the left simply did not have the same right wing media propaganda bubble that the right has built over the past few decades. Now, Republicans have created a monster that they cannot control.
In short, even the most paranoid progressive generally believes in providing more governmental services, so there is a certain tension in terms of getting progressives to totally abandon faith in the American system of government. In contrast, it is easy to push Republican constituents over the edge such that they are ready to overthrow a government that Fox and other right wing outlets have conditioned them not to trust.
https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2022-02-25/heres-what-putins-disinformation-war-looks-like-on-the-internet
As Russian bombs and cruise missiles rocked cities across Ukraine early Thursday morning, another front in the long-simmering conflict was erupting. The internet quickly became a battlefield in its own right, with propaganda and disinformation threatening to muddy the water for Americans following the crisis from afar.
Digital disinformation has long been a favorite tactic of the Kremlin’s — as Americans learned via the proliferation of “fake news” during the 2016 presidential election — and the Ukraine crisis is proving to be no exception. Over the last few days, researchers have warned that President Vladimir Putin’s regime is pushing, and will continue to push, false narratives aimed at justifying its aggression.
At least some of those narratives are finding purchase among an American public divided by previous waves of disinformation, said Graham Brookie, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. “What we see … is not an insignificant amount of organic audience engagement from U.S. citizens that are predisposed to have their previously held beliefs reinforced by Russian disinformation.”
For instance, he said, anti-vaccine groups that are already skeptical of the U.S. government are now primed to disbelieve the official U.S. government narrative around Ukraine.
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