A new story being carried by Politico may take away some of the smugness of Bernie Sanders supporters who have looked down on Trump voters who were played for fools by Russian-funded Facebook and social media ads and ploys. It seems not only were the Russians pitching ads for Trump, but they were also working against Hillary Clinton by using fake news and ads to support Sanders as well as Green Party candidate Jill Stein. I guess we mow know why Stein was photographed seated at a dinner with Vladimir Putin. The one consistent aspects of the Russian effort was to defeat Clinton and sow a mindset where progressives would sit out the election or in what makes to rational sense to me, vote for Trump as a protest vote of sorts. Sadly, some are still falling for fake news stories, including the effort to conflate NFL players kneeling for the national anthem as disrespecting America's military service members. Never mind that the real disrespect is voting for politicians who will send them off to unwinnable wars and/or inadequately supported. Here are highlights from the Politico piece:
Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was the beneficiary of at least one of the Russian-bought political ads on Facebook that federal government officials suspect were intended to influence the 2016 election.Other advertisements paid for by shadowy Russian buyers criticized Hillary Clinton and promoted Donald Trump. Some backed Bernie Sanders and his platform even after his presidential campaign had ended, according to a person with knowledge of the ads.
The pro-Stein ad came late in the political campaign and pushed her candidacy for president, this person said.
“Choose peace and vote for Jill Stein,” the ad reads. “Trust me. It’s not a wasted vote. … The only way to take our country back is to stop voting for the corporations and banks that own us. #GrowaSpineVoteJillStein.”
[T]hey show a desire to create divisions while sometimes praising Trump, Sanders and Stein. A number of the ads seemed to question Clinton’s authenticity and tout some of the liberal criticisms of her candidacy.
Facebook declined to comment on the specifics of the advertisements but noted a previous statement: “The vast majority of ads run by these accounts didn’t specifically reference the U.S. presidential election or voting for a particular candidate. Rather, the ads and accounts appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum — touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights.”
[I]n her recently published book about her election defeat, “What Happened,” Clinton writes that Stein’s modest vote totals in several swing states “may well have thrown the election to Trump.”
Clinton pointedly notes that Stein joined Michael Flynn at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s table at a December 2014 dinner in Moscow, and that the leftist candidate “praised [Trump’s] pro-Russia stance,” though she does not accuse Stein of collaborating with the Kremlin.
Many of the 3,000 Russian-bought advertisements Facebook has identified were riddled with poor grammar and spelling and contained outlandish assertions, according to a person with knowledge of them.
Investigators are likely to probe whether Facebook or any government authority could or should have stopped the ads — and whether the Russian officials were in contact with any Americans.
Earlier this month, Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the Democratic vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said the 3,000 ads that Facebook has determined to have Russian links may be “the tip of the iceberg” and part of a far larger Kremlin plot to influence the 2016 election through Facebook and other social media platforms.
To my Bernie Sanders supporting friends, I hope they will learn not to fall for and hyperventilate over fake ads - some of which we now know were sponsored by the Kremlin. They and Stein voters have severely damaged America.
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