Dems Need To Learn From the UK Election to UNITE under one message: GET HIM OUT!

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Bernie Sanders announced to the press today that US intelligence agencies have briefed him that Russia is attempting to interfere to help his campaign

It remains unclear how Russia is attempting to help Sanders, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the effort. The revelation comes a day after it was reported that the US intelligence community believes Moscow is taking steps to help President Donald Trump win and at a time when Sanders is emerging as the Democratic front-runner.

Speaking to reporters in Bakersfield, California, Friday afternoon, Sanders confirmed that his campaign was briefed about the Kremlin's efforts about a month ago and condemned Russia's attempts to interfere in US elections.

"It was not clear what role they're going to play. We were told that Russia, maybe other countries, are going to get involved in this campaign, and look, here's the message to Russia: stay out of American elections," Sanders said.

"And what they are doing, by the way, the ugly thing that they are doing, and I've seen some of their tweets and stuff, is they try to divide us up. That's what they did in 2016 and that is the ugliest thing they are doing -- is they are trying to cause chaos, they are trying to cause hatred in America."

I can tell you exactly how Russia is attempting to help Sanders:

1. Bernie Bros. No, they're not necessarily "Russian bots" in the same sense that a great deal of Trump's social media support is; but Russian elements are absolutely encouraging them to do what everyone complains about them for doing, and are absolutely encouraging them to go the "f*ck unity" route and pledge to not vote for the Dem nominee if it isn't Sanders, because they know both of these things turn off other Dem voters.

2. Distrust of the DNC. This exists because of the DNC's favoritism in 2016, but Russia is absolutely exploiting it and harping on it to delegitimize the Dem primary in the eyes of ALL Dem voters so that they are more likely to stay home.

3. BUT sOcIaLiSm.... The keystone policies Bernie is campaigning on like MFA and government-paid tertiary education are very common western-nation polices and NOT really all that socialist - but he famously proclaims himself to be "a socialist", so his most fervent supporters hop on board that identity train and attach it to his campaign, and I guarantee Russia heavily encourages and promotes that because they know the S-word turns off centrist Dem voters and potential Rep switch-hitters.

 

[Isabeau]

And it works. You hear much more about mean Bernie Bros than actual criticism of him or his policies from other more to the left Dems who otherwise understand and may even like the social-democratic tag. And the "socialism!" part is more pushed towards moderate republicans on social media. Well, and the press isn't helping.

 

[Aribeth Zelin]

I don't have an issue with Bernie, other than I like Warren more and I think she's more concrete plans than Bernie does. I think his followers can sometimes get to the omg, really, wtf levels of fanatic, but near as I can tell, its not really his fault [I get my revolution newletter thingies, have since '16...]

 

[Ishina]

It seems to me that if Russia was throwing its weight into election meddling, they'd manage to achieve more than a 0.0000000001% increase in mean comments on the internet.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It seems to me that if Russia was throwing its weight into election meddling, they'd manage to achieve more than a 0.0000000001% increase in mean comments on the internet.

I think their primary aim is to spread confusion and division throughout US politics, so as to increase polarisation and distrust among the US public and, worldwide, to discredit the democratic model of government.

They don't need many bots to do that.

 

[Eunoli]

It is a gigantic mistake to turn a purposeful blind eye to the Russians doing this again. Sanders isn't courting this, he's condemning it. It isn't being disloyal to him to acknowledge it and demand that the Russians stop.

We have very little chance of a fair election right now. The acting Director of National Intelligence was just fired for telling congress that this was going on - just for telling them. They are going to be allowed to interfere as much as they want. We must not allow them to further increase resentment and division so that no one has the strength or platform to stand up to it.

 

[Ishina]

I think their primary aim is to spread confusion and division throughout US politics, so as to increase polarisation and distrust among the US public and, worldwide, to discredit the democratic model of government.

They don't need many bots to do that.

I don't see any confusion and division among Americans other than that which Americans are doing to themselves. It's an election. Political rivals are rivalling. People who disagree are disagreeing. Reactionaries are reacting. Haters are hating. Complainers are complaining. Trolls are trolling. It's a day ending in Y.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

I don't see any confusion and division among Americans other than that which Americans are doing to themselves. It's an election. Political rivals are rivalling. People who disagree are disagreeing. Reactionaries are reacting. Haters are hating. Complainers are complaining. Trolls are trolling. It's a day ending in Y.

And the purpose of twitter bot accounts is to promote particular hashtags, thus amplifying particular disagreements, reactions and so on.

Though apparently there's no evidence to support his claim, so you're probably right, and it's simply particular Sanders supporters being obnoxious:

Experts Say There’s ‘No Evidence’ for Bernie’s Russian Bot Claim

The Democratic front-runner suggested that Russians were impersonating his most aggro supporters. Experts say there’s no evidence for that.

www.thedailybeast.com

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Russia, Iran, or any other interested country could decide to meddle. That’s why experts say it’s important for Sanders and other candidates to steer clear of accusations about foreign meddling in the admitted absence of any evidence to support them.

“I think it's completely irresponsible to even allude that there's been some sort of attack from a foreign actor to undermine our democracy. Yes, we know this is happening. Yes, we know that the intelligence community and others are working around the clock to detect and mitigate it,” Lisa Kaplan, who runs the Alethea Group, told The Daily Beast. “But if you don't have evidence, it's an irresponsible statement to make and it's not increasing trust in the system.”

“In this case, Senator Sanders dismissing the online bullying and harassment by some of his purported supporters by suggesting it was ‘Russian interference’ does the opposite of solving either serious challenge,” said Graham Brookie, director of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.

 

[Ishina]

It's not limited to Sanders supporters. Nor even to politics.

It's no worse than fans of rival pop stars going at each other, and it should be no harder for grown adults to navigate.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It's not limited to Sanders supporters. Nor even to politics.

It's no worse than fans of rival pop stars going at each other, and it should be no harder for grown adults to navigate.

Though bots are, apparently, used to amplify particular contentious hashtags. For example, Revealed: quarter of all tweets about climate crisis produced by bots. Similarly, Russia trolls 'spreading vaccine discord'.

That is, they get particular online communities sharing and discussing particular news items, frequently false and misleading ones, which thus make their way into the wider news environment.

I don't think we should be complacent about it.

 

[Ishina]

It's not necessarily complacency. It's more about responding proportionately to spam accounts that don't pass the Turin test.

I think if a bot was ever sophisticated enough to abuse me, I'd be more impressed than distressed.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It's not necessarily complacency. It's more about responding proportionately to spam accounts that don't pass the Turin test.

I think if a bot was ever sophisticated enough to abuse me, I'd be more impressed than distressed.

No, I don't think that's the way bots operate.

Rather, it's a case of picking up some sort of negative news story about you, attaching a hashtag to it, #IshinaAteMyHamster or whatever, and then spreading it, with the hashtag, around twitter and Facebook.

That gets other people whoever never heard of you sharing it and discussing it, and bots pick up the hashtag and amplify those posts, and before too long it's trending on twitter and Facebook and everyone's talking about it. Or that's the theory.

 

[Ishina]

Kinda like #BernieBros then. Although that hashtag does seem to be reappropriated by those it was designed to injure.

 

[Brenda Archer]

Bots at work, a thread.

Part of the problem is never knowing who is responsible for what. A lot of people will believe the first accusation they hear and don’t know to be skeptical.

 

[Aeon Jiminy]

Bernie Sanders announced to the press today that US intelligence agencies have briefed him that Russia is attempting to interfere to help his campaign

I can tell you exactly how Russia is attempting to help Sanders:

2. Distrust of the DNC. This exists because of the DNC's favoritism in 2016, but Russia is absolutely exploiting it and harping on it to delegitimize the Dem primary in the eyes of ALL Dem voters so that they are more likely to stay home.

The DNC has done a very good job of making itself untrustworthy. It seems the real solution is to just be trustworthy. The 2020 Iowa caucus was an undeniable dumpster fire. I didn't see any Russian strings attached to the arms of 5 of the 6 candidates in the last debate who raised their hands in support of using the DNC-provided super delegate option to bypass the will of voters if necessary.

While we are spinning conspiracy theories ( which is what you are doing in your I can tell you exactly how Russia is attempting to help Sanders, even as the Intelligence agencies admit they don't know how. You do.), let's spin this one: Could your Russia conspiracy theory be used as justification to overturn the will of primary voters? You gotta admit it's convenient.

Russia is back. Hi there. We knew you would be back, somehow, and it's no surprise you are glued to Bernie Sanders.

 

[Clara D.]

Bots at work, a thread.

Part of the problem is never knowing who is responsible for what. A lot of people will believe the first accusation they hear and don’t know to be skeptical.

Russian bots? Or part of the Bloomberg publicity mill? -- he pays people to do this.

 

[Brenda Archer]

Russian bots? Or part of the Bloomberg publicity mill? -- he pays people to do this.

And there’s no way to know. The atmosphere of doubt would certainly benefit Russia, but we don’t know for sure.

This leads simple people to blame the first plausible scapegoat that matches their preconceptions.

It’s not impossible that it’s Bloomberg’s personal money. Egotistical people can be manipulated at a distance by someone who knows how.

It could even be somebody else.

Meanwhile Trump continues to gut our agencies.

 

[Brenda Archer]

Voters in Kentucky break record for registration ahead of 2020 election

 

[Eunoli]

Voters in Kentucky break record for registration ahead of 2020 election

I really really really hope that this isn't to defend the Russian turtle.

 

[Cristalle]

This "bot" argument is designed to delegitimize certain voters and control the narrative. Well, attacking voters is a dumb idea and you are not going to win by trying to shame people into accepting a shit sandwich.