Here's how Russia is trying to divide the Democratic Party

[TheBlackAdder]

.

Conservative and Russian media outlets — amplified by sketchy Twitter accounts — are pushing a social media campaign intended to drive Democratic voters away from the party.

A surge of tweets with the hashtag #WalkAway began June 23 after White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a Virginia restaurant the night before, and the campaign took off after Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) called for the public shaming of Trump administration officials, reported the blogger Caroline O. for Medium.

The remarkable similar tweets claimed to be from former Democrats who got fed up with the “hate” and “intolerance” of “the left,” and piggybacked off the “civility” debate going on at the time on opinion pages and cable news shows.

Brandon Straka officially started the “#WalkAway Campaign” in May to encourage Democrats to abandon their party, but the hashtag got an artificial boost into the public sphere by automated Twitter accounts identified as linked to Russian influence operations.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/heres-russia-trying-divide-democratic-party-means-november/

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[lapfog_1]

1. not at all surprised at this. - n/t

[musette_sf]

2. lotsa fake troll FB accounts

pushing "#walkaway" over the past week, I have observed

[Initech]

5. I've seen a few fake troll accounts pop up here too.

One guy - first post was already about moving out of the US to a "more progressive area in another country" followed up with "I show up to protests and I recruit". I smelled troll from a mile away but I don't think the jury shared my sentiments.

[lark]

7. I think I saw a troll yesterday.

He was saying that Venezuelans were more European than Hispanic (unture, my old roommate is from Venezuela, family's been there for forever, and he strongly relates to being Hispanic). He also said we'd do them a favor if we did an "intervention"! When I questioned him strongly on this and asked if he really thought drumpf invading their country and stealing all their resources was a good thing - he/she/it backed off and didn't reply. I also advised that if this entity thought this was a good idea, he/she/it was probably on the wrong board to begin with.

[IronLionZion]

24. There are all types of hispanics

since it based on a common language. There are black, brown, tan, Native, mixed, white, Asian, Jewish, Arab, etc. hispanics.

[mopinko]

28. i wish there was an "i think this person is a troll" option

on alerts. it doesnt have to go to the jury, it can go to mirt. slick trolls get past the juries all the time. no doubt if you could see their post count you would ding them, but when you dont know that, well....

[LanternWaste]

3. I see a lot of the "this makes us look bad" routine going on these days.

Along with the self-righteous proclamations of "don't mock them or we're just as bad!!!" (because refusing women's health-care and calling law enforcement to remove black people from the property is just as bad as calling someone an idiot, or something).

I'll simply presume the "this makes us look bad" battalion are either willing participants of Moscow, or simply their dupes.

And if I'm wrong, I'll be wrong about something that hurts absolutely no one and holds zero consequence.

[Maraya1969]

13. Well I have a true Democratic woman friend and she is with the "This makes

us look bad camp" So I guess that is good news to a point in that maybe some of them are really Democrats but, like Chuck Schumer, they was to eat their own again.

[FuzzyRabbit]

19. Russian trolling is working!

The purpose is to divide us - to make us disagree with each other. Your friend should learn to ignore the trolls. If we are divided, we are easier to defeat.

[0rganism]

4. #walkaway - is this a Road Warrior reference?

nice of these assholes to associate themselves with the Humungus tribe, next will their GOP buddies offer us "safe passage in the wasteland"?

[Skidmore]

6. I knew it.

Can smell trollery. I posted about walkaway about a week or two ago and less than a handful of people responded.

[janx]

11. I posted this the other day and got even less response than that:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210825164

[Sneederbunk]

8. They are here among us.

What are the odds DU will again be hacked Nov 6?

[sarah FAILIN]

15. I hope we are more prepared

Maybe even have a team in place ahead of time that can deal with this sort of thing. We have people here that could help if everyone is ready.

[Tom Rinaldo]

9. Of Course

Only a fool would believe that Putin has such narrow vision that the only thing he cared about was hurting Hillary and helping Trump. He wants all of our Democratic institutions ("small" and "large" D) in disarray. He wants us all at each other's throats. He wants us all to become disillusioned with electoral politics and to either give up in disgust or train our fire on each other.

He doesn't care what potential split he exploits. Russia writes checks to both those who praise and bash Bernie, to those who both praise and bash Maxine, to those who both praise and bash Nancy etc.

[eleny]

10. The more specific examples of this the better

K&R

[Maraya1969]

12. Keep reporting to FB and Twitter and here. However a couple weeks ago

I reported a Twitter account that was less than a month old and had over 1,000 followers and about 1,700 tweets and Twitter said that they found that account, "Was against the rules" (or however they say it)

But when I went back to check I saw that they hadn't removed the account! I sent another report of the same nature, (that they are pretending to be someone else)
So I just checked back on my notifications and can't find their response to me and I forget the name on the account. Next time I think I'll keep a note pad of the names I report.


Also I think it is good to fight them even though you won't win anything. At least others may see the truth among their lies

[EricMaundry]

14. Thanks for this

I've had some "walk away" bullshit show up on my blog. This is very useful.

[lancelyons]

16. All we need to do is gnore all of this and focus on Vote Democrat.

Vote Democrat no matter what you hear.. Vote democrat no matter what you read.

There will be people trying to divide. Some might try to say Democratic vs Democrat and try to divide that way.

Just remember VOTE DEMOCRAT!!

[EricMaundry]

20. Troll bots are an infestation all over the Internet

I run a blog and I get them all of the time. This is not a little problem. Also not a whole lot is being done about it.

It's real.

[Kablooie]

17. Anything that says, I'm disgusted or leaving the Democratic party is going to be a Russian smear.

ANYTHING that creates discomfort with voting Democratic should be considered a troll right now.
It doesn't matter where it comes from.
It could come from a true Democrat who was unknowingly influenced by a Russian tool.

Even if you have a legitimate grudge about some Democratic positions, the time to work it out is AFTER NOVEMBER!

The ONLY THING that counts is voting Republicans OUT in November.

NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT!
NOTHING!!!

[calimary]

23. Yep. And that we are seeing more of this now just tells you

that they’re desperate to rig the game so they can prevail in November.

Expect more of this shit, and more shrill stuff too.

[MikeJelf]

18. Republicans Become Ruskublicans

If you didn't notice, the 2008 postelectoral "postmortem" on the Republican Party prescribed widening their appeal to make it possible for non-rich, non-White voters to find the GOP more attractive than the standard operating procedure for resignation from the NAZI Party, i.e., swallowing a strychnine pill.
The problem with the prescription was that, like the one for Type 2 diabetes (regular exercise and fewer empty calories), it required discipline, hard work and honesty.
When you've gone 40 years depending on White racism for an essential part of your coalition, and deception for the rest, it can be next impossible to reform.
Putin's little green men have been busy throughout Europe, in person with nerve agent or handgun or on line, fuelling Brexit fervor, supporting neofascists in Eastern Europe and their opponents, stoking division wherever unity might threaten their exquisite handiwork.
Trump has been proudly owned and operated by Putin since 2013, which is why both our Republican Senate Leader and Republican House Majority leader lauched a trial balloon thee weeks back calling for the Mueller probe to end.
The first loyalty of these two -- McConnell and McCarthy -- is to money, not to America and clearly not to her Constitution.
That their trial balloon was lofted without a single shot being heard does nothing to reassre.
A century and a half back my great grandpaps fought under Mr. Lincoln to support the ideal that all men are created equal.
Today's Oval Office occupant thinks it's a capital thing for Ruskublicans to profit from Knoncentration Kamps for Kids, just as Jefferson Davis's base did.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

21. I have yet to see this

I don't necessarily agree with some tactics but I'm not going to leave the party over it. Geez.

[ifihad2]

22. anyone remember this Twilight Zone - The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street

...ever since cheeto took office I think of this old show, from 1960 ...

https://vimeo.com/168014736

[IronLionZion]

25. Their goal is to sow distrust of each other, the party, voting, and the system

so if we ever find ourselves reading something that makes us distrust anything or anyone on our side, it's good to take a pause and consider the motives.

There are plenty of legit Dems and liberals who are disappointed with the Democratic party, but actively working against voting for Dems is a major red flag that there may be a paid troll behind it.

[TNLib]

26. I've been reporting FB users that use that hashtag

It's pretty obvious what they are doing. I wish twitter, FB and other social media tech companies would get on the ball with this nonsense.

[awesomerwb1]

27. That's why we need to be active online

I don't do FB anymore but I'm active on Twitter. We should all be, to at least somewhat counter the bots. It's gonna get a lot worse.