Clint Watts: Trump or Sanders?: Who does Russia Want to be President?

[TomCADem]

Last edited Thu Mar 5, 2020, 02:28 AM - Edit history (1)

Clint Watts, the Counter-Terrorism Expert, who testified before the Senate about Russia's efforts to help Trump confirms once again that within the Democratic primary, Russia is once again boosting the Sanders campaign. Why? Because Sander's staple attacks on a free media and the integrity of elections are tailored made to Russian efforts to undermine faith in U.S. Democracy.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/05/clint-watts-on-russias-information-warfare.html

https://www.fpri.org/fie/trump-sanders-russia-2020/

Russia, as in 2016, prefers Bernie Sanders within the Democratic field for several reasons.

We know Russia may be boosting the Sanders campaign in 2020 for a few reasons.
>The Kremlin started off the 2020 campaign season with relatively neutral coverage of Sanders, but since January 1, 2019 our project has shown they’ve portrayed him the most positively in the Democratic field by volume and second-most by percentage.
>We also know that Facebook shuttered Russian inauthentic activity in 2019 that bolstered Sanders. We don’t know the content of the U.S. intelligence community’s briefing to the Sanders campaign, but we might wonder if it had to do with inauthentic social media support for Sanders or employing bots to boost his campaign and increase division amongst the Democrats.
>In recent weeks, the Russian state-sponsored media has accelerated their positive support of Sanders and shifted to a familiar pattern reminiscent of 2016. Key narratives they’ve recently begun to amplify for Sanders on RT and Sputnik News include:
* It’s rigged! – The Democratic establishment has rigged the process against Sanders, just like they allegedly did in 2016.
* Boosting positive polls for Sanders – While not biased in substance, as Sanders is the frontrunner by most accounts, Russia’s selection bias for Sanders clearly sticks out. One Sputnik News story paints his policy proposals as mainstream, writing that “only 17 percent of Democratic-leaning adults in the national Post-ABC poll believing that Sanders was ‘too liberal.’” Another Sputnik article criticizes other Democratic candidates but praises Sanders.
* He’s an underdog – Sanders, much like Trump in 2016, is painted as an outsider candidate among establishment Democrats.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. More:

For the Kremlin, Sanders offers much to like. Sanders is a weaker challenger to Trump as compared to establishment figures. Sanders traveled to and praised the Soviet Union during the Cold War, shames hawkish American foreign policy, talks of withdrawing the U.S. from foreign battlefields and prioritizes climate change as a top national security threat. Rarely does Sanders speak of what foreign policy or national security may look like in a Sanders administration. If he were elected, who would his national security staff even be? While a longtime domestic policy advocate, Sanders seems a foreign policy neophyte compared to the rest of the Democractic field. Given that, if he defeated Trump, it might not be all bad for Putin the way other establishment candidates have vowed. Most importantly, Sanders populist supporters offer an aggressive wedge to divide the political left against Trump and sow enduring chaos on the legitimacy of American democracy.

https://www.fpri.org/fie/trump-sanders-russia-2020/

[relayerbob]

2. Pretty much what I imagined

BUt really REALLY scary to see it put in black and white

[BlueTsunami2018]

3. They quite obviously want Тяцмр to be "President".

As he’s their agent. They just push Bernie because they see it as a easier way to keep their guy in place. Bernie is a lot of things but he’s not evil, he’s not a traitor and he wouldn’t be doing Putin’s bidding.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. No, there's no evidence that Bernie is either a knowing Russian asset

or a useful idiot like Trump, who is one or the other if not both. But his weaknesses as a candidate and as a potential president are things Putin can exploit.

[Mersky]

7. +1

[stopdiggin]

11. yes. let's make this very clear.

for all the people who can't be bothered to read anything.

Sanders is anything but a dupe .. for anyone. The Russians are once again (or perpetually?) trying to destabilize our system. And Sanders (from their viewpoint) better fits the bill.

[comradebillyboy]

4. They prefer Trump but either will do.

[mjvpi]

6. This is about creating dissension in the Democratic Party. Period.

If we are fighting between ourselves, e won’t beat Trump

[babylonsister]

8. And it's working. Thanks for pointing that out. nt

[TomCADem]

12. Because That Is What Bernie Does

This is why Russian media pushes negatives stories about Warren. It is not about ideology. It is about who is fundamentally divisive. Bernie is not going to change. He thrives on attacking his would be Democratic allies.

[abqtommy]

9. Well, we know that with tRUMP installed in office the de facto President is sPUTIN...

[sheshe2]

10. Welp.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------and that is all I have to say. Anything more would perhaps be a violation.