Mueller Report says Russians supported Sanders in 2016. Do they still support him for 2020?

[LonePirate]

The Russians did not support him because they thought he was best for Americans. The big question is do they still support him for 2020? If so, why?

Link to tweet

Elizabeth Landers @ElizLanders

The Russians in Feb 2016: “Main idea: Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary [Clinton] and the rest (except Sanders and Trump - we support them).”

[Uncle Joe]

1. I wonder why Barr left virtually everything around that sentence blacked out?

Thanks for the thread LonePirate

[pnwmom]

4. Probably because that sentence is already public information. It's been in numerous reports. n/t

[Uncle Joe]

5. It also reflects no context whatsoever. n/t

[pnwmom]

8. Because the context is part of an ongoing investigation. Actually, now that I think about it,

I think that sentence first appeared in another official filing.

That investigation has probably been ongoing for quite some time.

[Uncle Joe]

30. Might that ongoing investigation be beneficial to Bernie?

P.S. And for that matter go toward healing rifts within the Democratic Party?

[Hortensis]

23. Mueller's statement months ago was that the Russians

supported Sanders in order to elect Trump.

My problem is that Sanders knew it and tacitly accepted their enormous, free boost without warning the nation we were under attack. Not even after the primary when he was out of it.

Btw, I now suspect the reason for his strange month's silent delay in conceding his undisputed loss may have been in hopes that the Russians would take out Hillary Clinton for him.

He's always said and, bizarrely, clearly believes that all liberal Democratic Party politicians are irredeemably corrupt -- but not him even though he's voted WITH them 96% of the time for the nearly 30 years he's held onto his elite position. A self delusion I can't get my mind around.


So for me it's impossible not to suspect he thought the Russians really must have something real on his Democratic opponent because he's incapable of understanding that they wouldn't, even after years of intense, politically motivated investigations of her that never did find a thing.

[peggysue2]

24. x1000!

You nailed it, Hortensis. He knew, his campaign knew, and then they had the gall to blame Hillary Clinton for not doing more in alerting the public and stopping the attacks.

A fine 'blame the victim' moment.

Incredible!

[mitch96]

27. "Russians supported Sanders in order to elect Trump.

I think the Russians would support anybody that would stop Hillary. Putin hated her with a vengeance.
m

[Hortensis]

32. Oh, absolutely. Putin would support anyone to defeat Democrats.

In 2016's binary race he used Sanders because he didn't fear him. But you do Putin an injustice by characterizing him as just some petty whackjob-level misogynist.

Crippling sanctions! Putin's humiliated and furious, the kleptocrats whose support he must have to stay in power are injured and doubting, and Russia's economy is seriously damaged by economic sanctions by NATO nations, including ours. Putin's backwards, underdeveloped nation with its pissant little economy can't even keep its own people reliably fed and electricity on. He's absolutely determined to get the sanctions lifted.

Plus, his big goal is to restore the boundaries of the old Soviet Union by invading and taking over approximately 2 dozen sovereign nations on Russia's borders.

To do both, he MUST keep Democrats out of power. WE are his biggest enemy.

Sadly, the Republican leadership, serving wealthy conservatives, is collaborating with Russia. Russia has been weaponizing and exporting corruption to bring down western governments for years now, including ours, and the Republican leadership, already severely corrupted by selling out to our new ultrawealthy classes, was an easy mark for Putin.

But the Democratic Party stands against him, and he knew very well what Hillary would do as president, continuation of Obama's policies ratcheted up.

[WeekiWater]

17. Looks like they did say.

It's part of an ongoing matter. I'm assuming it has to do with the numerous Russian indictments.

What's known on this just though news outlets is pretty vast. We really didn't need the Mueller report for it.

That said, I do take a bit of issue with the headline of the op. They weren't supporting Sanders. They were working to influence low information voters and influence our elections.

[lapucelle]

2. I wonder what the "ongoing matter" is... N/T

[sheshe2]

12. I have my thoughts.

Yet I will keep them to myself at this time.

[Botany]

3. Do they still support him for 2020?

Yes.

[murielm99]

6. Big surprise

(not).

[Kahuna7]

18. +1 This is old news but many are in denial....

or just don't care so long as it helped their candidate.

[4now]

7. That is the big question

[democratisphere]

9. Russians, a foreign entity, supported Sanders.

[Freddie]

11. I'm shocked, shocked!

[BlueFlorida]

10. I see some signs that they are nt

[Lancero]

13. Bit odd that this is the only thing left unaltered.

Republicans, sadly, have our number this election cycle - Anything a Trump guy can do to paint the competition as being in Russia's pocket will serve to harm their campaign.

[JI7]

14. yes, social media is full of pro Sanders and pro gabbard shit while attacking

Harris, Beto, Warren and other Democrats. but their biggest attacks so far have been on those 3.

[MineralMan]

15. Well, if the Russians' goal was to attack Hillary Clinton,

which it probably was, what better way than to support a Democratic primary candidate who wouldn't win against her, but whose supporters could be made angry at her, thus suppressing voter turnout in the General Election.

While some might think the Russians aren't smart enough to use that kind of strategic influence, they're wrong. If Russia's goal was to put the idiot, Trump, in the White House, getting Democrats not to vote for Clinton in the general election would be essential. As it was, only 90,000 total votes in three states, MI, WI, and PA, made all the difference. Apparently, Minnesota was also targeted and turned in a surprisingly low margin for Hillary Clinton in November of 2016. They almost influenced enough people in MN to swing that state, too.

Now, it's 2020. We have another well-known Democrat who is well-liked about to enter the primary race. Joe Biden might well be the very best person to run against Trump in 2020, in terms of ensuring a Democratic victory. So, if the Russians would like to keep the idiot, Trump, in office, they might try the same tactic again and attempt to poison voters against voting for Biden in the general election.

How will we know? We'll know if we see people who supposedly are Sanders supporter trashing Joe Biden heavily during the primaries. If we see that, the reason may be the same as poisoning the well for Hillary Clinton in the last primary season. One can help a candidate win by either stimulating support for that candidate or poisoning the most likely opponent of that candidate during the primary race. How to do that? Pick the candidate most likely to come in second among Democrats and support that candidate while attacking the leading candidate.

It's pretty simple, really, and we should be able to spot such efforts quite easily. That doesn't mean, though, that such a manipulation won't work. It worked in 2016 just fine.

[Tom Rinaldo]

16. Sanders is now a Russia target, along with a few other Dem candidates

‘Sustained and ongoing’ disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates"
A coordinated barrage of social media attacks suggests the involvement of foreign state actors.

By NATASHA KORECKI

02/20/2019 06:05 AM EST
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/2020-candidates-social-media-attack-1176018

"A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity.

The main targets appear to be Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), four of the most prominent announced or prospective candidates for president....

...This is the same core group of accounts the company first identified last year in a study as anchoring a wide-scale influence campaign in the 2018 elections.

Since the beginning of the year, those accounts began specifically directing their output at Harris, O’Rourke, Sanders and Warren, and were amplified by an even wider grouping of accounts. Over a recent 30-day period, between 2 percent and 15 percent of all Twitter mentions of the four candidates emanated in some way from within that cluster of accounts, according to the Guardians.ai findings. In that time frame, all four candidates collectively had 6.8 million mentions on Twitter."

Russia wanted Trump elected. They worked to divide Democrats. Now they want Trump reelected. They are working to divide Democrats. Period. We can't aid and abet their efforts.

[lapucelle]

31. Warren, Harris, and Beto are the only candidates mentioned as being targeted with negative

disinformation.

[LongtimeAZDem]

19. If that was the case, we would probably see FOX news promoting Sanders as well

[peggysue2]

25. Hummmm . . .

People like Ann Coulter or Karl Rove maybe????

Strange how these things play out, no?

[LongtimeAZDem]

28. I doubt they'll do anything obvious, like hosting pro-Sanders town halls

[peggysue2]

29. No, certainly not

But the idea of Coulter & Rove praising Sanders and his platform was ludicrous (and obvious) enough.

[helpisontheway]

20. I think Russia wanted to help Bernie and Stein..nt

[dalton99a]

21. It is in Putin's interest to give Trump another term.

'Nuf said

[Cha]

22. Kick

[sarcasmo]

26. Kick.

[Autumn]

33. I think Russia will support anyone who can lose to Trump. Had Bernie come out the gate as the

presumptive nominee, they would have supported her to knock him down. As the primary gels, I think Russia will start a campaign against the front runner.

[Gothmog]

34. Russia supported sanders in 2016 because he could not win and same applies now

Link to tweet

[LonePirate]

35. I agree.