Okay: this post may irritate supporters of HRC, but that is not why I am posting it [1]. I think there is something interesting and relevant here.
See:
It’s not conclusive, but it supports something I’ve been thinking for a while.
Russian trolls and bots were active throughout the election. They helped Trump and hurt HRC.
But what were they doing during the primary?
Were there genuine Bernie supporters who were misogynist douchebros? Of course. Same as with every sufficiently large group of people. Were they any more obnoxious than the supporters of any other candidate? I doubt it, but it’s possible.
I think there is a good chance that a large proportion of the Bernie-themed online misbehaviour seen by HRC supporters was actually Russian in origin. The offence felt by the centre-right Dem loyalists was very likely deliberately manufactured.
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[1] And, for the record, I want to make clear that I personally find HRC to be no better or worse than the rest of the Democratic leadership. My objection to her campaign was not based in an objection to her as a person.
OTOH, I have essentially zero respect for the Democratic Party as an organisation, and I do not support them. But the details of that are a matter for another post.
Dude, that’s a single hastag that Trump pushed for and the first few tweets using ti before this people for Bernie tweet are all Bernie supporters and just scrolling quickly I found this:
I spent a few minutes to prove how sloppy this is compared to human eyes. And again, I DO NOT LIKE HILLARY CLINTON. I just get tired of the level of horseshit that is lazily slopped around when it comes to the Clintons.
I went back to the beginning, and you can see it was a 4chan/reddit meme to get it trending over #WhichHillary back in February and trolls got Bernie fans on board because it was funny. No Russian bots needed.
You’re quite possibly right; as I said, weak evidence for a hunch.
However, as I also said: douchebro Bernie fans do exist. Never doubted it; it’s inevitable in a group that large and diverse.
But I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the harassment of HRC fans had a substantial boost from the Russian/GOP trolling legions.
In the general I think that is absolutely true, the bots really got going in the summer but the primaries were ruled by the standard myopic trolls that do anything in their power to target women as usual. There’s also a minor portion of Bernie’s support (and mostly in the primary) that happily switched to Trump, including the knife attacker in Portland who was a white supremacist that supported Bernie heavily in the primaries. These people exist, just like the radical centrists that are more interested in joining power with neocons post election.
Neither is of any substantial numbers on either side, but denying they exist is extraordinarily dangerous. I also feel a lot of the denial was because how happy too many in those camps were to have the support at all in the moment.
EDIT
It’s important to remember that 
was a meme manufactured by the chans to prove how easily the media reported bullshit memes, then it became an ironic symbol of trolls, and now it’s a full-fledged sign of someone who supports the Nazi side of things. That was just a few months, and it required no outside assistance - a nearly 100% grassroots movement within the United States.
This, plus the recent “jokes” from Russians about electing Trump…I think the Russians are deliberately stirring the Russia story to keep liberals distracted.
Minor, but related: I can’t find it now [1], but I saw a tweet from Pussy Riot go past that said something along the lines of “forget about the Russia investigation”.
[1] It was in Russian, so it’s hard to Google.
Well that and Trump didn’t remove sanctions, so any value he did have was lost before he was even inaugurated. If the “sow chaos in the process” is the correct line of thought for their actions than Trump impeachment is the only value he has left.
Thread:
…which leads in to a point I don’t have time to write just now. Later.
Thread:
Anyway, the point.
As a matter of both ethics and practicality, liberal America cannot expect the working class and PoC to just stand there and tolerate fascist abuse for four years.
Regardless of whether or not serious resistance is tactically wise, it is going to happen. The American underclass are already stretched to breaking point, and they are going to snap.
If it’s done early enough, and with the support of the resources of the non-fascist middle class, then it may be successful and relatively peaceful. If it’s left too late, or seriously undermined by liberal betrayal, then it almost certainly won’t be.
If it doesn’t snap before the midterms, it will be much more difficult. The Trumpists will purge the last resistance from inside the GOP, the public service will be thoroughly Trumpified, and the remnants of the Democrats will be nothing but a useless Vichy rump.
Personally, I think that the situation is probably going to come to a crisis before the midterms. The Trumpists are delivering deliberate provocations every week. Liberals are paralysed, but the working class is just getting increasingly pissed off, and eventually it is going to blow.
Wikileaks looking to blame Obama for NK and provide justification for Trump. Seth Rogen’s having fun with it, but he’s being tagged as an antisemitic dog whistle for the fascists.
Regardless of the merits of HRC as a person, it’s clear that she is nothing but a counterproductive wrecking ball in current US politics. It looks like Colbert came to that same conclusion.
Neatly done propaganda work, too. About the right mix of mockery and legitimate critique, just enough jokes at Bernie’s expense to soften it, and the big finish with an implied declaration of allegiance.
Colbert isn’t as effective as he’d like to be, but he still has some influence.
First-world country.
Interesting podcast on US military culture and demographics.
Evil comes in many forms.