Monday, July 17, 2017

Vladimir Putin spent a fortune helping Donald Trump get elected, and in many ways was on of his biggest campaign donors.

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

The U.S. intelligence community’s Jan. 6 report about Putin’s work to help Trump says the propaganda campaign began with state-paid news organizations like RT and Sputnik. 

“RT’s coverage of Secretary Clinton throughout the U.S. presidential campaign was consistently negative and focused on her leaked e-mails and accused her of corruption, poor physical and mental health, and ties to Islamic extremism,” the report states, adding that there was a sophisticated organization to widely distribute that propaganda on the Internet through “professional trolls.” 

“The likely financier of the so-called Internet Research Agency of professional trolls located in Saint Petersburg is a close Putin ally with ties to Russian intelligence,” the report says. 

Trolls were located in other areas, as well, including Macedonia, where an unusual number of pro-Trump websites were registered. 

The number of people involved in the effort is not detailed in the Jan. 6 report, which is an unclassified version of a highly classified assessment. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, in March said there may have been 1,000 such trolls. 

If Putin did have that many people working to elect Trump, his operation was more than twice as large as the Trump campaign’s paid staff in the final weeks before the election. And if each Putin cybersoldier was paid just $10,000 over the course of the year, that would put Russia’s expenditure on its pro-Trump propaganda at $10 million, making Putin one of Trump’s biggest financial supporters. 

Robert Maguire, with the Center for Responsive Politics, said the situation is similar to rich donors funneling large contributions to secret-money political groups to buy ads. 

“The main difference here is that you have a foreign government paying for the creation of stories that get picked up little by little by various news outlets, and in some cases by the candidate himself from the podium,” Maguire said. “Obviously, the aim was to influence, but man, this is so beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. I mean, where do you even start with that?”

It is of course illegal for a foreign government to donate directly to a campaign, or purchase ads on their behalf, but with the creation of fake news stories that were then sent around on social media the Russians found a work around.

And this does not even take into consideration the amount of money and man hours the Russians spent in sending those phishing emails and of course the hacking itself.

Putin does not strike me as the kind of guy who just throws money around without the expectation of a return on his investment.

No, the Russians spent this money in a very targeted way, in order to achieve a very specific payoff.

And that payoff is not simply the election of the most under qualified and idiotic president in American history.

35 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:46 PM

    Putin better get his money's worth.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:24 PM

      Putin is a Putz.
      Ladies and Gentlemen.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:32 PM

      Welcome to the show.
      Do you want it?
      Do you need it?
      Ladies and Gentlemen.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous4:49 PM

    I seriously believe that our president is seriously indebted to putin and I seriously believe that our president's las vegas casino seriously laundered money for the russian mob and I seriously believe that the truth always comes out. Oh, and I seriously believe in quantam physics.

    GeorgiaPeach

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:17 PM

      You didn't spell "quantum" correctly for something you "seriously" believe in.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:50 PM

      Just human here. I, too, fuck up. But, thanks, for pointing that out. I do adore correct spelling. ;)

      GeorgiaPeach

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8:59 PM

      I do Adore GeorgiaPeach{S} ;-)

      Delete
    4. Anonymous3:24 AM

      Trump was never allowed to have a Las Vegas casino. They looked over his past history and passed, BIG TIME. His Atlantic City casino, yes that one failed because it was meant to. It was nothing more than a Russian money laundering scheme like his residential buildings and other real estate holdings.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous4:53 PM

    Trumps sycophants are a gullible bunch. Wouldn't take much Russian propaganda cloaked in praise for Trump and pillorying Clinton to sway them and keep them riled up. IMO, they stole the election.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous4:54 PM

    Hey Alaska be safe. Just saw that you had a 7.7 earthquake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous5:11 PM

      No problem. Trump will give Murkowski anything Alaska needs that is until he gets her healthcare vote and then all bets are off.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous5:52 PM

      Close. Bet $arah saw it. It was in Russia.

      GeorgiaPeach

      Delete
    3. Anonymous8:25 PM

      That was in Russia you idiot.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous8:46 PM

      https://weather.com/news/news/magnitude-77-earthquake-tsunami-russia-alaska-aleutian-islands

      'T'sunami warning

      Delete
  5. Anonymous4:57 PM

    How come these people still have their security clearances? After Trump gets impeached and resigns, the royal family still has a treasure trove of Top Secret information to payback their loans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:25 PM

      A century worth for sure!

      Delete
  6. Anonymous5:13 PM

    POLITICS

    07/17/2017 05:42 pm ET  
    Updated 2 hours ago

    Asked About Trump Products Made Out Of The U.S., Spicer Says That's 'Out Of Bounds'Happy ‘Made in America’ week.

    By Chris D'Angelo
    Huffington Post

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous5:25 PM

    Mark Knoller ✔
    @markknoller

    Spicer says "not appropriate" for him to discuss impact of "Made in America" campaign on Trump & Ivanka brand goods made abroad.

    11:49 AM - 17 Jul 2017


    Why? Is Trump and Ivanka's off shore foreign manufacturers considered National Confidential Top Secret?
    In Alaska, Sarah Palin had her family's birth dates declared Top Secret. When can Alaskans file FOIA to see what information Sarah deemed Confidential and has locked away and maintained by Alaskan taxpayers? Do we have to wait 25 years after Sarah Palin passes to see what's in the Palin Family State of Alaska Time Capsule?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous8:42 PM

      Dunno about anyone else but I'm past caring about Sarah Nobody.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:50 AM

      No kidding, 8:42 PM, and how she tries to remain in the political fray is so pathetic!

      Delete
    3. Anonymous3:04 AM

      Not me 8:42 . I'm putting in my will to have my decedents get TriG' birth cert after the 100 years they are sealed. They will serve as the addendum to the book I plan t write on the whole hoax.
      The world will someday know and the world will still care. That is, if there is a world and people to care.
      Remember, she helped pave the way to our destruction.

      Delete
    4. Anonymous3:20 PM

      DNA tests bypass that 100 year old racket. Darn, that's the end.

      Delete
  8. Anonymous5:43 PM

    o/t
    You heard it here first!
    Make no mistake, McCain has melanoma in his brain. He is toast. This is why he was talking nonsense recently. The only choice will be to radiate his brain and then you will get, well... ..... a radiated brain lol. We radiated my mom's brain and 1) it didn't work 2) she deteriorated mentally 3) she bleed more into her brain anyway.
    But, then again, since he has great health care, he can get one of these new, fancy, schmancy vaccines for melanoma.
    But face it, the guy is old and this is it.
    Go quietly into the great goodnight John...quit Senate fist please. You' re overdue.
    Too bad, so sad.
    i have not one iota of remorse. He fucking KNEW Sara Palin was an uneducated lying faking nobody and he STILL agreed to put her on the ticket and STILL says it was a good idea.
    I am actually HAPPY his melanoma has finally, finally caught up with him.
    Schadenfreude? You betcha. And I have no guilt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous6:04 PM

      I hope you're wrong. McCain is not 100% on the trump bandwagon and he still carries a lot of water.

      Perhaps his regret of $arah, will fuel his fall into integrity this time.

      GeorgiaPeach

      Delete
    2. Anonymous1:06 AM

      I don't wish disease on anyone but if faced with such maybe it will bring out the truth of his campaign pains. He was forced to take sara as vp. Some say he was extorted or bribed. Maybe even threatened. Let us hope that he wants to spill the beans on that corrupt event in his life.

      Delete
  9. Anonymous6:14 PM


    Kyle Griffin
    Twitter › kylegriffin1

    WSJ: NY prosecutors have issued a new subpoena for Paul Manafort, demanding bank records re: loans of up to $16M.www.wsj.com/articles…

    10 minutes ago · Twitter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous7:03 PM

      Ah ha! This is starting to get good!

      Delete
  10. More fun at Trump's expense.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/twitter-trump-jokes-tropical-storm-don_us_596d2e63e4b010d77673313f?dg&ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009

    Tropical Storm Don. The best storm ever. There's never been a better storm. The Bigliest storm there's ever been. YUUUUGE. Tropical Storm Don will make tropical storms GREAT again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous1:11 AM

      Yeah I saw that. Tropical storm "DON" forming. How fitting.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous7:30 PM

    Trump the fake patriot made no mention of the eighteen military men who died in a plane crash.

    He is so busy defending Don Jr. that his family has taken over everything,all his time is spent propping up his ego , from rallies to feed it to Ivanka family promotion.It's like the Presidency has turned into reality tv. He makes an ass out of himself every time he goes abroud.

    Nothing is getting done. The idiot spends more time on twitter than policy.I am sick of it! This is only six months in people and we are a joke.






    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:28 AM

      That's a feature not a bug. This is exactly what Putin wanted. An imbecile in the White House to gum up the works, nothing betting done while Putin takes over and pushes his agenda all over the world.

      Delete
  12. Anonymous8:21 PM

    K.O. I$$I$
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP7jiuWcMNk

    "The True Evil of Russia’s Cyber War on America"
    RE$IST
    PEACE!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Anonymous8:56 PM

    NOT anything! "The Trump Organization, which produces products that bear the “Trump” brand and the names of the president’s real-estate ventures, has a long history of producing its wares overseas. "

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/made-america-week-white-house-fields-questions-whats-not-trump-products-214811656.html

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous9:07 PM

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-campaign-conceded-in-a-memo-that-comey-was-having-major-impact

    "Trump and his aides have long disputed that idea that Comey cost Clinton a win, calling those who insist otherwise sore losers."

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous9:44 PM

    The United States Of America will and is becoming isolated under Trump.

    We fought against a King once before. Trump want's to be like a Monarchy and not just a FIGUREHEAD like the Queen of great Britain. He has doe nothing constructive for us.

    Blatant nepotism which the Rebulicans accept.Party over Country.

    To all the ones who have served this is a slap in the face.We can't rely on Trump to not use our military as pawns.

    The grand experiment of electing a non polititian has turned to shit.

    ReplyDelete

Don't feed the trolls!
It just goes directly to their thighs.