An unintentionally funny “EXCLUSIVE” in The Washington Post this week stated that Russian “propaganda” is both causing and worsening opposition among Republicans to investing more money in the war in Ukraine.
And next week: The sinister foreign influence campaign that has men disliking Amy Schumer…
Apparently, the only reason a majority of Americans — 31 percent, according to Pew Research — feels we’ve financially tied ourselves too closely to Ukraine, pouring hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into a conflict we cannot justify, is because Russia said so.
“Russia has been increasing its propaganda operations,” the Post reported Monday, “as part of a second front that current and former senior Western officials said has become almost as crucial for Moscow as the military campaign in Ukraine — especially as congressional approval for further aid has become critical for Kyiv’s ability to continue defending itself.”
An example of such allegedly harmful “propaganda” was included at the very top: a fake American citizen created by a Russian communications firm who would somewhere be cited (presumably on social media) professing he “doesn’t support the military aid that the U.S. is giving Ukraine and considers that the money should be spent defending America’s borders and not Ukraine’s. He sees that Biden’s policies are leading the U.S. toward collapse.”
Raise your hand if you needed someone, real or fake, to tell you the southern border has collapsed as a direct consequence of the president’s policies, and everything else has gone to hell for the same reasons.
As unintelligent and gullible as the media believe middle-class Americans are, nobody goes to the grocery store or the gas station right now and finishes up saying, “All my money is gone, but I really can’t wait to send another $20 billion to Ukraine.” Likewise, nobody sees the shocking images of the hordes of foreign men bum-rushing their way through border agents and thinks, “Hey, that’s neat!”
The Post nevertheless referred darkly to Russia’s “increasingly sophisticated strategy … to interfere in the U.S. political system” by way of disseminating messages. The intent, the Post said, is to “cultivate an environment in which ‘Americans are not ready to sacrifice their well-being for the sake of the conflict in Ukraine’…” (I mean, yeah. I’m not. But the Post and the rest of establishment Washington are ready to do it for you!) The elaborate Russian scheme is said to include “Kremlin-linked political strategists and trolls [who] have written thousands of fabricated news articles, social media posts and comments that promote American isolationism, stir fear over the United States’ border security and attempt to amplify U.S. economic and racial tensions.”
If Russians are spending a single dollar with the hopes of inciting “racial tensions” in America, someone really needs to tell them to save their money. We’ve already got MSNBC and The Washington Post to do that for us. As for the rest, maybe Democrats can just tell Biden to be a better president. Turning off the internet won’t fix the border or put more money in my account. And I can promise it’s not some marvel of Russian geopolitical ingenuity that Americans aren’t as sexually aroused as Max Boot worried about Ukraine getting more money. The war has been going on for two years with no end in sight, and its continuation doesn't benefit regular Americans.
We're not living luxuriously right now. Why would anyone prioritize Eastern Europe's problems when Washington hasn't solved our own fundamental ones?
The idea of “Russian propaganda” is just as much of a threat in 2024 as it was in 2016. The Washington Post claims that in 2016, the Russian government used fake social media accounts to spread false information supporting Donald Trump's campaign and undermining Hillary Clinton's candidacy, including stories from the hacked Clinton campaign. The Post mixes real material with “disinformation” because it was harmful to the media’s preferred candidate.
[READ: Here’s Why I Didn’t Fall For The Russia-Trump Conspiracy]
It was a ridiculous claim in 2016, and it still is now. Remember the clever ways Democrats and the media said Russians spread “disinformation” back then. One meme during the election promoted by the account “Army of Jesus” showed Jesus Christ arm-wrestling Satan and said, “Satan: If I win, Clinton wins! Jesus: Not if I can help it!”
Another ad said, “Stop Trump! Stop racism!”
A third favorite featured a drawing of then-Democrat candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders wearing only a Speedo and flexing for gay rights. It’s important to note that Democrats lied about the origin of the accounts being from hostile actors in Russia, as the “Twitter Files” show. Additionally, not a single vote was proven to be influenced by any of it, and it's ridiculous to think Americans aren’t staunchly committed to Ukraine purely because of manipulative propaganda. If only changing public opinion were that easy, the Post might have been more successful in its own pro-Ukraine propaganda campaign, which puts the U.S. and our European allies at risk of a conflict with a nuclear power.
Since the conflict began, the Post has published numerous articles and columns either romanticizing the conflict as a fight for “democracy” (Ukraine has suspended elections, and President Volodymyr Zelensky controls critical information outlets even before the war) or suggesting that Russia was about to be defeated. showedThe Washington Post says Russian ‘propaganda’ is eroding support for Ukraine. Apparently, the Post’s own propaganda is the only type allowed.
If only changing public opinion on the matter was so simple, the Post might have been more successful in its own pro-Ukraine propaganda campaign, which it wages at the extreme peril of setting the U.S. and our European allies in an existential conflict with a nuclear power.
Since the conflict began, the Post has published countless articles and columns either romanticizing the conflict as a fight for “democracy” (Ukraine has suspended elections, and President Volodymyr Zelensky closed down information outlets critical of his leadership even before the war) or suggesting that Russia was on the cusp of defeat.
“Ukraine is winning the information war,” The Washington Post, March 1, 2022.
“Is Russia losing the war?” The Washington Post, March 14, 2022.
“Putin, unaccustomed to losing, is increasingly isolated as war falters,” The Washington Post, Dec. 30, 2022.
“Pressing for elections now would weaken Ukrainian democracy,” The Washington Post, Oct. 1, 2023.
“Ukraine remains stronger than you might think,” The Washington Post, Feb. 21, 2024.
Maybe the Post should try a meme with Zelensky in a Speedo.
