monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

"We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we'd surely be better off without voting AT ALL."

The intent was to create an atmosphere of division and anger online. The Kremlin, the indictment says, wanted instability in America. It wanted to sway some people's vote, and for others, particularly minorities, persuade them not to vote at all.

[Trump] brushed it off as a hoax. He mused that it might be China, or a guy from New Jersey, or “somebody sitting on their bed who weighs 400 pounds.” He said President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had assured him it wasn’t true. And, he added, “I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it.”

President Trump has never stopped belittling the charge that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election. But on Friday, with the indictment of 13 Russians for orchestrating a vast, well-funded operation to interfere in the election, those denials collided with a mountain of evidence arrayed by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

For Mr. Trump, who has tried to discredit Mr. Mueller’s investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt, it was a direct assault on the version of reality that he has sought tirelessly to create.

Trump and the White House were quick to argue that the indictment of 13 Russian nationals further indicated there was no collusion between Russian operatives and the campaign — and that the vast Russian operation, dubbed “information warfare” by the Justice Department, had no impact on the election result.

According to the document, the Russian nationals and their associates paid people attending pro-Donald Trump rallies in Florida to carry out numerous “tasks,” including asking one to construct a cage at an event and another to dress up as Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton behind bars.

“Defendants and their co-conspirators asked one U.S. person to build a cage on a flatbed truck and another U.S. person to wear a costume portraying Clinton in a prison uniform,” the indictment read.

Calls for Clinton to be jailed were persistent at Trump rallies throughout 2016, with crowds often breaking out into chants of “Lock her up!” In local reports from 2016 rallies in Florida, rally-goers can be seen staging Clinton displays with caged mannequins.

After the Parkland shooting, pro-Russian bots are pushing false-flag allegations again

...And this is just the beginning. Over the next few days, many of these same kinds of accounts will invent a whole range of conspiracy theories about the shooting. If the past repeats itself, pro-Russian, alt-right, white-supremacist and pro-gun social media accounts will promote the same hashtags and indulge in the same conspiracy theories. Each group has its own interests in pushing #falseflag, but the Russian interest is clear. They do it because it helps undermine trust in institutions — the police, the FBI, the media — as well as in the government itself. They also do it because it helps to amplify extremist views that will deepen polarization in U.S. political life and create ever angrier, ever more partisan divides.

Whether there was any actual collusion or not is a question which may eventually be determined by looking at actual evidence of meetings, statements, and timelines. Whether any minds were changed and whether Trump got votes he wouldn't have otherwise remains murky and any "proof" would be mostly anecdotal. Imagine trying to find 40 thousand people who would admit that they had been Hillary supporters but the picture of her in a cage convinced them to switch sides.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Operating from St. Petersburg, they churned out falsehoods on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. They promoted Donald J. Trump and denigrated Hillary Clinton. They stole the identities of American citizens. They organized political rallies in several states, and hired a Clinton impersonator for one event, in West Palm Beach, Fla.

On Friday, 13 Russians were indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on fraud and other charges. Details of their roles in a three-year campaign to disrupt American democracy have begun to emerge from the indictment, other records, interviews and press accounts.

... ... ... ... ... ..

Tucker Carlson blames Trump/Russia investigation for keeping FBI agents "too busy to stop school shootings"

There are unnamed, currently unindicted co-conspirators of American citizenship mentioned in his indictment also.

It's surprising to hear the right-wing calling for some sort of national police force to monitor social media and track mentally disturbed people instead of telling the Feds, "Stay away, we can handle this fine right here in our community."

H. R. McMaster, Trump's National Security Adviser, said a couple of minutes ago at the Munich Security Conference, Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election campaign is "undisputed".

This is precious

Quote:

The White House also released a statement from press secretary Sarah Sanders that said there was “NO COLLUSION between the Trump campaign and Russia and that the outcome of the election was not changed or affected.”

The White House statement also included a line from Trump calling for an end to “the outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations, and far-fetched theories, which only serve to further the agendas of bad actors, like Russia, and do nothing to protect the principles of our institutions.”

Politico

A "line from Trump" that is not. But note the claim: the threats to institutions of democracy come from the reporting on Russian meddling. Further, the "outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations, and far-fetched theories" is straight propaganda - most of the reporting/analysis on Russian meddling has proved amazingly accurate.

"As you can see with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain, whereas in the past it was difficult to attribute for a couple reasons."

"First, technically, it was difficult. But second, you didn’t want to divulge your intelligence capabilities, but now that this is in the arena of a law enforcement investigation, it will be very apparent to everyone."

Paul Waldman
‏@paulwaldman1
Trump:
- Literally CONGRATULATED first responders, like they just won a contest
- Said their speed was "record-setting," though that's not a thing
- Didn't talk to victims' families
- Barely mentioned victims at all

What a guy.