Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/12/16/obama.html
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My dyed-in-the-wool Republican uncle is now sharing state-sponsored propaganda from Russia Today on Facebook and telling everyone it’s no big deal that a former KGB agent just worked to undermine the US election. We live in strange times.
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I thought it was funny (well, “funny”) a few months ago when the TV at the local McDonalds switched from running Fox News to RT for a couple of days. Not sure why they bothered switching it back to Fox…
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I can play devil’s advocate and see a Republican saying “well, our guy got elected, and all of this meddling-in-the-election stuff is just Democrats whining and coming up with excuses” or even dismissing the CIA and FBI reports as somehow biased for Hillary or against Trump. I can see that, even though it’s ridiculous. But I can’t get my head around “patriotic” Republicans who have any memories of the Cold War or who lived through the 80s somehow embracing Putin or Russian interference as something they celebrate or welcome. Shouldn’t this be their worst nightmares come to fruition??
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On top of the Republicans I know on FB suddenly finding Russia to be our dearest and most trusted ally due to the War on Clinton, I have a few lefty friends on FB who have become Russophiles for the same reason. Strange times indeed.
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In a number of ways, the winner of the Cold War seems as if it may have been declared prematurely.
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ROUND 2: FIGHT!
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They’re able to convince themselves that Putin is not and never has been a Commie. This is made easier by the fact it’s true: whatever convenient ideological gilding he covered himself in, Putin (like #nextpresident) was always a right-wing authoritarian focused on increasing his own personal power, image, and bank balances.
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I cannot conceive of loathing a person so much that you tacitly approve of despotic rule and the massacre of innocent people.
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If President Obama is saying the Russians are involved then they must be involved. He would never lie. What does that even mean?
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“He’s the GOOD kind of former KGB agent-turned-dictator!”
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Son, you need you some Tribalism.
Take two and call me ranting about how the Other is the problem and anyone who supports your In Group is a Good Person tomorrow.
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President Obama isn’t the one asking us to take his claims at face value with zero evidence to back him up. You’re thinking of the other guy.
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Now, to be clear, this “hacking” – is it really something that would require the sort of considerable resources that only a foreign national government could bring to bear? Because you’d think if there was ever a time for America’s hackers, amateur or otherwise, to rise to the challenge of bringing Trump down (cracking open Mark Burnett’s vaults and so on), it would have been over these last couple of weeks.
It seems all too likely that someone’s already done this and is holding something incriminating over Trump’s head; we can only hope that said someone has good intentions.
[quote=“nemomen, post:5, topic:91329”]On top of the Republicans I know on FB suddenly finding Russia to be our dearest and most trusted ally due to the War on Clinton, I have a few lefty friends on FB who have become Russophiles for the same reason.[/quote]Well, there is a certain relief in the notion that US troops aren’t going to be storming into Russia, I guess?
I can. Absent an Emmanuel Goldstein to inspire Two-Minutes Hates, Big Brother would have no-one to support his rule. Authoritarians need enemies (real or manufactured) and their deeds (again, real or manufactured) to remain in power. The moment that #nextpresident doesn’t feel he’s getting enough respect from Putin* the bromance will be over and Russia will become just as big a boogeyman as “Gina” currently is.
[* a matter of “when,” not “if” because as adept as Putin is at playing to a narcissist he won’t be able to hide his contempt forever]
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In your case, it means that you’re implying that Putin’s statements on the topic are as or more trustworthy than Obama’s.
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It’s risker inside the US since anyone engaging in the tactics the Russians were involved within our borders would get a quick visit from the Feds and a ride in the fun van. The Russians were using both a large military cyberwarfare division and the KGB/FSB’s resources which are vast. It’s not clear what information would be damaging to Trump since the standards for Dems. are totally different. With the number of massively damning facts out there for months, it’s hard to say there’s anything at all that could matter. Trump’s been openly promising to break dozens of laws throughout, and nobody’s cared. His first campaign manager, Manafort, not only was closely connected to Moscow, but was receiving illegal payments from Moscow, and when it was discovered it was just a tiny blimp, Manafort’s still working with Trump. Also, it’s too late now. The information warfare was used to manipulate the election. The election’s over.
Since that was never going to happen, it’s a false sense of relief.
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To clarify we did win the cold war. The wall came down. Russia was in tatters.
This is Cold War2 and Russia just won the first strike.
Мы бы все лучше научиться говорить по-русски.
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This is, and always has been, OK with Republicans.
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