President Donald Trump has little apparent grasp of the actual reality of the social and political situations in the United States. Following his lengthy history of flatly dismissing duly documented reports of Russian interference in U.S. electoral processes, Trump rushed to Twitter this Saturday to mock reports on potential foreign involvement in instigating recent protests in the United States, which have — on paper at least — been sparked following the police murder of black man George Floyd. Yet, the fact of the matter is that Russia has a documented history of instigating tension in the United States, and, unlike what Trump indicated, it’s not remotely just CNN or any other media outlet suggesting that Russian meddling could be at work amidst current violent unrest.
The US Secret Service confirms DC police were on the scene despite the president’s false claim belowhttps://t.co/xs2PJOg4gy https://t.co/elqw3QgcqZ
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 30, 2020
Trump tweeted:
‘Here we go again. Fake News @CNN is blaming RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA. They are sick losers with VERY bad ratings! P.S. Can’t blame China because they need the cash?’
Here we go again. Fake News @CNN is blaming RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA. They are sick losers with VERY bad ratings! P.S. Can’t blame China because they need the cash?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2020
Although to be clear, the president doesn’t actually identify what he’s talking about in the tweet, most of his most recent posts have been about the recent protests across the United States. In short, the president of the United States appears to have decided to stick to watching television and tweeting ignorant insults about what he sees while serious national crises unfold.
"MAGA night at the White House?"
Is that your own pathetic, insipid way of inviting legions of adoring fans to cheer for you from outside? Or are you actually TRYING to start a ruckus?
WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU?
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) May 30, 2020
University of Washington Professor Kate Starbird offered her own, definitely non-CNN perspective, writing on Twitter:
‘I’m really worried about infiltration of (online) activist movements by domestic provocateurs and foreign agents — who will try to shape these movements towards their own objectives… Even though they may seem to be saying the same thing as everyone else in the movement — even though they look like they’re on our team — they aren’t. And eventually, they’ll start to try to shape the conversation towards their objectives. And their objectives aren’t ours.’
I’ll leave discussion of the physical protests to others for now, but I’m really worried about infiltration of (online) activist movements by domestic provocateurs and foreign agents — who will try to shape these movements towards their own objectives.
— Kate Starbird (@katestarbird) May 30, 2020
Even though they may seem to be saying the same thing as everyone else in the movement — even though they look like they’re on our team — they aren’t. And eventually, they’ll start to try to shape the conversation towards their objectives. And their objectives aren’t ours.
— Kate Starbird (@katestarbird) May 30, 2020
In the case of Russian intelligence agents who have launched documented misinformation campaigns on U.S. social media platforms, those objectives include chaos. Trump helps.
Check out Twitter’s response to the president below:
