TDS#4: Russia wants you to Feel the Bern

And it makes perfect sense

Photo credit to Reuters, in a recent photo of Bernie looking like … Bernie.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/bernie-sanders-briefed-by-us-officials-that-russia-is-trying-to-help-his-presidential-campaign/2020/02/21/5ad396a6-54bd-11ea-929a-64efa7482a77_story.html

From an information warfare standpoint, Russia continues to run a brilliant operation to disrupt American democracy through election meddling and other nefarious efforts. If someone on the Right tries to dismiss the Russian efforts as “simply a bunch of stupid Facebook memes,” remind them that the U.S. identified a number of Russian agents who successfully infiltrated Conservative groups like the National Rifle Association. The most prolific of the group, Maria Butina, pleaded guilty in 2018.

Here we are in 2020, and Russia hasn’t slowed their efforts. Partly because the U.S. government can’t seem to pass any meaningful legislation to stop the Russians from meddling in our elections.

Anyway, why would they support Bernie? David E. Sanger sums it up well here in this NYT article, but in a nutshell: they believe he’s a polarizing force harmful to American democracy. Supporting two extreme forces and playing them against each other … sounds familiar.

To be fair, I prefer Bernie’s reaction over Trump’s:

“Unlike Donald Trump, I do not consider Vladimir Putin a good friend. He is an autocratic thug who is attempting to destroy democracy,” Sanders said. “The Russians want to undermine American democracy by dividing us up and, unlike the current president, I stand firmly against their efforts.”