Dear MAGA, Putin Hates You (But He Loves Your Work)

Stephen Humphreys examines some of the ploys used by Russia to spread disinformation, lies and chaos.

Apr 14, 2024

∙ Paid

A wave of Russian disinformation swept Donald Trump into office: Fake articles on Facebook blared the Pope’s endorsement. The New York Post informed us Hillary was going to be indicted and die of a rare disease next week.

Since then, Trump has adapted that fake news operation to turn around the negative publicity from 91 felony counts.

And Trump and Putin’s success—in dictating the House to end US aid to Ukraine against Russian invasion, while unleashing host of anti-Ukraine social media trolls —represents the second most successful intelligence operation by a foreign adversary in US history, after the one that got Trump elected.

Much has changed since Reagan said ‘Tear down that wall’ and Americans unanimously supported brave Ukrainian defenders against hordes of Russian war criminals.

One thing that has not changed is the set of standard methods Russian intelligence employs, and which Trump has adopted to use on any audience gullible enough to believe that ‘Mexico will pay for the wall.’

Here are some of the Russian ploys specifically identified by Western intelligence agencies:

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Byline Supplement to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.