JemmyUS conservative influencers say they are ‘victims’ of Russian disinformation campaign
breakfastmtnwww.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/05…
A number of high-profile, conservative influencers in the US have said they are “victims” of an alleged Russian disinformation campaign, after the Biden administration accused Moscow of carrying out a sustained campaign to influence the outcome of November’s presidential elections.
Tim Pool and Benny Johnson published statements on Wednesday evening addressing allegations that a US content creation company they were associated with had been provided with nearly $10m from Russian state media employees to publish videos with messages in favour of Moscow’s interests and agenda, including over the war in Ukraine.
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Are they trying to hide behind a “I didn’t know what I was saying” defense while expecting people to trust and listen to what they say?
From the AP News article on the topic
One unidentified influencer’s contract included a $400,000 monthly fee, a $100,000 signing bonus and an additional performance bonus.
Such savage victimization. I’m sure that they returned all the money once they learned what it was for and where it came from.
gAlienLifeformUnfortunately the US Department of Justice says they agree because they are (yet again) bending over backwards to protect right wingers from being held accountable for their actions to harm our country
UnderpantsWeevilI just want to remind everyone that some dipshit dressed like a WWE wrestling heel managed to convince a Dem majority to vote to defund one of the biggest progressive GOTV operations in the midwest. But they can’t be bothered to hold millionaire media hacks to basic tenants of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
If Harris loses this election in a nail-bitter in some swing state bombarded with fake news, I hope we all remember this moment.
Oh so they don’t like being on the receiving end of disinformation campaigns? It’s hard to care even if it was true after how long they’ve been on the other end of them. But also it isn’t true, they did it
SteefLem
radix“Well pay you millions of dollars to keep doing your work.”
Ok, but I’m not changing my message, I’m no sellout.
“No worries, it’s perfect as is.”
That’s not a victim, that’s a perpetrator. Whether they knew who was bankrolling the operation or not (they probably did), the fact that their message aligned perfectly with opponents of their country is enough.
Awwww, those poor snowflakes!
They mock everybody else for playing the victim, but when it's them, suddenly it's legitimate.
WHO CARES? All they were doing was Trying to Destroy America from the Inside by Attacking Literally EVERYTHING that Makes America Great and Safe like Democracy and National Security. It’s not like they were saying we shouldn’t be Bombing Palestinian Children. THAT would have been Real Shit!
All they were doing was Trying to Destroy America from the Inside by Attacking Literally EVERYTHING that Makes America Great and Safe like Democracy and National Security.
Yes, but they were doing it for a profit, unlike those godless liberal communists.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
“We didn’t know where the money came from?!?! Why would we ever ask why they wanted us to say Russia is super cool???”
I’m positive most, it not all of these other right-wing media shitheads like Tucker Carlson, NewsMax hosts, Bannon…etc have all received dirty Russian money, and they know it.
We need this all to be brought out in the open ASAP.
Things that are objectively true:
They parroted pro-Putin talking points.
They were paid by Russia.
They claim to be victims of a Russian smear campaign.
How does that even work?
I guess according to the allegations only the founders of Tenet Media or whatever it was called knew the money was coming from Russia and they hid it from the talking heads.
But like… How much money do these people have to be getting paid before they have a thought to question where it’s coming from? Dim Tool was apparently getting like $100k a WEEK from them. Like at what point does it start to get suspicious?
Edit: I was misremembering. Apparently it was $100k a week so that’s $400k a month.
100k/month to post pro Russian videos. The company was giving them talking points.
Tim pool weasely claims he has full editorial control, but doesn’t say how much of their editorial direction he “decided” to take, and how often.
It’s better if he just admits to being a Russian shill. He recently called Ukraine an enemy and said that the US should apologize to Russia. If he’s saying that shit of his own accord, that’s WORSE.
4gramsDeleted by author
Oh yeah you’re right. I just looked it back up and this article says one of the commentators was getting $400k a month, a $100k signing bonus, and additional performance based payment in exchange for I guess 4 videos a week.
100k a month?! God damnit that’s it I’m getting Soros on the phone he owes me way more than the zero he’s paid me this far!
zaphWell you see they thought they were pushing Russian propaganda out of the goodness of their hearts. Turns out they could have been paid to do so and are now victims because someone else was paid to do it while they did it for free.
They were paid by Russia.
I think that they can dispute that unless you add the word “indirectly“ before “paid”?
Obviously it does look slightly worse to actually be paid in rubles, and obviously it’s still bad even if it’s pass-through, but want to be clear when we’re stating objective facts.
Also I may be wrong but that was my impression.
It’ll be indirect due to sanctions regardless. Not like they can do a direct deposit to a US bank.
ZeroCoolRussian assets deny being Russian assets. Cool beans, ya fuckin’ traitors.
“Conservatives admit that they were easily manipulated by Russia”
I believe they’re confusing the term victim with the word volunteer.
Well, if being a victim means 400k a month going into my pocket I can only say where do I sign up!
Seriously though. It is obvious getting paid around $2,500 an hour is pretty fucking suspicious. They definitely knew they were engaging in fraudulent behavior.
RubberDuckWillfully ignorant. As long as you don’t ask the questions you cannot be held accountable… Right?
This is IMPOSSIBLE because Republicans are KNOWN to do their Own Research!
If you rob a bank and get shot by police, are you a victim of a bank robbery?
“I don’t come up with this stuff. I just forward it along. You wouldn’t arrest a guy who’s just delivering drugs from one guy to another.”
I’m waiting for one of them to pull out the Michael Scott defense!
“Okay it happened, but I didn’t know about it”
Next I assume will be
“Okay it happened and I did know about it, but it’s too late to do anything about it so it doesn’t matter”
58008I’ll accept that they were victims if they henceforth renounce the stupid shit they’ve spouted for the last decade.
If I’m behaving in a certain way that makes me attractive to cartoonishly evil Putinesque cunts, I don’t care how benign the behaviour is, I’m not doing it anymore. If as a result of these revelations, Tim Pool et al. dial down their divisive nonsense, even if it’s only by 10%, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.
I’m not holding my breath, though.
Tim Pool mugshot wo that stupid fucking beanie, pls, pls, pls 😬
inb4_FoundTheVeganI took the rubles and made the content! That makes me the victim!
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They were victims of getting rich by knowingly spouting Russian talking points. Even if they weren’t sure the money was coming from Peter Thiel or Vladimir Putin, that’s what they were doing.
These clowns are victims of pro-Russian disinformation in the same way that David Berkowitz is a murder victim.
Riccosuave
Media SensationalismI’ve been studying the propaganda of Tim Pool for years and years. The content focus shift from the alarmist “we’re all progressives, but these progressives have taken it too far and we need to reel it in” to “Democrats are all evil incarnate and we need to vote Republican to save the world” was a deliberate and calculated long-term conversion campaign beyond what I’d expect someone with Tim Pool’s resources should have been able to strategize and execute.
It won’t surprise me if the DOJ decides to push charges for unregistered foreign agents, but it could also backfire with such high profile figures by playing into censorship rhetoric. Election season would be the worst time for it, if at all.
RememberTheApollo_The equivalent of “my wife did it.”
They say this shit all the time. They don’t accept responsibility for anything they do.
They weren’t victims of anything.
These were co-conspirators, and they won’t know true victimhood until the hands of the American people wrap around their throats.
BeatTakeshiYea, “victims”. Hand me some soap so I can cry.
osaerisxero
TrickDacyVictims who get raging mad if you point out things like this about their talking points. Not even the least bit concerned about the truth, just about spreading whatever they think helps their cause.
CharlesDarwinAn unwitting psy-op asset is the best kind of psy-op asset. What Putin famously called, useful idiots.
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These fucking shills claiming they are victims. Ugh.
I mean, they might not even be wrong.
Doesn’t mean they’re not also perpetrators.
Yeah, Russia is funding all sorts of critics of the US government, some of them on the left too. Doesn’t necessarily mean they agree with Russia on everything. When RT was still allowed to broadcast in the US, people like Chris Hedges had a show on there.
Honestly, I don’t see how this indictment squares with the first amendment, especially after citizens united. If money is speech, what’s the difference between some American billionaire funding some guys that say things they agree with, and a foreign government/billionaire doing the same? If they’re banning Russian funding, why not ban Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, South China Morning Post, the BBC, etc?
Per this:
The first amendment right to free speech does not include the right to defraud. Fraud is generally considered a crime in the US. The indictments are not regarding the content that was produced/influenced, the indictments are regarding RT pretending to not be RT and falsifying financial records in order to do so.
Also, RT is still allowed to broadcast in the US. RT voluntarily pulled out of the US market after cable providers dropped the channel following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as is there first amendment right.
Yeah I think they’re trying to slide the left toward independents. It’s probably not all that hard with Gaza going on, except for the fact that Trump already spewed that dictator on day one b*******. As much as we’d like more progressive things to happen we’re absolutely certain what happens if Trump gets in and there’s plenty not to like on both sides.
It’s not that they are victims. They are just useful idiots whose idiotic idiot views aligned with the political goals of Russia.
Victims that got rich off of their victimhood.
Just remember this : when Mitt Romney called Russia our greatest threat in 2012 the GOP rushed to his defense. A decade later they were openly admiring Putin.
Not even a decade later , within 4-6 they were politically fellating Putin because Donny dipshit has controlled the party since ~2015/6, and he’s been under Russian influence for much longer, if not from the government, then from the Russian mob (I know, I’m repeating myself).
And Obama bagged on Romney for it.
“The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back.”
The only reason Russia became a threat is that they had Trump there carrying their water.
Also, if Trump had the brains of a Fredo Corleone he would have realized that none of the kompromat Putin had on him would matter once he was in office. The CIA would swear up and down that it was ‘fake news.’
One should add, they were willing victims of that campaign. We all remember what kind of senseless dribble they amplified that could have been discarded as false after a simple google search.
Are they really “victims” if they were willing and profiting? Seems like you’re just an accomplice at that point.
They’re only victims because they got caught. If they never got caught, they’d be happily taking Russian money everyday of the week.
I think it’s fair to call The Useful Idiot a victim.
Are you really a victim if you are willfully ignorant? Tim Pool loves to brag about how uneducated he is
Sounds like something an idiot would brag about.
Or completely stupid? If I spew idiocies what am I if not either paid to do it or literally an idiot?
I don’t think it’s an and/or situation with that one lol. They are definitely stupid.
a) Certainly. b) FYI it’s “senseless drivel” which sounds almost exactly the same.
Thanks!
They sided with the pandemic because Putin said so. They’re welcome to jobs outside the public eye, but not in it after that
It must be so easy at this point… Russia can start a rumour and then get American pundits to authoritatively go along with it because it reinforces what they want to believe.
honestly makes me wonder why Russia even bothers anymore. the right is so far gone at this point they don’t need any help being crazy.
Probably just paying them to stay on message about Ukraine and stop rambling about random culture war issues like alleged elementary school litter boxes.
One must tend the flames of the fires they set, lest they burn out of their own accord.
Russia has always exerted their influence this way. This method became particularly prominent in the communist era. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot
Source: I’m a Pole and my grandfather was Lt Col of the Security Service en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Security_Service_(Poland)
He told me useful idiots were a lot better in disseminating propaganda than dedicated agents or the illegals.
“Victims of”? No.
“Beneficiaries of”? Yes.
When you do something and get paid for it? That’s called a job.
No, you see… They thought they were beneficiaries, but since trump is not doing so hot, they are not sure right now.
Honestly I think they are admitting to being idiots.
Their god-king told them that he loves the poorly educated back in 2016.
www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/…/80860078/
Better than prison. These people could be in big trouble… But they won’t be because of their political views. They will get slaps on the wrist and allowed back to continue their campaigns of stochastic terrorism.
The Russians are refusing to pay me so now I’m the victim!
And the ones that aren’t being paid for it are just pawns envious of the kings.
Honestly I am puzzled every time I see someone ragebaiting and/or having a very bad take without that wretched checkmark on X
If you take russian money and distribute the crap they tell you to, you are accomplice, not victim.
If you take advice from a man who never takes his beanie off you get what you get
If I was supporting a cause which had Putin so enthusiasticly supporting it, I’d probably wonder if it was a cause that I should continue to support.
No one is less accountable than conservatives. Always someone else’s fault.
Please crawl into a hole somewhere and disappear.
Tim Pool the Russian Tool™
Even if you accept the claim that they were duped at face value, what does that say about them? These folk’s whole pretense is that they can “see through the media’s lies” and that they are able to tell what is really going on. But they were not smart enough to recognize that they were part of a propaganda campaign? They want you to believe they have a sophisticated ability to recognize media manipulation but also now want you to believe that they were hapless stooges that were tricked into participating in a media manipulation campaign.
Imagine the suspension of intellect it must take to admit that Russia is willing to pay you push the narrative you are already pushing, or are willing to push, and then considering yourself a victim for doing it.
You weren’t the target, you were the tool.
At least they admit they’re gullible fools
I think this goes well beyond gullibility
They knew exactly what they were doing. They’re “victims” only now they’ve been caught.
Some people deserve to go to Ukraine as a paid Ruzzian cannonfodder
Victims or willing accomplices?
The Russian influence campaign that just started, and hasn’t been running since before the 2016 election? These same influencers assure me that the allegations of Russian influence are just liberal media bullshit, and these Russian influenced people wouldn’t lie about Russian influence, would they?
Citizens United for the L.
Russia definitely would play both sides to fuel it
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/05/tim-pool-benny-johnson-influencers-russia-disinformation
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And…it bias/fact checked itself again.
It reviewed itself and found no fault. Never goes wrong, don’t you know?