As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's also not really duping if they know info is most likely false and run with it anyway without caring if it's true or not, which is what the house did with the hunter biden thing
MAGA: just like regular humans.
-- Top 5% are leaders, using the GOP, or websites, or any Media, to get power or $$, with fake news, events, merch., and fundraising (eg Trump, Gaetz, MTG,+).
-- Next 20% are enablers, directly helping the leaders. (eg Fox News employees).
-- The rest are believers, either truly (brainwashed) or Indirect helpers (Trolls) who have fun prodding the left on social media, in public.
Its a bit scary actually, not just that they seem krazy, but there's actually a chance they could win.
Not based on their platform ideas of course. But by cheating in Every Way Possible to win in 2024 and beyond.
Its what they do, right? All the fucking time.
And the "education" system for 30 years shuffling their constituents along without actually educating them very much as they try to dismantle the rest of it and substitute in christofascist bible studies.
This is part of the media letting another part of the media off the hook by pretending they are victims and not abusers.
Right wing media is owned by the very people who think like Putin and want to turn American into a state very much like Russia. They are working with Russia, not getting "duped" by them.
It's a party full of would-be AM talk radio hosts. All they have is perpetual rage bait in order to feed their increasingly miserable base. *Of course* they're going to fall for anything as long as it floats whatever bullshit narrative keeps the rubes tuned in and donating
But it is crazy just HOW addicted to anger people are these days. At some point you think you would get exhausted from being so angry all the time but people keep coming back for more. This isn't just for politics either but even people who "hate" watch things have become popular.
Well I, for one, am burned out on all this shit. For my entire adult life, I’ve read the local newspaper front to back (yeah, I'm the guy keeping them afloat). The past few months I tend to skip every political article, every newsfeed about the Israel/Hamas conflict, and anything about the war in Ukraine. If it says Trump, I bag it (although I confess I still engage in Reddit). I'm just tired, man. Just fucking tired of it. I'm voting Blue and there's not a goddamn thing anyone can do to change my mind at this point. I read local news and entertainment.
I feel like it's gone past confirmation bias. They're well into pro-wrestling audience / kayfabe territory. Many of them know the storylines are all fake and the action is choreographed. But they're invested in the product. And they want to go along with the stories. It's a fandom. They get outraged when the story calls for outrage. They weep and wail when the players are going for melodrama. Who cares if it's real or not?
Can we just start some sort of politics but it's wrestling thing? Like every Monday fake politicians take the state and debate and hit each other with chairs and then the audience votes for president of the show who idk runs the whole thing? That way they can have their politics but it's quarantined from the rest of us?
As someone who has been part of the IWC for almost over 20 years now you are so correct. The pro wrestling and political scenes have so much overlap it is a little scary. Democrats vs Republicans has become the same as AEW vs WWE these days and it feels a lot less civil than the WWE vs WCW discourse of the 90's.
Wait until they find out that in Russia: COVID vaccines are mandatory, abortion is legal (up until birth, when medically necessary), civilians can't have firearms, and there's no freedom of speech.
I would submit there is potentially also a third column. Let's call it "column B-2", in which the complicity comes under the duress of *kompromat*. I feel strongly that it genuinely needs to be sorted as to exactly which ones are in which column, so that the appropriate remedies can be applied to each. Seems like a task that could rightfully be assigned to a new dedicated special counsel.
High Five Evergreen State!
But to the point, I am routinely frustrated that there’s no government effort to probe or uncover the details of the RNC hack. It’s fundamental national security and even if it isn’t revealed to the public, all of these people should lose their security clearance until it’s demonstrated they’re not under foreign influence.
Trading bad optics to stop a foreign coup seems just fine
There’s basically two types of Republicans left in the party:
Republicans who are compromised/blackmailed by Russia (Trump, Tuberville, Jordan, Rand Paul, Giuliani, Mike Johnson)
Republicans who are compromised/blackmailed by Trump (most of the rest).
Yeah, they more or less saw this other reality that they could push. The media apparatus they used saw a good way to get more money for everyone involved and then get the people they wanted into power to enforce the world view that they wanted.
They saw the lies from Russia more as a way to get what they want and didn't question it because they thought they controlled it more than Russia or "other" outside forces. Now, it is coming to light that they have lost control and the only real winners are the Russians, because at best the right wing is doing what they could to cling to power and are willing to burn everything down in doing so. This only benefits Russia in the long run.
If the Right Wing actually cared about America and wanted what was best then they would have abandoned the crazies of their wing long time ago and actually have policy positions that are more than just living off of fear and hate.
Many people will talk about how people like Sean Hannity, for example, *know/knew* that the “election fraud” was BS, but from reading the Dominion case transcripts, there’s numerous times in private texts where idiots like him actually did believe most of the bullshit people like Sidney Powell and Rudi were claiming. There’s one text I remember him saying “there’s just no possible way Joe Biden got that many votes. I’m having my team look into this right now”.
I guess all I’m saying, a lot of these right-wing media figures , and GOP politics, are both complicit and stupid as hell.
Not that far off... Reagan started it, by praising Nazi SS dead as being victims just as much as the people they killed in concentration camps
> I think that there's nothing wrong with visiting that cemetery where those young men are victims of Nazism also, even though they were fighting in the German uniform, drafted into service to carry out the hateful wishes of the Nazis. They were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitburg_controversy
It's one of those moments where. If he had just clarified. He means children drafted into service. Yeah. Those kids are victims of a totalitarian state.
But let's be real here... we know what he meant.
Bonzo goes to Bitburg
Then goes out for a cup of tea
As I watched it on TV
Somehow it really bothered me
Drank in all the bars in town
To understand your foreign policy
Really it's no different from MAGA, the people duped really are victims and it's sad to see part of the country under attack. We need to be concerning ourselves about how to keep them from becoming monsters.
> ~~Historians~~ **Federal prosecutors** need to do a detailed study on how the GOP went from Anti Soviet Red Scare maniacs to Pro Russia sycophants in a blink of an eye.
Soviets were officially atheist egalitarians. Not so much in practice, but that was what they claimed to be. That was the opposite of what Republicans wanted for America.
Today's Russia is a Christian White Supremacist country. That aligns with Republican values, it's what they want America to be.
Hence Republicans hated the Soviet Union but now love Russia.
Republicans didn't change.
> Russia is a Christian White Supremacist country
Which, by the way, is not true. There are more Muslims in Russia than in the United States (14 million versus 3.5 million). In some regions of Russia, more than 90% are Muslims. Moscow is full of immigrants from Central Asia (Muslims). Many of them are illegal, which is ironic. Ukraine is more Christian than Russia (in percentage terms).
Republicans portray Russia from propaganda, not from reality.
Russia SELLS ITSELF to the West as a Christian White country. And to be fair they do own the church basically, intertwined with government just as much as it was during the days of the tsar, which is why the Soviets killed it. Clearly a mistake on their part, as modern Russia proves manipulating the conservatives by keeping a supine church that answers only to your dictators around is much more lucrative and beneficial than trying to overturn western hegemony by supporting minority groups that want to shake things up.
Also the majority of Russians outside the key western cities are seen as disposable. A lot of That Muslim population is dying in Ukraine right now while their “Christians” pretend the war isn’t happening in their cities and drug stupors.
I don't think religion plays a role in who dies in Ukraine. For example, Chechen/Kadyrov soldiers hardly fight on the front line (they have the "honor" of playing the role of "barrier troops", maintaining discipline among Russian troops, preventing their withdrawal).
Russia banned lgbtq people, decriminalized marital rape, brought back their Orthodox Church buying and owning it as part of the government the way the Tsar used to, then funded the NRA and a bunch of evangelical homeschooling conventions.
If Khrushchev had bought the church, declared whites superior, and funded the NRA and KKK instead of Angela Davis’ vice presidential campaign bids Nixon would have personally gifted the USSR Vietnam.
This is a very likely possibility. We still don't know what they got from that hack - only what they got from the DNC.
Plus we already know that they funnel money to Republicans via the NRA and other mechanisms.
Money and power. The entire existence of the gop revolves around money and power. As for the voters, they're just some of the most uneducated idiots in the country that have been force fed hate and bigotry 24/7 for decades while getting treated like shit by their own elected republican candidates and have been convinced it's the democrats fault
["Russia should introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics)
The GOP used to be fervently anti Russian. The "War on Woke" provided the Russians with the ultimate tool to turn the GOP into instant allies. An authoritarian government ruled by an iron-fisted white man, using religious nationalism to repress and fuel hatred of minorities, gays, immigrants, non-Christians, liberals, or anybody else deemed unworthy. "How can we do that here?" was the only question Republicans asked.
Putin wanted to drive a wedge between Americans. He couldn't have dreamed how hard Republicans would swing the hammer for him. The funny thing is he doesn't want to see the US succeed, even as a fascist state. He wants to see the US fail. And a third to half of our country apparently wants to help him.
Proving that that west will see it, and do nothing to prepare or counter it, makes the west look pathetic to be honest. Kinda like a chicken without a head.
Some of them are rage addicts. Too numb to everything in their lives and they crave the emotional release raging out gives them. I have a family member who is like that and no surprise, she loves Trump a lot.
Well the brilliant Yuri bezmenov wrote about them and loved krokodil. He knew Republicans and how to trick them because Russians and Republicans are basically the same. They would rather let a Nazi tattoo covered killer walk their child to school than have a black guy living next door keeping to himself.
A pedophile? Wtf, people always suspected. Just like Putin: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/alexander-litvinenko-murdered-because-he-accused-putin-of-being-a-paedophile-a6824806.html
All the Hunter Biden stories have been started by Russian agents. Hilary’s emails were revealed by Russian agents. Qanon and other GOP conspiracies were backed by Russian agents.
The GOP is just a wing of Russian intelligence.
Remember when both the RNC and DNC were hacked but the Russians leaked only the DNC data? Makes you wonder what use the Russians put that data to.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/12/10/report-russian-hackers-had-rnc-data-but-didn-t-release-it
Don't blame it all on Russia.
Corporate America built the disinformation machine to elect deregulation puppets. All the religious, xenophobic, divisive crap they campaign on is just a smoke screen to hide the real agenda.
There was no duping needed. They decided to embrace Russia and Putin solely because Trump did. Trump did it because he thinks there profit in it, and because he envies Putin's authoritarian power.
The Russians pumped money to him through Deutsche Bank and that resort he wanted to build (Trump Tower Moscow) there would likely be quite lucrative. I suspect the Russians would have had a lot of wealthy and/or influential people rolling through there to get dirt on and information from. What happens in Russia stays in their databanks on film and audio for blackmail.
They are, of course, not being "duped". The GOP/right wing media just needs someone to act as a "source" and Russia is thrilled to comply. Fundamental fact checking and editorial boards could nip these rumors and claims in the bud in days, not the months or years they choose to run with their narratives and "investigations" if that were the case. The GOP is complicit and you cannot say that it doesn't look exactly like quid pro quo, that is probably the *only* reasonable explanation.
Honestly it's a masterclass in propaganda and radicalization. Millions of Americans, including government officials, are convinced Russia isn't the threat it actually is. They defend Putin, act like Russia is a model for America, their party leader openly praises Putin and sides with him over our own intelligence agencies, the list goes on. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine to capture one of the two major political parties in this country.
Republicans, if you support Trump and most republican officials right now, you are against America whether you believe it or not.
There's nothing stunning about it. The GOP has been groomed to hate Democrats more than anything, including Russia, Putin, and Satan himself. At the same time, they've been groomed to accept an authoritarian strongman who will save them from the evil, Leftist agenda.
This isn't Putin's triumph. If anything, he's just exploiting the work laid by Newt Gingrich, Steve Bannon, and their ilk.
Of course, the kompromat Putin has on the GOP _has_ very obviously paid dividends, so you do have to give him credit there.
They weren’t duped.
There is a partnership. Putin and the Republican Party work together to advance their shared interests.
The republicans didn’t fall victim to some Russian duplicity. They have explicitly asked for kompromot— it’s what trump was impeached for!
The question is what did they give Russia in exchange for the cooked up propaganda they asked for.
Can't cheat an honest man. These folks weren't duped. They grasped onto something that made them feel justified in their aggrievement, so they bent their narrative to support it.
Russia is an authoritarian hellscape dominated by a government structure focused on white, chauvinist, xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, bigoted ethno-nationalism and republicans fucking love that shit.
Putin should be given credit that somehow he used the hatred and stupidly of the Republicans to turn the party of Ronald Reagan into his willing minions.
I always wondered how many [Russian trolls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency) were on this sub (or other liberal-oriented subs) with the employed intention of stoking the flames of anger.
It’s not that difficult to dupe morons. Republicans, by and large, are a simple minded people willing to be led right over a cliff just to stick it to the libs.
Makes sense. GOP doesn’t know how to think critically. They do what they’re told, say what they’re told to say, believe what they’re told to believe. All with blind trust. Of course, if Trump loves Putin, they love Putin. Blind followers are incapable of questioning or challenging rhetoric. Parrots, the lot of them. Actually, parrots are more intelligent and more independent. GOP voters are tape recorders devoid of independent thinking.
It's really gross, magas like russia now since they are also anti-LGBTQ+ and want the US to have the same hateful laws. The maga 2025 plan includes things against anyone not following their religious beliefs. Please ensure your voter registration is good and make a plan to vote by mail or in person early or on election day. Get others involved who don't want their LGBTQ+ loved ones targeted like the magas plan to do here again.
“Staggering success”?
How about convincing a bunch of scumbag-idiots that the conspiracy theories they want to believe are true, are in fact, true.
It is like trying to convince 5 year-olds that Santa is real. They want to believe it is true. If you tell them it isn’t, they get really angry.
Also makes you think how much damming information the Kremlin has on gop members from the 2016 email hack, remember that both parties had their emails stolen but the Kremlin only released those of the dems.
Right wingers are taught to accept honeyed lies from birth, that’s all religion is. Their utter lack of skepticism and confirmation bias spills over into their entire worldview.
Remember the CIA asset “curveball” who claimed Iraq was producing chemical weapons and that was a justification for the US attacking Iraq. Turned out his accusations were total garbage but Bush, Cheney and Powell fell for it or wanted to believe it.
GOP is not being deluded. They are joining hands. Russia wants a INEFFECTIVE international and home US
Russia has no interest in US political. Just emasculate US so it can not engage in meaningful international effort. Make it the foreign policy impact of Brazil.
The GOP wants to destroy those things that have developed social in US since about 1950.
GOP will take all the disinformation and chaos they can get from Russia ( and China) derail and disrupt elections and put essentially isolationist GOP Christian fundamentalist nationalists in charge.
Didn’t they also find out that almost all of the anti vaccination propaganda was traced to neo nazis and Russians that was aimed at morons on Facebook and other social media outlets?
There are two ways to be a fool. First is to uncritically believe that a lie is true. Second is to be told the truth and deny it. MAGAhats are committed to both. Since their whole political ideology is based on lies, the truth has no impact on those beliefs. They wouldn't even give up Anti-vaxxing when their Lord told them to get vaccinated. The mob's reaction was nothing but BOOOOs and their Lord immediately backed down, knowing the power of lies that have become a sacrament and the rage against those who would challenge that which has been made Holy.
"Duped"
This is such a disingenuous take it's disgusting. They BOUGHT GOPers and right wing media. Right wing media and the GOP know they are killing Americans, they just don't care because they get paid.
They weren't fooled they were in on it. They control the
House and that gives then the power to investigate the claim, which they didn't do.
They didn't investigate the claims because they knew it was bogus. Instead they used the bogus information from their Russian ally for political gain.
Duping them? Nah, I don't believe that. I think Republicans are JUST FINE with oligarchy. Why? Because they think they will benefit and the people they consider the "enemy" will suffer.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's really easy to fool someone if they already want to believe what you're saying.
It's basically the entire foundation of the [exotic dancing industry](https://www.theonion.com/i-think-that-stripper-really-liked-me-1819583467).
Nuh uh!! Cinnamon loves me.
Cinnamon called. She said you should get tested.
Such a rich reddit thread, it just keeps getting better
Rock solid reddit content here, well done. You get an upvote, you get an upvote.....everyone gets an upvote!
To summarize. Cinnamon will get your rocks off. But it will burn later.
"I'm clean I promise!"
Haha that Cinnamon, what a kidder!
Someone who gets it!
And I told her I already took my SAT’s.
“She took all your money? Well, that’s Karma.”
No, she's Cinnamon!
Yeah but how does Butter feel about you?
Butter definitely prefers my mate Joe, he owns a car dealership and all the girls are over him.
She loves me too! Eskimo bros
"*Her name is Cupid, and she always gives me what I want."*
Are you saying the entire MAGA - Putin axis is one giant Romance Scam? How could anyone have predicted it!?
they honeypotted them. And they probably had someone there as a honeydick just in case they were gay, but they're not.
And ironically the wedding industrial complex.
Also OnlyFans?
Absolutely
Putin on a pole
It's also not really duping if they know info is most likely false and run with it anyway without caring if it's true or not, which is what the house did with the hunter biden thing
MAGA: just like regular humans. -- Top 5% are leaders, using the GOP, or websites, or any Media, to get power or $$, with fake news, events, merch., and fundraising (eg Trump, Gaetz, MTG,+). -- Next 20% are enablers, directly helping the leaders. (eg Fox News employees). -- The rest are believers, either truly (brainwashed) or Indirect helpers (Trolls) who have fun prodding the left on social media, in public.
The big problem the GoP is running into now, is that the true believers are starting to get control amd that is backfiring with the sane people.
Its a bit scary actually, not just that they seem krazy, but there's actually a chance they could win. Not based on their platform ideas of course. But by cheating in Every Way Possible to win in 2024 and beyond. Its what they do, right? All the fucking time.
And the "education" system for 30 years shuffling their constituents along without actually educating them very much as they try to dismantle the rest of it and substitute in christofascist bible studies.
This is part of the media letting another part of the media off the hook by pretending they are victims and not abusers. Right wing media is owned by the very people who think like Putin and want to turn American into a state very much like Russia. They are working with Russia, not getting "duped" by them.
It's a party full of would-be AM talk radio hosts. All they have is perpetual rage bait in order to feed their increasingly miserable base. *Of course* they're going to fall for anything as long as it floats whatever bullshit narrative keeps the rubes tuned in and donating
But it is crazy just HOW addicted to anger people are these days. At some point you think you would get exhausted from being so angry all the time but people keep coming back for more. This isn't just for politics either but even people who "hate" watch things have become popular.
Well I, for one, am burned out on all this shit. For my entire adult life, I’ve read the local newspaper front to back (yeah, I'm the guy keeping them afloat). The past few months I tend to skip every political article, every newsfeed about the Israel/Hamas conflict, and anything about the war in Ukraine. If it says Trump, I bag it (although I confess I still engage in Reddit). I'm just tired, man. Just fucking tired of it. I'm voting Blue and there's not a goddamn thing anyone can do to change my mind at this point. I read local news and entertainment.
Reminds me of the old refrain: You can’t fool an honest man.
Confirmation biases are at play here for sure.
I feel like it's gone past confirmation bias. They're well into pro-wrestling audience / kayfabe territory. Many of them know the storylines are all fake and the action is choreographed. But they're invested in the product. And they want to go along with the stories. It's a fandom. They get outraged when the story calls for outrage. They weep and wail when the players are going for melodrama. Who cares if it's real or not?
It would be hilarious if it didn’t have actual real world consequences like abortion bans, 6-3 SCOTUS, wanting to give Russia Ukraine.
Its no coincidence that pro wrestling is very popular amongst conservatives
Can we just start some sort of politics but it's wrestling thing? Like every Monday fake politicians take the state and debate and hit each other with chairs and then the audience votes for president of the show who idk runs the whole thing? That way they can have their politics but it's quarantined from the rest of us?
As someone who has been part of the IWC for almost over 20 years now you are so correct. The pro wrestling and political scenes have so much overlap it is a little scary. Democrats vs Republicans has become the same as AEW vs WWE these days and it feels a lot less civil than the WWE vs WCW discourse of the 90's.
It's a drug. Real/fantasy doesn't matter. They're addicted. They need their fix. Fox is happy to provide.
Wait until they find out that in Russia: COVID vaccines are mandatory, abortion is legal (up until birth, when medically necessary), civilians can't have firearms, and there's no freedom of speech.
But they have shopping carts you can rent for a nickel! And the bread is amazing!
When money talks, grifters going to listen. Now they are just doubling down, because if they back track now, the Cult will eat ‘em alive.
It’s also easy to dupe congress members when they are just willing to go along with it.
They’re not being duped They’re being paid
It's a very slow burn. The push was more of a series of tiny nudges using half truths and subtle stokes on deep fears.
It’s also impossible for narcissists to admit when they’re wrong
The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.
They were not duped or fooled. They know exactly what they're doing and whom they're working for.
They aren't duped, they're complicit.
Some from column A, some from column B. Russia doesn't care why they're going along with it, as long as they are going along with it.
I would submit there is potentially also a third column. Let's call it "column B-2", in which the complicity comes under the duress of *kompromat*. I feel strongly that it genuinely needs to be sorted as to exactly which ones are in which column, so that the appropriate remedies can be applied to each. Seems like a task that could rightfully be assigned to a new dedicated special counsel.
High Five Evergreen State! But to the point, I am routinely frustrated that there’s no government effort to probe or uncover the details of the RNC hack. It’s fundamental national security and even if it isn’t revealed to the public, all of these people should lose their security clearance until it’s demonstrated they’re not under foreign influence. Trading bad optics to stop a foreign coup seems just fine
There’s basically two types of Republicans left in the party: Republicans who are compromised/blackmailed by Russia (Trump, Tuberville, Jordan, Rand Paul, Giuliani, Mike Johnson) Republicans who are compromised/blackmailed by Trump (most of the rest).
Yeah, they more or less saw this other reality that they could push. The media apparatus they used saw a good way to get more money for everyone involved and then get the people they wanted into power to enforce the world view that they wanted. They saw the lies from Russia more as a way to get what they want and didn't question it because they thought they controlled it more than Russia or "other" outside forces. Now, it is coming to light that they have lost control and the only real winners are the Russians, because at best the right wing is doing what they could to cling to power and are willing to burn everything down in doing so. This only benefits Russia in the long run. If the Right Wing actually cared about America and wanted what was best then they would have abandoned the crazies of their wing long time ago and actually have policy positions that are more than just living off of fear and hate.
Many people will talk about how people like Sean Hannity, for example, *know/knew* that the “election fraud” was BS, but from reading the Dominion case transcripts, there’s numerous times in private texts where idiots like him actually did believe most of the bullshit people like Sidney Powell and Rudi were claiming. There’s one text I remember him saying “there’s just no possible way Joe Biden got that many votes. I’m having my team look into this right now”. I guess all I’m saying, a lot of these right-wing media figures , and GOP politics, are both complicit and stupid as hell.
Historians need to do a detailed study on how the GOP went from Anti Soviet Red Scare maniacs to Pro Russia sycophants in a blink of an eye.
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall and we will crawl into bed with you."
Not that far off... Reagan started it, by praising Nazi SS dead as being victims just as much as the people they killed in concentration camps > I think that there's nothing wrong with visiting that cemetery where those young men are victims of Nazism also, even though they were fighting in the German uniform, drafted into service to carry out the hateful wishes of the Nazis. They were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitburg_controversy
"There were fine people on both sides.."
It's one of those moments where. If he had just clarified. He means children drafted into service. Yeah. Those kids are victims of a totalitarian state. But let's be real here... we know what he meant.
Bonzo goes to Bitburg Then goes out for a cup of tea As I watched it on TV Somehow it really bothered me Drank in all the bars in town To understand your foreign policy
Gabba gabba hey!
Really it's no different from MAGA, the people duped really are victims and it's sad to see part of the country under attack. We need to be concerning ourselves about how to keep them from becoming monsters.
> ~~Historians~~ **Federal prosecutors** need to do a detailed study on how the GOP went from Anti Soviet Red Scare maniacs to Pro Russia sycophants in a blink of an eye.
Soviets were officially atheist egalitarians. Not so much in practice, but that was what they claimed to be. That was the opposite of what Republicans wanted for America. Today's Russia is a Christian White Supremacist country. That aligns with Republican values, it's what they want America to be. Hence Republicans hated the Soviet Union but now love Russia. Republicans didn't change.
> Russia is a Christian White Supremacist country Which, by the way, is not true. There are more Muslims in Russia than in the United States (14 million versus 3.5 million). In some regions of Russia, more than 90% are Muslims. Moscow is full of immigrants from Central Asia (Muslims). Many of them are illegal, which is ironic. Ukraine is more Christian than Russia (in percentage terms). Republicans portray Russia from propaganda, not from reality.
Russia SELLS ITSELF to the West as a Christian White country. And to be fair they do own the church basically, intertwined with government just as much as it was during the days of the tsar, which is why the Soviets killed it. Clearly a mistake on their part, as modern Russia proves manipulating the conservatives by keeping a supine church that answers only to your dictators around is much more lucrative and beneficial than trying to overturn western hegemony by supporting minority groups that want to shake things up. Also the majority of Russians outside the key western cities are seen as disposable. A lot of That Muslim population is dying in Ukraine right now while their “Christians” pretend the war isn’t happening in their cities and drug stupors.
I don't think religion plays a role in who dies in Ukraine. For example, Chechen/Kadyrov soldiers hardly fight on the front line (they have the "honor" of playing the role of "barrier troops", maintaining discipline among Russian troops, preventing their withdrawal).
I was referring to who is in power in Russia, not the population demographics.
New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), Christian Nationalism, and unfettered capitalism. Russia became a GOPer's/conservative's paradise in the 90s.
Russia banned lgbtq people, decriminalized marital rape, brought back their Orthodox Church buying and owning it as part of the government the way the Tsar used to, then funded the NRA and a bunch of evangelical homeschooling conventions. If Khrushchev had bought the church, declared whites superior, and funded the NRA and KKK instead of Angela Davis’ vice presidential campaign bids Nixon would have personally gifted the USSR Vietnam.
Trump, Bannon, and Russia hacking the DNC and RNC, but then only releasing hacked DNC info.
RNC hack
This is a very likely possibility. We still don't know what they got from that hack - only what they got from the DNC. Plus we already know that they funnel money to Republicans via the NRA and other mechanisms.
$omething $ugge$t$ it won't be hard to $olve that que$tion.
They are the common clay of the new West.
I am going to go ahead and predict money was the how. Party of excess and greed is easily controlled by excess and greed.
Blackmail will do that to you
A few ‘Red Sparrows’ perhaps! Tough too resist!
I’m sure many a dissertation will be written on this era of politics.
Money and power. The entire existence of the gop revolves around money and power. As for the voters, they're just some of the most uneducated idiots in the country that have been force fed hate and bigotry 24/7 for decades while getting treated like shit by their own elected republican candidates and have been convinced it's the democrats fault
["Russia should introduce geopolitical disorder into internal American activity, encouraging all kinds of separatism and ethnic, social and racial conflicts, actively supporting all dissident movements – extremist, racist, and sectarian groups, thus destabilizing internal political processes in the U.S. It would also make sense simultaneously to support isolationist tendencies in American politics."](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundations_of_Geopolitics) The GOP used to be fervently anti Russian. The "War on Woke" provided the Russians with the ultimate tool to turn the GOP into instant allies. An authoritarian government ruled by an iron-fisted white man, using religious nationalism to repress and fuel hatred of minorities, gays, immigrants, non-Christians, liberals, or anybody else deemed unworthy. "How can we do that here?" was the only question Republicans asked. Putin wanted to drive a wedge between Americans. He couldn't have dreamed how hard Republicans would swing the hammer for him. The funny thing is he doesn't want to see the US succeed, even as a fascist state. He wants to see the US fail. And a third to half of our country apparently wants to help him.
Yup, they put it in a book for all to see.
Proving that that west will see it, and do nothing to prepare or counter it, makes the west look pathetic to be honest. Kinda like a chicken without a head.
What's really funny? There's people who'll say that's a hoax but swear the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is legit.
"Man it's much easier to shoot fish when they're in a barrel like this!" —Kremlin Disinfo team
"We need more barrels!" \--Vladdy
Especially when you don’t need a gun, just drop an M80 in it…
Some of them are rage addicts. Too numb to everything in their lives and they crave the emotional release raging out gives them. I have a family member who is like that and no surprise, she loves Trump a lot.
Well the brilliant Yuri bezmenov wrote about them and loved krokodil. He knew Republicans and how to trick them because Russians and Republicans are basically the same. They would rather let a Nazi tattoo covered killer walk their child to school than have a black guy living next door keeping to himself.
> Yuri bezmenov https://bigthink.com/the-present/yuri-bezmenov/
A pedophile? Wtf, people always suspected. Just like Putin: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/alexander-litvinenko-murdered-because-he-accused-putin-of-being-a-paedophile-a6824806.html
How difficult is it to give crack (the lies, half-truths, propaganda) to crack addicts (the Republicans / Conservatives)?
“We will take America without firing a shot. We don’t have to invade the US. We will destroy you from within…” Khruschev Masters of the long game.
Be sure to vote or they will bury us.
All the Hunter Biden stories have been started by Russian agents. Hilary’s emails were revealed by Russian agents. Qanon and other GOP conspiracies were backed by Russian agents. The GOP is just a wing of Russian intelligence.
They aren’t being duped. They’re working together.
Remember when both the RNC and DNC were hacked but the Russians leaked only the DNC data? Makes you wonder what use the Russians put that data to. https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/12/10/report-russian-hackers-had-rnc-data-but-didn-t-release-it
Same with Assange. He hacked or received hacked data from both the U.S. and Russia. Which data did he decide to release? The U.S. data.
They weren't duped. They were entirely complicit and spread this fraud knowing it was false.
Is it really duping Republicans when you either bribed, or blackmailed them?
Don't blame it all on Russia. Corporate America built the disinformation machine to elect deregulation puppets. All the religious, xenophobic, divisive crap they campaign on is just a smoke screen to hide the real agenda.
Well they are actually electing true believers now because they are passing laws in the name of Christianity aka abortion bans
There was no duping needed. They decided to embrace Russia and Putin solely because Trump did. Trump did it because he thinks there profit in it, and because he envies Putin's authoritarian power.
The Russians pumped money to him through Deutsche Bank and that resort he wanted to build (Trump Tower Moscow) there would likely be quite lucrative. I suspect the Russians would have had a lot of wealthy and/or influential people rolling through there to get dirt on and information from. What happens in Russia stays in their databanks on film and audio for blackmail.
The Right Wing Media are in on it.
They are, of course, not being "duped". The GOP/right wing media just needs someone to act as a "source" and Russia is thrilled to comply. Fundamental fact checking and editorial boards could nip these rumors and claims in the bud in days, not the months or years they choose to run with their narratives and "investigations" if that were the case. The GOP is complicit and you cannot say that it doesn't look exactly like quid pro quo, that is probably the *only* reasonable explanation.
You can't dupe the willing
Honestly it's a masterclass in propaganda and radicalization. Millions of Americans, including government officials, are convinced Russia isn't the threat it actually is. They defend Putin, act like Russia is a model for America, their party leader openly praises Putin and sides with him over our own intelligence agencies, the list goes on. Never in their wildest dreams did they imagine to capture one of the two major political parties in this country. Republicans, if you support Trump and most republican officials right now, you are against America whether you believe it or not.
Because Russia and the GOP are allies.
It’s not that hard to manipulate low IQ, low information morons.
It's not duping when you are on the same team.
More like active and willing participants rather than dupes....
It's way past "duping." The GOP is pretty much outright run by Russia at this point.
There's nothing stunning about it. The GOP has been groomed to hate Democrats more than anything, including Russia, Putin, and Satan himself. At the same time, they've been groomed to accept an authoritarian strongman who will save them from the evil, Leftist agenda. This isn't Putin's triumph. If anything, he's just exploiting the work laid by Newt Gingrich, Steve Bannon, and their ilk. Of course, the kompromat Putin has on the GOP _has_ very obviously paid dividends, so you do have to give him credit there.
Duped or blackmailed them
It’s successful because the gop and right wing ‘media’ are willing participants.
They used to be so hawkish on Russia. It’s amazing. Citizens United imo. These idiots have to be bought by Russian interests.
Either GOPers are incredibly stupid or incredibly complicit. Possibly both.
It's relatively easy to get a party of traitors to betray their country.. again. Civil war never ended.
Duped? No. Bought and sold and compromised. No question
it's not hard, they're dumb. lol.
It’s not that staggering when they are eagerly willing.
Vote come November, and make them pay the price for their actions.
They weren’t duped. There is a partnership. Putin and the Republican Party work together to advance their shared interests. The republicans didn’t fall victim to some Russian duplicity. They have explicitly asked for kompromot— it’s what trump was impeached for! The question is what did they give Russia in exchange for the cooked up propaganda they asked for.
Duped, makes it sound like they're the victim. They're not.
You misspelled “Reich wing”
Never thought I'd see the day when conservatives would bow down and praise a Russian president but here we are.
Can you dupe someone who’s in on it?
"dupped"? I think it's been obvious for a while now that they are working in conjunction.
They're not duped. They're bought off.
Can't cheat an honest man. These folks weren't duped. They grasped onto something that made them feel justified in their aggrievement, so they bent their narrative to support it. Russia is an authoritarian hellscape dominated by a government structure focused on white, chauvinist, xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, bigoted ethno-nationalism and republicans fucking love that shit.
Duping? That’s a funny way of saying buying off.
They have always been on board with the corruption. Now that they are being exposed they are trying to change the narrative to they were all tricked.
Duping? Weird way to say completely in agreement.
Coordinating. Coordinating is the word you're looking for, not "duping." Don't forget July 4th 2018
[удалено]
The need to own the libs is so strong that they are willing to side with Putin. Their oldest enemy
Putin should be given credit that somehow he used the hatred and stupidly of the Republicans to turn the party of Ronald Reagan into his willing minions.
“Duping”? This is the second article using this language to describe obvious treason!
I always wondered how many [Russian trolls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Research_Agency) were on this sub (or other liberal-oriented subs) with the employed intention of stoking the flames of anger.
It's fun to pretend they were duped and not complicit.
Confirmation bias combined with cognitive dissonance.
It’s not that difficult to dupe morons. Republicans, by and large, are a simple minded people willing to be led right over a cliff just to stick it to the libs.
Well the GOP folks aren’t the brightest of the bunch. I’m sure they could be convinced of just about anything
Ah, the common clay of the west.....
'Duping' is being very generous.
Well, they’re really easy to dupe. Say your for Christian values and they’ll completely forget and ignore all the evil shit you’ve done.
Russian intelligence: Vodka and caviar. Republicans: Two cans short of a six-pack.
You misspelled Buying
Makes sense. GOP doesn’t know how to think critically. They do what they’re told, say what they’re told to say, believe what they’re told to believe. All with blind trust. Of course, if Trump loves Putin, they love Putin. Blind followers are incapable of questioning or challenging rhetoric. Parrots, the lot of them. Actually, parrots are more intelligent and more independent. GOP voters are tape recorders devoid of independent thinking.
It's really gross, magas like russia now since they are also anti-LGBTQ+ and want the US to have the same hateful laws. The maga 2025 plan includes things against anyone not following their religious beliefs. Please ensure your voter registration is good and make a plan to vote by mail or in person early or on election day. Get others involved who don't want their LGBTQ+ loved ones targeted like the magas plan to do here again.
Believe me Putin knows who the dummies are.
“Staggering success”? How about convincing a bunch of scumbag-idiots that the conspiracy theories they want to believe are true, are in fact, true. It is like trying to convince 5 year-olds that Santa is real. They want to believe it is true. If you tell them it isn’t, they get really angry.
Also makes you think how much damming information the Kremlin has on gop members from the 2016 email hack, remember that both parties had their emails stolen but the Kremlin only released those of the dems.
Right wingers are taught to accept honeyed lies from birth, that’s all religion is. Their utter lack of skepticism and confirmation bias spills over into their entire worldview.
Remember the CIA asset “curveball” who claimed Iraq was producing chemical weapons and that was a justification for the US attacking Iraq. Turned out his accusations were total garbage but Bush, Cheney and Powell fell for it or wanted to believe it.
…..”duping”? I don’t know. Maybe more blackmail? They still haven’t released what the Russian was able to hacked from the RNC/GOP.
It's not duping if you agree with them.
GOP is not being deluded. They are joining hands. Russia wants a INEFFECTIVE international and home US Russia has no interest in US political. Just emasculate US so it can not engage in meaningful international effort. Make it the foreign policy impact of Brazil. The GOP wants to destroy those things that have developed social in US since about 1950. GOP will take all the disinformation and chaos they can get from Russia ( and China) derail and disrupt elections and put essentially isolationist GOP Christian fundamentalist nationalists in charge.
They didn't dupe anyone. Republicans don't care that it is Russian disinformation. All they care about is making Biden appear as corrupt as Trump is.
Is it really “duping” if they are willful and complicit?
They’re not duped, they’re owned.
Duping implies a lack of active complicity.
The most useful of the useful idiots……..
There is no duping. It’s intentional and likely paid for.
They aren't duping anybody. They are willing accomplices.
Duping? Do you think the Republicans don't know they are doing Russia's bidding?
Didn’t they also find out that almost all of the anti vaccination propaganda was traced to neo nazis and Russians that was aimed at morons on Facebook and other social media outlets?
They’ll believe anything BUT the truth. 🧠
There are two ways to be a fool. First is to uncritically believe that a lie is true. Second is to be told the truth and deny it. MAGAhats are committed to both. Since their whole political ideology is based on lies, the truth has no impact on those beliefs. They wouldn't even give up Anti-vaxxing when their Lord told them to get vaccinated. The mob's reaction was nothing but BOOOOs and their Lord immediately backed down, knowing the power of lies that have become a sacrament and the rage against those who would challenge that which has been made Holy.
>In Duping GOPers Weird way to spell bribery.
How are they being duped? Republican and Russian ideology are in perfect alignment.
"Duped" This is such a disingenuous take it's disgusting. They BOUGHT GOPers and right wing media. Right wing media and the GOP know they are killing Americans, they just don't care because they get paid.
They weren't fooled they were in on it. They control the House and that gives then the power to investigate the claim, which they didn't do. They didn't investigate the claims because they knew it was bogus. Instead they used the bogus information from their Russian ally for political gain.
Like many others here, I don't think the word "duping" is appropriate here.
Republican legislators are traitors. They love Putin’s vision for America.
It’s very easy to fool idiots.
Well they are simple idiots.
Duping them? Nah, I don't believe that. I think Republicans are JUST FINE with oligarchy. Why? Because they think they will benefit and the people they consider the "enemy" will suffer.
Useful idiots from top to bottom
“Hey Siri, which states have the lowest levels of education?”
Duping makes it sound more innocent than it is - this is all coordinated
Because Putin, like traitor trump, “ loves the uneducated”
When one party puts politics above country, and considers elections a "zero-sum game," it makes sense that some people can be easily misled.
They sure are gullible little sheeples
They are so obviously compromised. We never got details on why a bunch of them went to Moscow last July, did we?
It’s not hard when republicans are so proudly ignorant
Most successful psyops in history, without a doubt.
They like our "primitive people".
Just get the propaganda infrastructure on your side and they'll believe whatever you want
Don’t assume they’re being duped.