Donald Trump’s NFL shenanigans have a built-in Russian misinformation campaign

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Donald Trump is unfit to be president. I’m not alone in saying that – a majority of Americans are now saying that in new polling this week. 51% of respondents in a new Quinnipiac poll say Trump is “not fit” to serve as POTUS. 59% say Trump is not honest (derp) and 60% say he does not have good management skills (double derp). Nearly 70% say that he should stop tweeting. Good luck with that! Here are some of Bigly’s tweets from the past 24 hours:

The unhinged rantings of a madman? For sure. But these particular tweets hit several deplorable sweet spots all at once. For one, Trump is still f–king obsessed with the NFL thing. Two, he’s still obsessed with the fact that Russian bots organized on social media and colluded with people within America to do so. And when I say he’s “obsessed,” I mean he’s obsessed with denying that ever happened, despite now overwhelming evidence. Today, the representatives of Twitter will be answering questions in a closed-door session of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Personally, I’ve never been on Facebook, but I am on Twitter, and MY GOD the Russian bots on Twitter are beyond crazy and beyond obvious. It’s good that Twitter is cooperating with the Senate, although I hope to hear more about what Twitter will do and has done about the bots.

Speaking of the bots – I swear, I have a way to connect all these threads – the New York Times reports that the Russian bots have been working overtime to disseminate misinformation and confuse people regarding the NFL issue. There’s apparently a real Russian operation which is currently working on “pushing the opposing messages on the NFL and the national anthem.” The intent of the Russian operation is “to fuel arguments on both sides and grow division among Americans.” So, basically, Bigly’s NFL shenanigans have come with a built-in Russia propaganda machine. And that’s not all. Russian bots impersonated American Muslims during the election as a way to push false narratives about Hillary Clinton – you can read more here at the Daily Beast. And there was a Russian ad-buy on Facebook and Instagram targeting Ferguson and Baltimore. It seems like the formal desire of Putin’s government is that America should be consumed with internal culture wars. Huh.

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50 Responses to “Donald Trump’s NFL shenanigans have a built-in Russian misinformation campaign”

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  1. Elkie says:

    So the Rotten Pumpkin in a Wig in Chief says the economy is “roaring”, but isn’t the GOP argument for multi-millionaire tax cuts that it’s, erm, not?

    He’s right about no other president accomplishing as much, though. Normally it takes YEARS to get his kind of disapproval ratings, if they manage it at all…

    • lightpurple says:

      They contradict themselves constantly and most of them are clueless.

    • Mermaid says:

      I pointed this out in a fb debate that he is using this to deflect from his failures with Puerto Rico, health care, the Mueller investigation, North Korea, etc and got attacked by some old white dude. I said he did this before with the transgender ban during the Manafort raid. Funny how the same people shrieking about lack of respect for the military aren’t saying a peep about him trying to kick 15,000 patriots out of the military through no fault of their own but rather their gender. But the military is ignoring him on that.

    • jwoolman says:

      Well, you have to admit he has a knack for uniting the country – against him.

  2. Lynnie says:

    Well duh. Culture wars involve everybody and have the built in bonus of attracting crazies who’ll do even more inflammatory things that’ll rile up even more animosity and then it quickly devolves from there. If you’re an ogliarch looking for a 21st century of destabilizing your main opponent this would be it. It works especially well in the US, because everybody insists on hearing themselves talk, and we just glossed over the issues, without fully resolving them, that he’s exploiting today.

    A little off topic, but did anyone see the news about how Russian groups bought Facebook ads for sanders, stein, and trump? In terms of what they did and the messaging it was super scary, but brilliant. When it comes to divide and conquer Putin and co. knows what they’re doing.

    • Aiobhan Targaryen says:

      Yeah, I believe Rachel was talking about this last night. It is disgusting but effective tactic.

      What I want to know is what is going to be done to get back at the Russians. Sanctions aren’t really going to do it and war is not an option.

      • Esmom says:

        Hillary devotes a really interesting chapter to this in her book and she talks about how “acts of war” need to be redefined for this century and that this cyber warfare needs to be considered as such. I agree. Putin’s tactics are brilliant and effective and appalling.

      • Who ARE These People? says:

        That’s right.

        It’s also kind of weird that media reports keep expressing surprise that the Russians could be so “sophisticated” or have any kind of clue about America’s social problems. First, they’re not bumbling oafs and never have been. Uh, they got Sputnik up there first, for one. Second, America’s social problems are out there for all to see. I hate what Putin’s Russia has been doing, and didn’t doubt their interference from the very first reports, but don’t act surprised that they are intelligent people.

      • jwoolman says:

        Who Are — I’ve always thought an American or Americans had to be working with the Russians on all this simply because you need a native understanding at gut level to target so well. I always figured Manafort was involved for that reason. He had the contacts and the opportunities. I also figured that in general, he was a go-between for Trump and Putin. He definitely was visibly hanging around Trump Tower after he was allegedly no longer with the campaign – I could see him in photos and videos, in the background.

    • Megan says:

      It seems the collusion with Russia didn’t end on election day.

    • ORIGINAL T.C. says:

      Yep, I remember getting messages from friends with those false tidbits about HRC. I guess we now know why Jill Stein was in that picture being sweet talked to my the Russians. They used her too. I refused to believe it before.

  3. Nicole says:

    I will forever hate people for subjecting us to this.

    • Esmom says:

      Agreed. All this fake news garbage and the demonization of the legit media is, to me, the most distressing part of what Trump’s campaign unleashed.

    • MC2 says:

      Yep. I agree & my resentment (and memory) runs deep. Karma is a patient bitch.
      Now when is MySpace coming back or something else replacing treasonous FB!? I’m ready to jump ship.

      • Jennie Hix says:

        I own an SEO business and some of my work includes running Facebook accounts for cannabis & CBD oil businesses. What cracks me up is, Facebook will not let us advertise legal medical cannabis or even CBD oil in legal states (nor will Google or Twitter). But Russia, a foreign enemy, can purchase thousands of dollars of ads to sway the American electorate. Alrighty then.

        Facebook supposedly did an algorithm update to stop fake news, but I still see tons of bots leaving inflammatory comments that inevitably rise to the top of the post as more and more people reply.

        My point being, Facebook is being given way too much of a free pass on this issue. The company is not entirely to blame, but they are not responding as responsibly or forcefully as they should.

  4. Aiobhan Targaryen says:

    Dump is a pathological liar.

    The economy is better because of Obama.
    The people voted overwhelming for Hilary.
    Jerry Jones is a douche canoe. Technically he is a winner but I cannot bring myself to agree with Dump on anything; it feels wrong to agree with him on anything.

    I repeat these things in my head, in writing, and out loud because I feel like that phrase “repeat it until it is real” is happening in this country. He is openly trying to gaslight this country and he is mostly getting away with it.

  5. ArchieGoodwin says:

    I am on FB and came into contact with several Russian bot accounts. They all used the hashtag #MAGA along with the little american flag. You could not block them, nor hide them.

    it hasn’t escaped my noticed that trump also has that little flag on his DJT account, and often retweets obvious bot accounts.
    My theroy- russia has access to his DJT twitter account. And this is REALLY nuts but I think that little flag has something to do with it, a way to access it in a clandestine manner (couldn’t just log in because you can trace that). Like a wormhole or something.

    I know, I watch too many movies. But we are living a nightmare movie right now- has anyone else watched the Morgan Freeman PSA about the new movie script? Google it, it’s scary but awesome.

    • Esmom says:

      Interesting theory. I agree the bots are pretty easy to spot on FB, they are always all over any NY Times stories like flies on s^it.

      A woman in our town is upset because someone accessed a photo of her deceased mom from her account and is using it as the profile pic of a bot account and she can’t seem to get FB to do anything about it. Creepy. I’ve almost pulled the plug on FB numerous times over the years but I think I’m closer than ever to walking away from it for good.

      • Jennie Hix says:

        I use a fake profile for work, but have shut my personal profile down. There are many reasons, but among them, I simply don’t trust Facebook to do the right thing with my information.

    • swak says:

      Kind of like the pi symbol in the movie The Net with Sandra Bullock. You click on it in a certain manner and it takes you to a classified site (I think).

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Sometimes their names end in 4 or so numbers, too. And their photos are cheesy and their bios follow the classic #MAGA pattern, often with Christianity thrown in.

  6. Nancy says:

    Taking a trip back to the 70’s. Peter Finch in the movie Network: “I’m mad as Hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.” John Mellencamp’s song….When The Walls Come Tumbling Down. We the people who have been living in disgust and anger and fear since he began his campaign are finally putting our feet down. We are not going to take it anymore and his walls are tumbling down. Countdown to impeachment…..may be months or longer, but I predict it. *for those who don’t know the lyrics of John’s song, please google them….it’s as though they were written for 2017 #45*

    • lightpurple says:

      I love that Mellencamp song and he put special emphasis on it during this summer’s tour. That and Rain on the Scarecrow.

      • Nancy says:

        Really. I am a big fan of classic rock and have no idea how that song popped in my head. It makes sense. I suppose if you look back to that era of the Viet Nam protest songs, there would be a myriad of songs that could be sung to King Joffrey as a bedtime lullaby. However, it appears he doesn’t sleep much. Sleep deprived tyrant. I loathe him so. Afterthought again: Wouldn’t it be cool if some talented songwriter wrote a song called 24 tweets! It chills me to the bone how 24 NFL tweets to 4 Puerto Rico tweets. He left those people, Americans to die without a blink of an eye until we shouted I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE

    • lswsmile says:

      Unfortunately, it is going to be difficult to get him out of office, you need 67 Senators to impeach him which will not happen, but one can hope.

      • Who ARE These People? says:

        The House of Representatives impeaches, but Paul Ryan won’t start anything.
        The Senate would convict. It things rose to the level (or sunk to the depth) at which even “Pissant Paul” Ryan would lead the House to impeach, the Senate almost surely would convict, but the thing is … if they haven’t yet, they won’t, unless there is some new form of hideousness that we can’t even imagine because we are pure souls, unlike Donald Trump.

    • Who ARE These People? says:

      Stevie Wonder: “You’ve killed all our leaders. I don’t even have to do nuthin’ to you. You’ll cause your own country to fall.” (Big Brother, on Talking Book)

    • Zondie says:

      @NANCY how did Trump leave people to die in PR? Last I read the ships were in port but having a difficult time distributing supplies because the infrastructure is broken. I’m not trying to be antagonistic, I just wonder what Trump did (or perhaps didn’t do) to cause people to die on the island, since I have family there.

      • jwoolman says:

        Trump didn’t exactly jump to it in response to the crisis in Puerto Rico. That was the problem with response to Katrina also – delays in proper response and ridiculous responses did cause a lot of unnecessary trouble. But Trump’s focus on the non-problem of athletes kneeling during the national anthem rather than on the situation in Puerto Rico was bizarre. I’ve never seen that happen with any other President. GWBush was confused with Katrina, but he didn’t act so unaware of it. And Trump’s tweeting about Puerto Rico’s old infrastructure and debt problems was even more bizarre. So out of place.

        At least Trump finally in late June appointed a decent person for FEMA, but with the gutting of such agencies there may be other obstacles, especially so soon after other hurricane damage.

        The power outage is serious because some people can’t live without power – people on life support, people dependent on dialysis for example.

        Actually, if we can’t get the power and communications working soon in Puerto Rico, it means we are extremely vulnerable elsewhere in the country as well, including to deliberate sabotage or acts of war. We should at least look at this as a sort of test for our ability to respond quickly.

        People running out of food in remoter areas is concerning as well, especially combined with the communications problems.

  7. Eliza says:

    People are so confused on this topic. I was at dinner and they were talking about how they weren’t sure they should watch football right now. But they said they liked the joined arms, just not the kneeling or skipping out. I let them know the linked arms were also to show athlete unity. That they may or may not agree with CK politics but he shouldn’t be called a SOB and fired for taking a knee.

    Plus they didnt know the knee started in reference to police killings. I guess lots of people don’t follow politics and just think one guy hates the flag and protests without cause?

    • Tiny Martian says:

      Yes, this is exactly the problem. Most people don’t really read the news, they just read headlines and hear soundbites. They see one picture of an athlete kneeling during the anthem, read a comment about “disrespecting the flag”, and base their opinion on that.

      I come to Celebitchy because most of the commenters here seem to be truly informed about the subject matter. I actually learn quite a bit here from the links provided, and from hearing the perspectives of commenters from different social backgrounds around the globe. But the irony isn’t lost on me that the lazy and contentious approach that so many people have towards celebrity gossip on other sites (seeing one photo of a celeb and forming a detailed assumptive analysis around it and posting their resulting outraged opinions online), has now spread to become the way that many adults absorb and filter world events, which is just tragic in my opinion.

  8. lightpurple says:

    The Greatest of All Time has Spoken, or Tweeted with a Knee.
    And yes, that is the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the 83 year old neck of that 2 time high school champion, 2 time NCAA champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, Five times NBA MVP, Eleven Time NBA Champion, First Aftican American Head Coach of Any Major American Sports League, Civil rights Icon’s neck. Sit down and shut up, Orange Voldy.

    https://cdn.mrctv.org/files/images/Russell.png

    As to what Orange Voldy has to say about the NFL, as always, I will trust in Devin McCourty first. And I want his shirt.
    http://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/09/27/patriots-national-anthem-stand/

  9. STRIPE says:

    He hates the NFL because he always wanted a team but they wouldn’t let him buy one. So he bought a USFL team and tried to get that league to compete with the NFL, and he lost that battle.

    Every one of his obsessions is a petty greviance he has and he’s using his time as President to get back at people.

  10. IlsaLund says:

    So, if I put my conspiracy hat on, Donal Trump is working with the Russians to push a disingenuous campaign of division centered around this fake flag/anthem BS. TRump is in cahoots with the Russians to sow more division amongst U.S. citizens. And the sheeple are again being dumb and allowing it to happen (mainly cause their blinded by racism).

    • mary says:

      i think this actually might be what is happening…it sure looks like he is a pawn for the russians….scary

    • The Other Katherine says:

      I think it’s just his pathology — sowing division and turning people against each other is one of the things malignant narcissists do. It comes naturally, and he excels at it. That’s one of the reasons his presence in the presidency is such a valuable asset for Russia, even if he’s completely failed them on the sanctions front. Actual direct coordination is barely needed — Trump just goes out and acts like Trump, and then Russia’s social media strategy amplifies the message and deepens the rifts.

  11. TyrantDestroyed says:

    This POS is busy tweeting about NFL and Facebook while Puerto Rico is dying to receive some humanitarian help from the goverment. Awesome way to represent the grandiosity of the country he pretends to rule!

  12. Anastasia says:

    He keeps saying he’s accomplished so much. But WHAT has he accomplished??? Anything good?

  13. Lorelai says:

    Shallow comment alert:
    That header photo is the best one I’ve seen of the Dotard in years, and in fact, I did a double take to make sure it was actually him. He’s not orange today!

    Usually Kaiser is able to pick the most appropriately unflattering photos to accompany any story (it’s a gift, really), but he looks…almost normal here?

    As to the content of the article, I’m too sickened by him at this point and need a short moratorium on his BS.

  14. why? says:

    The Russian bots were also trolling the Q poll because 54%(or 57%) said that The Dotard was intelligent and strong. This is where the press fails us. When they see results that are greatly contradicted by the facts, they need to start calling it out. No one thinks that the Dotard is intelligent or strong, have you seen the EO memes of the Dotard and the leaks about what other world leaders think about The Dotard?

    It was obvious that the accounts posting “boycott NFL, standforouranthem(which The Dotard tweeted twice and retweeted once), and takeaknee(it’s like they were trying to hijack takeaknee and turn into The Dotard’s favor by mkaing negative comments about the players more prominent) because the majority of The Dotard’s supporters are fake and bots. The bots also targeted the owners, coaches, and players. They even started a petition to remove a statue of Ray Lewis.

    The bots have also targeted Rob Reiner and Morgan Freemen who announced that they started a Committee to Investigate Russia.

    The bots also used FB to silence Ukraine activist. The bots would swarm anyone who opposed Russia and report their account over and over for porn. They were successful because FB would ban these people and they didn’t do anything wrong.

  15. why? says:

    The good news is that Dotard has stopped tweeting about take a knee, but the bad news is that he is still giving interviews about it.

    “Guess what? Most people agree with me,”-The Dotard

    The Russian bots posting “boycott NFL” don’t count.

    “A couple of team-owning pals, he said, told him they have to “do something”.-The Dotard

    Since The Dotard went to twitter and bragged about the phone call he received from Jerry Jones, when he says a couple of team owning pals, he means Jerry Jones. Once again The Dotard confirms that Jerry Jones betrayed his team. He made this team kneel before the anthem, but not during it because his first and only priority was not offending The Dotard.

    “I think they’re afraid of their players, you want to know the truth. And I think it’s disgraceful,”-The Dotard

    This is the same man who said horrible things about The Kahns and McCain and sold our country to the Russians. They aren’t afraid of the players. They know that without the players they have no team and no money.

    “The NFL cannot disrespect our country. They cannot disrespect our flag or our national anthem. And they can’t have people sitting down or kneeling down during our national anthem.”-The Dotard

    Taking a knee isn’t disrespecting the flag or the NA. Many Veterans have spoken out and stated that they didn’t fight for the flag or the NA, but for freedom of speech. The Dotard talks about disrespect, but he keeps disrespecting McCain by writing and saying negative thing about him and mocking him.

    “They can stop it…They have rules for everything: You can’t dance in the end zone. You can’t wear the pink socks, relative to breast cancer…They have rules for everything.”-The Dotard

    Isn’t this illegal? The Dotard wants to talk about rules when he is constantly breaking rules. Like when he pardoned Joe A.

  16. why? says:

    In other news:

    Tom Price apologized for his use of jets and said that he will reimburse the US government. So far Kellyanne and Steve M, who also abused the use of the jets, have not offered to do the same. I also forgot, The Dotard was acting like he was mad at Tom Price, but remember he fired Preet B to protect Tom Price from the case that Preet was working on against Tom Price?

    The WH is doing damage control. They are now claiming that there are no shipping containers with supplies just sitting at the harbors. The operative word is “supplies”. They are redefining the definition of supply to justify their lack of relief effort.

    The Dotard finally waved the restrictions of shipping supplies to Puerto Rico. The WH response to the Puerto Rico is to brag about what a great job they are doing responding and helping the people in Puerto Rico. The twist is that they aren’t really doing anything. The WH is even inflating numbers. They reported that about 47 hospitals were up and running, but the people in Puerto Rico are reporting that it’s really 11. Sarah said that the Dotard wanted to put people before the paperwork. I fault the WH reporters who keep attending her briefings. They know by now that she is a liar. The WH even have some of the Puerto Rican officials reciting his comment about how it’s taking too long to get supplies to Puerto Rico because it’s an island in the ocean.

    Tom B, the same guy who was tricked by a person impersonating Jared, referred to relief aid to Puerto Rico as a business model.

    Grassley met in private with Rosenstein. Why is Grassley being allowed to interfer in the Trump Russian investigation?

  17. why? says:

    The press is making a big deal because The Dotard didn’t attend Wray’s swearing in ceremony. They thing that The Dotard stayed away because he doesn’t like Wray. We already know that Wray is loyal to The Dotard. He said that he wasn’t being pressured to stop the Trump Russian investigation even though Gowdy and Nunes sent him and Sessions subpoenas on the dossier and threatened to hold him and Sessions in contempt in they didn’t turn over information about the dossier. The Dotard didn’t go because he is too busy thinking up more tweets and interviews about the NFL players taking a knee.

    The Dotard now has Ryan doing his dirty work, facilitating a “Fire Mitch M” campaign. He is blaming McConnell for LS, but it was The Dotard who started posting about LS after he watched Chris Hayes. Mcconnell has no one to blame, when he had a chance to do something about The Dotard, he did nothing.

  18. M. says:

    So if something is wrote against him, it’s fake news rig away. This guy is the epitomy of stupid

  19. why? says:

    Chris Hayes is saying that he is skeptical that the bots using twitter and FB had as much impact on the election as everyone is reporting, he claims that it’s because a not lot of money was spent on the ads and that there were very few ads. What’s happening? I was wondering why he was grilling Hillary on exactly how the ads impacted the election, I just thought he was asking a question. Then today he repeated twice that he didn’t believe the ads had that much of an impact.

    The Dotard succeeded into bullying the NFL owners into submission. They are now making their players link arms during the anthem and won’t let them take a knee. This is wrong, especially since the Dotard bragged on twitter today that he spoke to a couple of owners who agreed that they had to do something about players taking a knee.

  20. why? says:

    Tom Price has resigned. The WH is spinning it to make it look like The Dotard is draining the swamp and upset over Price abusing the use of the jets. Kellyanne, Pruitt, and Mncuhin did the same thing and they have not been fired, so we know that he isn’t draining the swamp. One person made a good point, we will know how sincere The Dotard is by his actions. He and his family have been abusing funds and other programs. The press are doing it again. Some of them are trying to say that The Dotard is being “presidential” by his position on Tom Price.

    Why was The Dotard really trying to fire Tom Price? Does it have something to do with the investigations against Price? The press is suffering from amnesia. None of them are talking about the investigations into Tom Price. They have failed us again.

    The press also keeps saying that The Dotard wasn’t close to Tom Price, but The Dotard fired Preet B to his investigation into Tom Price.

    Tom Price resigned because something else more damaging than the jet abuse is about to come out.

    It’s just like Spicer. They had everyone thinking that he resigned because of Scaramucci, but a week later we found out that Spicer was meeting with people from FN to create fake stories about Hillary and SR.