US Election 2020

[trdsf]

And a little bit of me would be terrifically amused by us getting a President Castro now that Cuba doesn't have one.

For similar reasons, I was hoping in 1985 that Konstantin Chernenko's successor as head of the Soviet Union would be Romanov rather than Gorbachev... the hell with Realpolitik, give me irony!

[Sean Hayden]

...wrong thread

[Cunt]

Trump could still declare himself a woman, and be the first US president who is a woman.

Funnier still, if he went 'trans-political', and ran as a Democrat. He WOULD have a better chance than any of the Dem offerings...

[Tero]

Haha! Thanks to Trump, and partly Hillary (she had to run and fail...it was necessary), the 2020 election willbe won by either Biden or a woman. Bernie will bow out before the primary.

[Forty Two]

WASHINGTON – It turns out Donald Trump wasn’t the only candidate the Russians allegedly tried to help during the 2016 presidential campaign.

A 37-page indictment resulting from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation shows that Russian nationals and businesses also worked to boost the campaigns of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Green party nominee Jill Stein in an effort to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton.

The Russians “engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump,” according to the indictment, which was issued Friday.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/pol ... 348051002/

Can anyone explain what the Russians did wrong in helping Stein and Sanders? Do so without mentioning Trump. Just explain what the Russians did which was illegal or immoral, or both.

If you do not think it was illegal or immoral, then explain why you think that.

[JimC]

You have a foreign power, a major rival of the US with expansionist tendencies trying to influence the US election process for their own benefit. Strategically, they saw a Clinton presidency as a bad thing for their long-term interests, and so made it their business to oppose her campaign, whether by supporting her democrat rivals or working with Trump (who was definitely giving them signals of support). It may well not be illegal, but sovereign nations usually do not take kindly to being manipulated by unfriendly foreign powers...

If this isn't something that concerns any thinking US citizen, it ought to be...

[Forty Two]

You have a foreign power, a major rival of the US with expansionist tendencies trying to influence the US election process for their own benefit by placing advertisements and posts on social media.

What is wrong with Mexicans in Mexico trying to influence US elections to keep anti-immigration people out of office by posting their viewpoints on social media? By posting memes?

Strategically, they saw a Clinton presidency as a bad thing for their long-term interests, and so made it their business to oppose her campaign,

Was there something illegal or immoral with Russians opposing her campaign? Would there be something wrong with me doing the same thing, posting memes, etc., opposing Marie Le Pen's next campaign? I am not allowed to publish my thoughts on french elections? It's immoral for me to do so? It's immoral for me and 100 of my friends to do so? I have a limit on the number of memes I can post before it becomes illegal or immoral?

whether by supporting her democrat rivals or working with Trump (who was definitely giving them signals of support). It may well not be illegal, but sovereign nations usually do not take kindly to being manipulated by unfriendly foreign powers...

If this isn't something that concerns any thinking US citizen, it ought to be...

Supporting democrat rivals - the real question is HOW have they been supported. Payments of money is one thing. But, supporting them by saying "Hey - we over here in Russia we hate Donald Trump, but we really really like Beto O'Rourke - and here are 1000 memes ripping on Trump and supporting Beto" -- is that something any thinking person should be concerned about?

Sovereign nations don't take kindly to a lot of things. However, do you as an Australian have the right to comment on social media, post nasty memes and such, and support candidates? All of you non-Americans did that in 2016 on Rationalia, you know. If Russian nationals cannot do that, then you can bet you can't either.

Does it "concern me" that Europeans and others by and large don't like Trump, and spend lots of time on social media and forums bashing him? Well, I wish they wouldn't, but "concern me?" As in, is it something that I think ought to be stopped? I think the power of the government to stop such activity is more dangerous than the activity.

[Cunt]

...the power of the government to stop such activity is more dangerous than the activity.

Holy shit yeah.

[Seabass]

Damn, $6 million in 24hrs.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/20/politics ... index.html

(CNN)Bernie Sanders raised nearly $6 million in the 24 hours following his 2020 presidential campaign launch, his campaign said Wednesday, a record-smashing debut that easily outstripped his Democratic rivals.

Sanders raised $5,925,771 from 223,047 individual contributors across all 50 states in the campaign's first 24 hours, and more than $6 million from 225,000 individuals in total since the launch. And Sanders' campaign also noted that the average contribution was $27, "mirroring [Sanders'] 2016 campaign's average donation," a symbolic reflection of the Vermont senator's grassroots support that was key to his anti-establishment bid against Hillary Clinton.
Sanders haul bests totals publicized by the other Democrats in the race so far. Sen. Kamala Harris had previously set the standard when she raised $1.5 million in the 24 hours following her announcement in late January. Sen. Amy Klobuchar had announced raising $1 million in the first 48 hours after her campaign launch.

This means of course that the DNC will run the two least popular candidates, and then we'll end up with Trump again...

[pErvinalia]

Ok, fuck that he's old and he'll be nearly dead during his second term, but GO BERN!!

[Cunt]

I think he earns plenty of votes, but there are a bunch who just seem to hate old white guys.

Maybe if he declares himself trans...

[L'Emmerdeur]

A fascinating article about the dissemination of false and divisive information and memes directed against Democratic presidential candidates that has already ramped up on Twitter and other platforms.

'"Sustained and ongoing" disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates'

A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity.

The main targets appear to be Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), four of the most prominent announced or prospective candidates for president.

A POLITICO review of recent data extracted from Twitter and from other platforms, as well as interviews with data scientists and digital campaign strategists, suggests that the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation and distortions of their positions. But the divisive nature of many of the posts also hints at a broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary.

The cyber propaganda — which frequently picks at the rawest, most sensitive issues in public discourse — is being pushed across a variety of platforms and with a more insidious approach than in the 2016 presidential election, when online attacks designed to polarize and mislead voters first surfaced on a massive scale.

...

“It looks like the 2020 presidential primary is going to be the next battleground to divide and confuse Americans,” said Brett Horvath, one of the founders of Guardians.ai, a tech company that works with a consortium of data scientists, academics and technologists to disrupt cyberattacks and protect pro-democracy groups from information warfare. “As it relates to information warfare in the 2020 cycle, we’re not on the verge of it — we’re already in the third inning.”

An analysis conducted for POLITICO by Guardians.ai found evidence that a relatively small cluster of accounts — and a broader group of accounts that amplify them — drove a disproportionate amount of the Twitter conversation about the four candidates over a recent 30-day period.

Using proprietary tools that measured the discussion surrounding the candidates in the Democratic field, Guardians.ai identified a cohort of roughly 200 accounts — including both unwitting real accounts and other “suspicious” and automated accounts that coordinate to spread their messages — that pumped out negative or extreme themes designed to damage the candidates.

[Tero]

So it's going to be Madam President in 2021. Getting used to the term.

[JimC]

You have a foreign power, a major rival of the US with expansionist tendencies trying to influence the US election process for their own benefit by placing advertisements and posts on social media.

What is wrong with Mexicans in Mexico trying to influence US elections to keep anti-immigration people out of office by posting their viewpoints on social media? By posting memes?

Strategically, they saw a Clinton presidency as a bad thing for their long-term interests, and so made it their business to oppose her campaign,

Was there something illegal or immoral with Russians opposing her campaign? Would there be something wrong with me doing the same thing, posting memes, etc., opposing Marie Le Pen's next campaign? I am not allowed to publish my thoughts on french elections? It's immoral for me to do so? It's immoral for me and 100 of my friends to do so? I have a limit on the number of memes I can post before it becomes illegal or immoral?

whether by supporting her democrat rivals or working with Trump (who was definitely giving them signals of support). It may well not be illegal, but sovereign nations usually do not take kindly to being manipulated by unfriendly foreign powers...

If this isn't something that concerns any thinking US citizen, it ought to be...

Supporting democrat rivals - the real question is HOW have they been supported. Payments of money is one thing. But, supporting them by saying "Hey - we over here in Russia we hate Donald Trump, but we really really like Beto O'Rourke - and here are 1000 memes ripping on Trump and supporting Beto" -- is that something any thinking person should be concerned about?

Sovereign nations don't take kindly to a lot of things. However, do you as an Australian have the right to comment on social media, post nasty memes and such, and support candidates? All of you non-Americans did that in 2016 on Rationalia, you know. If Russian nationals cannot do that, then you can bet you can't either.

Does it "concern me" that Europeans and others by and large don't like Trump, and spend lots of time on social media and forums bashing him? Well, I wish they wouldn't, but "concern me?" As in, is it something that I think ought to be stopped? I think the power of the government to stop such activity is more dangerous than the activity.

You are pushing this as simply the freedom of expression of foreign nationals (like individual's comments on social media), where the reality is a concerted effort by a foreign government to advance their own interests by manipulating (legally or illegally) the political processes in the US. I wouldn't be comfortable with that...

[pErvinalia]

WHERES YOU'RE PROFE THAT IT WAS BY A FORRUN GOVERMENT?!!!