Trump Can Repeat "Russia-Russia-Russia" All He Wants— It Doesn't Make Him Innocent Of Collusion

If you think Russia-Gate was a hoax, as Trump never misses an opportunity to insist it was proven to be— which is just another one of his lies— Adam Cochran’s Twitter thread yesterday is probably something you should avoid. Everybody else should read it. 

If facts matter, the claim that it was a hoax is one of the most successful gaslighting operations in modern political history. Every credible investigation— Mueller’s, the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee’s, independent journalistic probes— confirmed that the Trump campaign eagerly welcomed, sought out and benefited from Russian interference in 2016. Trump’s team had over 140 known contacts with Russian operatives, a level of coordination that in any sane democracy would have triggered national outrage and disqualifications. Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman, handed internal polling data to a Russian intelligence operative. Roger Stone acted as a go-between with WikiLeaks, which was funneling stolen Democratic emails from Russian hackers. Trump himself went on national television and begged Russia to commit more cybercrimes against his opponent. This wasn’t a hoax; it was an open conspiracy, and the only reason it didn’t lead to more severe consequences is that Trump’s enablers in Congress and the right-wing media worked overtime to muddy the waters. The people screaming “hoax” want to erase the simple truth: Trump and his allies betrayed American democracy for their own gain. The real scandal isn’t that the Russia investigation happened— it’s that it didn’t go far enough. Mueller, constrained by Justice Department norms, stopped short of outright calling it criminal collusion, but the facts were damning. The GOP, instead of treating foreign election interference as a national security threat, turned it into a partisan litmus test, shielding Trump from consequences and ensuring that future attacks on American democracy would go unpunished. The Russian government’s interference wasn’t just real— it was effective, and the continued efforts to whitewash it only serve to make it easier for the next foreign autocrat who wants to install a useful idiot in the White House. And meanwhile, Russian influence campaigns in our country are very much ongoing, as you will conclude from Cochran’s thread, which I’ve put into a narrative form with light edits. Starting here:

Meet project “Good Old USA,” the now unsealed DoJ file on the Russian influence in the US to sway opinion on the war in Ukraine— something Trump has bought into hook-line and sinker. It was held under seal, because we got the literal playbook revealing their methods:

The campaign, done with the direct oversight of President Putin, spent years creating fake versions of US news sites, sharing fake stories on social media, and being social media reply-guys with isolationist, anti-Ukraine, and anti-West commentary.

Fake versions of news sites like Fox News were used to spread stories on Facebook and Twitter as “fact” while a network of commentators were encouraged to tell you that “the official media will never tell you what's happening” or urge you to “dig deeper.” To spread their narratives, Russia created thousands of seemingly US accounts but also created and bought popular news accounts on Facebook and Twitter that focused on sharing “breaking news,” sharing mostly legit news while spreading propaganda among results. 

On these fake sites they wrote extensive thought pieces, pointing to a “weak US,” “domestic immigration problems” and an “unwinnable war in Ukraine.” They were tasked with spreading the idea of isolationism in the US versus global policy.

They were directed to write comments, pretending to be American, denouncing the current party in power and the President (Biden), claiming the economy is deteriorating, being nostalgic for the good old days, and blaming “globalism” and “neoliberalism.”

You've probably seen their kind of comments— “We should solve our own problems and let others solve theirs— Read this to see why.” They were told to pose as small town American's who felt the US has “gone too far” and “that they did not see Russia as an enemy.” They weren't to denounce things outright, but instead talk about it in the sense of priorities. “We're losing our place as a global leader;” its “more important to focus on domestic issues.” Simply make it “reasonable.”

In seizing one of the servers, we got the entire operations playbook, directions and analytics systems, including their social media strategy and directed comments asking “Why do WE need to help Ukraine?!” Their goal was to question. Not answer.

They aimed to provoke US v Mexico sentiment, and divide Israel v Palestine sentiment in the US, rightly believing American's could be distracted to focus on these as “comparative issues.”

At the same time they were to make the Ukrainian case seem “hopeless” backed by their fake articles. They wanted you to believe that Ukraine was obviously losing, that it was a “meat grinder,” that Russia was just holding back, and that nothing could change the tide. “They can't win.” “Russia is strong.” “Why do you want people dead.” “Why don't you go fight?” They were told to either play up Russia or discredit the person without attacking the idea. Just shout “cope.”

They cranked out memes ridiculing topics related to Ukraine to make it seem either:

A) A hypocritical policy stance

or

B) A non-serious issue.

Including focusing on comparatives with other conflicts that those activists would unwittingly amplify. Their largest two targets were a fake Fox News site focusing on far-right voters, and a fake "Forward" site focusing on getting left progressives to sit out of the election.

They told you that Sharia law was coming to America, or that Biden wanted the war in Gaza. They also spread fake, doctored documents, like invoices and “official” press releases, aimed at convincing people that Ukraine was filled with corruption. They wanted the average American to believe Ukrainian aid was just buying cars and houses.

Their objective was to monitor pro-Ukrainian and pro-Democratic influencers, and bombard their comments, to make it seem like the emotional trend had shifted— hoping to tire them out, and sway fence sitters.

They designed long form pieces aimed at convincing America that it was Biden's poor foreign policy surrounding NATO that caused a “proxy war” in Ukraine— and had the express stated goal “To secure a victory of the Republican Candidate.”

They worked with influencers to spread these messages— both paid podcast bros like Tim Pool, who you'll remember from another investigation, but also simply by finding activists on issues and pushing targeted propaganda at them to spread unknowingly.

They wanted every American to believe “we've done too much for Ukraine” and that “the war must end as much as possible,” and identified that right wing online cohorts, especially young men, were ripe for this manipulation.

They wanted you distracted by job risk, DEI, worried about illegal immigrants or that “Biden was risking dragging us into WWIII.” They didn't need you to believe this because Russia was winning the war. They need you to believe it because Russia is losing. It's the same rhetoric you hear every day now:

• “Why should we care”

• “It's costing too much”

• “WWIII”

• “It’s an unwinnable war”

Much of it bots, but much of it the direct result of a systematic foreign influence campaign. The President's actions do not benefit America. They are not benefiting our allies, nor our security. The fact that Russia went to this length, and spent this effort and money, shows how desperate they are.

This very campaign shows that the erosion of Ukrainian support is a Putin agenda. It shows Russia fears a united NATO defense, and knows it cannot escalate this war.

It also shows that the seemingly endless support of “random small town American's for Russia” likely isn't there, and is instead a sea of online bots. But most importantly, it shows, whether knowingly or not, the President has been compromised by a foreign agenda. There can be no mistake. The intelligence community has had these documents for months. And yet, the President continues to take actions that only serve this EXACT Russian playbook.

…The commenters who ask you to go to the front lines, scream of nuclear war, tell you this is cope, blame NATO, complain about non-existent costs, or tell you that you only want more bloodshed, those are not real sentiments. Those are frontline troops of another battle, a war of disinformation and sentiment. And while they'll try and belittle you as a “keyboard warrior,” the best thing you can do is be informed, and call it out.

80%+ of social media is consumed by passive readers who do not post. That's why the reply-guys are paid to exhaust us. Because when good people stop calling out their BS, then the BS is all that's left for passive users to consume. They have no choice but to believe it.

… Do not let them decide, what "Good Old America" looks like.