Post AhoHdqtCPqpqabePy4 by jackhutton@mstdn.social
 (DIR) More posts by jackhutton@mstdn.social
 (DIR) Post #AhoHdlhfhHdwVPDdo0 by jackhutton@mstdn.social
       2024-05-06T12:52:48Z
       
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       Very, important read. [Gifted Article, The Atlantic]: Democracy Is Losing the Propaganda WarAutocrats in China, Russia, and elsewhere are now making common cause with MAGA Republicans to discredit liberalism and freedom around the world. By Anne Applebaum.https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2024/06/china-russia-republican-party-relations/678271/?gift=HoRfrgrF5SCKopc-hfobxKHzxGCfD2kGysfMk2YS-Vg&utm_source=email&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=social
       
 (DIR) Post #AhoHdmfE7rHXU75CdM by jackhutton@mstdn.social
       2024-05-06T12:55:59Z
       
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       "They do so with the goal of electing Trump, whose second presidency would damage the image of democracy around the world, as well as the stability of democracy in America, even further.
       
 (DIR) Post #AhoHdnioC1k0lVlZr6 by jackhutton@mstdn.social
       2024-05-06T12:54:01Z
       
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       The MAGA movement’s leaders also have an interest in pumping nihilism and cynicism into the brains of their fellow citizens, and in convincing them that nothing they see is true. Their goals are so similar that it is hard to distinguish between the online American alt-right and its foreign amplifiers, who have multiplied since the days when this was solely a Russian project.
       
 (DIR) Post #AhoHdnle1U0euJ5qHA by jackhutton@mstdn.social
       2024-05-06T12:53:26Z
       
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       “Here is a difficult truth: A part of the American political spectrum is not merely a passive recipient of the combined authoritarian narratives that come from Russia, China, and their ilk, but an active participant in creating and spreading them. Like the leaders of those countries, the American MAGA right also wants Americans to believe that their democracy is degenerate, their elections illegitimate, their civilization dying. ..
       
 (DIR) Post #AhoHdph6rJZQsozFU8 by jackhutton@mstdn.social
       2024-05-06T12:55:10Z
       
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       "This is not only because authoritarian propaganda campaigns have become more sophisticated as they begin to use AI, or because “you obviously have a political environment here where there’s a lot more Americans who are more distrustful of all institutions.” It’s also because the lawsuits, threats, and smear tactics have chilled government, academic, and tech-company responses.
       
 (DIR) Post #AhoHdqtCPqpqabePy4 by jackhutton@mstdn.social
       2024-05-06T12:54:48Z
       
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       "These stories are symptomatic of a larger problem: Because the American extreme right and (more rarely) the extreme left benefit from the spread of antidemocratic narratives, they have an interest in silencing or hobbling any group that wants to stop, or even identify, foreign campaigns. Senator Mark Warner, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told me that “we are actually less prepared today than we were four years ago” for foreign attempts to influence the 2024 election.
       
 (DIR) Post #AhoHdqtuNDP0cnyz4a by jackhutton@mstdn.social
       2024-05-06T12:54:20Z
       
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       "To state baldly what is happening: The Republican Party’s right wing is actively harassing legitimate, good-faith efforts to track the production and dissemination of autocratic disinformation here in the United States.