Over at The Daily Beast, Liz Wahl has an interesting take on the similarities between Trump, Putin, and the use of disinformation.
“Russian messaging aims to incite existing tensions and deepen existing divisions. It aims to make angry people angrier and paranoid people more paranoid. Its overarching goal is to instill a deep distrust in the political establishment, Western media, and the concept of democracy itself. In that sense, Trump ran a Russian campaign, enflaming the angry and disillusioned. But he went further, stepping into territory where even RT producers put their foot down. As the Republican presidential nominee, Trump went on Alex Jones’ show—where he’s peddled lies about 9/11 as an inside job and the Sandy Hook massacre as a hoax—and praised the notorious perpetrator of falsehoods. “Your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down,†Trump told the InfoWars host. After the election, says Jones, Trump called to personally thank the man who became persona non grata at RT, as producers argued continuing to have him on as a guest was damaging to the channel’s credibility.”
Source: Donald Trump Is Mirroring Vladimir Putin’s Disinformation Machine