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Adam Kinzinger: Silencing America's Voice
Adam Kinzinger - Silencing America’s Voice
How Trump is Tearing Down Our Defenses Against Disinformation
Adam Kinzinger
May 12, 2025
Back in the days when news arrived on our doorsteps in crisp, folded pages, propaganda was a blunt instrument. Disinformation — or dezinformatsiya, as the Russians coined it — was spread through planted articles in obscure publications, hoping unwitting American editors would pick them up and run them. This tactic, which Moscow has been perfecting for over a century, subtly shaped American perceptions from afar.
Flash forward to today, and dezinformatsiya is a far more sophisticated affair. Now, it’s a 24/7 operation, driven by small armies of Russian trolls, bot networks, and algorithmic manipulation. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X are the new battlegrounds, where fake accounts amplify false narratives, flooding the digital space with seemingly legitimate content designed to confuse, divide, and manipulate. The days of gatekeepers ensuring journalistic integrity are gone, replaced by a chaotic, user-driven news ecosystem where misinformation spreads faster than truth.
Let’s take a very recent example. Just yesterday, Emanuel Macron and other European leaders were in Ukraine to advocate for a cease-fire, and threaten further sanctions on Russia if they don’t comply (of course Trump later undermined their efforts because, of course.) In the train all the leaders gathered together in a friendly way, and a video of the encounter was released. In it, Emanuel Macron is seen to palm a crumpled up tissue because, well who wants a used tissue in the video. Someone, likely Russia, made a grainy version of the video where the tissue looked like, sort of, a bag of cocaine. Like wildfire it spread, Macron and world leaders were doing lines of Coke in a train to Ukraine. Of course, it’s insane, but spread nevertheless. Here is an example.
This modern wave of propaganda is effective precisely because tens of millions of Americans have been conditioned to distrust traditional media. Fox News and others have spent decades seeding this doubt, eroding public faith in professional journalism. The 2016 election stands as a stark example: Russia’s coordinated disinformation campaign, amplified by domestic voices, helped tip the scales toward Donald Trump.
In the aftermath, the U.S. took steps to counter this threat. We ramped up our defenses, bolstered cybersecurity, and beefed up our information warfare capabilities. But now, under President Trump, we’re unilaterally disarming, handing the field back to our adversaries.
/snip
How Trump is Tearing Down Our Defenses Against Disinformation
Adam Kinzinger
May 12, 2025
Back in the days when news arrived on our doorsteps in crisp, folded pages, propaganda was a blunt instrument. Disinformation — or dezinformatsiya, as the Russians coined it — was spread through planted articles in obscure publications, hoping unwitting American editors would pick them up and run them. This tactic, which Moscow has been perfecting for over a century, subtly shaped American perceptions from afar.
Flash forward to today, and dezinformatsiya is a far more sophisticated affair. Now, it’s a 24/7 operation, driven by small armies of Russian trolls, bot networks, and algorithmic manipulation. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X are the new battlegrounds, where fake accounts amplify false narratives, flooding the digital space with seemingly legitimate content designed to confuse, divide, and manipulate. The days of gatekeepers ensuring journalistic integrity are gone, replaced by a chaotic, user-driven news ecosystem where misinformation spreads faster than truth.
Let’s take a very recent example. Just yesterday, Emanuel Macron and other European leaders were in Ukraine to advocate for a cease-fire, and threaten further sanctions on Russia if they don’t comply (of course Trump later undermined their efforts because, of course.) In the train all the leaders gathered together in a friendly way, and a video of the encounter was released. In it, Emanuel Macron is seen to palm a crumpled up tissue because, well who wants a used tissue in the video. Someone, likely Russia, made a grainy version of the video where the tissue looked like, sort of, a bag of cocaine. Like wildfire it spread, Macron and world leaders were doing lines of Coke in a train to Ukraine. Of course, it’s insane, but spread nevertheless. Here is an example.
This modern wave of propaganda is effective precisely because tens of millions of Americans have been conditioned to distrust traditional media. Fox News and others have spent decades seeding this doubt, eroding public faith in professional journalism. The 2016 election stands as a stark example: Russia’s coordinated disinformation campaign, amplified by domestic voices, helped tip the scales toward Donald Trump.
In the aftermath, the U.S. took steps to counter this threat. We ramped up our defenses, bolstered cybersecurity, and beefed up our information warfare capabilities. But now, under President Trump, we’re unilaterally disarming, handing the field back to our adversaries.
/snip
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Amazing...
If it were me, I would NEVER stay in that party with kraznov's, fleaon's & miller's behavior AND repuke congress's absolute failure to IMPEACH NOW.
But, then again, my personal integrity is very important to me. Nof sure that is a concept repukes value or ecen understand.
Empty words.