Fascinating/unsettling seeing pro-Trump media, Russian bots, a few Congressional Republicans, and Trump's online fans turn a memo by a disgraced recused-then-unrecused Congressman into proof of a grand conspiracy. Not coordination. Each acts independently. Overlapping interests.
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And here's evidence of Russia's role. The 600 Twitter accounts linked to Russian influence operations tracked by the Alliance for Securing Democracy devoted almost all their energy over the last 48 hours to the hashtag
#ReleaseTheMemo.pic.twitter.com/La8s8LMMkM
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Those Russian influence accounts' use of the word "memo" increased over 60,000% in the last 48 hours, with related terms like "FISA" (+ about 30,000%) and "Watergate" (+ almost 20,000%) dramatically increasing as well.pic.twitter.com/Mr9OzNwrdc
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Here's an example of a sitting Congressman joining the grand conspiracy hyperbolizing. Representative Andy Briggs (R-AZ) called it "the scandal of our time."https://twitter.com/dannowicki/status/954378635099566080 …
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And here's Fox's Sean Hannity (of course) arguing that the memo reveals a scandal that is "worse than Watergate." "Watergate," you'll remember, is one of the topics the Russian influence accounts have been pushing.https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/954254600890134528 …
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Amplifying this narrative are Trump fans on social media. For example, here's someone named Bradley Scott, who has over 85k followers, also convinced the memo shows a scandal that is "Worse than Watergate." (Note, this has been retweeted over 2k times).https://twitter.com/Hoosiers1986/status/954342404211003392 …
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So there you have it: A few Republican Congressmen + Russian bots + professional pro-Trump media + Trump fans on social media = loud enough to shape public narrative. And they've likely convinced millions there's clear evidence of a grand conspiracy.
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Remember, all this fulminating is over a short memo by Rep. Devin Nunes, who was on the Trump transition team, and had to step away from the House's Russia investigation for rushing in March to inform the White House of developments before other committee members found out.
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Less motivated reports doubt the memo's credibility:https://twitter.com/NatashaBertrand/status/954363342562480129 …
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The GOP Congressmen, pro-Trump media, Russian bots, and Trump's online fans didn't coordinate. It's not a conspiracy. They're all just doing it. Each individually motivated, building an echo chamber convincing each other they're right. As I said, fascinating and unsettling. (END)
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Re: comments/questions: -"What are you afraid of? Why not release the memo?" Nothing. Fine by me. A Congressman's memo doesn't prove/disprove anything. It's his take, not a primary source. And that's true of a Congressman with credibility--Nunes' squandered his a while ago.
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I have little doubt people convinced the memo proves a grand FBI/"deep state"/Clinton/Fusion GPS/Democrats/whoever anti-Trump conspiracy will continue believing that if it's released, no matter what it says. Much as they believed in that conspiracy before hearing of Nunes' memo
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-"It's not 'the Russians.' Many regular Americans made
#ReleaseTheMemo trend." In part, yes. That's why I listed 4 groups who, without coordinating, spread the narrative. Bots and human influencers did some tweeting/retweeting, but thousands of people with few followers did too.Show this thread
End of conversation
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Including that loser ding-dong James Woods! LOL!
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AaaaaaaAaaaaaa
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We new it was fake points still valid even said so "Ponzi" scheme
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