MAGA Desperately Claims Russian Propagandists Were the Real “Victims”
MAGA Republicans are more than happy to excuse the right-wing influencers at the center of a Russian propaganda scheme. Right-wing influencers like Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, and Benny Johnson all worked with Tenet Media, a Tennessee-based firm that the Justice Department revealed Wednesday was secretly funded by Russian state media employees in “a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.” The indictment charges two Russia Today employees with providing nearly $10 million to the media company that often spouted Kremlin talking points.In response to the charges, the pundits and their allies are saying they just didn’t know any better. In fact, they’re the real victims. “Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived,” Pool wrote. Johnson echoed the line, writing, “We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme.”Even Representative Matt Gaetz bought their argument. “Tim and Benny were deceived, as the indictment clearly lays out,” he wrote just hours after news of the indictment. Propagandist Ben Shapiro also came to the rescue, stating that Pool, Johnson, and Rubin “aren’t the issue” because “they were apparently deceived by the company founders, who were allegedly taking Russian cash.”Donald Trump too boosted the talking point, as he posted a clip of conservative columnist Michael Shellenberger on Fox News arguing that “this is really small ball stuff” and “two of the influencers that were targeted did not know it was Russian money.” (If that is the case, wouldn’t it be true that the rest did?) It’s hard to believe that the members of Tenet Media “didn’t know” anything about the scheme. In fact, you can watch Pool describe nearly exactly what he engaged in, during a podcast conversation: Tim Pool:“What happens with social media—particularly with YouTube where it’s really easy—is you can have a foreign agent…dump ad money into his channel through Google Ad Sense and they’ll never know we were the ones funding him and you can’t prove it.”pic.twitter.com/qayBaGsbJN— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) September 5, 2024Let’s see if playing clueless works out for them.
MAGA Republicans are more than happy to excuse the right-wing influencers at the center of a Russian propaganda scheme.
Right-wing influencers like Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern, and Benny Johnson all worked with Tenet Media, a Tennessee-based firm that the Justice Department revealed Wednesday was secretly funded by Russian state media employees in “a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.” The indictment charges two Russia Today employees with providing nearly $10 million to the media company that often spouted Kremlin talking points.
In response to the charges, the pundits and their allies are saying they just didn’t know any better. In fact, they’re the real victims.
“Should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived,” Pool wrote.
Johnson echoed the line, writing, “We are disturbed by the allegations in today’s indictment, which make clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme.”
Even Representative Matt Gaetz bought their argument. “Tim and Benny were deceived, as the indictment clearly lays out,” he wrote just hours after news of the indictment.
Propagandist Ben Shapiro also came to the rescue, stating that Pool, Johnson, and Rubin “aren’t the issue” because “they were apparently deceived by the company founders, who were allegedly taking Russian cash.”
Donald Trump too boosted the talking point, as he posted a clip of conservative columnist Michael Shellenberger on Fox News arguing that “this is really small ball stuff” and “two of the influencers that were targeted did not know it was Russian money.” (If that is the case, wouldn’t it be true that the rest did?)
It’s hard to believe that the members of Tenet Media “didn’t know” anything about the scheme. In fact, you can watch Pool describe nearly exactly what he engaged in, during a podcast conversation:
Tim Pool:
“What happens with social media—particularly with YouTube where it’s really easy—is you can have a foreign agent…dump ad money into his channel through Google Ad Sense and they’ll never know we were the ones funding him and you can’t prove it.”pic.twitter.com/qayBaGsbJN— Leah McElrath (@leahmcelrath) September 5, 2024
Let’s see if playing clueless works out for them.
