Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) noticed this odd remark from the Kremlin’s spokesman in 2016, at the time he made it. It was a prescient catch, indeed. (Can’t recommend her work enough – a powerful, clear-sighted assessment of authoritarianism, well-suited to #TrumpRussia, and international relations beyond.)
I tweeted this on July 26, 2016. Found it odd that Kremlin spokesman referred inquiries about hacks to Donald Trump Jr. Now we know why! https://t.co/5D5Ttwl3AP
— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) July 12, 2017
Where do you feel Bannon fits into all of this?
Good morning, and thanks for your comment.
It’s such a key question, isn’t it? Bannon plays a key role for Trump as an ideologue (fomenting and focusing white nationalist ire against blacks, Muslims, Mexicans, Jews), but has he had a different responsibility, also? Perhaps so – as someone who helped Russia target lies and hacked information to particular communities, to (1) bolster the worst of Trump’s base and (2) to confuse, dispirit, and suppress the vote among those true to America’s democratic ideals.
Over at Brookings, Kate Brannen wrote on this, at the Just Security website, and her assessment seems persuasive to me. Connecting the Dots: Political Microtargeting and the Russia Investigation.
So much more to learn, of course, and sadly I think none of it good.
My best to you —
Adams