Russia has long promoted candidates in other countries, but American intelligence officials are warning other countries of a new tactic: sowing doubt about democracy, itself, PBS NewsHour reports.
And why wouldn’t they, given how well Russia’s efforts have worked here?
Russia appears encouraged by its success in amplifying the lies by former President Donald Trump and his supporters during and after the 2020 presidential election falsely blaming widespread fraud for his loss. Those lies helped spark the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and continue to resonate to this day, contributing to the paralysis in the House of Representatives, where the Republican majority had been considering placing one of the lie’s loudest congressional proponents, Rep. Jim Jordan, in charge.
“It is our view that Russia is capitalizing on what it sees as a relatively inexpensive success in the United States in 2020 to take this global,” a senior intelligence official said on a call with reporters on Friday.
PBS also noted that between 2020 and 2022, the U.S. found 11 contests in nine countries where Russia made a "concerted effort" to undermine confidence in election outcomes and 17 “less-pronounced” campaigns elsewhere “to amplify domestic questions about the reliability of elections.”
What makes this so much more tragic and alarming is that much of the Republican party, including its Dear Leader, are enthusiastically going along with that effort. Assuming they're not directly involved in it, that is.
