I spent time (doesn’t take long) reading the new criminal complaint against Russian trolls — in particular, this time, one Russian troll who was the CFO of recent assaults on our democracy via Twitter and Facebook, etc. Her name is Elena Alekseevna Khusyaynova. (I had to copy that down in my notebook by hand, very very slowly.)
The complaint sites violations of 18 U.S.C. ยง 371.
Go directly to page 14, paragraph 27 and read as much as you can stomach through to the last (38) page. The complaint quotes a slew of posts and shows posters and the like produced by the Russians, as well as general directions for attacking and/or influencing specific American groups.
I wanted to quote a couple of them here but find I can’t copy and paste anything in the complaint. But there it is, linked up top, for you to read.
You might have one of several possible reactions to seeing this stuff:
- I’m proud as punch because I never let any of these things influence me or my vote.
- Why did I ever get trolled by Elena? I feel very left out: I’ve never seen any of these trolls before they appeared in this complaint.
- Gee, some of these — trashing Paul Ryan, et al — are pretty accurate. [Indeed, I’m not sure what these trolls are trying to do. Are they trying to capture liberal minds and then–….then what? Get us to send money to phony election support groups? (There are a bunch of them sprinkled throughout. Do you send money to mysterious election support groups the names of which you’ve never heard of before? Do you???)
- OMG I have been such a sucker!!!!!! I believed all these things about how wonderful Trump is and how awful those libs are!!!!!!!!!!
- I don’t care if the Russians think they own my mind — I still support Trump.
In some ways, what the Russians have been doing lately does on the surface seem more sophisticated than what they did against the 2016 election. But I’m still seeing some obvious mistakes they’re making — mistakes which should help any of us easily identify them as Russian trolls rather than American…trolls.
Rather than tip off any Russians who read this blog (and, oh yes, I get stats and even emails in my spam box showing that Russians are onto me), I’ll ask you to take a look at what they’re spilling out on social media and pinpoint their telltale errors.
It’ll be fun, a weekend game. See how many screw-ups Putin’s troll makes!