Interpreting Donald Trump’s tweets can take a degree of interpretation. Not in the sense of a dense and difficult haiku, but more like the way a four year old’s crayon drawing may need some explanation.
Trump’s reference here is apparently to one of those things that appeared in Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian operatives last week. It’s the shocking news that Russian operatives organized a rally against Trump. Which clearly means that the Russians were not in favor of Trump at all. It was all just, say it with me, a hoax, a scam. All just Fake News.
Trump’s not alone in saying this. The going meme from the right is that the indictments are actually good for Trump because they show that the Russian effort started in 2014, before Trump entered the race, and they show it held rallies for Clinton. Of course, there are a few problems with this statement. Such as, the only anti-Trump rallies mentioned being contained in this section.
For example, in or around November 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators organized a rally in New York through one ORGANIZATION-controlled group designed to “show your support for President-Elect Donald Trump” held on or about November 12, 2016. At the same time, Defendants and their co-conspirators, through another ORGANIZATION-controlled group, organized a rally in New York called “Trump is NOT my President” held on or about November 12, 2016. Similarly, Defendants and their co-conspirators organized a rally entitled “Charlotte
Against Trump” in Charlotte, North Carolina, held on or about November 19, 2016.
The action of trying to make pro-Trump and anti-Trump rallies at the same time was clearly intended to create conflict and discord—also known as news. But the more important point is that the Russians didn’t take the step of having anti-Trump rallies until after the election. Meanwhile, both CNN and MSNBC provided absolute wall to wall coverage of Trump’s rallies in Florida, and Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Getting Trump elected was the wound. Everything they did after was just rubbing in the salt.
Before the election, the only Trump rallies noted are ones supporting Trump—including some that included such niceties as hiring a Hillary impersonator in a cage.
There were rallies in Florida in August …
In or around August 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used false U.S.
personas to communicate with Trump Campaign staff involved in local community
outreach about the “Florida Goes Trump” rallies.
Not just a few Florida rallies. On August 19 alone, a Russian organization labeled “Being Patriotic” held more than a dozen rallies around the state of Florida. They went so far as to hire a Hillary impersonator to be towed around in a cage. And it was supported by a concerted effort to draw attention and make the news.
“I hate to say it, but it seems like the creative instincts and the sophistication exceeds a lot of the U.S. political operatives who do this for a living,” said Brian Fallon, a spokesman on Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign. “There were memes and advertisements that were really in sync with the Trump campaign’s rhetoric. The messages were in sync, and they certainly exploited some of our vulnerabilities.”
The Florida rallies were just one in a series of Trump-supporting activities where Russian operatives came to the United States, adopted fake identities, and rallied the troops for Trump. And they worked hand and hand with the “real” Trump team.
On or about June 5, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, while posing as a U.S. grassroots activist, used the account @March_for_Trump to contact a volunteer for the Trump Campaign in New York. The volunteer agreed to provide signs for the “March for Trump” rally.
The truth is that the Russian operatives spread out across the country, organizing Trump rallies specifically in those states that would most help Trump, and they used a variety of approaches to make sure that they got attention. They were not subtle about their actions, and left no question about who they supported. As a list of their advertisements makes clear. These are all themes for ads the Russians ran over the months leading up to the election:
- “You know, a great number of black people support us saying that #HillaryClintonIsNotMyPresident”
- “I say no to Hillary Clinton/I say no to manipulation”
- “JOIN our #HillaryClintonForPrison2016”
- “Donald wants to defeat terrorism . . . Hillary wants to sponsor it”
- “Vote Republican, vote Trump, and support the Second Amendment!”
- “Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote”
- “Trump is our only hope for a better future!”
- “#NeverHillary #HillaryForPrison #Hillary4Prison #HillaryForPrison2016
- #Trump2016 #Trump #Trump4President”
- “Ohio Wants Hillary 4 Prison”
- “Hillary Clinton has already committed voter fraud during the Democrat Iowa
- Caucus.”
- “We cannot trust Hillary to take care of our veterans!”
- “Among all the candidates Donald Trump is the one and only who can defend the police from terrorists.”
- “Hillary is a Satan, and her crimes and lies had proved just how evil she is.”
However, to be fair, the indictment notes that the the Russians did organize one rally in support of Hillary Clinton.
In or around late June 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used the Facebook group “United Muslims of America” to promote a rally called “Support Hillary. Save American Muslims” held on July 9, 2016 in the District of Columbia. Defendants and their co-conspirators recruited a real U.S. person to hold a sign depicting Clinton and a quote attributed to her stating “I think Sharia Law will be a powerful new direction of freedom.”
That got coverage from Fox, from Breitbart, and became a popular story around the right, supported by genuine fake-news quotes that expanded on Hillary’s supposed support for Sharia law.
So it’s not like they didn’t do anything for Hillary.