# How Disinformation Spreads, According to Chuck Todd **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 27, 2019, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476 "2019-12-27T22:58:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/21 "2019-12-28T03:39:04Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > How Disinformation Spreads: > > AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, CBS, NBC, ABC, your local paper, The Hill, BBC, NPR, Wall Street Journal, NPR, BBC, The Guardian, Axios, Politico, The Christian Science Monitor, Time, The Washington Post, The National Review, The Economist, etc. etc. > > These are all lying liars who make up everything. The ONLY good source of information is Fox. And not the news people. They are liars too. Just the good ones on Fox. Bah! Some guy you never heard of before on Facebook, that’s where you go for truth these days. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/22 "2019-12-28T03:57:44Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Hey, guys, check that last sentence, there! There is an admission that Republicans were not _entirely_ innocent, which, in all fairness, we must see as a stumbling away from the path of political error! We are having an _effect_! > > Proving, once again, that you draw more flies with honey than with vinegar. Shit still works best of all, of course. But maybe we should try being nicer. Or you guys should, I’m not very good at it. You can swat more mosquitoes with a brick than you can with a feather. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/23 "2019-12-28T04:09:27Z")
> [@margin](#): > > You’re lying and it’s pathetic. What am I lying about? ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/24 "2019-12-28T04:10:39Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Hey, guys, check that last sentence, there! There is an admission that Republicans were not _entirely_ innocent, which, in all fairness, we must see as a stumbling away from the path of political error! We are having an _effect_! > > Proving, once again, that you draw more flies with honey than with vinegar. Shit still works best of all, of course. But maybe we should try being nicer. Or you guys should, I’m not very good at it. Straw man bullshit…I’m not a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/25 "2019-12-28T04:20:14Z")
> [@EasyPhil](#): > > Straw man bullshit…I’m not a Republican. You do a very convincing imitation. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/26 "2019-12-28T04:59:17Z")
The IG of Blawnox PA, Orson Bean, concluded that the Mueller report showed no Russian collusion, but it DID show Prussian trasfusion. Orson explained that everyone else was looking at a voice to text mistranslation. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/27 "2019-12-28T05:02:28Z")
> [@EasyPhil](#): > > Straw man bullshit…I’m not a Republican. It’s true. He votes the United Russia Party ticket. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/28 "2019-12-28T05:45:32Z")
> [@EasyPhil](#): > > What am I lying about? “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” Saying that the President was cleared off nefarious activity by a document that distinctly states that there was no exoneration seems pretty well into lie territory. “The evidence supports the inference that the President intended (former campaign Chairman Paul) Manafort to believe that he could receive a pardon, which would make cooperation with the government as a means of obtaining a lesser sentence unnecessary.” (P. 132-133) “Cohen also recalled speaking with the President’s personal counsel about pardons after the searches of his home and office had occurred, at a time when the media had reported that pardon discussions were occurring at the White House. Cohen told the President’s personal counsel he had been a loyal lawyer and servant, and he said that after the searches he was in an uncomfortable position and wanted to know what was in it for him. According to Cohen, the President’s personal counsel responded that Cohen should stay on message, that the investigation was a witch hunt, and that everything would be fine. Cohen understood based on this conversation and previous conversations about pardons with the President’s personal counsel that as long as he stayed on message, he would be taken care of by the President, either through a pardon or through the investigation being shut down.” (P. 146) The normal and ordinary behavior of innocent people and their innocent friends… ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/29 "2019-12-28T07:09:59Z")
> [@EasyPhil](#): > > Straw man bullshit…I’m not a Republican. Go back and try again, their standards are dropping fast. ---
**Author:** ![Chisquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Chisquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chisquirrel)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/30 "2019-12-28T08:03:48Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Hey, guys, check that last sentence, there! There is an admission that Republicans were not _entirely_ innocent, which, in all fairness, we must see as a stumbling away from the path of political error! We are having an _effect_! > > Proving, once again, that you draw more flies with honey than with vinegar. Shit still works best of all, of course. But maybe we should try being nicer. Or you guys should, I’m not very good at it. I eagerly await **EasyPhil** ’s ardent demands that those liars resign! ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/31 "2019-12-28T10:10:36Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” > > Saying that the President was cleared off nefarious activity by a document that distinctly states that there was no exoneration seems pretty well into lie territory. > > “The evidence supports the inference that the President intended (former campaign Chairman Paul) Manafort to believe that he could receive a pardon, which would make cooperation with the government as a means of obtaining a lesser sentence unnecessary.” (P. 132-133) > > “Cohen also recalled speaking with the President’s personal counsel about pardons after the searches of his home and office had occurred, at a time when the media had reported that pardon discussions were occurring at the White House. Cohen told the President’s personal counsel he had been a loyal lawyer and servant, and he said that after the searches he was in an uncomfortable position and wanted to know what was in it for him. According to Cohen, the President’s personal counsel responded that Cohen should stay on message, that the investigation was a witch hunt, and that everything would be fine. Cohen understood based on this conversation and previous conversations about pardons with the President’s personal counsel that as long as he stayed on message, he would be taken care of by the President, either through a pardon or through the investigation being shut down.” (P. 146) > > The normal and ordinary behavior of innocent people and their innocent friends… There was no coordination and there was no collusion/conspiracy with Russia and it’s clearly stated in Mueller’s Report. The walls never closed in, it wasn’t the beginning of the end, there were no bombshells. Who fed people like Chuck Todd and others the disinformation that brainwashed him to think that Trump was a Russian Agent? Who convinced Chuck Todd that the Trump campaign was working with the Russians to interfere in the 2016 Election? The Trump Russia Collusion/Conspiracy narrative is debunked by the report, it’s right there in the summary. From page 13 of “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election” > [@](#): > > In evaluating whether evidence about collective action of multiple individuals constituted > a crime, we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of “collusion.” In so doing, > the Office recognized that the word “collud[e]” was used in communications with the Acting > Attorney General confirming certain aspects of the investigation’s scope and that the term has > frequently been invoked in public reporting about the investigation. But collusion is not a specific > offense or theory of liability found in the United States Code, nor is it a term of art in federal > criminal law. For those reasons, the Office’s focus in analyzing questions of joint criminal liability > was on conspiracy as defined in federal law. In connection with that analysis, we addressed the > factual question whether members of the Trump Campaign “coordinat[ed]”—a term that appears > in the appointment order—with Russian election interference activities. Like collusion, > “coordination” does not have a settled definition in federal criminal law. We understood > coordination to require an agreement—tacit or express—between the Trump Campaign and the > Russian government on election interference. That requires more than the two parties taking > actions that were informed by or responsive to the other’s actions or interests. We applied the term > coordination in that sense when stating in the report that **the investigation did not establish that the > Trump Campaign coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.** > [@](#): > > Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and > worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the **investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.** ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/32 "2019-12-28T10:23:21Z")
Glenn Greenwald says it best: > [@](#): > > If it does not bother you to learn that the FBI repeatedly and deliberately deceived the FISA court into granting it permission to spy on a U.S. citizen in the middle of a presidential campaign, then it is virtually certain that you are either someone with no principles, someone who cares only about partisan advantage and nothing about basic civil liberties and the rule of law, or both. There is simply no way for anyone of good faith to read this IG Report and reach any conclusion other than that this is yet another instance of the FBI abusing its power in severe ways to subvert and undermine U.S. democracy. If you don’t care about that, what do you care about? [The Inspector General’s Report on 2016 FBI Spying Reveals a Scandal of Historic Magnitude: Not Only for the FBI but Also the U.S. Media](https://theintercept.com/2019/12/12/the-inspector-generals-report-on-2016-fb-i-spying-reveals-a-scandal-of-historic-magnitude-not-only-for-the-fbi-but-also-the-u-s-media/) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/33 "2019-12-28T11:29:51Z")
> [@EasyPhil](#): > > What am I lying about? You’re not _really_ easy - you just _dress_ like a slut. #philshaming #putinputa ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/34 "2019-12-28T13:41:30Z")
Since this thread itself is of EasyPhil’s usual useless value, would anybody like to make any predictions on what will happen to EasyPhil? I predict that the mods will get tired of him posting the same type of posts over and over. Both in terms of content and style. I would say he will get a topic ban early in 2020, and then promptly ignores it thereby resulting in a ban. He won’t be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/35 "2019-12-28T13:57:52Z")
You do realize none of this has anything to do with impeachment, correct? If anything, the Mueller Report shows that Trump and his lackeys were too stupid to follow through on anything extensive. They were hoping their Russian contacts had dirt on Hillary, but they lie as often as Trump. The Russians still interfered with the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf. The Russians remain crooked as ever and clearly regard Trump on an equal level of corruption. Furthermore, the Republicans went 180 on their Cold War attitudes towards the Russians now that they see the benefits of siding with them. All you’re saying is that Trump wasn’t caught in the FISA development. That’s why the Democrats are going with the Ukraine angle. It’s an unambiguous violation of the Constitution. You could try addressing that if you want to salvage any credibility. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/36 "2019-12-28T14:20:22Z")
> [@EasyPhil](#): > > There was no coordination and there was no collusion…with Russia and it’s clearly stated in Mueller’s Report… > > From page 13 of “Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election” > [@](#): > > In evaluating whether evidence about collective action of multiple individuals constituted > a crime, we applied the framework of conspiracy law, not the concept of “collusion.”… You are so fucking dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/37 "2019-12-28T14:32:09Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Don’t engage the Russian asset. Not to pick nits or anything: _Assets_ spread misinformation because they are employed to do so. _Useful idiots_ which is what they call them in intelligence communities, do it for free. Pretty sure **Easy Phil** is the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/38 "2019-12-28T14:41:04Z")
> [@EasyPhil](#): > > Straw man bullshit…I’m not a Republican. Hey, dipshit-The time to bluff is _before_ you show your cards. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/39 "2019-12-28T15:08:44Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Congratulations EasyPhil. You’ve reached **Silver Lining** levels of funny. **Ancient Erudite** and **Yankees 1996 Champs** will be very jealous. ---
**Author:** ![EasyPhil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@EasyPhil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EasyPhil)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2019, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476/40 "2019-12-28T15:32:25Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > You do realize none of this has anything to do with impeachment, correct? > > If anything, the Mueller Report shows that Trump and his lackeys were too stupid to follow through on anything extensive. They were hoping their Russian contacts had dirt on Hillary, but they lie as often as Trump. The Russians still interfered with the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf. The Russians remain crooked as ever and clearly regard Trump on an equal level of corruption. Furthermore, the Republicans went 180 on their Cold War attitudes towards the Russians now that they see the benefits of siding with them. > > All you’re saying is that Trump wasn’t caught in the FISA development. That’s why the Democrats are going with the Ukraine angle. It’s an unambiguous violation of the Constitution. You could try addressing that if you want to salvage any credibility. No, I’m saying the media spread propaganda for over two years (Trump Russia Colliusion) that most people bought into. The propaganda campaign was so successful that despite evidence to the contrary people still believe the propaganda. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-disinformation-spreads-according-to-chuck-todd/845476.md?page=3)