# I Pit the Russian Government and their Paid Trolls

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-russian-government-and-their-paid-trolls/946757>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [July 18, 2021, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-russian-government-and-their-paid-trolls/946757 "2021-07-18T16:51:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-russian-government-and-their-paid-trolls/946757/21 "2021-07-19T23:16:11Z")

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> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#):
>
> 5 years ago I joked that Trump would have half the country convinced that democracy was only for Democrats. I wish it had stayed a joke.

I never would have predicted this state of affairs. I was even hopeful that the US could turn itself around after watching the election results in Nov 2020.

No more.

Watching the latest crap being pulled by Republican state legislators has now convinced me that they will not stand for honest open and legal elections. They are quite openly on record now as being against democratic elections, and in favor of installing a dictator against the will of the people.

If the Democrats are for something… they must, MUST be against it. If Democrats want to have free and fair elections where every legal vote counts… then they MUST oppose that to their last breath.

I have little hope left for you.

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**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-russian-government-and-their-paid-trolls/946757/22 "2021-07-19T23:50:59Z")

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> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#):
>
> It’s important to understand that the Russian government isn’t so much a government as it is a criminal organization. It’s baked in. Russia’s assets, the industries that were built under communism and their extensive natural resources are owned by the people that managed to successfully steal them after the fall of the USSR, and they get to keep them only as long as they please Putin.
> 
> Russia has the legislative and judicial system of Trump’s wet dreams.  
> … Trump is Putin’s revenge. The USA tried for years to get Russia to become a liberal western democracy like us. Putin used Trump in an attempt to turn the USA into Russia, a corrupt illiberal democracy. He almost won, and he hasn’t lost yet.  
> … 5 years ago I joked that Trump would have half the country convinced that democracy was only for Democrats. I wish it had stayed a joke.

If a genie offered me a wish today, I’d wish that this entire post should be required reading in every American high school. It could form the curriculum for at least a week, with students assigned, for example, to choose a paragraph and write an essay-with-supportive-citations about that paragraph’s content. Other assignments could include debates or readings connected with the topic.

Sadly I see no genie in the immediate vicinity. But I still wish this post could be more widely-read.

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