# Russian Support For Sanders **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 6, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025 "2020-03-06T18:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/21 "2020-03-07T06:53:13Z")
Didn’t you mean Nyet, Comrade? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/22 "2020-03-07T13:29:17Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Russians use better spelling and grammar. I’m shocked at the spelling and grammar of Oxbridge -educated Nigerian princes. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/23 "2020-03-07T18:48:21Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > OK, let me see if I’m following all this correctly… > > a) Russia, the former Soviet Union, is currently headed by Vladimir Putin, former KGB apparatchik, who seems bent on returning to the Soviet Union’s more hegemonic days. (Does Russia currently consider itself communist?) > > b) The Russians keep interfering in our elections. It looks like they’re interfering with the Democratic Party primary process in ways that favor Bernie Sanders, our socialist candidate, which would make sense for a pro-socialist foreign gov to do except that… > > c) Their real agenda is to get Donald Trump, Republican, re-elected. The Republican Party is traditionally the most vehemently anti-communist political party in the US and has a long history of antipathy towards the Soviet Union (see: Cold War) and not much warmth for its successor the Russian state. Ermm until recently > Is ideology and political persuasion irrelevant or does this somehow shake out in a fashion that makes sense if you look at it right? You’ve been here too long to write this. What does communism even have to do with it? Sow discord in country, repeat. It is clear that Republicans are pushing radically to strain US democracy, and vlad knows it from over there. The R party has a radical agenda that has ben weaponized against the government and the press. Read a newspaper. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/24 "2020-03-07T19:18:57Z")
This “newspaper” of which you speak… ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/25 "2020-03-07T19:21:21Z")
Probably been posted elsewhere, but re: Gabbard - she’s [whining to Biden and Sanders](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/486430-gabbard-calls-on-biden-sanders-to-help-put-her-on-debate-stage) that she should be debating with them on the 15th. > [@](#): > > “@JoeBiden @BernieSanders I’m sure you would agree that our Democratic nominee should be a person who will stand up for what is right. So I ask that you have the courage to do that now in the face of the DNC’s effort to keep me from participating in the debates. #LetTulsiDebate,” Gabbard tweeted late Friday night. Aaaawwww did-_dumzzzz_…Standing up for a fucking snowflake’s chance in fucking hell that you will ever get back in contention, you meant to say, actually, _even if_ you were to somehow snail trail your way in to the next debate. As of yesterday, Biden lead with 664 delegates, and Sanders with 573. Um, TG has two. Obviously she’s **out of the running** , and she can’t be that much of a brain-dead moron to realise that, and because of that, why would she still be stupidly barking up this tree? To set herself up for more JUSTIFIED rebuking (as in - really, fuck-off, TB), and, in turn, allowing the homphobic Assad-lover to _attempt_ to retardedly martyr herself? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/26 "2020-03-07T19:23:29Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > This “newspaper” of which you speak… Meaning: Read some stuff, triangulate a little on some facts, use common sense. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/27 "2020-03-07T19:26:17Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > Probably been posted elsewhere, but re: Gabbard - she’s [whining to Biden and Sanders](https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/486430-gabbard-calls-on-biden-sanders-to-help-put-her-on-debate-stage) that she should be debating with them on the 15th. > > Aaaawwww did-_dumzzzz_…Standing up for a fucking snowflake’s chance in fucking hell that you will ever get back in contention, you meant to say, actually, _even if_ you were to somehow snail trail your way in to the next debate. > > As of yesterday, Biden lead with 664 delegates, and Sanders with 573. > > Um, TG has two. > > Obviously she’s **out of the running** , and she can’t be that much of a brain-dead moron to realise that, and because of that, why would she still be stupidly barking up this tree? To set herself up for more JUSTIFIED rebuking (as in - fuck-off, TB), and, in turn, allowing the homphobic Assad-lover to _attempt_ to retardedly martyr herself? She’s definitely positioning for the “next” thing. For some reason it involves fox news. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/28 "2020-03-07T19:50:57Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > I’ve made this observation in another thread that I found it curious that there is so much monetary support for Sanders via small donors, and he has enjoyed such a vocal contingent of followers on Twitter and Facebook – yet these same highly motivated people couldn’t be bothered to vote for him in the primaries on Super Tuesday. I find these disparities very odd. It’s not hard to create thousands of “small donors” as a way of providing foreign money to help to a campaign. And we already know how vulnerable Twitter and Facebook are to foreign manipulation with fake personas. This. I’ve laughed every time I’ve heard naïfs claim that Bernie’s refusal to take donations from large donors, whose donations are tracked by the Feds, in favor of small donors. It’s obvious to me that it’s a grand way for Putin, with money and workers, to launder money into Bernie’s coffers. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/29 "2020-03-07T23:21:24Z")
Please keep in mind, people, that if you see an airplane in the sky you don’t need to have seen it take off to know that it, in fact, did. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2020, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/30 "2020-03-08T00:01:03Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > …I’ve made this observation in another thread that I found it curious that there is so much monetary support for Sanders via small donors, and he has enjoyed such a vocal contingent of followers on Twitter and Facebook – yet these same highly motivated people couldn’t be bothered to vote for him in the primaries on Super Tuesday. I find these disparities very odd. It’s not hard to create thousands of “small donors” as a way of providing foreign money to help to a campaign. And we already know how vulnerable Twitter and Facebook are to foreign manipulation with fake personas. … > [@dropzone](#): > > This. I’ve laughed every time I’ve heard naïfs claim that Bernie’s refusal to take donations from large donors, whose donations are tracked by the Feds, in favor of small donors. It’s obvious to me that it’s a grand way for Putin, with money and workers, to launder money into Bernie’s coffers. Yes. And as someone who takes in a great deal of news-media (cable TV, print-online, etc) I have to say I have NEVER heard any journalist mention this potential Russian involvement in campaign financing–and how easy it would be for them to do this. Quite a lapse. In general, I wonder how much self-censorship journalists do on topics relating to Bernie Sanders, out of their certain knowledge that they’ll be slammed with vicious criticism the minute they raise any questions. I suspect there’s more of that going on than even professionals are willing to admit. Bullying is rewarded, all too often. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2020, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/31 "2020-03-08T00:16:58Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Yes. And as someone who takes in a great deal of news-media (cable TV, print-online, etc) I have to say I have NEVER heard any journalist mention this potential Russian involvement in campaign financing–and how easy it would be for them to do this. > > Quite a lapse. > > **In general, I wonder how much self-censorship journalists do on topics relating to Bernie Sanders, out of their certain knowledge that they’ll be slammed with vicious criticism the minute they raise any questions. I suspect there’s more of that going on than even professionals are willing to admit.** > > Bullying is rewarded, all too often. Yes. Access denied, threats, doxxing… it’s pretty bad. Plus even though we know for a fact the FBI advised Sanders that the Russians are actively working to help him in this election, we have no specific information on what they’re doing. If Bernie has such information, he can’t share it, because TrumpCo will have made sure it’s all “classified.” Absent a leak from DOJ/FBI, we won’t know exactly what the Russians are doing to Bernie. And of course journalists can’t speculate, only report verified facts. I feel sorry for Bernie in this situation. He’s really stuck. He doesn’t want the “help,” but he has no power to stop it beyond strenuous objection – which he has offered. It will have an impact on our election, all the same. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2020, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/32 "2020-03-08T22:56:25Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Yes. Access denied, threats, doxxing… it’s pretty bad. > > Plus even though we know for a fact the FBI advised Sanders that the Russians are actively working to help him in this election, we have no specific information on what they’re doing. > > If Bernie has such information, he can’t share it, because TrumpCo will have made sure it’s all “classified.” Absent a leak from DOJ/FBI, we won’t know exactly what the Russians are doing to Bernie. And of course journalists can’t speculate, only report verified facts. > > I feel sorry for Bernie in this situation. He’s really stuck. He doesn’t want the “help,” but he has no power to stop it beyond strenuous objection – which he has offered. > > It will have an impact on our election, all the same. Yes. Bernie may be firmly speaking out against help from Russia. But so far he’s not extending that firmness to dealing with anti-Democratic-Party-and-candidates actions taken by his supporters. Today Twitter was abuzz about major pro-Sanders accounts that were apparently working in partnership with pro-Trump accounts to disseminate a doctored video: > [@](#): > > President Donald Trump and his campaign promoted a dishonestly edited video on Saturday that wrongly made it seem as if Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had accidentally endorsed Trump. > > The clip, which was viewed more than 5.8 million times and retweeted more than 34,000 times as of Sunday morning at 10 AM, showed Biden struggling with a line in his Saturday speech in Kansas City, Missouri, then saying, “Excuse me. We can only re-elect Donald Trump.” > > But the clip was edited to cut out the second part of Biden’s sentence. What the former vice president actually said was this: “Excuse me. We can only re-elect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here. It’s gotta be a positive campaign.” Biden had called for an end to “negative attacks” in his primary contest with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. > > …The clip was also tweeted by prominent conservative radio host Mark Levin and conservative websites such as Townhall and RedState – and by some Sanders supporters with substantial Twitter audiences. [https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/08/politics/fact-check-trump-campaign-promote-edited-biden-video/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/08/politics/fact-check-trump-campaign-promote-edited-biden-video/index.html) Pro-Bernie accounts I read today were working hard on the “Biden is suffering from mental decline” theme. In addition to the ‘re-elect Donald Trump’ video, there are videos that collect Biden gaffes. Some of them make the strategic error of including Biden’s many gaffes from years back—which tends to undercut the ‘age-related dementia’ argument. (He’s always been prone to misspeaking. I guess no one would claim that Biden is the most impressive intellect in politics.) Lots of unpleasant stuff going on, now. I doubt that Bernie has personally ordered it, but on the other hand he doesn’t have a stellar history of attempting to rein in trollish conduct. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/33 "2020-03-09T01:01:04Z")
Bottom line: The forces of darkness fear Biden greatly and want Bernie because he’s an easy target. Don’t go there. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/34 "2020-03-10T22:33:57Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Bottom line: The forces of darkness fear Biden greatly and want Bernie because he’s an easy target. **Don’t go there**. Yeah. Some karma-conscious fraction of my mind is curious to see the load of hurt that the GOP/Kremlin is poised to pile onto Bernie if he becomes the nominee, and hear the shrieks of the Bros when they vicariously experience what their idol goes through. But the other 99.99% of my mind knows how big a disaster that will be for the nation (and world), as Trump cruises to a genuine electoral victory. So I still hope that we, collectively, will NOT go there. my emphasis ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/35 "2020-03-11T00:21:17Z")
At this point, it looks like the DNC/Hillary cadre brought in three million illegal votes to steal the popular vote from Sanders. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/36 "2020-03-12T23:05:42Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > At this point, it looks like the DNC/Hillary cadre brought in three million illegal votes to steal the popular vote from Sanders. The fiends! Quick, start another bot-storm! ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025/37 "2020-03-12T23:31:05Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Bottom line: The forces of darkness fear Biden greatly and want Bernie because he’s an easy target. Don’t go there. Who knew the forces of darkness had the insight that we were all missing. Maybe we should just let them go to town. Oh yeah we are. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-support-for-sanders/849025.md?page=1)