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The Russian election interference narrative has devolved into Clinton loyalists attempting to rehabilitate theClintonbrand, so it wasinevitable that the narrative would be used to attack Sen.Bernie Sandersand his supporters. These attacks have ranged from baseless allegations that Sanders supporters are Russian stooges to reducing their criticisms of HillaryClintonto being the resultof Russian bot-fueled propaganda.

Months after the election,Clintonsupporters are still re-litigating the argument thatshe was a good candidate, which is, in essence, the effect of their claims that the Russian government hired people to pose as Bernie Bros to inflame progressives criticisms of Clinton. There has not been any evidence to support these claims, yet the allegations have been sustainedthroughout the past several weeks.

A few weeks ago, the Huffington Postpublishedan article speculating that Russian trolls infiltrated Bernie Sanders groups to post fake news and news critical of HillaryClinton. Instead of citing evidence, the authors of the article relied on conjecture and anecdotal evidence from a few people from Bernie Sanders Facebook groups, two of whom complained that their quotes were taken out of context and used to develop the narrative that Russia was manipulating the groups. These administratorscomplaints were more againsthyper-partisanand unreliable news sources that people were sharingmany of which solely dealt pro-HillaryClintonnews, including PoliticusUSA, Addicting Info, and Blue Nation Review, which was funded by pro-Clinton Super PACs. This important nuance was ignored because it didnt fit into the authors narrative.

The reporters failed to acknowledge that the poorly constructed fake news websitesthat either poached articles from other sources or wrote fake news of their ownwere created solely for-profit, not to manufacture negative opinions about Hillary Clinton. In December 2016, NBC News and other news sourcesreportedon a Macedonian teenager who made $60,000 through a fake news website he managed.

The Huffington Posts article was further sensationalized by MSNBCs Rachel Maddow, who summarized the points from the article that best fit into the Russia narrativeshe crafted in her sensationalized segment.

Then, the FBIannouncedthat they were looking into Breitbart and InfoWars. Clinton Watts, a former FBI agent, claimed during a Senate testimony that Sanders supporters were targeted by Russian bots, though he provided no evidence for his opinion. RawStorypublisheda misleading article, using the pejorative term Bernie Bros and claimed that former General Keith Alexander said during a Senate testimony that Sanders supporters were unwitting agents in aRussiandisinformation campaign. Alexander, who left the NSA in 2014, said, I thinkwhat they were trying to do was drive a wedge within the Democratic Party between the Clinton group and the Sanders group, and then in our nation between Republicans and Democrats. Alexander was only speculating that this was the Russians strategy, but RawStory transmogrified it into a smoking gun headline to attack Sanders supporters.

Claims that theRussiangovernment created pro-Bernie bots to spread propaganda diminish the validity ofcriticisms of HillaryClintonand theDemocratic establishment. These claims also distract from similar campaigns conducted on behalf of HillaryClintonduring the election, which there is evidence for.ClintonSuper PAC Correct the Record implemented theirBreaking Barriers campaign, which included spending at least $1 million on internet trolls to correct the record of claims against HillaryClinton.

This false narrative was quickly repeated by ShareBlue, a pro-Clintonmedia outlet owned by David Brock and run by formerClintonstaffer Peter Daou, which didnt offer any evidence to substantiate the claim and resurfaced the Bernie Bros smear campaign as well. The phrase Bernie Bros, despite being coined by awhite male, was used to portray Sanders supporters as sexist white males. The term is still used in disingenuous attacks againstprogressives, who Clinton partisans would rather blame for Trumps victory than taking responsibility themselves.

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'Russians Bots' Is Latest Smear Campaign Against Sanders Progressives - Observer