Russian Interference in Pennsylvania to Help Elect Donald Trump Again

The United States intelligence community found that a video circulated widely on the Internet that purports to show the destruction of ballots cast for the presidential Electors for Donald Trump being destroyed and those of his Democratic opponent being accepted for counting in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The fake video is the latest in a series generated by the Russians to help Trump, divide Americans and undermine confidence in elections. Others smeared the Democratic Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees. The Philadelphia suburban County of Bucks is the largest swing (i.e. between Republicans or Democrats) County in the largest swing State in the American Union. I had posted recently about various Russian efforts to interfere in American politics and the 2024 presidential elections, particularly again to help elect Trump, as the successfully Russians did in 2016 and again tried to in 2020, including setting up a purported rightwing Trumpist media outlet that fed stories to journalists who were duped by obvious pro-Russian content and who had failed to question the sources of the outlet’s funding. Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin, a former Soviet intelligence officer, often interferes in Western politics and elections to promote its image and nefarious policies and undermine the image of those who oppose its aggression and other machinations, sow division to weaken the West, and to undermine confidence in elections and in the truth. The Bucks County example shows how sophisticated the Russians have been at micro-targeting their message that some on the far right, like on the far left, are more than willing to believe.