Janice R. Andrews
Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, has responded strongly to new claims that right media figures are involved in a Russian-backed plot to influence the 2024 presidential election. The dispute started when the Biden administration said that people and groups connected to the supposed meddling would be punished. In a heated Truth Social post, Trump attacked the U.S. Department of Justice and Vice President Kamala Harris, saying they were trying to change the results of the election to help the Democrats.
Trump’s Outrage: Standing up for allies and attacking enemies
Trump’s response on Thursday was typical of him: stubborn. In his post, he said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would rather have Kamala Harris as president than himself. He also said that Harris and the Department of Justice were planning to “resurrect the Russia Hoax.” Trump said, “Comrade Kamala Harris and her Department of Justice are trying to interfere in and suppress the Election in favour of the Democrats by resurrecting the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and trying to say that Russia is trying to help me, which is absolutely FALSE.”
After mentioning that Putin would “much rather see Comrade Kamala Harris in Office,” the former president brought up the fact that the Russian leader was said to have supported Harris earlier that day. He also said that the people he called “Enemies of the People” from the 2020 election were trying to “rig and steal” the 2024 election as well.
Claims that Russia had an impact
An accusation released on Wednesday made Trump very angry because it said that Russian state media workers were funding a media company with ties to several well-known conservatives. According to the accusation, these influential people, such as famous people like Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson, helped spread content that was meant to make U.S. internal tensions worse, which was in line with the Kremlin’s goals.
The indictment explained how Russian media workers sent almost $10 million to a media company in Tennessee. That company then made English-language films meant to make it harder for the US to stand up against Russia’s interests, such as its current war in Ukraine. The goal of these films, which often matched Kremlin stories, was to make American society even more divided.
The Important People Involved
The accusations have caused a stir in the right media, with people like Pool, Rubin, and Johnson all defending themselves. According to Pool, the claims were not true, as he said in a statement, “We still do not know what is true as these are only allegations” and calling Putin a “scumbag.” On the other hand, Johnson said that his work for the media company was part of a “standard, arms-length deal” that ended after a year. He said that he didn’t know that Russia had any effect on the material he made.
The charge showed that one influencer’s contract had a $400,000 monthly fee, a $100,000 signing bonus, and performance-based bonuses. This shows the large amounts of money that were reportedly paid to people to take part in the scam.
Sanctions and backlash
In reaction to these claims, the Biden administration has put sanctions on 10 people and groups that they say were involved in the claimed Russian interference. Top reporters from Russia’s state-run RT, like Margarita Simonyan and her deputy Elizaveta Brodskaia, were among those who were punished. Both women are accused of being very important in Russia’s attempts to change the outcome of the U.S. election. It was said that Simonyan was a “central figure in Russian government malign influence efforts,” and that Brodskaia worked directly for President Putin, according to the Treasury Department.
The Kremlin, for its part, has threatened to take action against American media sources, saying that the U.S. is trying to get rid of views that disagree with it from the world’s media. It was said that the accusations were made as part of a larger attempt by the U.S. government to make Americans afraid of Russia as a “external enemy.”
What Putin Said: A Nod to Harris
At the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin said things that seemed to support the idea that he likes Kamala Harris more than Trump. During a question-and-answer session, Putin seemed to be mocking when he praised Harris, calling her laugh “contagious” and saying that she would be a good leader for the United States.
“Firstly, (US President Joe) Biden recommended all his supporters support Mrs. Harris,” he said. “Here, we are going to do that too, we’re going to support her.” His next joke was that Harris’s laughter meant “everything is fine with her,” which made everyone in the room laugh.
Putin’s words made Trump’s claims that the Biden government and Harris are working together with Russia to rig the election even stronger. Trump brought up these comments to support his claim that Putin would rather the Democrats win in 2024, even though it has been said for a long time that Russia backed Trump in previous races.
The Power of Political Campaigns and Social Media
This new episode shows how influential people are becoming in changing public opinion and political conversation in the digital age. Because of limits on political ads on social media and the fall of traditional media sources, influencers have become very important in political campaigns. It’s great that both the Republican and Democratic parties are bringing influential people to their national meetings this summer.
But the fact that it’s not clear how influencers get paid is becoming more and more of a worry. As this case shows, there aren’t many rules that require influencers to say where their money comes from. This means that most people don’t know who is behind the content they read online. The claims that Russian money may have been used to secretly support right figures only makes these worries stronger.
As the 2024 U.S. presidential election gets closer, claims of Russian meddling and the involvement of well-known right media figures have made an already divisive political scene even more difficult to understand. Together, Trump’s strong defence of his friends and his attacks on Harris and the Biden administration will keep this issue at the top of the news in the months before the election. The fight over the story and who has power in the digital world is likely to get worse, with both sides trying to gain power in a high-stakes political showdown.
