“Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute..., sees major similarities between Putin’s & Trump’s approaches. ‘Create chaos in the system, such that you don’t know what is the truth or not the truth,’ he says.” 1/ https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/is-trumps-chaos-a-move-from-the-kremlins-playbook

“Over time, this chaos creates what Pomerantsev describes as a ‘fog of unknowability.’ Kellyanne Conway espouses ‘alternative facts’ on NBC’s Meet the Press. President Trump continues to insist that millions voted illegally in the general election.“ 2/

“‘In that fog, norms and rational debate disappear, and all that matters is whoever’s faster, harder, more daring,’ Pomerantsev says.” 3/

“‘There is definitely the approach by the Kremlin-funded media that everybody is equally bad; therefore there is no such thing as bad anymore,’ Nimmo says.” 4/

“This dark internal logic allows for the Kremlin propaganda machine’s single greatest achievement: to rub out all distinctions between truth and lies, so that facts, conspiracies, reality, and fabrications are all pulled down into the same indistinguishable muck.” 5/

“‘In that unknowability, when you can’t say what’s wrong or right, or truth or not truth, then it becomes all right to invade Ukraine, or to not show your taxes,’ Pomerantsev says.” 6/

The use of “shape-shifting propaganda makes just enough of a lasting impression to leave people feeling distrustful & victimized. But b4 any one line of thinking can be pursued for too long, the narrative jumps to something else.” 7/

“People are left distracted and angry, but unsure of why or at whom.” 8/

“The first technique that the Trump administration appears to be appropriating from Moscow is a kind of chaos theory. By clogging the news with mini-scandals, bald-faced lies, and provocative tweets, the White House sends journalists and media outlets into haphazard frenzy.” 9/

“Once this quagmire—in which truth and lies are knotted up and nothing is incontrovertible—is established, the final aim comes into view. “”’You don’t even know what is real information anymore, and without that, no one can hold you accountable,’ Watts says.” 10/

“As the Kremlin has long known, once you’ve successfully swamped truth, you’re no longer accountable for your actions.” 11/

“Mounting evidence...suggests...this is the Trump team’s goal: to produce a state of disorder btwn themselves, the media, & the public, so that it becomes all but impossible for Trump...to be held accountable for conflicts of interest, shady relationships, & abuses of power.“ 12/

“It’s how Moscow has entrenched a super-rich oligarchy and a thinly veiled authoritarian regime: by hiding behind its splashy dramaturgia. Trump is quickly learning his own variation on this theme.” 13/

“Russia is now a country where talk of truth and values is met with mockery and scorn. For many Russians, a place where ideals like those exist, not as disguises or hypocrisies but in an authentic form, is laughable in its impossibility.” 14/

“To think that Americans once felt exactly the same way about an authoritarian house of mirrors like Russia.” 15/

This is a truly excellent piece written by @MikeSMariani in 2017. 16/

17/ https://twitter.com/__master_jedi__/status/1248675911274201096?s=21 https://twitter.com/__Master_Jedi__/status/1248675911274201096