Our team just published an article (based on rapid analysis) looking at social media/mass media discourse around the Trump campaign’s calls for election poll watchers — the so-called “Army for Trump”: http://www.eipartnership.net/rapid-response/army-of-trump

Once again, we’ve published an interactive graph that allows you to see how a specific tweet (Pres. Trump’s Oct 5 tweet calling for poll watchers) spread — via retweets and quotes: http://faculty.washington.edu/kstarbi/Cumulative_Interactive_1313136308152401922.html

The Trump campaign's calls to action have 3 objectives: 1. motivate the base by giving them tasks and purpose; 2) provide content for false narratives of voter fraud; and 3) voter suppression of the opposition through intimidation (fear of violence at the polls).

Our analysis suggests that their third objective, voter suppression via fear of violence, may be achieved, primarily, through the “reaction” of mainstream media and influencers on the left to frame the Trump’s campaigns calls to action as potential calls to violence.

“Active measures" (influence operations) often do their damage via the reaction by a “target” to an informational attack. The Trump campaign’s call for poll watchers may be designed to achieve its goals — voter suppression — thru amplification of “violence” threats by the left.

It will be a continued challenge for media and other influencers to criticize these calls to action for violating existing norms and potentially functioning to intimidate voters — but to communicate that criticism without feeding unnecessary fear and suppressing votes.