WaPo: Inside the Republican false-flag effort to turn off Kamala Harris voters

[femmedem]

"Muslims in Michigan began seeing pro-Israel ads this fall praising Vice President Kamala Harris for marrying a Jewish man and backing the Jewish state. Jews in Pennsylvania, meanwhile, saw ads from the same group with the opposite message: Harris wanted to stop U.S. arms shipments to Israel.

Another group promoted “Kamala’s bold progressive agenda” to conservative-leaning Donald Trump voters, while a third filled the phones of young liberals with videos about how Harris had abandoned the progressive dream. Black voters in North Carolina were told Democrats wanted to take away their menthol cigarettes, while working-class White men in the Midwest were warned that Harris would support quotas for minorities and deny them Zyn nicotine pouches.

What voters had no way of knowing at the time was that all of the ads were part of a single $45 million effort created by political advisers to Tesla founder Elon Musk who had previously worked on the presidential campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), according to a presentation about the group’s efforts obtained by The Washington Post."

SNIP

"Ads tested better if Muslims felt they were seeing a message meant for Zionists, “Bernie bros” felt they were hearing from the far left, and “Zyn bros” felt they were hearing from activists who wanted “a world without gas-powered vehicles,” a ban on fracking and affordable housing for undocumented Americans — policies Harris did not actually support during her campaign."

More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/15/republican-ads-false-flag/

My opinion: I think these ads were responsible for the shift towards Trump in the final weeks before the election. And I'm glad I didn't cancel my subscription to the Washington Post, although I understand why so many people did. The decision not to endorse a presidential candidate was appalling and spineless, but their reporters are among the best.

[WSHazel]

1. I am skeptical of the propaganda arguments

These misleading arguments have been made in campaigns since the beginning of time. The difference today is that people can fact check claims in seconds, if they want, so propaganda should be less effective, not more effective, than it has been in the past. Unfortunately, there is no law that can be written in a democracy to protect voters from making emotional and reckless choices about their own future. Now we have to live with the consequences.

Another reason we should not overstate the impact of this propaganda is that doing so elevates Trump to some kind of master manipulator, when all he is doing is exploiting a trend of selfish, stupid behavior by large swaths of the American electorate.

[femmedem]

3. You could be right, but I think the reason this propoganda was so effective

was the way it was microtargeted, yet sneakily leading people to believe that the ads were targeted to someone else, i.e., Muslims believing they were seeing ads targeted to Jews and vice versa. That's a new technique.

But regardless of whether we agree or not, thank you for responding so thoughtfully and adding to the discussion.

[WSHazel]

8. This stuff has been happening since the beginning of time

Trump is not the first demagogue in history, and he is not even a particularly good one. He just arrived at a time where big chunks of the electorate feel particularly entitled and willfully ignorant.

Most people have a wealth of knowledge in their pocket, available at a moment's notice. Those that believe nonsense are making a choice to be angry and ignorant. People need to take responsibility for their own decisions and stop blaming it on being manipulated or propaganda. The MAGA movement is about to do irreversible damage to our country. They have no one to blame but themselves.

[Irish_Dem]

11. You are quite incorrect. Social media and online presence have not existed since the beginning of time.

This is obviously an absurd argument.

Politicians and oligarchs can now sway millions of voters in a very short period of time with lies and manipulation.
Social psychology research tells us how easy it is to do this.

I do agree with you that Americans need to take personal responsibility for their willful ignorance, laziness, and
refusal to be well informed citizens.

[Irish_Dem]

9. @femmedem you are quite correct

This time was much different. The propaganda was carefully thought out, staged and implemented with various target groups.
College and muslim voters.

And today social media and online messages can sway thousands and millions of voters.
For someone to say this has been done since the beginning of politics is ridiculous.

[femmedem]

12. Thanks, Irish Dem. n/t

[ananda]

21. I think you can both be right.

Trump does exploit the reptile-brained people,
and the ads were microtargeted exactly as
WaPo describes.

[W_HAMILTON]

28. "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."

While factchecking resources are more readily available today than ever before, so, too, is the mis/disinformation that requires factchecking. And most people either are too lazy or do not have the critical thinking skills needed to factcheck.

Furthermore, before, legacy media organizations and figures were trusted enough to provide this service for the public; now, after a decades-long onslaught by right-wingers to discredit such media and that legacy media now kowtowing to the mis/disinformation by presenting """both sides""" -- putting a lie on equal footing with the truth -- it's no surprise that our populace is ignorant when it comes to so many issues today.

[DiamondShark]

35. Did you receive the text messages from trump Super PACs?

Check your spam folder.

[Henry203]

2. Black, women

Married to a Jew. The trifecta. These are three reasons that played a part. Black women are the most disliked group in America.

[Dan]

6. I'm curious as to how you came to that opinion and what facts support it.

[Henry203]

13. I was talking to

One of my Jewish friends who just moved from ATL to western NC. He was spitballing. I’m Asian and he’s Jewish. We are both in our seventies and we gauge this on our life experiences. My dad couldn’t swim in the public pools and Jews have been hated forever.
Black women imo is the most hated sub group in the country. Think about people like Letitia James and Fanni Willis. These women take no crap and that is threatening.

[Dan]

26. Follow up

From your post I surmise these things:

1. That an elderly Asian and Jewish man (assuming that you are a man) composing a population of two have an opinion based on antidotal comments over the duration of their lives to date.

2. That females are that intelligent, well-spoken and in positions of power makes you feel threaten. I am not sure if that is all women or just the two Black women you mention. Only you can share that information.

3. And finally, you qualify your original statement by stating that it is now your opinion.

You are better than your original post.

[Henry203]

27. Thank you

For your follow up.

[Dan]

29. Henry,

Without the strength of Black Women — our people would not have survived and endured the American Experience.

While Black men have been targeted via economic pressures, legal and illegal incarceration, miseducation and whatever else this Society of America has thrown at us, Black Women have had our backs and been our strength.

Black Women have (with and without husbands, uncles, brothers, etc.,) been the foundation of the Black family, the backbone of the family. They have worked (at a time when White Women didn’t work) outside of their homes and arrived late to work at our homes.

They have kissed, hugged, loved and spanked us as we needed in doing what was necessary to help us; to help us survive and in some cases to better than we were and could be.

They have endured the rape that was a by-product of slavery (regardless of what the colleges teach about rape being a very minor part of slavery); the attacks on their beauty (by a culture that is euro-centric); the attacks on their views and opinions; and their ability to raise their kids in a society where all cultures are facing difficulties raising kids.

People have said that it is the Black Churches that ensured our survival though ages, true, but it is the Black Women who have been the foundation/infrastructure of the church and the home.

There are problems to be sure, as in every family/culture, but we are who we are because of the women in our lives (and that is true of every group).

So, go ahead Fanni, Lelia and other women (of all colors) do what you can to aggressively save this nation and its people.

[Henry203]

30. Thank you for the update.

[calimary]

37. That's a valuable and most welcome perspective.

Women in general don’t get the respect they deserve. Anyone remember John Lennon’s “Woman is the Nigger of the World”? I’d guess for Black women, that goes double or triple.

https://open.spotify.com/track/6uKsrF9ejNeVy0lZvOQFdp

And

https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/john-lennon/songs/woman-is-the-nigger-of-the-world/

[MiHale]

4. Archive link to article...

Thank you for the article found the entire at the archives.

https://archive.ph/u9o7C

[peregrinus]

5. Democrats need to turn their backs on Israel

It’s a lost cause and supporting an apartheid ethno state that is engaged in genocide is a bad look. Israel is an Rightwing theocracy it is not a Democracy. Ever notice that it’s the one issue that Democrats and Republicans agree on?

[Wicked Blue]

7. The people at the Washington Pest need to look in a mirror

because they aided and abetted the Orange Traitor

[ificandream]

17. No, they ABSOLUTELY did not.

Neither did the NY Times. The press reports facts. They also print opinions. Those opinions/pundit pieces are not facts. They are opinion. Just because the Times/Post prints something you don't agree with doesn't mean they're traitors. People need to stop confusing news from opinion. Fox doesn't. That's one of the reasons their viewers are so fucked up.

[happy feet]

38. The press reports facts, BUT

they also select the facts they choose to present in order to fit a narrative in modern times since the media is now owned by the wealthy who have a motive.

this wasn't the case when news/media were locally owned.

[ificandream]

39. That's not how the press works.

I worked at the newspaper for over three decades. All the groundwork for putting together a newspaper is in the newsroom. It’s not in the executive board. There seems to be this conspiracy theory that executives layout newspapers and write headlines. They do not. Newsroom editors, and copy editors to that work. There were newsroom meetings in my day, but the meetings were more organizational as to what department was doing what each day. There were newsroom meetings in my day, but the meetings were more organizational as to what department was doing. What each day. Said the basic news work is done by editors, who edit reporters work.As I said, the basic news work is done by editors, who edit reporters work. It’s not the conspiracy that many in social media believe it is.

[poozwah]

10. ftwp

i grew up in washington, dc. i read the paper every day. today, i would not waste my time or money on this rag. democracy dies when institutions like the post become the toys of rich motherfvkkers like jeff bezos.

[Raven123]

16. Interesting observation. Was Trump's policy more appealing?

A VERY TINY piece of me wonders if some of these voters cast a protest vote anticipating a Harris victory, but without their vote. Hard to believe they think Trump’s policy is better, unless I am missing something.

[3825-87867]

15. "Social media and online presence have not existed since the beginning of time."

Yeah, they were just waiting around, doing nothing until the "tubes" were invented so they could, all of a sudden, use them for propaganda.
Good thing they didn't have partisan newspapers, town criers, wealthy cliques or especially churches back before the net to influence other stupid people!
As to the rich, new feudal overlords, they feel they and only they have a say over what happens to their domains. It's just that all of them seem to be the same greedy wannabe kings and have the means to influence the sheep with those archaic abilities and, gosh, even lies, like the net. Good thing the Post and Times and other media didn't take the bait and become slaves to those pieces of silver.

[bigtree]

18. publishing this now, after Trump's elected

...is WaPo trolling us.

[yardwork]

20. I read WaPo every day and it's usually pretty good.

I don't think this is a troll. There were plenty of good articles about Trump's crazy behavior and crazy promises.

The bigger problem is that the only people reading WaPo already know Trump is crazy. If you read the comments under articles, 99% are always informed, anti-Trump comments. The rest are bots.

Not enough people read actual news sources, though. They listen to Joe Rogan and think they've done "research."

[bigtree]

22. publishing it now is useless

...and the editors know this.

[yardwork]

23. I'm afraid you might be right.

And in an effort to get more readers, Bezos hires more conservative hacks and cravenly refuses to endorse the most obvious better choice in U.S. history.

[femmedem]

32. Agreed!

I was fully informed about Trump's awfulness precisely because I read WaPo.

[Baitball Blogger]

19. I guess Jeff Bezos took his hand off the tiller, to try to win back the WP's honor.

[femmedem]

33. Bezos never interfered with the journalism side of the paper.

And his interference with the editorial side was a shocking aberration.

[Gymbo]

24. The Republican false flag effort.

News services like the Washington Post heralded false flag reporting. I dropped my subscription when they started bad-mouthing Joe Biden for suspect memory problems while ignoring the same problem with Donald Trump. The Washington Post's dishonest reporting was too much for me. Those reporters were following directions and not reporting fairly for the American voter; they were reporting to satisfy their editors. I subscribe to the Guardian now and am happy with their reporting.

[Greybnk48]

25. Too late. I will never subscribe to WAPO or The NYT ever again.

Their morals are relative and they cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

[yardwork]

31. Kick

[republianmushroom]

34. Say a new service that didn't have the balls to recommend a candidate for President.

[DSandra]

36. The left is just not aggressive enough to counter the deluge of malfeasance done by the Right Wing and Russia

[applegrove]

40. With digital spots, direct mail, text messages, influencer marketing and mobile billboards, the overall project was a

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/11/15/republican-ads-false-flag/

"SNIP...........

With digital spots, direct mail, text messages, influencer marketing and mobile billboards, the overall project was a high-tech experiment in misdirection — an old political tactic that has been sharpened in recent decades with increasingly precise targeting techniques.

Ads tested better if Muslims felt they were seeing a message meant for Zionists, “Bernie bros” felt they were hearing from the far left, and “Zyn bros” felt they were hearing from activists who wanted “a world without gas-powered vehicles,” a ban on fracking and affordable housing for undocumented Americans — policies Harris did not actually support during her campaign.

“The worst part is Kamala Harris talks out of both sides of her mouth,” said one of the ads, which was designed by Trump supporters to look as if it was advocating for leftist priorities like “free health care” and a “break on tuition.”

............SNIP"