1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Greetings. I am a voting constituent in rural west Texas. Today we get to read more GOP analysis of how the dissemination of Russian propaganda disguised as Republican talking points is all just innocent naïveté. “We are talking about preexisting political opinions in the United States. These are preexisting political opinions that have existed well before any Russian engagement or involvement or what have you,” [Marco] Rubio said to Sean Hannity. “These people that they say that were being funded by the secret donor that was hiding their true identity, they already had these opinions, they already believed in these things.” “They legitimately believe in the views that they’re espousing,” Rubio added. “They were victims, they were targets of a fraud in which someone posing as just a regular investor had Russian money behind them.” Rubio joined his GOP cohorts in poo-pooing any damage caused by commentators at Tenet Media, which the DOJ revealed Wednesday was secretly funded by Russian state media employees in “a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.” No surprise, these commentators described themselves as victims in the scheme, a point that was echoed by Rubio, and also by MAGA Republican Matt Gaetz, pundit Ben Shapiro, and certainly Donald Trump. But, how do they explain that these “preexisting ideas” popular among Republicans right now seem to be exactly what Vladimir Putin’s government wanted to fund? I guess if one is offered $100K per podcast ($400K per week!) plus an extra $100K signing bonus, questions about why that might be would be the last thing on one’s mind. Chicken meet egg. Good propagandists know the weak spots to exploit. And America’s weak spots are political figures railing against our country. Media personalities who supply the ammo to divide our country on a vast level. Who’s the naive one here? Right-wing figures like Rubio and Gaetz might ask themselves if the ideas they’re espousing can really be good for America if Putin himself wants to put money behind them. A whole lotta money. And by the by, DJT, who as a useful idiot is an adversary’s dream, promises to lift sanctions on Russia if he is re-elected. Gosh. Remember the good old days y’all always pine for when this kind of behavior might result in a charge of treason. Now it just means you can be President. Again.