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Overtime

How Russia’s Useful Idiots Work

Plus: Why Is the New York Times Legitimizing a Holocaust Denier?

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Jim Swift
Sep 11, 2024
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How Russia’s Useful Idiots Work
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Recently in The Bulwark:

  • BILL KRISTOL & ANDREW EGGER: Deep Breaths. Deep Breaths.

  • JVL: Reminder: Everything Is Terrible 🔐

  • JOE PERTICONE: Republicans Are Losing the House Fundraising Battle 🔐

  • SONNY BUNCH: James Earl Jones, 1931–2024

  • MARC CAPUTO: Trump’s Debate Plan: Pop The Harris ‘Bubblewrap’

Overtime is for everyone. If you’re a subscriber: thank you. If you’re not, there’s no better time to subscribe to Bulwark+ than today. If you like today’s issue, you can share this newsletter with someone you think would value it.

COME WATCH THE DEBATE WITH US!


NICHOLAS GROSSMAN: How Russia’s Useful Idiots Work

(Photo by GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A RUSSIAN INFLUENCE OPERATION paid millions of dollars to right-wing American “influencers” who promote Russia-friendly narratives, according to a detailed indictment alleging money laundering and other crimes. Through a company called “Tenet Media,” two Russian state media employees used nearly $10 million to fund right-wing influencers who often ape Russian propaganda, including Dave Rubin (2.45 million YouTube subscribers), Benny Johnson (2.39 million), Tim Pool (1.37 million), and Lauren Southern (712,000). Russia’s operation also allegedly built fake websites that mimicked media outlets such as the Washington Post and Fox News, and used a network of fake accounts and bots on social media to spread conspiracy theories and other Russia-friendly content.

READ THE REST.

A.B. STODDARD: Voters Aren’t Seeing Enough of Harris

KAMALA HARRIS’S MOMENTUM HAS STALLED, and she heads into the final eight weeks of the campaign with a challenging map in the Electoral College. Voters in a new national New York Times/Siena poll see Donald Trump as the candidate representing change and say they don’t know enough about what Harris stands for or plans to do as president.

It’s high time for her to stop by local television morning shows, call into radio programs, chat with reporters in the back of the plane, and appear on podcasts of all kinds. Harris needs to start having conversations with the press. Loads of them.

READ THE REST.


🎥 PODCASTS AND VIDEOS 🎧

  • Bulwark Podcast with Tim Miller: Symone Sanders Townsend and Olivia Nuzzi: Kamala v the Weirdo [YouTube: SST, Nuzzi]

  • Just Between Us: Trump's Crazy Obscures His Idiotic Policy Ideas 🔐

  • George Conway Explains it All (to Sarah Longwell): Trump’s Legal Battles Are Un-Winnable [YouTube]

  • Across the Movie Aisle: The Messy 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice'

Did you know? Bulwark+ members can listen to an ad-free version of these podcasts on the player of their choice.

Learn more at Bulwark+ Podcast FAQ.

📣Bulwark+ members can now listen to ad-free podcasts on Spotify! Learn more here.


STEVEN LUBET: Why Is the New York Times Legitimizing a Holocaust Denier?

IT WAS SHOCKING, although not surprising, to see Tucker Carlson praise the prominent Holocaust denier Darryl Cooper, who said Adolf Hitler was a peacemaker and called Winston Churchill the “chief villain” of World War II. But it was even more shocking—as well as dismaying and disheartening— when the New York Times conferred some credibility on Cooper by repeatedly describing him as merely a “Holocaust revisionist” rather than an outright denier.

READ THE REST.


🚨OVERTIME🚨

Happy Tuesday! Hope to see you guys tonight in the chat during our livestream of the debate.

Why Mike Lee Folded… “In 2016, he tried to stop Trump from becoming president. By 2020, he was trying to help Trump overturn the election. Now he could become Trump’s attorney general.” Tim Alberta in The Atlantic🎁.

More of this, please… Liz Cheney dismantles JD Vance’s dangerous unconstitutional blather.

14 years ago… The viral stump speech of Phil Davison happened. Underrated, but one of the great cringe speeches.

That former guy… Is flying Laura Loomer on his plane. I’m sure it’s fine.

Tech support questions? Email members@thebulwark.com. Questions for me? Respond to this message.

—30—

Editorial photos provided by Getty Images. For full credits, please consult the article.

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