The apparent fact that Russia is already taking steps to interfere with the United States’ 2024 elections might be more shocking if we hadn’t already lived through the last several years. NBC News reported:
Russia is already spreading disinformation in advance of the 2024 election, using fake online accounts and bots to damage President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats, according to former U.S. officials and cyber experts. The dissemination of attacks on Biden is part of a continuing effort by Moscow to undercut American military aid to Ukraine and U.S. support for and solidarity with NATO, experts said.
It was just a couple of days ago when Jake Sullivan, the White House national security advisor, said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that there’s “plenty of reason to be concerned” about Russia’s trying to interfere in the 2024 election cycle, though he couldn’t go into detail about the latest intelligence.
Sullivan added, “[T]his is not about politics. This is about national security. It is about a foreign country — a foreign adversary — seeking to manipulate the politics and democracy of the United States of America.”
What’s more, Russia’s interest in the outcomes of our election are especially acute right now because of the United States’ support for Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia two years ago.
Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy of the German Marshall Fund, who tracks foreign disinformation efforts, told NBC News, “Not that they didn’t have an incentive to interfere in the last two presidential elections. But I would say that the incentive to interfere is heightened right now.”
But as Moscow’s efforts come into focus, it’s worth appreciating the familiarity of the circumstances.
In 2016, Russia targeted U.S. elections. There used to be a bipartisan consensus on this obvious and uncontested fact.
In 2018, Russia targeted U.S. elections. Though Donald Trump, for reasons that have…
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