House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) on Sunday stressed the expansive reach of Russian propaganda and said it has even presented itself on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, Turner said he agreed with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who singled out conservative news outlets and said, “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

“Oh, it’s absolutely true,” Turner told Tapper about McCaul’s remarks. “We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.”

“I mean, there are members of Congress today, who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO which of course it is not,” Turner said. “Vladimir Putin having made it very clear, both publicly and to his own population, that his view is that this is a conflict of a much broader claim of Russia, to Eastern Europe, and including claiming all of Ukraine territory as Russia’s.”

  • vortic
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    679 months ago

    It’s nice to see a republican admitting this. It would be better if he would name names and admit that it goes beyond taking the propaganda bait. It would be nice if he would say “Congressman _____” regurgitates Russian propaganda and may be compromised.

    • @Infynis@midwest.social
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      449 months ago

      Surprising to see a Republican actually admit it though. He must be trying to pull a Mitt Romney, and hoping to get some moderate votes, hoping they’ve forgotten everything he’s done to damage the country

      • @Eldritch@lemmy.world
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        149 months ago

        Plenty does. Though I’d argue this particularly goes back to the Wall Street putch at least. Fascists in and around the Republican party had their coup plot exposed. And received no punishment for it. Instead one of the implicated parties went on to run for Senate and win. With his son and grandson eventually achieving the presidency. And all but the vaguest of details surrounding the incident completely scrubbed from history.

        Our fascists love the modern fascist government of Russia. And want to accomplish similar here. The only reason they disliked the USSR before is because they perceived it as a threat to them. Through a lot of the parties empty rubric of being about and for the people of Russia. And not just another authoritarian power structure like them. Borrowing the terminology of the left. With no real desire or will to carry it out.

        • @JimboDHimbo@lemmy.ca
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          39 months ago

          …I have this odd feeling that I’m about to spend 2 hours down a rabbit hole looking for more information on what you’re talking about.

          • @Eldritch@lemmy.world
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            49 months ago

            It’s a very shallow hole unfortunately. As I stated, a lot of the details have been scrubbed from history. Wikipedia has the boilerplate here. The only names mentioned are the patsy, MacGuire. And a passing mention of J.P. Morgan. Everything outside of that quickly delves into hearsay, speculation, and conspiracy. Though not the lizard people or Jewish space lazer kind. But the plausible kind that wasn’t publicly exposed.

            IF it was taught to you in school. The term fascism is never mentioned or connected to it in any way. Just a plot by business guys to take over the government. Textbook fascism, but totally not fascism. And not a big deal.

            What’s interesting is the New York times reaction to the plot. Initially treating it as if it were a hoax. Later publishing an article about how serious and credible the accusation was. But the only evidence that was ever made public was Smedley Butler turning them in and MacGuire being his contact. We will never know what evidence they saw to convince them.

            The best reasoning currently points to this being done as retaliation to FDR trying to pass the new deal. And implicates far more than MacGuire and JP Morgan. Including the likes of Prescott Bush. Who is believed to be their intended final leader. With Butler himself being a patsy and stepping stone to their final goal. It is also reasoned that there were no convictions or punishments made. Because those implicated in Congress were given a pass in return for voting for the New Deal.

            Again though that is all reasoning and speculation. Because what the government investigated and what they found was never made public. But as stated the few who saw the evidence found it compelling and serious. Which makes it all the more odd that nothing ever came of it. More so than just a whitewashed footnote in history.

            • @JimboDHimbo@lemmy.ca
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              29 months ago

              Holy shit. I actually watched a movie that had The Business Plot as a key part of the…plot. It’s called Amsterdam.

  • @jballs@sh.itjust.works
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    339 months ago

    I don’t feel like this headline goes far enough. It’s not Congress in general. It’s one specific party in Congress. The article calls it out:

    Turner said he agreed with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who singled out conservative news outlets and said, “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

  • ChihuahuaOfDoom
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    209 months ago

    I’d like to hear what the AMD chair has to say before I jump to conclusions.

    • @Cosmos7349@lemmy.world
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      89 months ago

      No, silly, this isn’t about the company Intel, “Intel” is referring to the government position “House Intelligability Chair”. He translates what the Republican representatives are saying so that the rest of us can understand it.

      • @xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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        59 months ago

        Oh, so it’s not about Intel? Should we be demanding a reply from NVidia then?

        (I think hope, everyone understands it’s about intelligence but… them jokes)

  • @Cruxifux@lemmy.world
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    119 months ago

    All this fear of Russian propaganda but nobody in the US government talks about the localized corporate propaganda that’s a far bigger threat to the US and the world at large.

    Bernie and AOC used to, but Bernie seems to have given up, and AOC is looking out for her career now. Tulsi Gabbard used to too but I don’t even know what her deal is anymore.

  • @henfredemars@infosec.pub
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    9 months ago

    They don’t need to hide it and they aren’t interested in trying. Russia owned the presidency and currently owns a good chunk of our representatives, with a really good shot at owning the presidency once again. I’m not sure how you can get further compromised if you tried. Whatever their objectives, I don’t see how you couldn’t achieve them from this position.

  • AutoTL;DRB
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    69 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) on Sunday stressed the expansive reach of Russian propaganda and said it has even presented itself on the floor of the U.S. Congress.

    In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” with Jake Tapper, Turner said he agreed with Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who singled out conservative news outlets and said, “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base.”

    “We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor.”

    Turner said the propaganda has made it increasingly more difficult to pass Ukraine aid and to present a clear picture of a battle between democracy and authoritarianism.

    “Now, to the extent that this propaganda takes hold, it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian versus democracy battle, which is what it is.

    Ukraine needs our help and assistance now and this is a very critical time for the US Congress to step up and provide that aid,” Turner continued.


    The original article contains 320 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 38%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • @antidote101@lemmy.world
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    19 months ago

    “infection” politics is probably nota healthy paradigm, and may encourage a certain kind of puritanistic/cleansing fascism.

    Better to say Russia has the ear of some congress members, or that their propaganda extends to some, or something more specific like that.