One of the more surprising revelations about Russia’s reported meddling in the 2016 election is that Moscow supported a raft of objectively anti-Trump, left-wing causes. First we learned that the Internet Research Agency, a Kremlin-linked organization, bought social media advertisements that appeared to support Black Lives Matter. Now news has emerged that Internet users with Kremlin ties also ran a popular Instagram account pretending to be Native Americans protesting the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
As BuzzFeed reported, a post from that account screams: “IF AN OIL COMPANY DESTROYED THESE ‘SACRED’ BURIAL GROUNDS AMERICANS WOULD LOSE THEIR MINDS,” plastered over an image of a U.S. military cemetery. “BUT WHEN AN OIL COMPANY DESTROYS NATIVE AMERICAN SACRED BURIAL GROUNDS NO ONE SAYS A WORD.” So now we have Russian “trolls” supporting two popular American left-wing causes. Why, it’s enough to make one wonder whether Colin Kaepernick and Sean Penn are Kremlin plants.
It would appear, then, that the Russian government is extremely shrewd in its understanding of American politics: It figured out that perhaps the only thing less popular than Donald Trump is the excesses of the radical left. (Indeed, according to recent polling, solid majorities—57 percent of Americans surveyed—have a negative view of Black Lives Matter.) Did Moscow spread left-wing messages to help Trump? If so, Team Putin apparently knows more about American politics than the American Democratic party, which is increasingly tethering itself to the most radical groups in its coalition.
The Democrats may want to hire some Kremlin pollsters in the run-up to the 2018 midterms.
