Calling for a United America post midterms- a Vermont opinion

Published in The Vermont Standard, Forum section, November 8, 2018 by opinion journalist Jennine Guttman

With Election Day finally behind us, we can all breathe a sigh of relief. The 2018 midterm campaign will stand as one of the most dysfunctional and dangerous national political spectacles to ever take place in the United States.

Make no mistake: The ugly, racialized tone of Tuesday’s elections was deliberately set. Its aim was to sow permanent division, disillusionment, tribalism, and political schisms across America. Much of the blame for this corrosive political strategy lies with President Trump, who reveled in its disturbingly toxic atmosphere.

As individual American citizens, it now falls to us to mend the post-election divisiveness and heal the self-inflicted wounds of this chaotic President.

Our task will be daunting, for much damage has been done. “Trump ratchets up racially divisive messages in a bid to rally support in the midterms,” read a Nov. 1 headline in The Washington Post. The article noted that Trump, along with many Republican candidates, chose to dramatically escalate efforts “to take advantage of racial divisions and cultural fears in the final days of the midterm campaign, part of an overt attempt to rally white supporters to the polls and preserve the GOP’s congressional majorities.”

The President cynically sought to paint a slow-moving trek of dispossessed migrant families, mostly women and children walking from southern Mexico toward the United States, as an “invasion.” He ordered 15,000 active military personnel to guard the U.S.-Mexico border, suggested that Mexican peasants throwing rocks would be shot, and promised “massive tent cities” to indefinitely hold migrants seeking legal refugee status.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., denounced Trump’s tactics. The refugees, who will not reach the border for months, are “not an imminent threat,” Leahy said at a Burlington press conference. “What could possibly be imminent? Maybe the elections on Tuesday?”

Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy

Trump’s blatant fear-mongering and myriad outrageous lies are shockingly un-American. Where past administrations would have seen an unfolding humanitarian crisis requiring a compassionate, peaceful response of aid and comfort, Trump saw a frightful invasion that warranted a massive U.S. military reaction. Channeling McCarthyism, Trump recklessly told rally supporters last week: “If you don’t want America to be overrun by masses of illegal aliens and giant caravans, you better vote Republican.”

Although the election is over, Trump remains. There is little hope that Trump will alter his agenda, pivot from hyper partisanship, and take positive steps to restore our nation. This reality represents a dramatic sea change in America politics. Traditionally, generations of Americans looked to the presidency for national guidance in times of disagreement and social upheaval. Historically, White House messages have stressed unification and reconciliation, emphasizing our common bonds and shared values as Americans, while diminishing perceived differences. The democratic principles that form this nation’s foundation always held sway over petty politics, ephemeral personality cults, and episodic disputes. We never forgot who we were.

But today, nearly two years into this presidency, it is clear that Trump lacks the empathy, commitment, and courage to govern America as a united nation. Indeed, the divisions and acrimony of Trumpian policies are not design flaws; they are intended features, and their harm is likely to increase.

That is why Vermonters cannot look to President Trump or to his Administration to repair the social damage and salve political battle scars. We cannot rely on Trump to chart a bright, unified future. Instead, it falls upon individual Vermonters and citizens across the United States to come together as the American family. We must look to ourselves, our neighbors, our villages and towns, and our local civic leaders to again reunite us as one nation, indivisible.

We must remember who we are. Our seasonal political labels do not define us. We are more than Democrats, Republicans, or Independents. We are more than liberals, conservatives, or progressives.

We are Americans.

We are one nation.

While Donald Trump is seemingly doing everything possible to divide us, eagerly pitting neighbor against neighbor, it is time for us, as individuals, to rally together as Americans. It is time to join hands, connect hearts, and stand as one. We citizens must reclaim our shared heritage as proud residents of these United States.

Vladimir Putin's cyber attack on the US resulted in landing the biggest fish of his KGB career- Donald Trump

Weaponized information seeks a new target in cyberspace, being users’ minds. Targeted attacks on Americans' thinking worked on Donald Trump.

 

(Maine Writer:  What boggles my mind is how this cyber weaponry has become so commonplace and easy!)

"Some observers suggest that using internet tools for espionage and as fuel for disinformation campaigns is a new form of “hybrid warfare.” Their idea is that the lines are blurring between the traditional kinetic warfare of bombs, missiles and guns, and the unconventional, stealthy warfare long practiced against foreigners’ “hearts and minds” by intelligence and special forces capabilities." wrote Richard Forno Senior Lecturer, Cybersecurity & Internet Researcher, University of Maryland, Baltimore Count, published in The Conversation, an on-line news source. 

Russian attacks on the 2016 US presidential election and the country’s continuing election-related hacking have happened across all three dimensions of cyberspace – physical, informational and cognitive. The first two are well-known: For years, hackers have exploited hardware and software flaws to gain unauthorized access to computers and networks – and stolen information they’ve found. The third dimension, however, is a newer target – and a more concerning one.

This three-dimensional view of cyberspace comes from my late mentor, Professor Dan Kuehl of the National Defense University, who expressed concern about traditional hacking activities and what they meant for national security. But he also foresaw the potential – now clear to the public at large – that those tools could be used to target people’s perceptions and thought processes, too. 

That’s what the Russians allegedly did, according to federal indictments issued in February and July, laying out evidence that Russian civilians and military personnel used online tools to influence Americans’ political views – and, potentially, their votes. They may be setting up to do it again for the 2018 midterm elections.

Some observers suggest that using internet tools for espionage and as fuel for disinformation campaigns is a new form of “hybrid warfare.” Their idea is that the lines are blurring between the traditional kinetic warfare of bombs, missiles and guns, and the unconventional, stealthy warfare long practiced against foreigners’ “hearts and minds” by intelligence and special forces capabilities.

However, I believe this isn’t a new form of war at all: Rather, it is the same old strategies taking advantage of the latest available technologies. Just as online marketing companies use sponsored content and search engine manipulation to distribute biased information to the public, governments are using internet-based tools to pursue their agendas. In other words, they’re hacking a different kind of system through social engineering on a grand scale.



Old goals, new techniques

More than 2,400 years ago, the Chinese military strategist and philosopher Sun Tzu made it an axiom of war that it’s best to “subdue the enemy without fighting.” Using information – or disinformation, or propaganda – as a weapon can be one way to destabilize a population and disable the target country. In 1984 a former KGB agent who defected to the West discussed this as a long-term process and more or less predicted what’s happening in the U.S. now.

The Russians created false social media accounts to simulate political activists – such as @TEN_GOP, which purported to be associated with the Tennessee Republican Party. Just that one account attracted more than 100,000 followers. The goal was to distribute propaganda, such as captioned photos, posters or short animated graphics, purposely designed to enrage and engage these accounts’ followers. Those people would then pass the information along through their own personal social networks.

Starting from seeds planted by Russian fakers, including some who claimed to be U.S. citizens, those ideas grew and flourished through amplification by real people. Unfortunately, whether originating from Russia or elsewhere, fake information and conspiracy theories can form the basis for discussion at major partisan media outlets.

As ideas with niche online beginnings moved into the traditional mass media landscape, they serve to keep controversies alive by sustaining divisive arguments on both sides. For instance, one Russian troll factory had its online personas host rallies both for and against each of the major candidates in the 2016 presidential election. Though the rallies never took place, the online buzz about them helped inflame divisions in society.

The trolls also set up Twitter accounts purportedly representing local news organizations – including defunct ones – to take advantage of Americans’ greater trust of local news sourcesthan national ones. These accounts operated for several years – one for the Chicago Daily News, closed since 1978, was created in May 2014 and collected 20,000 followers – passing along legitimate local news stories, likely seeking to win followers’ trust ahead of future disinformation campaigns. Shut down before they could fulfill that end, these accounts cleverly aimed to exploit the fact that many Americans’ political views cloud their ability to separate fact from opinion in the news.

These sorts of activities are functions of traditional espionage: Foment discord and then sit back while the target population becomes distracted arguing among themselves.
Fighting digital disinformation is hard

Analyzing, let alone countering, this type of provocative behavior can be difficult. Russia isn’t alone, either: The U.S. tries to influence foreign audiences and global opinions, including through Voice of America online and radio services and intelligence services’ activities. And it’s not just governments that get involved. Companies, advocacy groups and others also can conduct disinformation campaigns.

Unfortunately, laws and regulations are ineffective remedies. Further, social media companies have been fairly slow to respond to this phenomenon. Twitter reportedly suspended more than 70 million fake accounts earlier this summer. That included nearly 50 social media accounts like the fake Chicago Daily News one.

Facebook, too, says it is working to reduce the spread of “fake news” on its platform. Yet both companies make their money from users’ activity on their sites – so they are conflicted, trying to stifle misleading content while also boosting users’ involvement.
Real defense happens in the brain

The best protection against threats to the cognitive dimension of cyberspace depends on users’ own actions and knowledge. Objectively educated, rational citizens should serve as the foundation of a strong democratic society. But that defense fails if people don’t have the skills – or worse, don’t use them – to think critically about what they’re seeing and examine claims of fact before accepting them as true.

American voters expect ongoing Russian interference in U.S. elections. In fact, it appears to have already begun. To help combat that influence, the U.S. Justice Department plans to alert the public when its investigations discover foreign espionage, hacking and disinformation relating to the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. And the National Security Agency has created a task force to counter Russian hacking of election systems and major political parties’ computer networks.

These efforts are a good start, but the real solution will begin when people start realizing they’re being subjected to this sort of cognitive attack and that it’s not all just a hoax.

Maine Writer observation - the biggest "asset" on earth to easily fall victim to Russian disinformation is Donald Trump. As reported in The Hill, "Trump faced widespread push back after the failed Helsinki meeting, following a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which Trump appeared to cast doubt on the Kremlin's interference in the presidential race. Trump said Putin was 'extremely strong and powerful in his denial' of Russian meddling and added he didn't see a reason why it 'would' be Russia."

"After days of intense criticism, Trump walked back the statement, claiming he meant to say he didn't see a reason why it 'wouldn't' be Russia. Though he said he trusted the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia did interfere, he repeated a claim that other parties could have been involved in the meddling." (And, there was Putin, he stood right alongside of Tump and reeled in the biggest fish he's ever caught!)