The great screenwriter in the sky is giving us a preview of coming attractions. I said the GOP primary would be lit and so far it looks like that is an understatement. The image you see is Ron DeSantis in front of not only C3PO but a cut-out of the Titanic. That is scarcely the subliminal suggestion that you want to send to viewers but by golly, that’s what’s on the screen.
And it gets worse, naturally. Donald Trump has activated thousands of bots, unleashed for the purpose of trashing DeSantis, and Nikki Haley, and praising Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Over the past 11 months, someone created thousands of fake, automated Twitter accounts — perhaps hundreds of thousands of them — to offer a stream of praise for Donald Trump.
Besides posting adoring words about the former president, the fake accounts ridiculed Trump’s critics from both parties and attacked Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador who is challenging her onetime boss for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
When it came to Ron DeSantis, the bots aggressively suggested that the Florida governor couldn’t beat Trump, but would be a great running mate.
As Republican voters size up their candidates for 2024, whoever created the bot network is seeking to put a thumb on the scale, using online manipulation techniques pioneered by the Kremlin to sway the digital platform conversation about candidates while exploiting Twitter’s algorithms to maximize their reach.
The sprawling bot network was uncovered by researchers at Cyabra, an Israeli tech firm that shared its findings with The Associated Press. While the identity of those behind the network of fake accounts is unknown, Cyabra’s analysts determined that it was likely created within the U.S.
DeSantis is running the sorta kinda campaign right now. He hasn’t officially thrown his hat in the ring but it’s no secret that that’s the plan, it’s just a question of time.
In any event, whether the campaign resembles the Titanic or the Minnow, it will end in glub glub. Trump is seeing to that. Anchors away.
That’s really bad fake art, too. (I think, though, that’s supposed to be a lifeboat from the Titanic.)
They couldn’t even get that right – it was RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Titanic (not ‘SS’)
Plus, as someone who lives where the Titanic was built – H&W never used red paint for lifeboat names
Well, given how Trump can barely string together a coherent sentence in his “truths” (or, previously, his tweets), it’s beyond any sort of reasonable belief that he’s responsible for the bots. Even though the Cyabra research suggests the “bot factory” is based in the US, I’m still betting that Putin’s behind the operation.
What I’m finding most hilarious about this story is how no one’s rubbing Musk’s face in this. I mean, part of Musk’s whole complaint about Twitter was how it had so many bots and that the Twitter execs weren’t doing enough about the issue and yet, these pro-Trump bots have been operating largely unchecked (even unnoticed) under the Musk regime at Twitter.
Yeah but these are HIS bots (surely everyone knows these bots have musk’s stamp of approval). World of difference I’m sure. I myself cannot define this difference but I’m sure space karen can rationalize something.
The MAGA Magna Carta denier could not unleash a bot if his lying hole in one depended on it. Lets get real. Unleash the full power of NATO on Cheeto’s bestie and get the war over with. The fake GOP could get back to business and pose with the trophy. All the while praising the new little Hitler FAcist Pissantis. I’m personally sick and tired of this sh_t. Lets move on.