Donald Trump's Putin Plan To Destroy American Democracy

Editor’s Note: The following guest column was written by Wayne Madsen, left, publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report, from which this is excerpted along with background materials in an appendix. Also, Madsen has authored 24 books and is a former Navy intelligence officer who has been a frequent commentator of national security and privacy issues for U.S. broadcast networks and newspapers and their counterparts around the world.

A major focus of his recent investigative journalism has been to document longstanding ties between Russian intelligence operations and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and U.S. Republicans in the inner circle supporting his agendas.

In recent years, he has written also extensively on the threat of Russian interference to other Western democracies and about internal autocracy within the Russian Federation, which he describes as neither “Russian” nor a “Federation” because of Putin’s autocratic rule over oppressed ethnic and religious minorities within the “Federation” borders.

His latest book, “A Parade of New Sovereignties,” to be released in an expanded edition later this week, provides an encyclopedia-style guide to more than 400 such entities contained within the borders of larger nations (including major Western nations) with estimates of the likelihood of independence.

– Andrew Kreig, Justice Integrity Project editor and co-host with Wayne Madsen of the podcast “District Insiders”

Then-President Trump welcomes top Russian diplomats, including Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, at Trump’s right, to the White House Oval Office in a ceremony on May 11, 2017, from which Western media were banned (Alexander Shcherbak photo for Tass).

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted 2016 Green Party Presidential Nominee Jill Stein, shown above right, at his table in early 2016 before her vote totals in key states exceeded the margin of victory for Republican Donald Trump, thereby helping enabled his defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Stein, who ran also in 2020 and again this year, was joined at Putin’s table by the Russian dictator’s communications director, Dimitry Peskov, and future Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (Photo via RT, formerly “Russia Today,” Putin’s state-run propaganda network).

By Wayne Madsen

It is clear from Donald Trump’s rhetoric that what he plans for America’s democracy is a carbon copy of what his mentor and chief influencer, Vladimir Putin, has done to Russia’s once-fledgling democracy. During the first six months of this year, Putin’s regime has sentenced a record number of Russian citizens for espionage, treason, separatism, and “extremism.”

Based on what Trump has said about what he perceives as America’s “enemy within,” a second Trump presidency will sink the U.S. Constitution as he proceeds to imprison his political opponents. Trump has already named those he intends to prosecute on spurious charges and jail: Former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and he husband, Paul Pelosi; Representative Adam Schiff, former Republican Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and many others.

Trump can be expected to copy Putin in another manner should be become president. Putin routinely bans anything that he does not like. On Putin’s hit list are public protests, media articles critical of his regime, independent judicial bodies, and proselytizing by religions other than the Russian Orthodox Church.

Just as Putin is restoring the symbolism of the Stalinist era throughout Russia, Trump will ensure that U.S. military installations revert back to being named for Confederate generals and that statues honoring Confederates like Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, shown at left in an 1859 photo, are restored to pedestals in the town squares of cities and towns in the South. Trump’s affection for the Confederacy may see Confederate States of America flags restored to national parks, cemeteries, and national historical sites.

Trump can also be expected to restore the European names originally assigned to geographical locations that are sacred to Native Americans. This includes reverting to the name Mount McKinley for the Denali peak in Alaska and Clingmans Dome for Kuwohi mountain in North Carolina.

Trump will follow the lead of Putin, who recently renamed Moscow’s “Europe Square” to “Eurasia Square.” Putin has also reverted to using Russian names originally assigned in 1820 to locations in Antarctica, including Smolensk for Livingstone Island, Borodino island for Smith Island. Putin is also pressing the Russian city of Volgograd to revert back to Stalingrad amid popular opposition to such a move in the city.

On a much darker note, Trump will order loyal federal agents to carry out the type of defenestrations of his political opponents that are common in Russia for those who have had the temerity to challenge Putin and his regime.

Final Exit Via Windows? (Known as “Defenestration” In Intelligence Circles)

Opponents of Trump who survive defenestration may be sentenced to lifetime of very long prison terms in detention camps. In fact, the establishment of detention camps by Trump is a major element in the Republican platform. In Russia, these camps are found in the harshest of environments, including the Arctic north and Siberia. Trump will be tempted to establish similar detention centers in the humid swamp lands of Louisiana, the unlivable deserts of Arizona and Nevada, and the coldest climes of Alaska.

Many Americans, indeed, are planning on voluntary exile should Trump regain the White House. The question then will be, how many democracies will welcome American political asylum seekers?

Opponents of Trump who survive defenestration may be sentenced to lifetime of very long prison terms in detention camps. In fact, the establishment of detention camps by Trump is a major element in the Republican platform.

In Russia, these camps are found in the harshest of environments, including the Arctic north and Siberia. Trump will be tempted to establish similar detention centers in the humid swamp lands of Louisiana, the unlivable deserts of Arizona and Nevada, and the coldest climes of Alaska.

Many Americans, indeed, are planning on voluntary exile should Trump regain the White House. The question then will be, how many democracies will welcome American political asylum seekers?

Contact the author Andrew Kreig

Related News Coverage

Notes: Wikipedia has summarized recent Russian suspicious deaths in an entry entitled, “Suspicious deaths of notable Russians in 2022–2024.” Among those described are Ravil Maganov, right, chairman of the national oil company Lukoil, who fell from a Kremlin Hospital window under suspicious circumstances, according to reports: CCTV cameras had been “turned off for repairs,” President Putin was visiting the hospital the same day, and associates did not believe he was suicidal.

On June 3, 2022, according to the Wikipedia entry, the Dutch NOS news network described the phenomenon as “a grim series of Russian billionaires, many from the oil and gas industries, who have been found dead under unusual circumstances since early this year. The first was on 30 January, when 60-year-old Leonid Shulman, transport chief for Russian energy giant Gazprom, was found dead in the bathroom of his country house in the Leningrad region.

Oct. 26

Letters From An American, Commentary: October 25, [Musk Secret Talks With Putin], Heather Cox Richardson, right, historian, author, Oct. 26, 2024.  A bombshell story last night from the Wall Street Journal reported that billionaire Elon Musk, one of the richest men in the world, who is backing the election of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a daily million-dollar sweepstakes giveaway and gifts of tens of millions to the campaign, has been in regular contact with Russian president Vladimir Putin since late 2022.

Reporters Thomas Grove, Warren P. Strobel, Aruna Viswanatha, Gordon Lubold, and Sam Schechner said that the conversations “touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.”

Musk’s SpaceX, which operates the Starlink satellite system, won a $1.8 billion contract with U.S. military and intelligence agencies in 2021. It is the major rocket launcher for NASA and the Pentagon, and Musk has a security clearance; he says it is a top-secret clearance.

Today, NASA administrator Bill Nelson, left, called for an investigation into the story. “If the story is true that there have been multiple conversations between Elon Musk and the president of Russia,” Nelson told Burgess Everett of Semafor, “then I think that would be concerning, particularly for NASA, for the Department of Defense, for some of the intelligence agencies.”

Musk appears to be making a bid for control of the Republican Party for a number of possible reasons, including so he can continue to score federal contracts and because the high tariffs Trump has promised to place on Chinese imports would guarantee that Musk would have leverage in the electrical vehicle market.

But Musk has competition for control of the party. Today, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), right, who lead the establishment Republican faction and the MAGAs, respectively, and thus are usually at loggerheads, issued a joint statement condemning Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris for “labeling [Trump] as a ‘fascist.’” They suggest she is “inviting yet another would-be assassin to try robbing voters of their choice before Election Day.”

Observers immediately pointed out that, in fact, it is Trump who has repeatedly called Harris a fascist—as well as a Marxist and a communist—and that those calling Trump a fascist are former members of his own administration like former White House chief of staff General John Kelly, or leaders like former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, whom Trump himself appointed to his position and who called Trump “the most dangerous person to this country.”

Harris’s contribution to this discussion was that when CNN’s Anderson Cooper asked Harris directly if she thinks Trump is a fascist at a town hall this week, she answered: “Yes, I do. And I also believe that the people who know him best on this subject should be trusted.”

Aside from the gaslighting of attacking Harris for something that Trump is the one doing, the statement seemed a calculated attempt to demonstrate Republican solidarity. But it was glaringly obvious that McConnell and Johnson found that solidarity only in attacking Harris. Their statement contained no praise of Trump.

The struggle over the Republican Party also seemed evident in yesterday’s decision by the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, biotech tycoon Patrick Soon-Shiong, to kill that paper’s planned endorsement of Harris. Choosing not to make an endorsement in the race, Soon-Shiong said that he thought an endorsement would “add to the division” in the country. Elon Musk praised his decision.

Today the Washington Post also decided not to make an endorsement in the presidential race, despite the fact a piece endorsing Harris was already drafted. Publisher William Lewis said the paper was returning to its roots of not endorsing presidential candidates, although it has endorsed candidates for decades and did so in its early years as well. His statement seemed a weak cover for the evident wish of the Washington Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, to avoid antagonizing Trump.

Bezos gives Musk a run for his money at being the richest man in the world. But while Musk wants high tariffs against China to protect his access to electric vehicle markets, Bezos’s fortune comes from Amazon, and high tariffs would shatter his business. When he was in office, Trump went out of his way to find ways to hurt Amazon to get back at Bezos for unfavorable coverage in the Post.

Los Angeles Times editorial page editor Mariel Garza, along with journalists Robert Greene and Karin Klein, resigned from the paper after its decision not to endorse Harris, and nearly 2,000 readers canceled their subscriptions. The Washington Post, too, has seen about 2,000 subscribers bow out, and fourteen of the newspaper’s columnists called the decision not to condemn Trump’s threats to the “freedom of the press and the values of the Constitution” “a terrible mistake.” Cartoonist Ann Telnaes published a blacked-out square, playing on the Post’s motto that democracy dies in darkness.

Readers are speaking out against the Washington Post for demonstrating what scholar of authoritarianism Timothy Snyder calls “obeying in advance” the demands of an authoritarian leader (although Washington Post legal journalist Ruth Marcus, who signed the letter calling the decision a terrible mistake, pointed out that the Post itself was publishing the many letters of condemnation). “Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given,” Snyder’s “On Tyranny” reads. “In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.”

The aftermath of the Post’s decision demonstrated what scholars say will happen after such obeying. Rather than winning favors, such a demonstration of weakness invites further abuse, as anyone who has watched Trump in action ought to know by now.

Trump’s people pounced, with advisor Stephen Miller posting: “You know the Kamala campaign is sinking when even the Washington Post refuses to endorse.”

Trump then promptly went a step further, claiming that Democrats had taken part in “rampant Cheating and Skullduggery…in the 2020 presidential election” and warning that in 2024, “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again…. Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”

Trump’s threats are designed to convince people he is a strongman who will inevitably win the 2024 presidential election. But to do that, he will have to go through the voters, who are demonstrating their enthusiasm for Democratic candidate Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz.

After the announcement by the Washington Post, others stepped up to endorse Harris. The largest Teamsters union in Texas endorsed Harris before her rally tonight in Houston. In a blistering editorial, the Philadelphia Inquirer endorsed Harris, saying: “America deserves much more than an aspiring autocrat who ignores the law, is running to stay out of prison, and doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

Tonight, Trump taped a podcast episode with Joe Rogan in Austin, Texas, hoping to reach Rogan’s large audience. He was still on the ground in Austin when he was supposed to be appearing at a rally in Traverse City, Michigan, and blamed the long taping for the fact he was three hours late to the rally. Tired of waiting, rally attendees streamed out. When he finally arrived, about 47,000 viewers watched the PBS live stream of the rally.

Harris was in Houston, where she took the fight for abortion rights to the heart of a state where an abortion ban has endangered women and driven up the infant mortality rate. People began standing in line before sunrise to get into the rally at the Houston Shell Energy Stadium and filled the 22,000-seat stadium to capacity. About 2.5 million people watched the PBS live stream.

Oct. 25

Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin, Thomas Grove, Warren P. Strobel, Aruna Viswanatha, Gordon Lubold and Sam Schechner, Updated Oct. 25, 2024. Regular contacts between world’s richest man and America’s chief antagonist raise security concerns; topics include geopolitics, business and personal matters.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022. The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.

Wall Street Journal, NASA Head Says WSJ Report of Musk’s Talks With Putin Should Be Investigated, Joseph De Avila and Micah Maidenberg, Oct. 25, 2024. Bill Nelson said the account of multiple conversations between the billionaire and the Russian president was concerning.

Elon Musk’s secret conversations with Vladimir Putin are drawing attention from top leaders at NASA, the space agency that increasingly relies on Musk’s SpaceX to carry out key missions.

Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Investigative Commentary: BRICS Summit being held in the capital of a Russian-occupied nation, Wayne Madsen, left, Oct. 25, 2024. Tatarstan’s leaders in exile sent an open letter to the leaders of the nations participating in the October 22-24 BRICS Summit in Tatarstan’s capital of Kazan that they were doing so in support of Vladimir Putin’s goal of stamping out the last vestiges of autonomy in the Republic of Tatarstan.

The exiled Tatar leadership also pointed out to the BRICS participants that there “there are 25 enterprises of the defense-industrial complex in occupied Tatarstan, which employ 47,000 people. All these military plants are used by Moscow for the occupation of foreign states. In Ukraine alone, hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed and several cities were bombed with the help of shells made in Tatarstan.”

The Tatars also drew attention to Tatar casualty figures in the war in Ukraine, emphasizing that “the genocide of the Tatar people continues through persistent attraction to contract military service with obviously unfulfillable promises and illegal and violent mobilization. Today, the number of Tatarstan natives who died in the war has already exceeded 3,000 people. We responsibly declare that our native Tatarstan is an occupied territory and all its resources are used by imperial Muscovy without the consent of the Tatar people.”

In summary, the Tatar leaders called on the leaders of the BRICS summit “to distance themselves from the politics of Moscow.”

On another front, Tatar and Bashkir leaders in exile asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who attended the BRICS Summit, to press Putin on the oppression of Tatar, Bashkir, and other Turkic peoples inside Russia. It is not known whether Erdogan discussed the matter with Putin.On another front, Tatar and Bashkir leaders in exile asked Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who attended the BRICS Summit, to press Putin on the oppression of Tatar, Bashkir, and other Turkic peoples inside Russia. It is not known whether Erdogan discussed the matter with Putin.

President Donald Trump, right, with his Chief of Staff John Kelly (Pool photo by Michael Theiler via Getty Images).

New York Times, 13 Ex-Trump Aides Back Kelly’s ‘Dictator’ Warning, Saying Trump Seeks ‘Absolute, Unchecked Power,’ Tim Balk, Oct. 25, 2024. In a letter, the former aides wrote, “For the good of our country, our democracy, and our Constitution, we are asking you to listen closely and carefully to General Kelly’s warning.”

Thirteen former Trump administration officials released an open letter on Friday amplifying warnings from John F. Kelly, Donald J. Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, that the former president would rule like a dictator if he returned to office.

The former officials wrote that they were shocked but “not surprised” after Mr. Kelly, a former Marine general, told The New York Times that Mr. Trump had said more than once that “Hitler did some good things” and had complained that U.S. generals were not sufficiently loyal to him.

“This is who Donald Trump is,” wrote the 13, all “lifelong Republicans,” according to the letter. “Donald Trump’s disdain for the American military and admiration for dictators like Hitler is rooted in his desire for absolute, unchecked power.”

The letter did not describe any of the former officials hearing Mr. Trump speaking glowingly of Hitler, the Nazi dictator who presided over the systematic slaughter of six million Jews and millions of others.

But the letter said its signers had “witnessed, up close and personal, how Donald Trump operates and what he is capable of.”

“The American people deserve a leader who won’t threaten to turn armed troops against them, won’t put his quest for power above their needs, and doesn’t idealize the likes of Adolf Hitler,” the letter said.

In his comments to The Times, Mr. Kelly described Mr. Trump’s appreciation of history as limited, and he recalled attempting to explain to the president why it was problematic to praise Hitler. Still, Mr. Kelly said, Mr. Trump continued to make positive comments about Hitler.

A spokesman for Mr. Trump’s campaign, Steven Cheung, accused Mr. Kelly of fabricating his account in a statement on Friday that also claimed that Mr. Kelly and the former Trump administration officials who signed the open letter were suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

In this year’s election, Mr. Trump has described Democrats, some by name, as the “enemy from within” and has contemplated deploying the National Guard to address the threat he claims they could pose.

The letter, organized on Wednesday after Mr. Kelly’s comments were published in The Times on Tuesday, was signed by several outspoken Harris supporters, including two who gave speeches at the Democratic National Convention: Stephanie Grisham, a former Trump White House press secretary, and Olivia Troye, who was an adviser to Mr. Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence.

Other signers included Anthony Scaramucci, who had a memorable 10-day run as communications director in the Trump White House; Brooke Vosburgh Alexander, who was a top aide in the Commerce Department; Alyssa Farah Griffin, who served as Mr. Pence’s press secretary; Mark Harvey and Peter Jennison, who worked on the National Security Council; Sarah Matthews, a former deputy White House press secretary; and Robert Riley, who was the U.S. ambassador to Micronesia.

Three former Homeland Security Department officials also signed the letter: Kevin Carroll, Elizabeth Neumann and Sofia Kinzinger, who is married to former Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of the most vocal Republican opponents of Mr. Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Oct. 24

New York Times, Harris Calls Trump a Fascist: 6 Takeaways From Her CNN Town Hall, Reid J. Epstein and Lisa Lerer, Oct. 24, 2024. Kamala Harris called Donald J. Trump a fascist on Wednesday evening, elevating what until recently had been an argument made only in the lower ranks of a Democratic Party that has spent years attacking him as anti-democratic, unfit to serve and a criminal.

Early in a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania, she readily agreed with the host, Anderson Cooper, when he asked whether she believed Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist. “Yes, I do,” she quickly shot back. “Yes, I do.”

Later, when asked about the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, she jumped into a loaded critique of her rival.

“For many people who care about this issue, they also care about bringing down the price of groceries,” she said. “They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.”

Her comments — which went a step beyond her previous agreement that Mr. Trump was a fascist — were intended to amplify the news this week that John Kelly, Mr. Trump’s former White House chief of staff, said he thought the former president met the definition of the word and worried deeply about the threat a second Trump administration posed to democratic institutions.

Ms. Harris’s attacks on Wednesday evening went largely unanswered: Mr. Trump declined both a second debate and an invitation from CNN to participate in a similar forum.

New York Times, The Little-Known Group at the Center of Trump’s Plan for a Second Term, Ken Bensinger and David A. Fahrenthold, Oct. 24, 2024. America First Policy Institute didn’t even exist four years ago. But it is poised to be more influential than Project 2025 if Donald Trump wins.

Late this summer, a prominent right-wing think tank invited conservatives from around the country to learn how to work in a second Donald J. Trump

New York Times, Sweeping Raids and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s Immigration Plans, Charlie Savage, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Featured Oct. 24, 2024, first published Nov. 11, 2023. If he regains power, Donald Trump wants not only to revive some of the immigration policies criticized as draconian during his presidency, but expand and toughen them.

Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Investigative Commentary: rump’s Putin plan for American democracy, Wayne Madsen, left, Oct. 21, 2024. It is clear from Donald Trump’s rhetoric that what he plans for America’s democracy is a carbon copy of what his mentor and chief influencer, VladimirPutin, has done to Russia’s once-fledgling democracy. During the first six months of this year, Putin’s regime has sentenced a record number of Russian citizens for espionage, treason, separatism, and “extremism.”

Based on what Trump has said about what he perceives as America’s “enemy within,” a second Trump presidency will sink theU.S. Constitution as he proceeds to imprison his political opponents.

Trump has already named those he intends toprosecute on spurious charges and jail: Former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and he husband, Paul Pelosi; Representative Adam Schiff, former Republican Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and many others.

The Hartmann Report, Commentary: If We Don’t Break the Cycle, a ‘Trump’ Will Always Lurk in the Shadows, Thom Hartmann, right, Oct. 24, 2024. As long as dark money, lies, and hate dominate politics, the next Trump is inevitable…

Suddenly, it seems, the American mainstream media has figured out, or thinks they’ve been given permission to discuss, the fact that Donald Trump is a fascist. That he literally wants to imprison and even execute his enemies including other politicians like Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris and former employees who have betrayed him, including General Mark Millie.

Multiple commentators (including me) have wondered out loud if the defeat of Trump this fall will chasten Republicans and cause the Party to revert to its old “merely corporate and billionaire friendly” form, or if Trump has done permanent damage to the GOP and our system of government and the GOP’s embrace of fascism and its lies will continue long after he’s gone.

Sadly, there’s more than enough evidence for the latter, although crediting (or blaming) Trump for it all is far too facile an argument.

It’s a virtual certainty that four years from now we’ll have multiple Republican candidates trying to “pull a Trump” again. There are at least four reasons, although we’re not without resources to fight back or even prevent such an event.

First, there’s always been an authoritarian strain in American politics, dating all the way back to President John Adams arresting journalists and shutting down newspapers because they dared criticize him. Fortunately, President Jefferson pulled us back from that brink, as historian Dan Sisson and I documented in The American Revolution of 1800.

Second, though, five Republicans on the US Supreme Court put a fascism-friendly time bomb into our body of constitutional law when Lewis Powell wrote the 1978 decision in First National Bank v Bellotti, saying that billionaires and corporate “persons” had a First Amendment right to pour money into politics because, Powell claimed, money in politics was the same thing as “free speech.” That crime was massively amplified when a different set of five Republicans on the Court doubled down on legalizing corruption and bribery with Citizens United in 2010.

As a result, today a large handful of American billionaires have been quite willing to fund Trump’s despotic message because they believe their businesses will prosper and their taxes will stay low under a fascist regime. This shouldn’t surprise us: the long history of fascist movements, dating all the way back to ancient Rome, shows there have always been morbidly rich individuals willing to put their own wealth above the interest of their nations.

Third, the six corrupt Republicans on today’s Supreme Court have clearly thrown in with Trump’s fascist agenda, granting him immunity from crimes committed in office and gutting Section 3 of the 14th Amendment which, unambiguously, says:

“No person shall … hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who … shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Finally, we see evidence that the GOP could continue to embrace fascism in the simple examples provided every day on national television and in our newspapers. Greasy Republican politicians from Ted Cruz to Lindsay Graham to Mike Johnson happily go on television every week to peddle unctuous lies on Trump’s behalf, essentially endorsing and promoting his brand of 21st century American fascism.

Trump has the advantage — which he used to destroy his Republican opponents in the 2016 primary — of being a remarkably glib lifelong liar, as well as benefiting from the millions NBC spent training and coaching him to perform on television. But, as we can see on any of the Sunday political shows, other members of his Party have been eager to learn and imitate; it’s probably only a matter of time before one emerges with a skill set close or even equal to his.

To prevent a repeat of the close call we’re currently experiencing, America should look back to how we galvanized and mobilized American public opinion against fascism during the era when Mussolini and Hitler were rising to power in Europe and the fascist America First movement was growing here.

We did it once; we can do it again.

Egberto Off The Record, Commentary: CNN’s Jake Tapper calls out Trump, Musk, and MTG as leading conspiracy theory-promoting liars, Egberto Willies, Oct. 24, 2024. Jake Tapper methodically deconstructs the conspiracy theories pushed by Donald Trump, MTG, and Musk and admonishes them for the unpatriotic liars that they are.

Jake Tapper‘s CNN segment exposes the false conspiracy that claimed ABC News provided Kamala Harris with debate questions in advance. This baseless rumor, amplified by anonymous social media accounts, gained traction with the help of high-profile figures like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Tapper highlights the dangers of unchecked disinformation, especially when promoted by powerful individuals with large platforms. He connects these falsehoods to a broader effort to undermine trust in democratic institutions and the media.

• Anonymous social media users spread a fabricated claim about Kamala Harris receiving debate questions.
• Donald Trump, Elon Musk, right, and Marjorie Taylor Greene amplified the conspiracy without evidence.
• Marjorie Taylor Greene falsely claimed the “whistleblower” had died in a car crash but later admitted it was untrue while still calling for an investigation.
• The segment underscores how disinformation erodes trust in democracy, media, and science, with potential real-world consequences.

Sept. 24

Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Warning: Russia is once again attempting to rig a U.S. election, Wayne Madsen, left, Sept. 24, 2024. Multiple intelligence agencies have closely monitored and analyzed Russian interference in elections in democratic nations and have concluded that Russian intelligence has prioritized targeted electoral systems based on a series of factors.

The 2024 U.S. election is just as vulnerable to Russian and other malign meddling as in past years. What makes 2024 different is that the Russians can now rely on a number of far-right Donald Trump-supporting conspiracists who have taken control of election machinery in quite a number of election jurisdictions throughout the United States.

Russian election interference has not changed in any major respect and it continues to employ three methodologies.

1) Interference that targets election infrastructure and voter turnout. Attempts by Trump loyalists to suppress voting this year in Georgia, Texas, Arizona, and other states fits right into this Russian tactic.

2) interference in the information environment by flooding the information sphere, including social media, with disinformation. Elon Musk’s X (former Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, Telegram, WhatsApp, and Facebook (and to a lesser extent Blogspot and LiveJournal) are once again at the forefront of spreading Russian-made disinformation that favors Trump and his Republican loyalists and disparages Democratic candidates.Russia is relying on artificial intelligence to enhance its disinformation campaign targeting 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris with bogus photos, video, and audio, as well as the traditional phony textual news stories. Prior to President Joe Biden withdrawing from the 2024 race, he was the target of a vicious Russia-led and influenced social media campaign that questioned his mental and physical capacities.

3) Erosion of public trust in governments, political leadership, and public institutions. This includes questioning election officials, Secretaries of State of Michigan, Maine, Georgia, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, canvassing boards, and voter registration officers. Russia is suspected of launching hard-to-trace “swatting calls” to U.S. election officials. A swatting call is from someone who calls 9-1-1 or another emergency number to convey to law enforcement that a non-existent crime is occurring at a given address. Police SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams respond to such calls with guns drawn and ramming devices to break down doors. Artificial intelligence has permitted Russian and other malign actors to imitate the voices of swatting call victims. Overall, Russia and China, in disrupting all facets of the democratic electoral process, are seeking to erode public support for democracy.

Sept. 12

Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted 2016 Green Party Presidential Nominee Jill Stein, below right, at his table in early 2016 before her vote totals in key states exceeded the margin of victory for Republican Donald Trump, thereby helping enabled his defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton. Stein, who ran also in 2020 and again this year, was joined at Putin’s table by the Russian dictator’s communications director, Dimitry Peskov, and future Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn (Photo via RT, formerly “Russia Today,” Putin’s state-run propaganda network).

Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), Investigative Commentary: Russia’s dangerous fifth column threatens democracy, Wayne Madsen, Sept. 12, 2024. Fascist governments have always relied on fifth columns abroad in furtherance of their geopolitical, military, and propaganda aims. Russia, in pursuing a policy to restore the Russian Empire with all the trappings of the Soviet Union, has decided that recruiting fifth columnists in countries ranging from Georgia and Moldova, in what Vladimir Putin considers Russia’s “near abroad,” to Great Britain and the United States will achieve Moscow’s ultimate goal of becoming a political superpower.

The term “fifth column” was actually crafted by Nazi Germany in 1936 to describe General Francisco Franco’s maneuvering of fascist forces in Spain, which were supported by Germany, during the Spanish civil war. A secret German diplomatic telegram from the German chargé d’affaires in Alicante to Berlin stated that Franco had four fascist columns approaching Madrid while a fifth column on standby within the Spanish capital was waiting for the order to launch an attack from inside the city. Although there is an argument among historians about the term fifth column (quinta columna in Spanish) being coined by Franco or one of his top generals, Emilio Mola, the term has generally been used to describe the presence of fascists, Nazis, and other far-rightists within nations for the purpose of destabilization.

Prior to and after America’s entry into World War II, fifth columnists were considered to be Axis power agents within the United States ready to commit acts of espionage and sabotage on behalf of Germany, Italy, and Japan.

In August 1940, The New York Times reported the presence of fifth columns working on behalf of fascist puppet regimes in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway, and the Netherlands. The Nazi regime of Vidkun Quisling in Norway introduced the term “quisling” into the lexicon. It meant a traitor or collaborator of the Nazis. Fifth columnists and quisling became paired terms in describing fascist takeovers of democratic nations.

Ever since Russia’s interference with the 2016 Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the U.S. presidential election that same year, Russia’s agents of influence abroad have been termed fifth columnists for the Kremlin. Far-right commentator Tucker Carlson has been called a fifth columnist for his lavish praise of Putin and Russia. Donald Trump also stands accused of being a fifth columnist.

The recent allegation by former acting director of the FBI Andrew McCabe, right, that Trump is likely a long-term asset of Moscow has lent credence to the belief that Trump has been and is a fifth columnist for Russia.

Today, Russia commands the most dangerous fifth column abroad since the days of Nazi Germany and the Axis. It includes techno-billionaires like Elon Musk, who bought Twitter to spread fascist propaganda, and Peter Thiel, who has bankrolled Trump, his vice presidential running mate Senator JD Vance of Ohio, and Hitler admirer Blake Masters of Arizona, a failed U.S. Senate candidate. Others involved in building up Russia’s fifth column abroad includes those who helped Musk procure the funding to acquire Twitter, including rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs; Silicon Valley Trump-supporting billionaire investors Larry Ellison, Marc Andreessen, and Bill Ackman; and even more alarmingly, two Russian billionaire oligarchs — Petr Aven and Vadim Moszkowicz — who are close to Putin.

Just as was the case with Nazi Germany financing far-right publications in the United States prior to December 1941, the Kremlin was caught by the FB Ifinancing far-right social media influencers via a Tennessee company called Tenet Media. Tenet (with its principals shown above) received funding, including via cryptocurrency payments, from Russian shell companies that included the Social Design Agency (SDA), Structura National Technology (STRUCTURA), ANO (Autonomous Non-Profit Organization) Dialog, Dialog Regions, and Reliable Recent New (RNN).

The Russian scheme — known as Doppelganger — to finance right-wing fifth columnists relied on 32 internet domains, all of which have been seized by the U.S. government. The Russians ran three social media “guerrilla” operations designed to influence the 2023 election on behalf of Republicans. They were called “The Good Old U.S.A. Project,” “Guerrilla Media Campaign in the United States,” and the “U.S. Social Media Influencer Network.”

Using American and other social media influencers, the Kremlin’s disinformation and disruption campaign according to Russian documents is focused on producing and disseminating “fake videos, documents, and telephone conversations recordings; comments on social media; news and pseudo-news; analytical materials; memes, caricatures, gifs; ‘augmented reality’ materials; fake and real quotes from influencers; songs, cartoons, and animation; [and] creating chats/groups to accumulate the number of participants in the conflict, etc.”

The aforementioned tactics rely on “media mirrors outlets; foreign and Russian influencers; bots and work with comments; groups on social media, Telegram channels; YouTube and other video hosting sites, etc.”

Russian fifth column campaigns include activities directed at stirring up hostility between Ukrainian refugees and host nation populations, including members of the Armenian diaspora in France; stirring up trouble between Muslim communities in Germany and France and Ukrainian refugees in those nations; accusing the German government of suppressing far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) supporters by accusing them of participating in an attempted coup against the federal government; stirring up labor protests in France against the government; falsely suggesting that Poland is demanding World War II reparations from Germany; pushing the false narrative of Nazism in modern Ukraine and sowing fear of it across Europe and the world; create false stories about the U.S. 2024 election, including stakes, rumors (such as the false stories about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio and bogus Venezuelan drug gangs in Aurora, Colorado), and forecasts; convince white Americans that they are on the path of white-ruled Southern Rhodesia, which became black majority-ruled Zimbabwe); promoting false stories about Russian opposition members overseas; and de-legitimize the U.S. 2024 election by inflating Trump’s standing in opinion polls in anticipation of his ultimate loss in the November 5, 2024 election.

The Russians disseminated propaganda on several Facebook pages masquerading as legitimate news organizations. They bore such names as CNN California, Sacramento Inside, California News, and California BBC. The Russian scheme was also aimed at U.S. and foreign audiences through the use of websites impersonating domestic and foreign-based legitimate organizations, including Der Spiegel, Bild, T-Online, Reuters, The Daily Mail, The Guardian, Fox News, Delfi, The Forward, Neues Deutschland, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Tagesspiege, Die Welt, Ukrainska Pravda, ManaBalss, Washington Post, Le Monde, Le Parisien, Le Figaro, Obozrevatel, La Repubblica, Milliyet, Al-Bayan, Gulf News, and Freies Volk, the latter a defunct West German Communist Party newspaper that ceased official publication in 1956.

As part of the FBI’s investigation it was discovered that Russia has maintained an active plan of establishing virtual “sleeper communities” to assist Russian intelligence in targeted operations in other nations. The primary platforms used by the Russians are identified asTelegram, X (Twitter), and Facebook.

The recent arrest by French authorities of Pavel Durov, aboved, the Dubai-based billionaire founder of Telegram, appears to be part of a multinational operation by Western nations to curb Russia’s fifth column operations. There is coordinated pressure on Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to curtail Russian fifth column and propaganda activities on social media.

Perhaps the most damning discovery by the FBI is the following goal sought by Russia, according to Russian documents seized as part of the Doppelganger investigation: “It makes sense for Russia to put a maximum effort to ensure that the Republican Party point of view (first and foremost, the opinion of Donald Trump supporters) wins over the U.S. public opinion. This includes provisions on peace in Ukraine in exchange for territories, the need to focus on the problems with the US economy, returning troops home from all over the world, etc.”

The Russian Doppelganger documents identify Russia’s targets in the 2024 election as follows:• The swing states of Nevada, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.• Residents of “conservative states,” including Alabama, Kansas, Texas, Wyoming, Louisiana, etc.• US citizens of Hispanic descent• American Jews• Israeli influencers• Republican voters• Donald Trump supporters• Supporters of traditional family values• White Americans, representing the lower-middle and middle class• Community of American gamers, users of Reddit and image boards, such as 4chan (the “backbone” of the right-wing trends in the US segment of the Internet)• Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), Telegram channels, Instagram, Yandex-zen, and Reddit• Targeted advertising

Russian campaign influence tactics include:• Focus on “record inflation. Halting of economic growth. Unaffordable prices for food and essential goods.• Risk of job loss for white Americans• Privileges for people of color, perverts, and disabled• Constant lies of the Democratic Party administration about the real situation in the country• Threats of crime coming from people of color and immigrants (including new immigrants from Ukraine)• Overspending on foreign policy and at the expense of interests of white U.S. citizens• Constant lies to voters by Democrats in power• Last but not least – America is suffering a defeat despite Kamala Harris’s efforts. We are being drawn into the war. Our guys will die in Ukraine.”

Perhaps one of the most concerning plans by Russian intelligence is to promote the presence on the Mexican side of the U.S. border of mercenaries of the former Russian firm PMC Wagner. The Russian goal is to use “drug gangs, ‘sicarios’ (murderers) squads, crowds of sometimes furious refugees, and smugglers” to pressure such Mexican border cities as Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Tecolapa, etc. to encourage those jurisdictions to contract with Russian private military companies to place personnel on the borders of Arizona and Texas. The Russian plans foresee an “exacerbated confrontation” between Mexico and the United States.

The Russian documents quote an American social media influencer on the Russian payroll:

“America have fish that are silent on the left and the right, Canada sleeps at the top, and Mexico dances below. Thus, the United States does not have threats and does not spend energy on mitigating them. All threats are happening in some esoteric realm of the global West and America-centric civilization. Today, the time has come to show to the United States that it is under a threat. And we can do it.”

“We,” as referenced in the Russian documentation, consists of every Trump supporter in the United States. They constitute America’s fifth column. They must be shamed as the traitors, collaborators with America’s enemies, and quislings that they have allowed themselves to become.

A Wayne Madsen Report chart showing links between Russians and prominent Republican officials.

Wayne Madsen Report, Special Report: The Russian Bear in the West’s Political HousesSpecial Report: The Russian Bear in the West’s Political Houses, Wayne Madsen Report, April 4, 2024. Russian agents and assets permeate Western political systems. Democracy cannot survive with Kremlin stooges acting as modern-day quislings. (WMR Special Report of 27 pages available with WMR monthly subscription.)

In legislatures around the world intelligence agents, assets, and dupes are feverishly working to undermine democratic governance and sowing political chaos. This Kremlin- directed subterfuge is designed to advance the cause of fascism, thrust fascist-oriented political parties into power, and undermine the very fabric of modern liberal democracy.

Ever since Russia was documented to have co-opted social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and data miners like Cambridge Analytica to influence the 2016 Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the 2016 presidential election in the United States, Moscow has doubled down on its political influence operations by outright enlisting far-right and some far-left Western politicians to do its bidding.

While vehemently denying that Russia interferes in Western elections and popular referendums, Putin has no problem blaming the West for interfering in Russian elections, including his 2024 lopsided 87 percent victory in a quite fraudulent “re- election.”Moscow’s plan is simple.

By subjecting Western and other democracies to unending political chaos, Russia and its allies, most notably China and Iran, are able to extend their political, economic, and military influence far beyond their borders. In this article, we expose Russia’s tentacles that reach into practically every national and sub- national legislature in the world and shine a spotlight on the politicians who have sold out their nations to benefit Russia.

Source: http://www.justice-integrity.org/2091-donald-trumps-putin-plan-to-destroy-american-democracy