Thursday, August 24, 2017

OnPolitics Today: How Russian Twitter accounts push pro-Trump propaganda

Plus: Trump's total eclipse of Obama.
 
usatoday.com
with Josh Hafner
OnPolitics Today: How Russian Twitter accounts push pro-Trump propaganda
In this July 7, 2017 file photo, President Trump meets

There's a Russian propaganda network of 600 Twitter accounts that target U.S. voters, a new report shows, and - get this - it only spreads content that promotes President Trump. 

Wild, right? Then again, Trump's own current chief of staff admitted himself that Russia launched a pro-Trump propaganda campaign to influence last fall's election - a claim Trump and  Russia, oddly enough, both downplayed.

The network, tracked by A D.C.-based think tank, pushes out messages beneficial to Russia's government, largely from right-leaning news outlets and poorly designed blogs seen on the Facebook feed of your one uncle you don't talk to that often. Think Gateway Pundit, True Pundit and Breitpart.

Editors for both True Pundit and Gateway Pundit criticized the project to USA TODAY. Neither denied benefitting from the Russia propaganda.

Also on Thursday: Trump attacked McConnell, Clapper and spelling in general, while the Secret Service still struggled to get paid.

It's OnPolitics Today, the daily politics roundup from USA TODAY. Subscribe here.

Trump's Tweetstorm o' the Week™: Four deleted tweets and an eclipse

Trump promoted himself on Twitter this a.m., firing insults at James Clapper ('an authority on Donald Trump'), Mitch McConnell ('he failed!'), and Democrats (who can't ' change tones!'). Trump struggled with that last one, deleting tweets in his anti-Dems series after he misspelled "there" and "too" several times Trump also retweeted a cryptic image of  himself eclipsing Barack Obama , perhaps hinting his presidency will be a short-lived but captivating event that could burn all our eyes out.

Trump's 'big, beautiful wall' could shut down the government, hurt GOP

Mexico won't pay for Trump's controversial border wall, despite Trump reportedly begging its president  to stop saying so. And Senate Democrats don't want to pay for it either, vowing to block funding for the "immoral and expensive" barrier. Now Trump's threatening to shut down the government over it, a move Republican leaders also oppose: "I don't think most people want to see a government shutdown, ourselves included," House Speaker Paul Ryan said.

It's Trump's latest move to isolate himself from pretty much everyone except his base. And it's already rattling markets.

Secret Service director to agents: I'm 'fighting' to get you paid

Secret Service agents are without pay - hundreds of them - as they protect Donald Trump and his 18-member family on vacations to Trump properties and frequent business trips. Trump has traveled nearly every weekend to his luxury properties in Florida, Virginia and New Jersey as the agency protects an unprecedented 42 officials. The agency's director, Randolph Alles,  told agents in a memo that he's "fighting" to get legislation in place to raise its cap from $161,000 to $187,000.
 

Elsewhere in politics: 

U.N. to America: Yikes, please deal with your racism
Comey, no longer unemployed, gets teaching gig
Trump's quiet wins on energy issues
Trump's mental health still up for debate
Supreme Court to hear landmark case on gerrymandering
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