From disinformation to conspiracy theory: A troubling genesis (II)

LAAS LEIVAT

Trump’s accusations that Ukraine was responsible for helping his opponent in the 2016 elections can be traced to some Ukrainians, but not to the type of organized election interference that the U.S. president alleges.

Many Ukrainians were deeply betrayed by Trump’s public acceptance of Russia’s annexation of Crimea. They were also apprehensive about Paul Manafort’s relationship with pro-Russian Ukrainian government officials. In fact they knew that Manafort had made millions from lobbying for Ukraine not to be accepted into NATO and the EU.

The anti-Trump sentiment in Ukraine was not directed by any group or official establishment. It did not match the fullblown, systematic, aggressive attack to influence the elections launched by Moscow and controlled by Putin.

The Kremlin saw the scattered anti-Trump feelings in Ukraine as something to exploit. Thus it was easy to concoct an elaborate story which could be fed to a fertile field of believers – Trump, who fumed at reminders of the 3,000,000 Clinton votes above his total, Trump’s sycophants and ultra-right media. The theories are usually fed trough businessmen, oligarchs, networks of intermediaries.

In spite of Trump declaring publicly that he believed Putin’s denials of interfering in the 2016 elections. some say that Trump may actually secretly agree with all of the US intelligence services’ proof that the Kremlin was involved. But his coziness with Putin – the latter’s possible inexplicable hold on him – compels him to state otherwise.

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