The Pawn Play: How Emotional Outrage Left Influencers Exposed as Useful Idiots
Yesterday with release of Department of Justice filings on an ongoing investigation against Russian propaganda site RT news we got to see the latest spectacle of influencers falling for a Russian propaganda scheme is a tragedy dressed as farce. In my best Rod Sterling impersonation: Imagine, if you will, members of the Con Inc outrage machine convinced they were playing 4D chess on the geopolitical stage in their commentary and influence—only to discover they were only pawns on a board they didn’t even know existed. A checkmate from Moscow, if you will, made more humiliating by the fact that some of these influencers are now claiming they in fact were the victims in all of this. A multi-million dollar whoopsie in the grand chess game of global influence. It would be funny if it weren’t tragically emblematic of a broader trend I've been writing and speaking about: the hollowing out of conservatism into soundbites and conspiracies, where outrage is the currency and critical thinking is left to starve on a street corner somewhere.
The revelation that Con Inc influencers were receiving millions for promoting Russian propaganda is indeed supported by multiple reports and according to the indictment against two foreign agents involved, these media figures were unknowingly participating in a Russian influence operation by promoting narratives designed to undermine U.S. interests. These influencers, many of whom have a business model of decrying the victim mentality, have ironically started to portray themselves as victims after it was discovered they received millions in payments to push agendas they allegedly didn’t believe in.
In fact, the only thing more absurd than these influencers' role in spreading propaganda is how they feign being shocked SHOCKED I tell you -that they’ve been caught. It’s like watching someone willingly walk into a trap and then being surprised that they’re caught in it. “I had no idea,” they protest, as their bank accounts swell with Kremlin cash. The claim if taken to it's logical conclusion is that they knew they were receiving money for specific content, agreed to do so, knew that the funding was coming from a foreign entity, they just didn't know it was Russia or that it was an influencing campaign by Russia (which is kind of the point of a Russian influencing campaign). The irony is so thick you could cut it with a butter knife and spread it over your blini (they're like crepes but Russian). These "deep thinkers" of the TransCon populist conservative movement managed to sell out without even knowing what they were selling, this is the crisis in the modern age for conservatism, people who offer little substance preferring flash getting burned by the flash.