While the Kremlin is silent on the election, the word passed to official media. And the target is to discredit the future US president, whoever he is.
Now that the campaign is over only few hours are left to know who will lead the first world power, there is little to do to change the fate of the election. At least from outside the United States. Thus, the orders given to the Kremlin media – the main stakeholders of these presidential, besides the US – is to do what they do best: discredit, disparage and disrupt. In short, try to bring home a result in any case, no matter who of the two candidates will be elected president of the United States of America.
The lesser of two evils
In recent months, the “media forces” of the Kremlin have given more than a few impression that the “Moscow candidate” is Donald Trump. This impression is confirmed by the exchange of compliments between Trump himself and Vladimir Putin. The two like each other, and it’s no secret. Indeed, the Russian president was one of the first international figures to give his endorsement to the Republican candidate, during the year-end speech. ” He is a very flamboyant man, very talented, no doubt about that… He is the absolute leader of the presidential race, as we see it today. He says that he wants to move to another level of relations, to a deeper level of relations with Russia. How can we not welcome that?”, Putin said.
Trump has replied on several occasions, like when he revealed an anticipation of what could be his foreign policy: “Putin said I was brilliant. That proves a certain smartness. He hates Obama, Obama hates him. I would get along very well with Vladimir Putin”.
Now, though, just a few hour from the verdict and with almost all the polls reporting Hillary Clinton as favored, the music played by Russian media has changed.
The pot calling the cat…
Dmitry Kiselyov – the front man of the Russian information war machine – fired one of the last big shot during his Sunday program on the State channel, Rossyia. “It has been the dirtiest campaign in the history of the United States”, he said. “It has been so revoltingly foul that there is real disgust at the fact that they still talk of democracy in America”. The message from the Kremlin, delivered through Kiselyov, is that everything is so rotten that anyone will be new president, will be a “lame duck”.
From a straight support to Trump, we have now assisting to a straight attack on Clinton – “Where is the real Hillary? Why do only 30 percent of Americans believe in her honesty? That is to say, even her supporters think she’s a liar” – and to a call into question of the entire US electoral system. Without giving the slightest shred of evidence (but for him this has never been a problem), Kiselyov talks about frauds and machinations, so that “The games of our governors in the 1990s are simple child’s play in comparison with what is going on in the U.S.”
At RT, the international news channel previously known as Russia Today, instead use less crude methods. Their proven technique is the careful selection of news to be boosted – with no need to manipulate them – and those to be ignored. Just look at the different coverage given to the #podestaemails scandal, the emails hacked to John Podesta, Clinton campaign chair (heralded on the front page) and #SurkovLeaks on stolen emails to Putin’s adviser on Ukraine (try to find even a hint of it) .
At this time, then, the media coverage of the presidential election is summed up in the slogan “the lesser evil.” Giving the Clinton victory almost for granted, RT says to American voters that whoever they will choose, they will choose evil. The live coverage of the election has a symbolic title: “Hilarious for America“. It would be hilarious indeed, if only the criticism didn’t come from a country listed at the bottom of the rankings for freedom and democracy.
@daniloeliatweet
While the Kremlin is silent on the election, the word passed to official media. And the target is to discredit the future US president, whoever he is.
