• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, November 4, 2024

This post contains sensitive content, which some people may find offensive or disturbing. It's about Donald Trump. Click "read now" if you want to see it.

I wrote that blurb -- and blurred the opening image that shows up in our newsletters -- as a public service for readers who don't want to see any of my personal commentary about Trump, because I guarantee you, it will be both offensive and disturbing.

I did it out of respect for readers who have reached out to me and asked me to stop trashing Trump.

While I'm not going to stop writing about him, at least for now, a day ahead of the election, I don't want to offend anyone who doesn't want to see it.

I did explain that a) I have an obligation to publish a regular personal blog about politics and media (this one); b) trash-talking Trump is the most relevant thing I can publish right now; c) all MediaPost readers are in control of what they read, even what we send to them, and all they need do is click the "unsubscribe" button at the bottom of any newsletter to stop receiving it.

So if none of that works, be forewarned that anytime you see a post written by me with a blurred-out image, with the disclaimer copy on it, there's a good chance it is something you will find offensive and disturbing.

As for today's post, I'm actually borrowing something from my personal b/log on Substack, a graphic novelization of some recent historical fiction about Trump called "Fake News."

This installment was inspired by a new analysis NewsGuard published late last week showing how Russian trolls have adapted a new technique in their disinformation campaign to influence the outcome of Tuesday's election in favor of Trump.

You can read about the technique here, but it involves a network of Russian operatives targeting the comments sections of fact-checking services like NewsGuard and others to spread disinformation -- often about the very facts the services were trying to set straight.

The campaign is ingenious for a couple or reasons, including a) that it drains the resources of the fact-checking services to counter the counter-attacks; and b) it actually uses them as a vector for spreading disinformation.

I'm not sure why I've chosen to make that the focus of today's "Fake News" strip -- one day ahead of the election -- but of all the destructive things Trump managed leading up to it, I believe some of the worst involves his ultra secret relationship with Putin, and how Russia uses it to attack us.