Conservative politicians and media figures are pushing false and conspiratorial narratives about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The spreading of disinformation by American Republican figures aligns with the Kremlin’s legendary disinformation machine, according to experts on information manipulation.
A few key figures in the U.S. are responsible for spreading Moscow’s war falsehoods about Ukraine.
Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, a few big Republican rightwing congresspeople, and key conservative activists are massive disinformation spreaders, experts have found, who are echoing Russian war disinformation.
A feedback loop has been created between the Kremlin and the American right, passing echoing back and forth and therefore giving it a foothold. It has been palpable since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, which Moscow falsely labeled as a “special military operation” aimed at stopping the “genocide” being committed against Russians in Ukraine and the “denazification” of Ukraine.
The claims have been debunked consistently and massively labeled to be bogus, drawing huge international criticism. But influential figures, especially Carlson, have pushed these false narratives to millions of viewers on Fox News.
And Fox News consumers have eagerly embraced and recycled disinformation from Moscow.
In Congress, two far-right congressional conservatives, Madison Cawthorn and Marjorie Taylor Greene, have “delighted” Moscow, experts say. Cawthorn and Greene last month condemned Zelensky without evidence, with Cawthorn calling him a “thug” with an “incredibly corrupt” government, and with Greene calling Zelensky “corrupt.”
Tusli Gabbard, technically a Democrat who is a former congresswoman but is known for being massively right-wing, attempted to soften and spin Putin’s crackdown on independent media within Russia and made a wild claim that what is happening in the u.S. is not so different from what’s happening in Russia. Russian state TV called Gabbard “our friend Tulsi.”
Specialists in disinformation say that fake narratives by the U.S. right and by Moscow during the Ukraine invasion have displayed new twists to increase conspiracy-heavy news flows. A two-way flow of conspiracy narratives between American right-wing media and Kremlin information creates a loop to reinforce and bolster messaging.
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