The Kremlin Propagandists are Taking Advantage of Another American Tragedy
This time it's the California wildfires
If you’re relatively new to the issues related to Kremlin propaganda and how it’s affecting other countries (including the United States), I recommend reading some background posts I wrote that explains things in more detail along with links to other sites where you can read more to educate yourself.
The one thing about living in a big country like the United States is that it can be a study in contrasts. I live on the East Coast in the Washington, DC area, which recently dealt with a major snowstorm followed by very cold weather where patches of ice formed on the streets and sidewalks. At the same time, on the other side of the country in California, the people there had to deal with the opposite extreme of deadly wildfires that are breaking all records of being the most devastating and destructive disaster ever in US history.
What the people are going through in California in terms of losing their homes, their possessions, and even their lives is bad enough but there are other things they have to deal with—Kremlin propaganda. Just like the earlier collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore and Hurricane Helene's rampage through the South, Kremlin propagandists and their Republican allies are taking advantage of the situation to spread disinformation primarily on Twitter/X. Here are just a few disgusting samples, which includes the government using lasers to start the wildfires and the wildfires aren't being contained because the US had previously sent so much aid and equipment to other countries (namely Israel, Ukraine, Gaza, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon) that California doesn't have enough equipment to fight those fires.
The previous attempts to politicize disasters were a way of discrediting President Joe Biden. Since Biden will be out of the White House in a few days and he's being replaced by Putin's favorite president, Donald Trump, these propagandists have a new target: California Governor Gavin Newsom. Why him? Because he's a Democrat who's a rising star in the Democrat Party. Some people have even speculated that he could become president one day. So he has become a new target for both the Kremlin and the GOP. Elon Musk, the owner of a bunch of companies and Vladimir Putin sympathizer, took to his own Twitter/X platform to retweet an anti-Newsom tweet while adding “Gavin Newsom is a scumbag.”
The disinformation has become such a huge problem that Governor Newsom has put up a California Fire Facts page online in an attempt to set the record straight.
There are some bright spots to this disaster. Canada, Mexico, and Israel sent teams of their firefighters to help battle the wildfires. Additionally Ukraine has offered to send some of its firefighters to help despite the fact that it is still trying to fend off the Russian invaders. This proves that despite people like Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Vladimir Putin having a huge amount of political power and they would like to have more, there are still a lot of decent people in the world who are always willing to lend a hand to help those in need.
And speaking of helping those in need, here are some ways that you can help those who have been affected by the wildfires. Additionally here are ways that you can be on the alert for scammers who are taking advantage of the situation in order to enrich themselves.
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