Thread by @TimInHonolulu

1. When the Russians attacked Ukraine it was joined with a massive disinformation effort. I stay away from Facebook and YouTube channel fights and was focused solely on Twitter. It took time for Ukraine to get traction but accurate prompt reporting pushed back Russian lies and

2. help stabilize the political situation. Eventually a partial cease fire came that has now become a frozen war. Russia achieved much in seizing territory but but by defending its information sphere Ukraine's democracy was able to resist being consumed by the Russian lies.

3. I recall that was around late 2015, when Trump showed up. And I soon spotted that Russian accounts showed up too. @TheDemocrats and @HillaryClinton campaign never seemed to comprehend what was happening. They knew they'd been hacked saw all the noise in social media

4. but I don't recall seeing any evidence that they comprehended they were under a full scale Russian attack. It was obvious to me after Ukraine and by Fall 2016 it was going full tilt.

It's started again. In the last seven days or so the volume of Russian accounts

5. that I have encountered has gone from zero to approaching Summer 2016 levels. They appear to have been activated to obscure the reporting on Trump's finances. Have you noticed that's not in the news?

Here's how I might suggest we deal with them:

6. First, @TheDemocrats need to take a leading role. The GOP working with the GRU have a major advantage of being centrally controlled by the GRU. The botnets and sock-puppets are being directed by a central strategic hub. Likely still in St. Petersburg.

7. It makes them very nimble and quick to act. and very dangerous. If I had to guess I would think they are being run ostensibly via Brad Parscale's shop in San Antonio. But the manner in which Mueller blew off the clear 30121 violation may make direct involvement a free move.

8. But these trolls appear clearly Russian IMO. That means they likely know what Trump is going to do and get ready to push the content. Just like in 2016. To counter it the Democrats need to centralize a response. I doubt the party even has an anti-propaganda unit.

9. If they don't and are not working on one they might as well turn out the lights. @TomPerez should get it going or move on. We need to look at this as warfare. Read Mueller's indictments. He knows that it's warfare and so do the Russians.

10. We need to deal with every news cycle as if it were a battle. We have to prepare every day for the battle that will surely come. We have some good news media allies but they are just as overwhelmed as Hillary' campaign was in 2016. They need to develop discipline

11. and analyze every significant news issue before deciding whether it should be treated a fact or simply Trump Russia directed disinformation. If not sure make a prediction. Like the weather. Part of the reporting should be to give the story a propaganda scores.

12. Call it BS quotient or something catchy. If it is obvious that what Trump is doing is to obscure some other fact or otherwise divert attention, a simple comment is often all that is necessary to defeat it.

I've noticed something. Russian trolls hate it when you let them

13. know you figured out what they are up to. But it's better to just block them. Running @BotSentinel filters and checking the account before engaging is the key. And when you find a juicy troll always look at their followers. That tells you who your minders likely are.

14. It takes some discipline but, in time, accounts engaged in legitimate political discourse can be rid of the trolls. They thrive on naivety. When we have control of Congress and the White House can impose regulation on social media to end this attack vector.

15. We don't allow people to shout "fire" in a crowded theater for a joke and we can constitutionally rid our lives of foreign enemies in our timelines. But we need to win first and stopping the trolls and exposing the propaganda is the way to do that.