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Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
@RVAwonk
Jan 18, 2018 • 10 tweets • 4 min read • Read on X
The FBI is investigating whether Alexander Torshin, a top Russian banker (known as the "Russian godfather"), illegally funneled money to the NRA to help Trump win.

(The NRA spent $30 million to support Trump — 3X what they gave to Romney's 2012 campaign)

mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-wo…
<quick thread>
A bit of background info on Alexander Torshin, the Russian bank exec and suspected mobster/organized crime boss who is now being investigated for potentially funneling $ through the NRA to help Trump's campaign. (That's him at the 2016 NRA convention👇).

/1/ Image
According to intel assessments, Torshin is part of a years-long "aggressive Kremlin effort to forge alliances" w/top GOP figures, including those close to the WH. The NRA is a major conduit of influence here... and possibly also a cash conduit.

/2/
Trump was set to meet with Alexander Torshin in February before the National Prayer Breakfast. The meeting was canceled the night before when an NSC staffer blew the whistle and flagged Torshin as a potential Russian mobster...

/3/
In Nov., @NBCNews reported that Jared Kushner failed to disclose what lawmakers called a "Russian backdoor overture & dinner invite" from Alexander Torshin.

Torshin wanted Trump to attend an event at the NRA's May 2016 convention in Louisville, KY.

/4/
nbcnews.com/news/us-news/k…
The undisclosed email chain suggested that Torshin "was seeking to meet with a high-level Trump campaign official during the NRA convention, and that he may have had a message for Trump from Putin."

/5/
Also in Nov., Don Jr admitted that he met with Torshin at a private dinner at the NRA's 2016 convention — just as Torshin requested in the (undisclosed) emails to Kushner (in which he said he wanted to meet with a high-level Trump campaign official).

/6/
Torshin and Trump have reportedly known each other since at least 2012. According to Bloomberg, the two "had a jovial exchange at the NRA convention in Tennessee in 2015."

...interesting how this keeps circling back to the NRA, isn't it?

/7/
Another key figure in the Torshin-NRA-Trump nexus: Torshin's "special assistant" Maria Butina, who attended one of Trump's first campaign events in April 2015 — during which Trump signaled his willingness to lift sanctions on Russia.

/8/
Here's Trump in 2015, suggesting to Maria Butina (Russian crime boss Alexander Torshin's special assistant) that he would lift sanctions on Russia.

"I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin... I don't think you'd need the sanctions."

/9/

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More from @RVAwonk

Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Jan 11
There are a lot of reports about fire hydrants around the LA area lacking pressure and/or not having any water when firefighters went to use them, and I haven’t seen anyone raise the question of whether this could be the result of a deliberate attack on US infrastructure?
Unsurprisingly, most people are blaming the political administration in CA and LA for failing to properly maintain the fire hydrants, which could be true. But it’s also the exact the narrative I would push if I wanted to deflect attention from a deliberate attack.
We already know that China is targeting our critical infrastructure, “including naval ports, internet service providers and utilities,” so it’s not really a stretch to suggest that things like fire hydrants could be part of such an attack.
reuters.com/world/us/us-di…
Read 5 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Nov 30, 2024
I love it when I’m running, & some angry old man beeps his horn & yells at me to look up b/c they think I don’t see their car, presumably b/c they didn’t see me until the last minute. Meanwhile I saw them coming 1/4 mile away & already memorized their make, model, & plate #.
I’m capable of looking at my phone while running & paying attention to the road at the same time, it’s one of the skills that women have to learn to keep ourselves alive. We are never not paying attention to our surroundings b/c we know that angry men like you kill women like me.
I also love how so many men get angry at *me* when they scare the shit out of themselves by almost hitting me with their car because they didn’t notice me until the last second. It’s the pedestrian safety parallel to “ well, what’d you expect? you were wearing a short skirt.”
Read 6 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Nov 18, 2024
Trump and Musk’s inevitable breakup is going to be the messiest divorce that any of us has ever seen, and it’s probably going to happen a lot sooner than you think.

newrepublic.com/post/188501/el…Image
One of the unique & defining features of malignant narcissism is the use of self-destructive behaviors as a control mechanism. When a malignant narcissist fears they are losing control, they will often sabotage their own relationships, career, etc, just to maintain control.
And both of these men, in very public ways, have demonstrated characteristics of malignant narcissism.

For example:
Read 6 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Nov 6, 2024
Something that you have to understand about Russian interference is that it’s highly unlikely that they would actually try to manipulate votes or vote tallies. Why? Because they know they can achieve the same or even better outcomes by manipulating voters instead. 🧵
I wrote about this 5 years ago.

As I said then, changing the vote count in one election would yield limited returns. But convincing voters to doubt the legitimacy of election outcomes for the foreseeable future? That’s a return on investment.

bylinetimes.com/2019/07/26/rus…Image
There is a strange tendency to talk about Russian interference as if the impact must either be direct — i.e. changing vote totals — or nonexistent. But that’s not the reality of how influence and information operations work, which is through subtle & indirect effects.
Read 9 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Nov 6, 2024
If you’re genuinely surprised that Trump won, may I gently suggest that you reevaluate where you are getting your information from, and be honest with yourself about whether you are willing to listen to people who tell you things you don’t necessarily want to hear.
The information environment on the left is broken, too, just in different ways than on the right. Too many people choose who to follow and who to listen to based on who makes them feel good, not who tells them the truth. In fact, those who told the truth were often ostracized.
I know this because it happened to me. Over & over & over again. I could’ve just chosen to tell you comfortable lies, like many influencers do. It’s scandalously easy to go viral doing that. But unlike them, I wasn’t willing to light our country on fire for clicks & ad revenue.
Read 4 tweets
Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D Profile picture
Oct 6, 2024
A viral claim emerged from pro-Trump Twitter on Friday, alleging that locals in NC had assaulted a FEMA director. By Saturday, it was a top Google trend. But it never actually happened.

Here’s how a fictional story ended in real threats of violence:
weaponizedspaces.substack.com/p/how-a-viral-…Image
There were a lot of striking aspects of this story, but more than anything, this was among the clearest examples I’ve seen of how online storytelling can be used to motivate and guide offline violence through the reframing of political violence as a necessary act of survival. Image
The rumor first emerged on Friday, but really picked up steam later on Friday and into the early hours of Saturday AM, when it ranked among the top 10 Google searches. The initial tweet was retweeted 20,000+ times & got 100,000+ “likes” & 6.4 million views in the first 19 hours. Image
Image
Read 14 tweets

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