Trump’s 2016 Campaign Strategies and Russian Bots’ Rhetoric Were “Uncanny” in Similarity, Chris Cuomo Notes

In his CNN segment Cuomo Prime Time, Chris Cuomo pointed out some connections between the Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign messaging that he calls “uncanny.” That’s putting it lightly. Using information from two recent third-party reports about Russia’s interference in the 2016 election via social media, Cuomo shows there isn’t just some similarity between the group’s goals and strategies; they mirror each other.

As if suspicions of ties between Trump and Russia weren’t already overwhelming enough, Cuomo makes a solid case just by laying out facts. Russian campaign ads were proven to focus on disenfranchising or turning three major groups through voter suppression. Those groups included African Americans, young women and white liberals.

In 2016, a Trump official was quoted as saying just about the same thing. Bloomberg cites Trump’s digital director Brad Parscale as having said that targeting those same groups would “dramatically affect [Hillary Clinton’s] ability to turn those people out.” It’s clear from that alone that Russian and Trump’s goals were aligned, but the likenesses continue: Cuomo asserts that as the election itself drew nearer, Russian bots and Trump both warned of voter fraud and a stolen election, preemptively declaring that a win from Hillary could only mean interference.

“I’m not saying it’s a crime. I’m saying it’s uncanny,” Cuomo explains. “The symmetry continued right up until the end, in the days leading up to the campaign, the actual election, the Russians went all in on what? Allegations of voter fraud, warnings that the election would be stolen. Sound familiar? Of course, it does. You were hearing the same exact thing from then-candidate Donald Trump.”

It’s known at this point that Russians agreed to dig up—dare we say the cursed phrase—Hillary’s emails. We know there was cooperation between the two. But an organized campaign strategy is a wholly new idea, with a whole new set of implications about the Russian bot that hacked its way into the White House.

Check out Cuomo’s full segment below.

The Republican controlled Senate Intel Committee just put out some third party research that provides our best evidence to date of what Russia was doing on social media to muck up our election. The clear goal: help Trump. #LetsGetAfterIt#CuomoPrimeTimepic.twitter.com/kwqTdumoGc

— Christopher C. Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) December 18, 2018