Senator Marco Rubio doesn’t think that Russia paying off right-wing influencers is a big deal.
The ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was asked on Fox News Thursday about the Justice Department revelation that several conservative commentators were paid by assets of the Russian government to produce propaganda and disinformation. Rubio defended the influencers, calling them “victims.”
“We are talking about preexisting political opinions in the United States. These are preexisting political opinions that have existed well before any Russian engagement or involvement or what have you,” Rubio said to Sean Hannity. “These people that they say that were being funded by the secret donor that was hiding their true identity, they already had these opinions, they already believed in these things.”
“They legitimately believe in the views that they’re espousing,” Rubio added. “They were victims, they were targets of a fraud in which someone posing as just a regular investor had Russian money behind them.”
Marco Rubio downplays Russia paying prominent rightwing influencers because "we're talking about preexisting political opinions in the United States ... they legitimately believe in the views they're espousing. They were victims." pic.twitter.com/HGgnyJSLmG
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 6, 2024
Rubio is joining his fellow conservatives in defending the commentators at Tenet Media, which the DOJ revealed Wednesday was secretly funded by Russian state media employees in “a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging.” These influencers included Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Lauren Chen, and Benny Johnson. One right-wing media organization, Blaze Media, has already fired Chen as a result of the indictment.
Not surprisingly, these commentators described themselves as victims in the scheme, a point that was not only echoed by Rubio, but also by MAGA Republicans like Representative Matt Gaetz, pundit Ben Shapiro, and even Donald Trump. But, how do they explain that these “preexisting ideas” popular among Republicans right now seem to be exactly what Vladimir Putin’s government wanted to fund?
Previous Russian operations in the United States appear to have been aimed at promoting conflict and discord to undermine faith in the country’s institutions, such as the electoral process, and promote foreign policy favorable to Russia. It stands to reason that funding conservative influencers had similar aims. Right-wing figures like Rubio, Trump (whose political rise has been very useful to Putin), and Gaetz have to ask themselves if the ideas they’re espousing can really be good for America if Putin himself wants to put money behind them.
