{"postID":134540616,"cachedAt":711729714.65991604,"updatedAt":711729714.65991199,"content":{"type":"doc","content":[{"type":"captionedImage","content":[{"type":"image2","attrs":{"topImage":false,"bytes":311218,"href":null,"internalRedirect":null,"fullscreen":null,"width":1080,"src":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/324ce915-5bb7-48f6-b00a-518a712e584a_1080x720.jpeg","title":null,"type":"image\/jpeg","belowTheFold":false,"height":720,"imageSize":null,"resizeWidth":null,"alt":null}}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley)","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/going_rogue\/the-worst-2024-election-interference-wont-come-from-russia-or-china"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":":"}]},{"type":"soundcloud","attrs":{"thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/i1.sndcdn.com\/artworks-HH8Qe1VcxxZIiHWL-mFRyPg-t500x500.jpg","title":"The Worst 2024 Election Interference Won't Come From Russia Or China by Caitlin Johnstone","author_name":"Caitlin Johnstone","targetUrl":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/going_rogue\/the-worst-2024-election-interference-wont-come-from-russia-or-china","description":"And it really is interesting how almost everyone seems to be pretty much okay with corporations in the media and Silicon Valley interfering in a US election like this. Everyone shrieked their lungs out about the (now wholly discredited) narrative that Russian bots had influenced the US election with tweets and Facebook memes, but immensely wealthy corporations with universes more influence manipulating the way people think and vote is perfectly fine?\n\nReading by Tim Foley.","author_url":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/going_rogue","url":"https:\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1563058261"}},{"type":"button","attrs":{"text":"Subscribe now","url":"https:\/\/www.caitlinjohnst.one\/subscribe?","class":null,"action":"checkout_url"}},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"The New York Times has been churning out an amazing number of hit pieces on Robert F Kennedy Jr lately. "}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"On Tuesday the Times published an audio essay titled “"},{"type":"text","text":"Why I Regret Debating Robert F. Kennedy Jr.","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/11\/opinion\/conspiracy-theory-debate-rfk.html?showTranscript=1"}}]},{"type":"text","text":"” by opinion columnist Farhad Manjoo. Manjoo debated Kennedy in 2006 about the legitimacy of George W Bush’s 2004 win against John Kerry, believing that Kennedy’s skepticism of the election results was dangerous."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"“Disputing elections is just not good for democracy,” Manjoo says, joining the rest of the American liberal political\/media class in rewriting history to pretend they didn’t just spend the entire Trump administration "},{"type":"text","text":"doing exactly that","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.cjr.org\/special_report\/trumped-up-press-versus-president-part-1.php"}}]},{"type":"text","text":"."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Manjoo cites his experience debating Kennedy (whom he repeatedly refers to as a “conspiracy theorist”) to argue that nobody should debate the presidential candidate on the topic of Covid vaccines, adding yet another entry to the "},{"type":"text","text":"countless","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/brucelee\/2023\/06\/26\/why-peter-hotez-should-not-debate-rfk-jr-on-the-joe-rogan-experience\/","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" "},{"type":"text","text":"articles","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/archive.is\/f5JaU"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" and "},{"type":"text","text":"news segments","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/opinion\/msnbc-opinion\/joe-rogan-rfk-jr-vaccine-debate-podcast-hotez-rcna90201"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" which were "},{"type":"text","text":"published","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/opinion\/2023\/07\/05\/rogan-podcast-debate-rfk-jr-wont-answer-vaccine-questions\/70368766007\/","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" in the "},{"type":"text","text":"mass","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2023\/6\/22\/23768539\/rogan-rfk-hotez-debate-vaccine-deniers-better"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" "},{"type":"text","text":"media","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/opinion\/articles\/2023-06-21\/debating-vaccines-with-rfk-jr-on-joe-rogan-would-not-be-helpful"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" last "},{"type":"text","text":"month","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/newrepublic.com\/post\/173766\/joe-rogan-elon-musk-spent-weekend-harrasing-vaccine-scientist"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" saying that vaccine scientist Peter Hotez should reject Joe Rogan’s offer of $100,000 to a charity of his choice if he’d debate Kennedy on the subject."}]},{"type":"captionedImage","content":[{"type":"image2","attrs":{"topImage":false,"bytes":253588,"href":null,"internalRedirect":null,"fullscreen":null,"src":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/9209a661-3e31-4260-a51e-b5e4fa7cbbc2_502x646.png","width":502,"title":null,"type":"image\/png","belowTheFold":false,"height":646,"imageSize":null,"resizeWidth":null,"alt":null}},{"type":"caption","content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nytimes\/status\/1676996947163349011","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":null,"href":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nytimes\/status\/1676996947163349011","target":"_blank"}}]}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Last week The New York Times published an article titled “"},{"type":"text","text":"5 Noteworthy Falsehoods Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Has Promoted","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/archive.is\/NFgLW"}}]},{"type":"text","text":",” along with a "},{"type":"text","text":"Paul Krugman article","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/archive.is\/PmTvz"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" which opens with the line “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a crank” and an opinion piece titled “"},{"type":"text","text":"Pro-Vaccine Views Are Winning. Don’t Fear the Skeptics.","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/archive.is\/w5K9d"}}]},{"type":"text","text":"” which opens with a stab at Kennedy. The week before that there was a standard "},{"type":"text","text":"hit piece by Gail Collins","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/archive.is\/UVGsO"}}]},{"type":"text","text":". The week before that there was "},{"type":"text","text":"another","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":" "},{"type":"text","text":"piece by Farhad Manjoo","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/archive.is\/dE03t"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" about how nobody should debate Kennedy about vaccines."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Sometimes they’re presented as opinion pieces, sometimes they’re "},{"type":"text","text":"presented as hard news stories","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2023\/04\/21\/today-in-empire-war-machine-funded-war-games-facebook-censors-hersh-and-more\/","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" despite brazenly biased language and overt editorializing, and all are slanted against Kennedy in some way. The New York Times plainly dislikes RFK Jr, and makes no secret of working to make sure its audience dislikes him too."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"And this is pretty much what we can expect from American mass media until Kennedy has either lost his presidential race or had his reputation so thoroughly destroyed among the electorate that he can be safely ignored. The message will be hammered and hammered and hammered home until the "},{"type":"text","text":"illusory truth effect","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Illusory_truth_effect","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" causes readers to mistake rote repetition for truth, and Kennedy’s campaign will fizzle."}]},{"type":"captionedImage","content":[{"type":"image2","attrs":{"topImage":false,"bytes":66398,"href":null,"internalRedirect":null,"fullscreen":null,"width":502,"src":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/c08c54f9-b570-4645-ae61-43f82ea00627_502x318.png","title":null,"type":"image\/png","belowTheFold":false,"height":318,"imageSize":null,"resizeWidth":null,"alt":null}},{"type":"caption","content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertKennedyJr\/status\/1673783596828569606","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":null,"href":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertKennedyJr\/status\/1673783596828569606","target":"_blank"}}]}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"And Silicon Valley is playing, too. Last month "},{"type":"text","text":"YouTube took down multiple videos","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/another-rfk-jr-interview-taken-down-youtube-knows-what-censor-without-being-told"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" featuring two different interviews with Kennedy on the grounds that they violated the platform’s policies against “vaccine misinformation”. Youtube is owned by Google, which has had "},{"type":"text","text":"ties to the CIA and NSA","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/qz.com\/1145669\/googles-true-origin-partly-lies-in-cia-and-nsa-research-grants-for-mass-surveillance","target":"_blank"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" since its inception and is now a "},{"type":"text","text":"full-fledged Pentagon contractor","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/technology\/pentagon-awards-9-bln-cloud-contracts-each-google-amazon-oracle-microsoft-2022-12-07\/","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}}]},{"type":"text","text":"."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Kennedy "},{"type":"text","text":"tweeted some interesting comments","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RobertKennedyJr\/status\/1673783596828569606","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" about YouTube’s removal of his interviews."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"“People made a big deal about Russia supposedly manipulating internet information to influence a Presidential election. Shouldn’t we be worried when giant tech corporations do the same?” asked Kennedy, adding, “When industry and government are so closely linked, there is little difference between ‘private’ and ‘government’ censorship. Suppression of free speech is not suddenly OK when it is contracted out to the private corporations that control the public square.”"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"This is a point I’ve been "},{"type":"text","text":"emphasizing for years","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/caityjohnstone.medium.com\/in-a-corporatist-system-of-government-corporate-censorship-is-state-censorship-eb8a8b486577","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}}]},{"type":"text","text":": in a corporatist system of government, where there’s no real separation between corporate power and state power, corporate censorship "},{"type":"text","text":"is","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":" state censorship."}]},{"type":"captionedImage","content":[{"type":"image2","attrs":{"topImage":false,"bytes":63184,"href":null,"internalRedirect":null,"fullscreen":null,"src":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/59bbe4ef-76c3-4884-bb51-e17dec1989cf_498x316.png","width":498,"title":null,"type":"image\/png","belowTheFold":false,"height":316,"imageSize":null,"resizeWidth":null,"alt":null}},{"type":"caption","content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz\/status\/1026580364121100288","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","class":null,"href":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz\/status\/1026580364121100288"}}]}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"And it really is interesting how almost everyone seems to be pretty much okay with corporations in the media and Silicon Valley interfering in a US election like this. Everyone shrieked their lungs out about the (now "},{"type":"text","text":"wholly discredited","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/consortiumnews.com\/2023\/01\/13\/caitlin-johnstone-walking-back-the-russian-troll-scare\/","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}}]},{"type":"text","text":") narrative that Russian bots had influenced the US election with tweets and Facebook memes, but immensely wealthy corporations with universes more influence manipulating the way people think and vote is perfectly fine?"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"That does seem to be the way of it, though. This past April the Obama administration’s acting CIA director Mike Morell "},{"type":"text","text":"admitted","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/04\/20\/biden-campaign-pushed-spies-to-write-false-hunter-laptop-letter\/"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" to using his intelligence connections to "},{"type":"text","text":"circulate a false story","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FXy-yKHD4Ys"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" in the press during the 2020 presidential race that the Hunter Biden laptop leak was a Russian disinfo op, because he wanted to ensure that Joe Biden would win the election. And absolutely nothing happened to him; Morell just went on with his day."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"It’s just taken as a given that it’s fine for US oligarchs and empire managers to interfere in an election with brazen psyops and mass media propaganda, even as "},{"type":"text","text":"more and more internet censorship","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/caityjohnstone.medium.com\/how-did-people-have-conversations-back-before-tech-oligarchs-were-there-to-police-them-303162a4c27a"}}]},{"type":"text","text":" gets put in place on the grounds of protecting election security. If an ordinary American circulated disinformation to manipulate the election, imperial spinmeisters would cite that as evidence that online communication needs to be more aggressively controlled. But when Obama’s acting CIA director does it, it’s cool. Election interference for me but not for thee."}]},{"type":"captionedImage","content":[{"type":"image2","attrs":{"topImage":false,"bytes":150448,"href":null,"internalRedirect":null,"fullscreen":null,"src":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/48e255ca-6d83-4299-a766-13586f0032f0_502x574.png","width":502,"title":null,"type":"image\/png","belowTheFold":false,"height":574,"imageSize":null,"resizeWidth":null,"alt":null}},{"type":"caption","content":[{"type":"text","text":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz\/status\/1649553358653640704","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","class":null,"href":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz\/status\/1649553358653640704"}}]}]}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"This is where the most election interference will come from in this presidential race: not from Russia, not from China, but from the rich and powerful drivers of the US-centralized empire. The operation of a globe-spanning power structure is simply too important to be left in the hands of the electorate."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"I don’t have any strong opinions about RFK Jr and won’t be supporting any presidential candidate in America’s pretend election. But these presidential races do often provide opportunities to highlight the ways our rulers have got everything locked down."}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"_________________"}]},{"type":"subscribeWidget","content":[{"type":"ctaCaption","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Caitlin’s Newsletter is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber."}]}],"attrs":{"url":"https:\/\/www.caitlinjohnst.one\/subscribe?","text":"Subscribe"}},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"All my work is free to bootleg and use in any way, shape or form; republish it, translate it, use it on merchandise; whatever you want. My work is ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"entirely reader-supported","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/2021\/05\/24\/my-experiments-with-hacking-capitalism\/","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":", so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, throwing some money into my tip jar on ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"Patreon","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/user?u=4445783","target":"_blank"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":", ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"Paypal","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/paypal.me\/caitlinjohnstone","target":"_blank"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":", or ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"Substack","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.substack.com\/subscribe?utm_source=menu&simple=true&next=https%3A%2F%2Fcaitlinjohnstone.substack.com%2F","target":"_blank"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":", buying an issue of my ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"monthly zine","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/caitoz.gumroad.com\/","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":", and following me on ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"Facebook","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CaitlinAJohnstone\/","target":"_blank"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":", ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"Twitter","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/twitter.com\/caitoz"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":", ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"Soundcloud","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","href":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/going_rogue","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":" or ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"YouTube","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/CaitlinJohnstone\/videos"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":". If you want to read more you can ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"buy my books","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/caityjohnstone.medium.com\/books-by-caitlin-johnstone-a5a5e6f71772","target":"_blank"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":". The best way to make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"on Substack","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"target":"_blank","class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.substack.com\/"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":", which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I’m trying to do with this platform, ","marks":[{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":"click here","marks":[{"type":"link","attrs":{"class":"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor","href":"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/about\/","target":"_blank"}},{"type":"em"}]},{"type":"text","text":". All works co-authored with my husband Tim Foley.","marks":[{"type":"em"}]}]},{"type":"captionedImage","content":[{"type":"image2","attrs":{"topImage":false,"bytes":null,"href":null,"internalRedirect":null,"fullscreen":null,"src":"https:\/\/substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com\/public\/images\/2bf66762-8a00-4cba-9ed8-9ab4d8d63dec_417x194.jpeg","width":417,"title":null,"type":null,"belowTheFold":false,"height":194,"imageSize":null,"resizeWidth":null,"alt":null}}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2"}]},{"type":"paragraph","content":[{"type":"text","text":"Featured image via Adobe Stock."}]}]}}