The Trump-Fox News-white nationalist feedback loop

Zack, Jenn, and Alex talk about Trump’s late-night tweet about the alleged persecution of white South African farmers. They explain what’s actually happening in South Africa, how Trump’s take on the situation has its roots in an international white nationalist movement, and how Fox News is helping turn these extreme ideas into actual US foreign policy. On Elsewhere, they discuss the recent revelation that Iran has been engaging in a Russia-style disinformation campaign on social media — and why the US can’t seem to fight back against foreign meddling in its politics. Alex recalls his old AOL screen name, Zack reveals a little too much about what the word “cyber” means to him, and Jenn leavens a dark episode with talk of cute cats and dogs. References: Jenn’s piece on President Trump’s South Africa tweet, which we reference throughout the episode.    Jenn mentioned that experts contest this narrative. Here are several pieces from Quartz, the New Statesman, and the BBC that dig into that idea further. If you’d like to read more about apartheid in South Africa, this Smithsonian piece is a good place to start. We quoted this tweet from President Trump and this tweet from the South African government, and mentioned this Ann Coulter tweet. Jenn touched on the group that pushes this narrative about white South African farmers under attack, but you can read more about them in this HuffPost piece. More background on Charleston, South Carolina, shooter Dylann Roof. Zack gave a shout-out to Carlos Maza’s Strikethrough video about white supremacists and Tucker Carlson. Jenn mentioned this Guardian piece walking through the journey this narrative took from South Africa to the far right. For Elsewhere, we played a clip from this interview with John Bolton. Here’s a deeper dive into the fake Iranian and Russian accounts. Jenn gave a specific example of a fake Iranian account calling out a Republican candidate for Holocaust denial. For more on the Iranian accounts impersonating Bernie Bros, this Daily Beast piece is a good resource. Alex mentioned Stuxnet, and the hacking of both a dam and JP Morgan. Alex also said that various officials feel they have no real directive from the president on cyber initiatives. Here’s more on that.   If you want to know a little more about how vulnerable to cyber threats we really are, Alex recommends this piece.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices