Editorial

Paid protestors fuel the bipartisan fire

Saturday, March 4, 2017

It should come as no shock, but there are a number of underhanded tactics being employed these days to upend the Trump administration. We've come to label this new phenomenon as "fake news" but, in fact, it is an organized, deliberate attempt to undermine the outcome of the November election. Having observed the political process up close for a number of years, I find myself amazed at the dirty tricks and outright lies that pass for news these days. We are just barely short of an outright uprising from the left, and before the dust settles, that may be the eventual outcome. I chalked this upheaval to hyper-partisanship, but, frankly, we've moved well past that point. We stand on the edge of an anarchist cliff that may derail this nation for years to come. Let me cite but one lowly example. And this alone should turn your stomach. Social media is chocked full of heated discussions on a wide range of topics but the one topic that has garnered the most social media mileage is the question of the repeal and replacement of Obamacare. The left has too much on the line defending the Obama legacy that they have mounted a massive effort to defend the controversial health care program. From Facebook to Twitter and all points in between, there are literally hundreds of thousands of comments on social media each day concerning the future of this program. But lo and behold, someone took the time and energy to investigate these social media activists and the outcome of that study shines a light on the left's tactics. A digital expert spent countless hours analyzing and investigating these media trolls and learned that 60 percent of the Obamacare supporters were posted by 100 people -- primarily on the west coast -- who were paid to post. Someone is paying leftist activists to defend Obamacare on social media in an attempt to portray support for that health care program despite massive evidence to the contrary. These paid protesters spend their days and much of their nights living on the internet, defending leftist policies and condemning the current administration. By flooding social media with their anti-Trump rhetoric, they hope to give an impression that is patently false. Their tactics are aimed at swaying public opinion in the absence of actual facts and data to the contrary. Loyal opposition is healthy in the world of politics. Tactics like paying trolls to swamp the internet with lies and false information is a dangerous step that will not end well.

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