Anatomy of a 'smear': How John Bolton became a target of the pro-Trump Internet
The headline drew little notice when it appeared last spring on a blog called “Disobedient Media.”
“John Bolton Took Money From Banks Tied To Cartels, Terrorists, Iran,” it read.
On Monday, the blog entry gained sudden popularity. That’s because its central claim — based only on innuendo and half-truths — proved useful to President Trump’s most fervent online supporters, who rushed to discredit the former United Nations ambassador and national security adviser as news broke that his forthcoming book would corroborate accounts that the president held up aid to Ukraine to advance investigations into his domestic political rivals.
The story quickly gained more than 5,000 interactions on Facebook — meaning shares, likes or other user actions — as it spread across pages and groups devoted to defending Trump. Soon, it became a building block of a campaign to discredit Bolton by impugning his motives and portraying him as a turncoat.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/anatomy-of-a-smear-how-john-bolton-became-a-target-of-the-pro-trump-internet/ar-BBZqf5U?li=BBnbcA1
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