General Discussion

Zorro

(15,748 posts) Sun Jun 21, 2020, 01:04 PM Jun 2020

George Soros conspiracy theories surge as protests sweep U.S.

The investor and philanthropist, long a target of conspiracy theories, is now falsely accused of orchestrating protests over police killings of black people.

They say he hires protesters and rents buses to transport them. Some say he has people stash piles of bricks to be hurled into glass storefronts or at police.

George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist who has long been a target of conspiracy theories, is now being falsely accused of orchestrating and funding the protests over police killings of Black people that have roiled the United States. Amplified by a growing number of people on the far right, including some Republican leaders, online posts about Soros have skyrocketed in recent weeks.

They have been accompanied by online ads bought by conservative groups that call on authorities to "investigate George Soros for funding domestic terrorism and his decades-long corruption."

Soros, 89, has donated billions of dollars of his personal wealth to liberal and anti-authoritarian causes around the world, making him a favored target among many on the right. The Hungarian-American, who is Jewish, has also been the subject of anti-Semitic attacks and conspiracy theories for decades.

https://www.tampabay.com/news/nation-world/2020/06/21/george-soros-conspiracy-theories-surge-as-protests-sweep-us/

I suspect Russian bots are behind a lot of this.

9 replies

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George Soros conspiracy theories surge as protests sweep U.S. (Original Post) Zorro Jun 2020 OP

Russian bot deflection? empedocles Jun 2020 #1

Agreed. It's likely a bot campaign or was at least started by one. Ho hum. nt crickets Jun 2020 #3

The Soros nonsense JonLP24 Jun 2020 #7

Damn! That one Soros guy is so much more productive than the dozens of GOP billionaires. TheBlackAdder Jun 2020 #2

At the last rally I attended in my small town, a few hundred people showed up Rhiannon12866 Jun 2020 #4

This is no surprise. Behind the Aegis Jun 2020 #5

Damn it Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin Jun 2020 #6

They're projecting because they want to pretend that they think Crunchy Frog Jun 2020 #8

Notable that Trump insiders use accusations of Soros influence to get rid of staff they don't like muriel_volestrangler Jun 2020 #9

empedocles

(15,751 posts)

1. Russian bot deflection?

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Sun Jun 21, 2020, 01:18 PM

Jun 2020

crickets

(25,982 posts)

3. Agreed. It's likely a bot campaign or was at least started by one. Ho hum. nt

Reply to empedocles (Reply #1)

Sun Jun 21, 2020, 02:05 PM

Jun 2020

JonLP24

(29,322 posts)

7. The Soros nonsense

Reply to crickets (Reply #3)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 04:17 PM

Jun 2020

Spread because Fox News put it into the mainstream. O'Reilly & Glenn Beck were well known for their Soros conspiracies which was really projection.

TheBlackAdder

(28,211 posts)

2. Damn! That one Soros guy is so much more productive than the dozens of GOP billionaires.

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Sun Jun 21, 2020, 01:41 PM

Jun 2020

.

Actually, the conservative mind can only have just so many boogie men at any one time.

I guess it's like that Span of Control rule, where effective managers only have six direct reports.

They can only handle processing conspiracies involving:

George Soros
Hillary Clinton
Speaker Pelosi
President Obama
Bill Gates
(variable target of the day or month)

.

Rhiannon12866

(205,839 posts)

4. At the last rally I attended in my small town, a few hundred people showed up

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 05:42 AM

Jun 2020

And I was pleased to see seven people I knew, turns out that a fellow local DUer was also there, wish I'd known at the time. There was also a handful of MAGAts, disrupting traffic and using a bullhorn. One lady that I had a conversation with told me that they were accusing us of having been bused in from NYC and paid by George Soros...

Behind the Aegis

(53,975 posts)

5. This is no surprise.

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 05:48 AM

Jun 2020

No matter who, when it comes to something bad, Jews are the default ones to blame. One would think the Holocaust would be a lesson, but it isn't. Whether it is Soros, "the Benjamins", puppeteers, Shylocks, or any other number of dog-whistles, Jews are the one group many love to use as the source of "all the evil in the world."

Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin

(108,153 posts)

6. Damn it

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 02:18 PM

Jun 2020

I'm still waiting on my George Soros check.

Crunchy Frog

(26,612 posts)

8. They're projecting because they want to pretend that they think

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 04:24 PM

Jun 2020

that there is parity between the left and the right, so we must have our own counterparts to the Kochs and other shadowy RW billionaires.

Nah. I'm actually living very comfortably on my George Soros income.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,349 posts)

9. Notable that Trump insiders use accusations of Soros influence to get rid of staff they don't like

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Mon Jun 22, 2020, 08:39 PM

Jun 2020

They tried it against Fiona Hill - see the New Yorker article on her from this thread: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213636674

And after it happened, she had a meeting (with other Americans) with Putin - and when he said that Soros influenced American elections (ignoring that he's an American citizen), he looked at Hill.

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