We can choose to bury our heads in the sand or we can open our eyes now and see that a disinformation campaign is already at work to divide Americans ahead of this November’s presidential election. The latest example? A fake video purporting to show an encounter on Southwest Airlines between a “Karen” and two young men wearing a MAGA hat.
Karen Vs. MAGA On Southwest Airlines? Fake News From A Nefarious Source
There’s a concerted effort, particularly with Russia, to disrupt the presidential election in the USA. The goal is not merely to help Donald Trump back into the White House (with the assumption, perhaps false, that he will go easier on Russia or cut off Ukraine funding), but to turn Americans against themselves.
As Abraham Lincoln (quoting Jesus) rightly noted, a house divided cannot stand. When Americans are encouraged to hate one another, the window for compromise closes, factionalism grows, and the USA becomes weaker. That helps Russia. That helps China.
You think this isn’t deliberate? Wake up and open your eyes.
Yesterday, View From The Wing posted a video in a story titled, “Watch: Southwest Airlines Karen Melts Down Over MAGA Hat-Wearing Passenger.”
It’s fake. 100% fake.
https://twitter.com/Alphafox78/status/1798847746738426159
Take a look closely: the woman is upset about something and is on a Southwest Airlines flight, but we have no idea what it is.
The camera then “flips” to show two young men, with one wearing a MAGA hat.
Small problem: they are in the center section of a widebody aircraft. Notice the air vents? Notice the overhead bins?
These guys look Slavic and I detect a non-US accent from the one wearing the Trump hat, perhaps both of them.
Who are these guys? Does anyone know who they are? Are they even Americans?
And who is this AlphaFoX who posted the video? If you visit the Twitter/X profile, don’t click on the website (like I foolishly did) because it contains malware. AlphaFoX also posted this yesterday, another clearly fake video:
https://twitter.com/Alphafox78/status/1799902015524679735
And look at the comments from the Southwest video:
The video was posted on Instagram as well and the comments were nearly identical:
Let’s be clear. Are there some people offended by MAGA hats? Sure. Are there some people offended by “Abortion Pills” shirts? Yeah. But there was no incident on Southwest Airlines and judging by how stirred up some folks got by this fake video, the disinformation campaign worked exactly as intended.
When you view your neighbor as your enemy, you cannot work together. So today, I’d invite you to have a thoughtful conversation with a neighbor or colleague with whom you disagree. You probably won’t come to a consensus, but we can disagree without hating those who hold different views. Let us instead labor to work on issues of commonality, recognize what is happening ahead of this election from our true enemies, and take steps to be kind to our neighbors…treating them as we would want to be treated and listening to them as we would want them to listen to us. Together, we the people can create a better nation.
“There’s a concerted effort, particularly with Russia, to disrupt the presidential election in the USA. The goal is not merely to help Donald Trump back into the White House (with the assumption, perhaps false, that he will go easier on Russia or cut off Ukraine funding), but to turn Americans against themselves.”
So you demand we have a thoughtful conversation with someone with whom we disagree and you start yours off with the same old tired lies about Russian interference? Very conciliatory.
You fail right out of the gate.
Do you think Russia wants “Sleepy Joe” to win? Come on now. Trump has opposed Ukraine funding and lauded Putin. Yes, a thoughtful conversation must address those points; we need to have a thoughtful conversation on Russian interference that folks like you seem to deny for reasons I truly don’t understand. What happened to America First? Let’s work together to solve the issues of our day instead of turning against each other, fueled by nefarious foreign interference.
You’re a MAGA dude. Who are those lads in the video?
“we need to have a thoughtful conversation on Russian interference that folks like you seem to deny for reasons I truly don’t understand.”
Because there is no evidence of this whatsoever beyond some suspicious Facebook ads. the VAST majority of Trump’s support is grassroots American. Furthermore, this nonsense about Russia was used to push the Mueller circus during Trump’s presidency, which similarly found no evidence of wrongdoing by Trump or his campaign.
Is it so hard for you to grasp how much we despise the democrats, not because of some vague “foreign interference” but directly because of their failed, harmful policies? We don’t need Russians to oppose allowing 11 million illegals into our country over the last few years, nor do they factor into Biden’s crippling inflation and terrible economy, nor the disaster in Afghanistan, nor dumping hundreds of billions of dollars into a foreign war that with little hope of victory.
There will be no “meaningful conversations” when your starting point is a lie. I would think given your profession that would be apparent to you (Then again, lawyers excel in that skill). You don’t win people over by sneering at them.
See, as someone who grew up in a conservatie home and worked for Bush, I think I very clearly understand the outrage for inflation, open borders, and wokeism run amok that fuels disdain for the Biden Adminstration and helps to fuel Trump’s rise.
But I would point out that the PPP loans during Trump Administration represented one of the single biggest transfers of wealth via corporate welfare in US history. And the multiple rounds of stimulus checks sent out fueled the inflation just as much as any Biden policy did.
I’m no fan of Biden either. I think it is inconviceable that so many peple are allowed to slip in via the southern border and I think that it is criminal that he thinks 8-10 year old children should be allowed to access “transgender surgery.” I don’t support his student loan forgiveness, his mishlanding of Afghasntian, or his waffling on Israel.
But I cannot support narcissm, the worst human trait, that I believe represents a fundametal threat to the American system. That’s not becuase I have been fed that from left wing media, but becuase I know narccists and recognize what a threat they reprent. When you lose an election, you concede. And I cannot undersand the idolotary surrounding Trump, particularly among evangelical Chrsitans. I think it is blaspehmous.
And finally, there was a silmiar wave of people arguing 1.) American should not be involved in foreign wars, 2.) He’s actually not a bad guy, 3.) It is land that historically belonged to them, and 4.) we need to focus on our own problems…
in the 1930s…and you know how well that turned out…
I don’t want to pour billions into Ukraine either, but I see no better alternrative.
@Matthew … you may be slightly mistaken in thinking Trump is so narcissistic . He is basically a ego-driven performer , who is unreasonably demonstrative and verbally insulting .
However , while President , he did show reasonable attempts to negotiate , in the interest of us all . The response was Pelosi ripped up his state of the union speech on the podium and the dems accused him of fake dossiers .
Given the alternative of Brandon’s disasters , I would prefer Trump or RFK Jr .
“in the 1930s…and you know how well that turned out…”
August 1914 would be a better historical analogy.
I would also disagree with your claim that he is a narcissist. I have had the displeasure of knowing a clinical narcissist and Trump isn’t one. A massive ego yes, but he genuinely loves America and its people. He did more good as president than any president I have seen, and his leadership is sorely needed now, give the lack from the half-corpse in the White House.
@Matthew
So called judge Merchan will thrown Trump in prison. He could not pardon himself even if he wins. Thus, he CANNOT be president. If he wins, he’d not be able to take the oath of office
The Republicans need to stop listening to the rabble rousers who demand Trump or nothing and nominate a Gabbard (who should truly scare the Dems as I can see her actually dismantling much of the admin state and actually prosecuting their crimes), DeSantis, or Rubio
Trump will never sit in prison and his conviction will almost assuredly be overturned on appeal.
Matthew,
Things have come a long way when any mention of Russian influence in our elections is viewed, ipso facto, as a criticism of Trump. For uch of my young adulthood, I was active in local GOP activities. That dropped off mostly on account of other priorities rising to the top of my list.
But now that any mention of Russian influence is viewed as equivalent to a criticism of Trump, I fear that one must explcitly identify Russian activities as being independent of any particular Trump involvement. Influencing elections, full of intrigue, is what the Russians do, whether in the US, Western Europe or elsewhere. And i seems that the means they use generally involves protected speech (do recall that Mueller charged false statements on visa applications and financial crimes, but nothing which would take him into a First Amendment thicket). And I am comfortable conceding that despite exhaustive investigation, there is no demonstrated connection between any domestic politicians and Russian activity.
Yet now sensitivities may require that we identify that Russian efforts have never been linked to any particular campaign in the same breath as any discussino of undeniable Russian efforts.
Its a bit exhausting.
Don’t forget Brandon’s apparent prosecution of electoral opponents . That is a genuine scumbag move .
Trump being prosecuted for “hush money” is likely a first in the history of criminal law . Every legal settlement with a nondisclosure clause can be called the same thing , and that is condoned by the attorneys and courts .
I think that Russia should get Crimea plus the Donbas and other areas of the Ukraine that are historically Russian as it was communist dictators Lenin redrew boundaries to include Novorossiya in the Ukrainian SSR back in 1922 and Khrushchev gave Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. And the rest of the Ukraine should be a neutral country and forever barred from NATO or any other military alliance.
The USA ought to disentangle itself from foreign alliances and heed the advice given by George Washington during his farewell address. US Taxpayer money should never ever be used for any type of foreign aid under any circumstances whatsoever. Any foreign aid should be voluntary and be handled by private organisations (e.g. Samaritans Purse, World Vision, Red Cross, etc.)
@Chi … you are correct when you say the vast majority of Trump’s support is grassroots American . In Hawaii , a dem majority state , and actually laid back when it comes to national politics , many ordinary people do support Trump . Amazingly so . First time in my memory at a national level .
The key is that Trump appears honest .
He is laughed at for having a photo with a wayward woman , which spells automatic trouble .
But he is sympathized with for being the victim of a big pile-on .
Trump is a narcissistic psychopath. Although maybe he’s got so much dementia — perhaps even syphilis-related — that he can’t know any better at this point and we should just chalk him up as a suffering from a mental disease in progression.
“failed, harmful policies” , is that why the liberal states do better in almost every regard?
@Matthew … I haven’t seen any “russian interference” . When the New York Post discussed Brandon’s son’s laptop computer , the media pundit-former intelligence supervisor dismissed it as “russian interference” . Sounded absurd to me at the time , and the New York Post turned out to be correct .
https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/cyber/russian-interference-in-2016-u-s-elections
https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/press/senate-intel-releases-election-security-findings-first-volume-bipartisan-russia-report
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-evidence-shows-how-russias-election-interference-has-gotten-more
I thought Hillary patched everything up and hit a reset button with Russia. The Ukraine war is a massive money laundering project for the Military Industrial Complex. The USA, Russia and Ukraine are extremely corrupt.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7930047.stm
That may be and is a conversation worth having. We can talk it out without resorting to name-calling.
But even conceding the undeniable boon to the military-industrial complex, I still view a free Ukraine as a far better alternative than a Russian-occupied vassal state.
I don’t see that I called anyone a name.
I was speaking generally.
Thoughtful conversations do not mean we have to agree. You don’t agree with Matthew’s comment? Ok. Say why. Say more. Be civil.
I’m not sure where you have been the last years but Russia is absolutely spreading disinformation. Whether this is or not Incant tell you. But it was clearly meant to stir up tribal rallying in the MAGA crowd….so you do the math.
Name one single piece of “misinformation” that Russia has spread? Not some obscure Facebook video like this one that almost no one will see, but something that actually moves the needle? Is Russia behind Americans’ dismal view of the economy? Is Russia to blame for Americans not being crazy about millions of illegals invading our country? Is it Russia’s fault that Biden can barely string a sentence together whenever he’s on camera? Without Russia, would Americans be happy to continue sending hundreds of millions of dollars to Ukraine and their unwinnable war?
You are missing the point and what Russia and China realize in that the issues don’t matter to them, what does is the ability to escalate the discourse and turn us against each other. There have been issues and disagreements since the founding of America but never before have we seen such violence verging on militant at times. How did we get to that point? It’s very clear. A highly polished disinformation campaign that works both sides. Russia and China will benefit greatly with a n America dividing and at blows with each other.
@Chi … You are correct in asking how have Russia and China are changed us ?
We have ourselves demonstrated a descent into unreal fantasy and fiasco , if you look at what the universities are teaching , and the mainstream media are pushing , that nonsense could not have been dreamed up by Russia .
Come on … the madness of gender uncertainty ? That is the doing of our own university idiots .
Alert is right. We have a deep divide in this country, and we have only ourselves to blame. There is no getting along with people who want to mutilate kids, or dissolve American votes with foreign ones, or a corrupt elite that cares only for enriching themselves.
This was so obvious when I saw it posted on Gary’s site. That he posted this with commentary about being all of us needing to be better is even more telling. Gary and the like are part of the problem. Either he is gullible and an idiot or he is nefarious in knowing it’s fake but so desperate for clicks he will post anything without looking at it deeper. I bet the latter.
Bill Maher has been telling us all along. Not only will these things get made but there are plenty who will capitalize on it quickly to make it worse.
Good job, Matthew in not going down the rabbit hole. And shame on Gary for undermining responsible posting to a blog in which its claimed as thought leadership.
Fake video on Facebook, YouTube, X and TikTok? Just another day on those sh#t sites. They are based on fake news and people being things they aren’t.
As for the interference stuff, not sure why we as Americans can’t hate both Russia and Ukraine. Other than our money, they both hate us and our way of life. I say F Putin and the Comedian running Ukraine.
Fake news or otherwise, if a passenger can’t mind their own business and gets offended in the face of political or religious attire/accessories worn by other passengers, then the offended passenger really needs to look in the mirror and get themselves under control and stay grounded at home unless and until they realize the world is full of all sorts of characters who should have the same right of free expression and speech on an airline using the public airports and public airspace as they and others do when taking mass transit on the ground using the public roadways and public waterways.
I am most certainly not cut of the MAGA cloth, but if a passenger freaks out on the sight of MAGA attire/accessories, the problem is the person who is freaking out over others’ attire and bodily-worn accessories. The same goes for MAGA freaks who freak out when seeing a woman whom they think is Muslim wearing “Muslim” attire of a guy wearing a “Lock him up” t-shirt with Trump’s arrest mugshot and bars over him in an orange jail/prison inmate uniform.
Of course I 100% agree and have argued that here before.
You are correct.
But I thought it was important to focus here on the fact that this particular interaction never occurred and that we will see more of this heading into the election.
We are in an era where even seeing is not necessarily believing because of the increasingly democratized ability to manufacture even fabricated video footage. Faked audio is even easier to manufacture nowadays.
And while it’s still relatively easy for capable actors to split the fake from the real, it’s going to get tougher and tougher over time and this dynamic will even further undermine the ability to have rational and respectful disagreements because dialogue and compromise historically has required a basic mutual acceptance of a set of presented facts as facts and a mutual ability to separate fact from fiction.
Have we now resorted to statements like “fake news or otherwise?” This was created to stir up emotions and had no basis in reality. But we are still supposed to comment on it as a political discussion regardless of it being staged?
It’s like someone making a fake video that is touted as real but which shows Biden and Obama discussing pedophilia together (as we know that’s a popular one with deep state aficionados). Just because it’s done and fake does not mean we are supposed to discuss the content. Like this video we should simply discuss the dangers it holds for our society and nation to falsely create fictional occurrences like this.
Both — 1) approaching content with necessary skepticism (given the ability to generate fictional misrepresentations of reality) + 2) discussing the content on the basis of principles and real world dynamics — can be done. Just like when discussing books from the fiction section of libraries, religious texts or even historical texts which aren’t necessarily a completely accurate and precise representation of historical events and are certainly not entirely comprehensive given the absence of omniscient capability and the nature of people.
It’s unfortunate that people don’t realize that there are coordinated misinformation campaigns, it shows how successful they have been in sowing discord and division. The goal is not to create divisions between Americans, the goals are to amplifying issues through videos like this one to make the divisions deeper and wider. And it’s obviously working when one side of Americans see the other side of Americans as the “enemy”.
People have confirmation bias, viewing anything they see or read through that lens. Nowadays, it’s easy for people to cherry pick their news sources, not getting other viewpoints on a regular basis. It’s obvious that several people reading your article didn’t come with an open mind but look for anything that doesn’t agree with their viewpoint as an “attack”.
Like Q Anon in 2017, and this Maga hat story today, we will be bombarded with disinformation before the election. Many in the world are happy to watch our once peaceful nation so triggered. That is what we need to remember and use to evaluate our choices. The threats of violence should not have a place in this election.
‘Augustine’
Lolz
That’s Saint Augustine to you.
100% fake … older original sources point back to a 2023 seat-kicking incident. And no, the MAGA hat trolls weren’t even there. https://www.tiktok.com/@krswan1/video/7211296098391100718
Love it! I spent far too much time looking for this and am thankful you found it.
@Matthew
Not allowing me to reply to your reply to me, so I have to create a new comment.
I do agree with you this will be overturned on appeal, but given this is going through the NYS system, that will take a few years.
Where I disagree is you saying Trump will never sit in jail Merchan has not cared at all about fairness, etc. given his rulings through this trial. Thus, I fully expect him to send Trump to the state prison and remand him on the 11th of July. Secret Service cannot stop that. Merchan can also place restrictions on his visitors by declaring him a public threat (he may say Trump could organize another Jan 6)
No, he hasn’t cared about fairness which is why he did not throw Trump in jail already despite 10 contempt violations for the same matter. Anyone else would have been sent to prison. Trump will get an emergency appeal if he has too. I cannot imagine him going to prison.
That gag order itself was beyond questionable as Cohen was able to attack Trump in the media, but Trump could not respond. Both should have been under a gag order
He may have an emergency appeal, but which court would grant it. Not the Dem controlled NYS courts. Likely would require SCOTUS to intervene, and I am not sure how they could (the only possible way would be to say NYS cannot enforce federal law, using the precedent set in the Arizona immigration case)
Well said. Truth conquers fake videos of fighting that did not occur.
Wow. So much acrimony on here ..
Can’t you all just settle down and agree on the obvious:
Joe Biden sucks, Democrats are un-American turds, and people who fly on Spirit Airlines should be deported to El Salvador regardless of whether they’re actually from there
MAGA BITCHES!! Hahahahahahaha
Says the man who just realized that 90% of all their rhetoric is fake and meant to instill fear in the gullible.
Wow good retort. Here’s a better one: Your brain has the shell on it!
So Chi, I get that you hate Democratic policies…that’s reasonable…but you saw the links I posted above. Do you really deny there is attempted election interference by America’s enemies?
@Chi Hsuan….I know these concepts are hard for you to understand given your status as a Neo-Nazi Proud Boy. Perhaps one day you will exit the cult, as well your mother’s basement.
The only silver lining to the potential trump administration is that after he’s done eliminating all his enemies, adults with middle school educations such as yourself will be next on the list. He won’t need your vote anymore so you will have nothing to offer him!
What we know is this is fake hateful news. The recomendation about conversation is excellent! The rest is, sadly, political opinion and not needed in your excellent writing.
Let’s not forget that China also desperately wants Trump back in the White House. Their propaganda is just more subtle than this amateur hour stuff.
MAGA = Make America Gay Again. I’m in!
I really like Gary and his site – he is merely passing on things he’s finding online and adding commentary.
However, there’s a bit more details that gave this away as a fake video.
when the gentlemen appear, they are in fact in a *widebody* cabin. Not in a narrowbody Southwest 737.
This stuff happens. Even mainstream news will post items that are clearly not true or false. Heck, even our own government has lied to us, Fauci was just drug across the carpet last week and surprisingly the media was super duper uber quiet about it.
I’ll keep reading Gary’s blog and yours – this was a stupid video, but I can’t fault Gary on this one.
but lets get back to talking planes, people, and annoying airline policies!
I hope Russia does whatever it takes to get trump elected. If there anything I can do to help I’ll do it.
Putin save us
Putin can’t even save Russians. Putin uses Russians as cannon fodder, and that is the exact opposite of saving Russians.
Putin isn’t stupid (although he seems to have gone more and more mad as he becomes an ever older and grumpier man), and he knows Ukraine wouldn’t be able to wage a winnable war of offense on its own against Russia. That means if it weren’t for Russian irredentism being exercised against Ukraine, more Russians would be alive and safer today than they are now. Putin thinks he can have success with occupying the Ukraine without recalling the lessons of the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan,
I really should stop reading the idiotic, disrespectful comments left here. Quite scary seeing how many people still believe that there was no Russian interference, that Trump made a great president, that he was wrongly convicted due to partisan politics, etc…
And referring to Biden as Brandon or sleepy Joe speaks volumes about the intelligence and maturity levels of some of the readers. Anybody who thinks like that is not worth being taken seriously or listening to.