[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Meanwhile, another day has passed and there is still no evidence given of Tulsi Gabbard being a Russian asset.

I read an interesting thing a couple days ago (lost the link unfortunately) about how we need to stop using the word "asset" because it conveys a level of conspiracy that is too nefarious; but we also should acknowledge that Russia uses people for their own gain with or without those people's express agreement. The Russia/Tulsi connection is that Russian media is gratuitously fawning over her (from NBC News all the way back in February):

Since Gabbard announced her intention to run on Jan. 11, there have been at least 20 Gabbard stories on three major Moscow-based English-language websites affiliated with or supportive of the Russian government... All three sites celebrated Gabbard's announcement, defended her positions on Russia and her 2017 meeting with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and attacked those who have suggested she is a pawn for Moscow... Gabbard was mentioned on the three sites about twice as often as two of the best known Democratic possibilities for 2020, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, each with 10 stories... Gabbard's most controversial position and the one where she's most in line with Russian interests is on Syria. She's accused the U.S. of pushing a policy of "regime change" wars and in January 2017, she met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Syria on what she called a "fact-finding mission"... In articles on the Russian sites, Gabbard is described as a "rebel," who is "straight-talking" and a "heroic" candidate who will "shake up" the establishment... Besides her views on Syria, she responded to reports of Russian interference in the 2016 election by saying the U.S. had interfered in foreign elections too.

None of which says she's an asset, just the candidate whose foreign policy views (for whatever reason) are most aligned with Russia's. That being said, Gabbard doesn't help herself with crap like this:

Erika Tsuji, a spokeswoman for Gabbard, said it as "ridiculous" to suggest the Russians supported her candidacy.

I think the more realistic analysis is that Russia largely wants to sow seeds of division and chaos in American politics, and this (like supporting Jill Stein in 2016) is just one more way to do that.

Within a few days of Gabbard announcing her presidential bid, DisInfo 2018, part of the cybersecurity firm New Knowledge, found that three of the top 15 URLs shared by the 800 social media accounts affiliated with known and suspected Russian propaganda operations directed at U.S. citizens were about Gabbard.

Analysts at New Knowledge, the company the Senate Intelligence Committee used to track Russian activities in the 2016 election, told NBC News they've spotted "chatter" related to Gabbard in anonymous online message boards, including those known for fomenting right-wing troll campaigns. The chatter discussed Gabbard's usefulness.