The Atlantic writer McKay Coppins says President Trump's reelection team is waging a massive disinformation campaign that uses the same tactics of information warfare used by autocrats like Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and by Russian President Vladimir Putin in our 2016 election.
He says their tactics include coordinated bot attacks, micro-targeting millions of voters susceptible to radicalization and conspiratorial thinking, anonymous mass texting, and infiltrating local news stations with Potemkin local news websites. It's all meant to flood our senses and confuse our ability to discern fact from fiction.
Also this hour: Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is on the rise. Results from the Iowa caucus and President Trump's high approval ratings have some wondering if any of the existing frontrunners could beat Trump. Is it time to take another look at Bloomberg?
GUESTS:
- McKay Coppins - Staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of The Wilderness: Deep Inside the Republican Party's Combative, Contentious, Chaotic Quest to Take Back the White House
- Mike Pesca - Host of the Slate daily podcast The Gist and the editor of the book Upon Further Review: The Greatest What Ifs in Sports History
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Colin McEnroe, Cat Pastor, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
