kansascitymag | Radio Sputnik doesn’t
really lean left or right, though. It leans hard both ways. Another
show, “By Any Means Necessary,” features interviews with the likes of
Noam Chomsky, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Black Lives Matter activists.
The notion that Democrats are cheating Bernie Sanders out of votes was
in heavy rotation on that one.
At first glance, having a program that denounces social justice
warriors (SJWs) and another that hosts Chomsky seems wildly
inconsistent. Today’s Russian propaganda, however, doesn’t promote any
particular political perspective. The point is simply to sow division,
according to reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee.
For example, in 2016, two Russian-controlled Facebook pages organized rallies in Houston.
One group, called Heart of Texas but controlled by Russia, held a rally
to “Stop Islamification of Texas.” Another Russian-sponsored page,
United Muslims of America, organized a “Save Islamic Knowledge”
counter-rally.
Sputnik feels a lot like that. If there’s a fault-line in our society
(guns, abortion, Meghan Markle) then Russia wants to exploit it. That’s
the dark reality too few Americans across the political spectrum seem
willing to acknowledge.
If you are looking for a takeaway, though, the real “fault lies not
in our stars” moment came when I first tuned into KCXL on a random
Tuesday and found myself listening to speculation that Chief Justice
John Roberts had been blackmailed by Jeffery Epstein. The show turned
out to be TruNews, hosted by Rick Wiles.
Texas-based Wiles, purportedly a pastor, has publicly claimed, among
other things, that Queen Elizabeth II is a satanist and Bill Clinton is a
cannibal. You might also recognize Wiles as the guy who called
impeachment proceedings a “Jew coup” and was later given press
credentials by the White House.
Yet you’ll notice nobody protests TruNews. It doesn’t make national news for broadcasting in a new city. Nobody at the Star writes an editorial denouncing Wiles.
