As part of the program Regional Initiative for combating disinformation “Western Balkans Combatting disinformation Center: Exposing malicious influences through fact-checking and Analytical Journalism“, we present you a new analysis of fake news and disinformation narratives.
Trump vs. Soros: prophet of populism vs. messiah of globalism
https://lat.rt.rs/svet/155257-tramp-protiv-sorosa/
The current phase of Donald Trump’s second term has been marked by domestic political conflicts and increasing pressures on independent American institutions and Trump’s perceived political opponents.
In recent weeks, Donald Trump and his political allies have intensely targeted American billionaire George Soros, a longtime donor to the Democratic Party in the U.S. and various civil society organizations worldwide. Political circles around Donald Trump, as well as Trump himself, have engaged for more than a decade in a kind of “verbal war” against Soros, accusing him—often based on debatable or outright false claims—of various scandals, controversies, or campaigns against the U.S. conservative right.
The political conflict between Donald Trump and George Soros took on new dimensions at the end of August this year, when the U.S. president, in a series of social media posts and comments to the media, suggested/announced the criminal prosecution of Soros and related organizations. Trump’s announcement, which clearly exceeds presidential authority and potentially interferes with the work of judicial institutions, sparked euphoria among his hardcore supporters, as well as in conservative and far-right circles worldwide.
Domestically, pro-government and pro-Russian media frequently reported on this topic, linking it to decades-old (unfounded) accusations against the American philanthropist regarding the alleged organization of protests and attempts to change power in Serbia, as well as anti-Russian campaigns. An illustrative article appeared on the domestic service of the Russian state media Russia Today (RT) under the headline “Trump vs. Soros: prophet of populism vs. messiah of globalism.”
The article claims that Donald Trump announced the “fate that many around the world wish for the architect of international chaos, George Soros,” adding that he “proposed to take the most powerful financier of the American left off the philanthropist pedestal and put him on the defendant’s bench.”
In parts of the article, RT openly turns into a propaganda pamphlet, labeling Soros as “the architect of global chaos (who) particularly enjoys protests that create the illusion that they are driven by ordinary people, while in reality their engine is fueled by Soros dollars and others like him.” It is emphasized that Soros is accused of “using money and influence to turn the judiciary into a political weapon,” and it highlights that because of this “the philanthropist of chaos (Soros) and his son should be prosecuted under the RICO Act, as it is an organized criminal enterprise.” Furthermore, the author of the Russia Today analysis did not miss the opportunity to relativize serious challenges and pressures on U.S. democratic institutions from the Trump administration, claiming that “organizations and media initiatives that actively promoted (these) stories against Trump…are financially connected to the small god of large grants (Soros).”
There is also the expected reference to George Soros’s influence in Serbia, where he has long had the status of a negative “grey eminence” in pro-government and pro-Russian media. The article emphasizes that “in Serbia, where his network has shaped both politics and media, people know well what it looks like when an organized criminal enterprise construction is used against one man…now, perhaps, the same ordeal awaits Soros himself…in America…there is something ironically just about that.”
Author: Igor Mirosavljević
