Portland “Bible Burning” Story Was Russian Disinfo

August 11, 2020 Russia, Trump cultists

The truth was far more mundane. A few protesters among the many thousands appear to have burned a single Bible — and possibly a second — for kindling to start a bigger fire. None of the other protesters seemed to notice or care. Yet in the rush to paint all the protesters as Bible-burning zealots, few of the politicians or commentators who weighed in on the incident took the time to look into the story’s veracity, or to figure out that it had originated with a Kremlin-backed video news agency.

And now, days later, the Portland Bible burnings appear to be one of the first viral Russian disinformation hits of the 2020 presidential campaign. The video was first tweeted by an account that lists two cities — Oklahoma City and Abu Dhabi — as its users’ location and has only a few dozen followers. It was soon after deleted. But before it disappeared, the tweet was picked up by a Malaysian named Ian Miles Cheong who has amassed a large Twitter following by playing a right-wing American raconteur on social media.

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How did we get to the point where burning bibles in the streets is protected by the first amendment but going to church on Sunday isn’t?

?

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) August 3, 2020

This is who they are. https://t.co/02bNNnJuG4

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) August 1, 2020

Now we move to the book burning phase. I’m pretty sure ANTIFA doesn’t actually stand for what they say it stands for. Maybe just remove the anti part of them name and it’s perfect. https://t.co/LbjAANy3K5

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 1, 2020

Russia scores a hit in its pro-Trump disinformation campaign. https://t.co/js8qUHau4j

— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) August 11, 2020

NEW: Reports of protesters burning stacks of bibles in Portland drew condemnations from conservatives. It now appears to have been wildly exaggerated — and the first viral hit in Russia’s campaign to interfere in the 2020 elex – @AllMattNYT & @julianbarnes https://t.co/3nFjEnf42a

— Matthew Rosenberg (@AllMattNYT) August 11, 2020