This week, we are hearing the hyped up story that the Russians used social platforms to influence black voters in the 2016 election.  But reporters seemed to find no need to tell the public how much they spent.  From what I can find, on Facebook, Google and Twitter, Russia spent a massive $351,700 total in the 2016 election cycle, or less than half a cent per voter.

A new report prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee reveals that the Russians, in their bid to boost President Trump, have been more fixated than previously understood on trying to dampen African American political engagement.

What's next?  "Voter suppression" claims?  Don't the Russians know that blacks are a protected class?

Google CEO: Russia-Linked Ad Accounts Spent $4,700 in 2016:

Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified on Tuesday that "ad accounts linked to Russia" spent "about $4,700 in advertising" to politically influence Americans during the 2016 presidential election season,

Exactly how much Russians spent on Twitter, Facebook ads during election:

Executives from Twitter said in a statement that the Russian state media agency Russia Today spent as much as $247,100 in ads targeting U.S. markets in 2016.

Some of those suspicions were confirmed this month, starting when Facebook said it had sold about $100,000 worth of ads to a Russian "troll farm" beginning in the summer of 2015.

In a coincidence, President Obama used about the same amount trying to influence an Israeli election, with some of the money conveniently going to a consulting firm tied to the Obama campaign (the corruption was endless). 

Obama admin. sent taxpayer money to campaign to oust Netanyahu:

Some $350,000 was sent to OneVoice, ostensibly to support the group's efforts to back Israeli-Palestinian peace settlement negotiations.  But OneVoice used the money to build a voter database, train activists and hire a political consulting firm with ties to President Obama's campaign[.]

Around $2.4 billion was spent on the 2016 presidential campaign.  Does anyone really believe that $350,000 from Russia had any material effect? 

How much is spent on talking heads on TV and in print each day seeking to get Americans to vote for Democrats as they trash Trump and Republicans?

Something that is hilarious is that Emmanuel Macron is using the Democrats' playbook in France.  The French are investigating to see if Russia is causing the riots.  Liberals never blame their unpopular policies for their losses and problems.  It is always someone else's fault. 

We continue to hear that too much money is spent on elections, so I suggest that both political parties limit their spending to half a cent per vote, because that is all it supposedly took for the Russians to swing the election to Trump.  I know that newspapers, TV, and other media outlets would be pleased if all the political advertising propaganda disappeared and were replaced by a little social media propaganda.  Wouldn't their owners be happy with the reduced profits?  And that is good because profit is evil.  It is also shocking that the Russians spent less than one million dollars in the United States and taxpayers are being forced to spend tens of millions of dollars in a vain search for Russian collusion with Trump.  Think how much networks and newspapers are spending as they continually report the Russian collusion story as if it were true with no evidence.

Photo credit: Josef Stuefer.