Foreign aid

The Russian campaign to elect Donald Trump, much like its candidate of choice, avidly used social media to spread disinformation and relentlessly exploited America’s racial and other divisions. A pair of new reports for the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee detail the startling scope and sophistication of the Kremlin’s role in an election that came down to relatively few votes.

The reports find that the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency infiltrated every major social media platform — including Facebook, Twitter, Facebook’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube — and many minor ones, right down to Gab, a hub for extremists, and Google+, a hub for almost no one. The Russians reached nearly 150 million users on Facebook’s networks alone.

The analyses also illuminate an overlooked facet of the operation that was designed to discourage likely Hillary Clinton voters, particularly African Americans, alongside the betterknown campaign to encourage potential Trump supporters. The Russians created more Facebook pages targeting African Americans than conservatives, with nearly as many followers. Their messages to probable Clinton constituencies suggested participation was futile, circulated misinformation about voting, and promoted alternatives such as Sen. Bernie Sanders and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

African American turnout happens to have dropped precipitously in 2016, an undeniable factor in Trump’s narrow, crucial victories in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. While Russia can’t be given all the credit (or blame) for his victory, it can’t be denied all of it, either. So it’s not surprising that the tech tycoons who became Vladimir Putin’s useful idiots weren’t completely cooperative with the Senate investigation — or that the man they helped elect continues to spread disinformation about their role, too.