Messing with the Truth: Disinformation Spread by Jimmy Dore
Pro-Russian narratives continue to resonate in the West. They are not only spread by representatives of Russia. Various Western journalists, presenters, and pseudo-experts also disseminate fakes that echo Russian narratives. Today, VoxCheck and the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine will tell you about one such representative, Jimmy Dore.
Jimmy Dore is an American stand-up comedian, political commentator, and host of “The Jimmy Dore Show,” where he promotes conspiracy theories.
In May 2022, Dore was discussing microchips in coronavirus vaccines, using distorted excerpts from an interview with the CEO of Pfizer as evidence.
Another conspiracy theory promoted by Dore claimed that the Syrian government did not use chemical weapons in the city of Khan Sheikhoun in Syria in 2017. However, UN data and investigations by international human rights organizations indicate that the Syrian government is responsible for this crime. Bellingcat investigators found that shortly before the Khan Sheikhoun attack, Dore received $2,500 from a pro-Assad lobbying group called the “Association for Investment in People’s Action Committees.” He also gave an interview on the program “Going Underground” on RT, stating that Americans have no idea what is happening in Ukraine.
Although Jimmy Dore has social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook), he has the most reach on his YouTube channel, “The Jimmy Dore Show” (1.25 million subscribers), where he hosts a comedy-political talk show of the same name. Dore invites various Western pseudo-experts on the Russian-Ukrainian war, where they often repeat Russian propaganda fakes.
For example, on June 4, 2022, Jimmy Dore talked on his show about the dismissal of the Ukrainian ombudsman, Liudmyla Denisova, claiming that she allegedly fabricated cases of sexual violence by Russian soldiers. Dore asserts that representatives of non-governmental organizations trying to help victims of violence could not find any evidence of such cases at all:
“However, a bunch of eager NGOs in Ukraine, hoping for fresh “western” money for new “rape consultation and recovery” projects, tried to find real rape cases. They were disappointed when they found that there was no evidence that any rape had taken place.So these people are looking for money for their organization that helps people, and they’re going to help rape victims, so they should have found real rape cases, but they couldn’t do that.”
Dore attempts to convince his viewers that Russian military forces did not commit violence against Ukrainian civilians and that Ukraine is lying.
In reality, numerous pieces of evidence of war crimes by the Russian army, including cases of rape, have been documented by Ukrainian and international organizations.
In an updated report from the United Nations on October 19, 2023, it was established that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine, including instances of killings, torture, and rape of civilians.
On September 30, Dmytro Lubinets, the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, reported 235 cases of sexual violence.
On October 3, prosecutors of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment against a Russian military serviceman, accusing him of systematically committing psychological and physical violence against a local resident.
Therefore, Dore’s assertions are, at the very least, a lack of understanding of the situation and at most, an attempt to justify the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine.
It’s also worth noting the news source that the host relies on, which is “ZeroHedge.” According to “Media Bias/Fact Check,” an organization that assesses media bias, “ZeroHedge” is a resource that spreads pseudoscientific and conspiratorial theories.
On February 19, 2023, Jimmy Dore spoke at the anti-war rally “Rage Against The War Machine” in Washington. The participants of the event advocate against sending aid to support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. Many of them are frequent guests on the Russian news network RT. Here’s what Dore said at one of these rallies:
“That’s a shame because the two parties in America that we have just ain’t cutting it. They both support sending over a hundred billion dollars to Ukraine. We could have spent that money saving lives with universal healthcare but instead, we spend that money taking lives overseas, which is our specialty.”
Well, Jimmy Dore has chosen not to specify whose lives are being “taken for American money” and what the reason behind it is. Ukraine is defending its territories and sovereignty from the aggressor, the Russian Federation, which initiated a full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
According to the Ukraine Support Tracker, approximately 70 billion euros ($73.5 billion), not $100 billion, is known to have been provided by the U.S. in aid.
On March 7, 2023, White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby explained the importance of supporting Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Russia’s invasion has significantly impacted the global economy and led to food and energy crises. It has also posed a threat to the U.S. economy. If Putin achieves his goal and captures Ukraine, he is likely to continue his aggression in other regions, posing a direct threat to U.S. allies and partners in Europe.
In his article “This is the ‘America First’ case for supporting Ukraine” for The Washington Post on May 30, 2023, Mark Thiessen also outlined the reasons why the United States should support Ukraine. In short, assistance from the United States helps restrain their adversaries globally and weaken Russian-Chinese relations. The aid from the U.S. is not only spent to protect people in Ukraine from the aggression of the Russian Federation but also to preserve the lives of American military personnel. While Russia is at war with Ukraine, it cannot actualize its threats of attacking Poland and the Baltic countries, which are NATO members. If Ukraine loses, the U.S. would have to send its people to defendits allies. Additionally, the money allocated by Congress for arming Ukraine not only goes to support the country but also encourages Americans to replace weapons sent to Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles or produce new weaponry. This creates new jobs in the U.S. and contributes to the revitalization of the military-industrial complex.
Participation in such events or their organization aims to demonstrate the supposed widespread support for ideas such as limiting aid to Ukraine. Spreading such narratives is advantageous for the Russian Federation because the less support we have globally, the easier it is for Russia to prevail.
In March 2023, Jimmy Dore, in an interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, stated:
“America is a world’s terrorist. We have 400 military bases surrounding China. We provoke this. People don’t know that the CIA collaborated with the right-wing Nazis in Ukraine to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ukraine in 2014. We had a peace deal. It was called the Minsk Accrods, and then they violated them. Who violated them? Ukraine kept shelling the Donbas, which are the Russian speakers in the eastern part of Ukraine. That’s why Putin had to be provoked to invade to protect those people.”
Tucker Carlson himself has repeatedly echoed narratives aligned with Russian ones, discussing “U.S. biolabs in Ukraine” and the “sabotage of the Kakhovka HPP by the Ukrainian military,” among other topics. As for the Minsk Agreements, it was Russia that did not fulfill them. For example, the trends reported by the Special Monitoring Mission of the OSCE in Ukraine for January-March 2021 indicated that 98% of the total ceasefire violations were recorded on territories not controlled by Ukraine. They also reported that in Ukraine for July-September 2021, 87% of ceasefire violations and 77% of the placement of equipment with violations of withdrawal lines were documented in territories not controlled by Ukraine.
In January 2022, the European Union extended economic sanctions against Russia due to its aggression against Ukraine, particularly for non-compliance with the Minsk Agreements.
During the 28th Ministerial Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken listed a series of commitments that Moscow has failed to fulfill: “Ceasefire: not implemented by Russia. Allowing access for OSCE observers: not implemented by Russia. Withdrawal of heavy weaponry: not implemented by Russia. Law on special status: implemented by Ukraine. Law on amnesty: in progress. Exchange of political prisoners under the ‘all-for-all’ formula: not implemented by Russia. Ensuring the supply of humanitarian aid based on international mechanisms: not implemented by Russia. Restoration of socio-economic ties: not implemented by Russia. And so on and so forth.”
It’s also worth noting that the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 shows no signs of a state coup or Western interference in its course.
Therefore, Jimmy Dore promotes narratives aligned with Russian propaganda themes: stopping support for Ukraine, claiming the U.S. provoked Russia, blaming Ukraine for the war, and so on. He utilizes the large audience of his show, “The Jimmy Dore Show,” to disseminate these fake claims, participating in anti-Ukrainian events and interviewing pseudo-experts. The latter two positions create the illusion of a large number of supporters and backing for the expressed ideas. Jimmy Dore occupies the niche of an “alternative perspective” on events, which supposedly represents the true and unique viewpoint when all other sources with different information are allegedly lying. He uses sources of questionable quality that, according to “Media Bias/Fact Check,” spread conspiratorial and pseudoscientific theories.
Watch more about Jimmy Dore in this video.
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