You called it 8 years ago? Good for you.
Trump-Supporting 4chan Trolls Reportedly Flooded Iowa Caucus Hotline With Calls
The organized attack delayed and even blocked precinct officials from reporting caucus results on the phone, NBC and Bloomberg reported.
Right-wing backers of President
Donald Trump posted the number of the
Iowa caucuses reporting hotline on
4chan and encouraged flooding the lines, exacerbating problems already disrupting the caucuses,
NBC and
Bloomberg reported.
“Clog the lines,” several participants urged on the often-extremist internet message board after the caucuses’
voting reporting app malfunctioned and forced precinct chairs to report results via the hotline.
Soon, the phone volunteers who were supposed to be recording
caucus results from precinct chairs on Monday night were also fielding calls from trolls attacking
Democrats and expressing support for Trump. Other callers simply tied up the lines, then hung up when volunteers answered.
Democratic Party leaders were told of the
phone attack in a conference call Wednesday night, Bloomberg reported.
The communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party, Mandy McClure, confirmed in a statement that there was an “unusually high volume of inbound phone calls to its caucus hotline, including [by]
supporters of President Trump.” The “unexplained and at times hostile” calls “contributed to the delay in the Iowa Democratic Party’s collection of results,” she added.
Trump-Supporting 4chan Trolls Reportedly Flooded Iowa Caucus Hotline With Calls | HuffPost