This is how a Russian disinformation campaign starts. A video of a whistleblower with an unbelievable story to tell. The claims are wild. None of them are true. Some of them never gain traction. But others hit the mark. The videos have reached enormous American audiences, top political influencers and even members of Congress. The fake whistleblower videos started popping up last fall, the work of a small but prolific Russian group that researchers call Storm-1516. Much remains unknown about Storm-1516 — one prong of Russia’s propaganda operation — but it has produced some of the country’s most far-reaching and influential disinformation. The Storm-1516 campaigns rely on faked primary sources — audio, video, photos, documents — presented as evidence of the claims’ veracity. They are then laundered through international news sources and influencers to reach their ultimate target: a mainstream Western audience. The above is the excerpt from an article from October, but it is clear that the scale has been tipped in Trump's favour and the Russian disinformation campaign may very well have played a part in the outcome.
We don't need false stories when we already have real stories. Trump won because they didn't steal the election again, what stopped them. We don't know what's really going on, we're all pigeons in a coup.
How does disinformation reach the US public? Actually this is how disinformation reaches the US public.