California Senator Kamala Harris, who announced her 2020 bid for the presidency on Monday, was instantly pegged a frontrunner — a distinction which has prompted some to assume this will make her the target of “Russian bots.”

Proving that the ‘blame Russia’ reaction will still be alive and well going into the 2020 election, fans of Harris have already got to work on social media, disparaging her critics as idiots who are “doing Putin’s work.”

According to some of Harris’ top Twitter defenders, it is apparently not possible to critique the former prosecutor without being a tool of the Kremlin, as evidenced by a deluge of tweets posted since her announcement warning that Moscow will target her in an effort to help current President Donald Trump win reelection in 2020.

I hope @KamalaHarris campaign hires a cyber security specialist because u KNOW trump’s Russian hackers are gonna target her on line🤔 — TheAverageBlackMan™ (@TheAvgBlackMan) January 22, 2019

This is just a reminder that anyone who calls Kamala Harris a "cop" is either a Russian Bot, a BernieBro, or an asshole. — Jeremy Fassler (@J_fassler) January 21, 2019

Nothing, nobody could be worse than @realDonaldTrump.Has @FoxNews started bashing Kamala yet? They’ll find something they can spin into a scandal a& never let it go. All coordinated with the @GOP & Vladimir Putin, of course. I don’t know what Rupert Murdoch has against democracy — Gumbo YaYa 🐊 (@CynthiaAppley) January 22, 2019

The people saying Kamala Harris (or any other Democratic candidate) would be as bad as Trump are working for Putin. The only question is if they're getting paid to do it or are oblivious volunteers. We saw how helpful these people are two years ago. Block them. Pay them no mind. — Rachel ︽✵︽ Thorn (@rachel_thorn_en) January 22, 2019

The fact that two years of investigations have not yet produced any evidence that Trump “colluded” with Russia to win the last election does not seem to have factored into the decision to preemptively blame Russia for interfering with the next one.

One of the tweets claimed Russia would be working “overtime” to “take down” Harris, who has a “91%” approval rating — a figure which seems to have been plucked from a random Twitter poll conducted by a Harris supporter.

Russia is gonna be working OVERTIME to take down Kamala Harris. She has a 91% favorable rating among people who knows who she is.Everything yesterday makes sense. — I will dog walk you. (@iFredLee) January 22, 2019

Responding to the tweets, some pointed out that rather than going after Republicans and conservatives, who are their ideological opposites, Harris’s fans seem particularly interested in accusing her critics on the left of being Russian bots or agents. This would seem to match a pattern from 2016, when Hillary Clinton supporters aimed to disparage progressives who supported the likes of Bernie Sanders or the Green Party’s Jill Stein as being Russian dupes.

who cares about Kamala Harris - not II only put this here to demonstrate that the shitlibs are trying to pre-emptively pin criticism from the left on Russian bots pic.twitter.com/jdwnXyEZ55 — Peter Coffin (@petercoffin) January 22, 2019

So you've basically decided ahead of time that you're going to call anyone who holds Kamala Harris accountable, a Russian bot. — Daniel Baryon (@apeirophobic) January 21, 2019

Saw three tweets today by Black youth rightfully critiquing Kamala Harris and in the replies to each one they were accused of being “Russian agents” and told that they will be the reason for four more years of Trump. — TheAngrySociologist (@SankofaBrown) January 17, 2019

Everyone to the left of Bush-clone Obama is sponsored by Putin, according to DNC Party leaders & big wigs. — New No War Paris-ite (@NewParisite) January 21, 2019

One user pointed out that legitimate concerns over a candidate's background or policies can't be dismissed "simply because you think someone you dislike might agree.”

Legitimate concerns regarding candidates cannot be summarily dismissed simply because you think someone you dislike might agree.Records matter. pic.twitter.com/qj46twNYZw — James Music APRN (@JamesM_MSN) January 21, 2019

Luckily, not everyone on the left was buying the line that supporting Harris is a prerequisite for not being a Russian bot.

its actually putin who made kamala spend her entire career hurting people — 👻lizzy👻 (@Ice_Cream_Jones) January 22, 2019

Insisting we have to be pro Kamala or we’ve joined forces with Putin...that’s quite a pic.twitter.com/78gMKhBzel — 🧛🏻‍♀️🐰Bunicula🐰🧛🏻‍♀️ (@BuniculaTv) January 22, 2019

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