If you clicked on or shared that fake news story about Hillary Clinton saying in 2013 that she wished "honest" men like Donald Trump would run for president, or the one that says "your prayers have been answered" because the FBI says Clinton will be indicted in 2017, some young men in Veles, Macedonia — population 45,000 — would like to thank you. At least 140 U.S. politics websites, most of them repackaging fake or misleading news to U.S. political conservatives, have been set up in the town over the past year, BuzzFeed News reports, and it has led to "a digital gold rush" for the teenagers and young men who got in the Trump news game early enough.
The young men behind sites like WorldPolititcus.com, USConservativeToday.com, DonaldTrumpNews.co, and USADailyPolitics.com earn up to $5,000 a month, or more if their articles go viral in the U.S. on Facebook. While many of these digital entrepreneurs also run health sites aimed at the U.S. market, they discovered — after experimenting with Bernie Sanders and other left-leaning content — that fake news about Donald Trump was their ticket to relative wealth. "People in America prefer to read news about Trump," the 16-year-old Macedonian who runs BVANews.com tells BuzzFeed.
The biggest hits for these Macedonian sites are false or misleading articles, and the Macedonian millennials are responsible for much of the hyper-partisan fake news littering up Facebook, BuzzFeed says. The Macedonians interviewed for the article don't care about Trump except as a vehicle for making money. "If Trump loses I plan to redirect my site to sports," one teenager said. A Veles university student added: "Yes, the info in the blogs is bad, false, and misleading but the rationale is that 'if it gets the people to click on it and engage, then use it.'" As economist Noah Smith noted:
Does anyone know of any neuroscientific evidence regarding confirmation bias? Because seeing one's priors confirmed is a hell of a drug.
— Noah Smith (@Noahpinion) November 4, 2016
The glut of fake news isn't great for U.S. political culture, of course, and not all of it is from Macedonia. Earlier this week, Samantha Bee posted her eye-opening interview with two Russian state-sponsored internet trolls who spend their days posting inflammatory comments on Facebook and otherwise messing with the U.S. election on social media. You can watch that below, and read more about the Macedonians at BuzzFeed News. Peter Weber
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are in a tight race in Wisconsin, a state with 10 electoral votes. With 98 percent of the results in, Trump has 49 percent of the vote and Hillary Clinton has 46 percent. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson has 4 percent. Becca Stanek
The presidential race in Michigan is too close to call. With 89 percent of the vote in, Donald Trump has the narrowest of leads over Hillary Clinton, 48 percent to 47 percent. Libertarian Gary Johnson has 4 percent and the Green Party's Jill Stein has 1 percent. There are 16 electoral votes up for grabs. Catherine Garcia
Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta told her election night audience at Javits Center in Manhattan that the campaign will have no comment until later on Wednesday. "We can still late a little longer, can't we?" Podesta asked to loud cheers. "Several states are too close to call so we're not going to have anything to say tonight."
Clinton campaign chair John Podesta: "We're not going to have anything more to say tonight" #ElectionNight https://t.co/p69N0ePce3
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 9, 2016
Before encouraging Clinton's supporters to go home and get some sleep he added, "I want every person in this hall to know … that your voices and your enthusiasm mean so much to [Clinton] and to Tim and to all of us."
Clinton did not leave her hotel to speak to the rally. Wisconsin, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Minnesota have still not been called because the races are too close. Jeva Lange
The last polls in the United States have closed in Alaska, and Donald Trump will take its three electoral votes, several media outlets project. Trump leads Hillary Clinton 54 to 37 percent, with 34 percent of the vote in. Libertarian Gary Johnson has 6 percent, followed by Jill Stein of the Green Party with almost 2 percent. Catherine Garcia
Hillary Clinton has won at least 3 of Maine's 4 electoral votes, multiple media outlets have projected. With 83 percent of the votes counted, Clinton has 48 percent to Donald Trump's 45 percent statewide, and Libertarian Gary Johnson is getting 5 percent. Trump is the projected winner of the last 1 electoral vote. Peter Weber
The heated battleground state of New Hampshire is still too close to call, multiple networks are reporting. Hillary Clinton has a razor-thin lead of 47.7 to 47.2 — a difference of just a few hundred votes between them. An estimated 89 percent of the state's votes have been reported thus far. New Hampshire carries just four electoral votes, but they've proven critical in recent presidential elections. Kelly Gonsalves
Hillary Clinton will not be leaving her hotel room tonight, CNN's Dan Merica reports. Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta, is apparently on his way to Clinton's election night rally at Manhattan's Javits Center alone:
John Podesta, Clinton's campaign chair, just left the Peninsula hotel. Asked if HRC was headed over, he said, "No. I'm headed over."
— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) November 9, 2016
Many of Clinton's supporters have already left Javits Center. Others are speechless and in tears. Jeva Lange