Something similar could be seen in 80s gay rights and 00s animal rights. They were both emotionally driven campaigns, that were essentially going in the right direction, but there was plenty of stupid shit on the sidelines.
And if i remember correctly the mainstream right wing reaction to both was prophecy of the end the world. FBI might have infiltrated both.
Re: Russian psyops, i don't think they really produce their own material. There's so much existing lunacy to choose from. They pick few and see what gets most traction. The current right-wing echo chamber of information is so interwoven with zero control for verifying anything that's it's really cheap and easy to plug almost anything there. Most of it ripples here daily. And apparently half the site believes that is an accurate portrayal of the left.