Thread by @JoshuaSteinman

ANATOMY OF AN ANTI-POTUS OP

Breathless headlines! Anonymous sources!

We say “fake news” a lot, but don’t often catch it in the act. But not today.

We got a live one.

Let me break it down for you how the international left runs ops.

There’s a lot to unpack.

1/

HERES WHAT HAPPENED.

A London* based legacy media site reports an American agency has changed its posture towards Russia.

No citations. No comment from the agency. Basically rumor.

NEXT. A U.S. based reporter posts it.

*remember this for later, it’s important.

2/

The tweet does 100k+, people are talking about it. DHS hears about it and puts out a statement:

“CISA remains committed to addressing all cyber threats to US critical infrastructure, including from Russia. There has been no change in our posture or priority on this front.”

3/

The DHS statement gets a fraction of the reach the original media does. so this aspect of the op is successful.

NOW HERES WHERE THINGS GET INTERESTING.

>> why did the Guardian write the article? Why did they write it **yeaterday**?

4/

Another dubiously sourced story, written by another journalist with a history of writing articles of dubious accuracy!

And in the exact same time frame (the last 36 hours).

Odd, no?

5/

To me, this smells like an OP

> push Zelinsky to demand an in-person meeting, tell POTUS “I’ll sign”
> EU photo op day before
> blindside him in the Oval with new demands + vague threats
> use the “Ben Rhodes echo chamber”to create the “pro-Putin” narrative.

But… whose op?
6/

Well, from my perspective, it sounds like this was one piece of a larger op targeting the President.

In fact, today we have coordinated statements from the French and the English.

>> remember: the thing that started it all was an article from the Guardian?

And now this:

7/

Nothing happens in a vacuum.

And that includes the threats apparently made to President Trump by Zelensky.

So, if I were advising @AGPamBondi, I would — out of an abundance of caution — open investigations into former officials involved. Were there Logan Act violations?

8/

@AGPamBondi Look at the pile-on from the usual suspects.

You think these people aren’t all on signal group chats together?

Of course they are.

Next: they’ll push Congress to hold hearings. They’ll use leaks from “holdovers” in the admin to dribble out rumor + speculation.

9/

@AGPamBondi Now, they’ll push back on this observation, “these things aren’t connected!”

But if you architect these ops well — the way Rhodes did — they’re top-down. Not every player knows they’re being played.

So don’t take their breathless denials seriously.

Just stay frosty.

10/10

@AGPamBondi Lmao look at this.

@AGPamBondi Right on time,

@AGPamBondi Look at this

@AGPamBondi Aaaaaaaaaand there it is