This is a thread on how to approach infighting and criticism within the #Resistance.
The reality is that we know that the resistance has been and will be infiltrated by literal paid Russian trolls. Whether they have succeeded in running any current high visibility accounts remains an open question.
The reality is also that everyone in the resistance brings their own personalities and faults to the ballgame. Some people have personalities so toxic to our efforts that I won't relate to them. If they aren't paid trolls, they might as well be.
So how should one approach accounts and differentiate? I can only tell you want I look for:
Trustworthy accounts should be open to questions and criticisms and respond as best they can when disagreements arise.
Trustworthy accounts admit when they've screwed it up. If tweets are deleted this happens in combination with a public explanation.
Trustworthy accounts do not publicly go on the offense against other accounts in the resistance unless there is serious and repeated provocation
Trustworthy accounts rarely block other accounts.
Trustworthy accounts do not rely primarily on secret sources and secret connections. Yes, investigators and researchers and journalists must keep some things private for legal or even strategic reasons. But most information should be verifiable.
Trustworthy accounts don't rely primarily on the emotionality of their content. Every story is emotional no matter how you approach it, but responsible accounts do more than just bang the drum.
Trustworthy accounts DO criticise other accounts. But this criticism must be constructive, not judgemental. There should be a way forward for everyone involved, not an instant implication or statement that the criticized account is corrupt.
This last part is particularly important. Constructive vs. destructive interactions is the critical central way that I differntiate.
For example, trustworthy accounts don't call you a Russian troll the instant they find any inconstistency in what you are saying. Everyone is inconsistent sometimes.
And trustworthy accounts don't refer you to the FBI simply because you retweeted Seth Abramson. Yes, that's highly specific because it's happened to me.
In simplest terms, when you look at internal criticisms among the resistance, who is being constructive and who is being destructive? Division is Trump's tactic and Russia's tactic. Unity is the winning path.
Sometimes we do have to call out other people in the resistance. But it should never be the first tool we reach for. When you encounter accounts that consistently reach for that tool first... just dump them.
But we're all human, and everyone will screw up on one of these things now and then. It's the consistency of the account over time that matters. Don't make snap judgements. Give any account a month of observation before you decide.
A few specific recommendations. @SethAbramson is probably the best consolidator of a wide variety of sources of anyone. Sometimes he is too confident in his conclusions, but honestly has had to make very little changes to his "theory of the case" as new information comes out.
And @ScottMStedman is perhaps the best independent researcher out there. He's done some very important work and is open and advanced the public case significantly. He's not perfect but he admits his mistakes and continues to move forward.
When it comes to trolls @josh_emerson is among many who do great work at tracking them. @RVAwonk covers it this at a more general level, as does @selectedwisdom, but with a different focus.
For election security, @jennycohn1 is tops. She does threads that are too long and honestly I know she's annoyed some people, but her information is solid, and as a security expert I agree with her conclusions and emphasis.
For the political angles, I follow @McFaul. It's been really interesting watching him gradually dial back his very diplomatic style as his frustration with the current administration has grown.
And for a great weekly review of the news that's very detailed, and manages to find some humor in all of this, listen to the @MuellerSheWrote podcast.
