Thread by @McAdooGordon

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw I’m not sure I’d say any one person is a “spokesperson” for conservative views. Just like the Left, the Right has a range of folks who are thought leaders, some more scholarly than others, some more down to earth than others. /2

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw As a result of Trump’s election I realized some things. First, that a more significant difference existed between how the Left and the Right see things than I had realized or thought was the case ever before. /3

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw I’m by nature a libertarian. I was a member of the ACLU for over 20 years & I was on the Boatd of the DC ACLU for a number of years. I’m a criminal defense lawyer. Unlike most defense lawyers, I was never a prosecutor. /4

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw I went to law school to be a prosecutor. I’d been a Special Agent at DoD doing background investigations for security clearances. I’m a big supporter of our military. My last year at Georgetown Law, I did the criminal clinic. /5

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw In the clinic, we tried criminal cases & handled parole cases. And doing that showed me how powerfully the criminal law is slanted against the individual. And I realized I never be okay prosecuting. I couldn’t stomach the idea I personally might be involved in a case . . . /6

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . .that would take away someone’s liberty (or life) and they might not be guilty. Prosecuting & law enforcement are necessary, but their is A LOT that is wrong about how the system works. For me, morally, the only way I could participate in that process was as a defender./7

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw So for my whole career as a lawyer, I’ve worked closely with liberals although I myself am a conservative/libertarian from a working class background. /8

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw As a professional woman, I am, of course, a feminist. As a libertarian, I’m pro-choice. As a trial lawyer, I live in a world of facts, law, logic & persuasion. As the owner of a small firm, I am a businesswoman & capitalist. /9

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw In 2016, I thought DJT was too disruptive to be a good President. I was bothered by his comments about the trial judge in his case. Comments about registering all Muslims were non-starters for me. I thought HRC was waaaaay too liberal for me. But, I thought it was time . . . /10

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . .for a woman to be President. I voted for Hillary despite the fact that I didn’t agree with most of her policy positions & the fact that I despise Bill. When Trump won instead, I thought: okay, not my choice, but this is democracy; we’ll see what happens. /11

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw And then literally the next morning everything changed. I COULD NOT BELIEVE the response to his election. Americans protested their own free & open democratic election results. I was horrified. That is outrageous. And unAmerican. /12

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw Still I thought: okay this is a few young people who have come up under Obama & they don’t realize that sometimes the other party wins & they govern for a while & that’s normal. Not the end of the world. /13

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw Except it didn’t end there. They protested the Inauguration. People actually protested our more important birthright- the peaceful transition of power. I could not believe my eyes. I was completely offended by that. And, not only did they protest - they rioted. /14

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw Only a few blocks from my office, the smashed in businesses & set a limo on fire as a symbol of the rich. Of course, the limo wasn’t owned by a rich guy. It was owned by an immigrant who ran a small business driving people around for a living. /15

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw Still I thought: okay well these are a few young people who are upset, they will see that our separation of powers & our republic is strong & things will calm down. But then I read (in the Washington Post) the comments of the people who got arrested. /16

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw They were members of Antifa, which I had never heard of before. They said smashing windows & cars & rioting was perfectly fine because violence is a legitimate political weapon & ownership of property is bad. And that’s when I realized the far Left is unAmerican & dangerous./17

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw Still I thought: well okay but it’s just the fringe. I don’t agree with the fringe Right either, so that’s normal. And then “the Resistance” showed up. People in government actively working against the elected leadership, which is BS & unAmerican. I was again horrified at . . /18

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . the lack of respect for our tradition of democracy. DJT is not Hitler. Anyone who thinks that is a fool. Delegitimizing our elections is the worst thing that could happen to us. /19

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw And then the Russian collusion narrative started. This is December/January after the election. I thought it was obvious that that was complete BS from the beginning & I was definitely not a Trump supporter then. Some other things were becoming clear tho. /20

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw For one thing it was obvious numerous illegal leaks of highly classified information was being published in the “main stream” media. This was obvious to me because I know how that stuff works. Half my practice is criminal, half is clearances because of my agent experience./21

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw Those leaks were all to damage Trump, which meant natsec people were putting their politics over their security responsibilities, which is never okay. Second, when Sally Yates claimed Flynn could be exploited because of a potential Logan Act violation, I knew for sure . . . /22

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . . that that was BS. The Logan Act is nonsense & any criminal lawyer - prosecution or defense knows that. So it told me that top level DOJ was part of the “the Resistance,” which is outrageous. That I wasn’t too surprised by because I deal with them all the time & most . . /23

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . . of DOJ is incompetent, venal, arrogant or plain stupid. It’s not like it was even 20 years ago. And the third thing is I started noticing how EVERY article in the Post and on tv/cable now contained an opinion & that opinion was anti-DJT even if he was doing something. . /24

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . . exactly the same as what Obama did. And I started noticing how reporting on him was not accurate. It would distort or outright contradict something I had seen for myself live. That’s when I realized that my sources of information were too biased. /25

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw So I decided to consciously balance them left & right to see if that helped. I started reading The National Review and The Weekly Standard on the Right and The New Republic in the Left in addition to the Post, the Times and The Atlantic Monthly, which I already read. /26

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw I also started consciously balancing my Twitter intake to include left, right and center voices. And when I did all that, I realized that the “main stream media” is actually on the Left. They don’t report stories that are legit journalism if they are favorable to the right. /27

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw And if they do, they minimize them or discount them or omit information. Once you see it, it is really disturbing. By opening up my intake, I was able to compare sources against one another. Over the course of the last 3 years, I have gradually weeded out the voices on . . . /28

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . . the left & the right that are not responsible or appropriately discount them if they are the only source for something. Now I make up my own mind about everything only after analyzing it myself. This goes for the courts too, where liberal bias is abundantly clear. /29

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw At least in some kinds of cases. A kind of prudential conservatism does still prevail in some areas of the law, of course. My practices areas - criminal & clearance - fall into that group for sure. /30

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw So what I would say to you in answer to your question about a voice for the conservative view is that there are many. Sample some to see which make sense to you as I did. But know that there are some so-called “conservative” speakers who don’t actually consistently. . . /31

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . state conservative views. For example, Jennifer Rubin at the Post is billed as a conservative, but that is laughable. Almost nothing she says reflects conservative thinking. And, like the Left, there are sunsets within the overall Republican/conservative/libertarian space./32

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw For lawyers to read, I would recommend Andy McCarthy, a 20 year prosecutor from NY. For investigative work, I recommend John Solomon, who write for the Hill, and Sara Carter. Also, Charles C.W Cooke. Some of the Federalist podcasts are good, as is The McCarthy Report, . . . /33

@jburg1985 @BillJLibrary @SethAbramson @tribelaw . . . and Perino & Stirewalt on the lighter side. I personally love Dan Bongino’s podcast although he’s not to some people’s taste. As a former agent, I enjoy his style for variety. /34