Thread by @DickJackman1

I remember the first time I found this tweet from AOC. I laughed my absolute ass off! Of course she endorsed you!! She's known Zack Exley since the early 00's!

(The missing key articles that Exley gets removed will follow below)

thenation.com/article/zephyr…

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1002201496090488832

I'm going to warn you right now. If you want to understand, not just HATE, what the Progressive Left is doing... you are about to find out. If you actually care, you'll read AND understand, even study(!) each important word he says. Being armed with knowledge is important!

#1: 2005. Zack Exley writes a 2 piece letter to the DNC on how to fix a part of their strategy. Go heavy and bet big on the internet.

Before the letter, he did his usual A/B testing (constant monitoring and making tweaks real time) of the online approach in the Kerry Campaign...

... before that, he started building his worth... an email list, most notably while on the Dean campaign with Patrick Kane (We Also Walk Dogs) but also for years prior in his online terrorism days (rTMark). Before that, he did on the ground organizing for AFL-CIO and SEIU...

I'll be focusing in on Exley's work on the Kerry Campaign separately, like how his campaign goals got awfully similar to what we are now familiar with.

But back to the Letter to the DNC...

PART 1: GRASSROOTS YEAR ROUND PERMANENT FIELD PROGRAM

Yea so this dream of his has...

... absolutely come true. When was the last time a week or two went by without some big protest or big fit of activism?

#ThanksExley

His vision stated that there needed to be this constant and never ending massive effort of lobbying the general public, because that is all...

... this really is, it's lobbying for free. The organizing of this massive ongoing grassroots would be centered around the internet (remember, this is 2004-05!) in order to organize effectively.

"The Democrats need to be a political party again."

So the war inside the Party...

... begins. But it isn't a war yet, it's actually an olive branch. A wing of the party feels left out or looked over and this New Grassroots strategy for a New Party within the New DNC is how the Party should be able to come together. Sounds reasonable. But...

"Who are the New Grassroots"?

In my opinion, it was a portion of the population who was young, just out of college, familiar with the internet and of the Left and Far Left.

Keep in mind this is 2005... all these people now have established careers in Unions, State and Local...

...Government, the White House, Non-profits and then I'm sure a large number dropped off.

But my point here is that it's the same AOC's, Saikat's, Rojas and others we don't even know the names of that is powering today's campaigns. Only they've gone even younger!

But his...

... dream is foolish. He calls for hundreds of thousands of volunteers working year round. Sure, maybe you can snag some people who will give a few hours a week or month but what he refuses to acknowledge is that the darn things has got to be heavily funded to work.

But...

... at the same time he was also right. Huh? Go looking thru the Twitter feeds of Far Lefties. That's the army of volunteers that don't even know they have volunteered to help support politicians and their campaigns/policies.

Next: The timeline.

In short, 2-4 years to...

... get it ready and up and fully running. Reminder... our current crazy started in 2016... it's 2020.

It was February 2005 when he said if they started right then, they would be ready in time for the 2008 election.

Brand New Congress started in March 2016 to be ready for June-Nov, 2018. But even that wasn't the real time goal, the aim was 2020.

He also talks about the...

... Left having an identity crisis, but they can't let that stop them from forming a unified coalition. He can't seem to accept the fact, even to this day, that it will never be possible to fully unify the Left. Just can't be done. There is too much emotion. Too much differing...

... opinions.

But don't get me wrong, no matter how much you disagree with the politics, he has managed to wrangle together a large number of subset groups... but it's only a matter of time until they fracture because sooner or later... one of the subgroups will feel slighted...

... and if there is one thing that is known about the Left... they hate not getting what they want.

Then Exley starts to get to the meat of the BETA Rules for Revolutionaries.

The Ten Steps.

1. Propose the idea to a massive email list, and keep bombarding them to join.

2. Hire Field Organizers. Find the people who have a little Saul Alinsky in them and send them around the country setting up groups and orgs that can become self sustaining sub groups that just need occasional check ins from time to time. Quick refresher on what to do.

3. Barnstorm. Get people to sign up to attend small in person or virtual gatherings. At these Meetups the goal was get at least 5 of 10 to agree to advance up the Alinsky Ladder of Engagement.

4. Hold the people accountable. This cracks me up. The premise here is promote and advance the good ones and cut loose the ones that aren't working out. Sounds like... BOOGEYMAN BIG BUSINESS!

The Union model says you can't fire the people who aren't as effective as preferred...

... but of course they are allowed to cut people loose if they talk too much, are too outspoken, dominate the conversation.

5. Volunteer formal trainings. A lot of the above firings come from these interactions as the Tyranny of the Annoying (from Rules for Revolutionaries)...

... becomes evident. Massive trainings and the Leaders begin assigning work. Phones, streets, digital, etc...

Now you have the key groups who are in charge of the on the ground groups who may have another grp under them.

This is called DISTRIBUTED ORGANIZING.

That pretty much covers 5 and 6. When you read all these steps (later called "Rules") you have to open your mind because he eventually rolls this out to Vendors and Orgs, same model. It's why these Lefty companies like Middle Seat, Reach, etc... keep popping up. All involved.

7. Keep pushing up the ladder of Engagement. Money, Time, Personal Investment... doesn't matter. Objective is keep advancing someone. AOC did it... think she did a road trip with strangers just cause? No... that was a rung on the ladder.

8. Fill gaps. He still hasn't figured this out. He thinks deep red Rust Belt areas can be hacked. He became a Christian, he ran Republicans but he doesn't realize end of the day only massive infiltration will get him those states.

Or maybe he does know that and working on it...

Look at it from a military perspective. What do you do to your enemy? (Pardon my jargon here if wrong). Create choke points, cut off exits, establish a perimeter and then slowly move in. It seems clear they are taking the shorelines.

So what next? I assume typical advance?

Swarm. Advance. Infiltrate. Destroy. Rebuild. Redefine.

9. Rehearse. Scripts. Mock interviews. TV talking points.

I'll let AOC explain.

10. Training. "As Tom Matzzie says, 'They need to remember to put on the coffee and bring the doughnuts.' A good phone bank supervisor gives great pep talks, keeps the energy level up throughout the night... and inspires volunteers to come back again."

I'll close Part I out by giving you the link and also telling you about the below.

He ends Part 1 by reconfirming timeline. Take those dates and add a 1, making them 2016 and 2018.

THIS HAPPENED.

In 2016, at the same time they were getting started (Mar.) they were Beta testing the structure on the @Tim_Canova campaign in FL.

Bernie authorized (forced) Tim to accept this infiltration of his campaign mid-stream, despite some concern rumor has it.

A number of DAY 1...

Brand New Congress troops were deployed to the campaign in April a few short days after BNC was launched. This is easily found by comparing Canova Payroll to BNC roster. Additionally confirmed from Twitter chatter.

That all lasted thru Sept. 2016 then they left his campaign and were deployed to the BNC HQ, another campaign or non profit.

fec.gov/data/disbursem…

So without any further adieu, I give you the source files of this PART ONE review of the long running plan from Zack Exley as to how to redefine campaigning.

Source 1: Dec. 9, 2000 - Exley realizes the power of the internet for Organizing.

web.archive.org/web/2001061719…

Source 2: 2002 - Exley figures out the art of fundraising support and how to keep it from evaporating/diminishing.

web.archive.org/web/2002111220…

Source 3: 2005 - Zack Exley starts his plea to have the DNC recreate politics in an online meets on ground fashion. This strategy would go on to be utilized in NO LATER THAN the 2016 election cycle within the Bernie campaign. (Prob much earlier locally)

web.archive.org/web/2005040813…

Source 4: 2016 - Exley creates Brand New Congress with a core team of 20 or so, of which a half dozen are approved by Bernie to infiltrate the Tim Canova campaign against Debbie Wasserman Schultz. He only loses by 7K votes in the primary. Test = PASSED

web.archive.org/web/2016052608…

@threadreaderapp unroll pls