I have sympathy for #kellyanneconway and what's she's going through. We don't appreciate just how toxic social media is, especially for young people, and even more especially for young girls. Family trauma being publicly broadcast is extremely sad and wrong.
I don't blame KAC for anything that Trump has done. It's clear that she's was a low-level operative, pollster, and
PR specialist, who had little to no effect on policy. That in itself fascinates me...
Many who despise KAC say she "apologized for evil," "spun tyranny," etc. But that doesn't hit the mark. Clearly, KAC was terrible at her job—maybe a little too terrible. She reenforced every liberal critique that Trump's regime was one of sinister, bald-faced lying.
I almost buy into the theory that KAC engaged in secret sabotage or was, in fact, the "anonymous leaker" in the White House. The simpler explanation is that KAC is dumb and she dumbly acts like she thinks smart people act.
There are ways of being combative and forceful with adversaries, also ways of gently massaging the "bad news" you're forced to deliver or confront. KAC would "spin" in such an obviously fraudulent and ham-fisted manner that I can only conclude she was deliberately lying.
Someone as shallow as Donald Trump, no doubt, ate up KAC's schtick. You can almost hear him say, "That Kelly Anne will make a fool of herself for me. What a gal!"
As opposed to engaging in influence, people like KAC hear the caricatures and denunciations of the "DC spin doctor" and think to themselves, "I can be a liar, too! They'll finally think I'm smart!" But in the end, her act was so dumb it was only sad.
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I've noted a right-wing backlash against Fuentes for meeting with Trump. In summary, "You're ruining his reputation!"
I understand this...but it strikes me as deriving largely from jealousy. I don't blame Fuentes for meeting with the rich and powerful. I would certainly do (and have done) the same thing.
The issue is really the promotion on social media of the private turkey dinner. This was done by Milo (and Ye likely at Milo's behest). If you're going to have a tete-a-tete, you've got to keep that stuff secret. Milo turned the event into a media frenzy.
I don't quite know what to make of the China-related material. But might the Iran documents tell us something about the dynamics at play with regard to Trump, Iran, the Saudis and UAE—and, yes, Russia?
Avoiding any "Russiagate" hysteria, it's safe to say Trump was Moscow's preferred candidate in 2016. Trump returned the love, and, to be fair, much of what he said was reasonable and "realist": Why not get along with Russia? Why aren't NATO countries paying their fair share? etc.
Steve Bannon has earned the fanatical, irrational support of MAGA, who have no concept of politics or policy outside owning the libs. Lib-owning martyrdom will certainly appeal to them. Four months is a small price to pay for decades-long grift.
In a way, I'm surprised that Bannon could accomplish this. Back in 2017, he was fired for disrespecting Trump to various journalists and authors, even floating the use of the 25th amendment. (Perhaps he imagined himself taking over MAGA in Trump's place?).
Secondly, the "We Build The Wall" scam was so brazenly criminal, I'm genuinely shocked that anyone would take him seriously afterwards. I should have remembered this certain White infatuation with evangelical preachers, charlatans, and snake-oil salesmen.
The notion that Elon is sitting on $44 billion in cash is ridiculous. He’ll sell Tesla stock to purchase Twitter, and that stock is crashing as a result. It’s a vicious cycle, which, in a worst case scenario, eventuates in Musk losing his stake in the Tesla.
Currently, Elon’s 17% of Tesla is worth $128 billion dollars. But again, selling large chunks of this directly lowers the overall value, creating a cascade effect: The price keeps going down, forcing Elon to sell more shares.
Conservative and “New Right” Musk fanboys are hilarious. First, they announced that Elon was saving free speech; then they claimed that Elon was fake-purchasing Twitter to expose it or secretly destroy it. What do they say now?
In the weeks leading up to the 2020 election, Tim Pool made some rather remarkable predictions.
My point is not to dunk on a person who's clearly dumb, or call Pool a "grifter." What's most important is that Pool paid no real price, in terms of his audience's reaction, to his idiotic claims. In fact, his audience still loves him and treats him like a brave truth-teller.
Pool has an arrangement (or business model) with his audience: he boldly tells them nonsense, or at least misrepresents reports on current event. His audience gets good vibes and pays him for what is effectively entertainment.
#AlexJones dug his own grave. He can’t whine about the 1A when he actively ignored and defaulted in the trial where that was very much at stake.
A plausible, if not necessarily winning, defense could have been attempted based on the *Snyder v. Phelps* decision, in which SCOTUS upheld the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to demean the memory of fallen soldiers at their own funerals (!)—provided it was political speech.
Jones could have plausibly said that he was not engaged in harassment of individuals; he engaged in political speech against “the globalists” or some such; he got the facts wrong but not maliciously so. (I don’t say this as an admirer of Jones; I say it to be fair.)