Thread by @DrewHolden360

🧵Thread🧵

The biggest news out of NYT’s “bombshell” on Trump’s taxes is that it has flattened a conspiracy theory among Democrats & the media, popular in 2016-17, that Trump was hiding his taxes because of an illicit connection to Russia.

I’ve got some apology candidates👇

You may remember that, back when “Russian collusion“ was the talk of the town, countless pieces and tweets surmised that Trump hadn’t released his taxes because they would be filled with Russian connections.

Well, they weren’t. Wonder if we’ll get any follow up from @ewarren?

Or perhaps @HillaryClinton, who made this conspiracy theory a component of her 2016 campaign, will be interested in following up?

Or perhaps we’ll hear something new from @ChrisMurphyCT, who pushed this line more than perhaps any elected official?

I’m sure that @maddow, @allinwithchris or anyone else at @MSNBC would always be happy to have him back on, Senator.

Or maybe @RonWyden would like to follow up on his letter request, now that we know the dastardly contents of Trump’s taxes?

Et tu, @DickDurbin?

It wasn’t just in the Senate either. Here’s @SpeakerPelosi pushing the same entirely unverified claim.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that @RepMaxineWaters may be the most unhinged member of Congress.

Not an exaggeration to say the Dems were unified in pushing this allegation without evidence. Here’s @TheDemocrats.

But it wasn’t just the Dems. The media put together countless think pieces and investigations and whimsical musings on this subject, too, that went up in smoke.

Come take a bow, @CNN.

@Politico wasn’t all that far behind them.

I’m exactly zero percent surprised to see that chief Russian collusion cheerleader @MSNBC got in on this one. Also featuring @KatyTurNBC and @TimOBrien.

More of the same here from @abcnews, with another special shout out to @HillaryClinton.

Both @thedailybeast and the funny men got involved on this one, too.

Does anyone remember the discourse? I remember the discourse.

And you had @HuffPost being, well, Huff Post.

But the real champions here are the blue check big thinkers.

We’ll start out with the gold standard in bad takes, @JRubinBlogger.

She may have been outdone here by @keithboykin.

No left-wing conspiracy theory would be complete without @SethAbramson.

I read the 30 tweets before this (and plenty after it) so that you didn’t have to.

Where Russian conspiracy theories go, the NeverTrump gang are always quick to follow. Here’s @BillKristol

Here’s @Eugene_Robinson from @washingtonpost, who has always been quick to tout Russian related conspiracies.

And no thread of Russian bullshit could be complete without @juliaioffe.

From behind the block we’ve got a traditional four boxes of bullshit from @deanobeidallah.

And also from behind a block, one of the most vocal conspiracy theorists on Russia, @mollyjongfast.

Short on space and shorter on patience, here we’ve got: @funder, this big swing and a miss from @BrookingsInst, @JasonKander, and @JoyceWhiteVance.

Each passing day seems to bring with it another part of the #RussianCollusion narrative unraveling, which always goes unremarked among those who pushed the original conspiracy theory.

We need a serious reckoning on what happened, and these threads will continue until we get one.

I’ve said it once & I’ll surely have to say it again:

You don’t need to be a partisan to see that the concoction of a bogus conspiracy theory to undermine a duly elected POTUS, pushed by multiple organs of the US govt, is a HUGE problem.

You need to be a partisan to not care.

There have been more bombshells that have come out to refute the Russian collusion narrative in the last six weeks than there was to substantiate it ever.

And we hear whispers, at best, from the same voices who pushed the original hoax.

We need - NEED - to talk about the conspiracy theories that the left pushes.

If the media ever hopes to regain the trust they’ve lost among millions of Americans, they need to take a hard look in the mirror about their role in all this.

I’ve got the screenshots to help.

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