Those spreading hate now worked previous ops too. Chad Prather & CJ LeRose, backing DeSanti's anti-immigrant stunt with a viral song, were inner-circle Stop the Stealers in 2021: here with police-assaulter Nathan Hughes, rally MC Matt Couch, Russian influencer Anna Khait. 1/
It's actually comforting that the same folks are involved, because it means it's not a mass movement. Instead it's highly manufactured, recycling the same faces. Also politically unsuccessful: Prather tried to unseat TX Governor Greg Abbott in 2022... 2/
... but Prather failed miserably, getting just 3.8% of the vote. The ultra-MAGA fascist movement is amplified by stunts and social media, powered by complicit judges and politicians - but actual popular support is not deep. It can be defeated. 3/ ballotpedia.org/Chad_Prather
When influencers switch from die-for-Trump to go-go-DeSantis, pay attention. The organization folks are backing DeSantis. Trump is playing to a shrinking base, forcing him to make increasingly radical references to please the QAnoners left behind. 4/ dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…
The keynote speakers at the recent "National Conservatism" conference are instructive. DeSantis and Hawley first. Rubio & Scott, maybe just because it's in FL. Mohler heads the main school in the Southern Baptist Convention. And billionaire Peter Thiel. 5/ nationalconservatism.org/natcon-3-2022/…
DeSantis' press sec. Christina Pushaw is also a speaker. American but ties to Russia since 2011. Parachuted into Florida in 2021 from former Soviet republic Georgia, rose to lead DeSantis' comms, now on his campaign. We have to avoid the mistakes of 2016 - with real reporting 6/
Christina Pushaw, whose only major prior employment was in Tbilisi, Georgia, used the role as DeSantis' press secretary to "pick public fights...on social media, amplify right-wing media outlets..and attack individuals." (Politico). Awkward for a taxpayer-funded position. 7/
DeSantis' stunt of flying asylum seekers to MA was not simple - it cost over $600,000, involved transit through 4 airports in 4 states. One month before, Pushaw had abruptly stepped down from her taxpayer-funded position and moved to DeSantis' campaign. 8/ politico.com/news/2022/08/1…
Be alert: MAGA influencers ignored Trump's rally, focused on DeSantis & Martha's Vineyard. Sen. Ted Cruz Tweeted about it 35 times in 2 days, Christina Pushaw even more - & celebrated getting #MarthasVineyardRacists to trend. QAnon & Trump are declining. DeSantis is rising. 9/
We nearly lost the country in 2021. In 2022 we need to be more savvy. And that doesn't mean finally calling Trump dangerous - it means understanding what brought him to power, and who is in line next. We win by fighting tomorrow's war, not yesterday's. 10/
Update: George Papadopoulos is now boosting the script. He's a Trump adviser convicted for Russia contacts (via foreign gf, married in whirlwind courtship). Pardoned 2020; partied in the VIP tent Jan 5 (video). The influence machine is with DeSantis. 11/
Adding another voice on the alarming DeSantis / Martha's Vineyard disinformation operation. Hunter Walker of Rolling Stone calls it "coordinated and organized activity" higher than anything seen in "ages". 12/
Since this ominous video about Trump and his pageants is going viral, might as well note that Erika (Frantzve) Kirk competed in at least 5 of those pageants: Miss Colorado 2009 and 2010, Miss Arizona 2011 and 2012, and then, after she finally won at state level, Miss USA 2012. 1/
The contestants for the 2012 Miss USA contest spent the 2 weeks beforehand at the Trump Tower Las Vegas, "touring, filming, rehearsing, and making new friends". 2/ nypost.com/2012/05/31/mis…
It's likely Frantzve became close with Trump during the pageants because 3 years later she reportedly called her former classmate Tyler Bowyer to offer help with Trump's first large rally, in Arizona in 2015. Bowyer was organizing; he placed her right behind Trump. 3/
Steven Pinker, buddy of Jeffrey Epstein and prominent in the latest Epstein files release, is now awfully concerned about "academics cancelling each other". (Here he's reposting an op-ed by eugenicist nobleman Baron Young, himself 'canceled' for racism, sexism and homophobia). 1/
The Harvard Crimson has been going hard after Harvard professor Pinker, highlighting his creepy appearances in the Epstein files. In this clip Pinker poses with Epstein on his plane while a plaintive little-girl's voice asks "where are you taking us?" 2/
Steven Pinker is the 2nd most prominent Harvard faculty member in the Epstein files, after Larry Summers who was pulled from his teaching role mid-semester when the files came out. Pinker's now acting like he has a reason to worry too. 3/ thecrimson.com/article/2025/1…
@MeidasTouch is wrong here. These images are two different filings in Giuffre v Maxwell, with different dates. In 2024, she re-filed material with Trump's name unredacted. Media covered it; it was a scandal! But, both versions remain up on the DOJ website. No one deleted. 1/
Giuffre's 2024 filing, with Trump's name unredacted, was newsworthy - @JayShah found that Trump had been hidden as "Doe 174" in Giuffre's suit. The documents here were reported on. 2/ businessinsider.com/donald-trump-d…
People should have remembered - you don't forget a sentence like this. But, both documents 1296-17 (from 2022) and 1332-16 (from 2024) remain up. The key point isn't that DOJ is making new redactions. It's that they're releasing little new material. This stuff is old. 3/
To all marveling at photos of NYT columnist David Brooks dining with Jeffrey Epstein, 2 years after Epstein finished his sentence for procuring a child for prostitution, here's what it was: the 2011 "Edge Billionaire's Dinner". Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos were there too. 1/
The Edge founder John Brockman was lauded for his "discerning taste in the choice of participants." Funny how the photos he posted - the same as in the Epstein files - highlight so many luminaries but leave out convicted felon & registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. 2/
The NYT imperiously dismissed the issue, declaring Brooks must of course dine with "noted and important business leaders". But details aren't hard to find. The Silicon Valley pantheon was there: Musk, Bezos, Brin, Mayer, Wojcicki, Mundie, Myhrvold... 3/ edge.org/event/the-edge…
Chaos: two rival factions - one tied the president and one to the VP - are trying to set US policy on Ukraine, cutting out the State Dept. Each pushes Ukraine to surrender, then leaks to press to claim they are official. FT now reports Vance's faction is holding its own talks. 1/
In Oct. the Trump faction - son-in-law Jared Kushner & business pal Steve Witkoff - met secretly with a Russian rep in Miami. Now the Vance faction - his Yale friend Dan Driscoll - is meeting in Abu Dhabi with Russians and a Ukrainian. Rival efforts. 2/ ft.com/content/55a9f8…
FT's source is clearly part of the Vance camp and tries to portray SecArmy Dan Driscoll, a 39-year-old former 1st lieutenant whose only qualification his friendship with Vance, as a new important conduit to Russia. FT had to ask if Ukrainians were involved at all. 3/
Tony Perkins frets about "political disaster" from Trump's involvement with Epstein. Back in 2016, when Ted Cruz floundered at the polls, Perkins pushed religious-right leaders to switch to Trump, calling it a "calculated risk". How does that calculation look now, Tony? 1/
Tony Perkins was the mentor of a young Mike Johnson, an unmarried law student who had oddly taken in a young boy. Perkins knew what Johnson was, but pushed him into politics anyway. @tperkins: all this will be in the history books, as your legacy. 2/
@tperkins Before Mike Johnson ran for office, he was Dean of a new law school named for notorious pedophile Judge Paul Pressler, who preyed on young boys. Tony Perkins sat on its board. And also on the board was a relatively unknown Ted Cruz - who'd known Pressler since he was a teen. 3/