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/
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/
Each Epstein email has so many layers of slime people miss some. This is Ken Starr, fired for covering up sexual assault, offering to help former client Jeffrey Epstein's friend's sexual harassment case by introducing him to Jed Rubenfeld, put on leave for sexual misconduct. 1/
Epstein's elite world was VERY elite: Yale Law prof Jed Rubenfeld's wife Amy Chua, also a Yale Law prof, was the mentor of Yale Law student JD Vance. Ken Starr was the mentor of Yale Law grad Brett Kavanaugh, also accused of sexual assault but now seated on the Supreme Court. 2/
Ken Starr, despite his long trail of sexual grossness, cosplayed as a warrior for an also-gross sexual prudishness. He and Brett Kavanaugh went after Bill Clinton (a visitor to Epstein's island) for oral sex with an intern. Kavanaugh came up with the graphic sexual questions. 3/
One fascinating thing in the Epstein email drop is an exchange around Trump's election in 2016. It suggests a tense, ongoing relationship, and Epstein's power.
Part 1, Sept 23: Linda Stone jokes that Epstein will get a cabinet position if Trump wins. Like Trump owes him. 1/
Backing up: the exchange is with Linda Stone, a tech exec who'd known Epstein since the 1990s: she brokered his entrance into academia, linked him with scientists. In 2016 they were close enough to be chatty, far enough to go months between emails. 2/ politico.com/news/magazine/…
Part 2, Sept. 26: three days after Stone asked Epstein if Trump could win, he answers: "too soon to tell, we will know more come oct 15". He doesn't explain: what would he learn then? Meanwhile Stone isn't even sure if Epstein supports Trump: "Which team you pulling for?" 3/
This week in Trump-Epstein: first @JSweetLI IDs the 14-year-old girl Epstein brought to Mar-a-Lago to meet Trump in 1994. Then the House Dems release an email where Epstein says Trump hung out at his house with underaged girls: "[VICTIM] spent hours at my house with him" 1/
in short: Trump spent so much time with Epstein and underaged girls that even Epstein couldn't figure out how it wasn't news!
"Jane", who testified she'd been abused by Epstein, was entered in Trump's pageants in the 1990s, long before Kirk and Halligan in 2009. Still, it's odd how so many women in Trump's circle had walked the stage in front of him as barely-clad teenagers. 3/
Realize: when Ed Martin drafted the pardon for the fake electors he was pardoning himself: he made it pre-emptive and general, covering "all United States citizens for conduct relating to ... efforts to expose voting fraud and vulnerabilities in the 2020 presidential election" 1/
Ed Martin was one of the first people who Ali Alexander drafted into Stop the Steal, on Nov. 4, the day after the election. He was a major player, and was deferential to Ali ("Orders, General Ali?"). Ali in turn said he leaned on Ed for advice and for contacts to lawmakers. 2/
The Jan 6 Capitol attack was astroturfed. It could not have happened without efforts from the top - filing bs election-fraud suits, whipping up crowds and getting media attention with Stop the Steal rallies, then pressuring lawmakers to comply. Ed Martin was deep in it. 3/
The techbro plot they talk of openly, to seize power by dominating the global weapons industry is luckily so far stymied by their products not working.
Peter Thiel's Stark drones flopped in trial. Big dreams are a start, but you have to execute too. 1/
Even if the techbros fail at their hoped-for military surveillance state, their bad products can still weaken the U.S. Trump and Hegseth are shoveling weapons contracts to Silicon Valley startups. Here's $642M for the Peter Thiel-backed Anduril. 2/ govconwire.com/articles/andur…
Sam Altman's OpenAI got $200 M this year to inject AI into military decision-making. This is a partnership with Anduril too, to make AI tools “for security missions”. 3/ theguardian.com/technology/202…