Thread by @P_Kallioniemi

In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American politician, conspiracy theorist and businessman, Donald Trump Jr. He's best-known for his dealings with the Russians, and for his work for The Trump Organization and for his father.

1/20

Trump Jr's early life was a wild ride - his parents divorced when he was 12 due to his dad's affair which estranged Don Jr. from his father for a year. After getting his BS, he lived in a truck and worked as a bartender until he returned to work for the Trump Organization.

2/20

It seems that the organization was closely tied to Russian money as early as 2008, when Don Jr. stated that "In terms of high-end product influx into the US, Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," ...

3/20

...adding that "we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia". Don Jr. has also visited Russia on various occasions. In 2006 he was tour guided by one Felix Sater, a Russian-American gangster, convicted felon, real estate developer and advisor to the Trump Organization.

4/20

In Jun 2016, Don Jr. met with a group of Russians, including Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Russian lawyer best-known for her advocacy against the Magnitsky Act. Named after Sergey Magnitsky, the Magnitsky Act is a bill that allows the sanctioning of foreign government ...

5/20

...officials worldwide when they're involved in human rights offenses. The meeting was set up because the Russians promised "dirt" on Hillary Clinton for the upcoming presidential election. He was also informed that this information was "part of Russia and its government's..
6/20

..support" for Don Jr's father. He also lied about the reason for the meeting, first saying that it was about adoptions of Russian children, but finally admitting that he was there to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was accompanied by Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner.

7/20

In Oct 2016, Don Jr. exchanged messages on Twitter with WikiLeaks, asking about the hacked e-mails of John Podesta, then chairman of the Clinton campaign. WikiLeaks provided them with a link to search these e-mails, which was then publicly shared by Don Jr. In Nov 2017, ...

8/20

...it was revealed that Julian Assange himself had used the WikiLeaks account to talk with Don Jr. During the same month, he also gave a speech at a pro-Russian think tank, known for their nomination of President Putin for the Nobel Peace Prize and calling him a "peacemaker".9/20

He was paid at least 50 000 USD for the gig, and also got a free trip to Paris.

In Mar 2022, Don Jr. tweeted a link to Zero Hedge article about trans women sent to the front lines in Ukraine, stating that "the left has gone all in in support of the white ...

10/20

supremisist [sic] Azof [sic] battalion in Ukraine so apparently they’re flexible?!?"

In Dec 2022, he compared the US spending on Vietnam War vs. the war in Ukraine, claiming that the US had spent the same amount on Ukraine than it did in Vietnam in 14 years.

11/20

The only thing he forgot to mention is, that when you include inflation, the Vietnam expenditure equals 780 billion USD.

In the same month, he also implied that Zelenskyy is "banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church" and that "His government has also been raiding Ukrainian...
12/20

... Orthodox churches and arresting priests". Don Jr. fails to mention that the banned churches are connected to Russia & that these priests are basically spies for the Kremlin. They've also systematically attacked Ukrainian civilians,soldiers & their Ukrainian colleagues.

13/20

When it comes to conspiracy theories, Don Jr. has covered most of them. He's spread conspiracy theories by Alex Jones, promoted the idea that the Clintons had murdered people, that the survivors of a high school shooting were "coached" to propagate anti-Trump rhetoric,...

14/20

...that George Soros was actually a nazi, that the US and Ukraine were developing bioweapons, and that Joe Biden is a pedophile. Naturally, he's spread disinformation on voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election. He's also shared a ton of photoshopped fakes or ...

15/20

...images taken out of a context, so either he's stupid or has an agenda. Actually, I think it's both.

Even at the ripe age of 45, Don Jr. tries to stay on top of his meme game.

16/20

He's posted various unfunny Zelenskyy themed memes, and even joked about the brutal attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the then United States Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.

Don Jr has written two books: his first book published in 2019...

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..., called Triggered, focused on criticizing political correctness, and his second book, Liberal Privilege, solely focused on criticizing Joe Biden. Most of the copies were bought by the Republican National Committee...

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...and other conservative associations.

In Apr 2023, he admitted signing a check in the alleged "porn star hush money" scheme involving his father. On 5 Apr 2023, Don Jr. applied some mafia tactics, possibly learned from his old friend Felix Sater, when he shared ...

19/20

...an article with photo of Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter. Merchan is the judge in Don's father's case in NYC.

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