In today's #vatniksoup, I'll introduce an American social media personality, Dominick "Dom Lucre" McGee (@dom_lucre). He's best-known for lying about absolutely everything, and for spreading QAnon-related conspiracy theories and disinformation on the Russo-Ukrainian War.
1/21
Based on Dom Lucre, Dom Lucre is a massively popular Renaissance Man, who's dabbled successfully in military, hip hop, financial advising, philanthropy, politics and of course "breaking narratives". Hell, he even wrote an (everybody)Wiki about himself!
2/21
In many ways, Dominick is the George Santos for the black community, as almost everything about his past has been either exaggerated or completely made-up. A Twitter user @CoffinItUp (they're great, follow them and check their substack!) has made a lot of research on Dom,..
3/21
...and I'll be referencing to his investigative work quite often. First of all, Dom claims to have graduated from college in 2017 from Penn State, but they couldn't verify any diplomas or degrees. Dom then back-pedaled and said he's missing his "internship".
4/21
He's actually been enrolled to Penn State since 2017, but hasn't graduated after 6½ years. They even kicked him out once. Dom's also claimed to have obtained a certificate from Wharton University,but there's absolutely no proof of any of this:
Mr McGee has also his own business, Credit Cadabra. The site's been referred to as the "Most Searched and Serviced Financial Advising Company", which doesn't really mean anything at all. Anyway, it appears that he wrote a bunch of 5-star reviews by himself.
6/21
McGee also joined the army in 2013. He had a 4-year contract, but was allegedly generally discharged. Dom's version is that he left in order to care for his half-brother. As usual, his story is full of holes and you can read more about it here:
As is tradition with pathological liars like Santos and McGee, the lies hardly stop there. Dom's also lied about owning a 150 000 USD watch (it's a cheap copy), buying a house at the age of 22 (he was/is renting it), and having a net worth of 1,2 million USD.
8/21
Dominick has built his brand around being a black conservative who supports Donald Trump. He was also involved in the "Stop the Steal" movement, and even orchestrated his own FB group around the event called "Win the Win".
9/21
Most of his followers on social media came from running the group, which was also filled with QAnon references like "the storm will come." The group was also used by far-right militias for recruiting members.
10/21
Dom has launched an NGO called The Citizen's Crusade, although there is no information of this organization outside of Dom's interviews, so it's probably just another made-up project of his.
11/21
Dom Lucre has over half a million followers on Twitter, and his "exposures" have relatively high engagement. These posts include ridiculous claims like saying that Tom Hanks is a pedophile and it was actually Trump that got Epstein locked up.
12/21
He's also promoted the Pizza Gate conspiracy theory, which claims that high-profile Hollywood stars and politicians are involved in a child sex trafficking ring. As an "evidence", he posted a segment from Ben Swann's "Reality Check" TV show from Fox. Swann has promoted...
13/21
...every conspiracy theory out there, and has made almost 7 million USD by the Russian government for his propaganda work for the South America, Indian and Chinese markets.
14/21
As most grifters often focus on what's trending, Dom has also written about Ukraine. In one of his hot takes, he stated that Putin is "fighting the deep state in Ukraine," and that QAnon is somehow connected to human trafficking in Ukraine.
15/21
He also shared a slideshow that was supposed to be proof that Ukraine is infested with Nazis - too bad most of the images were from Russia.
Mistreatment of children in Ukraine is probably a remnant from the Soviet times, read more here:
He's pushed the bioweapons lab conspiracy theory and also tried to connect Joe Biden's son, Hunter, into the production of "pandemic diseases that could be used as a bioweapons."
17/21
In addition, Dom's tweeted about the "genocide in Donbas". On 14 Jul 2023, one of Prigozhin's "trolls" revealed the "Donbas genocide" victims were actually paid actors. He also forgot to mention that a lot of the civilians died in Donbas came from the down shooting of MH17.
18/21
In Dom's view, the 2014 Revolution of Dignity was a CIA-orchestrated coup. His source for this is a far-left fake news blog, MROnline. He's also suggested that Zelensky is a war criminal and that the US provoked the war with Russia.
You know, all the classics.
19/21
Dom is definitely trying to make his way into conservative politics, and in the current state of "post-truth politics" he could actually make it.
That's probably why he's a "black conservative" supporting Trump, as the truth is absolutely irrelevant within the MAGA gang.
20/21
To conclude: Dominick McGee is an opportunist, attention-seeking grifter who's trying to make money by spreading disinformation and conspiracy theories. He follows every "current thing" in order to garner to his "fans", while trying to make a quick buck.
21/21
Sources:
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Past soups:
https://t.co/pZfBD2NvH4
In today’s Vatnik Soup REBREW, I’ll introduce a Russian ultra-nationalist propagandist and “philosopher”, Aleksandr Dugin. He’s best-known for his blueprint on Russia’s geopolitical strategy and for his genocidal rhetoric towards Ukrainians.
1/17
In my first Dugin Soup, I covered the man’s 1997 book Foundations of Geopolitics — a manual for dismantling the West, breaking up NATO, and building a Russian-led empire. In it, he makes eerie “predictions” that seem to be playing out today.
2/17
Dugin called for destabilizing the US by exacerbating internal divisions. Fast forward to today: culture wars, conspiracy theories, far-right lunatics, and social media algorithms doing half the work for him.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce Russian propagandist Sergei Tsaulin. He’s best-known for spreading pro-Kremlin narratives in Estonia, fleeing to Russia after breaking several laws in Estonia, and almost getting blown up by a bomb in St. Petersburg.
1/17
For years, Tsaulin was known for organizing marches and events glorifying the Soviet Union. Under the excuse of “remembering history,” these events were nothing more than Kremlin propaganda, wrapped in a red flag with a hammer and sickle.
2/17
One of his most infamous events was the “Immortal Regiment” march, held every 9th of May, where people carried portraits of Soviet soldiers. These marches are used by Russia to push the idea that the Baltics owe their existence to the Soviets.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce a podcaster and conspiracy theorist, Joe Rogan (@joerogan). He’s best-known for launching the biggest podcast in the world, promoting various conspiracy theories, his support for Donald Trump and his anti-Ukraine rhetoric.
1/22
Joe Rogan started as a stand-up comedian in the 1980s, found fame on NewsRadio, and became a household name with Fear Factor. But his biggest impact came in 2009 when he launched The Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), one of the first major podcasts.
2/22
JRE started as casual but deep conversations, often covering countercultural topics like psychedelics, MMA & hunting. Joe’s podcasting style is largely non-confrontational, often allowing his guests to share their views without significant pushback or critical questioning.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll introduce KOOS party leader and Estonian crypto businessman Oleg Ivanov. He’s best known for running shady businesses, spreading Russian false narratives in Estonia, and participating in the pro-Kremlin political party KOOS.
1/18
As a talented youngster, Oleg learned Estonian almost flawlessly, was a promising karate athlete, and landed a job at a law firm at just 20. He caught the eye of Estonian fuel entrepreneur Endel Siff, who quickly took him under his wing.
2/18
Oleg’s father, Vladimir Ivanov, was a longtime politician from the Russian-funded United People’s Party of Estonia. His career at the town hall ended abruptly when he was caught drunk at work. After that, he went into business with his son, Oleg.
In today’s Vatnik Soup, I’ll talk about the takeover of social media by illiberal, populist influencers. For the last ten years, social media has been dominated by these voices and it is one of the main reasons for the political rise of people like Trump and Orban.
1/25
“Illiberal populists” like Trump reject democratic norms while claiming to speak for “the people.” They centralize power, attack institutions, and push nationalism over rights. Elections exist, but checks & balances erode. This is democracy in name, autocracy in action.
2/25
The media landscape has changed drastically over the past two decades. The Internet and social media have changed how we interact online & how we consume media,but it has also become our main source of news. In many ways,social media companies have control over information.