As Israel's Netanyahu hysterically calls US campuses "horrific..German[y] in the 1930s", remember who took him to power: the divisive US operative Arthur Finkelstein, who also gave us autocrat Viktor Orban, antisemitic conspiracy theories, and indirectly, Donald Trump. 1/
From 1970, Finkelstein changed politics in the US and around the world with virulently negative campaigns that pushed fear & division ("rejectionist voting"), microtargeted messaging, 3rd party spoilers, and a complete disregard for truth and values. 2/ nytimes.com/2017/08/19/us/…
Finkelstein, who was both Jewish and gay, won races for homophobic candidates with antisemitic messaging. It's beyond twisted. He got Bibi elected in 1996; Bibi referred him to Viktor Orban - and to help Orban win he created the George Soros conspiracy. 2/ buzzfeednews.com/article/hnsgra…
It was Finkelstein who pushed Trump to hire Paul Manafort, deep in Ukraine fuckery in 2016 and formerly in business with Finkelstein protege Roger Stone. Trump's campaign used Finkelstein's tactics: polarize the electorate, make people fear each other. As Bibi is doing now. 3/
Manafort had learned in Ukraine how to create violent, astroturfed protests, whose players looked enough like normal folks they stymied law enforcement. In 2006, he shut down the US Marines and NATO. On Jan 6 the Capitol attack used the same gameplan. 4/ taskandpurpose.com/news/manafort-…
For 5 decades Finkelstein's proteges ("Arthur's Boys", including Roger Stone, Terry Dolan, Frank Luntz) have helped make US politics divisive and deeply twisted. Dolan, secretly gay, co-founded the Moral Majority and helped elect anti-gay candidates. 5/ archive.harpers.org/1987/08/pdf/Ha…
Finkelstein and his gay proteges fanned anti-gay hate. He and his Jewish proteges built anti-Jewish conspiracies. What Netanyahu is doing tonight is straight from Finkelstein's playbook: stoke fear and division, no matter who it hurts. US reporters must call him on it. 6/
This account focuses on Jan 6 - but J6 is Finkelstein's legacy too. Roger Stone's Proud Boys led the attack. ESI, who'd worked with Paul Manafort, ran the rallies. And the QAnon conspiracies that inflamed the rioters were pushed by a staffer of Ron Paul - Terry Dolan's client. 7/
Today saw three red flags: Bibi's speech, and visits to Columbia by Mike Johnson (J6 organizer) and Gavin McInnes (Proud Boys founder). As in 2020, protests can be used to stoke fear and violence. The only way to fight back is with sanity and calm. 8/
Everyone's talking about the bribery part of Trump's gift of a $400M superluxury airplane from the Emir of Qatar but no one's covered the security risk part. Trump will be doing private meetings in a vehicle provided by a foreign government. 1/ abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump…
Is it likely Trump's folks can effectively sweep that plane for listening devices? Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff just walked into a meeting with Putin using a Russian intelligence officer as his translator. They're not the sharpest pencils in the box. 2/
OK, some are raising security fears, just not in the published articles. Garrett Graff calls it an "unmeasurable risk" and points out: the president can't even accept a helicopter ride from a foreign government. He travels with his own helicopter. But sure, use a Qatari plane. 3/
Ed Martin just got named Trump's "Pardon Attorney" (plus Associate Deputy AG). He does know the subject - in 2020, Martin brokered a pardon for Michael Flynn in exchange for Flynn's speaking at Stop the Steal rallies. Martin knows how to cut a pardon deal. 1/
This 2023 thread covers the story. Nov. 4, the day after the election, Ali Alexander spun up Stop the Steal with Ed Martin as a top recruit. Nov. 7, Martin reaches out to the White House with a deal: pardon Flynn and he'll help with "base-rallying". 2/
People like to think of Michael Flynn as a villain but in 2020, it was Ed Martin leading. Flynn would do nothing til he got that pardon - a straight quid pro quo. But Ed Martin was all-in from the start, busily working to overthrow the rule of law. 3/
Trump just declared Harvard ineligible for all grants and the NYT botches the story. It's not that "Harvard.. relies on federal money..[for] its projects". It's the federal government that relies on Harvard for its projects. Harvard provides services for you, the taxpayer. 1/
The NYT's phrasing is as dumb as saying gosh, your plumber relies on your money for HIS plumbing projects! What happens is the federal government puts out a call for research in some area, on YOUR behalf. Individuals then submit proposals to do that work. Just like plumbers. 2/
The NYT article is astoundingly backwards. You'd think @alanblinder, an education reporter, would know better, if he'd ever lifted his head beyond admissions grievances and culture wars to consider what universities actually do. Unpaywalled link. 2/ archive.is/Mcwtc#selectio…
Reporters: yes, alt-right gadfly Ivan Raiklin says crazy stuff, but what's most interesting about him is the backstory, how he was groomed to be an influencer. Because Raiklin is of Russian origin: parents are Russian emigres, brother a Russian scholar, wife a Russian teacher. 1/
Ivan Raiklin could have been on a list since his summer in Moscow in 2002. His brother Ben would be known from his PhD ("Stalin’s Documentary Filmmaking Industry, 1926-1946"). And Ben's insecure little brother, an officer in the National Guard, would be such a tempting target. 2/
We have to stop pretending far-right influencers appear spontaneously. They have histories: normal childhoods, then they're recruited into the game. It's rarely natural. Always ask: how did this person become known, who set them onto this new path? That's the bigger story. 3/
Stephen Miller confirms what anyone who studies Jan 6 knows: Trump's government wants to control education and impose a national 'patriotic' curriculum. It was OBVIOUS this was coming: Trump promised this in 2020 in exchange for support for his coup. But pundits ignored it. 1/
This account first called it in 2022. THE DAY BEFORE THE ELECTION Trump set up a commission on patriotic education. The people who led it - from Hillsdale & Claremont - then wrote his election-fraud lawsuits, arranged fake electors. They met on Jan 5. 2/
Education was Trump's barter with the religious right: public funds for private religious schools and a national 'patriotic' curriculum. It could have been stopped: Michigan should have indicted Larry Arnn, Hillsdale president, 176 Commission leader. 3/
Our new Navy Director of Communications watched the action at the Capitol on Jan 6 for Breitbart News. Her worst post might be this one: she flippantly captioned a video of people attacking the North Doors: "Things got a lil sporty here". To her it was a joke. Video tk. 1/
Here's Wong's video of the attack on the North Doors. She can claim she was just a reporter, but her caption shows that she thinks an attack on our Capitol and officers is funny. @SECNAV: is this the message you want to send to the troops, who swear to uphold the Constitution? 2/
Actual reporters, not Breitbart hacks, should ask @SecNav John Phelan: why was Kristina Wong picked? Is this the right message to send the US Navy? That attacking our own Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power is just "a lil sporty"? 3/