Thread by @capitolhunters

To everyone appalled by NYT's July 4 op-ed "Why I don't vote. And maybe you shouldn't either", note that 1) author Matthew Walther DID vote in both 2020 and 2022, and 2) he's an extremist Catholic graduate of Hillsdale College, part of the religious-right faction behind Jan 6. 1/

Walther voted in both 2020 and 2022. (His Michigan voting record was posted by Timothy Burke on Bluesky.) In fact Waltjer wrote an entire essay about voting. The NYT did not do the most basic fact-checking. Even an op-ed shouldn't be a lie. 2/
voteref.com/voters/MI/view…

This account has written often about how Hillsdale was a driving force behind Jan 5. The "1776 Commission", chaired by Hillsdale president Larry Arnn, was the quid pro quo for support of Trump's coup - letting the religious right control US education. 3/

https://twitter.com/capitolhunters/status/1574566959055773702

Hillsdale, which runs a network of for-profit charters, was all in for the coup. Three Hillsdale officers helped with the MI fake-elector scheme: its president (Arnn), general counsel, & DC Dean. Even the NYT covered it, though they omit key texts showing Arnn was in the loop. 4/

Hillsdale was a "feeder of staffers" for Trump. Hillsdale set his education agenda (via Betsy DeVos). In 2020 Hillsdale officials met with fake electors; Hillsdale graduates filed election-fraud lawsuits. The NYT article just scratches the surface. 5/
nytimes.com/2024/01/08/mag…

On Jan 6, Hillsdale president Larry Arnn was out and about in DC, taking pictures with rally-goers. He'd come to DC to chair the one and only meeting of the "1776 Commission", hastily called by Trump for Jan 5 - to design an education agenda for a 2nd Trump term. 6/

If anyone doubts Walther's Hitler-esque photo, it comes from a 2023 article by Hillsdale College's own newspaper. Everyone signed off on this look. (Note: Walther's often called a Hillsdale graduate, but seems he didn't quite finish his degree...) 7/
hillsdalecollegian.com/2023/03/qa-mat…

There's so much more on Hillsdale. The Prince/DeVos support. (It's Erik Prince's alma mater). The charter and vouchers scams. The tie to Moms for Liberty. This is who NYT editors think Americans should hear on July 4. Do we really trust these guys on what's good for democracy? 8/

Coda: NOW the NYT is editing! First title: "Why I don't vote. And why maybe you shouldn't either". Then just: "Why I don't vote". Now they realize the lie: title suddenly is "Why I won't vote" (graphic not changed though). Archived link is from 10 AM. 9/
archive.is/ZczNC

Adding to this thread because although Walther is in the Hillsdale penumbra now, he seems to have actually attended N. Michigan. Here's a 2016 bio claiming he had a BA, though apparently that's a lie too. Same Hitler-esque photo he re-used in 2023. 10/
tfas.org/wp-content/upl…

Walther's been doing the "I don't vote" shtick since at least 2018, when he said democracy was bad: choosing leaders was too "psychologically taxing", so people should accept their rulers "untroubled by futile expectations of change". Except..he votes. 11/
theweek.com/articles/80259…