In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an American politician and author, JD Vance (@JDVance). He’s best-known for his strong stance against US aid to Ukraine, and for being the Republican party’s nominee for vice president in the 2024 election.
1/20
Vance hails from the small town of Middletown, Ohio. His parents divorced when he was a toddler, JD’s mother struggled with drug addiction, and he was raised primarily by his grandparents. Later he enlisted in the US Marine Corps, and spent 6 months as a PR guy in Iraq.
2/20
In 2016, Harper published JD’s book, Hillbilly Elegy, in which he described his life and hardships, and the socioeconomic problems of his hometown. The book was very successful, and it was even adapted into a shitty Netflix movie. It also made JD famous.
3/20
During this time, JD had also moved to San Francisco to work as a venture capitalist in the tech industry, even (allegedly) working for Elon Musk’s and David Sacks’ old buddy, Peter Thiel in his firm Mithril Capital between 2016 and 2017.
4/20
But Vance had higher ambitions, and for those he had to move back to Ohio. First, he launched a non-profit organization that was supposed to focus on education, addiction, and other socioeconomic issues he had described in his book. The organization closed down just two…
5/20
…years after its launch with very few accomplishments. In 2022, JD’s rival Tim Ryan claimed that the NGO was a front for his political ambitions, and later Business Insider reported that it had spent more on Vance’s political advisor than on programs to fight opioid abuse.
6/20
And Vance’s old friend Peter Thiel also chipped in - he put a staggering 15 million USD into JD’s campaign to run for senator in 2022. Thiel had previously financed Vance’s venture firm Narya Capital that later helped fund the “alt-right” video platform Rumble.
7/20
As most of you have noticed, Vance has been a pretty bad choice for Trump as a VP candidate - he’s awkward, uncharismatic, not funny, and also extremely hostile. For example, after the Trump assassination attempt, he quickly blamed Biden for the incident.
8/20
So why was JD picked? My bet is on money. Vance’s connections to Silicon Valley investors like Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Ben Horowicz, Marc Andreessen and David Sacks bring in huge campaign contributions to Trump who at times has been strapped for cash.
9/20
In return, Vance has allegedly promised to deregulate crypto and remove safeguards around AI development. And as an investor, having your favorite candidate in the White House can’t be bad for business, eh?
10/20
Like his investor buddies, JD is also extremely opportunistic. In 2016, he was strongly against Trump’s presidency, calling him “divisive and arrogant” and “America’s Hitler”, referring to himself as a “never Trump guy” and calling Trump’s voters “idiots”.
11/20
But apparently his wealthy overlords changed their minds about Trump: in 2021, after announcing his senate candidacy, JD had been politically cuckolded by Trump. This led to JD deleting some of his old social media posts and publicly apologizing for his past behavior.
12/20
And like Trump, Vance also has a way of polarizing whole societies. He’s alienated a bunch of voters by saying that people without children are often "most sociopathic,” “psychotic,” and “deranged”. He’s also suggested that people without children should pay more taxes.
13/20
Probably in order to suck up to Trump, Vance has parroted the claims that the 2020 election was stolen and that the Jan 6 rioters are unjustly prosecuted. He’s also said that journalists should be investigated for “colluding against Trump” in 2020.
14/20
JD’s stance on the Russo-Ukrainian War has been in line with the tech bros that support him. In Apr 2022, he stated that “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other”.
JD hasn’t also been shy about sharing literal Russian disinformation, when he…
15/20
… claimed that the US is sending money to Ukraine “so that one of Zelenskyy’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht”. The fake story about Zelenskyy (not his ministers) buying a yacht was spread by super-vatnik and conman John Mark Dougan:
He’s also published a Senate memo claiming that Ukraine isn’t accounting for the aid they’re given (Ukraine established a parliamentary commission for this sole purpose in 2022) & that Ukraine has too few soldiers - the latter may be true at this point, but they now have…
17/20
… 14 fresh and trained brigades waiting to rotate to the frontlines, but the troops are not properly armed due to delays in Western aid. And as most of you know, these life-costing delays were mostly due to political decisions made by JD’s MAGA gang & speaker Mike Johnson.
18/20
He’s also stated that Ukraine should just cede land and cut a deal with Putin - a man who has broken pretty much every treaty and ceasefire in the past. JD apparently also ignores the fact that Russia is now funneling 35% of total government spending on military.
19/20
To conclude,JD is a VP candidate that was probably chosen because he brings in a lot of money from the tech bros.He doesn’t seem to have any set of permanent values & his former roommate called him a “sellout”, “angry”, “vindictive”, & “the perfect fit for Trump’s revenge”.
20/20
You can now pre-order my upcoming (Fall of 2024) book titled “Vatnik Soup - The Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation” from here:
In today’s 300th #vatniksoup, I’ll go through some of the most heroic feats that Ukrainians have achieved since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
In the last 900 days, under-equipped underdog Ukraine has fared well against the imperialist and genocidal Russia.
1/23
As in most conflicts, Ukraine relies heavily on leadership. For this reason, the Kremlin first focused their main propaganda efforts on Zelenskyy, even claiming that he had already fled from Ukraine to Poland. Soon after these allegations, Zelenskyy and his cabinet…
2/23
… published a video from the streets of Kyiv to fight this propaganda campaign. This video quickly became one of the biggest morale boosters for Ukraine, and it has become one of the most legendary and symbolic videos of the Russo-Ukrainian War.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a British far-right activist, Tommy Robinson (@TRobinsonNewEra). He’s best-known for his role in the far-right, Islamophobic organizations like the English Defence League (EDL) and his close connections to the Kremlin.
1/23
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was born in Luton and during his youth delved into a life of crime, serving four prison terms between 2005 and 2019. He used several pseudonyms to hide his criminal past, finally sticking to Tommy Robinson.
2/23
Tommy joined the fascist and far-right British National Party (BNP) in 2004 but left a year later. The party didn’t allow non-whites to join and was then led by Nick Griffin, who today is better known for sharing video game footage while claiming it’s real.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll discuss the Wagner Group, its founders Yevgeny Prigozhin and Dmitry Utkin, and the mutiny they started on 23 Jun 2023. The event marked the climax of the Wagner Group–Russian MoD conflict, and finally led to the deaths of Prigozhin and Utkin.
1/22
Wagner has been used in many conflicts around the world, but they came to global prominence during the war in Donbas in 2014-2015. Wagnerites helped the Donbas separatists fight against the Ukrainians during the conflict, which helped Putin to “outsource” the insurrection.
2/22
The group doesn’t have any central ideology, but many of its members and leaders have ties to various neo—Nazi movements in Russia. For example, Wagner leader Dmitry Utkin had several Nazi symbols tattooed on his body. Neo—nazi group Rusich has also fights as part of Wagner.
3/22
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce an Amsterdam-based propaganda channel, Bonanza Media (@bonanzamedia2). It’s best-known for producing & spreading online pro-Kremlin propaganda videos while closely coordinating & collaborating with the Russian intelligence agency GRU.
1/19
Russian intelligence has been extremely active in the Netherlands for a long time. For example in 2018, four GRU agents were caught while trying to hack into OPCW,an organization that monitors the use of chemical weapons. In addition, the International Criminal Court (ICC)…
2/19
…and the MH17 investigation have become targets for the Russian intelligence and propaganda operations. These operations are often complemented with “investigative journalism” media outlets, that often echo the Kremlin’s propaganda and disinformation.
In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll talk about the recent EU elections and what are their implications for both the Kremlin and Ukraine. Right-wing political parties, some pro-Kremlin, won a lot of seats around Europe, and this result can also change the EU’s stance on Ukraine.
1/19
But before we start, I want to promote a truck fundraiser I'm doing together with the fantastic @ArturRehi and @69thSB.
Our goal is 20 000 USD, and you can contribute to this important fundraiser here:
EU’s support of Ukraine is essential for their survival against genocidal Russia. So far,this support has been delayed mostly by Orban’s Hungary (& to some degree, Fico’s Slovakia). Now, this support will probably be challenged by many new members of the European Parliament.
3/19