Christopher Rufo, one of the country’s most powerful conservative influencers, rose up in Seattle, one of the most progressive cities.

How did that happen?

I spent a lot of time looking into that question.

Thread:

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knkx.org/politics/2023-… Five years ago, Rufo was living in a Seattle condo, working on a documentary film but also trying to break into conservative politics.

He joined a lawsuit against a city tax on high earners. He got hooked up with conservative think tanks via fellowships and writing gigs.

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Lots of people believe lots of fake things. It’s tempting to look at this through a purely political lens.

I really like this book by @DavidNeiwert because it looks at conspiracism through a psychological and sociological lens.

Here are a few of my favorite insights:

1/ 2/ Conspiracy theories are full of scary things: namely dark forces threatening the world.

But there’s actually something deeply comforting in them: the idea that the world is not random, that there is actually “some grand, overarching narrative,” @ashkenaz89 says.

We are past the point at which news orgs in every state should consider formalizing "pool" systems for contacting the families of victims and perparators when there's a massacre.

Let's minimize the trauma caused by reporting on these tragedies.

1/ One of the worst work experiences of my life was being part of a swarm of journalists descending on Newtown in the hours and days after the Sandy Hook massacre.

Reporters for hundreds of news orgs were knocking on doors, trying for the same thing: humanizing the victims.

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