@willsommer's Threads
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The baseless smear that Ilhan Omar married her brother was started 3 years ago by one anonymous troll. Now Trump and his allies are running with it. thedailybeast.com/how-the-ilhan-…
I can't stress enough how much this Ilhan Omar smear — now on Fox and talk radio, and coming from the president himself — is based on absolute nonsense. It's Pizzagate-levels of delusion. thedailybeast.com/how-the-ilhan-…
Ilhan Omar conspiracy theorists are insisting to me that the Star Trib proved the brother marriage. But that story has zero evidence of that. Omar incorrectly filed her taxes and used campaign money to fix it—that doesn't mean she married her brother!
startribune.com/new-documents-…
startribune.com/new-documents-…
I’m at the White House to cover the Social Media Summit, featuring Gateway Pundit, Bill Mitchell, Benny Johnson, “Carpe Donktum,” and more.
The Social Media Summit has props! (Via @timcast) 
The social media summit features Kellyanne Conway interviewing Diamond & Silk.
I’m covering today’s far-right rally in DC, where Proud Boys and other right-wing activists are gathering across the street from a couple hundred counter protesters.
Another speaker for the far-right dropped out of the rally this morning: hapless conservative operative Jacob Wohl messaged me to make sure I knew he wasn’t speaking, despite being on the agenda. Wohl claims he left town on business.
The DC right wing rally includes these people who claim Prince — and a lot of other celebrities who died tragically — were actually murdered. They claim they have “psychic evidence.”
I’m in DC on the Mall today covering the Trump 4th of July activities with @swin24. Let us know if you see anything unusual!
Today’s agenda, according to Park Service permits, includes a flag burning by the White House and a rally for Michael Flynn. Lots going on!
This QAnon believer at the 4th of July parade thinks JFK Jr might reveal himself today: “it would be wonderful if he did.” Other QAnon fans have said they’ll wear JFK Jr masks today.
I love to take in some theater
The crowd absolutely lost it when the Lisa Page stand-in did a sexy dance for Peter Strzok
The key thing to understand about this play is that it’s just verbatim text messages and hearing transcripts. The actors are reading their lines from binders, and Dean Cain reads out every emoji. Crowd loves it! Tickets were $75.
MAGA internet has been absolutely roiled today by a video that suggests a Trumpworld internet personality may not be as hardline on immigration as she claims. Subtweets are flying everywhere, and even Ann Coulter has weighed in.
Quick thread:
Quick thread:
Ashley StClair is a relatively new Trump-world personality. She's earned a much bigger profile over the past few months, in part on the basis of this very memeable tweet about being a "hot Trump supporter." She was also a "special guest" at a Turning Point USA conference.
Most of her tweets are pretty much what you can imagine from the usual Benny Johnson types — boo Democrats, build the wall, etc. But is she actually a hardline immigration hawk, or does she just play one on Twitter? Well...
Looks like new YouTube rules have kicked off a new crackdown that goes beyond Steven Crowder. White nationalists James Allsup and "The Golden One" say they've also been demonetized, while Gavin McInnes says he's had a video deleted.
Also on today's YouTube demonetization chopping block: Sinatra_Says, a right-wing channel that roleplayed as an anti-trans Frank Sinatra.
The YouTube purge has already unfairly caught up at least one journalist: Ford Fischer, who does great work covering political events.
YouTube just demonetized Steven Crowder, meaning he won't make money from his videos
YouTube demonetized Crowder less than a day after they said his videos don't violate their policies
YouTube's handling of this Steven Crowder demonetization is wild. Apparently it was just about T-shirts?
Twitter just permanently banned brothers Ed and Brian Krassenstein. The #Resistance duo allegedly operated fake accounts and paid to artificially increase their Twitter audiences. thedailybeast.com/twitter-bans-r…
If you know the Krassenstein brothers, it's probably because they were the top replies to Trump tweets, or because of their children's book about a shirtless hunky Robert Mueller. And now they're banned! thedailybeast.com/twitter-bans-r…
Update: the Krassenstein brothers say they're asking Twitter to reconsider their lifetime ban. thedailybeast.com/twitter-bans-r…
The pro-Trump New Right is going all in on the Kyle Kashuv N-word debacle. Jacob Wohl, his father, and Mike Cernovich are promoting it, while Laura Loomer is urging her fans to call Harvard and tell the admissions office to revoke Kashuv's admission.
Why do these New Right ppl have a bone to pick with Kashuv? Well:
-Kashuv was a protege of Ben Shapiro, a longtime foe of the New Right / "alt light"
-Kashuv criticized Loomer for wearing a yellow Star of David to symbolize her deleted Twitter account during her handcuff stunt
-Kashuv was a protege of Ben Shapiro, a longtime foe of the New Right / "alt light"
-Kashuv criticized Loomer for wearing a yellow Star of David to symbolize her deleted Twitter account during her handcuff stunt
The larger issue driving tension between the New Right and people like Shapiro, Kashuv, and Turning Point USA is that the former thinks the latter has sold out— and that they've been accepted by GOP establishment and big media in a way the former hasn't been.
Roughly two dozen Proud Boys are at the Lincoln Memorial to announce something. The website on their banner redirects to a site where you can buy awareness bracelets for as much as $5,000.
The Proud Boys announce that, like founder Gavin McInnes, they’re suing the Southern Poverty Law Center. No word on what the gorilla on their banner represents.
One Proud Boys leader says the group “likes to sometimes cause shenanigans.”
I’m here at the Jacob Wohl / Jack Burkman press conference, which is being held in a driveway.
Jacob Wohl has claimed his Buttigieg “accuser” Hunter Kelly will likely be at the press conference, even though he’s recanted and said Wohl and Burkman made it all up. I asked Kelly whether he’d be here and he responded with a series of 😂 emojis.
The Wohl press conference appears to have been delayed by a loud garbage truck collecting trash behind us.
Exclusive: Jacob Wohl caught on tape trying to concoct a sexual assault smear against Pete Buttigieg and promising to make the accuser wealthy. Now the supposed victim says Wohl and lobbyist Jack Burkman made it all up. thedailybeast.com/far-right-smea…
Jacob Wohl used the alias "Bill" as part of his scheme to fake a sexual assault claim against Pete Buttigieg. Wohl called Buttigieg a "terminal threat" to Trump. thedailybeast.com/far-right-smea…
Plenty of right-wing websites pushed Wohl's obvious hoax today after it came out, including Big League Politics, PJ Media, and Gateway Pundit.
I'm covering today's House Judiciary hearing on white nationalism. The witness list includes Turning Point USA's Candace Owens, who says she's bringing a "special guest."
A Facebook representative claims that Facebook is "no place for hate." Facebook just banned white nationalist groups last month.
Google rep claims hate speech "has no place on YouTube." At the same time, the comment stream for this hearing was just disabled because it was filling up with racist / anti-semitic comments.
The suspect accused of killing a Gambino mafia boss appears to be a QAnon believer, and wrote QAnon-related slogans on his hand. nj.com/ocean/2019/03/…
The mafia typically does not play a big role in the QAnon mythos.
The tip-off that this Gambino suspect is on some QAnon thing (besides the giant "Q" in the middle of his palm) is "Patriots in charge," an echo of QAnon slogan "Patriots in control."
This is becoming a cult cinema hit.
The editing in the Jacob Wohl video couldn't be less fair to its subjects, even though they're paying the people who made it. At one point, Wohl is described in a voiceover as a top intelligence operative—even as he cackles over a dumb video on his phone.
If you’re interested, check it out: culttture.com/importingilhan/. I haven’t watched such a weird video on this beat in a while, and it gains a new resonance as Wohl’s allies bail on him.
Right-wing provocateur Jacob Wohl faked death threats against himself, then told the police about it. Now his allies are distancing themselves. thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohl-fak…
Update: Jacob Wohl submitted fake death threats to police as evidence, according to new documents. thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohl-fak…
Jacob Wohl's one-time ally now says he "can't wait" to cooperate with any police investigation of Wohl. thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohl-fak…
The Jacob Wohl CPAC conference is about to kick off. Notably, it’s in the lobby, apparently because they couldn’t get into CPAC itself.
The Wohl press conference has drawn a sizable crowd — including the @CHAPOTRAPHOUSE crew.
Laura Loomer is here. She “demands” that Twitter give her her Twitter account back.
Twitter has permanently banned Jacob Wohl for creating fake accounts, hours after he openly bragged about creating fake accounts. thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohl-per…
Twitter banned Roger Stone protege Jacob Engels over the weekend, and now they've banned Jacob Wohl — both people who love doing weird stunts, and are friends with Laura Loomer. I think we could be in line for another door-handcuffs incident.
If you liked hearing about Jacob Wohl's Twitter ban, you'll love Right Richter, my @thedailybeast newsletter on right-wing media and characters like Jacob. Sign up here: rightrichter.com
Remember Jacob Wohl's disastrous press conference smearing Robert Mueller? His Mueller accuser now says Jacob tricked her and made it all up. usatoday.com/story/news/201…
Meanwhile, Jacob and Jack Burkman are holding another (disastrous?) press conference, this time at CPAC on Thursday. I'll be there!
And now Jacob Wohl is banned from Twitter thedailybeast.com/jacob-wohl-per…
Trump employs a QAnon conspiracy theory believer as pastry chef at Mar-a-Lago. She posts about QAnon gingerbread houses and QAnon bundt cakes. thedailybeast.com/trump-employs-…
All credit goes to @Z_Everson for breaking the QAnon pastry chef story. He does a great job covering Trump's business, so sign up for his newsletter: zacheverson.substack.com
@Z_Everson Behold: the Mar-a-Lago pastry chef's posts about QAnon gingerbread house and the QAnon bundt cake.
This has been a fun sideshow for Jacob Wohl and Loomer, premised on playing up their security concerns so their followers send more money
Ali Alexander, the right-wing activist who teamed up with Jacob Wohl and Laura Loomer, has been walking around their Airbnb in a bulletproof vest.
Asked how their supporters can help them, Alexander recently said on a livestream: "Money, money, money! And prayer."
Laura Loomer is returning to Twitter's NY headquarters, the site of her previous protest flop. Laura won't say whether she's handcuffing herself to the door again.
Loomer is also leading a 48-hour Twitter strike called #48Dark. So far, though, the only notables who have signed on appear to be Michelle Malkin and an InfoWars guy.
The Twitter email is h/t @WilliamTurton, not sure why it didn't quote tweet above
I’m at the Roger Stone hearing, where Stone’s associates / Proud Boys are getting in arguments with cameramen over their giant “Free Roger” sign
Very rowdy scene outside the Roger Stone hearing. Now there’s a guy yelling about Pizzagate.
Infowars has arrived at the Roger Stone hearing. The guy they’re interviewing just keeps saying “this is so weird.”
