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mma 9 25

Right-wing media rushed to blame killing of Charlie Kirk on trans people

Authorities pushed back on unverified claims that the alleged shooter's ammunition was inscribed with “transgender ideology”

Special ProgramsLGBTQ

Written by Gideon Taaffe, Jack Winstanley & Noah Dowe

Published 09/12/25

After the September 10 killing of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, right-wing pundit Steven Crowder and The Wall Street Journal separately reported on an internal law enforcement bulletin claiming cartridges possibly connected to the shooting and recovered by police were engraved with “transgender and anti-fascist ideology.”

Some media figures seized on the scant reporting as key evidence of the suspect’s motivations, with right-wing commentators and outlets claiming the killer was a “leftist Trans radical,” labelling the killing an act of “trans terrorism,” and calling for the “trans movement” to be labeled “as a terrorist movement.”

Following a September 12 press conference with law enforcement that detailed the messages inscribed on the ammunition, initial reports suggesting a connection between trans people and the phrases on the bullet casings appear to be based on a misinterpretation of evidence.

] VID]

mma //

On the killing of Charlie Kirk, political violence, and the right’s response

09/12/25 1:22 PM EDT

  1. ### Right-wing media endorse a potential Supreme Court challenge to same-sex marriage

08/28/25 2:42 PM EDT

  1. ### Anti-trans pundits who championed the idea of protecting women’s sports now say that throwing sex toys at women athletes is hilarious

08/12/25

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MMA 7 25

President Donald Trump appointed conspiracy-obsessed MAGA media favorites to the highest levels of federal law enforcement, and now those figures are coming under fire from the right-wing fever swamp for failing to confirm their bullshit.

Axios reported on Sunday night that the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation had concluded that there was no evidence convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein “blackmailed powerful figures, kept a ‘client list’ or was murdered.” Those findings repudiated claims that had for years permeated the MAGA influencer ecosystem and been promoted by the stars of Fox News and the broader right-wing media.

The Trump-appointed leaders of both the FBI and DOJ had previously stoked the same conspiracy theories their agencies rejected. “As social media influencers and activists, Kash Patel (now the FBI's director) and Dan Bongino (now deputy director) were among those in MAGA world who questioned the official version of how Epstein died,” Axios noted. Moreover, Attorney General Pam Bondi had claimed in a February interview on Fox News that the purported “client list” was “sitting on my desk right now to review.”

While the Epstein saga is a bit of a sideshow in the grand scheme of things, what it highlights about the underlying dynamics of the MAGA movement is deeply unsettling. It demonstrates that the Trump administration is in hock to some of the most deranged conspiracy theorists imaginable, treating them as among its closest allies and devoting substantial resources to their care and feeding.

The White House brought 15 MAGA influencers in to meet with Bondi in February, sending them home with glossy binders labeled “The Epstein Files: Phase 1.” When those binders did not satisfy the MAGA faithful, the attorney general reportedly tasked “hundreds of FBI employees” with reviewing Epstein investigation documents for release. In May, Patel and Bongino were sent to Fox to make the case, with the fervor of the converted, that Epstein had actually killed himself. And now the FBI and DOJ have produced a memo detailing their findings and released footage taken from outside Epstein’s cell in the hours surrounding his suicide.

The final result left Trump’s most zealous online allies with two options: They could finally acknowledge that they had been peddling nonsense for years — or they could insinuate that the Trump administration itself is part of the cover-up.

MAGA’s Epstein conspiracy theorists lash out at Bondi — and even Trump

In the hours after Axios’ story broke, several prominent MAGA influencers took the latter path, hammering the administration for failing to confirm their Epstein hypotheses.

“This new DOJ memo admits there are countless victims of Epstein on video but no client list or evidence of other rapists they can charge. Oh it claims Epstein wasn’t using videos as blackmail,” Robby Starbuck sneered on X. “NO ONE believes this for very good reason.”

Starbuck put the blame squarely on the attorney general.

“Bondi just made it all worse with this memo,” he wrote. “What a terrible, terrible idea it was to write this memo. It’s also incredibly insulting to our intelligence.”

Noting her prior claim on Fox that she was in possession of Epstein’s “client list,” he commented, “Was she lying then or is she lying now?”

Laura Loomer also blamed Bondi.

“Blondi lied,” she posted on X, using the nickname she typically utilizes for the attorney general. “She was always lying.”

Others were less specific about who was responsible for the cover-up.

“We were all told more was coming,” Jack Posobiec lamented. “That answers were out there and would be provided. Incredible how utterly mismanaged this Epstein mess has been. And it didn’t have to be.”

Tim Pool suggested that the administration was protecting “the adult child rapists who were blackmailed” and floated the possibility that they were protecting “shareholder value” from “the economic fallout if say, hypothetically, Bill Gates was revealed to have been flying around with Epstein and then we got videos of him abusing underage girls.”

And Mike Cernovich suggested that the buck stopped with the president.

“No one is believing the Epstein coverup, @realDonaldTrump,” he wrote. “This will be part of your legacy. There’s still time to change it!”

The right-wing media ecosystem is built to manufacture and distribute conspiracy theories to an audience trained to believe them. Under the incentive structure this ecosystem creates, it makes sense that the Trump campaign relied on conspiracy theorists to bolster its position, that Patel and Bongino boosted their standing within that ecosystem by echoing such claims, and that Bondi kept claiming an Epstein reckoning was imminent.

But eventually, the Trump administration trapped itself. Bondi, Patel, and Bongino were unable to produce the information that the MAGA faithful demanded, and they seem unable to convince them the information does not exist. It is the nature of conspiracy theorists to insist that anything which appears to rebut their claims actually confirms it. And now they’re turning on their erstwhile allies.

The truth about Epstein and Trump

One ironic aspect of the Epstein saga is that while MAGA influencers were apparently certain that the Trump administration was going to implicate a wave of prominent individuals in Epstein’s sex crimes and, perhaps, his death, there are few figures as prominent with ties as close to Epstein as Trump himself.

Consider:

  • Trump was quoted in a 2002 profile describing Epstein as a longtime friend and “terrific guy” about whom “it is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
  • Trump was among the politicians and celebrities who hitched rides on Epstein’s private plane in the 1990s.
  • In 2019, shortly before Epstein’s arrest on sex charges, longtime Trump adviser Steve Bannon prepped Epstein for a potential interview.
  • Trump chose for labor secretary in his first term Alex Acosta, who as a U.S. attorney oversaw a sweetheart plea deal for Epstein that a judge later ruled illegal.
  • Alan Dershowitz, the Trump supporter who served on the president’s second Senate impeachment trial team, was one of the defense lawyers who helped Epstein secure that plea deal.
  • Epstein’s 2019 suicide occurred while he was in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, an agency overseen at the time by the Trump-appointed attorney general, William Barr.
  • After longtime Epstein associate Ghislane Maxwell was arrested on sex trafficking charges in 2020, Trump told reporters: “I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach, and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.”
  • Trump waffled about whether he would “declassify the Epstein files” during a Fox interview — but the network edited out that portion of his answer.
  • Trump appointed as attorney general Bondi, who was “Florida's attorney general 2011-2109 -- a period of time when Jeffrey Epstein's plane records became public, victims' lawsuits were filed and a lot of new evidence against Epstein surfaced –” but she did not take action.

None of this is actually proof that Epstein was killed to cover up the fact that he had possessed evidence that he had sex-trafficked underage girls for Trump. He killed himself, and the idea of a “client list” was, as the reporter who exposed Epstein put it, “a figment of the internet's imagination -- and a means to just slander people.”

But if, say, a similar set of facts linked former President Joe Biden and his associates to Epstein, you can bet that MAGA’s conspiracy corps would treat them as clear evidence. And so it will be interesting to see, as they scrounge for an explanation for the Bondi/Patel/Bongino about-face, if any of them eventually land there.

Why the right’s conspiracy theory engine matters

The Epstein saga is ultimately a minor drama. It is embarrassing for the right that so many of its leading lights pushed the conspiracy theories for so long, and it’s unnerving that some of those conspiracy theorists now occupy the highest levels of government, but on its own terms, the stakes for the public are relatively low.

But this treatment of the Epstein saga is not an anomaly — the right responds in this same fashion to every news event. Its ecosystem is constantly pumping out new conspiracy theories intended to prove the perfidity of the left, its audience is trapped in a bubble in which it is constantly bombarded by such claims, and the consequences can be real and dire.

Following MAGA media’s fervid promotion in September 2024 of the racist, baseless lie that Haitians were stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, local institutions received bomb threats and residents kept their children home from school out of fear for their safety.

Officials at all levels of government seeking to respond to a devastating hurricane in North Carolina the next month were forced to spend precious time debunking that ecosystem’s deranged lies because those were the sources some victims counted on for their information.

When the Epstein conspiracy theories are firmly in the rearview, everyone involved in propagating them will retain their influence over a Trump administration that is more concerned with placating them than in acting in the public interest. And that is truly dangerous.

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OMFG

AN 6 25 STATES N

Just hours after Minnesotans learned that Democratic House leader Melissa Hortman had been assassinated, right-wing influencer Collin Rugg, who has 1.8 million followers on X, posted a “report” that hinted that she’d been killed because of a recent vote on ending undocumented adults’ ability to enroll in MinnesotaCare, a subsidized health insurance for the working poor.

Mike Cernovich, another right-wing influencer who has 1.4 million followers on X, took Rugg’s post and amped it up, but in the “just asking questions” style of many conspiracy theories:

*“Did Tim Walz have her executed to send a message?”

They were deeply ignorant about the MinnesotaCare issue.

Walz and Hortman — who was instrumental in passing legislation allowing undocumented people to sign up for MinnesotaCare as speaker of the House in 2023 — negotiated a compromise with Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature to end eligibility for adults, but keep it for children. They did so to win necessary Republican support in the 67-67 House to pass a state budget. Without it, state government would have shut down on July 1.

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Both Hortman and Walz signed the compromise agreement in mid-May. This week, Hortman spoke tearfully about how difficult the vote was for her, but she was bound to vote yes on the issue because of the prior agreement.

The “theory” of Hortman’s killing was further undercut by the vote of Democratic Sen. John Hoffman — who was also targeted by the suspect — against rolling back MinnesotaCare for undocumented Minnesotans.

Rugg and Cernovich’s posts were shared widely and just the start of the disinformation.

Once law enforcement sources began revealing a suspect, right-wing influencers ran with an insignificant detail: That Vance Luther Boelter was a “Walz appointee.”

Like many states, but even more so here, Minnesota is home to hundreds of nonpartisan and bipartisan boards and commissions, which are composed of thousands of people who typically win the appointment by simply volunteering. There are currently 342 open positions on Minnesota boards and commissions. Boelter was appointed to the Workforce Development Council by Walz’s predecessor Gov. Mark Dayton and reappointed by Walz.

It was the equivalent of calling a Sunday school volunteer an “appointee of the bishop.”

No matter, the Murdoch media machine, specifically the New York Post, had their headline: “Former appointee of Tim Walz sought….”

Cernovich had his greasy foil hot dog wrapper and began constructing a hat:

“The Vice President candidate for the Democrat party is directly connected to a domestic terrorist, that is confirmed, the only question is whether Tim Walz himself ordered the political hit against a rival who voted against Walz’s plan to give free healthcare to illegals.”

Walz had no such plan. He had signed an agreement to end eligibility for undocumented adults.

Joey Mannarino, who has more than 600,000 followers on X, was more crass:

*“Rumor has it she was preparing to switch parties. The Democrats are VIOLENT SCUM.”

It was a ridiculous “rumor.” One of the last photos of Hortman alive was an image of her at the Democratic-Farmer-Labor’s big annual fundraising event, the Humphrey-Mondale dinner, which took place just hours before her assassination.

No matter, Cernovich wanted his new friends in federal law enforcement to act:

*“The FBI must take Tim Walz into custody immediately.”

Finally, fresh off his humiliating defeat at the hands of President Donald Trump, world’s richest man Elon Musk quote-tweeted someone again falsely alleging Hortman was killed by “the left” and added:

*“The far left is murderously violent.”

The suspect’s “hit list,” according to an official who has seen the list, comprised Minnesotans who have been outspoken in favor of abortion rights. CNN reported that it also included several abortion clinics, which doesn’t sound like the work of “the left.”

Right-wing influencers marred Hortman’s death and smeared Walz on a pile of lies.

In a different, saner world, they would be humiliated and slink away. But the smart money is that during the next moment of national crisis and mourning, they will again lie for profit.

Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.

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wiki 6 25 some talk

Michael Cernovich (born November 17, 1977) is an American right-wing social media personality, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist. Though he initially called himself alt-right, he dissociated from the movement after Richard Spencer became its public face. Cernovich describes himself as part of the new right and some have described him as part of the alt-lite.

:{Cernovich became a blogger in the 2000s, focusing on anti-feminist themes. He gained notice within the manosphere, and made a number of inflammatory comments about dating and sexual assault, including the claim that date rape is "liberal fiction".[1] He created a website, Danger and Play, in 2011; it was first known for his postings about men's rights and mindset techniques.

In 2014, Cernovich became a prominent figure in the Gamergate harassment campaign against several women in the video game industry, and through this built a following among the alt-right. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he adapted his website to a political blog. He was an early supporter of Republican candidate Donald Trump, and promoted conspiracy theories about Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.[2] Since 2018, he has become increasingly critical of Trump, and in 2022 voiced support for Ron DeSantis instead for the 2024 election.[3][4]}:

Cernovich has promoted fake news, conspiracy theories, and smear campaigns.[5][6] He helped spread the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which falsely claimed that John Podesta and other high-ranking Democratic Party officials were involved in a child-sex ring.[6] Cernovich has frequently made unsubstantiated accusations about political opponents of being pedophiles.[1] He unearthed old tweets by Sam Seder and James Gunn joking about pedophilia, and initially succeeded in pressuring to get them fired, but both were reinstated after public outcry.

Early life

Cernovich was born on November 17, 1977, in the farming town of Kewanee, Illinois.[2] His family was poor, and his parents were both devout Christians.[7]

Cernovich graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2001.[8] He graduated with a Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2004.[7]

Writings and films

Blogs

In 2004, Cernovich started a legal blog entitled Crime & Federalism, where he wrote about law from a libertarian perspective.[9]

Shortly after his divorce in 2011, he created the blog Danger & Play, where he wrote about men's rights, fitness, and self-help topics.[9] The title of Danger & Play came from a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: "The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything."[10]

In an October 2016 blog post, Cernovich wrote that date rape is "liberal fiction" that is "harmful ... for men and women" and leads to false rape accusations, claiming that: "Lying about being in love to sleep with someone isn't rape [...] Getting played isn't rape. Regret isn't rape. Thinking, 'I might have been date raped,' means you weren't raped." His comments received sustained criticism.[1]

Books

In 2015, Cernovich self-published Gorilla Mindset: How to Control Your Thoughts and Emotions, Improve Your Health and Fitness, Make More Money and Live Life on Your Terms, which became a bestseller in the motivational self-help category on Amazon.[10]

In 2016, Cernovich published Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity.[11] In October 2016, he published MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again through Castalia House, a Finnish publishing house founded by Vox Day which primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy.[11]

Films

In 2016, Cernovich was an associate producer[12] for Cassie Jaye's documentary The Red Pill, which discusses the men's rights movement, and issues like male suicide, child custody, and educational inequality.

In 2018, Cernovich produced a documentary called Hoaxed: Everything They Told You Is a Lie, with associate producers Scooter Downey and Jon Du Toit. The Hollywood Reporter described it as "a right-wing take on corporate malfeasance and media bias".[13] The movie interviewed a wide range of conservative figures, including Anthony Scaramucci, Jordan Peterson, Scott Adams, James O'Keefe, and Alex Jones.[14] Hoaxed was also made into a book of the same name. The documentary was listed on the Amazon platform before being removed without comment in 2020.[15]

Political activities

Identification with, and later disavowal of the alt-right

:{Cernovich's writings turned political after Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. He became notable for his trolling; his maxims were "conflict is attention", and "attention is influence". He identified himself as alt-right, and joined forces with provocateurs like Milo Yiannopoulos.[16] Early on, the alt-right was a "big-tent" that included "any conservative or reactionary who was [...] too belligerently antiestablishment to feel at home in the Republican Party".[17]

In November 2016, white nationalist Richard B. Spencer, who also self-identified as alt-right, became its "indelible face" after a video of him giving a Nazi salute provoked universal outrage.[18] This led to a rift in the alt-right movement between white nationalists and civic nationalists, with the former branding the latter "cuckservatives" and "alt-lite".[19][20] Following the schism, Cernovich disassociated himself from alt-right, saying: "The first order of business is getting that Nazi shit way the fuck away from me". He adopted the label "new right", and has also described himself as an economic nationalist.[21]}:

Cernovich was one of the organizers of the January 2017 DeploraBall inaugural ball to celebrate Trump's victory;[22] the name was a reference to Hillary Clinton's earlier "basket of deplorables" comment.[23] He banned fellow organizer Baked Alaska after the latter made an antisemitic tweet, and banned Spencer after he discovered the latter had bought a ticket.[24] Notable attendees of the DeploraBall include Martin Shkreli, James O'Keefe, and Cassandra Fairbanks; Peter Thiel also briefly appeared.[25] Outside the ball, there were clashes between Trump supporters and protesters.[26]

Ideology

In 2015 and 2016, Cernovich repeatedly made false claims that white South Africans were being eliminated in a genocide,[10] which were debunked by Genocide Watch.[27] He later deleted the tweets.[28]

Politico described him in 2016 as wanting an IQ test requirement for immigrants and to end federal funding for universities.[5] Interviewed on 60 Minutes in March 2017, Cernovich advocated single-payer healthcare.[29] Cernovich has supported "some sort of universal basic income",[5][30] and suggested in 2018 that the "new right" was "more of a populist movement than a conservative or liberal movement", and that "conservatism is on the way out".[31]

Donald Trump

During the 2016 United States presidential campaign, Cernovich saw Donald Trump as a kindred spirit[2] and, according to Politico, during the 2016 campaign and early period of the Trump administration, Cernovich was an "indefatigable Trump cheerleader" and was among a group of alt-right celebrities who believed they could become a major influence on the Republican Party.[3]

In 2018, Cernovich became "increasingly critical" of Trump, and less politically active.[3] In September 2018, he tweeted his disappointment, "There's no Wall. She's not locked up. But Flynn got fired and sent to wolves. And Saudi Arabia sold weapons of murder. I give zero f-cks about Republicans losing the House."[3] Also in 2018, Cernovich criticized the Trump administration's missile strikes against Syria, which divided the president's political base.[32]

Following the 2022 midterm elections, Cernovich said the losses meant that "at least no one has to suck up to Trump anymore", and that "Trump has zero shot at 2024". He voiced his support for Ron DeSantis for the 2024 election.[4]

Attempts to influence the news cycle

During the 2016 campaign, Cernovich told journalist Andrew Marantz: "if there's a story that can hurt Hillary, I want it in the news cycle".[33] He set out to coin and promote hashtags that would promote these stories, and aimed to get the stories covered by conservative news aggregator The Drudge Report, saying: "If it's on Drudge, then it's on Hannity. If it's on Hannity, then Brian Stelter's talking about it on CNN".[33] Researchers from Oxford University said in a 2020 book that it exemplifies a propaganda pipeline that "[takes] advantage of the media ecosystem architecture", in which "destructive memes" that emerge from the media's periphery (social media and sites like Infowars) can spread to its core, as mainstream media covers the controversies.[34]

Conspiracy theories

Politico has described Cernovich as an "avid consumer and progenitor of conspiracy theories".[5]

During the 2016 campaign, Cernovich was "among the first" to spread rumors about Hillary Clinton's health.[2] Clinton had previously experienced a brain concussion and blood clots, but testing found "complete resolution", and her doctors attested to her good health.[35] In March 2016, he claimed that a photo of Hillary Clinton winking showed she had experienced a "mild stroke".[36] In August, he promoted the hashtags: #CoughingHillary and #SickHillary on Twitter, and spread rumors that Clinton had epilepsy and Parkinson's disease.[37] These rumors were amplified by the Drudge Report website, Rudy Giuliani,[38] and Donald Trump.[39] In September 2016, Clinton was filmed collapsing from pneumonia after a memorial service, and Cernovich started the #HillarysHealth hashtag,[40] which trended nationwide; that month, Cernovich's tweets were seen more than 100 million times.[2]

In November 2016, Cernovich and other conspiracists promoted the baseless Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which misinterpreted the leaked Podesta emails to imply that high-ranking Democrats were involved in a child sex-trafficking ring.[41] He also claimed that a 1997 video of Marina Abramovic's "spirit cooking" performance art constituted "occult symbolism" to "openly taunt the public", and that it proved that Clinton's inner circle was part of a sex cult.[42] He helped #Pizzagate become one of the biggest trending hashtags on Twitter;[43] the hashtag drew conspiracy theorists from across the political spectrum, whose common link was their "profound distrust of the mainstream media".[44] The rumors later inspired a gun-wielding man to visit Comet Ping Pong.[45] Cernovich, who had used the hashtag 60 times, later deleted the tweets, and downplayed his involvement in propagating the theory.[46]

Cernovich regularly asserts, without evidence, that there are active child sex rings in Washington, D.C. and in Hollywood.[6][47] He has accused his opponents of being pedophiles on many occasions.[6] A visit to Haiti by the Clintons, he saw as evidence the couple were involved in child trafficking.[48] In another YouTube video, he said that most people employed by the news media and "every A-list actor" in Hollywood were also pedophiles.[1]

Cernovich has also supported the unevidenced theory that there were multiple shooters at the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, which he claims the government is covering up.[5] In 2016, Cernovich worked with Chuck Johnson and Wikileaks to offer a bounty for information supporting the conspiracy theory that murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich had been behind a leak of emails from the Democratic National Committee.[47] In April 2017, Cernovich promoted a conspiracy theory that the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in Syria was a hoax funded by an American financier.[49]

Cernovich commissioned artist Ben Garrison to draw an antisemitic cartoon portraying Generals H.R. McMaster and David Petraeus being controlled by Jewish puppetmasters- specifically George Soros and the Rothschild Family. Garrison was disinvited from an event at the White House in 2019 following complaints about the cartoon from the Anti-Defamation League.[50][51]

Cernovich began hosting the fourth hour once a week on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' InfoWars show in May 2017.[52]

Other activities

During the 2021 effort to recall incumbent California governor Gavin Newsom, Cernovich floated a potential run.[53]

Journalism activities

Cernovich's high prominence in pro-Trump social media circles led him to build a network of sympathetic sources, and break several stories on his blog, which he promoted on Twitter and video streaming sites like Periscope.[54] The New Yorker's Andrew Marantz described it as "hardly journalism in its highest form. But it's not exactly fake news, either", comparing it to the Huffington Post's citizen journalism.[55]

Intelligence unmasking by Susan Rice

On April 2, 2017, Cernovich broke the news that Susan Rice, Obama's national security advisor, had requested the unmasking of several Trump transition officials who appeared in intelligence reports.[56] When electronic eavesdropping of foreign officials incidentally capture American citizens' names, those names are redacted in intelligence reports, but can be "unmasked" through a legal process.[57] Cernovich publicized his claims in a Medium.com article, in tweets, and on Periscope live streams. The hashtag #SusanRice became a trending topic on Twitter; he later posted a screenshot showing the tweets received 400,000 impressions.[58] Cernovich claimed that his sources were sympathetic employees of mainstream media outlets, whose outlets were "sitting on this story".[59]

The next day, Bloomberg News published its story on the intelligence unmasking.[57] The White House falsely claimed it was a "smoking gun" that supported its past allegations that Obama had "illegally wiretapped" Trump Tower, though the Susan Rice story was tangential to those claims.[60] Trump himself, conservative commentators Tucker Carlson and David French, White House conselor Kellyanne Conway, and congressmen Rand Paul and Devin Nunes all promoted the story.[61] Donald Trump Jr. claimed Cernovich deserved a Pulitzer Prize.[62] The story was criticized as a distraction from the Russia probe investigating Trump.[63]

The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza said there were "valid reasons" for concerns about unmasking, but that it was constrained by a legal process and independent review, and noted there was no evidence of misconduct.[64] Experts and bipartisan congresspeople concluded Susan Rice was "doing her job", that there was "absolutely" no smoking gun in the unmasked reports, and that the unmaskings were "neither unusual nor against the law".[65]

H.R. McMaster

In 2017, Cernovich launched a sustained campaign to influence Trump to fire his national security advisor, H. R. McMaster, claiming that McMaster was undermining the president's America First agenda.[66][67] He started the McMasterLeaks.com website to document his and others' criticisms of McMaster.[68]

On May 8, 2017, Cernovich reported that McMaster had called White House director of strategic communications Hope Hicks a "high schooler".[69][70] New York Magazine's Olivia Nuzzi later corroborated the quote.[71]

Cernovich was interviewed on Foreign Policy's podcast in relation to his anti-McMaster campaign, and discussed the tension between journalism and activism.[72]

Shitty Media Men list

Main article: Shitty Media Men

On October 12, 2017, Buzzfeed revealed the existence of the "Shitty Media Men" spreadsheet, which had been created a day earlier in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, and was used by female journalists to crowdsource allegations ranging from "weird lunch dates" to rape and stalking committed by their male coworkers.[73] The list included reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and Buzzfeed.[74]

On October 16, Cernovich offered to pay $10,000 for a copy of the list. He obtained it on October 21, claiming the source "was insistent on not accepting anything", and announced his intent to release it; he published two of the names, but held back the rest after consulting his lawyer.[74] New York Magazine denounced Cernovich's actions as a weaponization of the allegations in order to "attack the hated liberal media".[75] The list itself later led to a string of investigations, resignations and firings.[76]

Sexual harassment allegations against John Conyers

In November 2017, Cernovich uncovered sworn affidavits in which former staffers accused Democratic congressman John Conyers of sexual harassment. The documents also revealed that the accusers were paid a settlement by Congress's Office of Compliance in exchange for a confidentiality agreement. Cernovich then gave the documents to BuzzFeed, saying he did not publish them on his own because he thought Democrats would attempt to discredit him. BuzzFeed verified that the documents were real, and published their article on November 20, 2017.[77] The House Ethics Committee launched an investigation;[78] other allegations followed, and Conyers resigned in December 2017.[79]

Role in the media ecosystem

New York Magazine's Jesse Singal said Cernovich benefited from common conservative sentiments that mainstream journalism is "fake news" and "utterly corrupt", sentiments which blur the line between established news organizations and activists, and lead conservatives to downplay or excuse fake news published by "their side".[80] Singal described conservatives as believing "[people like Cernovich] are on the right side, and they're set to overtake those corrupt dinosaurs who have controlled the flow of information for far too long".[80]

In an interview with Vice News, Cernovich claimed he was filling a "vacuum" created by conservative distrust of mainstream media.

The people who are going to watch [this interview] on VICE, or on HBO, are not my people. So you guys could create this caricature of a madman and a monster, and maybe two or three people who follow me on Twitter would even watch it. So we live now in parallel structures. Right now there's no shared set of facts in the country.[81]

— Mike Cernovich, "Post-Truth" News with Mike Cernovich, VICE on HBO

In the same segment, VICE noted that only 32% of Americans trusted the press, and interviewed Eugene Yi of the MIT Media Lab, who showed that mainstream journalists had practically no reach among conservative Twitter users.[81]

Legal activities

Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit

In 2015, Virginia Giuffre sued Ghislaine Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell sexually trafficked her for Jeffrey Epstein while she was a minor. Maxwell settled the suit[82]

In January 2017, Cernovich filed a motion to unseal evidence and depositions from Giuffre's lawsuit.[83] He told Politico he was "astonished" by the amount of redactions the judge allowed, with some documents "largely or entirely redacted".[84] Alan Dershowitz later filed a similar motion,[85] and the Miami Herald filed a third in April 2018.[86] The motions were denied by the trial court, and Cernovich and the Herald appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.[87] The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (which includes the Associated Press) filed an amicus brief to support the appeal.[88] In July 2019, the Court of Appeals ordered the documents unsealed.[87]

Other lawsuits

In February 2020, Cernovich filed a third-party motion in Roger Stone's criminal case, calling for the release of the jury foreperson's questionnaire answers.[89] This motion too was supported by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.[90] It was later backed by Roger Stone,[91] who filed a motion for a new trial, which was denied.[92]

Social media

Cernovich became influential on social media, initially as part of the manosphere movement.[93] Cernovich calls his adversaries "beta males", losers, or "cucks", saying: "to beat a person, you lower his or her social status".[2] Cernovich uses trolling tactics, which he says he uses to build his brand rather than for his own amusement.[2][1] In December 2017, Cernovich hosted an "Ask Me Anything" on Reddit; this was judged a failure by several media outlets.[94]

Gamergate

See also: Gamergate (harassment campaign)

In 2014, Cernovich became a prominent figure of Gamergate, which targeted feminists as part of a nascent culture war in the aftermath of the MeToo movement.[95] He encouraged the doxing of opponents, and wrote about women attacking men with false rape allegations.[47] Wired Magazine wrote that Cernovich "gained a kind of leadership over the unruly mob", and that the movement had more to do with identity than with gaming or women.[47]

Cernovich hired private investigators to hound Zoë Quinn, a central target of Gamergate, and worked with Eron Gjoni, Quinn's former boyfriend who had written the disparaging blog post about Quinn which incited the harassment campaign.[96][47] According to O'Toole et al. writing in Gender Violence, "Cernovich's ongoing strategy, even after Gamergate itself died down, has been to promote conspiracy theories, provide dubious legal advice, and offer a constantly rotating platter of targets."[96] Writer and activist Soraya Chemaly called Gamergate a "breeding ground and practice ground" for the 2016 campaign.[97]

Involvement in firings of other individuals

Sam Seder

:{In December 2017, Cernovich published a Medium post and contacted several journalists and news outlets about a joke tweet that comedian and MSNBC contributor Sam Seder had written in 2009. Cernovich claimed that the tweet, which read "Don't care re Polanski, but I hope if my daughter is ever raped it is by an older truly talented man w/a great sense of mise en scene," proved Seder tacitly endorsed Roman Polanski's sexual abuse crime.[98] MSNBC elected to sever ties with Seder by not renewing his contract (due to expire in February 2018) due to the controversial tweet.[99][98] Seder defended the tweet by pointing out that, taken in context of the current events around the time he posted it, it was a satirical response to a petition urging Polanski's release from detention in Switzerland because of his stature as an artist, and that he had been mocking Polanski's apologists.[98][100][101]

After news of the termination broke, Cernovich released a video on Twitter video celebrating his triumph.[99] By then, Seder noted that advertisers on The Majority Report with Sam Seder podcast were also being contacted and pressured by Cernovich and his followers to cut ties with the show over the tweet.[99] In response, Seder launched a GoFundMe campaign to help maintain funding for the show in the face of potential loss of advertising revenue, and also to produce a three-minute video educating people on Cernovich's tactics.[99] According to Seder, Cernovich's ploy had been retribution for Seder's frequent criticism of then-President Donald Trump as well as Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.[100] Cernovich retorted to CNN that "the left isn't going to stop going through our tweets so we aren't going to stop going through theirs."[99]}:

:{The news of Seder's dismissal prompted an almost immediate backlash. Over 12,000 people signed a petition protesting Seder's termination, arguing that Cernovich had acted in malice and was deliberately mischaracterizing the tweet.[100][102] AV Club wrote that "MSNBC has now fully bought into that smear campaign ... whose openly stated goal is the destruction of news outlets just like it through the use of blatantly manipulative trolling techniques."[103] Mother Jones rebuked MSNBC for capitulating "to the demands of a lunatic conservative."[104] HuffPost chided that Cernovich was now MSNBC's new "De Facto Ombudsman".[105]

MSNBC primetime anchor Chris Hayes tweeted, "The entire culture and our politics are now dominated by people who have weaponized bad faith and shamelessness."[104] There was considerable dissent within MSNBC over Seder's termination. Some employees expressed concerns that his firing would encourage other far-right personalities to launch similar campaigns.[99][101] A senior MSNBC employee characterized the capitulation as "really weak" and "pathetic".[99][101] MSNBC's management itself was unsettled by the celebratory reaction from the far-right.[99][101] On December 7, 2017, MSNBC decided to reverse their decision to terminate Seder's employment.[102][106]}:

Cernovich acknowledged that "some are saying Seder was making a joke or being sarcastic."[107] However, he maintained that he didn't misrepresent the tweet and that he had simply "reported on what [Seder] said."[99]

Columbia Journalism Review cited the incident as an example of a broader pattern of far-right media personalities using online smear campaigns to get mainstream journalists fired.[108]

James Gunn

On July 18, 2018, filmmaker Mark Duplass faced swift backlash on Twitter for recommending his "fellow liberals [cross] the aisle" and follow conservative commentator Ben Shapiro on Twitter; filmmaker James Gunn came to Duplass's defense, and Duplass publicly retracted his endorsement, calling it "a disaster on many levels".[109] A day later, Cernovich and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec unearthed tweets by Gunn in which he joked about pedophilia and rape; Gunn had been a vocal critic of Donald Trump,[110] and the tweets were widely shared among conservatives, and trended nationwide on Twitter.[111] The next day, Gunn issued an apology for the tweets.[112] Disney called the tweets "indefensible", and fired Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.[113] After Gunn's firing, Cernovich also unearthed similar tweets by comedians Michael Ian Black and Patton Oswalt.[114]

Disney's decision to fire Gunn was criticized by fans of the series, Hollywood stars, and several media outlets.[115] An online petition urging Disney to re-hire Gunn received over 400,000 signatures.[116] Fellow Guardians of the Galaxy cast members released a statement expressing their "[full] support" for Gunn.[117]

In March 2019, Gunn was reinstated by Disney as director of the third film.[118] Prior to his rehiring, he had also signed on with Warner Bros. to write and later direct what would eventually become the DC Extended Universe film The Suicide Squad.[119] In 2022, Gunn was chosen to lead DC Studios, the retooled film division of DC Comics.[120]

Personal life

Cernovich was arrested and charged with rape in 2003. The rape charges were dismissed, but he was ordered to perform community service for misdemeanor battery. His record was later expunged.[2]

Cernovich married his first wife when he was a law student in 2003. He later said the marriage was "ruined by feminist indoctrination".[2] An attorney for a Silicon Valley firm, his first wife earned millions of dollars from an initial public offering (IPO). She filed for divorce in 2011, and Cernovich received what he has described as a "seven-figure sum" in the settlement.[2][9] He later married his second wife, Shauna.[2] The couple have four children together.

Works

Books

--

films

}:The Red PillAssociate producer[12]
2016Silenced, Our War for Free SpeechProducer[121]
2019Hoaxed: The Media's War on TruthProducer and as self[15]
2020The Plot Against the PresidentSelf[122]
2020White NoiseSelf[123

ggl 6 25

Mike Cernovich

American media personality

Overview

Books

Latest posts from Mike Cernovich

Department of Agriculture regulations make it difficult for small family farms to operate. The Amish get raised. Downstream this means you need economies of scale, leading to horrific factory farming practices and illegal immigrant labor. The right opposes both. Time to fix it.

760+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 35 minutes ago

Rand Paul goes on left wing media Sunday shows to take shots at Trump. Why not do long form in a venue where he’d need to explain his positions from a right wing perspective? He doesn’t do this. He’s a tool of the regime, only fools are fooled by his act now.

1.5K+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 1 hour ago

Fathers and sons. Was talking to my wife when we drove past a goober looking dad and his son. I felt disgust and said my boy would never respect me if that were me. The man was with his son, a teenager, and the young man has surrendered his birthright. Soft jaw. Bad posture.

940+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 2 hours ago

Happy Father’s Day to everyone’s favorite internet dad - @ScottAdamsSays!

2K+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 2 hours ago

Happy Father’s Day! Going to read about Teddy Roosevelt to remind myself I still have some work to do in this life. Got out the Fuente Padron collaboration cigar that I had stayed away for an occasion. Then taking kids bike riding in the greatest state - California.

210+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 2 hours ago

Within 48 hours it went from “Israel has this on its own,” to, “Just drop a few bunker busters bro.” That was fast!

5.6K+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 17 hours ago

The American people have a right to exist.

6.6K+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 18 hours ago

Every WH official I spoke to said no boots on the ground but they don’t want Iran to have a nuke.

Anything more specific, and people are tight lipped about.

The stuff you’re seeing elsewhere are people leaking what they WANT to happen, a common technique.

1.8K+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 18 hours ago

In September, the Executive Branch will open to its new members with a $150,000 initiation fee and annual dues of $15,000. nypost.com/2025/06/14/u…

160+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 20 hours ago

There’s no one alive who can write sentences like these from Will Durant.

390+ likes

Cernovich

X (Twitter) · 20 hours ago

Mike Cernovich

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Mike_Cernovich

cernovich from en.wikipedia.org

Michael Cernovich (born November 17, 1977) is an American right-wing social media personality, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist.

Mike Cernovich

Southern Poverty Law Center

https://www.splcenter.org › resources › extremist-files

cernovich from www.splcenter.org

Cernovich is one of America's most visible right-wing provocateurs, known for boosting or generating massively successful conspiracy theories like #Pizzagate.

Gorilla Mindset: Cernovich, Mike

Amazon.com

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In Gorilla Mindset, Mike offers simple, actionable methods of placing your emotions and mindset under your control. Like the Stoicism of old, his goal is to ...

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Learn the principles that have helped tens-of-millions of people - Improve their health - Develop better relationships - Build massive businesses online and ...

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Learn the principles that have helped tens-of-millions of people - Improve their health - Develop better relationships - Build massive businesses online and ...

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MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again

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Mike Cernovich is an author, journalist, and filmmaker. His first book Gorilla Mindset has sold over 100,000 copies and won numerous awards in publishing. Since ...

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Audiobooks narrated by Mike Cernovich

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Download Audiobooks narrated by Mike Cernovich to your device. Audible provides the highest quality audio and narration. Your first book is Free with trial!

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Enjoy this wonderful conversation with an old friend about life as a man, personal growth, loss, trauma, and love.

Mike Cernovich (@cernovich) • Instagram photos and videos

Instagram · cernovich

87.8K+ followers

Filmmaker, investor, and e-commerce co-founder of global brands. Currently launching a protein bar. Use MC10 to save 10%. cleanformnutrition.com.

Books

Gorilla Mindset: How to Control Your Thoughts and Emotions, Improve Your Health and Fitness, Make More Money and Live Life on Your Terms

2015

Danger & Play: Essays on Embracing Masculinity

2016

MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again

2016

Hoaxed: Everything They Told You Is a Lie

2018

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Overview

Michael Cernovich is an American right-wing social media personality, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist. Though he initially called himself alt-right, he dissociated from the movement after Richard Spencer became its public face. Wikipedia

Born: 1977 (age 47 years), Kewanee, IL

Spouse: Shauna Cernovich

Height: 6′ 0″

Education: University of Illinois Springfield (BA); Pepperdine University (JD)

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It's mind boggling that there's even a possibility we might get ensnared in yet another Middle East war. It's like having a family member addicted to drugs.

MAGA Mindset: Making YOU and America Great Again

Amazon.com

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Mike Cernovich is an author, journalist, and filmmaker. His first book Gorilla Mindset has sold over 100,000 copies and won numerous awards in publishing. Since ...

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Soft jaw. Bad posture. Looked like cattle. I felt bad for the kid. His whole life will be confusion due to his low testosterone and the ...

Brad Cernovich, Wealth Management Advisor

Northwestern Mutual

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I'll listen to what's important to you and design a financial plan from multiple strategies specifically designed to help get you where you want to be.

Mike Cernovich Quotes

BrainyQuote

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cernovich from www.brainyquote.com

“The blockchain is a distributed network that solves all the problems that we have of finance, but more broadly, it's like a philosophy. It's a way of life.”

Rick S. Cernovich, MD | Family Medicine in Sheffield

OSF Innovation

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Education & Experience. University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics. Residency, Family Medicine, 1987. Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

Mike Cernovich – Mindset, Film and Media

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Mike Cernovich is a leading independent journalist, filmmaker and author.

Mike Cernovich on Donald Trump, Demons, and Feds ...

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1.2M+ views · 11 months ago

Mike Cernovich doesn't talk on camera much any more, but he's well worth hearing. Watch more here: https://watchtcn.co/49.

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Advice to Young Men - Tucker Carlson and Mike Cernovich

YouTube · Tucker Carlson Network

17.3K+ views · 11 months ago

Advice to Young Men - Tucker Carlson and Mike Cernovich. 17K views · 10 months ago #TuckerCarlson #women #God ...more. Tucker Carlson Network.

---

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The FBI killed a Utah man who issued numerous death threats. Far-right figures are now claiming the Biden administration is coming to kill conservatives.

Emerging narratives echo right-wing reaction to the infamous 1992 raid in Ruby Ridge, Idaho

WRITTEN BY MADELINE PELTZ

PUBLISHED 08/11/23

After a Utah man was shot and killed by the FBI following a months long investigation into threats against President Joe Biden, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, and other public officials, some extremist right-wing media figures are now spinning the incident to claim the federal government is willing to kill any critic of Democrats.

In the early morning hours of August 9, the FBI served warrants at the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson, who was killed by an agent. According to CBS News, charging documents against Robertson alleged that he made multiple explicit “online posts” that “showed an intent to kill Mr. Biden,” who was scheduled to appear in Utah later that day. The charging documents reportedly claim Robertson also wrote about fulfilling a “dream” of killing Bragg, the New York DA who earlier this year indicted former President Donald Trump. NBC News reported that the FBI alleges Robertson’s social media posts also “mentioned many other politicians, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and California Gov. Gavin Newsom.”

There is a significant lack of information regarding Robertson’s death so far. NBC reports that the raid is “under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division,” and according to CBS, “authorities have not publicly confirmed the man who was killed is the man named in the complaint.” And any government killing is worth giving heavy scrutiny to, regardless of the circumstance. There are reasonable questions here and the FBI must answer them or be held accountable.

Some right-wing media figures, however, have already jumped to extreme fearmongering about the incident to claim the Biden administration is intentionally using deadly force against Democrats’ online critics.

“Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander wrote on Telegram: “The FBI is now killing online critics of Biden. This is all by design."

Ali Utah

CitationScreenshot from Ali Alexander's Telegram channel

On his Real America’s Voice show, neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec said, “This looks like a show of force. This looks like a message. This looks like a message being sent to the people of this country — threaten us and we’ll show up at your home at 6:15 in the morning and take you out. That’s what it looks like, folks.”

On Twitter (recently rebranded as X), “alt-right” activist and rape apologist Mike Cernovich wrote that Robertson’s death “was to send a message” after the “FBI assassination team” had “sworn an oath to demons.”

Cernovich

CitationScreenshot from Mike Cernovich's Twitter account

On Fox News, Laura Ingraham said the killing “kind of amounts to a smear” with the “implicit” message to “millions of Americans who may have supported President Trump or other conservatives implying that they can’t be trusted or, I don’t know, is it when in doubt, shoot first, ask questions later?”

Other far-right figures posted similar comments about the incident on social media, writing that the FBI had shot Robertson “in cold blood because he criticized Joe Biden online,” and claiming that the government “basically said that they wanted to kill a Biden critic to set an example.” On GETTR, former Trump adviser Steve Bannon simply wrote, “In Cold Blood,” and linked to a tweet from Posobiec.

This commentary is reminiscent of the radical right’s reactions to the Ruby Ridge incident of 1992, an 11-day standoff in Idaho between federal agents and the family of Randy Weaver, a Christian fundamentalist affiliated with the far-right white separatist movement. The standoff resulted in the deaths of Weaver’s wife, son, and a federal marshal.

On the August 10 edition of his show THOUGHTCRIME, Charlie Kirk specifically invoked Ruby Ridge and the deadly 1993 siege on a cult compound in Waco, Texas, saying “We know from Waco and Ruby Ridge that there's some really bad people that could be in the FBI. We know that.”

Video

CitationFrom the August 10, 2023, edition of Thoughtcrime

Rudy Ridge became a critical political touchstone among far-right activists and inspired acts of domestic terrorism, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured 759.

In a 2017 interview with ABC News, Jess Walter, a reporter who covered the incident of Ruby Ridge, explained, “The fallout from Ruby Ridge was [that it] sort of mainstreamed some of those really right-wing conspiratorial beliefs and, in many ways, when you have conspiracy buffs saying the government’s out to kill you, and then a case like that happens, it just continues to reverberate and echo.”

“Right-wing media starts in the era after this,” the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Heidi Beirich also noted. “All of this builds out of the rage that was symbolized with this event.”

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Ali Alexander

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Neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec: “I'm sure that you know someone in your life” who posts explicit, repeated death threats against government officials

08/11/23 1

Laura Ingraham suggests the FBI executed man who had made repeated threats to assassinate multiple political enemies of Donald Trump

08/10/23

Media Matters weekly newsletter, August 11

08/11/23

https://twitter.com/olgaNYC1211/status/1248436809870249989/photo/1

ton-that hack malware phish ggl pAx dickinson bix insider, weeve stormer

Beclowning Themselves: The Far-Right Reacts to the Jan. 6 Committee Hearings | Right Wing Watch

rww 7 22

beclowning themselves...

the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been holding public hearings for two weeks now, but take a look at right-wing media and its personalities and you’d hardly know it.

Right-wing and far-right activists have largely ignored the hearings or, when they have addressed it, painted the hearings as “propaganda” or a “partisan witch hunt.” Others, still, haven’t been able to resist criticizing those Republicans they feel betrayed by.

Here’s how a few right-wing activists, many of whom have been subpoenaed for their role in the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, have responded.

Mike Cernovich—a far-right activist and conspiracy theorist with the so-called Stop the Steal campaign—had this to say about the Jan. 6 hearings: “Nobody cares, dude!”

Cernovich had joined former Trump White House adviser Steve Bannon a day before the opening hearing on the June 8 episode of Bannon’s “War Room” podcast. Asked how right-wing media, including the “War Room,” should respond to the Jan. 6 hearings—whether or not they should mention it or launch counterprogramming—Cernovich offered some counterintuitive advice.

“Whatever we can do to get Democrats to talk more about Jan. 6 we should do, so whatever gets them hyperventilating, crying—oh, seven people died that day? Yeah, they were Trump supporters,” Cernovich said.

In fact, five police officers died and about 150 were injured as a result of Trump loyalists’ attack on the Capitol. Another four in the crowd died.

“But what we don’t want to lose sight of is that they are beclowning themselves, so the key for us is to stay on message. Yeah, a woman was shot in the neck and bled out,” he said. “The key to keep in mind is the Democrats look like unserious people, unfit to govern because they’re hyperventilating over an event they compare to 9/11.”

Cernovich has since called the hearings “propaganda.”

Bannon—who was indicted for refusing to respond to a Jan. 6 committee subpoena—referred to the Jan. 6 hearings as a “show trial” and lambasted Fox News for its coverage.

While major news networks carried the first primetime hearing live on June 9, Fox aired counterprogramming by Tucker Carlson, who took no commercial breaks less his viewers be tempted to tune into the hearing.

But since then, the network has covered the Jan. 6 hearings held in non primetime hours, and network analysts were so moved by Republican testimonies during Tuesday’s hearing that one said it suggests Trump “may be guilty of a crime” and that it “shows his unfitness” for office. And that Bannon finds to be sinful.

“Fox News shows their hand—all in on taking down President Trump—now it’s out in the open—IF YOU WATCH FOX U ARE ONLY AIDING AND ABETTING THEIR ANTI-TRUMP HATE,” Bannon wrote in a June 21 post on GETTR.

[pix]

“If this was a real committee, they would have another panel of witnesses like me!” said Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell—who was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee for her role in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Last Tuesday, Bannon had Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell on his show. Mitchell—who was on the infamous call on which Trump asked Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to find votes for him—lashed out at Raffensperger. Raffensperger had testified to the Jan. 6 committee that same day about Trump’s efforts to pressure him to overturn the election results.

“All Raffensperger cared about was getting good press from the liberal media and having all of the left-wing reporters fawning over him, and that’s why they were there today, because that’s his number one priority,” Mitchell claimed.

“If this was a real committee, they would have another panel of witnesses like me!” said Mitchell—who was subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee for her role in Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election. She went on to call the Jan. 6 committee a “kangaroo committee.”

Other political operatives involved in the so-called Stop the Steal disinformation campaign to keep Trump in power were clearly watching.

Ed Martin—a mentor to Ali Alexander who was subpoenaed for his role in the so-called Stop the Steal campaign—portrayed the hearings as “pure propaganda,” held “just to destroy Donald Trump.”

Ali Alexander—the leader of the so-called Stop the Steal campaign with a penchant for violent rhetoric—doubled down on his criticism of former Vice President Mike Pence. “Pence betrayed us,” he declared on June 16, the day after the committee detailed Trump and his allies’ pressure campaign on Pence to illegally overturn the election. The committee also illustrated how this pressure campaign led rioters to call for Pence’s hanging on Jan. 6 when he refused to do Trump’s bidding.

“Mike Pence is WRONG,” Alexander wrote in the June 16 Telegram post. “No one asked him to overturn the election.”

“Pence was the presiding officer,” Alexander continued. “He could do nearly anything he could justify. The body could overrule him with a 2/3rds vote but that’s it. Pence betrayed us and is lying about the law and the rule.”

[twt]

the second hearing featured prominent Republican voices, like former Attorney General Bill Barr, who said that Trump’s claims of voter fraud were false, as was Dinesh D’Souza’s “2000 Mules” video, whose claims of voter fraud were so preposterous it elicited laughter from Barr during his testimony.

D’Souza fumed. “Bill Barr is the stereotypical small-town sheriff, overweight and largely immobile, whose rank incompetence results in the whole town being robbed from under his nose,” he wrote on Twitter, adding, “Fatso.”

Trump confidant Roger Stone, meanwhile, slammed fellow Trump ally Jason Miller, calling him a “lying scumbag” for his testimony. Miller testified that Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani encouraged Trump to falsely declare victory on election night and that he was intoxicated while doing so.

“What a backstabbing asshole,” Stone wrote in a June 13 Telegram post. Stone has been subpoenaed by the select committee.

Some, like Alexander, made it clear they stood by their actions on Jan. 6, 2021.

As Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol behind him, Ali Alexander pointed to the unfolding scene and said, “I do not denounce this.” While he once tried to claim the video published on his campaign’s page (and captured by Right Wing Watch) was a “deep fake,” he reversed his stance this week and said he stood by his comments on the roof that day.

“If I had stood on this rooftop and denounced our movement instead of doubling down on it, I would’ve saved myself a lifetime of grief and $100,000 in legal bills,” Alexander wrote in a June 20 post. “And I would’ve lost my soul. I have no regrets. … a government for and by the people.”

That didn’t stop him from claiming persecution. After the June 23 hearing, which revealed the lengths to which Trump and Republican members of Congress went to corrupt the DOJ, Alexander took to Telegram. “We’re being persecuted by the Security State (SS) and our ‘team’ doesn’t even have a response,” Alexander wrote.

When on Monday, reporters briefly speculated that Alexander might be the select committee’s “surprise witness” for Tuesday’s hearing, Alexander released a statement that he would not be testifying publicly but that he would like to do so. Alexander—who spread disinformation about the 2020 election and Jan. 6—then had the gall to declare that “Misinformation is polluting the January 6th narratives.”

[twt]

during Tuesday’s hearing, Cassidy Hutchinson, the top aide of White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, presented damning testimony about Trump’s knowledge of the potential for violence on Jan. 6 and painted an unhinged portrait of the president who went so far as to lunge at his own Secret Service detail. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene urged Trump to sue her, while white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who has been subpoenaed by the select committee, applauded Trump’s alleged violence, declaring “choking a guard and throwing food at the wall” an “EPIC REACTION.”

Tags: Ali Alexander Cleta Mitchell Dinesh D'Souza Ed Martin Jason Miller Marjorie Taylor Greene Mike Cernovich Mike Pence Nick Fuentes Roger Stone Stephen K. Bannon William Barr Capitol Insurrection conspiracy theories House select committee on Jan. 6 Jan. 6

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Echoing ‘Vladimir Putin’s talking points’ is putting Fox News at odds with ‘pro-Ukraine’ Republicans: conservative

Fox News' Tucker Carlson speaking at the 2020 Student Action Summit, hosted by Turning Point USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida,

Alex Henderson January 28, 2022

During the George W. Bush years, the right-wing media, including Fox News, were quick to parrot neoconservative talking points. But Fox News has since taken a much more Trumpian turn, and its biggest star, Tucker Carlson, often promotes MAGA isolationism and a hypernationalist “America first” ideology. That isolationism, Never Trump conservative David Frum stresses in an article published by The Atlantic on January 28, is putting Fox News pundits at odds with more hawkish conservatives when it comes to Russia and Ukraine.

“Night after night,” Frum explains, “the host of the top-rated show on Fox News repeats Vladimir Putin’s talking points justifying aggression against Ukraine and opposing U.S. aid to that threatened sovereign country. Tucker Carlson’s influence is felt across right-wing social media, where it is amplified by figures such as Steve Bannon, Mike Cernovich, Glenn Greenwald and Mollie Hemingway. A highly visible coterie of socially conservative intellectuals also argues the case against helping Ukraine.”

Frum continues, “Meanwhile, day after day, Republican officeholders in the House and the Senate urge more support for Ukraine. That list includes not only traditionalists such as Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, but also, many legislators who got close to former President Donald Trump, such as Senators Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham.”

President Joe Biden has had a much more hawkish tone with Russia and President Vladimir Putin than Trump, and Frum notes that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has “backed the Biden Administration’s approach, as have the top Republicans on the House Intelligence and Armed Services Committees.”

“Broadly, Republican elected officials and the think tanks that advise them are staunchly pro-Ukraine; conservative talkers, especially on TV and social media, are varying degrees of anti-Ukraine,” Frum observes. “Russia-Ukraine is becoming a trial of strength, not only between Putin and NATO, but between different parts of the conservative world…. As powerful as Fox News messaging is, scenes of violence after Russian aggression sends Ukrainian refugees streaming westward to safety would be powerful too.”

Frum adds, “Americans are never eager to get involved in other people’s fights, but they remain deeply committed to a vision of their country as a force for good in the world.” many twt

https://theintercept.com/2020/08/27/tucker-carlson-defends-kenosha-shooter

no twt pix

TUCKER CARLSON set off a firestorm of criticism on Wednesday — by describing a 17-year-old Trump supporter who opened fire on protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Tuesday, killing two, as a well-meaning kid who decided he “had to maintain order” in the Democrat-run state because “no one else would” — the Fox News host was surfacing an idea that had already spread widely on the far-right.

“The chaos that began with the first George Floyd protests on Memorial Day has reached its inevitable and bloody conclusion,” Carlson told viewers tuning in for his buildup to the Republican National Convention, which had featured, on its first night, two speakers lionized for threatening to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters outside their mansion in St. Louis.

[twt pix]

Last night, three people were shot on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Two of them have died. Police say they’ve charged a 17-year-old with murder,” Carlson reported, without revealing that the suspect, Kyle Rittenhouse, was not the anti-fascist radical his viewers might have been led to expect, but a conservative vigilante who had posted video from the front row of a Trump rally in January, and written “BLUE LIVES MATTER” and “Trump 2020″ on his TikTok bio, as Buzzfeed first reported.[twt tucker]

rittenhouse was reportedly charged with six crimes on Thursday, including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, attempted first-degree intentional homicide and possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.

The incident came after a third night of protests in Kenosha over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black father who was critically wounded by a police officer who fired seven shots into his back, but throughout his report on the fatal shootings Carlson pretended, as he has for months, that there were no non-violent protests over police violence against communities of color, just “riots.”

In Carlson’s telling, the moral of the story was not that Rittenhouse — who was photographed and caught on video from multiple angles shooting three men — had provoked trouble by responding to a militia group’s Facebook call for “patriots willing to take up arms and defend” the city from “evil thugs,” but that he was something closer to a victim, prodded to fill a vacuum by the misrule of the city’s Democratic mayor, John Antaramian, and the state’s Democratic governor, Tony Evers.

[

pix  Kyle Rittenhouse was photographed hours before the shootings on Tuesday, among a group of volunteers who cleaned anti-police graffiti from a high school in Kenosha.

Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images]

“Kenosha has devolved into anarchy because the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it,” Carlson told Fox viewers unaware that the city had not, in fact, collapsed into chaos just because they were being shown isolated scenes of violence on a loop.

“People in charge, from the governor of Wisconsin on down, refused to enforce the law. They stood back and they watched Kenosha burn,” Carlson claimed, oblivious to the fact that video recorded by witnesses to Tuesday’s events showed Rittenhouse and other heavily armed young vigilantes had spent most of the night standing close to armored police vehicles outside a business they appointed themselves to guard.

[twt vid]

at one point in a livestream broadcast that night, a police officer could be heard offering water to the militiamen, including Rittenhouse, and telling them: “We appreciate you guys, we really do.”

Later that night, after Rittenhouse wandered a short distance away and got into a confrontation with a man he shot in the head, video recorded by a pro-Trump YouTuber, Drew Hernandez, seemed to show Rittenhouse running back down the street in the direction of the police vehicles. As he retreated from the scene, the video appeared to catch Rittenhouse telling someone on his phone: “I just killed somebody."

[twt vid]

according to the police complaint against Rittenhouse, released on Thursday evening, his friend Dominic Black told a detective that he received a call from his friend Kyle at 11:46 pm on Tuesday, in which the gunman stated that he shot someone.

A subsequent analysis of the video by the New York Times visual investigations unit suggested that, moments before Rittenhouse opened fire, a single gunshot was fired into the air for unknown reasons by someone standing near the parking lot where the confrontation took place.

Shelby Talcott, a video journalist for the Daily Caller, a conservative site founded by Carlson, captured footage of Rittenhouse fleeing the scene of the first shooting, as protesters shouted that he had shot someone.

[twt vid]

video shot by another pro-Trump YouTuber, Brendan Gutenschwager, appeared to show Rittenhouse pursued by several protesters who suspected him of carrying out the first shooting. After he tripped and fell, just a block away from the police, two of those men attempted to disarm him, one by kicking him and another by hitting him with a skateboard.

[vid]

rittenhouse fired at both of them, apparently killing the skateboarder, Anthony Huber, with a shot to the chest as they struggled for the rifle, and then shooting a third protester, Gaige Grosskreutz, causing a gaping wound in his arm. Grosskreutz, a member of a social justice group who was wearing a hat with the word “paramedic” emblazoned on it, also appeared to be armed with a handgun.

In a remarkable scene at the end of Gutenschwager’s video, Rittenhouse can be seen walking with his hands up, apparently trying to surrender to the police officers he had been chatting with earlier in the evening, as a bystander shouts that he shot the protesters, but the officers drive right past him in the direction of the men he shot.

while all of this footage was available to Carlson before he went on air, later in his monologue he professed to have no idea what exactly had happened or whether — because the men who had attempted to disarm the vigilante after he had shot someone in the head could be seen kicking and hitting Rittenhouse — a jury might ultimately decide that he had acted in self-defense.

In this, Carlson was closely following a consensus explanation that had formed during the 24 hours after the shooting by pro-Trump YouTubers, bloggers, and commentators, who decided, after studying slow-motion imagery and still photographs, that the young man who had traveled to Kenosha from his home in neighboring Illinois to defend the city from residents enraged by the shooting of Jacob Blake, was merely acting in self-defense.

rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, suggested on Twitter that the slow-motion video convinced him that the killings were “100% justified self defense.” Hours before Carlson went to air, Gosar also blamed the violence on Kenosha’s local government. “Armed citizens defending themselves will fill the vacuum,” he wrote[twt dr paul gosar az cernovich?]

one of Rittenhouse’s defenders was Elijah Schaffer, a freelance producer for Glenn Beck’s BlazeTV and a pro-Trump political activist who released a misleading account of a fight involving Black Lives Matter protesters in Dallas in May. Writing on Twitter on Wednesday, Schaffer described the Turkish journalist Tayfun Coskun’s photograph of the protesters attempting to disarm the gunman as Rittenhouse “being attacked by #BLM rioters.”

“One of the attackers,” in Schaffer’s words, was “about to assault him with a skateboard."

[twt pix]

that “assault” by the skateboarder Anthony Huber ended with his failed effort to wrest the gun away from Rittenhouse and being fatally shot in the chest.

Schaffer also thought a 20-second interview he did with Rittenhouse before the shootings provided important “context” as to what took place later, since the vigilante did not say anything racist or political in that third of a minute.

[twt vid]

as Jamelle Bouie, a New York Times opinion columnist, noted on Twitter, an obvious flaw in the conservative argument that Rittenhouse was just defending himself from the second and third men he shot is that they were only “attacking” him because he had just shot someone else in the head[twt]

carlson’s defense of Rittenhouse also hinged on the false idea that he had taken to the streets to oppose a phantom movement of violent radicals using the protests as cover. “The Justice Department could have stopped all of this months ago,” Carlson ranted over footage of Kenosha recorded by another of the conservative gonzo video bloggers who descended on the city this week, searching for images of chaos to discredit the protest movement. “If federal prosecutors had treated the organizers of BLM and antifa the way they treated Roger Stone, our cities wouldn’t look like Kosovo tonight.”

Another conservative journalist who interviewed Rittenhouse earlier in the evening was Richie McGinniss, who directs video for the Daily Caller, the website that was once used to smear Trayvon Martin, the Florida teenager who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer.

[twt vid]

mcGinniss appeared on Carlson’s show on Wednesday to discuss what happened in Kenosha and his own effort to save the life of the first man shot and killed by Rittenhouse, who was later identified as Joseph Rosenbaum.

What made Carlson’s interview with McGinniss odd, however, was that the Daily Caller videographer repeatedly referred to Rittenhouse as “the alleged shooter,” even though he was standing just six or seven feet away from Rosenbaum when he was shot and seemed to have been filming the confrontation at the time.

[twt vid]

it  is unclear if McGinniss has video of Rittenhouse shooting Rosenbaum, but he told Carlson that he witnessed the crime at close range. Even so, Carlson failed to ask him directly if he could say for certain that Rittenhouse did shoot Rosenbaum in the head and cause his death. Instead, McGinniss offered what sounded like testimony to the gunman’s good character. “The 17-year-old who I interviewed earlier in the night, he actually mentioned that he was there to maintain peace, in the absence of police,” McGinniss said.

“It’s just hard to believe this is America,” Carlson said. “We can’t put up with this.”

When the complaint against Rittenhouse was released late Thursday, it said that McGinniss told a police detective that he did clearly see the teen shoot Rosenbaum at close range as the victim reached for the rifle. Footage recorded earlier in the evening showed that Rosenbaum was incensed by the presence of the armed militia members in the neighborhood.

The complaint cited a coroner’s report which “indicated that Rosenbaum had a gunshot wound to the right groin which fractured his pelvis, a gunshot wound to the back which perforated his right lung and liver, a gunshot wound to the left hand, a superficial gunshot wound to his lateral left thigh, and a graze gunshot wound to the right side of his forehead.”

As the momentum to excuse Rittenhouse’s crimes as justified spread online Thursday, amplified by far-right figures around the globe, Jamelle Bouie called it “the single most ominous development of the year."

[twt]

the journalist Matt Prigge noted that the increasingly obscene lionization of Rittenhouse echoed the wave of praise in 1970 for the National Guardsmen who killed four anti-war protesters at Kent State, documented by the historian Rick Perlstein in his book, “Nixonland."

at  a news conference on Friday, Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said that he did not want armed volunteers like Kyle Rittenhouse on the streets during protests.

“This group of people that are carrying weapons here, if they’re in their house — and again, I support the Second Amendment — if they’re in there protecting their property, I have no issue with that,” the sheriff said. “The people that have been here carrying guns, they haven’t been arrested because it’s a right that they have. Have we asked for them to come? Are we asking for them to come in and support things? I’m not.”

“You could clearly see the situation escalated Tuesday night because a 17-year-old boy carrying what appears to be an assault rifle, who has no idea how to handle a situation like this,” Beth added. “I don’t care if he had the right intentions or not, two people are currently dead, and one almost had his arm blown off.”

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https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/soy-boy-conspiracy-theory-why-alt-right-believes-soybeans-are-part-vast-left-wing

Nutritionists have had many debates about the health benefits of soy products; some are very pro-soy, others are critical of it. Their debates are scientific in nature, but on the alt-right, soy is being discussed in stridently political terms—and one of the leading alt-right conspiracy theories is the “soy boy” conspiracy, which claims that soy products are a vast left-wing conspiracy designed to emasculate men and turn their bodies estrogenic.

The alt-right has an abundance of vocabulary that one doesn’t find in more traditional conservatism. In 2018, the term “soy boy” is as common on the alt-right as “cuckservative” (right-wingers who aren’t right-wing enough) and “snowflake” (a hypersensitive liberal or progressive). “Soy boy” isn’t a term that one typically encounters in more traditional conservative outlets like the National Review and the Weekly Standard, but alt-right outlets—from Alex Jones’ Infowars to the misogynist Return of Kings website—have been a frequent source of anti-soy conspiracy theories.

Jones has long been promoting conspiracy theories involving government operatives and “The New World Order” using products to turn male bodies estrogenic. In 2013, Jones argued that juice boxes were feminizing male children, declaring, “After you’re done drinking your little juices, you’re ready to go out and have a baby. You’re ready to put makeup on. You’re ready to wear a short skirt….You’re ready to put lipstick on.”[hayes frogs atz?]

Jones has asserted that left-wing male commentators are often “latte addicts” and “soy addicts” who lack masculinity—and earlier this year, Jones’ colleague, Paul Joseph Watson posted an eight-minute video describing the alleged attributes of a “soy boy.”

Watson asked, “What is it about soy that turns men into such spineless wimps? Soybeans contain high amounts of phytoestrogens: organic compounds that mimic the female hormone estrogen in the human body. This reduces testosterone and lowers male sperm count.”

Watson elaborated, “Men with high estrogen take on feminine traits. They find it harder to handle stress. They become less assertive. They become low-energy. Their voices get higher, their genitals shrink.”

According to Watson’s video, “environmental estrogens” are causing males to develop female-like breasts—and one of the most prominent “environmental estrogens” is soy. The use of soy baby formulas, Watson said, suggests that “rather than people with already preexisting left-wing beliefs being attracted to vegan-style tofu soy diets, we’re actually creating an army of soy boys from birth.”

Alt-right blogger Mike Cernovich is not only a leading proponent of the bizarre Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which in 2016, claimed that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring in a Washington, DC pizzeria—he is also a strident critic of soy products, arguing that there is a correlation between liberal and progressive beliefs and use of soy products. And “soy boy” is one of his favorite insults.

Roosh Valizadeh’s misogynist Return of Kings website has also been the source of numerous anti-soy diatribes, and on April 1, 2018, Valizadeh devoted an entire article to “soy face”—an open-mouth smile the alt-right believes is specific to “soy boys.” Valizadeh wrote, “There is no doubt that decreasing testosterone levels among American men are causing them to behave in childish and feminine ways. This is most clearly displayed in the ‘soy boy face’ pose that combines the feelings of excitement and fear.”

In one on his anti-soy videos, Watson focused on “soy face” exclusively—arguing that because “soy boys” have lower testosterone, it shows in their facial expressions. Watson declared, “Look a little closer and see what soy face truly represents: weakness and fear….The globalist chemical warfare program to make men effeminate so they vote more like women and generally vote for left-wing policies and big government is still in full swing. But now that the testosterone-decimating effects of soy and plastics are being exposed, the reign of the soy boys is coming to an end.”

Health-related websites will continue to debate the merits of soy products, doing so in a non-political way. But to the alt-right’s conspiracy buffs, the use of soy is very much a political issue—and nothing says “giant left-wing conspiracy” like the abundance of mythical “soy boys.”

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capt 818

Far-right commentator Mike Cernovich is on a bus tour with Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward. He was recently one of the main trolls organizing against liberals like James Gunn, Michael Ian Black, Patton Oswalt, and Sarah Silverman, focusing largely on digging up old tweets and then gleefully portraying them out of context.

Cernovich's own history has been far more obscured. While he has been recording videos and tweeting for years, he's deleted numerous videos to cover-up his toxic record. Some thought that this archive was lost forever.

It wasn't.

We've put together a lengthy history of Cernovich's malfeasance. We have video of him pushing the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. We have numerous documented examples of Cernovich pushing vile, false accusations against his critics and politicians he disagrees with. We have numerous examples of Cernovich pushing forged documents. We have documentation of Cernovich pushing the conspiracy regarding murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich. We have numerous examples of Cernovich pushing conspiracy theories about mass shootings. And we have a long list of Cernovich's racism, sexism, rape denial, and overall bigotry.

One warning: This is seriously disturbing stuff.

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ref

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/08/21/mike-cernovichs-far-right-conspiracy-theories-bigotry-and-association-white-supremacists/221046

no lnx twit vid: many pix

mike Cernovich's far-right conspiracy theories, bigotry, and association with white supremacists

An abundance of tweets, blog posts, and on-air appearances -- many of which he has now deleted -- reveal the conspiracy theories, rape denial, and “alt-right” shilling that brought Cernovich fame

Blog ››› August 21, 2018 4:35 PM EDT ››› CRISTINA LóPEZ G. , BRENDAN KARET & JOHN KERR

Melissa Joskow / Media Matters

Far-right grifter and “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich is putting his star power behind Republican Kelli Ward by joining her on a bus tour before the Arizona primary on August 28. Ward, who is competing for the GOP nomination to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate, described Cernovich in her announcement of the bus tour as “a social media personality and the author of several books examining political and social trends,” forgivingly glossing over Cernovich’s record of peddling disgusting conspiracy theories, shilling for the “alt-right,” dismissing date rape, and endorsing misogyny.

Kasie DC

?

@KasieDC

AZ GOP Sen candidate Kelli Ward will go on a bus tour w/ Mike Cernovich, an alt-right activist associated w/ the PizzaGate conspiracy.

JUST NOW: "I don't really know what Mike Cernovich's views are. I know he's got an audience and I want to serve everyone" Ward said

5:05 PM - Aug 19, 2018

9,528

10.8K people are talking about this

Questioned about the decision, Ward hilariously claimed to not know what Cernovich’s views are. Ward, along with her husband, is an administrator of a Facebook group that traffics in some of the same conspiracy theories that Cernovich pushes. Ward has also been an ally of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and Cernovich has done frequent work with Jones’ Infowars in recent years.

Despite running with Cernovich’s crowd for years, Ward can try to get away with claiming to not know who he is perhaps because of his attempts to scrub a lot of his caustic record from his online portfolio. However, an abundance of deleted tweets, blog posts, and videos reveal him for the unhinged conspiracy theorist, rape denier, and “alt-right” shill that he became famous for being.

Cernovich repeatedly pushed the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory

Cernovich has pushed conspiracy theories about pedophilia, Satanism, “spirit cooking,” and more

Cernovich pushed forged documents and propaganda

Cernovich spread a conspiracy theory about murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich

Cernovich falsely claimed a Roy Moore accuser forged his signature in a yearbook

Cernovich pushed conspiracy theories about mass shootings

Cernovich has made journalists a target of many attacks

Cernovich has repeatedly pushed bigotry, and shilled for white supremacists and the “alt-right”

Cernovich repeatedly pushed rape denial and misogyny

Cernovich repeatedly pushed the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory

During the 2016 presidential election, some supporters of President Donald Trump baselessly claimed Democrats and powerful celebrities were tied to a pedophilia ring hiding in a Washington, D.C., pizzeria. As a consequence, a man went to the restaurant to “self-investigate” and opened fire inside.

Cernovich said, “Pizzagate is real. There are pedophiles at the highest level of media, Hollywood, and in government.”

Cernovich has attempted to scrub his wide-ranging “Pizzagate” record to obscure his role in propagating it. But since-deleted tweets show evidence of his responsibility.

In one video, Cernovich said, “If you want to have the real power, they force you to rape children and they record it. And that does two things. One is you are now blackmailed forever. ... And then two is only someone depraved enough to rape a child is going to be allowed in the shadow government.”

Cernovich has pushed conspiracy theories about pedophilia, Satanism, “spirit cooking,” and more

In a video that can still be found on far-right misogynist Stefan Molyneux’s YouTube channel, Cernovich claimed John Podesta, chairman of the campaign of former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was involved in “spirit cooking” rituals, during which he claimed participants mixed “semen with breast milk” to drink.

Besides pushing the baseless claims on his website, Cernovich also suggested that then-candidate Donald Trump should have addressed the conspiracy theory during one of his rallies and accused the Clinton family of “100 percent” being connected to pedophile rings. On another occasion, he also suggested a visit to Haiti was evidence that the Clintons were trafficking children.

Cernovich also accused former President Barack Obama of giving children to human traffickers.

Cernovich also claimed to have heard that Obama’s children are not actually his children.

In another video, Cernovich said, “We have to purge the satanists from the FBI,” noting that he thought former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe was a satanist, while he was unsure about former FBI special agent Peter Strzok.

As reported by The New Yorker, Cernovich was “among the first” to falsely claim that Hillary Clinton “had a grave neurological condition.”

Cernovich has also tried to smear all of his protesters and critics as pedophiles. And while he has avoided to outright endorse it, he is one of the far-right figures who amplified the QAnon conspiracy theory on their social media platforms.

Cernovich pushed forged documents and propaganda

Cernovich promoted a forged document that accused Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) of sexually harassing a former staffer, then quickly walked back the claim when the document was reported to police as a forgery.

He also promoted forged documents about Emanuel Macron before he was elected president of France.

Cernovich has also reportedly help spread pro-Assad propaganda. Cernovich declared that he was “not buying” that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad carried out chemical attacks against Syrians.

Cernovich spread a conspiracy theory about murdered DNC staffer Seth Rich

Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was murdered in Washington, D.C., on July 10, 2016. On August 9, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange brought up Rich unprompted on a Dutch TV program, implying (but refusing to confirm) that Rich was his source for the DNC emails Wikileaks made public before the presidential election. Cernovich promoted the interview while questioning point-blank if Rich was Assange’s source.

Following Cernovich’s tweet, Fox’s Sean Hannity picked up the baseless story.

Cernovich falsely claimed a Roy Moore accuser forged his signature in a yearbook

Cernovich falsely claimed that Beverly Young Nelson, who has reported that former Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16, admitted that she forged Moore’s signature in her high school yearbook. Nelson actually said she added some notes next to the signature but that it was Moore’s signature. In fact, Cernovich cast doubt on all of the reports made against Moore.

Cernovich pushed conspiracy theories about mass shootings

In a since-deleted blog post, Cernovich claimed that “there was more than one shooter at Pulse in Orlando,” referring to the 2016 mass shotting at Pulse nightclub in Florida. Cernovich wrote, “As you follow the story, look for” certain “evidence.” He added, “If we don’t see all of this, then there was a second shooter.”

He also attempted to blame a mass shooting in New Mexico on anti-fascist protesters and made similar comments following a series of bombings in Austin, TX.

After a suicide bomber killed 22 people, including children, who were leaving an Ariana Grande concert in England, Cernovich attacked the pop star for liberal and “anti-American” statements that she made while reacting to a tray of donuts years prior.

Cernovich has made journalists a target of many attacks

Cernovich lashed out at a HuffPost journalist for reporting on a notorious anti-Muslim social media account. He also once planned a website to harass journalists and since then has set out to get some journalists fired by weaponizing fake outrage over past tweets taken out of context, unleashing his followers on harassment campaigns against targeted journalists on the way. He has said, “Most people in journalism are pedophiles.”

After Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte assaulted Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs, Cernovich told Alex Jones that it was “a total set up.”

He also implied on Twitter that Jacobs may have had the assault coming.

Cernovich has repeatedly pushed bigotry, and shilled for white supremacists and the “alt-right”

Before rebranding away from the term when it became unpopular, Cernovich was among the main online proponents of the “alt-right,” rallying against diversity and going on the record to represent the movement’s views while declaring himself to be “alt-right friendly.” He also used to promote some of its figures, including “Baked Alaska” (who is white supremacist and serial-self owner Tim Gionet), Nazi sympathizer Milo Yiannopoulos (whose handle was @Nero before he got permanently banned from Twitter), and white supremacist Ricky Vaughn.

One of his tweets supportive of the “alt-right” even gave credence to the idea of “white genocide,” a common white supremacist trope.

In one video, Cernovich trivially used the n-word:

He also complained about “thugs” attacking “me and my kind,” and he admitted that he was “happy” that a white supporter of Black Lives Matter was stabbed to death, saying he wouldn’t be stabbed because “I’m a … man.”

During one of his broadcasts to his followers, Cernovich repeatedly used a homophobic slur.

He has said, “Anywhere Muslims go, they’re blowing things up.” He also said that Muslims in America may want to “kill all women.” In another video, Cernovich warned transgender Americans that if refugees in Germany “find out about you, they’ll rape you and kill you.”

Cernovich called the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) “anti-America” and said that it is “extorting Jews.” He also replied “exactly” when Alex Jones said ADL has “always been the group that feeds on the Jews working with the Nazis.”

Cernovich repeatedly pushed rape denial and misogyny

Cernovich has tried to hide his misogynistic musings, which the self-declared former “total hottie” used to post on his site Danger and Play. That site was a blog “about how to pick up women” and featured posts like “Misogyny Gets You Laid.”

One of his posts featured statements that minimized rape, including, “If you believe in rape culture, I understand a lot about you: you’re a gullible fool who believes feminists.” In a now-archived post, Cernovich denied the existence of date rape:

Additionally, in a post offering advice on “how to choke a woman” he claimed, “Women only want to have consensual sex with men they know could rape them,” and confessed to having “choked women unconscious” on occasion. He also advocated for choking women “when standing around,” saying to do it when she “acts up.” He’s on the record offering similar advice:

Cernovich once presented consent as a burden, saying, “If you as a man read a signal wrong, you’re a rapist.” In one video, Cernovich complained, “If your son, or you, … has sex with your girlfriend while she is sleeping … that’s technically rape.”

He has also said that “there is probably 10 men enslaved to every one woman enslaved.”

Similarly, in a now-deleted article titled “When In Doubt, Whip It Out,” Cernovich wrote about exposing himself to a date who refused his sexual advances, saying she “wasn’t freaked out” by him masturbating in the backseat of her car and suggesting his readers to not “settle for the make out. If possible, at least pull out your dick. If you can get her to touch it, even better.”

A 2016 Mediaite report rounded up a sample of Cernovich’s misogynistic tweets, which included “Have you guys ever tried ‘raping’ a girl without using force? Try it. It’s basically impossible. Date rape does not exist,” as well as “Not being a slut is the only proven way to avoid AIDS. If you love black women, slut shame them.” Mediaite additionally noted Cernovich had tweeted and deleted: “A whore will let her friend ruin your life with a false rape case. So why should I care when women are raped?”

...

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metoo mirror

https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/07/27/In-their-own-words-the-online-far-rights-motive-to-dig-up-liberal-figures-old-tweets-reven/

...Over the past week, a number of far-right trolls, led by the provocateur and propagandist Mike Cernovich, have been on the warpath against prominent liberal figures in what they see as revenge for the scrutiny instances of explicitly racist, misogynist, and bigoted speech receives on social media.

Their principal tactic? Digging up tweets from up to 10 years ago and weaponizing them against their authors in efforts to, at best, discredit outspoken liberal actors, directors and comedians, and at worst, get them fired.

Last week, Cernovich publicized director James Gunn's offensive Twitter jokes about pedophilia and other topics, leading Disney to fire him on Friday from his role as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.​ From Cernovich’s perspective, it was a staggering victory -- and one he cast as borne of earnest concern for children in Hollywood.

It’s not the first time Cernovich has made spurious accusations of pedophilia -- he was prominently involved in promoting the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory that Democratic politicians were involved in running a child sex slave ring from the basement of a D.C. pizzeria. Pizzagate eventually had chilling real-life consequences -- in December 2016, a man drove to Washington and fired a military-style assault weapon inside the family restaurant. However, unlike Pizzagate, Gunn’s now-deleted tweets were real -- and Cernovich’s resurfacing of them and getting Gunn, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, fired as a consequence represented a successful escalation of tactics.

Other far-right figures like MAGA troll Jack Posobiec eagerly amplified Cernovich’s campaign against Gunn. And after Gunn’s firing, the campaign to resurface offensive tweets by left-leaning public figures only escalated. Comedians including Michael Ian Black, Sarah Silverman and Patton Oswalt have come under fire for previous tweets that contained distasteful jokes trivializing pedophilia. Dan Harmon, co-creator of the hit animated series Rick and Morty, left Twitter after right-wing figures recirculated an offensive 2009 parody he made of the show Dexter. (An investigation by Polygon found that users on the message boards 4chan and Reddit had resurfaced the video before Cernovich began tweeting about it.)

Throughout the campaign, Cernovich and others -- including Ted Cruz -- have maintained a facade of concern for children in what they claim to perceive as Hollywood’s toxic environment.

However, previous statements from far-right trolls, including Cernovich himself, poke holes in the fake-concern narrative, making absolutely clear that the primary motive of this new offensive is victory in an ongoing culture war -- and more specifically, taking revenge against the left.

In 2017, Cernovich stated that his goal was to emulate CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and the KFILE research team, whose members frequently comb through the social media and work histories of government and political figures and have discovered racist and conspiracy theory-mongering comments that affect these individuals’ ability to provide unbiased public service. Cernovich, by contrast, has targeted figures in the entertainment industry.

Moreover, Cernovich also explicitly stated that accusations of enabling or accepting pedophilia were part of his mission to use the “rules and tactics” of the left against liberal figures.

Other trolls in the MAGA universe have been even more explicit, indicating that the success represented by Gunn’s firing is a signal of a tactical shift, not an authentic moral concern. Posobiec touted the “strategic significance” of the event:

On 4chan, users in a thread titled “Dan Harmon is a pedophile,” which originally surfaced Harmon’s 2009 parody, were even more explicit about their rationale, repeatedly citing the firing of Roseanne Barr as a motive to vengefully “take scalps”:

CRTV’s Gavin McInnes, the misogynist founder of the violent, fraternal men-only organization Proud Boys, was even more transparent in his articulation of the bad faith that undergirds this latest salvo in the online culture battle. “There’s a new trend going on where the right is exposing the left’s pedophilia, and what they’re really doing is playing dirty pool,” he said in the July 24 edition of his CRTV show Get Off My Lawn. “Now, I know that these pedophile jokes that Cernovich caught these liberals saying are jokes. But I don't have to -- I can pretend I don't know they're jokes. Because they started this war." [vid]...

==

mma

One of the many, many horrifying trends of the Trump era has been the mainstreaming of white nationalism. Just days ago a sitting congressman quote-tweeted a neo-Nazi. That same congressman cites a white nationalist publication on his website. A neo-Confederate candidate who is friends with Mike Cernovich and other "alt-right" figures just won Virginia's Republican Senate nomination. And these are by no means isolated cases.

While conservative pundits on CNN and MSNBC keep saying that this is not the party that they know, the reality is that this is Trump's Republican party. There is even a show on primetime that features white nationalism talking points. It's long past time to move past denialism or ignorance.

==

nyer

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/31/trolls-for-trump

October 31, 2016 Issue

Trolls for Trump

Meet Mike Cernovich, the meme mastermind of the alt-right.

By Andrew Marantz

On Mike Cernovich’s blog, he developed a theory of white-male identity politics.Illustration by Matt Dorfman

In late August, Hillary Clinton announced that she would soon give a speech, in Reno, Nevada, linking Donald J. Trump to what has become known as the alt-right—a loose online affiliation of white nationalists, neo-monarchists, masculinists, conspiracists, belligerent nihilists, and social-media trolls. The alt-right has no consistent ideology; it is a label, like “snob” or “hipster,” that is often disavowed by people who exemplify it. The term typically applies to conservatives and reactionaries who are active on the Internet and too anti-establishment to feel at home in the Republican Party. Bizarrely, this category includes the Republican nominee for President. It also includes extremist commentators, long belittled or ignored by the media, whom mainstream pundits are now starting to take seriously.

The afternoon before Clinton’s speech, Mike Cernovich, a thick-chested white man in his late thirties, sitting on a veranda in Southern California, opened the live-streaming app Periscope on his iPad and filmed a video called “How to fight back against Sick Hillary and the #ClintonNewsNetwork.” By “Clinton News Network,” he meant CNN and other corporate media outlets. The word “sick” described Clinton morally and physically: Cernovich was among the first to insinuate publicly that Clinton had a grave neurological condition, and that the media was covering it up. By “fight back,” he meant, basically, tweeting. Internet activism is sometimes derided as “slacktivism”—a fair characterization when an online campaign tries to, say, cure aids or end child labor. When the goal is to seed social media with misinformation, though, online organizing can be shockingly effective.

“Tomorrow, everybody’s going to be Googling the alt-right,” Cernovich said. He has an adenoidal tenor and a lisp, but when he is indignant he can be an impassioned orator. “The narrative is being written, and you’d better get off your fucking asses and write your own.” His feed filled with real-time comments. (@beelman_matt: “PC is for PUSSIES”; @ciswhitemale: “Mike is a bosss.”)

Cernovich wore a plaid shirt, partially unbuttoned to display his chest hair. Visible behind him were a swimming pool, trimmed boxwoods, and a mountain glowing in the afternoon sun. (@CanadaUncuck: “nice pool.”) Cernovich often blogs about fitness, and he publishes self-help books for men. He also writes about how to build a personal brand online; his maxims include “Conflict is attention” and “Attention is influence.” Although he doesn’t appear on Fox News or syndicated radio shows, he is an expert at using social media to drive alt-right ideas into the heart of American political discourse.

“Here’s what we’re gonna do tomorrow,” he said. “We have to think of a good hashtag, and we have to have all of our memes lined up.” He suggested talking points for his followers to deploy, such as “If the alt-right is racist, is Israel racist, too?” Cernovich prefers to call himself an “American nationalist,” but he often uses “we” when discussing the alt-right movement. “We can control the narrative on Twitter,” he continued. “Mainstream media we’ve lost.” He said he hoped that Clinton’s Reno speech would elicit “a full-scale media attack on me,” adding, “I want this to become an international trending topic.”

Clinton did not mention Cernovich, but she attacked Alex Jones, the paranoiac Texas radio host, and Breitbart.com, the Pravda of the alt-right. She listed some recent Breitbart headlines, including “Would You Rather Have Feminism or Cancer?,” which were written by Milo Yiannopoulos, the fame-seeking troll. Cernovich calls Yiannopoulos “one of the only guys, other than me, who’s doing social media right.” Before the current election, Cernovich and Yiannopoulos were known primarily as Internet misogynists. Cernovich was drawn to political commentary after recognizing a kindred spirit in Donald Trump.

Yiannopoulos, writing on Breitbart the next day, called Clinton’s speech “a drive-by shooting with a water pistol fired from a mobility scooter.” Alex Jones recorded a video in which he stood in his back yard, wiping sweat from his brow, as he muttered about the Rockefellers and the Rothschilds. “People say, ‘Oh, my God, you’ve hit the big time—Hillary Clinton talked about you,’ ” he scoffed. “Give me a break. Hillary Clinton’s average YouTubes, on her own channel, have, like, five thousand views. Our average one has hundreds of thousands.” His video was viewed more times than the official upload of Clinton’s speech.

Cernovich covered the Reno speech on Periscope. “Is she gonna fall?” he said, watching live footage of Clinton approaching the stage. “She’s grabbing the handrail!” He tweeted, “Sick Hillary grabs handrail as walking up steps. #AltRightMeans.” The hashtag was already trending on Twitter, as the alt-right’s supporters and opponents competed to define the movement. Political spin battles are waged online every minute, and it can be difficult to gauge who is winning. Media consumers don’t believe everything they read, and, because of personalization algorithms, no two social-media feeds look the same. The next day, the mainstream consensus was that the two sides had fought to a draw.

VIDEO FROM THE NEW YORKER

Lies and Truth in the Era of Trump

Cernovich thought that Clinton’s speech “was the stupidest thing she could have done.” He added, “Her social-media advisers are twenty-four-year-old basic bitches who feel triggered by us, and so they asked their boss to yell at us and make us go away. Well, we’re not going away. They just made us stronger.”

Cernovich lives fifty miles south of Los Angeles, in a deep-red congressional district. On the Internet, he represents himself as a “Pulitzer-worthy journalist” who runs Cernovich Media, a “global worldwide brand.” When we first spoke, on the phone, I asked him whether he worked from home or in an office full of employees. Chuckling, he said, “It’s definitely just me, dude.”

I visited him in mid-September. He had recently moved to a cul-de-sac where every house has stucco walls, a ceramic tile roof, and bland xeriscaping. He met me outside, wearing a rumpled gingham shirt and jeans. A day-old Orange County Register lay at his feet. He looked fleshier than he did in his videos, and his eye contact was less steady with me than it is on camera. Next door, a sticker on a garbage bin advertised WorldNetDaily, a Web site known for promoting birtherism. Cernovich hadn’t met the neighbors yet. “They’d probably geek out if I told them my name,” he said. “Then I’d have to say hi every time I see them, and maybe they’d want to be friends—nah, not worth it.” [cartoon id="a19850"]

Cernovich trained as a lawyer. In 2003, he was accused of raping a woman he knew; the charge was later dropped, but a judge ordered him to do community service for misdemeanor battery. (His record has since been expunged.) On his first blog, which he started in 2004, he offered a libertarian critique of prosecutorial overreach, emphasizing free speech and false rape allegations. He launched his current blog, Danger and Play, in 2011, after his first wife filed for divorce.

His second wife, Shauna, who is twenty-nine, and pregnant with their first child, was in the kitchen. She is as warm as her husband is taciturn. “I’m so embarrassed!” she said, apologizing for an imaginary mess. The house was clean and compact; the small, paved back yard had a single lawn chair. The lush veranda in the Periscope videos belonged to Shauna’s parents, who live a few blocks away.

Mike and Shauna met in 2011, at a bar in Santa Monica. “He was pretty aggressive,” Shauna told me. “He grabbed my arm, pulled me into him, and said, ‘You fit nicely.’ ”

“It sounds creepy, but it looked less creepy in context,” Mike said.

“It worked,” Shauna said. “We were making out, like, five minutes later.”

Mike said that, when they started dating, “I didn’t take it seriously. But she just refused to go away, and now—”

“I’m married and pregnant!” Shauna said, smiling.

“And my life is over,” Mike said, half-smiling.

“We’re having a girl!” Shauna said. “I think it’ll be good for him, soften him up a bit.”

“I’ll be nice to her, as long as she’s not a basic bitch,” Mike said.

Cernovich sat at the kitchen table, facing a mirror, and placed his laptop next to a teapot full of flowers. (Shauna is in charge of decorating.) “Right now, a hundred and twenty-eight people are reading Danger and Play,” he said. “What’s fun is when you get a hot story and watch the number tick up into the thousands, like a video game.” Nowadays, the blog is mostly a platform for pro-Trump spin, but at first it was about how to pick up women. Its name comes from Nietzsche. (“The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything.”) Early posts included “Misogyny Gets You Laid” and “When Should You Compliment a Woman?” (Answer: “During or after sex.”)

Early in Shauna’s relationship with Mike, she read Danger and Play, including such posts as “How to Cheat on Your Girlfriend.” She said, “I would come home from work crying—‘How can you write such rude things?’ He’d go, ‘You don’t understand, babe, this is just how guys talk.’ ” (Advice from the blog: “Always call your girl ‘babe,’ ” to avoid mixing up names.) Shauna, who has stopped working, continued, “I was still upset, though, and he eventually deleted some older posts.”

“I rewrote some of the wording,” Mike insisted. “I never disavow things I’ve said.” Throughout our September conversations, he referred to his more misogynist remarks as “locker-room talk.”

His political analysis was nearly as crass as his dating advice. In March, he tweeted, “Hillary’s face looks like melting candle wax. Imagine what her brain looks like.” Next, he tweeted a picture of Clinton winking, which he interpreted as “a mild stroke.” By August, he was declaring that she had both a seizure disorder and Parkinson’s disease.

“There are a million things wrong with Hillary,” Cernovich told me. “She’s a documented liar. She’s massively corrupt. She wants to let in more so-called refugees, which makes her an existential threat to the West.” (He calls the Syrian refugee crisis a “media lie.”) “But I was looking at the conversation online—what was getting through to people and what wasn’t—and none of that was sticking. It’s too complex. I thought that the health stuff would be more visceral, more resonant from a persuasion standpoint, and so I pushed that.”

On September 11th, Clinton fainted after attending a memorial service at Ground Zero. Cernovich wrote a post called “Complete Timeline of Hillary’s Health #HillarysHealth,” which included such data points as “peculiar travel habits” and “lengthy naps.” It got two hundred and forty thousand page views—less than a marquee Huffington Post story, but impressive for a blog with no advertising budget. More important, #HillarysHealth became a national trending topic on Twitter. That day, Chris Cillizza, a centrist pundit at the Washington Post, wrote an article titled “Hillary Clinton’s Health Just Became a Real Issue in This Campaign.” Scott Greer, a deputy editor of the Daily Caller, tweeted, “Cernovich memed #SickHillary into reality. Never doubt the power of memes.”

Without months of priming by Cernovich and others, Clinton’s collapse might have been seen as an isolated event. And the alt-right rumors may have prompted Clinton to be secretive about having pneumonia, making it a bigger story when it was revealed. “I decline the Pulitzer for my work on Hillary’s health,” Cernovich tweeted. “I will not accept a scam award from a scam organization.”

There is a lot of discussion in certain parts of the Internet about “red-pill moments.” In the 1999 film “The Matrix,” the hero faces a choice: the blue pill will allow him to stay within a comfortable delusion; the red pill will cause him to wake up. “Red pill” is good branding—it’s cowardly to live a lie. On many message boards, though, the lie being dismantled is gender equality.

“My first marriage was ruined by feminist indoctrination,” Cernovich told me. He married his first wife in 2003, when they were law students at Pepperdine. Initially, he said, the “power arrangement” was “fifty-fifty.” Then came a realization: “What she actually wanted was for me to be more assertive, to be the man in the relationship. So I would be more assertive, and she’d be happier for a few days. Then she’d go, ‘No, I need to be in charge,’ and we’d butt heads.” They separated in 2011. (Cernovich’s ex-wife declined to be interviewed.)

After law school, his wife became a successful attorney in Silicon Valley. But Cernovich was not admitted to the California bar until nine years after getting his law degree. In the meantime, he says, he got by with “freelance legal research” and “appellate stuff.” Cernovich’s wife earned millions of dollars in stock from an I.P.O.; he told me that he received “seven figures” in the divorce settlement. This seems to have been, and might still be, his primary source of funds. (He insists that book sales provide his main income.)

Cernovich says that during college, at the University of Illinois, he was socialized to be submissive. “I was friends with a lot of girls who had crushes on me, but I was too polite to fuck them,” he said. After his divorce, he reinvented himself as an alpha male. His self-published 2015 book, “Gorilla Mindset,” is a manual for men who want to “unleash the animal” within them. The book is filed under Gender Studies in the Amazon Kindle store. Until recently, it was the top seller in that category, ahead of “We Should All Be Feminists,” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. [cartoon id="a20409"]

On his blog, Cernovich developed a theory of white-male identity politics: men were oppressed by feminism, and political correctness prevented the discussion of obvious truths, such as the criminal proclivities of certain ethnic groups. His opponents were beta males, losers, or “cucks”—alt-right slang for “cuckolds.” “To beat a person, you lower his or her social status,” he wrote on Danger and Play. “Logic is pointless.”

Although he disdained electoral politics (“No thinking man buys into this two-party political system”), he was in an ideal position to foresee Trump’s rise. In July, 2015, he tweeted, “I said if a Republican acted like me and ran for office, it’d be a movement. Donald Trump has proven me right. People are tired of pussies.” Politics is a blood sport, but, during the primaries, Jeb Bush and the rest of Trump’s “cuckservative” opponents preferred to be genteel. “What are Trump’s policies? I don’t particularly care,” Cernovich wrote on Danger and Play. And, in another post: “If Trump offends you, it’s because you live in a cucked world where no one speaks their minds.”

While I was in California, Cernovich hosted a meet-up for his readers, on the boardwalk in Hermosa Beach. I arrived early, not quite sure what to look for. A crowd had gathered around a drum circle. “Can you feel the Earth’s rhythm?” a drummer asked. Nearby, a film crew from Women.com was shooting a video about sex positivity. At an outdoor bar, I spotted some beefy white men, in T-shirts and shorts. “Cernovich?” I asked. They nodded.

About sixty people showed up, including a few women and people of color. Cernovich’s admirers peppered him with questions. “What about Hillary’s body count?” a young man asked, referring to rumors that Clinton has ordered the killing of several enemies—among them John F. Kennedy, Jr.—or has murdered them herself. Cernovich looked skeptical, and the young man was disappointed. “Then again, Bill’s brother was a drug dealer, and they have ties to organized crime,” Cernovich said. “So who knows?”

Cernovich told me, “I believe in strong borders, including keeping out Islamic terrorists. If people think that’s inherently racist, fine—but I’m an American nationalist, not a white nationalist.” A few people at the meet-up were white nationalists—not the skinhead type but the more polished, just-asking-the-question variety. Some attendees proudly called themselves “deplorables,” and many praised Cernovich as a corrective to traditional journalism. “Corporate news is fucking fake, dude,” a cybersecurity consultant named Jeff Martinez said. “You can just tell.” An informal poll revealed that no one believed in polls. Trump was going to be President, no matter what the cucked media said.

Most conversations touched on free speech (which everyone was for) and political correctness (which everyone was against). “I’m sick of the censorship, the words you can’t say,” Steven McHale, a marketing analyst, told me. Milo Yiannopoulos had recently been banned from Twitter, and the attendees were outraged. “It’s straight-up thought policing,” someone said. “It’s ‘1984.’ ”

The prevailing logic was that, short of yelling fire in a crowded theatre, anyone should be able to say anything, in any venue. But censure is not censorship. The Constitution guarantees that the government won’t restrict what you can say; it does not guarantee that you can shout obscenities on CNN, or that you can harass co-workers, or that you can make racist arguments without being made to feel like a racist. One of the unifying marks of the alt-right sensibility is the assumption that no speech act is beyond the pale. Instead of being offended by blackface or pictures of dead babies, you are encouraged to see them as funny, even if you don’t understand why. At the meet-up, a pudgy man wore a T-shirt with a picture of Harambe, the gorilla that was killed earlier this year at the Cincinnati Zoo. People pointed at the shirt and snickered, adding, “Dicks out for Harambe.” I asked the man to explain the joke. “It’s a funny thing people say, or post, or whatever,” he said. “It’s just a thing on the Internet.” At times, it can seem like anything—a dead gorilla, a rape threat, a Presidential election—is just a thing on the Internet.

“You guys want a snack?” Shauna asked.

“Not now, babe,” Mike said, his eyes on his computer screen. She put out a bowl of pita chips, which he ignored.

It was 11 a.m., and he had been sitting at his kitchen table for hours. First, he appeared, via Skype, on “The Gavin McInnes Show,” an online alt-right talk show. Then he perused Twitter. In September, Cernovich’s tweets were seen more than a hundred million times. When he bragged about this on Twitter, one of his followers replied, “Guerrilla Mindset: How Mike Cernovich waged war on journalism and won.”

“Some people say they hate Beltway insiders and establishment media types, but it’s actually sour grapes,” Cernovich said. (Ann Coulter came to mind.) “Deep down, they want the cool kids to love them. I actually fucking detest those people.” He grew up in Kewanee, a farming town in Illinois. Not long ago, he said, “I started looking into who these neocon policy wonks are. Every backstory was the same—East Coast, Harvard, trust fund, nepotism. Look, if the experts decide tomorrow that we’re going to war with Russia, who’s gonna fight that war? Jonah Goldberg and Ross Douthat? Fuck no. It’ll be guys I know from Kewanee.”

His parents are devout Christians. His mother didn’t finish high school; his father bounced between factory jobs, eventually working at a junk yard. “Kids I knew either joined the Army or didn’t leave town,” Cernovich said. “The smartest kid in the class above me got into the University of Chicago, and I went, ‘What’d he do wrong?’ Because, in my mind, a city is smaller than a state, so the University of Illinois had to be a better school.” Cernovich’s parents and his three siblings still live in the area, but he rarely visits or calls home. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he said. “If I still believed in Jesus, we could talk about that.”

As we spoke, a fan sent him a message: Rush Limbaugh had just mentioned #ZombieHillary on his radio show. The hashtag, referring to Clinton’s supposed frailty, had trended the previous day on Twitter, after Cernovich encouraged his followers to use it. “I would like to claim credit for it, but I can’t,” Limbaugh had said. “Somebody on Twitter did it.” Cernovich told me, “He’ll never mention me by name, but he’s at least listening to the periphery.” [cartoon id="twohy-2002-04-08"]

People have always expressed extreme views online, but for many years there was no easy way for such opinions to spread. The Internet was a vast landscape dotted with isolated viruses. The rise of social networks was like the advent of air travel: a virus can now conquer the world in a day. Instead of picking up a newspaper or visiting its home page, people scan their social-media accounts, where myriad information sources—the Daily Mail, links posted by Steph Curry, a distant relative’s Facebook rants—compete for their attention.

The term “meme” was coined by Richard Dawkins, in his 1976 book, “The Selfish Gene”; he defined it as any “unit of cultural transmission” that stays alive by “leaping from brain to brain.” In a footnote to the 1989 edition, he wrote, “Computers are increasingly tied together. Many of them are literally wired up together in electronic mail exchange. . . . It is a perfect milieu for self-replicating programs to flourish.” Dawkins was worried about computer viruses. He couldn’t have predicted Guccifer 2.0 or #ZombieHillary.

“We may be at a threshold,” Dawkins told me recently. “In the past, I would’ve been tempted to say, about the Internet, that although everybody has a megaphone, in many cases it’s a quiet one. You can put up a YouTube video, but who’s going to watch it? Now, however ridiculous what you’re saying is, if you make it memetically successful, something really bad can spread through the culture.”

Cernovich had another red-pill moment during a trip to Budapest, where he saw hundreds of Syrian émigrés camped out in a train station, waiting to be resettled elsewhere in Hungary. Based on the media coverage of the crisis, he’d expected to see squalor, amputees, wailing children. Instead, he said, “there were able-bodied men playing soccer. Guys and girls flirting. It hit me—these people aren’t refugees. It’s a hoax.” He shared photographs of the refugees on Facebook, writing, “There is no oppression. The media lied.” The photos were shared nearly five thousand times—his first taste of viral fame.

Cernovich realized that a meme could reach more people than a newspaper story, without having to cross an editor’s desk. With savvy framing, an alternative voice could seem as authoritative as the nightly news. He decided to become one of those voices.

He had already insinuated himself into public conflicts in order to gain followers. (“Conflict is attention.”) And in 2014 he became a champion of GamerGate, a vicious campaign against feminists in the video-game industry. He goaded his opponents on Twitter: “Who cares about breast cancer and rape? Not me.” Cernovich’s affiliation with GamerGate made him, he said, “toxic in the eyes of a lot of people,” but he calculated that the exposure was worth it.

He picked fights with celebrities on Twitter. (Seth Rogen took the bait; Cernovich called him “Cuck Rogen.”) “I’m not a pure troll,” Cernovich told me. “Pure trolls are amoral”—they post swastikas, he suggested, not out of an allegiance to Nazism but because they enjoy riling people. “I use trolling tactics to build my brand.”

Pro-Trump activism channelled several of Cernovich’s interests: he could hurt a feminist’s chances of becoming President, associate himself with the year’s top story, and deploy brawler methods on behalf of someone who is even more ruthless online than he is. In mid-October, Cernovich released another book, “maga Mindset,” about Trump’s “unapologetically masculine” persona.

Ever since the advent of the mass media, professional journalists have been a bulwark against seditious or far-fetched theories. One might attribute this fact to their paternalism, their myopia, or their rectitude. In any case, their work tended to have a homogenizing effect. Newscasters told us that the world was more or less as we expected it to be, and we more or less believed them. This system had its faults: after all, far-fetched theories are sometimes true. In 1922, Walter Lippmann, in his book “Public Opinion,” warned of “the manufacture of consent,” a power that media gatekeepers could use for good or for ill.

That was a twentieth-century problem. The media no longer has the ability to manufacture consent. Walter Cronkite was once the most trusted man in America; in 2013, according to a Reader’s Digest survey, the most trusted person was Tom Hanks. “Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that Walter Cronkite lied about everything,” Cernovich said. “Before Twitter, how would you have known? Look, I read postmodernist theory in college. If everything is a narrative, then we need alternatives to the dominant narrative.” He smiled. “I don’t seem like a guy who reads Lacan, do I?”

These days, Cernovich’s primary target is the “hoaxing media.” He told me, “The mainstream media has lost so much legitimacy at this point that if they reported, ‘We just saw Trump beat the shit out of a guy on the street,’ skeptical people like my readers would go, ‘Really? Is there video? Was the video doctored?’ ” Such casual cynicism, of course, redounds to Trump’s advantage. For his part, Trump may have changed his mind about almost every policy proposal and campaign strategy, but he consistently maintains that journalists are scum.

In 2010, when the right-wing provocateur Andrew Breitbart started a blog called Big Journalism, the name was ironic. Now Breitbart.com gets more traffic than the Los Angeles Times, and Steve Bannon, Breitbart’s former editor-in-chief, is running Trump’s campaign. Cernovich said, “Going by the statistics, I’m less influential than some people”—Trump, say, or Kim Kardashian—“but way more influential than some punk blogger at Politico or The Weekly Standard who thinks of himself as part of the media élite. Objectively, I am the new media.”

As Shauna Cernovich was leaving the house to visit her parents, she told me, “They don’t fully understand what Michael does. They get that he likes Trump and that he puts stuff on the Internet—they just don’t get how that’s a job.” Her parents are secular Persian Muslims who left Iran before it became a theocracy. “My dad hates when women cover their hair,” she said.

“We sometimes joke that he’s more Islamophobic than I am,” Mike said.

“My dad actually created an anonymous Twitter account so he could troll Muslims,” Shauna said. “At the same time, he hates Trump, because he’s, like, ‘If he’s saying negative things about different groups, then how do we know he’s not going to come after Persians one day?’ Even if you believe certain things, you shouldn’t necessarily say it openly.”

Mike shrugged. “I don’t think any ideas are off limits,” he said. “Actions, yes. Words, no.” [cartoon id="walsh-2012-09-24"]

He stood up and stretched, thrusting his chest forward and his arms back. “Lowers your cortisol,” he explained. He poured himself a coffee, sat down, and read articles about Ahmad Rahami, who was suspected of planting bombs in New Jersey and Manhattan. Developments in the Rahami case were big news in the New York area, but not everywhere on the Internet. “If there’s a story that can hurt Hillary, I want it in the news cycle,” Cernovich said. “When I first started, that meant figuring out how news cycles work.” One way to propel a story into the mainstream is to get it linked by the Drudge Report. “If it’s on Drudge, then it’s on ‘Hannity,’ ” Cernovich said. “If it’s on ‘Hannity,’ then Brian Stelter’s talking about it on CNN.” The Drudge Report favors big newspapers and established right-wing blogs; Danger and Play is not on the list. “If I have a really hot story, I might leak it to someone at Breitbart, or to someone else who can get the Drudge link.” That journalist usually returns the favor by embedding a Cernovich tweet in the story.

Twitter is Cernovich’s favorite medium for promoting memes. The site devotes a prominent place to its list of trending topics—the most discussed phrases and hashtags of the moment, according to a proprietary algorithm. “It starts on Periscope,” he explained. “I’ll show you.” He propped his iPad upright on the kitchen table, so that the camera lens faced the mirror, and started filming.

Within seconds, thousands of viewers had signed on. “We’ve gotta get a hashtag trending,” he said. “We definitely need to remind the world that Hillary Clinton is bringing in the terrorists.” Viewers made suggestions, and Cernovich, monitoring the feed on his laptop, read them aloud. “HillarysMigrants is good,” he said. “HillarysTerrorists is good. Yeah, just keep throwing them out.” He overlooked #hillaryshitmen and #hillarysmigrantcuntlickers, as well as a commenter who wrote, “Nice tea kettle of flowers Cuck.”

After a few minutes, Cernovich chose #HillarysMigrants. He instructed his followers, “Remind people that Angela Merkel, George Soros, Hillary Clinton—they’re all together. Post pictures of them together. Post pictures of the terrorist attacks.” While he was talking, Shauna returned home and sat on a couch in the background of the shot. (“If I stayed out of his videos all the time, I’d never be allowed in the living room,” she told me.) He went on for twenty more minutes, referring to George Soros’s son six times as a “basic bitch.”

He ended the Periscope video and searched for #HillarysMigrants on Twitter. “Ninety-two people have posted to it in the past minute,” he said. Many of the tweets included images, as he’d requested: Clinton and Merkel laughing conspiratorially; a caricature of Clinton as a ventriloquist’s dummy, sitting on Soros’s lap. “It’s hard to tell yet whether this is a killer hashtag or just an O.K. one,” he said. A hashtag will trend, he estimates, if it gets thirty-five hundred tweets within an hour. “That’s a guess—Twitter keeps that stuff secret,” he said.

Around 3:30 p.m., he announced that he was done for the day. “I’ll go to the gym, relax for a bit,” he said. Before closing his laptop, he checked his direct messages on Twitter, and found a tip alleging that, in 2014, a Reddit user had asked for help removing a “VERY VIP” e-mail address “from a bunch of archived e-mail.” The tipster claimed that the Reddit user was Paul Combetta, one of Hillary Clinton’s I.T. staffers. Cernovich clicked the link to the Reddit thread and noticed that it had been deleted. “Son of a bitch!” he said. “This might actually be true.”

He returned to muckraking mode. “We’re going to make a whole new news cycle about her fucking e-mails again!” he said. “This poor fucking woman.” He started a new Periscope video. “What do you guys want to do for a hashtag?” he said. He decided on #HillarysHacker. It was trending before he finished the video. That day, more than forty-two thousand tweets were posted with the hashtag.

I returned to Cernovich’s house the next morning. By then, the Reddit story had been covered by Vice and New York, and a congressman had asked prosecutors in Washington, D.C., to look into it. Cernovich had tweeted dozens of times since I’d left, including at 1:30 a.m. He was wearing the same gingham shirt. “I didn’t go to the gym last night,” he said, sheepishly. “I’ve gained twenty pounds during this fucking election.”

He told me that he’d been reading Andrew Breitbart’s 2011 autobiography, “Righteous Indignation”: “There’s a part where he’s on a plane for five hours, without Wi-Fi, and he has withdrawal symptoms. I relate to that. And, you know, Breitbart had a huge cultural impact, but he died of heart failure at forty-three.”

The following week, Cernovich went to the first Presidential debate, at Hofstra University. He lacked press credentials, so he found a few dozen Jill Stein supporters on the perimeter of the campus, and streamed their protest via Periscope. “Police keep sending us to different areas,” he texted me. He claimed that this was “psyops” designed to dampen the protesters’ morale. In a Periscope video called “No free speech at #Debates2016,” he said, “Mainstream media’s not gonna talk about this.”

“The cops are Soros people!” one commenter wrote.

“Harambe!” another wrote.

I was inside the gates, in a gym where the TV networks had set up broadcast booths. I ran into Lou Dobbs, the Fox Business anchor, who was wearing pancake makeup. I asked him if he’d heard of Cernovich. “Absolutely!” he said. “I follow him on Twitter. Seems very smart.”

We parted, then Dobbs chased me down. “Can I revise that?” he said. “I’m not sure I follow him.” (He does.) “I’ve seen his stuff, and I think it’s interesting,” he added. “Interesting is a good thing, right?”

Cernovich watched the debate from a parking lot, on his phone. Afterward, he gave me a ride to Manhattan. Trump had spent much of the debate sniffling audibly, and I asked Cernovich if he worried about Trump’s health. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they messed with his mike to make it sound like that,” he said.

He predicted that traditional journalists would spin the debate in Clinton’s favor. “The left likes to talk about power structures, right?” he said. “Well, the media still thinks of itself as speaking truth to power. What they don’t realize is that someone like me is perceived as the new Fourth Estate. Maybe they should check their structural privilege.” The “paternalistic” media, he said, was giving way to a more democratic one. “It makes journalists crazy, because they used to be in control,” he said. “They can’t control people anymore. Everyone has a voice now.” ?

Andrew Marantz, a contributing editor, has written for The New Yorker since 2011

==

frum bk

press: hannity and new say no indep media eg CNN

local fox crew said gianforte guilty, but not asked to be on nat'l; rush applaid, 116K$ ON election day 113

russian dis-info 400 ppl, 20m ri8bles (400K$ per mo; 40 rooms0 russian version of FB, made fake ppl on US soc media 115; 100K ads; target 10 m ppl in slected districts and states; msg reached 126M FB users 116.

russia ~ Fr Macron, so vidfeo ell cut hand wash inverted; rebel media posobiec got adv notce of email dump; big overlap betw anti-marcon and pro djt, 18K bots; 118

cernovich pizzagate guy got WH leaks (susan rice unmasked)

trad media tried to be balaced, so any crumb or djt normalcy touted 120

media restriction 1st sign of decline of democ 122

==

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mike-cernovich-says-social-media-censorship-is-a-warm-up-for-christian-persecution

Mike Cernovich, a self-described “New Right” pundit who gained notoriety for peddling a variety of conspiracy theories such as “Pizzagate,” warned Christians that the effort by social media websites to crack down on conspiracy theories and extremist rhetoric was not actually aimed at people like himself, but rather at people who declare their Christian faith.

In a live stream video aired this afternoon, Cernovich brought up reports that Facebook had threatened to suspend a Christian satire site after fact-checking nonprofit Snopes flagged its articleclaiming that CNN purchased an industrial washing machine to “spin” the news. Facebook apologized for the error, but Cernovich used the event to tell listeners that social media companies want to “destroy” Christian ways of life.

“Don’t defend me. I don’t need you to defend me. Here’s what I need you to say: ‘Facebook and Snopes, they hate Christians. If you let them get rid of Cernovich, we are next.’ And that’s the truth. It’s proven now,” Cernovich said. “So rather than let people drag you into the weeds about Cernovich and this and that, just say, ‘They are only going after Cernovich because the real target is Christians like us.’”

Cernovich urged viewers to download and reupload his warning on their own social media accounts because “none of us are going to be here much longer.” He declared, “If you’re a Christian, Facebook—they hate you. There’s no other way to put it.”

“They want you to be afraid of the gospel. If you preach the gospel, or you even profess your love of Christ and then just make jokes, if all you say now is ‘I’m a Christian’ and then you make jokes, you will be targeted by Snopes, you’ll be targeted by CNN, you’ll be targeted by Facebook,” he said.

He went on to warn that the battle against Christians will not end with social media censorship.

“If you think this is going to end when they ban you from social media, if you think they aren’t going to make it so you can’t have a job if you’re a Christian, that you can’t run a business if you’re a Christian—this is just a warm-up,” Cernovich said.

He added, “They want to destroy your entire way of life. They want to put you in a predicament that you’ll never be able to escape.”

...

==

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/campus-conservatives-should-check-their-own-trolling/

On Monday, October 30, alt-right media personality Mike Cernovich spoke at Columbia University at the invitation of the College Republicans. The invitation was an embarrassment. Cernovich has built a career on leveraging the power of social media to turn lies into likes—he came to mainstream prominence through his Twitter promotion of the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory alleging Democratic Party involvement in a child sex ring. He has claimed that “date rape does not exist.”

The Columbia University Democrats quickly published an editorial in the campus newspaper denouncing the decision to invite Cernovich. If they had followed the all-too-common campus script, they would then have called on students to shut down or shout down the talk, as has happened on campuses like Middlebury and Berkeley. But instead they urged a much wiser strategy: Don’t feed the trolls. “When students shout down extremists, these bigots are empowered rather than erased,” the editorial advised. “The bigots receive media coverage, and with it, legitimacy that they should never have.”

Instead of trying to prevent Cernovich from speaking, the CU Democrats announced that they would be countering Cernovich’s speech with speech of their own. They scheduled an event featuring speakers who would give an academic perspective on white nationalism at the same time as Cernovich’s talk.

They argued that bringing Cernovich to campus undermined, rather than strengthened, discourse: “If CUCR sought to represent conservative voices on campus, they would bring real Conservatives who can challenge liberal ideas and provide value to our campus. Instead, they’ve chosen to bring racist provocateurs, drowning any possibility of real discussion underneath their bile.”

Speakers like Cernovich really do erode the opportunity for discourse on campus, by polarizing students into opposing camps with speech designed to engage tribal emotion rather than reason. And extreme protest tactics really do make the problem worse—amplifying the trolls while turning off moderates who might otherwise be supportive of the protesters’ message.

It’s no secret that the campus left has done much to erode the quality of discourse at American universities. But the campus right has been happily playing along, often sharing the far-left’s desire to turn campuses into battlefields at the expense of our social fabric. Many campus conservatives have chosen shock value and viral attention over intellectual rigor—nothing else explains the presence of angry buffoons like Cernovich at places like Columbia University.

To be sure, there is an important normative difference between groups seeking to add more speech to the public square and groups seeking to silence speech. As a rule, the former is preferable to the latter, and our laws and university policies should reflect that. Columbia’s certainly do. But the left and right are participating in the same dialectic process, with the same end result: tribal warfare. This means our civic health depends on both camps choosing to reform themselves.

Conservative groups on campus would do well to look to the concept of “virtuous discourse,” which is central to the mission of an innovative cross-partisan network of college students called BridgeUSA. BridgeUSA isn’t about watering down the debate—its founder was responsible for inviting conservative firebrand Ann Coulter to the University of California Berkeley campus earlier this year (she ended up canceling due to the threat of violent protests). But it does demand what they call “virtuous discourse,” which acknowledges that free speech may bring no benefits to campus unless speakers honor certain responsibilities: to truth, to civility, to respect, to decorum. These words have a conservative valence, and a nobler mission—a community dedicated to the pursuit of truth and learning.

The Founding Fathers believed in “ordered liberty”—that freedom could not coexist without virtue. George Washington wrote that the “security of a free Constitution” depends on “teaching the people…to discriminate the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness.” The Founders predicted that forgetting this lesson would lead to despotism, as men who could not rule themselves would come to be ruled by others.

The importance of self-restraint through virtue lies at the core of both America’s founding and conservative thought. Young conservatives should feel proud to own such a rich intellectual legacy—it was Edmund Burke who wrote that “the restraints on men, as well as their liberties, are to be reckoned among their rights.” In times such as ours, that idea is countercultural, and therefore powerful.

Even at the Columbia event, Cernovich and his fans demonstrated values completely opposed to this conservative ideal. A Cernovich supporter played a prank in which he gave protestors a banner that contained a pro-pedophilia message and photographed them with it—at which point Cernovich and other alt-right figures re-tweeted the photo as authentic. Such wanton lying is precisely the licentiousness that Washington warned us about.

It’s hard to abstain from the attention and spectacle that inviting trolls can bring—and it’s even harder to avoid confusing this attention with the feeling that you’re accomplishing something worthwhile. That’s every college student’s dream, on both the left and the right, but they must navigate that dream in an age of social media dominance that constantly equates attention with worthiness. The Milo Yiannopoulos playbook stokes this dangerous trend, Washington’s ordered liberty and Burke’s restraints challenge it.

Conservatives can live up to this legacy by inviting speakers that mount serious, academic challenges to the liberal orthodoxy that prevails on many campuses. Not only will they uphold the traditions that make universities special, they will be more effective at changing minds and advancing their cause. Far left hysteria over conservative speakers will look ridiculous instead of heroic if they’re protesting scholars instead of un-credentialed Twitter personalities. Fence-sitters will see that the far left is guided by quasi-religious dogmatism instead of legitimate critique. And conservatives will center their best ideas in the court of public opinion.

Nicholas Phillips is a Research Associate at Heterodox Academy and President of the NYU School of Law Federalist Society.

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/now-far-right-pundits-are-calling-death-trumps-opponents

While he is notoriously stubborn and self-assured, President Donald Trump is also famous for being susceptible to the power of suggestion.

Trump demonstrates how easily persuadable he is by responding via Twitter to “Fox & Friends" almost every day. His campaign and White House staffers have admitted to this several times, albeit not on the record. But their actions have made clear they believe this: White House chief of staff John Kelly has reportedly prohibited staff members from giving Trump reading materials. More recently, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer asked that presidential aide and immigration hard-liner Stephen Miller be kept out of an immigration meeting, lest he shape the president's thinking too much. Even Russian-controlled Twitter accounts have apparently been set to tweet at Trump during times he’s habitually online.

But the relationship between Trump and his admirers goes both ways. It has been observed that the people who have worked closely with the president, either in private or public life, eventually start behaving like him, even when he’s not around. Longtime lawyer Marc Kasowitz certainly demonstrated that when he threatened to stalk a "bitch" emailer. Trump’s personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, has also waxed Trumpian at times, describing his patient’s health as “extraordinary” and “astonishingly excellent.”

Given how the president and his close admirers tend to bring out the worst in each other, it’s particularly concerning how the most vehemently pro-Trump media outlets are going far beyond the sycophantic blather of “Fox & Friends” to outright calls for the president to jail or even execute people he doesn’t like -- particularly if they happen to be investigating connections between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia.

In December, Fox News pundit and Trump ally Jeanine Pirro called on the president to implement a massive purge of officials who are not totally loyal.

“There is a cleansing needed in our FBI and Department of Justice — it needs to be cleansed of individuals who should not just be fired, but who need to be taken out in cuffs!” Pirro ranted.

The alleged need for large-scale firings and arrests within America’s intelligence agencies is a subject on which Pirro and her fellow Fox News Trump commentators Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have opined for many months now.

But Trump did not need months of persuasion to respond, however. As the New York Times reported on Thursday, the president ordered the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller in June, just a few weeks after he had been appointed. Luckily for Trump, White House counsel Don McGahn and other staffers reportedly declined to carry out the order.

But the president’s Fox fans not have been the only right-wing media figures urging Trump to jail various Democrats and government investigators.

On Tuesday, John Guandolo, a disgraced former FBI agent who has made a second career as an anti-Muslim and pro-Trump commentator, repeatedly told viewers of the Christian television station theDove that anyone who had allegedly promoted the famous “Steele dossier” as a justification for wiretapping Trump campaign officials was guilty of “sedition and treason” and must be given the death penalty.

“People need to be tried, convicted and executed for treason,” Guandolo said, in remarks that were first reported by the blog Right Wing Watch. “They are conspiring to overthrow the government … they need to be charged, sent to jail, executed, etc., if the republic is to survive.”

Though Guandolo is a relatively obscure pundit, he is apparently respected by a number of federal law enforcement agencies who have repeatedly paid for his anti-Muslim training programs.

Fox News viewers have also been introduced to the idea of capital punishment for Trump's critics. In October, Sebastian Gorka, the former White House adviser who is now a “national security strategist” at Fox News, invoked a conspiracy theory about former secretary of state Hillary Clinton's supposed approved of a deal for a Canadian uranium company that was working with a Russian firm.

“If this had happened in the 1950s, there would be people up on treason charges right now. The Rosenbergs, OK?” Gorka told a rapturous Sean Hannity. “This is equivalent to what the Rosenbergs did, and those people got the chair. Think about it. Giving away nuclear capability to our enemies, that’s what we’re talking about.”According to Gorka, American officials who approved the sale are the equivalent of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the American couple executed for selling nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.

As the Russia investigation has continued to heat up, Alex Jones — the conspiracy radio host who shifted from commentary about gay frogs, Ron Paul, and space aliens to spittle-flecked pro-Trump bombast — has begun increasing his own rhetorical vehemence against law enforcement officials.

Even before he became devoted to Trump, Jones had a long history of proclaiming violent fantasies on the air, such as warning actor Robert DeNiro that he wanted to “tear his nose completely off his face” and threatening to break the jaws of various other people he dislikes.

(While some observers of his program have argued Jones is just acting, during an April episode, he denied that his harangues are purely theatrical. “We’re the most bona fide, hard-core, real McCoy thing there is,” he told listeners.)

As the Mueller investigation has gotten two guilty pleas and numerous indictments against former Trump associates, Jones’ violent outbursts have only increased. He has apparently absorbed every unhinged conspiracy theory about treasonous “Deep State” elites and the ways they are using their supposedly limitless power to overthrow the president.

During the Jan. 19 episode of his program, Jones went on an extended-length rant, saying that Clinton, former president Barack Obama, former FBI director James Comey and a host of others were accusing Trump of acting like a dictator. Jones' suggested remedy: Trump should start doing just that.

“Mr. President, they’re not going to stop, they’ve already started a civil war! They’ve all got to go to prison!” Jones raged in a segment discussing CNN host Anderson Cooper and New York Times reporter Matthew Rosenberg. “They’re saying you’re a dictator, we all need to be shut down, take our free speech, and then say you’re doing that. They’ve already launched their operations!"

The Infowars founder then alluded to Phil Mudd, a former FBI and CIA official who now is a commentator at CNN who said last August that Trump’s antagonistic remarks about career intelligence officials could result in them wanting to “kill this guy.” It was clearly a metaphor, as host Jake Tapper and Mudd were quick to point out, for the idea that Trump might be inspiring government officials to leak disparaging information about the president.

According to Jones, however, Mudd had instead publicly stated that American intelligence agencies are planning to assassinate Trump. Because of that, Jones suggested, the president needs to begin physically rounding up his political opponents and treating them like violent traitors:

“Phil Mudd is on TV saying he’s going to kill you! All you need to do is go after them now! Turn the dogs loose! They started it! They did it! They’re the foreign power! They’re the enemy! They’re the traitors!”

“Get ’em! Get ’em!” Jones screamed as he pointed at an image of Cooper and Rosenberg on his studio screen.

Later on in the episode, Jones revisited the topic of the Trump-Russia investigation, claiming that Obama “needs to go to prison” because “these people aren’t above the law.”

“These aren’t Americans,” Jones continued. “They’re globalists.”

He then tried to answer listeners and viewers who might believe that Trump imprisoning Clinton and Obama could lead to civil war.

“They’re already trying to cause one,” Jones replied. “Justice be done, may the heavens fall,” he said, alluding to the famous Latin phrase that is also a line in Oliver Stone's conspiracy film “JFK.”

The Infowars chief then compared government officials and liberal political figures to the Japanese and German armies America fought in World War II.

“We have to attack them legally and lawfully. ...We have to defeat them all. They’re not going to stop,” Jones continued. “Like World War II, you don’t just kick Hitler back into Germany, he’s going to reconstitute and attack again. You don’t just kick the Japanese out of the Pacific Islands, you’ve gotta go all the way to Tokyo. They started it!”

As he continued, Jones suggested that because of their “treason,” Trump needs to “go all the way” against his opponents.

“Whatever has to happen is going to happen. We’re going all the way against these people, period. We have to do it. There’s no other choice. They’ve all got to politically hang for their crimes,” he said.

“Incidentally,” Jones said as he looked deep into the camera and drummed his fingers to accentuate the dramatic pause. “You know what the punishment for treason is.”

He continued: “These are the foreign individuals that took our country over. They’re the ones who corrupted everything almost to the point of the country’s death. And they’re still trying to strangle the country today. We must stand against them.”

Before the rise of Trump, Jones was an irrelevant conspiracy radio host whose ravings were listened to by a small number of deranged core fans and hipsters with eccentric senses of humor. All of that changed after Jones latched on to Trump during his campaign.

Trump returned the favor, saying publicly that Jones has an “amazing” reputation during his campaign. As president, he has given Jones and his Infowars colleagues prime access to White House officials. According to Jones, Trump has called him multiple times at home during the past few months. The host has also claimed that he knows several personal phone numbers for Trump, including the president’s private suite at Mar-a-Lago.

Nor Jones is the only person associated with Infowars who has deep connections inside the administration.

Trump’s longtime friend and unofficial political adviser Roger Stone is now the host of an Infowars show of his own. Donald Trump Jr., the president's oldest son, posted on Twitter last April that Infowars correspondent and conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich deserved a Pulitzer Prize after an administration source fed him a scoop days before the mainstream press. It was one of several important stories the two have broken ahead of legitimate news outlets. Cernovich has also boasted that Donald Jr. and other Trump family members personally give the president printouts of stories from Infowars and other dubious websites.

Given the many strictures on the commander in chief's authority, it is unlikely that Trump could start imprisoning his political opponents even if he wanted to. But the president is far from the only person exposed to a constant diet of violent rhetoric against Democrats, journalists and law enforcement officers. Many disturbed people who voted for him are as well.

Last week, a Michigan man named Brandon Griesemer was arrested for threatening to kill CNN’s “fake news” anchors. In December of 2016, North Carolina resident Edgar Maddison Welch burst into a pizza restaurant near Washington with a rifle and fired off three rounds, in part because Jones and his staff had spent hours telling their followers the place was the center of a global child-sex ring.

Following Welch’s guilty plea last March, Jones begrudgingly and partially retracted his support for the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory. His actions since, however, suggest he has no legitimate intention of cleaning up his act.

People have mocked the idea that Trump could become a dictator. What's clear is that many people he likes are telling him to become one.

Matthew Sheffield

https://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/right-wing-media-are-already-spinning-vile-new-conspiracy-theory-about-texas

Michael Edison Hayden

Posted with permission from Newsweek

no link pix/doc

For anyone monitoring America’s far-right, it was only a matter of time before Devin Patrick Kelley, the man identified as the Sutherland Springs, Texas, shooter, became “antifa.”

Antifa, a leftist protest movement with no organizational hierarchy whatsoever, was blamed for the mass shooting in Las Vegas by Alex Jones’ conspiracy website Info Wars. They were responsible for allegedly  plotting a civil war involving supersoldiers Saturday—one that utterly failed to manifest. And on Sunday, after a man murdered at least 26 people in a Texas church, the right’s conspiracy peddlers waited only a matter of hours to try to blame the violence on leftists.

Police did not immediately announce Kelley's motive in the mass shooting. But Mike Cernovich, a self-described “American nationalist,” posted about the motive shortly after news of it broke. “Mass shooting at The First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, which has a largely white denomination,” Cernovich wrote. “Antifa terrorist attack?”

Cernovich pushed the same idea further Sunday evening, citing only “photos.” “Photos of Texas shooter is consistent with profile of Antifa member,” Cernovich posted. “This is looking more and more like Antifa terror.”

Alex Jones, who devoted his entire Saturday to doing live coverage on his web-show Info Wars on a second American civil war that absolutely never happened, also pushed the idea that the shooter could somehow be an antifa activist. “Was this part of the Antifa revolution against Christians and conservatives or a Isis op? [ sic],” Jones tweeted Sunday afternoon to promote his show. “Live from the church.”

Jack Posobiec, a pro-Trump figure with a large following on social media, who has a reputation for creating and pushing fake news stories about leftists, posted a screen shot of something that looked like a direct message conversation on Twitter. The conversation was between a man named Dave Pollack and It’s Going Down (IGD), a self-described “digital community center for anarchist, anti-fascist, autonomous anti-capitalist and anti-colonial movements” frequently associated with “antifa” protests.

The Dave Pollack figure says in the screenshot: “Go after the heart of the far-right: conservative churches.” A spokesperson for Its Going Down, who asked not to be named, told Newsweek through a direct message that the screenshot was entirely fabricated, but noted that many people on social media have seized onto the picture and shared it anyway. On ZeroHedge, a libertarian blog, one of the commenters on a post about the mass shooting summed it up this way: “ He's Antifa, but you'll never see that confirmed because the FBI is a bunch of leftist commie sympathizing traitors,” a user named Gaius Frakkin’ wrote.

“Today we learned that Jack Posobiec was sharing a manufactured and fictitious conversation that was created to look like our account speaking with several others,” the spokesperson for IGD wrote to Newsweek. “The conversation implied that anarchists and antifa organizers are somehow supportive of church shootings. Nothing could be further from the truth, and our hearts go out to people across the U.S. who have lost, and continue lose loved ones in these horrific mass shootings.”

The spokesperson accused Posobiec and others of using the “pain and misery of working-class people” for profit.

“Posobiec wants to attack social movements to further his own reactionary political ends while growing his fame and career along the way,” the spokesperson wrote. “For the sake of not only the truth but people's lives, it's imperative that people recognize these phonies for what they are and denounce them.”

Second Lieutenant Spenser Rapone is, by all accounts, a contrarian. He was a free thinker at West Point, a communist in the U.S. Army, a soldier who reads Gramsci, and most tragically, a threat to the peace of mind of Senator Marco Rubio.

What second Lt. Rapone is not, is a threat to "overthrow the U.S. government," a "threat to our safety," guilty of "treason," or “100%” certain to commit "mass murder in the near future." This is despite what some may have read about him on right-wing  Twitter and in the reactionary Daily Caller.

Fake journalist Mike Cernovich, a master of the non-sequitur, concludes Rapone’s heresies should convince you that the National Security Council is run by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Spenser Rapone is proof that cultural Marxism has taken over at West Point, still think that the NSC isn't run by Muslim Brotherhood?

— Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) September 27, 2017

Now the Army is investigating Lt. Rapone, the veterans in the Democratic Socialists of America are defending him, and the social media hive is starting to buzz.

Truly Scary

Welcome to another culture war in which the fate of America hangs in the balance, at least until the end of the news cycle or the next white man’s massacre, whichever comes first.

Lt. Rapone’s notoriety illuminates one of the lesser (but still annoying) hazards of our troubled times: The power of social media platforms to elevate the trivial to the apocalyptic, to transform curious developments into civilizational dilemmas that require righteous indignation from all right-thinking people.

Tired of chasing Colin Kaepernick out of the ideological pocket, the right-wing thought police are now swarming to chase Lt. Rapone out of the barracks. His crime: free thinking, which is truly scary to many on the right and even some on the left. Out of fear, the thought police seek to win the debate by preventing it from happening.

The political right is far worse than the left on this score, but leftist intolerance is on the rise, too.

Last spring, sociologist Charles Murray, who has authored works of sophisticated racism and works of insightful cultural criticism, was prevented from speaking at Middlebury College by professors and students proud to say they had never read what he had written.

Just last week in Washington, a group of American University students were thwarted when they sought to promote unpopular views on campus. The group Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) was blocked from holding a forum on the politics and jurisprudence of campus sexual assault.

To the local chapter of the American Association of University Women, the unpopular was intolerable. They declared that the YAL speakers were engaging in "hate speech," a claim for which there is little evidence. YAL lost access to a campus venue and had to go elsewhere to hold its discussion of Title IX and other timely issues of interest to young people

Lt. Rapone is having a similar effect on the right. He wore a Che Guevara T-shirt under his uniform. He wrote a paper quoting Gramsci to support his view that the U.S. Army should intervene in Kurdistan.  AAUW actually celebrated on Facebook that they succeeded in making sure that the speaker's unorthodox opinions did not infect the presumably innocent ears of female (and male) undergraduates allegedly certain to suffer some kind of harm (what kind of harm is not very clear) from hearing a point of view they might find obnoxious or tendentious or persuasive. The thought police imagined they had won the debate by preventing it from happening.

But wait, there's worse: He shouted during an office debate with a professor. He failed to wear his uniform in a West Point building where uniforms are mandatory. And, get this, he stared at a fellow officer’s name tag for a long time.Very suspicious.

(The Daily Caller reports that social media accounts “linked” to Lt. Rapone have included harsh and profane comments. I could not independently confirm the linkage. Since the Daily Caller is not a trustworthy source, I will not quote the alleged comments.)

Isn't it obvious Lt. Rapone is a clear and present danger to the safe spaces of Daily Caller staffers? Isn’t it imperative that he be driven out of the U.S. armed forces in the name of all that is right and good? Isn’t this the moment when Senator Rubio can overcome anxieties about his dimunitive stature and do Something Important?

Alas, it is.

Do the Right Thing

West Point officials were apparently aware of Rapone’s private political opinions in 2015 and let him continue to serve, another subject generating yards of online outrage.

I think West Point did the right thing. Lt. Rapone’s superiors saw that an aspiring officer had strong and unpopular opinions. They saw that he passed his classes and fulfilled his duties, so they concluded he was acting within his constitutionally secured rights—the very freedoms the Army is supposed to defend. They sent him to Afghanistan where he served one tour.

Lt. Rapone is currently assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, according to the Army Times.

Maybe his criticism of American society and admiration for rebellious spirits like Che Guevara and Antonio Gramsci will prove incompatible with fighting one of the seven wars the U.S. government is now waging around the world. I hope so.

Or maybe Lt. Rapone is a good soldier who knows what he wants to risk his life for: free speech. That wouldn’t be a bad outcome either. Free speech needs more defenders, especially lately.

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alex-jones-computers-are-using-the-race-narrative-and-the-islamists-to-attack-humans

Infowars radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones claimed yesterday that artificial intelligence is “warring humans against each other” with discussions about race and culture, in addition to “bringing in foreign stimuli like the Islamists.”

During yesterday’s broadcast of “The Alex Jones Show,” right-wing internet personality and Infowars guest host Mike Cernovich joined Jones to discuss recent reports that tech giant Elon Musk fears the future of artificial intelligence (AI).

“You notice the computer is already warring humans against each other with the race narrative, the culture narrative, and then bringing in foreign stimuli like the Islamists, which we have to fight,” Jones said, “because it wants to take us over like the AI and it brings in that artificial stimuli to then just super-charge it.”

Cernovich agreed, adding that “the next evolution, though, is going to be little quantum AI bots and they could just send them in to a part of your brain where you don’t even know.”

“Eventually you’ll walk in and there’ll be microscopic quantum bots that go into your own brain,” Cernovich continued.

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https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2017/07/19/Pro-Trump-internet-personalities-throw-tantrums-after-ADL-identifies-their-hateful-rhetori/217316

Pro-Trump internet trolls claimed that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) was a "terrorist organization" and compared the group to Nazis after ADL identified some of the biggest online personalities of the “alt-right” and “alt-lite” movements and called them out for spreading hateful rhetoric.

The ADL recently published a list of “alt-right” and “alt-lite” figures, identifying key players in both the white supremacist “alt-right” and the fringe right-wing media landscape of media trolls and smear merchants it inspired, which the ADL called the “alt-lite.” It included internet troll and Infowars contributor Mike Cernovich; smear merchant Jack Posobiec, who once received a temporary White House press pass; disgraced Breitbart provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos; The Gateway Pundit’s Lucian Wintrich; and Rebel Media’s Gavin McInnes, using the “alt-lite” banner to describe their prior affiliation and promotion of “alt-right” figures and ideologies. In a Periscope live stream, Cernovich responded to the list’s publication by urging his followers to spread the hashtag “#ADLTerror” on Twitter. Cernovich also called ADL “a terrorist organization” that had “targeted” him and his family for “murder and assassination” by including his name in the list.

Soon after Cernovich launched the hashtag, other alternative media personalities who were also mentioned in the ADL’s list rallied to attack the organization.Posobiec compared ADL’s members to Nazis and claimed the “death list” was being used to target Trump supporters; Wintrich called the ADL a “liberal terroristorganization” whose “only qualifier” to label people a hate group leader was support for Trump; Yiannopoulos accused the ADL of trying to get pro-Trump media figures like himself “hurt or killed by painting targets on our backs”; McInnes threatened to “sue the living shit out of everyone even remotely involved” with the list if he was attacked following its publication.

Allies and supporters of those on the ADL’s list also joined in on the attack. The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft accused the ADL of publishing “a murder hit list” and stated that his website would take “further action” against the organization if it did not remove Wintrich’s name. Rebel Media’s Laura Loomer decried the ADL’s decision to publish a “hit list,” asking why the organization is “encouraging violent leftists to attack members of the right.” And “Ali,” a rising star among pro-Trump media personalities, also promoted the hashtag. Fans of these personalities created memes and videos and spread them on social media to show their support.

While BuzzFeed technology reporter Charlie Warzel pointed out that the ADL didn't necessarily provide full evidence of the actions that earned these trolls a spot on the list, the ADL was right to include them based on their habits of engaging in hateful rhetoric and online harassment. The organization correctly identified them for using their platforms to spread vitriol and honestly documented their efforts to sanitize their movement’s prior affiliation with “alt-right” circles and differentiate itself from white nationalism.

Warzel also correctly noted that these trolls are "more of a media arm than an ideological group of any kind." These individuals do not spread hate in the traditional way that has been the modus operandi of the “alt-right” figures also included in the ADL’s list. Rather than organizing community events and advocating for any specific policies, these figures have built a potent anti-liberal media apparatus that can be -- and often is -- mobilized to harass and smear any chosen target-of-the-day.

Over the past several months, these right-wing media personalities and pro-Trump internet trolls have fueled and engaged in harassment and doxing campaigns against a variety of people. They misquoted pop star Ariana Grande after a terrorist attack at her concert in Manchester, smearing her as “anti-American.” CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski’s family received dozens of threatening phone calls following an article he wrote about the origin of an anti-CNN meme Trump tweeted. And the internet trolls falsely accused popular online satirist Vic Berger of being a part of an online cohort of pedophiles. They were also key proponents of the “Great Meme War” with CNN, during which social media sites were flooded with high volumes of anti-CNN memes and numerous CNN employees were doxed and harassed.

Though these alternative media figures and internet trolls are now rebranding away from the “alt-right” leaders who once inspired them, they still deserve to be on the ADL list and should remain there until they cease using their platforms to incite harassment and encourage extremist rhetoric.

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may have mocked claims about the existence of paid protesters as just another lie from the right. As it turns out, at least on this one issue, they’re actually telling the truth. The problem is, the right neglected to mention those paid protesters are part of the right-wing apparatus.

The story starts last week, when the right wing decided to aim its selective outrage at a free staging of Shakespeare’s play "Julius Caesar" held in New York City’s Central Park. Mike Cernovich, a self-described member of the alt-right who thinks the U.S. should give immigrants IQ tests, put up a YouTube video in which he offered cash to any protesters willing to disrupt the play for pay.

“I’ll give up to 10 people $1,000,” Cernovich says in the footage. “I need you to get up with either a ‘CNN is ISIS’ or ‘Bill Clinton’s a rapist’ or ‘The media is terrorism’ [sign]. And if you’re able to get up and be escorted out by security, then I will give you $1,000.”

In other words, Cernovich was actively and openly looking to recruit paid protesters. You know how conservatives made up that ridiculous myth about George Soros sending checks to liberals who march in protests? This is the real version of that, only sponsored by Cernovich.

The story actually gets richer, so to speak, as it continues. The night after Cernovich’s offer, two protesters went to see "Julius Caesar" in the park. Semi-notorious right-wing media figure Laura Loomer snagged a ticket for a second-row seat that definitely should have gone to someone who actually wanted to see the play. Alt-right provocateur Jack Posobiec, whose greatest hits include pizzagate and the Seth Rich conspiracy lie, also showed up. The two Trumpites told the New Yorker they hadn’t planned to meet—which may or may not be true—and once they spotted each other, they sat apart so as not to arouse suspicion. “Are you here for the Cernovich contest?” Posobiec reportedly texted Loomer, according to the New Yorker. She responded, “Just stay tuned.”

In the middle of the production, Loomer stormed the stage, briefly halting the action and earning a chorus of boos from an audience that just wanted to see some Shakespeare. There’s footage of the whole thing, including Loomer being removed from the stage as she shouts “CNN is ISIS"—the exact phrase Cernovich suggested—over and over. As Loomer was escorted out, Posobiec stood up and began yelling “Nazis” and “Goebbels” at the audience, until he was removed. He also recorded his outburst, possibly because Cernovich wants proof before he’ll pay out.

Loomer continued yelling even once she was put outside the venue, and police finally showed up at some point to arrest her. She was then led away, upright and intact, like a human being who does not also happen to be an unarmed black kid.

It’s important to note that Loomer works for right-wing Canadian media outlet Rebel Media, and until late May, so did Posobiec. The blog Canadaland describes it as a Breitbart-esque site filled with contributors who “have called for a new Crusade to expel Muslims from the 'Holy Land,” outlined what they "hate about the Jews," and most recently, said that British Muslims are "enemy combatants," at least some of whom should be placed into camps.”

Loomer was released hours after her arrest. Rebel Media put up a “Free Laura page” on its website, including a link to a fundraising section for her "legal defense fund." Loomer herself also tweeted a request to "support [her] legal defense fund." The link in the message leads to a campaign on WeSearchr, a crowdfunding site that’s like a Go Fund Me for hard-right causes. As of this writing, Loomer’s page has banked more than $12,000. Josh Jordan, who's written for both Forbes and the conservative National Review, pointed out that Loomer's page previously noted she had a fundraising goal of $25,000, complete with screengrab. That target number has been erased, but the total intake keeps climbing. And presumably, while the Rebel Media “Free Laura” page doesn’t display tallies, there’ve been contributions via that site as well.

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Josh Jordan ✔@NumbersMuncher

Laura Loomer has now banked over $10K for her play publicity stunt that will carry at most a $1,000 fine and she's asking for another $15K.

7:45 PM - 18 Jun 2017

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Gowilla Minethet @anonops_nato

That's interesting. http://Freelaura.com  was created by Ezra Levant at 6pm UTC, 2pm EDT. Laura crashed the play at 6pm EDT.

8:26 PM - 16 Jun 2017

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Mike Cernovich ✔@Cernovich

Breitbart fired a journalist to appease fake news media. Here's how to respond! https://www.wesearchr.com/bounties/support-katie-mchugh-fired-from-breitbart-for-telling-the-tr …

10:21 AM - 5 Jun 2017

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Support Katie McHugh: Fired From Breitbart For Telling The Truth

Katie needs your help, America.

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Mike Cernovich  ✔@Cernovich

Detroit schools are a mess? Who runs Detroit? Blacks! #DemDebate

7:00 PM - 6 Mar 2016

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Mike Cernovich  ✔@Cernovich

Where are videos of EVIL white nationalists committing HATE CRIMES. Zero. Zip. Nada. Lots of videos of blacks teens knocking out whites!

11:12 AM - 8 Mar 2016 · Hermosa Beach, CA

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Mike Cernovich  ✔@Cernovich

The "alt-right" hasn't killed anyone, but #BlackLivesMatter regularly slaughters the innocent. Know the real threat. Think! #Dallas

2:42 PM - 8 Jul 2016 · Lake Forest, CA

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