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Last week I wrote about Jonathan Haidt’s update on what has happened in the year since his book The Anxious Generation was published. For the most part, Haidt had a lot of good news to report about parents around the world who seemed to find common ground around some of the ideas he was promoting, specifically that smart phones and social media are creating bad outcomes for a lot of kids and need to be more tightly controlled.

As positive as all of this sounded, there was one thing that had him worried. Just as parents seem to be making moves to deal with the damage caused by screens and social media, AI was hovering on the horizon. And that technology has the potential to scramble childhood even further.

Haidt didn’t really go into a lot of detail about his concerns about AI in his piece for the Free Press, but in an interview published today by Ezra Klein, he goes into a lot more detail. After reading some of this, I found myself being thankful that my kids are either young adults or nearly there. Because the AI future really does sound worrisome, not just for individuals but for society as a whole. 

They got into this by first talking about prestige and how social media has the ability to hack that natural desire which all humans have. And that brings Haidt to recall a particular AI powered app he sees as a harbinger of things to come. (Ezra Klein’s comments are in bold, Haidt’s are without bold.)

One of the most disgusting apps I’ve ever seen — well, there is lots of competition. But there’s a thing called Famefy. The idea is that lots of young people are lonely. They’re not able to get followers. They’re putting stuff out there, and nobody is watching.

Well, that’s really crushing. Imagine your 9-year-old not getting any followers.

But if you give her Famefy, Famefy will generate as many followers as you want. You want millions? You got it. And you can see them praising you, giving you hearts…

And these are A.I. followers?

Yes, A.I. followers.

This is the most “Black Mirror” [expletive] I’ve ever heard.

Exactly. And this is why I’m so passionate about how we have to move quickly this year, 2025. This is really our last year before A.I. really has a big impact on life.

And that leads to a discussion of AI powered digital friends and how that could turn into a very dark path for a lot of kids.

I actually think about relationships the most. I’ve said this many times before: I’m a believer in transformational artificial intelligence. I think it’s coming very fast. If you ask me whether I think A.I. will spur economic supergrowth anytime soon, I would say no. I think A.I. is going to be more evident in its upheaval of relationships.

Because our economy has all kinds of friction in it. It’s very hard to rebuild firms around A.I. But what about when you can have any kind of digital friend you want — or, for that matter, digital lover?…

And I think the friction of relationships between human beings is really important. As a person, it’s good for me that my wife does not adapt herself into whatever I want her to say. It is part of being a healthy human being that other people exist with friction to you.

I was a very lonely kid. I did not have many friends. What if I had a lot of A.I. friends and that began to pattern my expectations of other human beings? And then when other people did not fulfill those expectations that was a frustration to me? And it made my A.I. community that much more alluring?

One interesting part of this discussion is the way in which both Klein and Haidt, both of whom are secular, keep returning to faith communities as a limit on this kind of thing. For instance, here’s Chait’s response to Klein’s statement above.

I’ll draw on a really insightful analysis from a Christian writer, Andy Crouch. I did a session with him at N.Y.U. We had a conversation mostly on Chapter 8 of “The Anxious Generation,” which was about spirituality.

And Crouch said something so powerful that I always bring up, because it’s so helpful. He said: What is magic? Magic is an instant, effortless effect on the world.

You know: Snap your finger, something appears. It’s always been the human dream. And technology is essentially magic. Technology allows us to do things. You want a car to come pick you up, press a button — hey, here’s this car. So the technology is magic.

And he says: Now let’s look at how children are formed. How do you get an adult?

And again, he’s coming from a Christian perspective, so they care a lot about the moral formation, the religious formation of their children.

He says: The three areas of formation for children are home, school and church — or any religious organization. Those are the three areas. And all three of those areas are now colonized by tech.

The gist of this is really something all conservatives believe: There is no such thing as a free lunch. When it comes to children, there are no shortcuts for turning them into mature, responsible adults. They must engage in real challenges in the real world to get there. They must face setbacks and learn to overcome them. And only then can they feel the real pride of having some success they earned for themselves by making good choices, by being diligent, by overcoming adversity and challenges from other people. The good life and the challenging life really can’t be separated from one another in this universe.

But if we have machines that can do not only some of the physical work but also the mental and social work too, things change, or at least appear to change. If there are AI bots and AI friends, this is going to potentially be a seductive fantasy for a lot of kids, one that is feels better and easier than real life. It’s a shortcut to getting some of the things you want in the same way that drugs are a shortcut to feeling the way many people want to feel. 

But of course the old saying about a free lunch is still true. There’s no payoff down that road packed with AI shortcuts, AI followers and AI friends. You aren’t really getting success and achievement, just a simulacrum of those things, one that makes you less prepared and adjusted for life in the real world. 

But just as with drugs, a certain number of young people aren’t going to heed the warnings and are just going to go with what feels good in the moment. The argument Haidt is making is that adults who see what’s coming need to stop that future from ruining young lives before they even get acclimated to the real world.

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This seems important.

God dang it, just when you think you have a deal… 

…But Trump’s big mouth sure works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it? That’s why, while I invariably cringe at his framing, I always counsel sticking around to see what shakes out.

This time, he shook the Chinese right out of the Canal Zone and in less than two months.

BlackRock strikes deal to bring ports on both sides of Panama Canal under American control

…some malevolent Winnie the Pooh steps on it.

The Panama Canal: Ground Zero for World War 3 in the Western Hemisphere?

China is Blocking Transfer of Critical Entry Ports of Balboa & Cristobal from Hong Kong -based CK Hutchinson Port Group Holdings to U.S. based BlackRock in Blockbuster Deal with 43 Ports in 23 Countries pic.twitter.com/5zXOBMaPWS

— DaKey2Eternity (@Key2Eternity) April 1, 2025

So what the heck happened?

Truth be told, China was blind-sided by the entire Trump Panama offensive and not only how quickly but how completely Panama caved to the pressure.

The Chinese were furious in February when the Panamanians invoked their 90-day ‘get out of jail free’ card to withdraw from the infamous CCP ‘Belt and Roads’ (BRI) initiative. They thought they had the isthmus in the bag.

China has slammed Washington’s “Cold War mentality” in Latin America after Panama quit its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China on Friday hit out at the United States for sabotaging the global infrastructure programme.

Beijing “firmly opposes the United States using pressure and coercion to smear and undermine Belt and Road cooperation,” said Lin Jian in a statement. “The US side’s attacks … once again expose its hegemonic nature.”

Referring to a visit this week to the region by Marco Rubio, Lin said the US Secretary of State’s comments “unjustly accuse China, deliberately sow discord between China and relevant Latin American countries, interfere in China’s internal affairs, and undermine China’s legitimate rights and interests”.

Chairman Xi got hit with another right hook when Hong Kong-based CK Hutchinson and Holdings worked out a deal with a United States consortium led by Blackrock to turn over control of the ports at both Canal entrances.

…The consortium, comprised of BlackRock, Global Infrastructure Partners and Terminal Investment Limited will acquire 90% interests in Panama Ports Company, which owns and operates the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama, according to the filing.

Trump was, naturally, pretty damn happy.

…Mr. Trump touted the move in his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night, saying that “to further enhance our national security, our administration will be reclaiming the Panama Canal, and we’ve already started doing it.”

“Just today, a large American company announced they are buying both ports around the Panama Canal, and lots of other things having to do with the Panama Canal, and a couple of other canals,” the president said

The Chinese government, while technically having nothing to do with a semi-autonomous Hong Kong-based port company, has everything in the world to do with anything operating out of Hong Kong, and it went on the attack against CK Hutchinson’s deal immediately.

The first step was excoriating the company in opinion pieces in both Hong Kong and mainland Chinese newspapers, letting everyone know where the government stood.

…On Saturday, the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office — the Beijing-based authority in charge of Hong Kong affairs — reposted a newspaper editorial titled “Great entrepreneurs have always been outstanding patriots”.

The article, originally published by the Beijing-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao in Hong Kong, said many Chinese people have questioned “how so many important ports can be so easily handed over to ill-meaning American forces“.

“If (entrepreneurs) fail to see the true nature of American politicians… and choose to dance with them, perhaps they can do a mega-deal and get rich for a while, but in the end they have no future and will be scorned by history,” the piece read.

…CK Hutchison stocks in Hong Kong plunged more than six percent on Friday after Chinese authorities republished an op-ed telling the company to choose “which side it stands on”.

That older article appeared in the commentary section of Thursday’s Ta Kung Pao, which is owned by a subsidiary of the Liaison Office.

In contrast, Saturday’s editorial was excerpted on the front page and its full text ran on page three.

Chinese media pressure on the company has only increased as March moved on, the April closing date moved closer, and relations between the Trump administration and China, in the throws of a war of trade and words, has become frostier.

A pro-Beijing Hong Kong newspaper stepped up criticism of CK Hutchison’s (0001.HK), opens new tab deal to sell its Panama ports to a BlackRock-led group, sending its shares lower on Monday, as sources said the transaction, due to be signed by April 2, would be delayed.

The deal has become highly politicised as the Hong Kong conglomerate is thrust into the cross-hairs of an escalating China-U.S. trade war that has deepened concerns the financial hub’s edge will erode further amid geopolitical tensions.

Friday, the gloves were off, and the Chinese government officially stepped in to block the deal under the guise of an ‘investigation.’ An anti-trust review is needed, the Chinese have said.

RIGHT

Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison (0001.HK), opens new tab will not sign a deal next week to sell its two port operations near the Panama Canal to a BlackRock-led group, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said, as pressure mounted from Beijing.

China’s market regulator said it will carry out an antitrust review on the Panama port deal in accordance with a law to protect fair competition and safeguard the public interest, its official WeChat account showed late on Friday.

Thanks to the sudden review requirement, that darn paperwork won’t be ready in time…if ever.

Damndest thing.

…Sources told Reuters that Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s deal to sell the Panama ports, including Balboa and Cristobal on either side of the canal, will not have the proper paperwork signed with the BlackRock-led investor group by the April 2 deadline for “obvious reasons.”

Those obvious reasons include an infuriated Chinese Communist Party, which views Li as having bent the knee to Trump and the Americans by agreeing to give up such critical infrastructure around the canal.

For weeks, various Chinese media outlets called CK Hutchison’s billionaire founder “spineless” and questioned which “side he should stand on.” 

Another source said that talks are still very much underway regarding the $19 billion deal, which includes 43 ports in 23 countries. 

While the Trump administration has to come up with a Panama workaround, the Li family, who owns Hutchinson, has basically been told by the Chinese government, ‘You won’t ever work in THIS town again...’

…In another report, The Telegraph noted, “Chinese authorities have effectively blacklisted CK Hutchison and the business interests of the Li family by telling Chinese state-backed firms they will struggle to get regulatory approval for any work involving the group.”

They can be persuasive.

A quick glance at a map explains why Hutchinson’s holdings are so crucial in the eyes of the CCP hierarchy. The deal for the Canal ports was really extensive in nature – 

…The deal will give the BlackRock consortium control over 43 ports in 23 countries, including the ports of Balboa and Cristobal in Panama, as well as others in Mexico, the Netherlands, Egypt, Australia, Pakistan and elsewhere.

#Panama: Why did #China pressure Hutchison Port Holdings to delay the @BlackRock deal?

Hutchison was the single largest Chinese company in the business. A deal for 43 ports in 23 countries–199 berths–would have meant one-third of #PRC‘s global port network wiped out instantly. pic.twitter.com/fYxyAqV8R1

— Ryan Berg, PhD (@RyanBergPhD) March 28, 2025

Hutchinson is between a rock and a hard place in Beijing, as rhetoric ratchets up accusing the company of endangering China’s national security interests, which would trigger additional direct Chinese intervention. 

…Moreover, Ta Kung Pao called for applying China’s Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law against CK Hutchison, which allows Beijing to impose countermeasures on foreign entities that enforce sanctions or harm China’s interests and has advocated for punitive measures if the deal goes forward. The newspaper also invoked Hong Kong’s National Security Ordinance, further signaling potential legal challenges.

In sum, if China wants to prevent the deal from happening, it certainly has the tools to do so. Nonetheless, such actions would vindicate—in part—Trump and his team’s claim that China could potentially instrumentalize CK Hutchison’s position in Panama to influence the Panama Canal operations. The Chinese government’s intervention to prevent the transaction with the aim of safeguarding its national security and interests would also mean the end of Hong Kong’s autonomy in all but name.

In Panama, the company faces rough sledding as well. Panamanian authorities have opened an investigation into the company’s holdings and port operations there. 

…Most importantly, CK Hutchison’s operations at the Balboa and Cristobal ports carry additional risks. Aside from the BlackRock deal, both ports are currently under an audit from Panama’s Comptroller General, and there is a pending Panamanian Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of both ports’ concessions. This means that CK Hutchison’s legal problems in Panama could be transferred to BlackRock and its partners.

Meanwhile, if China blocks the deal and Panama’s legal rulings and audit go against CK Hutchison, the company could find itself with no ports and no income. In that event, a lengthy arbitration between CK Hutchison and Panama would likely follow, similar to the one currently underway between Isla Margarita, Landbridge Group, and the Panama Colón Container Terminal.

This is a really excellent illustration of why the Trump administration is trying to pivot from a focus on Europe and the Middle East to the Pacific.

We haven’t the assets we need to straighten this out if things slip sideways. And the Chinese have been sidling sideways for a number of years now, while the US had eyes every place but on them.

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What is it about Democrats/liberals that makes them think that multiplying by zero equals anything but zero?

By now anybody who isn’t brainwashed knows that “expert” when attached to a political dispute is just another word for “person who agrees with me,” And that credentials are little more than sanewashing otherwise indefensible positions such as “a woman is a person/thing/object which claims to be female.” 

We don’t really care, Margaret. pic.twitter.com/klw8NPpWjS

— Bad Hombre (@joma_gc) March 31, 2025

Attach a prestigious credential, multiply the number of credentialed people repeating the same thing, and the credibility level that should be attached to a statement made by them should still be zero. Zip. Nada. Bupkis. 

Worthless. 

Experts gave us a long series of lies, half-truths, fact checks that were complete BS, “misinformation” censors, and countless letters assuring us that some falsehood is completely, unquestionably true. 

If experts were to be believed every coastal city would be underwater, the Maldives would be submerged, Hunter Biden would be clean as the driven snow, and Joe Biden would still be doing handstands while reciting Homer in the original Greek. 

Expertise is not necessarily worthless, but if you doubt me about how insane and corrupt our current “expert” class in matters of politics and policy, I would be happy to give you a lesson or 10. 

The only reason why so many people still listen to these people is that it gives them cover to continue to pretend to believe what they have already decided to believe. We all want our opinions confirmed, and all get deeply uncomfortable when something doesn’t fit into our view of how the world does or should work. You and I are just as susceptible to that, I am afraid. It is how our brains work. 

These LW straw men are hilarious. https://t.co/hQs7lHVk6G pic.twitter.com/bjAK2ZtzjL

— Charles X Proxy™ (@Charlemagne0814) March 31, 2025

The difference is whether you are willing to rethink your assumptions when the evidence stacks up. Most people aren’t, I am afraid, or at the very least it takes a long time and they rarely jump from “this was an error but the intentions behind it were good” to “the bastards are lying.”

Sometimes the former is true, but often the latter is. 

Finding the truth may be a team sport–none of us can do so on our own–but supporting the team over reality is a mistake. I made that one supporting George Bush and the Iraq war, and the consequences of that mistake were enormous. Democrats made it with COVID,  and I can’t wait for them to admit it. 

Letters from “experts?” They add nothing to the conversation. They are as trustworthy as the FEMA guy who passes by your home because you have a Trump sign in front of it. 

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Back in mid-March, another sort of shadowy operation, something called the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), was targeted for DOGE inspection thanks to their general recalcitrance in complying with Trump admin directives. 

USIP, led by George Moose (I mean, you can’t make this stuff up), who is also a Harvard adjunct professor (go figure), launched its own active mini-rebellion against the incoming Trump administration.

Shrilly screaming, ‘You’re not the boss of me!’ at the top of their underdeveloped lungs and stealing tiny hammers from the janitorial staff they’d always openly despised, the institute’s righteous government employees – along with their fearless leader – barricaded themselves in the building and proceeded to lay waste to whatever they could in a heroic last stand against the invading forces of Elon.

…Much of USIP’s leadership, including Moose, barricaded themselves on the building’s fifth floor, closing window shades and blocking access points in a last-ditch effort to resist DOGE’s entry, the official told the DCNF.

The obstruction didn’t end at damaged doors. Prior to Monday’s confrontation, USIP leaders disabled telephone lines, internet connections and other IT infrastructure, forcing communication among staff through walkie-talkies, according to the official. This deliberate effort to disrupt operations delayed DOGE’s entry and added to the confusion during Monday’s standoff.

Flyers distributed internally further revealed an organized, premeditated resistance strategy. “Greet the guest(s) but do not engage in conversation and immediately notify the on-duty lieutenant,” read the flyers, referring explicitly to anticipated DOGE officials, photos and names of whom were included. The DCNF exclusively obtained one such flyer, including a photograph of it sitting inside a security guard booth outside the building. These flyers were posted throughout the facility in the lead-up to Monday’s confrontation, the official said.

Raw courage-wise, it wasn’t exactly Thermopylae or Masada, but it was a mess when the people who belonged there, including acting USIP president Kenneth Jackson, finally got in. They were accompanied by the Washington, D.C. Metro cops who, ironically, escorted Mr. Moose out of the building. I say ‘ironically’ because Mr Moose had called the D.C. cops to stop the invasion to begin with. Sort of an ill-considered preemptive strike, you might say.

Mr. Moose denied lawful access to Kenneth Jackson, the Acting USIP President (as approved by the USIP Board). @DCPoliceDept arrived onsite and escorted Mr. Jackson into the building. The only unlawful individual was Mr. Moose, who refused to comply, and even tried to fire USIP’s… https://t.co/Fy8hJClx9E pic.twitter.com/yqq81qNKXM

— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) March 18, 2025

As of Friday, termination letters are going out, and there is all sorts of angst about the 28-year-old DOGEr who has been named to wind the USIP operation (and its $80M endowment (!)) down.

Employees with the U.S. Institute of Peace started receiving termination letters effective immediately on Friday evening, five people told POLITICO, a major blow to the embattled organization as the Trump administration seeks to dismantle its operations.

While the size and scope of the firings is not immediately clear, longtime outside general counsel to USIP George Foote said nearly all of the institute’s U.S.-based employees received the termination notifications, with a handful of exceptions including regional vice presidents responsible for coordinating with overseas employees.

…According to [Outside USIP General Counsel George] Foote, USIP will continue legal efforts to reverse DOGE’s attempts to dismantle the institute.

What a great use of more taxpayer money by the USIP. May it be as wildly successful as their past efforts in their core mission of ‘conflict resolution, prevention’ and ‘peace building measures.’

The offended and now upended USIP employees filed a lawsuit to try to prevent the now rebooted governing board from installing their chosen candidate, with the aforementioned 28-year-old Nate Cavanaugh as the temporary Mr Jackson’s designated replacement. The panic induced by what Cavanaugh has been ordered to do is palpable reading the report. 

They’re serious – the Trump team is going to take this place apart.

An official allied with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been put in charge of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a congressionally created and funded think tank targeted by President Donald Trump for closure, according to a federal court filing Monday.

Two board members of the Institute of Peace have authorized replacing its temporary president with Nate Cavanaugh, the filing says. They ordered him, it says, to transfer the institute’s property to the General Services Administration, the federal government’s real estate manager, which is terminating hundreds of leases at DOGE’s behest.

…The action follows a Friday night mass firing of nearly all of the institute’s 300 employees. Former employees say only a small number did not get notification, including colleagues who are abroad, who were given until April 9 to return to the U.S., and the regional vice presidents, who direct the areas where they are based.

Two former employees, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said they were reached by private emails because they have been locked out of the institute’s system and were not able to return to work since a tense standoff earlier this month in which DOGE members were accompanied by law enforcement. They were given until April 7 to clear out their personal effects.

So they were all fired on Friday as well and have been ‘locked out of the institute’s system,’ eh?

Let’s get into the reason for that, shall we? Ergo, we need to return to Moose’s Last Stand at USIP Hill for a moment.

Along with all the third-grade, Obama White House staff, pissy-level vandalism, it turns out that the Institute of Peace (Why does that sound so Communist Chinese?) staffers were engaging in some last minute document shredding, computer wiping type clean-up.

Like, with cloths or something.

Yeah – that kind. 

What on Earth would they have to hide, peaceniks and all that?

It turns out that they were busy trying to wipe a terabyte of financial information, according to what Elon released last night.

WAIT, WHUT

Only, see, USIP’s problem is the DOGE guys are computer whizbangs, where the valiant resisters are not. 

DOGErs managed to recover the information.

Well. Wouldcha lookee here.

Yup

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 1, 2025

That’s Taliban in the terabyte with a ‘T’ for, ‘Oh, terrific.’

DOGE: The DOGE team fought for days to gain access to the United States Institute of Peace. Eventually, with help from the FBI and Metro Police DOGE was able to access the agency and discovered massive fraud, waste and abuse-including payments to Taliban and Iraq. pic.twitter.com/VymOebovfY

— @amuse (@amuse) March 31, 2025

‘Surprise‘

🚨 USIP UNDER FIRE: $13M FUNNELED TO PRIVATE ENDOWMENT, TALIBAN-LINKED PAYMENTS UNCOVERED

Each year, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) receives $55M in taxpayer funding. But over the past decade, $13M was quietly transferred to its private Endowment—outside congressional… https://t.co/vBxrmZgYg1 pic.twitter.com/tRkOZvYSp5

— DOGE Tracker (@Tracking_DOGE) March 31, 2025

… But over the past decade, $13M was quietly transferred to its private Endowment—outside congressional oversight—and used for private events and travel. 

Now-canceled contracts include $132K to an ex-Taliban official, $2.2M to an accountant who tried to delete 1TB of financial data, $1.3M to an Iraqi youth league, and $675K for private aviation. The waste is staggering.

They probably should have used a bigger cloth.

Rocks, rocks, and more rocks to turn over and SUCH sneks under every single one.

Never would we know without the DOGE.

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The Trump administration conceded that an administrative error resulted in a man being deported to El Salvador when he shouldn’t have been. 

Such a mistake shouldn’t be downplayed–the system broke down and something that shouldn’t have happened did. 

But please…the claim that he was a poor, innocent father who was hurting nobody and was casually ripped off the streets and sent to a torture camp for no reason is complete and utter bulls**t, and every single person and organization–including The Atlantic, which broke the story–is a lying sack of fecal matter. 

EXCLUSIVE: The Trump administration has acknowledged that it grabbed a Maryland father with protected status and mistakenly deported him to El Salvador—but claims that courts are powerless to order his return, @NickMiroff reports: https://t.co/GLR1VzwGzE

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) April 1, 2025

EXCLUSIVE! Hot off the presses. Kindly dad ripped away from his kids because he had a tattoo! 

We are supposed to be appalled-APPALLED, I tell you!!!–that an innocent man was treated so badly due to Nazi Tom Homan and the Bad Orange Man. 

I would be. I got queasy when I heard the story, just as I was supposed to. You would be too if you believed an innocent man was sent to serve time in a Maximum Security prison in El Salvador. 

The propaganda worked. As it so often does. I felt defensive, in the wrong, and worried that all the good that Trump and Homan were doing would be damaged by what amounted to a horrible one-off mistake. 

…in Monday’s court filing, attorneys for the government admitted that the Salvadoran man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, had been deported accidentally. “Although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,” the government told the court. Trump lawyers said the court has no ability to bring Abrego Garcia back now that he is in Salvadoran custody.

Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Abrego Garcia’s attorney, said he’s never seen a case in which the government knowingly deported someone who had already received protected legal status from an immigration judge. He is asking the court to order the Trump administration to ask for Abrego Garcia’s return and, if necessary, to withhold payment to the Salvadoran government, which says it’s charging the United States $6 million a year to jail U.S. deportees.

Trump-administration attorneys told the court to dismiss the request on multiple grounds, including that Trump’s “primacy in foreign affairs” outweighs the interests of Abrego Garcia and his family.

“They claim that the court is powerless to order any relief,’’ Sandoval-Moshenberg told me. “If that’s true, the immigration laws are meaningless—all of them—because the government can deport whoever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want, and no court can do anything about it once it’s done.”

Except it didn’t happen, at least not as we were told. “Maryland father” turns out to be an adjudicated member of MS-13 who apparently has the wits to inseminate somebody (even I am smart enough to have done that),  who had been ordered deported. He was still here “legally” because he made the claim that if he were deported back to El Salvador, he might face torture–after all, gang members torture other gang members, so he has a “legitimate” fear. He would have done the same to his rival gang members, so his fear is rational. 

🚨Karoline Leavitt: “If you just saw the headline from the insane, failing Atlantic magazine this morning, you would think this individual was father of the year,”

“This individual is an illegal criminal … a leader in the brutal MS-13 gang … involved in human trafficking.” pic.twitter.com/Ny4T0lHaEB

— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) April 1, 2025

The Atlantic curated the news in this case to create a narrative that would trigger all our emotional erogenous zones, and it worked. At least it worked on me for a bit, and certainly has worked on people who still take The Atlantic seriously, many of whom I know. 

I just read the court filings to get the full context (which may not satisfy either side):

The man is an illegal migrant from El Salvador. In 2019, ICE presented sufficient evidence that he was a member of the MS-13 gang for an immigration judge to deny him bond and order his… https://t.co/Xb9VY39KG8

— AG (@AGHamilton29) April 1, 2025

I just read the court filings to get the full context (which may not satisfy either side):

The man is an illegal migrant from El Salvador. In 2019,  ICE presented sufficient evidence that he was a member of the MS-13 gang for an immigration judge to deny him bond and order his removal.

However, he then filed an asylum claim and obtained a withholding of removal order under the convention against torture. Essentially, he argued that despite his being here illegally and likely being a gang member based on the previous finding, he could be tortured if sent back to El Salvador. Such an order could still allow the government to deport him, but not to his home country, at least not without first contesting the order.

He has been using that order since 2019 to avoid deportation.

With that context, referring to him just as a “Maryland father” obviously does not tell the full story.  And The Atlantic reporter cites the lawyer to downplay the previous finding of MS-13 ties, which I view as an unreliable source.

However, it also does not change that the Trump admin, emphasizing government incompetence, screwed up by deporting him to the country he wasn’t supposed to be deported to based on the 2019 order. This highlights the need for checks in this program.

So yes, our poor ‘Maryland Father’ was eligible for deportation, suggesting that his lawyer was full of BS as they often are, and the only issue in question is what country he could be deported to. His right to remain in the United States was nonexistent. Not quite the story you have been fed by Pravda. 

My comment is that according to the court document you apparently didn’t read he was a convicted MS-13 gang member with no legal right to be here.

My further comment is that it’s gross to get fired up about gang members getting deported while ignoring citizens they victimize. https://t.co/cPnloeyXYk

— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 1, 2025

That doesn’t excuse the mistake that was made–sending him to a country to which a judge had denied the government the right to send him–but that is hardly the sympathetic story we have been fed. If every liberal got outraged every time the government made a mistake they would be in a permanent state of apoplexy. 

Bring the gangbangers home now!

Democrats finally found a winning message. 🤡 https://t.co/Q3cSbcs0Tl

— Gerry Callahan (@GerryCallahan) April 1, 2025

Come to think about it, they ARE in a perpetual state of apoplexy, although rarely because the government makes mistakes. They seem to love it when our Department of Education and the teachers’ unions turn out kids who can’t read, do math, or survive when somebody uses the pronouns “he” or “she.” 

Even I, who preaches that one should never, ever, EVER trust a story pushed by the Pravda Media that fits their preferred narrative was taken in, if only for a few hours. 

I should know better, of course, but propaganda works. 

This post was originally published on this site

Yesterday the University of Pittsburgh suspended the school’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). The suspension was in response to a protest the group carried out a protest at the school library in December.

Following a study-in organized by students at Hillman Library during the last week of the fall semester, the Office of Student Conduct is requiring SJP to complete a conduct hearing. As the only registered Palestine advocacy club at Pitt, potential sanctions may throw the future of pro-Palestinian organizing on campus into question…

At the study-in, students surrounded themselves with Palestinian flags, keffiyehs and signs with messages such as “hands off Palestine” and “there are no universities left in Gaza” while studying at tables…

The Office of Student Conduct alleged that SJP “promoted and hosted an event” in a non-reservable part of the library, according to the incident description provided to SJP by the office. Posts from SJP’s Instagram at the time attribute the gathering to “autonomous student activists.” A club co-president said SJP did not organize this gathering and only made these posts to “amplify” the study-in.

This is the sort of legal fiction that groups like this often seek to create when breaking the rules: It wasn’t us it was an autonomous collective of students who happen to be members in our group.

In this case it didn’t work. The SJP chapter was called in for a disciplinary meeting and given an interim suspension on March 18. While that suspension was in place, the group then hosted an event marching across the campus.

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters defied an order from their university to stop holding events when they held a march across the University of Pittsburgh campus on Saturday.

Pitt placed Students for Justice in Palestine on interim suspension this past week, saying members of their group improperly communicated with members of the university conduct hearing board. As part of the suspension, they would not be allowed to hold events.

This is not the only school that has recently suspended an SJP chapter. UCLA banned its chapter of the group last week over a protest at the home of a UC Regent.

The UCLA groups were under interim suspensions since Feb. 12, when Chancellor Julio Frenk announced the restrictions in a campuswide message, citing “violence” during a Feb. 5 action at the home of UC Regent Jay Sures.

“No one should ever fear for their safety. Without the basic feeling of safety, humans cannot learn, teach, work and live — much less thrive and flourish. This is true no matter what group you are a member of — or which identities you hold. There is no place for violence in our Bruin community,” Frenk’s letter said.

At the time, the student groups replied via Instagram statements, saying they rejected “Frenk’s accusations that student protesters have committed violence against the UCLA community.”

Sures, vice chairman at United Talent Agency, said he was targeted because he is Jewish. In addition to photos that showed his property vandalized with red blood-like handprints, there was video of protesters briefly surrounding Sures’ wife in her car as she tried to drive to work.

UCLA is not the first UC campus to ban the group.

UCLA joins several other UC campuses and others throughout the country that have banned or suspended Students for Justice in Palestine, including UC Irvine, UC San Diego and UC Santa Cruz.

Other schools across the country have also been banning or suspending the group including the University of Michigan, Tufts, Brown, Rutgers and Swarthmore. This group is wearing out its welcome and that’s good news because this group is clearly pro-Hamas and is willing to break school rules/laws in order to promote its cause.

This post was originally published on this site

How many people does the average American know? A couple of studies I found in my deep, comprehensive research on which I spent 30 seconds says somewhere around 600. Sounds high to me, but I guess it depends on what the definition of “know” is. Sometimes, I wonder if I know my own family. 

But let’s take that 600 number as reasonable. If it is, then according to University of Colorado researchers, you probably know somewhere around 40 people who have witnessed a mass shooting. 

That seems high. I don’t know one. Nobody I know knows one. David Hogg has made a career out of being at the site of one, although whether he “witnessed” it depends on your definition since he only heard but didn’t see the shooting. 

Four seconds of critical thinking and math tell me it is not at all possible that 17.3 million adults in the U.S. have witnessed a mass shooting. https://t.co/h9vJz8DYeL

— Parker Thayer (@ParkerThayer) April 1, 2025

One of her podcast guests will be David Pyrooz, a professor of sociology and criminologist at the Institute for Behavioral Science at CU Boulder. His episode will break down his new study that came up with the data behind the 1 in 15, or about 7% of U.S. adults on average that have been at the scene of a mass shooting.

“It means you were in the direct vicinity to where you could see the shooter. There were bullets that were fired in your direction, or if you couldn’t directly see the shooter, that you could hear the gunshots,” Pyrooz said.

The study came to that number by surveying 10,000 people last year. The research also details that more than 2% of U.S. adults have been injured during a mass shooting.

Pyrooz explains, “Mass shootings, you know, I know they occur across the world, but, you know, in the United States, there’s just such a concerted interest and focus on it, and we should aim to understand this better.”

I must live in a very tiny bubble indeed if I have never met one of the more than 17 million witnesses to a mass shooting, which seems odd. Odd because I live in a neighborhood that has crime rates vastly higher than my suburban friends whose idea of crime–at least before the 2020 George Floyd riots led to the expansion of crime out of Minneapolis into the suburbs–was people littering or shoplifting in the malls. 

I’ve had neighbors carjacked, and my next-door neighbor was the victim of a drive-by shooting. Yet nobody I know has ever spoken of witnessing a mass shooting. I guess they must be so common that it isn’t remarkable at all. The drive-by was the talk for days, but mass shootings go unremarked. They are no more remarkable, it seems, than snow in Minnesota. 

Less, come to think about it. We talk about snow all the time here–mostly bitching–yet the mass shootings happening all around us not so much. 

According to this truly fake study around 4 million Americans have been wounded at a mass shooting event

✨ JOURNALISM ✨ https://t.co/1Mg9JBhnTq pic.twitter.com/KuSAZgVwEn

— Tom Buckley (@BullheadRanch) April 1, 2025

There is so much wrong with this “study” and stories like this that after a while it gets tiresome to point all idiocy out. First, the sleight of hand. When you and I think of mass shootings, we think of the big, splashy, unexpected events when a nutcase shoots at innocent people. But that accounts for the barest fraction of what is meant. 99.99% of “mass shootings” are gangbangers shooting at each other, which admittedly is bad–but hardly the same thing as what the CBS reporters want you to think. 

“Multiskilled” reporters at that. If only I had such skills in abundance. 

In fact, the story went into great detail about the broken lives left behind after a random shooting, ignoring the fact that such shootings, while awful, are vanishingly rare. The typical victim of a “mass shooting” is a lifetime criminal in a gang war, and even then very few people are actually killed.

The same trick is played with the statistics on “children” getting murdered by guns. Almost every single “child” killed is a teenager in a gang, yet we are constantly told that kids in America are dropping like flies due to our gun culture. Try gang culture, guys. 

But forget all the messy facts and get back to the bottom line that CBS and these university “researchers” are selling–that one out of 15 Americans have witnessed a mass shooting. 

How can anybody believe that? Are people incapable of doing a gut check? And if so, what is wrong with our education system that they cannot do basic math to realize that the statistic is as plausible as the moon being made of cheese?

We all know the answer to that last question: our school systems suck, and our media works assiduously to dumb down, propagandize, brainwash, and eventually lobotomize our citizenry. We elevate emotion, prioritize anti-resilience (being incapable of dealing with minor setbacks or upsets), and attack people who question the Narrative™. 

Stupid people are easier to control, so our establishment works hard to keep people stupid. 

What keeps people from recoiling when they hear nonsense is common sense, and common sense is the target of the left. That is one of the key reasons why they keep forcing people to accept idiocies like alphabet ideology. If you condition people to recoil at the most basic common sensical ideas such as “there are two sexes,” you can condition people to believe anything. 

And that, my friends, is one of the fundamental goals of critical theory. Get you to the point where you accept obvious nonsense as real because the only legitimate source of truth is what you are told by your betters. 

This post was originally published on this site

Today’s the day in a couple of places, and by day, I mean balanced on the edge of a knife Election Day.

Here in Florida, our own Congressional District 1 is up for grabs in a special election to fill the seat left vacant when Matt Gaetz resigned. FL CFO Jimmy Patronis is the Republican running and, while it’s never a given, I have to believe he’ll pull it off. He has name recognition, a Trump endorsement, and a dyed-in-the-wool Republican district (46% GOP – 29% DEM – 20% NPA). 

One thing will shoot us down faster than anything, though, and that’s complacency. Gay Valmont, his whackjob Dem opponent, has been outspending Patronis something like 7 to 1, and her supporters are banging away at doors, including mine, twice.

Early voting ended this past Saturday, and so far, it’s been almost a 19% turnout in Escambia County, with the GOP slightly ahead in the vote total. Santa Rosa County GOP is running 2 to 1 GOP ahead of Dem voter turnout, as is Okaloosa. 

Now, major dad and I voted a week ago, but for anyone who didn’t have a chance, we need to polish that off today – put this sucker to bed. Let’s go!

The Congressional District 6 race over on Florida’s East Coast to replace Mike Waltz is going to be a nail-biter. 

Trump-endorsed State Senator Randy Fine is in a dogfight of his own making. Fine needs every last Republican and non-affiliated he can persuade in the district’s six counties to come out and vote for him. 

There has been a buttload of controversy, coverage, and heightened interest in this race. The brouhaha has apparently inspired everyone and their mother to want to vote, whether they can or not.

Early voting in St. Johns County shatters expectations for Florida’s congressional race to replace Mike Waltz

…Oakes shared that there is a lot of interest in voting for this special election.

She mentioned that some people were turned away during early voting because they did not reside within the District 6 boundaries.

“In St. Johns County, we have 240,000 registered voters. In Congressional District 6, there are only 33,000 eligible voters,” Oakes said.

Even with having to turn away ineligible voters, early voter turnout exceeded Oakes’ expectations.

Again, Republicans need to do what they do better than anyone – be there TODAY. Pull this one over the line.

That margin in the House is literally a hair’s breadth.

Which leads to the State Supreme Court race in Wisconsin – holy crap.

Brad Schimel is THE NAME.

If the Florida races are about the majority in the House today, the Wisconsin race is about the future, and should that appalling Democrat win, the future is bleak indeed.

It’s really amazing what the ramifications of one loose cannon swinging a court can do, and right now, this race is frighteningly close.

BREAKING NEWS

According to Trafalgar, here is the most recent polling for the Wisconsin Supreme Court election:

🟦 50.8% Crawford
🟥 49.2% Schimel 👈

This race is statistically TIED!

📈 We CAN win — it all depends on turnout tomorrow (April 1st).

— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) March 31, 2025

And, of all things, Mother Nature is making it a challenge.

There were massive power outages yesterday thanks to ice storms – with 3 of the biggest Trump counties affected – and today looks crappy as can be…to anyone but a Wisconsonite, right?

It’s going to rain/snow in Waukesha County, WI, today (April 1st — Election Day).

Try to vote as early as you can,

as the polls are open from 7 a.m. – 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/t7tDHFWHMJ

— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) April 1, 2025

The national media was doing its level best to push Crawford last night, demonizing Musk while not mentioning a single dime that Pritzker, Soros or any other Democrat bazillionaire had spent on that race.

NOT EVEN PRETENDING TO HIDE THEIR GROTESQUE BIAS ANYMORE: CBS discloses dollar amounts donated by @elonmusk in Wisconsin Supreme Court race, but NOT amounts by ILGOV JB Pritzker and George Soros pic.twitter.com/S2v4FXbqNf

— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) April 1, 2025

They’re all behind this woman.

Did you know Wisconsin “Judge”, Susan Crawford supports sentencing a child mol*ester to 4 years in prison only? Let’s make sure everybody knows

Susan: “I don’t regret that sentence”

VOTE FOR BRAD SCHIMEL pic.twitter.com/u0Gm4Ony7W

— MAGA Voice (@MAGAVoice) April 1, 2025

There’s also a Constitutional Amendment on the ballot to require Voter ID during elections. Democrat Crawford DOES NOT SUPPORT VOTER ID.

Hakeem Jeffries explains precisely why they need Susan Crawford to win today. It has nothing to do with justice, the law, and guarding the constitutional freedoms of Wisconsonites and everything to do with Democrats gaining the power to move Congressional district lines to regain seats and power. It won’t hurt that a progressive court will strike down all the election safeguards like Voter ID and banned drop boxes as unconstitutional whether voters have approved them or not.

Former Gov Scott Walker was on a Zoom call with some of our Townhall peeps talking about Crawford’s record and the implications if, God forbid, she’s elected.

“This will determine the future of things like Act 10, but far beyond that.  Voter ID would probably be gone. Susan Crawford actually when she ran for judge in Dane County, talked about it being draconian and a poll tax.  She was an attorney for Planned Parenthood, so it’s very likely they’ll throw out the pro-life protections.  She’d end concealed carry or even the first in the nation voucher program out of Milwaukee.  You see the very specific national implications for the congressional boundaries and what that would mean in the short term, but you also see a huge impact certainly within Wisconsin, but arguably on these issues, even nationally.

They asked Walker about ‘too big to rig’ and ‘shenanigans.’ What does the ‘beat the steal’ margin have to be to defeat the Democratic machine? 

DO YOU THINK THE RESULTS WILL BE FINISHED THAT NIGHT AND DO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE SHENANIGANS?

Oh, I always do. I mean, Trump called it too big to rig when I ran the first time, and ever since then, I say you need about three to 5% buffer, right?

So you need to win. You can’t win, you know, 50, 50 plus one, you gotta win by at least three points because you have to get through a combination of corruption and incompetence. Milwaukee County’s gonna suddenly find 30 to 50,000 absent ballots. They forgot to count, you know, at about 12:30 in the morning.

We anticipate there’ll be some of that.

That is so sickening. But a fact of life.

Flat out – that’s it. Susan Crawford seated in the WI Supreme Court would be a naked power grab.

Democrats are currently trying to steal 2 House seats by buying the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

If we don’t elect Brad Schimel on April 1st, we will likely lose the House in 2026.

Legislative victories = gone.

Budgets = gone.

👉Brad Schimel
🗓️April 1st
📍Wisconsin pic.twitter.com/vH6Hit4mHq

— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) March 30, 2025

The absentee ballot game has been strong for the GOP. Bust-butt activists like Pressler have been on the ground for weeks, and Elon pulled a massive crowd in the freezing rain for his stop

It’s up to Republican and independent voters TODAY to close this thing out with a bang.

COME ON, WISCONSIN

We’ve got to beat these guys.

This post was originally published on this site

Hugh Hewitt says that the new book “Fight” coming out today is a real shocker and well-worth reading. I have no reason to doubt him, and when it hits the shelves I will read it. 

The book, written by NBC News politics correspondent Jonathan Allen and The Hill’s Amie Parnes, tells the behind-the-scenes stories of the 2024 election, giving the inside scoop on what went on behind the scenes, including the effort to cover up Biden’s decline, the lack of faith Obama and others had in Kamala Harris, and lots of other dirty details that, you know, citizens might want to have known during the Biden administration and throughout the campaign. 

THE GOODS: @amieparnes and I reported our asses off and wrote like our hair was on fire. The result is FIGHT, the first book that tells the full, behind-the-scenes story of the Trump, Harris and Biden campaigns. We’ll release it soon. Beat the rush: https://t.co/ZPMPbW1p8A

— Jonathan Allen (@jonallendc) February 28, 2025

As a politics geek, I’m sure I will be fascinated; as a citizen, I am really, really angry. Angry because the story being told should have been told at the time, not in a thrilling tell-all book that journalists will make a nice penny or two off of when the facts are mere matters of historical interest or gossip. 

For our full conversation here about the lengths those closest to Biden took to cover up his condition and the attempts by Pelosi and others to convince him not to debate, watch here. https://t.co/RvUn59bKXY

— Tara Palmeri (@tarapalmeri) March 31, 2025

All presidential elections matter, but the elections of 2016, 2020, and 2024 have been among the most consequential in American history. And they have also been the occasions of the largest number of hoaxes perpetrated by the candidates, their parties, and especially the Pravda Media. The lies have poisoned our politics, the whipping up of political violence, and by the systematic dishonesty not only of the politicians–we expect that–but of our Fourth Estate, who are in theory supposed to break through the facade, expose the lies, and help us navigate the world of news and politics. 

. @amieparnes reveals plans the Democrat Party made behind the scenes before Biden dropped out of the presidential race. pic.twitter.com/OK5a1lmAnN

— The Will Cain Show (@WillCainShow_) March 31, 2025

To every “now it can be told” revelation, my response is simple: you should have told it to us THEN when it mattered so much more. The journalists who are telling the truth now were lying or hiding the facts from citizens who counted on them to tell the truth. And to every journalist who claims they didn’t know, then I say: Then what good are you? 

Journalists who told us that Biden’s apparent decline was the result of “cheap fakes” are now telling us that it was even worse than we guessed. When Chuck Todd goes off on a rant about how awful a man Joe Biden is, my only thought is that he should have said that when he was Vice President, a candidate for president, president, or running for reelection. 

Moralizing about Biden now is worthless and proof that he and other journalists are trash. They lied to cover up for Biden when it mattered and now want credit for spilling the beans after it matters. 

Another excerpt from @amieparnes and @jonallendc‘s book underscores Obama’s lack of confidence in Harris. One source tells them he was in favor of Gretchen Whitmer and Wes Moore taking over the ticket. https://t.co/dcoXH4ch4l

— Brandon Conradis (@BConradis) March 31, 2025

MSNBC is part of NBC News, and that makes Jonathan Allen a co-conspirator with all the talking heads on MSNBC who lied constantly about how Joe Biden was Albert Einstein in a fitter body when president. If he knew that these were lies when Biden was in office, he should have said so. If he didn’t, what kind of journalist is he?

Worse than useless.

NEWS from FIGHT!

The truth behind the cringe video of the Obamas endorsing Kamala Harris
https://t.co/1sASAPoQ7i

— Amie Parnes (@amieparnes) March 31, 2025

Obviously these journalists have sources at the very top–that is how a book like this gets written with all the inside details. But that just means that they had every reason to know for a fact what every sentient person in America suspected: Biden’s brain was toast. If you know the story behind Biden’s torturing Kamala Harris for his endorsement, why let the “Joe Biden is George Washington” meme get spread without challenging it? 

In the description of the book, we are told:

Bestselling authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes give readers their first graphic view of the characters, their motivations, and their innermost thoughts as they battled to claim the ultimate prize and define a political era. Based on real-time interviews with more than 150 insiders—from the Trump, Harris, and Biden inner circles, as well as party leaders and operatives—Fight delivers the vivid and stunning tale of an election unlike any other.

In other words, they knew what was going on as it was going on. “Real-time” interviews, but we only get the story…now, months after the election. 

Thanks for nothing, guys. “Journalists.” Lie to you when it matters, tell the truth when it doesn’t. Pravda. 

As with my need to subscribe to The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and other publications I find distasteful, I have already pre-ordered this book and will put money in the pockets of the authors. 

But you better believe it pains me. I am angry at their betrayal of America. They covered up for bad people when it mattered, making them co-conspirators in one of the greatest coverups in American history. And now they will make money off the coverup, and bask in the glory of sharing the inside scoop they hid from us. 

Are you as tired of being lied to and manipulated as I am? I bet you are. 

If so, we need your support to do our work as some of the all-too-few honest journalists who tell you the truth when it really matters. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership. The comment sections are always lively, and believe me, there’s so much more. Ed’s videos and the unique VIP pieces we all do (and now Mitch) are just a sampling.

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There are many reasons why the Democratic Party has seen a precipitous decline in support. We can all name many of them because they are so obvious. 

But one of the bigger reasons why people–especially younger people–are fleeing is the huge disconnect between what Democrats say and what they do. Democrats are liars, hoaxers, and, above all, phonies. It’s why the left can’t meme: there is no there there. Joe Biden’s brain is the perfect metaphor for the average Democrat strategist. Even leftists are disgusted with the Democrats, and have been for some time. 

I have an exclusive new story today, published in partnership with RealClearInvestigations, on the covert $9.1 million Dems spent last year to promote Kamala Harris through influencers. They money went to TikTok comedy sketches, Instagram moms, YouTube talk shows and more. pic.twitter.com/Fudo7UyvL1

— Lee Fang (@lhfang) March 31, 2025

The Harris campaign was the apotheosis of this trend toward hollowness. The entire campaign was a fake, from beginning to end. The Democrats tried to turn the least popular Vice President in American history–a woman who couldn’t get a single vote in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential nomination–into a cultural icon. 

That worked out as well as Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Nightmares. 

Harris’s campaign began with the “Brat” rebranding, which at the time seemed an odd branding choice. “Brat” was the hot album among post-teens whose cultural horizon began in March 2024 and ended in August 2024. Shallow, meaningless, ugly, and proud to be marginally naughty, the “Brat Summer” campaign was a lame attempt to attach stodgy and unlikeable Kamala Harris to a cultural moment whose lifespan was measured in weeks and whose relevance to politics was negative. 

But the Democrats poured all they could into it, because they have no ideas. Shallow was at least a strategy. So shallow it was–a campaign pushed by high-dollar consultants and funded by Democrat billionaires. 

The abrupt withdrawal last year of President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, followed rapidly by his replacement with Vice President Kamala Harris, irked many voters left out by the process. Yet social media seemed to ooze with enthusiasm and Gen Z-friendly hipster appeal. 

Influencers flooded the web with neon-matcha green pro-Harris videos synced to beats from singer Charli XCX’s album “Brat” released last year. The poppy rave videos, gushed journalists, showed that Harris embodied the confidently independent “brat” vibe conveyed by the music. Social media pages bubbled with memes celebrating Harris as the voice of queer and black youth, in contrast with the Republican agenda of white supremacy. Digital creator Amelia Montooth, in one viral TikTok video, kissed a woman and tried searching for pornography, actions her sketch suggested would be banned if Harris lost the election.

Harris, a career politician favored by the Democratic Party’s establishment, never quite fit the bill as an icon of activist movements. But the sudden influencer buzz seemed to transform the stodgy former prosecutor into an icon of the cultural zeitgeist. 

As it turns out, the tidal wave of enthusiasm was not entirely genuine. Much of the content, including Montooth’s videos, was quietly funded by an elusive group of Democratic billionaires and major donors in an arrangement designed to conceal the payments from voters. 

This reminds me of Hillary and Chelsea Clinton sitting down with Cardi-B and rhapsodizing over the pathos of her song WAP, which stands for Wet Ass P****y. It truly was a profound song:

Whores in this house
There’s some whores in this house
There’s some whores in this house
There’s some whores in this house (hol’ up)
I said certified freak, seven days a week
Wet ass pussy, make that pullout game weak, woo! (Ah)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, you fucking with some wet ass pussy
Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet ass pussy
Give me everything you got for this wet ass pussy

Beat it up, nigga, catch a charge
Extra large, and extra hard
Put this pussy right in yo’ face
Swipe your nose like a credit card
Hop on top, I want a ride
I do a kegel while it’s inside
Spit in my mouth, look at my eyes
This pussy is wet, come take a dive

It is a wonder that Hillary didn’t win, you know!

Harris may not quite put out the Cruella de Ville vibes that Hillary does, but she is as much a cultural trendsetter as she is. Tying Harris to “Brat Summer” was as doomed to failure as linking Hillary Clinton to stripper culture. 

RealClearInvestigations obtained internal documents and WhatsApp messages from Democratic strategists behind the influencer campaign. Way to Win, one of the major donor groups behind the effort, spent more than $9.1 million on social media influencers during the 2024 presidential election – payments revealed here for the first time. The amount was touted in a document circulated after the election detailing the organization’s accomplishments. 

The hidden social-media effort coached creators on phrases, issue areas, and key themes to “disseminate pro-Kamala content throughout the cycle.”

Way to Win

The effort supported over 550 content creators who published 6,644 posts across platforms, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, and X. Way to Win coached creators on phrases, issue areas, and key themes to “disseminate pro-Kamala content throughout the cycle,” a post-election memo from the group noted.

The look behind the curtain reveals that at least some of the image-making around the Harris candidacy was carefully orchestrated by the same types of covert social media marketing often used by corporate brands and special interest groups. Such campaigns provide the illusion of organic support through the authentic appeal of trusted social media voices.

Democrats understand, intellectually, that Trump’s appeal is his authenticity, and as a creating of a political class that works diligently to keep the plebs in their place, they assumed that they could purchase authenticity if they threw enough money at it. 

Hire credentialed experts and they surely cannot fail! Throw in a few Harvard and Yale guys and victory is ours!

In a series of internal presentations about the influencer campaign, Way to Win emphasized its data-driven approach. “We know what messaging works,” noted Liz Jaff, a branding strategist working with Way to Win, during a call with donors last year. She touted the use of an AI-based focus group tool developed by Future Forward, the Harris campaign’s primary SuperPAC. 

Jaff also explained the process for developing talking points that could be inserted into organic-appearing messages and posts on social media. “We then convey that to the influencers who take that into their own words,” continued Jaff. “We then test those videos and see what needs to be boosted,” she added, referencing paid media efforts to amplify specific TikTok videos or favored streamers. 

The lofty promises of message mastery, however, often fell short. Way to Win directly financed a series of clunky YouTube shows and liberal identity politics-oriented social media skits designed to bring voters out to support the Harris campaign and Democrats more broadly. There’s little evidence that such measures moved any significant numbers of voters during an election in which Democrats lost historic levels of support from key constituency groups – the youth vote, Latinos, and black men swung significantly to Donald Trump last year, upending decades of voting patterns.

The Democrats’ strategy was to create the appearance of authenticity, and they focus-grouped their authenticity and sketched out talking points to ensure that it was totally organic, you know. 

Experts! That will work!

There is a reason why Bernie and AOC have risen so far in the party–whatever you think they are, they are. Jasmine Crockett isn’t who she plays in public, but she plays it really well. Like a real con man. 

There is always an element of play-acting in politics, so a genuinely authentic politician is a relative rarity. Their emergence is usually tied to a crisis, and anybody who has followed the Republican Party for long knows that we have had our share of inauthentic “leaders.” 

It’s hard to say whether the Democratic Party will continue its decline into cultural irrelevancy. Currently, it is propped up by big money, the Pravda Media, and a Brownshirt activist base who are far more radical than the people at the top feel comfortable with. But it’s all they have. 

The closest analog in contemporary politics is the Conservatives in the UK, although they at least are not plagued by the consultant class the Democrats have in abundance. 

The failure of the “Brat Summer” and Harris campaigns have led Democrats back to their golden oldie–a billionaire-funded campaign of riots, domestic terrorism, and lawfare. The best such a campaign can do is stymie Trump, and the worst it might do is help him survive some of the inevitable drop in support that will accompany his Reaganesque attempt to remake government. Reagan took enormous political damage from his fight against inflation, and Trump will from his attacks on government bloat. 

The ineptitude of the Democrats may just keep his support stronger and help him get through the painful couple of years of readjustment that are sure to come. 

Are you as tired of being lied to and manipulated as I am? I bet you are. 

If so, we need your support to do our work as some of the all-too-few honest journalists who tell you the truth when it really matters. Use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership. The comment sections are always lively, and believe me, there’s so much more. Ed’s videos and the unique VIP pieces we all do (and now Mitch) are just a sampling.