Hard to call this “unprecedented” when we just had a year-plus window where the media & other blue checks coalesced around the idea that the President of the United States might legitimately have been a Russian asset since 1987.

Don’t remember? Well, thread below. https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1262020554833498113
To start off, the seminal piece. @NYMag gave @jonathanchait a cover story to lay out the case that, again, the POTUS might have been a Russian asset since 1987.

This is full moon-landing-level stuff. On the cover of a respected magazine.
To start off, the seminal piece. @NYMag gave @jonathanchait a cover story to lay out the case that, again, the POTUS might have been a Russian asset since 1987. This is full moon-landing-level stuff. On the cover of a respected magazine.
To start off, the seminal piece. @NYMag gave @jonathanchait a cover story to lay out the case that, again, the POTUS might have been a Russian asset since 1987. This is full moon-landing-level stuff. On the cover of a respected magazine.
Rather than greet this absurd theory with skepticism, lots of people bought the idea hook, line, and sinker.

Here’s Chait on @MSNBC to talk about it with @chrislhayes. https://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/could-trump-be-a-russian-intelligence-asset-1273436739894
@politico reported a similar narrative.
Ditto @businessinsider
And @abigailtracy for @VanityFair
@vermontgmg managed to jump the shark on the conspiracy theory, for @WIRED, suggesting this idea was a best-case-scenario.
And also @craigunger for @newrepublic.
And also @craigunger for @newrepublic.
And also @craigunger for @newrepublic.
and here’s David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winner, for @Salon, accusing the POTUS of being a “traitor”
and here’s David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winner, for @Salon, accusing the POTUS of being a “traitor”
and here’s David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize winner, for @Salon, accusing the POTUS of being a “traitor”
Plus @JohnJHarwood, marking the one year anniversary of Chait’s original reporting (which Chait thought was vindicated a year after)
Plus @JohnJHarwood, marking the one year anniversary of Chait’s original reporting (which Chait thought was vindicated a year after)
Plus @JohnJHarwood, marking the one year anniversary of Chait’s original reporting (which Chait thought was vindicated a year after)
Also @Newsweek got into the act. Here’s @JessicaGKwong.
Of everyone, @maddow was really the most shameless and consistent on this one. Here’s a brief excerpt.
Of everyone, @maddow was really the most shameless and consistent on this one. Here’s a brief excerpt.
Of everyone, @maddow was really the most shameless and consistent on this one. Here’s a brief excerpt.
And it wouldn’t be a list of media miscues without @CNN.

Here they are interviewing disgraced former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe, who suggested Trump may be an asset.
Now, a former leader from the intel community saying something this outlandish would surely be a unique and bizarre occurrence, right?

Wrong. Here’s former DNI James Clapper, not exactly covering himself in glory.
And former CIA Director @JohnBrennan, pushing some serious conspiracy theories.

Again. These are the supposed elder statesmen of the intel community playing the role of partisan hacks.
And speaking of partisan hacks, it should come as no surprise that, where failed predictions and bad ideas go, the NeverTrump crowd is sure to follow.

Here’s @JRubinBlogger.
And human volcano @TheRickWilson
And human volcano @TheRickWilson
And human volcano @TheRickWilson
And human volcano @TheRickWilson
Unsurprisingly, @MaxBoot is the one who goes fully overboard on this one. He had 18 different reasons, including “Trump doesn’t like NATO and the FBI” and, a cardinal sin in the Bootian view, “Trump wants to end a forever war”
Unsurprisingly, @MaxBoot is the one who goes fully overboard on this one. He had 18 different reasons, including “Trump doesn’t like NATO and the FBI” and, a cardinal sin in the Bootian view, “Trump wants to end a forever war”
Unsurprisingly, @MaxBoot is the one who goes fully overboard on this one. He had 18 different reasons, including “Trump doesn’t like NATO and the FBI” and, a cardinal sin in the Bootian view, “Trump wants to end a forever war”
Unsurprisingly, @MaxBoot is the one who goes fully overboard on this one. He had 18 different reasons, including “Trump doesn’t like NATO and the FBI” and, a cardinal sin in the Bootian view, “Trump wants to end a forever war”
We’ve also got elected officials. Hillary Clinton floated this idea in her campaign.
@RepJeffries said all of the quiet parts out loud here. Full video: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/hakeem-jeffries-says-trump-might-be-illegitimate-a-russian-asset-or-useful-idiot/

Again, this is a member of House leadership suggesting the POTUS is potentially an illegitimate president or an intel asset for our geopolitical enemy.
And disgraced former rep @alfranken gets involved too. I think the title says it all. @MalcolmNance pushed this idea a lot.
And disgraced former rep @alfranken gets involved too. I think the title says it all. @MalcolmNance pushed this idea a lot.
And disgraced former rep @alfranken gets involved too. I think the title says it all. @MalcolmNance pushed this idea a lot.
And of course the usual blue checks chimed in. Here’s @tribelaw, a former sage legal mind.
And recent fan favorite @CheriJacobus
And it wouldn’t be a conspiracy if @SethAbramson didn’t buy into at least some version of it.
So, yes. I’m all for a conversation about the risk of conspiracy theories being amplified & fomented in the digital age. That’s enormously dangerous.

But if that conversation doesn’t touch on the ones that folks in the media/on the left pushed, I think I’ll pass.
Anyway, I don’t have a book or a Patreon or anything that I’m selling, but I am, in my humble opinion, worth a follow.

But if you’re in the giving spirit, there are plenty of worthy causes. I recommend this one: https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-linda039s-house
Save Linda's House, organized by Anthony Winkelspecht

My name is A.J. Winkelspecht. My mother's name was Linda Robinson. She died this Mother's Day.… Anthony Winkelspecht needs your support for Save Linda's House

https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-linda039s-house
You can follow @DrewHolden360.
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