This is a common theme. A prime example of people like this is folks like Matt Van Swol. He was spreading misinformation and straight lying to obtain donations from MAGA folks and was elevated by the Republican elected officials. A prime example is Tim Burchett. He had him on his "podcast" called Tennessee Talks with Tim Burchett and once he raised a ton of money to allegedly help flood victims he was neither heard from again nor ever disclosed any of the donations ever reaching these folks. If you go on his social media account you can see he just suddenly vanished altogether once he couldn't profit off the floods anymore. This eventually caused some MAGA person to create a website that is literally mattvanswol.com to call him a grifter and shit all over him.
This is why these folks do it: they want to get the clout so they can use it to profit off gullible people before they catch on to the fact they're never going to help anyone. I recommend that people listen to the episode from Tim Burchett and you'll be left asking yourself the question as to whether or not our elected officials themselves are either idiots who can't tell the difference between their false reality they've convinced themselves that exists and what is actually real: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/matt-van-swol-femas-failures-in-nc/id1604614351?i=1000690914016
Laugh all you want about the stupidity of this particular conspiracy theory but all it shows is the same tired story. If someone has gotten on Trump’s bad side, then anything that anyone says bad about them must automatically be believed by the Trumplicants. And it must be believed even if the story contains blatant factual errors or simply makes no sense. Bill Barr was as sycophantic as they come when he served as Trump’s AG (I mean how partisan do you have to be when you write a summary of the Mueller report that even Mueller says distorted the findings of the report). So he was a good guy . Then when he wouldn’t go along with Trump’s claim of voter fraud, he suddenly became a member in good standing of the Deep State and practically a traitor to the country.
If it could happen to Bill Barr, it can happen to anyone.
They live in an alternate universe, and these nutjobs are welcome to it, both the the hustlers who knowingly put out these insane conspiracies and the dupes & marks who fall for them.
I've been around these ppl, especially the consumers of these conspiracies, not the hustlers. Critical thinking can be a bit work, so they have a strong aversion to it.
I graduated from Dartmouth in 1987. Dinesh D’Souza graduated in 1983. We didn’t overlap but I did overlap with his then GF, Laura Ingraham D’85 (who always struck me as cruel). I remember how Dinesh was the toast of DC right wing think tanks, a “rising star” in the GOP, etc. Here was this Ivy-educated, brown immigrant proselytizing for the American Dream that he achieved: Reagan’s shining city on a hill with a wide open door in its walls to welcome those strivers who believed in democratic ideals. I have wondered for a decade or more what, exactly, happened to that guy so that he created/disseminated things like “2000 Mules” and now this crap.
There is a knowing smile on Will Sommer's face in all of his podcasts and interviews because he knows he will always be employed. There is an endless supply of these weirdos.
ben i think will is just a very pleasant guy not marinating in our current toxicity and trying to help us understand it better by reporting his experiences very different from ours you think
This is precisely the kind of analysis I wish was more common across the "mainstream media." Thank you for doing the work of chasing all elements of this down (+extra credit for so many links to sources), and writing the actual observable facts of the case clearly and decisively. You perfectly balance being fair to the subject (Lelis) with your responsibility to the audience (not to be a megaphone for obvious BS and to "tell it like you see it").
But, but, ... what would right-wing media do without lies? It's their lifeblood. Patricia Lielies fits right in there with Karolyin' Leavitt and Laura Looner. MAGA digs the lies like pigs snuffle truffles.
The answer is simple. Nutcases follow nutcases.
I guess you could call her claims a Brazilian Whacks job.
This is a common theme. A prime example of people like this is folks like Matt Van Swol. He was spreading misinformation and straight lying to obtain donations from MAGA folks and was elevated by the Republican elected officials. A prime example is Tim Burchett. He had him on his "podcast" called Tennessee Talks with Tim Burchett and once he raised a ton of money to allegedly help flood victims he was neither heard from again nor ever disclosed any of the donations ever reaching these folks. If you go on his social media account you can see he just suddenly vanished altogether once he couldn't profit off the floods anymore. This eventually caused some MAGA person to create a website that is literally mattvanswol.com to call him a grifter and shit all over him.
This is why these folks do it: they want to get the clout so they can use it to profit off gullible people before they catch on to the fact they're never going to help anyone. I recommend that people listen to the episode from Tim Burchett and you'll be left asking yourself the question as to whether or not our elected officials themselves are either idiots who can't tell the difference between their false reality they've convinced themselves that exists and what is actually real: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/matt-van-swol-femas-failures-in-nc/id1604614351?i=1000690914016
Good news. The conspiracists are eating their own. What a crazy world you inhabit, Will. Thank you for taking one for the team.
We are positively awash in lies and insanity, and it is destroying us.
Laugh all you want about the stupidity of this particular conspiracy theory but all it shows is the same tired story. If someone has gotten on Trump’s bad side, then anything that anyone says bad about them must automatically be believed by the Trumplicants. And it must be believed even if the story contains blatant factual errors or simply makes no sense. Bill Barr was as sycophantic as they come when he served as Trump’s AG (I mean how partisan do you have to be when you write a summary of the Mueller report that even Mueller says distorted the findings of the report). So he was a good guy . Then when he wouldn’t go along with Trump’s claim of voter fraud, he suddenly became a member in good standing of the Deep State and practically a traitor to the country.
If it could happen to Bill Barr, it can happen to anyone.
They live in an alternate universe, and these nutjobs are welcome to it, both the the hustlers who knowingly put out these insane conspiracies and the dupes & marks who fall for them.
I've been around these ppl, especially the consumers of these conspiracies, not the hustlers. Critical thinking can be a bit work, so they have a strong aversion to it.
Bill Barr buried info on the perps, then arranged for Epstein to suicide himself. You'd think Fox and Maga might want to ask him about that 🤔
Is there any reason that sane,functioning people should take anything Project Veritas says seriously?
I graduated from Dartmouth in 1987. Dinesh D’Souza graduated in 1983. We didn’t overlap but I did overlap with his then GF, Laura Ingraham D’85 (who always struck me as cruel). I remember how Dinesh was the toast of DC right wing think tanks, a “rising star” in the GOP, etc. Here was this Ivy-educated, brown immigrant proselytizing for the American Dream that he achieved: Reagan’s shining city on a hill with a wide open door in its walls to welcome those strivers who believed in democratic ideals. I have wondered for a decade or more what, exactly, happened to that guy so that he created/disseminated things like “2000 Mules” and now this crap.
There is a knowing smile on Will Sommer's face in all of his podcasts and interviews because he knows he will always be employed. There is an endless supply of these weirdos.
ben i think will is just a very pleasant guy not marinating in our current toxicity and trying to help us understand it better by reporting his experiences very different from ours you think
I love reading about these Nutbags. Thanks for wallowing in their insanity for us Will. Cheers to you! 🥃
You're on a roll, Will - this tops the Arby's story.
The credulity of conspiracy nuts knows no bounds.
“She is a diagnosed mythomaniac!”
If she were only born in America, she would be a perfect VP for our current Mythomaniac-in-Chief.
This is precisely the kind of analysis I wish was more common across the "mainstream media." Thank you for doing the work of chasing all elements of this down (+extra credit for so many links to sources), and writing the actual observable facts of the case clearly and decisively. You perfectly balance being fair to the subject (Lelis) with your responsibility to the audience (not to be a megaphone for obvious BS and to "tell it like you see it").
Thank you for the excellent piece!!
But, but, ... what would right-wing media do without lies? It's their lifeblood. Patricia Lielies fits right in there with Karolyin' Leavitt and Laura Looner. MAGA digs the lies like pigs snuffle truffles.
Yes, allenby, sadly for all of us who keep seeing them pop-up, "Patricia Lielies fits right in there with Karolyin' Leavitt and Laura Looner"