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You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: TrumpGriftWorld Can *Always* Get Weirder

Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: TrumpGriftWorld Can *Always* Get Weirder

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Last time we talked about Jacob Wohl, he was trying to convince the media that Senator Elizabeth Warren had turned a hunky young Marine into her personal sex slave. That was just risible, even if it lead to unsettling speculation about Wohl’s mindset. This latest stunt sounds like the sort of ‘cry for help’ where a deeply disturbed individual who isn’t put under supervision goes on to… well, you be the judge:

… The setting of the entire mess was the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), an agency known largely as a bit of a backwater when it comes to the government’s foreign policy apparatus, but one with a $16.8 billion foreign aid budget. On Monday a political appointee and deputy White House liaison there, Merritt Corrigan, took to Twitter to accuse her employer of “anti-Christian” bias.

Corrigan’s appointment at USAID has been under fire for months over anti-gay tweets she made in 2019 and 2020, including accusing the United States of being a “homo-empire” devoted to a “tyrannical LGBT agenda,” tweeting that “female empowerment is a civilizational calamity,” and advocating for the creation of a “Christian patriarchy.” But on Monday, her targets were both USAID itself and House Foreign Relations Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel (D-NY), whom she accused of soliciting prostitutes. As Corrigan’s initial tweets went up, she claimed USAID gave her a 3 p.m. deadline to resign or be fired. When the deadline passed, Corrigan said she was fired…

Corrigan, who is/was apparently dating Wohl, announced that she’d be appearing Thursday in front of Wohl associate Jack Burkman’s Northern Virginia house—a site that has previously hosted farcical attempts to smear Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) with lurid sexual allegations. There, she would further denounce USAID, accuse a Politico reporter who covered her resignation of stalking her, and demand that Engel debate her and Burkman. In a press release announcing the press conference, Burkman and Wohl claimed that Wohl, who is currently facing two felony charges related to security sales in California, had “been working behind the scenes with Corrigan for months.”…

On Tuesday afternoon, Corrigan deleted her tweets attacking USAID and stopped responding to messages from The Daily Beast. Wohl claimed in an interview Tuesday that a coterie of Trumpworld personalities had convinced Corrigan to backtrack on her claims. And Burkman claimed that Corrigan had “buyer’s remorse” after sending her tweets…

But later in the day, a conduit sent a statement from Corrigan herself that was darker in implication. Corrigan now claimed she’d become the pawn of individuals who had attempted to “ruin” her.

“I would like to apologize,” it read. “Especially to the people who have been affected or hurt by the messages sent from my Twitter account, and the claims made in my name over the past 24 hours. I did NOT send these messages, and while I vehemently protested about them being sent in my name, my devices were not in my control. I see now that I was part of an abusive scheme and I was used to attack people that have nothing to do with me.

“I will not be participating in any press conferences as claimed in my name, and will have nothing to do with individuals who forced me to hand over my devices so they could control me and the output in my name. Due to naivete and inexperience, I became involved with people who abused my trust, conned me, and claimed they were working in my interest. I became powerless in a situation, and I deeply regret not reaching out to people who knew better, or could help me.”…

Thing is… the Trump administration didn’t hire Corrigan because she was ‘involved’ with Jacob Wohl; she was given a no-supervision sinecure because she represented what Trump’s handlers wanted to hear. Sorting out the various crimes for which this cartel can be punished is going to be even more complicated than the usual Truth & Retribution Reconciliation Commission, because it’s gonna require teasing out so many strands of genuine delusion mixed with the general criminality.

Reader Interactions

74Comments

  1. 1.

    Another Scott

    Nobody heading a government agency should be on Twitter. It’s madness, and there are well documented rules about how communications should be done, what records must be kept, and on and on.

    But this is extremely weird…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  2. 2.

    Msb

    So she calls for women to live in chains, and doesn’t like it when they’re tried on her. Amazing.

  3. 3.

    Emma from FL

    I think I’ll go read some fanfic. Better executed plots, if nothing else. Better human beings, for certain.

  4. 4.

    laura

    The “Ladies Against Women” Junior Division Regional Finalist regrets that she will not be up for any press avails due to a Leopard eating her face.

  5. 5.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: If Corrigan’s actuations are true, it looks like Jacob finally managed to commit some real crimes. Not to mention he’ll be the focus of a counterintelligence investigation. We’ve got impersonating a Federal official. We’ve got theft of her property. Someone in the National Security Division of the DC Field Office of the FBI is facepalming right now.

  7. 7.

    Raoul

    Didn’t the last Wohl-orchestrated accuser several months also claim that their phone was taken over and they didn’t write the tweets? No doubt these people are stupid enough to not have pins on their home screens — or, g-d help us, trusting enough to let a convicted securities fraud perp know their screen lock code.

    Wohl really is just a complete trash human, and will surely do some sort of prison stints in his complicatedly dumb-shit life. If not for this, he’ll just keep sinking into the muck.

  11. 11.

    Calouste

    Sorting out the various crimes for which this cartel can be punished is going to be even more complicated

    Pretty easy actually: “You accepted a nomination from the shitgibbon? : guilty as charged.” We can determine the actual penalty by duration and level of the position.

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    @Another Scott: 

    Nobody heading a government agency should be on Twitter.

    I would disagree. Every person heading a government agency should have an official Twitter account; Twitter has become an essential tool in communicating with the public. What they should not be doing is treating their official account the same way they treat their personal one. The official Twitter account needs to be treated with the same seriousness as any other official communication. There needs to be a process by which the official tweets are written and considered before they’re tweeted. As long as tweets are seen as an alternative- or complement- to traditional press releases, they’ll be OK. It’s only when the official account is treated like a personal extension of the department head that it gets in trouble.

  14. 14.

    laura

    @Raoul: I get a thirsty Roger Stone understudy vibe from Jacob (scuzzy monster energy swilling Eve Harrington), and Roger’s not going to be around forever, and those rats wont fuck themselves.

  15. 15.

    Redshift

    Since Engel’s career in Congress is ending, I hope he’s willing to be a hero and sue for defamation, for discovery against Wohl and Burkman if nothing else. I know defamation has a high bar for public figures, but it seems likely that reckless disregard for the truth was involved here.

  16. 16.

    Another Scott

    @Roger Moore: It’s impossible to have meaningful communications in, what is it now, 280 characters?  … checks … Yup.

    Government agencies need to be able to convey information clearly and minimize chances for misinterpretation.  Twitter is specifically limited in ways that guarantees that messages will be misinterpreted.  Not only that, it’s designed for immediacy  rather than careful consideration.

    Sure, every agency should have its own official T account (and squat on it if nothing else), but I don’t see how it can be used for meaningful communication (as opposed to posting links from elsewhere).

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  17. 17.

    Roger Moore

    @laura:

    I get a thirsty Roger Stone understudy vibe from Jacob

    I would say “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce”, except I can’t bring myself to treat Roger Stone as tragedy.  “The first time as farce, the second time as slapstick” just doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it?

  20. 20.

    mrmoshpotato

    accusing the United States of being a “homo-empire” devoted to a “tyrannical LGBT agenda,”

    Hot!  Damn!  I wanna say “Nutjob!” but that would insult nuts and jobs.

  21. 21.

    jonas

    I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m getting a very Kanye West-like, off-her-meds vibe from Ms. Corrigan. She isn’t well.

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    I guess I’m a little amazed that both Jacob Wohl and Jimmy O’Keefe are still able to walk this world, relatively unmolested, and not six feet under.

  24. 24.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Emma from FL:

    I think I’ll go read some fanfic. Better executed plots, if nothing else. 

    LOL Dinosaur erotica probably has better executed plots.

  25. 25.

    Kent

    @Roger Moore:I would disagree. Every person heading a government agency should have an official Twitter account; Twitter has become an essential tool in communicating with the public. What they should not be doing is treating their official account the same way they treat their personal one. The official Twitter account needs to be treated with the same seriousness as any other official communication. There needs to be a process by which the official tweets are written and considered before they’re tweeted. As long as tweets are seen as an alternative- or complement- to traditional press releases, they’ll be OK. It’s only when the official account is treated like a personal extension of the department head that it gets in trouble.

    No, that’s different.  Every government agency has a public affairs office who’s job it is to do this sort of thing and they generally maintain the official social media feeds on behalf of different agencies.  There is no reason for actual individuals to be maintaining separate twitter feeds.  They represent the agency, not the other way around.

    So it is appropriate, for example, for the Seattle EPA office public affairs person to maintain a twitter presence on behalf of the office.  They are the ones who are sending out news releases for everything they do as well as keeping the news releases up to date on their web site.  There is no need for the actual regional administrator of the Seattle EPA office to maintain a separate twitter feed to talk about government affairs.

  27. 27.

    Betsy

    @jonas:  That’s what I got, too. Sounds as though the woman may have symptoms of delusion and paranoia.  Of course, that’s not necessarily inconsistent with the irrational and defensive tendencies of “sane” right-wingers.

  31. 31.

    piratedan

    based on the “penalties” that were levied against O’Keefe and the President’s penchant for taking care of his soldateri, I can understand Mr. Wohl’s pervasive feeling that perhaps those laws and societal mores do not apply to the likes of him.

  32. 32.

    Brachiator

    Wow, it’s getting to the point that you can’t distinguish between a Trump appointee and a staffer on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

    How did this person get hired in the first place? Are her family Trump donors?

  37. 37.

    Alison Rose

    accusing the United States of being a “homo-empire” devoted to a “tyrannical LGBT agenda,”

    Sounds like someone’s been reading my dream journal.

  38. 38.

    Roger Moore

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Like @RealDonaldTrump?

    IIRC, that is Trump’s personal account; the official account is @POTUS.  The problem there is pretty much the opposite: Trump likes to use his personal account to announce official actions.  Of course he also uses it for all kinds of noxious unofficial stuff.  He certainly would be better off if he made a clear distinction between his personal and official accounts.

  39. 39.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Adam L Silverman:

    If Corrigan’s actuations are true, it looks like Jacob finally managed to commit some real crimes. Not to mention he’ll be the focus of a counterintelligence investigation. We’ve got impersonating a Federal official. We’ve got theft of her property. Someone in the National Security Division of the DC Field Office of the FBI is facepalming right now

    Nope. Barr’s FBI won’t investigate this guy. And Trump could always just pardon him.

  43. 43.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Dinosaur erotica probably has better executed plots.

    Rule 34 notwithstanding, I refuse to allow that concept to exist in my brain. My psychic shields are impenetrable.

  46. 46.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I didn’t know Bond/Q was a pairing.

    Really? I can see how Q would be paired with Bond. He is played by Ben Whisaw after all who I can see why people would view him as attractive

  47. 47.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Roger Moore:

    He’d better watch out, though, since the statute of limitations will last long past January 20th.

    Did you read Adam’s post downstairs? It wasn’t optimistic

  50. 50.

    mrmoshpotato

    @The Lodger:

    Hey, dinosaur erotica has been nominated for Hugo Awards. Try that with Jacob Wohl stories. 

    Sorry if it sounded like I was bashing dinosaur erotica.

  51. 51.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    Rule 34 notwithstanding, I refuse to allow that concept to exist in my brain. My psychic shields are impenetrable. 

    There is no shame in enjoying dinosaur erotica with poorly executed plots.  You do you. ?

  56. 56.

    Sister Golden Bear

    accusing the United States of being a “homo-empire” devoted to a “tyrannical LGBT agenda,”

    Ruh-roh, who leaked the plans?! All will be assimilated—and fabulicious, dahlings!

  58. 58.

    TS (the original)

    Slightly off topic

    Just saw a video of trump on our local news – raving about the explosion in Beirut – and can only put my hands over my face & weep.

    That boy just ain’t right & what on earth he is doing as the political leader of anything other than the gold plated loo is beyond sanity.

  59. 59.

    NotMax

    @dmsilev

    Continues to remind me of the “face-eating wombat” which came up a couple of times as a gag throwaway in Big Wolf on Campus.

    Can’t readily find the scene as a stand alone, Here’s a link which should be cued up to the start of the particular bit, which runs only about 20 seconds, involving a certain product substitute.

    :)

  64. 64.

    scav

    But will our homo-empire be equipped with the promised level of taco trucks?!  I insist on fabulous taco trucks!

  66. 66.

    eldorado

    if my erotica isn’t inspiring a deep level of shame, it’s not doing it’s job properly

  68. 68.

    SFAW

    @opiejeanne: 

    You think Trump even knows who those two pissants are? Let alone if he cares what happens to them.

    Given his history, I expect he wouldn’t not know them until after they’re indicted for doing something illegal or evil on his behalf.

  70. 70.

    Ken

    @SFAW: And even then, unless they’ve given him money or have some info that Trump doesn’t want to come out, there’d be no pardon.

  71. 71.

    artem1s

    will have nothing to do with individuals who forced me to hand over my devices so they could control me and the output in my name

    ah yes, patriarchy for thee but not for me!  how did they ‘force’ you to turn over you devices?  isn’t that called assault? kidnapping?  when are you filing charges against your BF?

  72. 72.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @dmsilev: I recently finally finished reading Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) – in an English translation that’s been sitting on the avunculocosmic shelf for dogonlynosehowlong – & as reactionary as the protagonist is, he doesn’t seem much interested in dining on face unless it’s toasted (faccia tosta).

  73. 73.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @SFAW: If stochastic terrorism worked on the left side of the aisle, they’d both have caught a three-group in their homo-disabilis foreheads long ago. For good or ill, it seems to be restricted to the knuckledragging mouthbreathing maskless RWNJs.

  74. 74.

    J R in WV

    @Another Scott:

    @Roger Moore: It’s impossible to have meaningful communications in, what is it now, 280 characters?  … checks … Yup.

    Government agencies need to be able to convey information clearly and minimize chances for misinterpretation.  Twitter is specifically limited in ways that guarantees that messages will be misinterpreted.  Not only that, it’s designed for immediacy  rather than careful consideration.

    First, I am not a Twitter user, nor educated in how it works. That said, I’m pretty positive that Twitter allows embedding of links to seriously large documents, as well as multiple linked posts about complex issues. I would be surprised if the owner of a Twit account can’t keep others from posting to that account.

    Designed for immediacy, not sure what that has to do with any of this. Anyone can push out a press release that makes them look stupid, evil, or criminal, if they’re stupid enough to do so.

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