Someone from the White House seems to be giving info on NSC staffers to alt-right bloggers. https://t.co/VvW6o503ez
— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) July 10, 2017
On June 11, alt-right blogger Mike Cernovich published an article attacking an assistant to National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster, claiming the previously low-profile civil servant wanted to “sabotage” President Donald Trump.
The piece described Eric Ciaramella as “pro-Ukraine and anti-Russia” and alleged, with no evidence, that he was possibly responsible for high-level leaks. The response to the piece included online threats of violence against Ciaramella, which contributed to his decision to leave his job at the National Security Council a few weeks early, according to two sources familiar with the situation…
Career civil servants often endure stressful working conditions, but in the Trump White House, some of them face online trolling from alt-right bloggers who seek to portray them as clandestine partisans plotting to sabotage the president’s agenda. The online attacks often cite information that appears to be provided by unnamed White House officials or Trump loyalists.
The trend has unnerved the career intelligence analysts, diplomats, security experts, and military officers who are accustomed to operating outside the political arena. Coupled with White House talking points accusing government employees of jeopardizing the country’s security through leaks to the media, the online abuse threatens to damage morale and politicize institutions long seen as impartial and above partisan combat…
Before the 2016 election, Cernovich wrote self-help books for men who wanted to discover their inner “alpha male.” He found a larger audience, however, with his fervent pro-Trump, Hillary Clinton-bashing online blogs, tweets, and memes. Tweeting from his home in Southern California, he helped spread the Pizzagate conspiracy theory and has threatened to smear members of the Trump White House if Stephen Bannon is ever removed…
Still, members of Trump’s inner circle, and even his family members, have endorsed Cernovich’s posts. The White House has given him press credentials and he says he gets his information from West Wing officials, a claim supported by what he’s able to report and when he’s able to report it…
In response to questions about some of his statements that have proven false, and whether he allows people to respond to his allegations, Cernovich responded by saying: “You are a spokeswoman for globalist warmongers. You are the mouthpiece of death and destruction. Your fraudulent hit piece on me validates the strength of my work.”
Cernovich is not alone in going after NSC and other government staffers. Outlets, including Breitbart News and the Conservative Review, went on a rampage against government employees and so-called Obama holdovers in the early months of the Trump administration, as first documented by Politico in March…
Mike ‘Gorilla Mindset’ Cernovich, like Rush Limbaugh before him, is just a snake-oil huckster riling up the rubes because it sells better than his earlier ‘men’s rights’ bullshit. But this is straight-up Red Guard-style intimidation: Cross Dear Leader, and we’ll destroy you, wreck your life, kill your family. Once a few victims have been publicly abused, the Trumplodytes don’t even have to carry out their worst threats — fear of retaliation will, it’s assumed, make potential trouble-making bureaucrats and journalists censor themselves.
And Donald Trump, needless to say, thinks this is just great. Finally, the level of rageful blind admiration he’s always craved!
patrick II
I just want to thank the NYTimes for publishing proof of Russian/Trump involvement in the illegally obtained leaking of Hillary’s emails.
And I also want to thank the NYTimes for using the illegally obtained leaked emails in numerous stories leading up to the election causing untold damage to Hillary Clinton, being useful idiots for Putin, and subverting American Democracy.
SFBayAreaGal
If there is a Goddess, I hope she will do major damage to all of these monsters
Oatler.
Ha! Been predicting autocracy since Nixon. Who’s crazy now, Dad???
Villago Delenda Est
The “Deep State” is pretty toothless if these assholes don’t face consequences for their actions. It’s like Dick Morris still living despite having pissed of Clinton Murder Inc.
patrick II
Mike Cernovich, like Donald Trump, is a symptom of the general rot in the Republican party. Big money, racists and big money racists control that party now and couldn’t give a damn about propriety, democracy, or even the lives of the average american.
Aleta
-NYT
cokane
this is not a blip. this is the near term future of our politics :[
NotMax
Icing on the cake is that the name Cernovich sounds vaguely … Russian,
NotMax
@Aleta
On its face sounds as if Prince is getting the cold shoulder from the Chinese, with whom he’s been in bed for quite some time now.
bago
Political correctness run amok!
Raoul
Gotta get some sleep, but leaving this here since it seems at least semi-related.
Major Major Major Major
@Raoul: what a sad life it must be, considering oneself part of Pepe Nation.
NotMax
@Raoul
They can have his back, so long as his front is what end up facing the judge.
M. Bouffant
Any day now the brownshirts will be marching.
TriassicSands
@Villago Delenda Est:
Morris is dead. What you’ve seen and heard is an android created by B&H Murder Inc. to stand-in for him in his permanent absence. There are many more… The power of B&H Murder Inc. is horrifying.
TenguPhule
Cernovich is a fairly good argument for blogger death panels.
TenguPhule
@M. Bouffant: They’ve outsourced that function to the World Wide Web.
TenguPhule
@NotMax: Nobody respects an easy lay.
TenguPhule
@Villago Delenda Est:
Amen. What are wood chippers for, if not to dispose of all this fucking dead wood.
OzarkHillbilly
Definition of chutzpah? The Mercer Island High School “Islander”
Full transcript: Defense Secretary James Mattis’ interview with The Islander
sukabi
@TenguPhule: sounds like a trip to Fargo is in order.
GregB
This shit is why Bobby Three Sticks Mueller needs to expedite his case against Donnie Two Scoops Trump.
BretH
@Raoul: for some reason I can’t shake seeing “Pepe Nation” as “Pee Pee Nation”.
OzarkHillbilly
@BretH: Heh.
Kay
Here’s the best part:
“The conflict of interest in this is transparent,” said Sean McFate, a professor at Georgetown University who wrote a book about the growth of private armies, “The Modern Mercenary.” “Most of these contractors are not even American, so there is also a lot of moral hazard.”
rikyrah
@Kay:
Uh Huh ? ?
kindness
The MSM can Navel Gaze as is it’s wont regarding matters on the Trump Regime & it’s syncophants but at some point someone is going to get killed. Most likely one of ours by one of the ravers who hang on to every last conspiracy theory from the right. Then what? I’ll tell your then what. The MSM cranks up the Navel Gazing to 11 and thinks that is the proper response. The press isn’t going to help us when the shit starts hitting the fan, We have to help ourselves. And while it would be awesome if our response was Gandi/Jesus like I don’t think that would stop these people. I think these people would love a blood bath to water the tree of liberty.