Leftists and Groypers are in cahoots
Finding enemies? friends? in unlikely places
I decided to spare you from having to watch the video content from the completely nude protest against ICE in Portland. It almost made a trad wife out of me. There’s a ton of culture crossover in today’s rundown — from TPUSA’s alternative Super Bowl Halftime Show spoof to Chappell and Chance finding their voice.
You’ll see some formatting changes below, because if there’s one thing I’m gonna do it’s neurotically tweak this product every day forever. The biggest one: We’re snatching up the “PEOPLE IN CHARGE” section to be its own standalone send for paid subscribers. It’ll be a full picture of the content lawmakers are doubling down on more every day (especially while they’re all acting unemployed as fuck).
FROM THE LEFT WING:
WOKE BACK UP: The music world’s silence during this second Trump term has been shockingly deafening in places we’d usually expect electric reverb. But I think we’re starting to hear a key change: Chance the Rapper (remember him?) has been flaming ICE a ton on his tour, in Boston, LA, Chicago. Chappell Roan landed on “fuck ICE forever” and some Biden admin heads are being snarky about it because of Chappell’s non-endorsement of Kamala Harris. I had the immeasurable pleasure of seeing David Byrne live who, with images of ICE raids splashed behind him, said, “The most punk thing we can do right now is act with love, kindness, and compassion.”
I described the show as The Wiggles on acid (complimentary)
CROWNING GLORY: The No Kings protest is back. They’ve released a George Conway-fronted trailer and a $1M ad buy in 185 local newspapers. Robert De Niro even recorded a promo. Not to be the age police, but I wonder if it would be wise to feature anyone under the age of [however old George Conway is] alongside him in the promo. It could allow them to avert the classic chicken-egg conundrum: young people don’t show, elders are pissed, youngins say they weren’t included to begin with.
Not to be outdone in complaining about old centrists, leftists are raising their normal hay. Criticism is united under the banner that protests are ultimately useless, because the only way to affect change is to disrupt capital. To my knowledge, there are no general strikes on the calendar.
COLLARED SCREAMS: Hasan Piker is involved in a scandal people are calling “collargate.” People claim his dog yelped on a stream and it has turned into a full-fledged cancellation campaign alleging animal abuse via shock collar. There’s hours of footage analysis, memes, fans fighting haters, Hasan joking about it and people getting mad at the jokes, a Barstool parody where Big Cat is actually zapping Jerry, defense of Hasan against an “obvious smear campaign,” and ultimately, a cancellation … sort of. A podcast episode with the streamer Pokimane — for her 32M+ followers across platforms — has been yanked after she claimed her own staff refused to publish it.
AN UNUSUAL CONVERGENCE: SWEET DREAM OR A BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE
Captive Dreamer came to my attention in a piece by Steven Monacelli who discovered JD Vance followed the account. Our dreamer here is Geoff Martin, a Hitler-quoting white supremacist whose own father denounced him. He was called out for doxxing multiple times and X’s head of product personally banned his accounts and a couple others associated. Users like Right Wing Cope and others on the left celebrated, while Captive Dreamer’s allies were pushing to get him reinstated.
At this point, everyone’s feeling a little silly — CD keeps making new accounts to see if they get banned, people are finding them insanely fast and using his content to make memes of his truly 99th percentile forehead. Now, it’s at this point that I got confused. Because these memes weren’t just coming from leftists, but also from Nick Fuentes’ VERY activated far-right groyper army effectuating the “groyper curse.” Turns out, they had been mass reporting him all day too, also angry about doxxing and “countersignaling” Fuentes.
Naturally this means slightly more mainstream MAGA adherents come to the conclusion that Nick Fuentes is funded by and ideologically aligned with the left. While that’s obviously not true, this is a rare example of factions finding a momentary, accidental ally against a common enemy.
FROM THE RIGHT WING:
UNRAVELING EMPATHY: I think Allie B. Stuckey is the most compelling figure of the Christian right. Her book “Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion” was obvious fodder for a Jubilee “Surrounded” episode. What did surprise me … and her … and the progressives … and people in the comments … was how respectful, gracious, and patient the debate was, in an environment known for the absence of those things. You’d literally never know this was filmed days after the death of her close friend.
The group fell furthest from one another on abortion and felt closest to alignment (surprisingly) on empathy as a starting point to love rather than a final destination itself. Also: how these people can reflexively recite any piece of scripture but I can’t remember what I walked into the grocery store for … idek.
BADLY WANTED POSTER: Some MAGA accounts with significant followings got swallowed up by a fake lineup for the TPUSA Super Bowl Halftime Show (that part is real). John Strand, who served a year in prison for his involvement in January 6th, posted, “It’s official … this is how we take our country back.” Mike Engleman, Loogootee, Indiana, city council president by day and Twitter influencer by night, shared the lineup as a slam of “idiot Big Bunny.” Both posts have over 1M views and a community note confirming the sort of star-studded affair is fake. As if the special appearance from “measles” didn’t give that away.
STAKE A CLAIM: Steve Bannon and friends want you to know that they’re throwing a hat in the ring as the next set of bricks get laid in the Middle East: the Three-State Solution (because two wasn’t enough of a puzzler already). In the past few days, the establishment of a Christian state has been raised or referenced on five occasions. Dr. Gina Loudon is “all in.” Jack Posobiec mentioned they’d need a “Christian military force” like in the “Crusades.” Bannon says this is the “only option” for Evangelicals and Catholics.
LOOSE ENDS:
📝 Word I learned today: apophenia
the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things — “I’ve called what Candace suffers from “apophenia“ in the past. But let’s call a spade a spade: It’s schizophrenia.” (via Coleman Hughes, The Free Press)
📰 Something you should read today: Rivelino is a creator who popularized the Green Line Theory which I did a mini-explainer on years ago. Well, he’s teaching a class on Telegram, offering “ten ways to build a stronger masculine identity and attract higher quality women into your life.” Any takers? $100.
🕵️ Someone you should know today: Did you know the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has a Substack? Where he meaningfully confronts our society’s ills? Just like he always has? Highly recommend subscribing.
🥹 Something to make you smile today: My soul is in a state of DISTRESS. I truly felt like I was being swallowed by quicksand when news broke that Diane Keaton died. I immediately watched “Something’s Gotta Give” (which I had never seen). She willingly offers an audience the rules for engagement with every single entry on the emotional spectrum, even the daunting feelings that come with love at any age. But then my soul nourishment was depleted again with the death of neo-funk icon (in the real sense) D’Angelo. So my future smile depends on my search for any one of his three perfect albums on vinyl. Go listen if you know what’s good for you.
Where is the explainer on Green Line?
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