Utah’s senior senator, Mike Lee, has two distinct personalities: one is a loyal but partisan senior senator from a Republican state; the other is Hyper Online DoppelgangerKnown in X as “BasedMikeLee”.
Sen. Mike Lee and Mike Lee Bass are a lot like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the characters first described by Robert Louis Stevenson in his 19th century novel. Dr. Jekyll Senator Lee gave an eloquent speech, Lengthy filibuster Filled with lofty thoughts about Constitution, The role of governmentphilosophy, and Founding FathersBut as the sun goes down, Senator Lee retreats indoors and Senator Mike Lee emerges, and instead of becoming an amoral killer like Hyde, Lee transforms into an online troll with no critical thinking skills. More and more appropriate On Elon Musk’s social media platform, his X account, Lee spreads conspiracy theories, fuels fanaticism, and trips himself up with patently false nonsense.
I’ve observed Lee’s behavior on Capitol Hill for years. He is more reserved than many of his colleagues, rarely commenting during walk-and-talks (the short, impromptu question-and-answer style interviews that are central to Senate coverage). He’s often too busy talking about business with aides or texting with his reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. But Lee doesn’t interrupt reporters; he simply prefers more formal press interviews and makes his views clear in well-written speeches on the Senate floor.
But his X account is a whole different story. BasedMikeLee’s Hyde-like transformation has never been more apparent than it was last weekend. Mister Fantastic Arms “Is this for real?” asked BasedMikeLee as he watched the man slide face-first down a “water slide” that catapulted him hundreds of feet into the air, between disconnected slide sections that run through forests and over dirt roads, and finally into what appears to be the Pacific Ocean.
Uh-oh. No, that’s not right, Senator.
But Lee, one of a very select group of 100 people tasked with writing the laws of the country, wasn’t the only one fooled by an obviously fake video. Around 1:30 a.m. in Utah — or just after 3 a.m. back in Washington — Lee began promoting a theory posted by German-Finnish entrepreneur Kim Dotcom. Will be handed over immediately He moved to the US from New Zealand after a 12-year legal battle over Megaupload, a file-sharing site that is accused of hosting massive amounts of pirated content and causing millions of dollars in losses to the entertainment industry.
The theory that Dotcom posted on X was, North Atlantic Fella OrganizationIt was an online activist group that sought to counter Russian propaganda with militarized posts. Doge Memes. While such organizations might seem like the kind of spontaneous online communities that pop up and disappear on the internet every day, Dotcom had a different vision: NAFO, he said, was actually a CIA-backed organization run by a former (and current) congressman. Bulwark Contributor) Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) But there’s no need to worry, Dotcom wrote. NAFO has run out of its secret government funding and is now “officially defunct.”
Lee did not question Dotcom’s absurd story, but instead saw the post as an opportunity to Condemn The CIA was accused of supporting a “covert propaganda operation designed to influence public opinion of the American people.”
Lee has posted several more times about this and about the need for the government to distance itself from influence campaigns that could affect the U.S. But using NAFO as an example suggests his extreme position. NAFO’s activities, to reiterate, Essentially a dog meme Purely online posts, such as those posted by the pro-Ukrainian X account, are not specifically targeted at US public opinion. If Lee uses NAFO as a template for CIA influence campaigns that he considers illegal, he is arguing that the CIA should not be allowed to use the internet or social media to conduct public outreach anywhere in the world. English language content published online cannot be completely shielded from the eyes and clicks of the US public. This is an odd stance to see coming from a Republican senator.
Also, let’s put aside for a moment the fact that Lee was exaggerating the dot-coms. Posts To start with, Lee was talking about the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” promoting to his 250,000+ followers the theory that a former member of Congress was directly involved in a covert influence operation targeting the American people.
Dotcom’s unsubstantiated allegation that Kinzinger was running NAFO for the CIA was made public by the Illinois Republican in early 2016, before Donald Trump and Joe Biden became president. Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation ActThe Department of Defense established an interdepartmental “Global Engagement Center” to coordinate the efforts of the State Department, the Defense Department, and other federal agencies to counter foreign propaganda campaigns. From its name and mission, the GEC may seem like a large-scale operation, but in reality, it is a Problem Reporting And released a statement BlogIt’s not like something out of a John le Carré novel.
But helping hard-headed conspiracy theorists like Kim Dotcom find new audiences for their hunch is becoming typical for Lee, whose online behavior has become increasingly erratic since he began posting all on his own. Summer 2 years agoFor example, he Boosted Posts He claims that federal agents participated in the attack on the Capitol on January 6th. Wondering“How many of these people are federal employees?”
Earlier this year, Lee was accused of false breaking news style post They claimed that President Biden was experiencing a “medical emergency” on board Air Force One.
And it goes on and on. Every time Lee whips out his phone and taps on the Bird app, he simultaneously seems to suspend his ability to question or think critically about what’s in front of him. If that’s happening to the public, that’s dangerous enough. All at onceI’ll return to the consequences for American voters later, but the idea that the minds of elected officials are being similarly poisoned by the Internet raises a whole new set of concerns.
House Republicans are frustrated with the progress of the bipartisan, official task force tasked with probing the gaffe that led to the near-assassination of former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July. Frustrated by the lack of activity during Congress’ August recess, the far-right caucus has decided to hold its own hearing on Monday at the Heritage Foundation across from the Capitol.
of Competing Probes It is run by Republican congressmen Matt Gaetz (Florida), Corey Mills (Florida), Eli Klain (Arizona), Andy Biggs (Arizona), and Chip Roy (Texas), all of whom have publicly declared their support for Trump. defeat Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) was also in the audience.
Witnesses included Erik Prince, founder of the private military company Blackwater; Dan Bongino, a conservative podcaster, former Secret Service officer and three-time failed congressman; and Ben Shaffer, a SWAT sniper who worked at the rally where Trump came face to face with death.
There was a lot of speculation and innuendo during the hearing. What actually happenedA question I get asked often is, “Don’t you think it’s strange that…”
It’s natural that House Republicans have different ideas about how to investigate the Trump assassination attempt, and it’s natural that their more MAGA-leaning counterparts will be forced to launch their own counterinvestigations. But that doesn’t mean the official bipartisan committee doesn’t already have far-right members. The actual task force includes six Democrats and seven Republicans, including Reps. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana), Mike Walz (R-Fla.), and Pat Fallon (R-Texas).
Yesterday’s private hearings were just the beginning of the alternative investigation, which lacks the legal authority of a formal task force but has the power to attract attention: its members have close ties to President Trump and have been well-received in conservative media.
Returning to the topic of people consuming bad information through screens, I thought I’d share this. New Yorker Essay by Charles Bashir.
Beshear spoke to a small group of people who consume news primarily in homeopathic doses through alternative media; in the mainstream media, these people are often described as “under-informed voters.” The essay paints a harsh portrait of a sizable segment of the population that seems completely uninterested in knowing the facts (and in some cases, reality) about American politics. You might find this portrayal a bit harsh, and I’m curious if you still feel that way after reading this excerpt.
A middle-aged man who said he works as a cell phone salesman and called himself Chuck said he finds his political news online. “Mostly on YouTube.” Chuck, who is black, said he is leaning toward voting for Trump, saying, “I feel more comfortable with him.” A bearded white man in his 60s wearing a Black Sabbath T-shirt told me he gets his political news from “neighbors and friends because we don’t have TV or anything.” He said he has a criminal record and can’t vote. “Biden is a pedophile,” he added. Another shopper waved me off, pointed to his bumper sticker and said, “How about we waterboard the media until they tell the truth?”
I walked up to a fireworks stand in the parking lot. I walked up to the counter and began to speak again, carefully. “It’s okay,” Riley Charnot, a young man at the register, gently interrupted me. “I’m listening to NPR.” He said he was “exhausted” by the misinformation he frequently encountered around him, including talk of election fraud and toxic vaccines. “Older people are more likely to fall for it,” he said. “Just be careful. If you say the wrong thing…” Eventually, a security guard came by in a truck. “I don’t know what you’re doing, but you can’t do that here,” he told me. I left and headed to a nearby Kroger. I asked a woman named Juanita, who was pushing a cart loaded with watermelons, where she got her political news. “My husband watches it sometimes,” she said. “Trump news…we don’t have internet,” she continued. “I always get my news from the Bible.” A Kroger executive approached us quickly. “It’s the end times,” Juanita added. “The end is coming soon.”
If you’re hungry for more, Please read the whole thing.
