Trump Toadies Believe (On Scant Evidence) They Have Found “Anonymous”
An awful lot of taxpayer dollars are being spent in a creepy hunt for a most likely low-level Trump Administration official who penned an anti-Trump op-ed and has a book coming out. The Trumpists believe they have their man — or, actually, their woman. Victoria Coates.
I’m not so sure. I think they are making some assumptions here that can’t be justified. For example:
Anonymous is a woman, the investigators deduced, noting the author’s disapproving remarks alleging a Trump habit of addressing accomplished female professionals as “sweetie” and “honey.”
Yup, they got her! No male could object to that! And with that, these geniuses eliminated at least half (probably more) of the possibilities. I was also amused by this:
NSC investigators put stock in the fact that Coates has a history of concealing her identity in her writings. For years she blogged anonymously for RedState.com. The site eventually revealed that Coates was the blogger writing under the pseudonym “Academic Elephant.” In February 2018, several months before the anonymous Times opinion piece appeared, a Reddit user posted an unusual question using the same “Academic Elephant” pseudonym Coates employed. “Could I be sued by the company I work for if I write an anonymous opinion piece for the local newspaper, if everything I say is true?” the poster asked, adding that “I’m reasonably certain that I’ll have support from my coworkers.” Anonymous expressed a similar concern in the opening pages of “A Warning,” noting that Trump has a habit of suing critics “to intimidate and silence them.” Fear of such a lawsuit is one of the reasons offered by the author for choosing to remain anonymous.
Here’s the Reddit post. Here’s a section from it:
Most of the things I would write about are more petty grievances, but nothing illegal. For one, they have a policy that they never give out raises. All employees make bare minimum wage, with the store manager making $15/hr. We have a mentally disabled employee who has been working here full time for 20 years, and the only ‘raise’ he got was when minimum wage increased. No paid vacation time, no sick time. You are technically allowed to take one week off a year, but because it’s not paid for most people don’t. You are not allowed to shop at the store you work at, and no employee discount (it’s supposed to discourage theft). Speaking of, recently another location in the area had it’s [sic] entire staff fired due to mere suspicion of theft, so everyone is terrified right now.
But then there are things that I am inclined to believe are OSHA violations: we haven’t had hot water in my building for two months now, and we regularly handle biological waste – both human and animal – with our bare hands (we are welcomed to use gloves, but we have to provide our own). We also have to lift and move heavy items, some weighing much more than 50lbs, without the aid of a forklift, or with lifting belts.
Why would Victoria Coates go to Reddit (for crying out loud) for legal advice, and then misrepresent the nature of her actual situation? I am rolling my eyes hard here.
There are several on-the-record denials and no on-the-record accusers. Among the denials is this one from Anonymous’s publisher:
“To be very clear, so there is no chance of any misunderstanding: Dr. Coates is not Anonymous,” Javelin said. “She did not write it, edit it, see it in advance, know anything about it, or as far [as] we know ever read it.”
The whole thing strikes me as a Keystone Kops type situation which would be amusing if it were not so unsettling. The piece notes that the Justice Department has gotten involved, sending a letter to the publisher asking if the author ever signed a nondisclosure agreement that would require them to submit the book for evaluation for possible classified information. Read the letter and tell me if you think it was motivated by a genuine concern about classified information or whether it was part of a hunt for a Trump critic.
This person will be revealed at some point, I assume. At that point, I predict we will learn it was not Victoria Coates.
She’s probably “Q” as well. (From QAnon, not James Bond).
Leviticus (efada1) — 4/15/2020 @ 9:21 amIf it’s the same person who published the letter in the NYT op-ed, then it’s Melania. The higher duty she refers to, that puts her in a distasteful situation, is to her son and parents which she translated to America for a broader appeal.
nk (1d9030) — 4/15/2020 @ 9:58 amWell, the Reddit post describes a situation that’s sounds bogus…meaning fictional…to me. And the Reddit post got Reddit level advice.
Kishnevi (58423e) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:01 amMelania is the FSB’s Washington station chief.
I thought everybody understood that.
Dave (1bb933) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:04 amThe letter from the DOJ cat is your typical high, inside fast ball thrown at the head. It isn’t unique to the administration of the Thug in the Oval Office, I’m sure.
That said, this administration will go down in history as perhaps THE nastiest, most toxic circle-jerk in history. In concert with its poor, pathologically narcissistic man-child “leader”.
Ragspierre (d9bec9) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:23 amSpeaking of Trump toadies:
Trump spin doctor gets in COVID-19 mix up
Needless to say, Twitter pounced:
Kellyanne Conway buried in ridicule for scientifically illiterate COVID-19 rant
There was some difference of opinion on whether she’s really this dumb, or knows perfectly well that it’s nonsense was simply gas-lighting the True Believers on FoxNews.
Dave (1bb933) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:27 amThe anonymous weasel will eventually be ferreted out of the ankle-biters…
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:39 amShe was deliberately lying to everybody.
nk (1d9030) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:43 amThem Trump boys sure don’t have anything important to do.
They also don’t know about the Streisand effect. I’ve never heard of this anonymous thing, this book, any of it, and I definitely like to talk about what a f— up Trump is.
Dustin (c56600) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:49 amKellyanne was deliberately lying to everybody, I mean.
Is it just me, or has anybody else noticed that Trump and Kellyanne are maintaining a family weight? She’s getting skinnier while he’s getting fatter?
nk (1d9030) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:52 amHmmmmmm
If it turned out they were aliens 2020 wouldn’t really be that much more dramatic.
Dustin (c56600) — 4/15/2020 @ 10:55 amThe only guess I’ll make is that we’ll know the identity of Anonymous quicker than we knew who penned Primary Colors.
Paul Montagu (0073cc) — 4/15/2020 @ 2:05 pmHow many of these folks were incensed at the rush to judgment of Richard Jewell and Steven Hatfill?
DRJ (15874d) — 4/15/2020 @ 3:21 pmMy guess is a lot.
DRJ (15874d) — 4/15/2020 @ 3:22 pmThing is, this tale is almost as stale as Walrus Gumbo’s teased tome.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 4/15/2020 @ 3:26 pm