Jay Daniel

From @WSJFreeEx via @WSJOpinion: After losing a primary election Tuesday night, Rep. Thomas Massie peddled the oldest antisemitic trope in the book: that conniving Jews hold secret power, writes @matthennessey on.wsj.com/4fygtbZ

You may be wondering 2 things. 1) What happened to Trump? Who is he listening to? 2) Why does it feel like the internet isn’t real and engagement is fluctuating based on “particular topics” lately? I think I can help answer both questions. There is a company called Vine & Fig Tree (VFT). VFT is a pro-Israel organization with ties to the administration. Earlier this year, VFT was at the White House meeting with Sebastian Gorka. Shortly after that White House meeting, I was contacted through a third party and asked to script-write for VFT. The individual who contacted me is publicly very Christian and widely perceived as America First. I was told the script would be used to create an AI-generated video on behalf of the White House, specifically for NSC and Sebastian Gorka. They told me: “Yeah we have to do this on behalf of them [the administration] because they don’t want it to look like it’s actually coming from the WH.. you know what I mean? I mean, it worked out for them and Nick Shirley.” I was then given a Dropbox link containing research, polling data, internal comments, and strategy material compiled by VFT and the third party involved. Inside the Dropbox were 7 folders. Through those documents, I learned more about what this organization actually does. Their reports monitor major conservative and "dissident-right" accounts and frequently frame those accounts as vulnerable to, or participating in, foreign influence operations. The reports include information regarding @NickFuentes, @hodgetwins, @RealCandaceO, @TuckerCarlson, @jacksonhinklle, @IanCarrollShow, and @MarioNawfal just to name a few. They also collected polling and response data surrounding @joekent16jan19’s resignation from the administration. In another report, they argue that distrust surrounding Charlie Kirk’s assassination was mostly due to Americans falling for Russian, Iranian, and Pakistani propaganda networks. In that same Charlie Kirk report they state, "This represents an urgent national security threat... and demands a whole-of-government response on par with cyberattacks or terrorism." The internal comments attached to these reports are what stood out most. They talk about "going after" Fuentes, stating "undermining his Christian identity is probably a good Idea." They contemplate "getting" @MattWalshBlog or @michaeljknowles to publish on behalf of VFT. They suggest collaborating with NCRI, founded by Joel Finkelstein - a multi-million dollar organization that tracks "hate speech" on social media. Another internal comment weighs in on how they will advise politicians based on their data which also compiles info surrounding JD Vance's 2028 run: “There is definitely a way to use this in our favor: tell politicians that there are two wings of the party, they don’t overlap, the majority lies here, and this is where you should be if you want to get re-elected..." The documents also discuss: Burner profiles, burner ad accounts, AI-generated interview-style videos, audience personas, “troll content briefs”, engagement testing, and ideological audience segmentation. If you're wondering whether the White House is actually listening to VFT... It's worth reviewing the White House's latest 16-page Counterterrorism Strategy touted by Gorka. More to follow.