Tom Cook

I will not give this user a quote tweet because dehumanizing engagement doesn't deserve amplification. Jennica (Datarepublican) deceives her audience, telling them what they want to hear instead of the truth. @braverangels is the only place I have ever worked where I have been able to be entirely clear and direct about my conservatism compared, including when I worked on Republican campaigns and for a socially conservative advocacy organization, because in all of those places, there was someone I couldn't contradict or sacred ideas I couldn't challenge. In Braver Angels, I get to share my conservative ideas freely and fully, without fear of being fired or canceled, even though many have tried. It is that freedom I get to advocate for everyone else to experience, and that freedom that pushes me out of my bubble and into direct, healthy conflict with all kinds of ideas, policies, and beliefs that I hate. Braver Angels collaborates with everyone and anyone as long as they are willing to speak freely and fully and disagree accurately and respectfully. I oppose DEI (promotion based on things other than merit), as a quick scroll of my feed will demonstrate. I am a staunch conservative who believes that we should elevate truth tellers like .@benshapiro, not people who make false claims. Even in her DOGE thread days, Jennica often made claims of control and intent that were not at all borne out. You can't follow, say $10M from one organization through 16 other organizations, and then say the one organization at the top is controlling all of them. When we receive grants, there are never partisan strings attached. Ever. I have fought with both Red and Blue-leaning organizations to ensure that the benchmarks we are tied to are only about culture change. We do not track votes, and we explicitly say that bipartisanship is not depolarization. I think everyone should be conservative, and I work with progressives who think everyone should be progressive. We know exactly where we agree (that we should remain Americans who love our neighbors and our enemies, and that we have fewer enemies among other Americans than we imagine) and disagree, and there is enormous trust in those relationships as a result, even as we advocate for opposite policies outside of Braver Angels. Tuesday, I argued with a colleague about mandatory vaccination during COVID, and then we hugged and joked together on our way out the door. This is the pluralistic culture that Braver Angels envisions and is seeking to create, and that's why we talk and collaborate with everyone. If you want to argue with your friends about politics and keep them as your close friends, you should join @braverangels, too.

🚨🧵 THREAD: Braver Angels says they're bipartisan and just bringing people together. Their own leadership coordinates with an anti-Trump political infrastructure network.🚨 This thread is not about BA's members. Many are sincere, and I thank @wilksopinion and @JohnRWoodJr for communicating with me. This is about the infrastructure steering them: IMIP. On August 18, 2025, Harry Boyte, a former Democratic Socialists of America board member, YES, that DSA announced Maury Giles' new role as Braver Angels CEO on video and their shift in strategy from depolarization to civic action: "David has put together a featured plenary at the National Conference on Citizenship... which will be a launch of a new stage for Braver Angels that some of us have been working on for a while." IMIP is the Inter-Movement Impact Project. It coordinates BA's strategic direction. Its own May 2025 document quotes David Brooks approvingly: "Short term: Stop Trump. Foil his efforts. Pile on the lawsuits." Braver Angels' members are bipartisan. Their leadership is adjacent to anti-Trump infrastructure. This thread has all the receipts. As always, patience as I pull together the thread.👇