What actually happened to Greenwald? I mean, he’s obviously lost his mind, and he’s been going down the right-wing conspiracy rabbit hole for years, but how did he get there? What bizarre side-tunnel on the left took him to the right?
I remember reading True Believer by Eric Hoffer ages ago and for some reason that book comes to mind when I think of people that were seemingly on the left, but somewhere, they took a dark turn and/or they become unwitting (or witting?) agents of outfits like Russia. Let’s see:
Greenwald, Sinema, Stein, Tulsi Gabbard, Taibbi, RFK jr, Marianne Williamson, Naomi Wolf…
Wow, I just realized that each of those people give me the same impression: They all remind me of the various types of Russian trolls one might meet online.
- You’ve got the “Fox News favorites,” the Democrats who constantly appear on right-wing media to denigrate other Democrats and reassure their viewers that everything Fox says is true.
- Then there’s the “Pac-Man right-wingers,” the ones who present themselves as so far to the left that they’ve done the Pac-Man thing and looped from the left side of the screen to the right.
- And finally there’s the “Look at me, I’m crazy” types, the ones who pretend to be absurd caricatures of the left, expressing exaggerated, straw-man versions Democratic positions as if they’re the real thing.
Most Russian trolls online are designed to convince conservatives in America of various insane “facts” about Democrats, and they use various tactics to do it. The majority of the troll accounts pretend to be American conservatives and spread intentional disinformation and misinformation, but some try to play the role of people on the left, to convince conservatives that the left is insane.
And every name on your list reminds me of those trolls.
The Naomi Wolf thing is just so strange - when someone first mentioned it, I was not even quite willing to believe it. I do wonder if something legit happens to someone’s brain as they get older and complete nonsense sets in. It also might be that a certain type of woman is prone to feeling alienated as they age - meaning: women that were exceptionally attractive when they were younger (like Naomi Wolf) may have a lot to deal with as they age, and find that people may not cater to them as much as they had before and this is a rude awakening, I’m sure…some men may deal with this too, I dunno - thinking Charles in Charge and Kirk Cameron.
And looking in on this again, it looks like Naomi Klein was getting confused with her “doppelganger” so much that she ended up writing a book about it that only recently came out?
Yup. Though Taibbi is even far more tragic, IMHO, as I found his insights and writing style far more interesting than Greenwald ever was.
Maybe someone got their hooks into Taibbi during all that time he spent in Russia. He always gets salty when anyone suggests this, but…
Many reasons, including deciding that Trans folks are delusional and fake and taking up more than their fair share of attention. But at the core of it I suspect that it’s a desire to stay relevant and make money in the media world, and the easiest way to do that is to buddy up to the far right assholes of the world. Just a guess though.
Good article on it here:
It’s very simple. Catering to the right wing nut jobs brings a lot of attention, which for someone like Greenwald, means money. Especially for a former “lefty”. It’s a naked grift.
It’s an easy, successful grift. Look at someone similar like Dave “why I left the left” Rubin. He’s not half as smart nor is he half as talented as Greenwald, and yet even he can pull it off. It does have pitfalls, though. Rubin has been struggling since he and his husband had those two children via surrogacy.
I mostly just feel sad watching Dave Rubin talk to people who clearly afford him 0 actual respect.
The look on his face when he just has to casually pretend that it’s just a “difference of opinion” when people treat him like garbage to his face is hard to stomach.
He’s getting paid and serving their purposes. He’s actively harming his own community, so I know I shouldn’t afford him much sympathy. Still feels bad to watch though.
I get why it’s hard not to empathize with him, but you shouldn’t. He’s making serious bank doing awful things. If you haven’t, you should take a look at his house sometime.
https://media.zenfs.com/en/variety.com/00ca8607c51fc1917e84c77d01dd6c38
