Eliot Sumner
eliotsumner.bsky.social
Eliot Sumner
@eliotsumner.bsky.social
870 followers 1.9K following 40 posts
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." -James Baldwin
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3/3 Reaffirming the ideology shifts this from plausible to implausible deniability. The "denial" (and attacking the journalist) isn't meant to be believed; it's an assertion of power & contempt for accountability.

My essay decodes the playbook. It's strategy, not just memes write.as/eliot-sumner...
The Official Digital Authoritarian Aesthetic: Traditionalist Ideals in a Futurist Code
When Vice President JD Vance recently defended racist texts from a Republican group chat, he didn't engage with the content. Instead, he ...
write.as
Thank you for being clear about this, Congressman. I wrote an essay analyzing that social media strategy, I hope it will help people understand what they’re seeing; check out my pinned post.
I wrote an essay decoding the aesthetic; check out my pinned post
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
It’s fun to contrast dhs’ ultra fash nostalgia aesthetics on social with the reality that you would find higher fitness standards in a spin class on the upper east side
3/3 Reaffirming the ideology shifts this from plausible to implausible deniability. The "denial" (and attacking the journalist) isn't meant to be believed; it's an assertion of power & contempt for accountability.

My essay decodes the playbook. It's strategy, not just memes write.as/eliot-sumner...
The Official Digital Authoritarian Aesthetic: Traditionalist Ideals in a Futurist Code
When Vice President JD Vance recently defended racist texts from a Republican group chat, he didn't engage with the content. Instead, he ...
write.as
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
The so-called Homeland Security Secretary is a corrupt and malignant fraud.

This video she sanctioned is fake.

Manipulated by cowards who hide behind masks while violating the law.
2/3 When Mother Jones asked DHS if they knew the source, they explained the tweet by invoking "cultural decline," a "horde of foreign invaders," and daughters "raped and murdered by illegal aliens."

This wasn't a classic deflection; it was a restatement of the ideology. bsky.app/profile/anna...
🧵 1/3 A key tactic of the Official Digital Authoritarian Aesthetic is plausible deniability: using coded language or irony so extremism can be dismissed if called out.

But what if the signal is this blatant? The reference here is undeniable. 👇
DHS is recruiting using a not-so-subtle reference to a 1978 book from white nationalist William Gayley Simpson, Which Way Western Man?

Simpson's book was released under an imprint associated with the National Alliance, founded by Turner Diaries author William Luther Pierce.
3/3 The affirmation is a shift from plausible to implausible deniability. The "denial" (and attacking the journalist) isn't meant to be believed; it's an assertion of power & contempt for accountability.

My essay decodes the broader playbook. It's strategy, not just memes. write.as/eliot-sumner...
The Official Digital Authoritarian Aesthetic: Traditionalist Ideals in a Futurist Code
When Vice President JD Vance recently defended racist texts from a Republican group chat, he didn't engage with the content. Instead, he ...
write.as
3/3 The affirmation is a shift from plausible to implausible deniability. The "denial" (and attacking the critic) isn't meant to be believed; it's an assertion of power & contempt for accountability.

My essay decodes the broader playbook. It's strategy, not just memes. write.as/eliot-sumner...
The Official Digital Authoritarian Aesthetic: Traditionalist Ideals in a Futurist Code
When Vice President JD Vance recently defended racist texts from a Republican group chat, he didn't engage with the content. Instead, he ...
write.as
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
DHS is recruiting using a not-so-subtle reference to a 1978 book from white nationalist William Gayley Simpson, Which Way Western Man?

Simpson's book was released under an imprint associated with the National Alliance, founded by Turner Diaries author William Luther Pierce.
3/3 This isn't random. It's a coordinated strategy.

My essay provides the broader context for this playbook: where this aesthetic comes from, its international parallels, and what its ultimate goals are:

write.as/eliot-sumner...
The Official Digital Authoritarian Aesthetic: Traditionalist Ideals in a Futurist Code
When Vice President JD Vance recently defended racist texts from a Republican group chat, he didn't engage with the content. Instead, he ...
write.as
2/3 Pay attention to the language. It’s not just disagreement.

When an Asst DHS Sec says a reporter is "carrying water for criminals" or the agency sarcastically says, "you should be thanking us", it’s a specific tactic of intimidation.
🧵 1/3 My new essay explains the playbook for the "Official Digital Authoritarian Aesthetic" how government accounts use aggressive, coded language and visuals:

write.as/eliot-sumner...

Watch what’s happening in Chicago, as DHS accounts single out local journalists.
The DHS Twitter has been tagging and calling out a local journalist writing on immigration in Chicago. Local journalists covering what’s happening need continual support especially as they write these important stories.
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
DHS to Chicago Tribune reporter @lauranrodriguez.bsky.social, "have you even said thank you". 🤦‍♂️
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
good morning! Block every US government account! Don't follow, definitely don't reply or repost them. They are not here in good faith, and have already said they're here partly to find "visa violations".
white house has joined bluesky
click here to block all official us government accounts instantly

bsky.app/profile/did:...
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
The DHS Twitter has been tagging and calling out a local journalist writing on immigration in Chicago. Local journalists covering what’s happening need continual support especially as they write these important stories.
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
New York Young Republican Club announced that Gavin Wax, its former president and later chairman, is stepping down. Wax has been at the center of a furious war among the online right over who was behind a series of leaked chats showing prominent Young Republicans praising Hitler, using racial slurs.
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
This should be an Iran-Contra level scandal and I don’t even know if it will make the front page in this news environment
This story is extraordinary even by 2025 standards. Marco Rubio, the nation's top diplomat, made a deal with Bukele and agreed to renege on informant agreements in a years-long DOJ investigation into MS-13, totally undercutting credibility of such agreements.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
Rubio promised to betray U.S. informants to get Trump’s El Salvador prison deal
To secure U.S. access to President Nayib Bukele’s notorious CECOT prison, Rubio agreed to turn over several MS-13 leaders central to a long-running Justice Department investigation.
www.washingtonpost.com
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
This man is being Gorilla Channel'd with a rotating selection of AI slop riot porn by several known white supremacists who are secretly running the government.
Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
World War 2 veterans, the original antifa, took part in the nationwide protests against the fascist Trump regime. #3E #NoKings #50501Movement #indivisible #wearetheflood
Reposted by Eliot Sumner
New from me: let’s disrupt the notion that Kirk was just a guy with an opinion: he was a poised and well funded part of the GOP’s political machinery to win power and suppress your rights, including your access to free speech, which they are currently doing in Kirk’s name.
The notion that Kirk was simply a conservative misunderstands why he entered public debates—and why they worked as political theater.

@shaneburley.bsky.social on the deep connections between Trump's government and Turning Point’s campus outreach.
Charlie Kirk and the Free Speech Hoax
The Right doesn't really care about free speech, and their reaction to the murder of Charlie Kirk proves it.
inthesetimes.com