16 Comments

Seth, I'm a long time follower on your twitter feed and appreciate the work you have done. I've read 2 of the 3 Proof books. I think overall you are excellent at surfacing news sources that report on often overlooked aspects of stories in mainstream media, especially with Trump. However, I have to say, I often find you often place confidence in your ability to make connections between different data points in these stories that is unwarranted. There are times I have thought that when reading your books; some connections seem to rely too much on your interpretation when other explanations are also possible, or at least, the connections cannot be known. I think this article is a particularly egregious example. I was able to look at Beck's facebook posts, as you have, and am unable to make the connections that you seem to find. It is obvious from reading his posts that he is delusional, and has bought into a wide array of conspiracy theories, including about Trump being able to hold onto power after the election. He seems to have thought at one point that Pence was going to count the votes in favor of Trump and even that on the 20th (even after Biden was confirmed on the 6th) somehow Trump was going to remain in office. These are theories that even my mother thought would happen. However, I see no indication that he supported or seemed to imply that violent demonstrations would be a part of any theory he espoused. The post from the priest you point to as evidence that he "openly endorsed violent seditious conduct" requires a lot of assumptions. There are other explanations that are also more likely. For one, the quote you take from the video may not even be the part that he was supporting in the video when he posted it with "Warning from Rome priest... look for truth!" Much of the video is conspiracy theories about free masons (this has been around for ages) and theories about Covid-19. He could have posted it with those things in mind, and the line about "taking to the streets" may not have even been a part of his espousal. It's a big jump to make that claim based on that one post. The post about the 1871 nonsense is even less reliable to claim that it was connected to Beck's thoughts about supporting the riots on the 6th. It seems to be what he thinks of the current troops being stationed there post-Jan. 6. It's nonsense to be sure, but it just looks to me the same type of Qanon junk that recallibrates with new theories when reality forces them to give up previous ideas. With the Parkes video, again i think it is a big jump to him posting the video "this is good intel!" and pulling out the paragraph you quote as evidence that Beck supported or had foreknowledge of the riots on the 6th. It seems that another more likely explanation is that, with that particular section of the video, he is thinking of Trump revealing a bunch on intel that implicates congress (Qanon cabal maybe?) and they are "processed"--meaning they are indicted or arrested for crimes. Beck alludes to this line of thinking in some comments on some other of his facebook posts. Again, he's delusional, but I don't think it implies anything about his support or foreknowledge of anything to do with the riots on the 6th. If anything, we can say he expected Pence to refuse to count votes for Biden or that congress would oppose the electors--but nothing you put in your article is evidence that he expected or supported the riots. It is an even bigger leap to claim that it is evidence that the meeting at Trump D.C. hotel was among people who planned jump or had foreknowledge of the riots that happened the next day. Though he certainly seems to expect something to happen at the capitol to keep Biden from being confirmed, but I think it has more to do with the Pence theory than the riots. The reason I respond like this is because I do think your reporting on the meeting at the Trump D.C. hotel is something that needs to be looked into. I just don't think this article based on Beck's facebook posts is helpful and it might even discredit your other good reporting. Also, as a journalist, why didn't you contact Beck and ask him about *before* you published it? Wouldn't it be good to hear from him, instead of just interpreting on your own? I do see you tried to contact him on his facebook post afterwards. I do hope he responds, but even if he doesn't, I think you might owe him an apology. Your interpretation of his facebook posts and what it means about his espousal of violent overthrow of the government is not really fair. It's bizarre to me that you say, of all the reporting you've done, that this is "the biggest story you've done." I also think, after listening to your discussion of meta-journalism and meta-modernism on your PROOF podcast, that maybe your idea that the data points of a particular story may be so abundant that they kind of connect themselves or make the narrative easy to see (I may be misunderstanding here) is a bit over confident. We always have to interpret and put things together, and, in this case, you seem eager to see a story that is not warranted by the evidence you site.

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What's terrifying to me are all of these unhinged conspiracy theorists so close to the levers of power. Just reading your excerpts alone, I felt like I was beginning to lose it. Trump was desperate, and towards the end it's clear he had started buying into this nonsense.

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I've known for some time that Stone, Flynn, Ezra, as well as Trump sycophants Cruz, Gaetz and others were going to stir up the base( that they created with "Q"), but this is nuts...WHY are these people not being rounded up?.. Immediately? They are a clear and present danger.

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I’ve admired your work for some time, Seth. Sorry it took me so long to subscribe but this article shook me to the core. Keep up the great work.

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Thank you for your hard work , Seth!

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Could it be possible that textwire or another tech company associated with QAnon were the ones responsible for the Solarwinds hack?

8kun is back on line with the help of a Russian internet firm.

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What a load BS your spewing. It’s all going to come back and bite you in the arse in the near future you freaking disgusting liar.

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U mentioned our crazed super majority in one of these about Beck's -- thought this would be a good way to show y'all what it's like living behind enemy lines as a DEM in SE Idaho

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/opinion/columns/idiocracy-overrules-sanity-among-idaho-s-gop-legislators/article_2ca68081-b18d-54c4-80bb-5c79bab85595.html

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absolutely chilling! Thanks for keeping us informed.

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This is absolutely horrifying and I just don't understand why it isn't all over the news. Thank you for putting in the tremendous amount of time and effort required to bring this to light. Other than RT how are ways we can help get this disseminated?

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Which of the 45 Senators (who don’t want an impeachment trail) were in the loop with all of this ...

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