A GOP Staffer Crowdsourced A Resolution From A Conspiracy Subreddit

[octoberlib]

AUTHOR: ASHLEY FEINBERGASHLEY FEINBERG
SECURITY
07.28.1704:14 PM


THIS PAST WEDNESDAY, a group of Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee presented an amendment calling for an investigation into alleged misconduct on the parts of Hillary Clinton and James Comey. It was a way to frustrate Democrats, but, more than that, it provided an opportunity to publicly discuss their very favorite thing: the many bygone misdeeds of Crooked Hillary. The amendment may sound to some readers like it's been ripped out of a conspiracy forum, because that's exactly what happened.

Sponsored by first-term Representative Matt Gaetz (R-Florida), the amendment itself sought to hijack what began as a resolution from Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) asking for information about Comey's firing. In response to Jayapal's proposal, Gaetz and a few fellow Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee effectively replaced the Democrats' resolution with one of their own. The new amendment (which you can read in its entirety here) asks for an investigation into things like "the propriety and consequence of immunity deals given to possible Hillary Clinton co-conspirators" and "James B. Comey’s refusal to investigate then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton regarding" a number of matters, including many of which may have come directly from r/The_Donald.

Thursday night, three Twitter users discovered that a staffer for one of the resolution’s sponsors attempted to crowdsource a number of the resolution's salient points from r/The_Donald, a subreddit notorious for playing host to unfounded conspiracy theories and anti-Islam tendencies. In other words, not a conventional source of legislative inspiration.

"If the purpose of oversight investigations is to get to the truth," one longtime legislative staffer explained, "then using baseless conspiracies as your starting point is completely counterproductive to a direct investigation."


https://www.wired.com/story/republican-staffer-the-donald-resolution/?mbid=social_twitter_onsiteshare



This is wild.

[elehhhhna]

1. Wth?

[oxbow]

2. GOP is becoming the party of paranoid conspiracy theorists

Their Legislation comes from Reddit, their presidential announcements are courtesy of infowars, and their climate change science from oil companies. The fact-free GOP is in full effect, so good luck arguing with THAT sort of fundamentalism...