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John Gunn

@johngunn.bsky.social
974 followers 1.4K following 1.6K posts

Ideological irregular. Former country lawyer, Chairborne Infantryman, teacher, farm hand, etc. ABD (neoliberalism’s infestation of adult ed) with much of it drafted and personal projects aplenty. Auburn, Alabama mostly. Usual disclaimers. juntogunto.com

PostsRepliesMedia
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James Hell Brooks @kleinman.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
Probably a bad thing that the right can come up with a totally nonsense conspiracy theory about James Talarico and journalists have to spend valuable time 3 weeks before the election debunking it instead of covering Paxton actually going to Dubai with his mistress on a trip paid for by a criminal
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
UPDATE: Trump was asked what state Zacharia passed the bar exam. Trump deferred to Zacharia to answer. Zacharia said, "When I moved to China." Which makes absolutely no sense. She appears to waive away follow up questions. bsky.app/profile/atru...
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
1. Trump’s new White House press secretary, Katie Zacharia, says she is a lawyer. She has claimed to be a lawyer repeatedly on national TV, on podcasts, and on social media. But there is no evidence that Zacharia has ever been licensed to practice law.
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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 12/10/2026
NYT is explicitly using 2FA as a punishment to try to upsell existing subscribers.
NYT:
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Not now, I'll verify again later
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driftglass @driftglass.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Still out there peddling his vile "Both Sides" snake oil decades after the sell-by date on that lie expired. Still revered by the ossified media and treated as a sage by clueless, wealthy political shut-ins and cowards.
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driftglass @driftglass.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
"Jon Ossoff, my advice to him is, if you start calling your political opponents Nazis, maybe it's time to shut up. That's just not what we do here in this country." -- David Brooks, this evening. Remember, Brooks still gets very handsomely rewarded by the fossilized media for saying shit like this
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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 10/10/2026
Just Ted Cruz recirculating racist far right propaganda from a French white nationalist and disseminator of the great replacement bullshit theory.
Ted Cruz * @tedcruz• 1h
Wow. Everyone should WATCH this
Thaïs d'Escufon • @ThaisE... • 10/3/26
American an European friends,
I'm so ashamed, but you need to see what France has become....
eco-friendly, au lycee nelson
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Schooley @schooley.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Just another day in the Presidency as directed by Fellini.
Trump nodding, Susan Dell emoting.
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Judd Legum @juddlegum.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Corporations and billionaires don’t want you to know what political messages they are funding. That’s why they make the info so difficult to find. PaidForBy.info changes the game. It’s 100% free to use. Please check it out and spread the word!
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Dave Itzkoff @ditzkoff.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Oh brother.
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John Gunn @johngunn.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
How the Senior Advisor for the American Investor Initiative and a Research Fellow in the Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation writes of damage from neoliberal education ‘reforms’ but then goes off on DEI is par for his course. Mendenhall has … 1819news.com/news/item/al...
Mendenhall writes in part, “My own experience and the testimony of others suggest that students increasingly cannot read, and will not wrestle with, difficult texts. They were reared on the snippet: excerpts for books, test preparation for thought, credentials for learning, conformity for inquiry. Add the smartphone, that small glowing slot machine of the attention, and the mixture is combustible.”

As to being “reared on the snippet: excerpts for books, test preparation for thought, credentials for learning” that’s bedrock neoliberal education reform slop now going back decades. Yup, it’s the garbage asshats like Mendenhall have made a living pushing. His lack of self awareness on this isn’t a surprise.Mendenhall writes in part about how angry young men “inherited a schooling where the formation of the mind was swapped for therapy, DEI programming, and activism in pedagogical garb.” JG -  Nope. Or at least minimally so. It’s mostly about neoliberal education ‘reform’ in recent years. And I generally hold with critiques of what’s often labeled as DEI or such as being relatively bourgeois, a form of veneer or a shield to keep us away from confronting class, etc. Some of the same is applicable to ‘mindfulness’ or related approaches. Far too much is about squeezing more productivity and profits for the owners from the proles. There’s also greenwashing, performative posturing that’s usually safe, etc. Instead of teaching kids to be ‘woke’ or ‘activist’ our education system is, I’d submit, overwhelmingly about preparing them for market conformity, being consumers, limiting their view of options, etc. Mendenhall, as usual, has things exactly wrong.
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John Gunn @johngunn.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
🥹 My guess is Ernie ‘Raised on Rushdoony’ Yarbrough hasn’t read or understood these books, isn’t familiar with religious beliefs these figures held, etc. And 1819 ‘News’ is an agitprop site counting on its readers to not know better either. The situation with ‘conservatism’ is pathetic. Carry on.
Young Ernie, writing of a trip to Scotland he went on with none other than Dr. George Grant, writes, “… Inevitably on these trips, I find myself drawn to small rustic bookshops filled with diamonds from hundreds of years ago. My home office is well supplied with old treasures like Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" (late 1700s), a mid-1800s Bible larger than my lap, a first edition of Robert Burns' complete works (1800s), an early edition of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels (early 1800s), and Ethan Allen's first edition autobiographical sketch of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and his captivity under the British from 1814. …”

Regarding the book Ernie builds his article on, I’ve no time or inclination to dig deeper. I’m guessing it’s hardly reliable, stretched, etc. Might be interesting to try to root around on but …Image of article in 1819 ‘News’ from 2 OCT 26 titled ‘State Rep. Ernie Yarbrough: Cottage piety-recovering the greatness oflittle folk’
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James Hell Brooks @kleinman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
A forgotten media moment from earlier this year was that Olivia Reingold embedded with ICE agents in Minnesota and never wrote about what it was like because doing so would turn Free Press readers into No Kings marchers.
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UncleofJamiroquai @jessefarrar.com · 01/10/2026
It seems quaint now that we do all our banking and race science there, but, nevertheless, it's true: at one time, people mostly wrote jokes on Twitter. 10 years ago, I wrote one about an old asshole and it kinda changed my life. Not his, though. www.cnn.com/2026/10/01/u...
cnn.com
The tweet that defined a decade of Trump | CNN
It’s been 10 years since Jesse Farrar accidentally defined a political era with one pithy, prescient tweet. He wishes it never happened.
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
the democrats who put themselves in a panic over hasan piker are the same democrats who push the party to be anti trans, and a generation ago were the ones saying we cant oppose the war in iraq these people are never right they doom the party they hurt america stop listening to them
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Data center construction has migrated to places of low resistance: poor, often Black areas where corrupt deals are commonplace and the harms to residents invisible. Lowndes County, Alabama, in the heart of the Black Belt, is one of those places. 🧵 prospect.org/2026/10/01/d...
prospect.org
‘I Know I Couldn’t Live Here’: Standing Up to a Data Center in Alabama’s Black Belt - The American Prospect
Faced with little transparency about a mammoth facility, Lowndes County fights back.
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John Gunn @johngunn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
🥹 Lord have mercy, a collection of characters up in north Alabama have formed the New Trinity Foundation. Wanting to create a college. Their ‘Council of Reference’ has some real radicals including ‘Padlock’ Dawson of 1818 ‘News,’ George Grant, Ben Merkle and … www.newtrinityfoundation.org/about
newtrinityfoundation.org
Preparing the ground for a future institution
What is New Trinity Foundation? The New Trinity Foundation is not a college and does not offer instruction. We are a nonprofit organization working to establish a future Christian college of the scie...
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Brian Beutler @brianbeutler.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I don't think Katie Britt went slackjawed because she was mortified by Eric Schmitt's sloppiness. I think she (like all Republicans) knew the hearing was meant to generate propaganda and lawfare and she was crestfallen to see it come apart. Reporters should ask her if she knew the ambush was coming.
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Matthew Sheffield @matthew.flux.community · 30/09/2026
The core appeal of reactionary politics is hatred of competent and smart people who follow evidence rather than use it to support conclusions. A million incidents like this happen daily in academia and legal settings, and they're behind almost all right-wing "liberal bias" accusations.
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Jim Lokay @jimlokay.com · 29/09/2026
If you want to really know how the outrage machine gets fired up: 1. Schmitt plans to drop “bombshell” on Smith 2. Someone plants story that Schmitt is a Vance VP contender to run same day 3. Right-wing Twittersphere gets talking points 4. Schmitt steps in it 5. Scheduled tweets go out anyway
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Paul Blumenthal @paulblumenthal.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
When you're a former Senate chief of staff witnessing one of the great staff fuck-ups of all time
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Brian Lyman @brianlyman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
My column this week. Tommy Tuberville’s outburst about furries last week reflects a lack of discipline that could erode his financial and organizational advantages in the governor’s race. And if they don’t, they portend headaches for GOP lawmakers next year.
alabamareflector.com
Commentary: Alabama Republicans may have a Tommy Tuberville problem | Alabama Reflector
The Republican gubernatorial nominee can't seem to stick to a script. And if it doesn't cost him the election, it could make GOP legislators' lives difficult next year.
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JD Crowe @crowejam.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
www.al.com/politics/202... #furry #tuberville #bats#itcrazy
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Nobody Spatial @nobodyowens1.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This might be the first news story about 1819 that made me smile. Not sure how much it will curtail their propaganda, but maybe Bryan will have to take a pay cut. 😂 bsky.app/profile/al.c...
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AL.com @al.com · 25/09/2026
A Jefferson County jury today awarded $7 million in damages to Bruce Pettway, the brother of Sheriff Mark Pettway, in his lawsuit against 1819 News.
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John Gunn @johngunn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I feel this way about my regular reading of 1819 ‘News’ based here in Alabama. Listening to their founder, president, and CEO Bryan Dawson’s podcast will really callous up one’s brain. Then there’s also … down here. 🥹
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 22/09/2026
One of the things I love most about teaching freshman seminars in sociology is that I get to witness so many lightbulb moments in class--moments where students connect the dots and suddenly see new meaning in things that they've recognized but maybe not fully understood about the social world.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/09/2026
15/ ProPublica is revealing the existence of the case for the first time. We reviewed a trove of evidence gathered by the FBI and thousands of pages of legal records, and have independently corroborated much of Kao’s account. This is the first piece of an ongoing series:
propublica.org
The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way
After the FBI caught a defense contractor’s CEO making illegal campaign contributions, it sought to launch a sweeping political bribery probe involving Collins and others. Then the second Trump admini...
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 22/09/2026
Sen. Susan Collins helped steer millions in federal defense contracts to Navatek, whose CEO illegally funneled thousands of dollars to her campaign. The FBI sought to launch a probe and was eyeing Collins and other lawmakers. Then Trump gutted the unit in charge. THREAD 🧵
Martin Kao, CEO of defense contractor Navatek, poses next to Sen. Susan Collins for a photo. Collins is holding a model of a boat in her hands. Behind them is a large sign with the Navatek logo.
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Mark Jacob @markjacob.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The president of the White House Correspondents’ Association is Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich. She’s married to a Republican congressman, Brian Fitzpatrick. Expecting the WHCA to forcefully fight Trump’s ban on CNN, MSNOW and Politico is like expecting your goldfish to cook your dinner.
People mag photo of Heinrich and Fitzpatrick
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A.J. Bauer @ajbauer.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The only path forward is an openly antagonistic press. No more delicately navigating access. No more attending press conferences or avails. All investigation. All amplifying Trump admin defectors and detractors. Call out the bullshit. Stop being polite.
Trump truth social post: I am proud to announce that, effective immediately, I am banning Fake News CNN, MSNOW (who recently changed their name from MSNBC due to lack of viewership and credibility!), and Politico (The recipients of an illegal and ridiculous $8 Million Dollar subscription, an All Time Record, directly from the United States Government, under Crooked Joe Biden, in order to keep them “alive.” Seems like corruption to me!), from the White House as a result of their constant “reporting” FAKE NEWS! Media Outlets shouldn’t be able to constantly write or report FICTION and LIES when they’re covering the President of the United States, the Trump Administration, or the United States of America. Other Fake News Media Outlets to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
👇
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A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Same people who seem to think it’s bad for China to beat us at AI are perfectly fine with China beating us at high speed rail, solar energy, wind energy, shall we go on
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Friend shared this video of a man unveiling the library he hid when he fled Damascus in 2011. It’s incredible
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Josh Kaplan @josh-kaplan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Updates on our Don Jr/Russian oligarch story, with Oversight Dem launching an investigation and President Trump weighing in www.propublica.org/article/dona...
propublica.org
Top Oversight Dem Opens Investigation of Donald Trump Jr.’s Russian Oligarch-Funded Wedding
Rep. Robert Garcia said the revelations that Umar Kremlev had bankrolled the wedding raise “serious national security and public corruption concerns” and requested the president’s son provide financia...
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Justin Elliott @justinelliott.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
New: Donald Trump Jr.’s Bahamas Wedding Was Secretly Bankrolled by Russian Oligarch Close to Putin www.propublica.org/article/dona... w/ @josh-kaplan.bsky.social @amierjeski.bsky.social
propublica.org
Donald Trump Jr.’s Wedding Bankrolled by Putin-Linked Russian Oligarch
The oligarch, Umar Kremlev, spent hundreds of thousands on expenses like renting out a private island. He appears to have met Trump Jr. only recently, but he attended the intimate wedding with a large...
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HWH in Alabama @rufustfireflyal.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Why would former Alabama Governor Robert Riley’s political campaign account that hasn’t been active for 20 years make donations to Alabama Policy Institute and 1819 News? #alpolitics
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John Gunn @johngunn.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
🎁 article. Alabama’s Princess Bigmulia doing such as this doesn’t surprise. Tuberville is a true believer. A lazy and authentic know-it-all dumbass. Katie is conniving. A calculating performer. www.wsj.com/opinion/kati...
wsj.com
Opinion | One Senator’s Plea for Tariff Breaks
How protectionism works in practice: Public support, but seeking exemptions in private.
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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
(8/X) tough. For another, the Atlantic etc. will run a million articles about looking forward not backwards. There's just no way people will be prosecuted. Now let's go on to (c). Think about if for a bit. Most establishment media is essentially reactionary centrist in its outlook.
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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
(1/X) I more certain of the following than I am that the sun will tomorrow: (a) Trump will leave the US (and GOP) in shambles. (b) Neither Trump nor anyone who facilitated him will pay price. (c) Ppl who accurately predicted how bad Trump2 would be will continue to be portrayed as hysterical...
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Glad 60 Minutes is doing a Jacob Wohl story literally nine years after I reported on that guy. One time he was pretending a scam website he was running wasn't his, so I called the number on the website and it went to his mom's voicemail. Jacob is like training wheels for investigative journalists.
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Ahhhhh @nerdjpg.com · 12/09/2026
Two che’s in heaven
Ai slop heaven with two Che Guevara
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Ed BooOOooOOmila @edburmila.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
This is the "Charlie Brown had hoes" of the center now. You didn't experience this. It didn't happen. This wasn't real.
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Oliver Willis @owillis.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Literally every fucking election, except maybe 2 of my adult life
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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"If you had any initiative, you'd go out and inherit a department store." Herblock poking fun at Berry Goldwater's (R, AZ) upside-down values concerning poverty and welfare, Dec 1961. Goldwater had inherited a portion of his family's Phoenix grocery store when his father, Baron, died in 1929.
From the Library of Congress: "Editorial cartoon shows Barry Goldwater standing in front of a mother with her three children huddled together, sitting on the stoop of a partially opened door to a building in a slum neighborhood."
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Randall Stephens @randalljstephens.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"Barry had a little lamb..." Paul Conrad on GOP presidential frontrunner Barry Goldwater's far-right support from the John Birch Society and allied groups, August 1963.
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John Gunn @johngunn.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Apologies for 🔗 to 1819 ‘News’ site. However, this ‘un is so perfectly pathetic that I felt it necessary. A professional ‘conservative’ like Allen Mendenhall sustained for much of his entire career advancing corporate libertarianism touting Weaver seems beyond the pale. 1819news.com/news/item/al...
1819news.com
Allen Mendenhall: To understand conservatism, read Richard Weaver |…
Richard Weaver was, of course, one voice among many in the postwar conservative revival: Russell Kirk supplied the canon, William F. Buckley Jr. supplied…
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Edward Wong @ewong.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
NEW: Nate Hochman was fired from the DeSantis campaign in 2023 after promoting a video with the Sonnenrad, a Nazi symbol embraced by white supremacists. He now works in Rubio's State Department, as deputy director of policy planning and chief speechwriter. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/06/u...
nytimes.com
For Fired DeSantis Campaign Staff Member, a Second Chance at State Dept. (Gift Article)
The hiring of Nate Hochman, who lost his job amid an uproar over a video containing a Nazi symbol, underscores the administration’s willingness to overlook past transgressions.
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John Gunn @johngunn.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Hate-reading Alabama’s 1819 ‘News’ isn’t something I do every day. Still, it’s reliably ridiculous. Here’s a goose asking for “one factually documented example of a successful socialist endeavor where that country is thriving” who is back up in north Alabama where TVA is. And Dawkins has worked in …
Op-ed in 1819 ‘News’ from guy with bio reading, “Bob Dawkins is a retired Master Chief from the Special Operations community (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) of the Navy. He has 23 years of experience as a government contractor supporting DOD, DOS, DHS and DOJ contracts. He is also adjunct professor for American Military University and Sonoran Desert Institute. Born and raised in Alabama, he returned to his home state in 2015 to support a contract on Redstone Arsenal.”

Relevant text, 

“3. Give me one factually documented example of a successful socialist endeavor where that country is thriving. My answer: No one can.

4. Do life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness equate to "Medicare for all"? My answer: No, we can’t have a champagne appetite on a beer drinker’s budget. …”

As for that ‘beer drinker’s budget, I’m always interested in how much money is poured into the ‘defense’ budget. To me, that’s a good place to trim fat.
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John Gunn @johngunn.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I’m fascinated by how the likes of ‘Padlock’ Dawson and ‘Flattop Phil’ Williams will go up on podcasts and the like where they say stuff that seems better left off the record. Here’s Phil admitting he’d submitted paperwork for US Attorney gig in July of 25. Guy continued ‘conservative’ gig on CNN.
Flattop Phil Williams up on an 1819 ‘News’ podcast with fellow traveler and the absolutely unfettered extremist Bryan ‘Padlock’ Dawson in early September 2026. Relevant text reads, “I submitted my first round of paperwork on June 1 of '25. I spoke to my staff for the first time on June 1 of '26.”Mediate article from August 21, 2025 where Williams defends something Stephen ‘Hatemonger’ Miller said.
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