I’ve talked before about the political power of cutting across cultural expectations. Some people like Black conservatives for this reason. I like redneck liberals, and southern satirists. Here’s another example of the genre.
Ryan McBeth is a YouTuber on national security and disinformation. He has all the signifiers that right-wing fanboys love: 20 years in the Army, lots of flags and badges, cigars and camo, and exciting videos about missiles. He appears on right-wing media like NewsMax.
But McBeth shoots down disinformation for a living. And most of that comes from the right. He went viral recently for defending gay service members from conservative attacks (“If that’s gay,” he said of the Navy, “we need more gay.”)
In this example (link below), he proves how two of the worst liars on the Internet distorted a picture of Kamala Harris standing with American soldiers. The only “problem” with the photo is that most of the soldiers are Black and/or female. MAGA hates that, because they hate diversity and want a white male hierarchy.
In the first half of his video, McBeth’s does a meticulous cyber-investigation proving that Jack Posobiec—the moron behind Pizzagate—is generating this racist propaganda. (The proof turns out to be his Polish keyboard!) And also that the notorious account Libs of TikTok worked in secret to spread the garbage.
But after he’s done cyber-sleuthing, McBeth goes further. These bigoted liars aren’t just dumb, or partisan political hacks. They are “domestic destabilization operatives.” They are insulting soldiers and hurting America, for money, for laughs, for votes. But even worse, these nitwit liars are actively pushing Russia’s “state-sponsored propaganda” that our military is weak and woke. They are destabilizing America, on purpose, and helping our enemies.
It’s worth quoting his conclusion at length:
“I want to make something clear to every disinformation operative out there, foreign or domestic. America is not intimidated. We are at war on the information dominance battlefield, and we will not retreat, because we understand the damage you inflict on the innocent….The truth will prevail. Your legacy will be one of failure and shame.”
Sources
Ryan McBeth:
Jack Posobiec, who called for the “end of democracy” at the Conservative Political Action Conference:
Way to McBeth! Love that he used his time, smarts and experience to dig deep and share his findings with the world.