How Real People Get Pulled Into A Psychological Operation
A Series on Misinformation, Disinformation and Subterfuge
From time to time I feature normal people that are on the periphery of my investigation into online extremism and the networks that support them. This article features one I found interesting, that frequently interacts with Andrew McGimspey, the deeply abusive supremacist operating the Max Nordau account, and participated in the brigading campaign, perhaps unwittingly, targeting Rebekah Jones.
This matching avatar account to Matt Donovan’s QAnon account, StickInMyMind came up in a recent batch search when relooking at the Rebekah Jones Op. Note in the Chirpty, this account interacts frequently with Andrew McGimpsey’s Max Nordau account seen to the upper left. Christina Pushaw, the foreign agent that primarily directed that Op, is seen in the second circle (blue couch, below and to the left) while Matt Shapiro’s PoliticalMath (Calvin and Hobbes) and Elon Musk (to the left of Matt) are in the outer loop.
There are a ton of rightwing personalities and politicos on this Christy wheel, with Cernovich and Glen Greenwald both on the second ring, and Andy Ngo on the third. This account describes itself correctly as both a data scientist and a recovering lawyer. He is also using his real name, Carter Sibley.
Looking through the tweet history, the account tweeted infrequently, a couple dozen tweets per year for 2012-2014. There were two tweets 2015, one 2016, then a gap before one 2019 tweet. From mid-2020 the account began to tweet more regularly. Here is one, responding to known leftist Op Chad Loder during the summer when the account owner went more active online, likely due to shut downs over COVID.
And here later jumping into a secondary thread linking Chad Loder in regarding the same Austin, Texas incident where a man was shot after an armed man drove his car into a street protest, rolled down his window shot, rolled up his window then fled the scene.
Loder isn’t the only Op this Californian interacts with. Humorously, Andrew McGimpsey who lies that he is a Floridian, and Carter whom interacts periodically with Andrew’s Max Nordau account, ran this schtick after the Alabama Walker versus Warnock debate earlier this month.
Going back to the Rebekah Jones Op, Carter gets himself involved, perhaps innocently not being one of the paid social media influencer operatives conducting brigading attacks on Jones under Christina Pushaw, and earned a block within this thread pushing Charles C. W. Cooke’s May 17, 2021 disinformation piece, written specifically to discredit, defame and abuse Rebekah Jones.
In the replies, known Ops that have worked continuously to search out any content regarding Jones amplify Carter’s comments.
Andrew McGimpsey screen-grabbed that interaction, specifically to harass Jones continually with, throwing it up promptly. The Cranky Reid banter is something the Ops repeat all the time. It isn’t clear though, whether Carter is in on the scam these others are pulling or unwittingly walked in.
Damin Toell above and Dan Goldwasser also use their actual names when brigading frequently engaged in the continuing Rebekah Jones Op. Both commented.
Then on the date Remi Barrette offlined Rebekah Jones via console, another gaggle of brigading tweets were created.
Jones was banned by Remi Barrette, who was running the same Project Birmingham scheme Yonder did to manipulate the 2017 Alabama Special Election. What Carter is doing, an ableist slur attacking mental health defaming Jones, is exactly the behavior repeated over and over by the network of bad actors surrounding Christina Pushaw. Again it is unclear how his defamation, calling Jones ‘crazy’ resulted. Was it because of the constant lies others like McGimpsey and Pushaw?
Here he responds to Christina Pushaw, amping up the defamation. Note Pushaw’s lie, pushing the central conspiracy she, Andrew McGimpsey, Susan Portnoy and Remi Barrette manufactured to frame Jones, the bot buying lie patterned after Yonder’s Birmingham Project.
Jones wasn’t banned for ‘fraud’ as Carter opined. Carter is correct though, the platform he worked with until 2020, with no further employment history mentioned beyond that point, is dominated by people using that to power their ideological goals.
In the quote-tweet, Dr. Eric Feingl-Ding is one of the most reputable voices on COVID along with Dr. Peter Hotez. It’s unsurprising to see Christina Pushaw-ing such lies and defamation. Carter participated in the same manner as others I have noted in previous articles, here searching out and ‘wedging’ someone over Rebekah Jones.
In order for Carter to even see the above tweet, he would have had to keyword search for it. Unlike others Pushaw, Redfern and McGimpsey co-follow, the grunts with keyboards brigading social media to harass people, this was a one-time behavior. Dr. Sands also said this, “@GovRonDeSantis has a LOT of abusive bots who go after anyone taking the side of @GEORebekah.” Carter responded, noting that many people doing this are real people.
These exchanges are excellent examples of how regular people can be pulled into an ongoing psychological operation. While it isn’t clear whether Carter is in on Pushaw’s campaign, he has clearly joined the brigading on occasion while also likely using keyword search to find someone making a comment using Jones’ handle.
Here is one more interesting interaction regarding Rebekah Jones.
The huge rightwing influencer account they are referring to was restored. Jones in fact, did not buy followers.
It’s well past time to restore Rebekah Jones’s account, inauthentically removed by conspirator0, Remi Barrette, running a conspiracy to fool the public, with Susan Portnoy, Andrew McGimpsey and foreign agent Christina Pushaw.
Here is the kicker though.
While one would expect Carter to be followed by the “key three” Ops, Redfern, Pushaw and “Max Nordau,” given his attacks on Rebekah Jones, seeing Yonder’s “Unhinged British witch” in his follows caught me off guard.
He likely became mutually followed with Mensch, February 26 of this year where he put out an opinion the US should leave NATO if Ukraine entered, opposing her insistence NATO should put in Ukraine (which would lead the US to direct war).
Here is a more recent thread regarding Elon Musk purchasing Twitter, a deal going through likely this week.
More likely the platform tilts further right under Musk, increasing the disinformation campaigns Mensch, Yonder, and other groups are already conducting on American people, even pushing some to join in the brigading, and generally causing trauma. Normal people, not the socks and bots, will become less and less interested in the platform.