Twitter Files authors Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger testified before Congress yesterday on their findings while writing the Twitter Files.

Ed and John both had posts on the events yesterday so you should read their takes on what was said and done, as well as some new information Taibbi put out yesterday. There is so much information to digest that I have been putting off writing anything myself, although once I form more coherent opinions I will no doubt spew them out for your edification. Maybe I will do a VIP post or two.

I didn’t watch the hearings from beginning to end yet but caught a bunch of clips where Democrats embarrassed themselves mightily.

They probably aren’t embarrassed at all, come to think about it, because they achieved what they wanted to I think: keep their base whipped up and feeling attacked for having to face a fact or two. Few politicians of any ideology are terribly concerned with facts, but in recent years it seems as if Democrats went from indifference to fact to engaging in an all-out war with them.

The basic line Democrats took against the revelations from the Twitter Files is that Taibbi, Bari Weiss, and Michael Shellenberger were engaged in a conspiracy with Elon Musk to deceive the American people, get rich, and perhaps engage in a polycule. No kidding–one Congresscritter asked if Matt, Michael, and Bari were a “threesome.”

With a straight face, Congresswoman Garcia asked if Taibbi, Shellenberger & Bari Weiss are in a threesome. 🤣pic.twitter.com/t9rkEM1npA

— TexasLindsay™ (@TexasLindsay_) March 9, 2023

Yeah, whatever. Pretty weak tea, that one. But the star of the Democrat show was Stacey Plaskett, who herself isn’t even a full-fledged Congresscritter, but a representative to the Congress from the Virgin Islands. She proved a couple of things with her performance: she is whip-smart, and she is a budding tyrant.

You’ll have to watch her performance to decide whether I am being too generous, but any fair evaluation of the various performances of the members shows that nobody else on the Democrat side had a tenth of her ability (put in the service of an evil cause). As for the latter contention, I give you this:

Chairman Jordan called before us two witnesses who pose a direct threat to anyone who opposes them.

— Rep. Stacey Plaskett (@StaceyPlaskett) March 9, 2023

A direct threat. Two journalists. Testifying before Congress. About the government’s interference with people exercising free speech–including the suppression of information that the government knew to be factually correct.

At a House hearing on the Twitter Files, Democratic Rep. Stacey Plaskett declares that witnesses @mtaibbi and @ShellenbergerMD "pose a direct threat to people who oppose them."

Plaskett, in reality, is threatening and smearing two journalists for exposing censorship. pic.twitter.com/ofNSwBPsmM

— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) March 9, 2023

How big a threat? She actually means a physical threat to Congress. Because she puts this in the same category as Kevin McCarthy’s release of the surveillance tapes of the Capitol riot, which dangerously reveals that the Capitol building has both halls and rooms. Democrats claim that revealing this information, closely guarded until now, puts the physical safety of Congress at risk.

This is the new Republican playbook, apparently – risk Americans’ safety and security to score political points.

— Rep. Stacey Plaskett (@StaceyPlaskett) March 9, 2023

“Risk Americans’ safety and security to score political points.”

That is what Stacey Plaskett claims allowing two journalists to testify before Congress about matters already public and widely discussed amounts to.

Democrats claim that they are simply fighting misinformation, but if this isn’t a classic example of fearmongering propaganda then I don’t know what would be. Plaskett literally shouted down Jim Jordan multiple times during the hearing in order to lie. Which, you would think, puts the lie to my claim that she was the smartest Democrat in the room.

another heated exchanged between Jim Jordan and Plaskett pic.twitter.com/oSMqSg5cYK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 9, 2023

On the contrary. Given the determination to discredit Taibbi and Shellenberger, it was the smartest strategy by far. While other Democrats looked like unprepared dunces, Plaskett followed a strategy that has actually worked for Democrats of late: stoke fear and confusion.

Nobody following this story would be persuaded by either side because we already have strong opinions. The performance wasn’t for us, but for the vaguely informed who just want to get a vibe about what they should think. Plaskett put everything into the Narrative that has been working, which is that there is a violent MAGA crowd just waiting to kill every decent person in America.

Anybody who knows Taibbi–a center-left award-winning journalist with decades of experience–knows he is not MAGA. Bari Weiss is a center-left lesbian who worked for the New York Times. Shellenberger is a Democrat who ran for governor of California, although he is a centrist as well. None of them is remotely violent or MAGA.

But those facts are irrelevant to the “vibe” crowd, who just want a signal of what opinion to have. Plaskett gave it to them: these are violent, dangerous people who “pose a direct threat to anyone who opposes them.”

This is straight out of the fascist playbook, of course. And it works for Democrats with their base.