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If you want to understand Donald Trump as a political actor, Jennifer Mercieca's book "Demagogue for President" (Salon interview here) remains the clearest, most illuminating explanation. But if you want to understand the larger story in which Trump plays a part however large he may still loom at the moment thenFrancesca Bolla Tripodi's new book"The Propagandists' Playbook: How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy" offers a stark and clarifying picture of how Trump's political stage was constructed in the first place, and how that project may continue into the indefinite future, with or without Trump.

Tripodi's subtitle calls attention to the central role of algorithmic manipulations in today's media environment, but her account is informed by history as well as her own ethnographic observations, so recent high-tech manipulations are situated in a much deeper and broader context. In 2017, Tripodi writes, she set out "to understand how conservative voters sought out information they felt they could trust. ... My goal was to better understand how Trump voters made sense of the contemporary news environment and how search engine optimization might play a role."

To research this, Tripodi immersed herself in with two representative groups in Virginia. "I had no intention of studying extremism," she writes. "I had no idea that the way information is tagged and categorized would take me into a media ecosystem fueled by conspiratorial logic. I did not expect the content in which I immersed myself to influence my own mindset, and I certainly did not expect to witness the violence of the Unite the Right rally."

She was, in short, greatly surprised by what she found: "Quite frankly, I did not realize how bad it already was, how bad it still could get, and how vulnerable we all are, myself included."

Yet there's a sure-footed quality to "The Propagandists' Playbook." However covert, sweeping and powerful the manipulations Tripodi explores may be, they do not disorient her account, and they need not disorient the rest of us either with the help of her clear-eyed analysis. The book is organized as a set of seven "steps," and I chose largely to follow the chapter-to-chapter thread for clarity's sake in my conversation with her, which has been edited for clarity and length.

You organize "The Propagandists' Playbook" in a set of seven steps, and the first one is a commandment to "Know your audience." In that chapter you describe "the five F's of conservatism." What led you to that formulation, and what are they?

This book is based on research. I'm an ethnographic researcher, and I did months of research and interviews and content analysis of the news and information that people rely on. So I used grounded theory to identify pertinent themes and trends, and then based on those category I created this construct of the five F's of conservatism. I asked people to describe what they mean by "conservatism," and their definitions centered around these concepts over and over again, and these concepts were also central to the news and information that they were reading. So the five F's that I describe are faith, family, the armed forces which constitutes the military and the police firearms and a free market.

The second step is: "Build a network." As you describe it, this network has a long history, going back to the early days of radio, but only moved beyond radio in the 1980s and '90s as a result of the rise of televangelism and Reagan era deregulation, including repeal of the Fairness Doctrine. First of all, what is this network like today?

What's really important about understanding the network of right-wing information is that it's not just in one space. There's a lot of great research that looks at television or at ways that news and information travels online or thinks about YouTube or social media. What I demonstrate in in my book is that these are highly interconnected forms of information, and that this has been going on for some time. Things that they write about in their news coverage or in books they would talk about on radio, and then that became television, and because they had a lot of practice at building this network, adding the layer of internet information was not too challenging. So it looks a lot like what it looked like since it started, with the exception that they have adapted to the ways that people get news and information in the 21st century.

Second, you studied the network through immersion in it, and you identified what you called two central conspiracy theories as a result.

Right-wing media's two central conspiracy theories: "Those on the left are increasingly intolerant, scary, dangerous and disruptive," and "the media works in tandem with the left ... and cannot be trusted."

One is that the left is dangerous that those on the left are increasingly intolerant, scary, dangerous and disruptive to society. The other is that the media works in tandem with the left, and as a result the traditional media cannot be trusted. What's fascinating is these are also not new conspiracies. I show in my book how these notions of media distrust have been around since conservative media started, but the fear of the left being increasingly dangerous was really focused and emphasized in the 1960s, during the civil rights movement.

The third step is to "Engage in their form of media literacy," which you describe as founded in "scriptural inference." What does that mean, and why is it so central to how conservatives make sense of the world?

One thing I think is really important about my book is showing that conservatism is not just a worldview, it's also a media practice. Specifically, it's a form of media practice that leverages individual interpretation and emphasizes direct engagement with the literature. And whether that be the Bible or the Constitution or the Federalist Papers, or the memo that Trump released when he was being impeached the first time his memo with [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy this call to engage directly in the text is really rooted in the Protestant Reformation, specifically the Protestantism formed within the United States, which was about elevating individual interpretation in favor of an expert telling you what to do.

This form of media literacy, this way of interacting and engaging with the media is also the way conservative media talk to their audience. They don't just say, "Trust us, we know what we're doing." They actually activate this form of active inquiry, they utilize hermeneutical methods in their newscasts. You'll see this as a regular strategy that Tucker Carlson plays out. He'll put the quotes behind him that he wants people to focus on, and they leverage that form of media literacy. That's so important because it's different from the way other people, including progressives, engage with the media.

Step four is "Understand how information flows," and step five is "Set the traps." These are clearly closely connected, as you write that "Conservative elites leverage a niche understanding of SEO strategies and methodologies to maximize the exposure of conservative brands, causes, and content." I'd like to ask about two specific examples you describe, and what they show us about the general strategies. The first involves Nellie Ohr, who was used to portray Trump as a victim of an attempted Democratic coup. What happened there, and what general strategies were involved?

Nellie Ohr is a great example of what I describe as "keyword curation" and "strategic signaling." The first part of understanding how information flows is not exclusive to conservative content creators. It's a basic understanding of how algorithms work, and what's important about that is to recognize that inputs your keywords are driving the output that any search engine's going to bring back to you.

How didNellie Ohr, the wife of an obscure Justice Department official, become a "curated keyword" used to "perpetuate a conspiracy theory about an attempted coup" against Donald Trump?

So "Nellie Ohr" was this curated keyword that was adopted and essentially created leading up to and during Trump's first impeachment. Keyword curation works by relying on what scholars refer to as a data void: When little to nothing currently exists online, that hole or that gap can be easily filled with other content. Nellie Ohr is the wife of Bruce Ohr, who was a Department of Justice official at the time of Trump's impeachment. But because she worked at Fusion GPS and Fusion GPS was behind the now clearly poorly-researched dossier they created this whole narrative that the impeachment surrounding Trump's desire to have Ukraine interfere with the 2020 election was a way of unseating this president who was rightfully in power.

So a series of articles were written about Nellie Ohr, exclusively within the right-wing media ecosystem, and they all linked back to each other. A lot of them used the same copied-and-pasted text and made the same allegations, and then those same allegations were then covered by more mainstream outlets like Fox News. So during the impeachment trial, Rep. Devin Nunes used his time in his opening remarks to say, "We shouldn't be paying attention to this what we should be paying attention to is Nellie Ohr." By activating this phrase, people were like, "Who is Nellie Ohr?" Then you go to Google and search for Nellie Ohr and the only thing returned is these conservative information systems that are perpetuating this conspiracy theory about an attempted coup to take out the president.

Could you say a bit more about the creation of data voids? I think that's a concept people are not generally aware of.

This comes out of Microsoft research: The notion of data voids is that sometimes there's not much existing on the internet around a subject or phrase. So data voids can get filled for a variety of reasons. Some of them can be filled by news coverage, for example. When a mass shooting happened in Sutherland Springs, Texas, no one had ever written about that town, and it was essentially a void: a Zillow listing and information about the population. So these voids, especially when there's a news event, are really ripe for bad information, because people are trying to get things out as quickly as possible and mistakes can happen. So that's one way a void gets filled.

The other way that voids get created and filled we see this a lot in advertising is that if you're trying to sell a product, you want to create a name for a product that doesn't already exist. Otherwise, if people search for your product, they're going to get the more established product. So they're taking this concept from advertising and applying it to news. So the data void is tied to problematic information in that if nothing exists online, it's easy to fill it with a bunch of information, especially if you have an already existing network of content creators.

The second example I'd like to ask about is the pushback against Black Lives Matter, which was a process in several steps. What happened there?

Black Lives Matter was the creation of activists who were trying to demonstrate the unfair treatment of Black people in the United States, in particular when it comes to crime and policing. What's fascinating is that you can see, using Google Trends data, that a way to respond to Black Lives Matter was to create alternative hashtags that could compete with it. So after #BlackLivesMatter rises you see the creation of #AllLivesMatter, which was trying to use this colorblind concept that everyone's equal so all lives should matter, not "just Black lives." Then that turned into #BlueLivesMatter, a catchphrase created to support the police and the armed forces, and not only did that activate the five forces of conservatism, but it also began to trend, it became a quick response to #BlackLivesMatter. We can see that it was created in response, because #BlueLivesMatter didn't exist before #BlackLivesMatter, according to Google Trends.

What did that creation sequence prove or demonstrate? You draw some conclusions could you talk about the insights you gained from observing that?

A lot of times people will say, "This has nothing to do with #BlackLivesMatter, this is just talking about how these lives also matter." What you can see from the data is that if this was not a response to something, then it would have been created simultaneously with, or even before, the Black Lives Matter hashtag. The fact that it was lifted off the "lives matter" mantra and then appropriated for various groups activated those terms again whenever a Black person was killed by police. They were showing up very clearly in response to Black Lives Matter hashtags following extreme instances of police violence toward a Black person.

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This example of appropriation makes me think back to something else you wrote about. Another example was how "feminism" tags were used to spread conservative ideas, and that conservative sites often ranked higher in searches for "feminism" than liberal ones. What was going on there?

So that's looking at YouTube videos. I was trying to answer the question, "Don't people on the left also do the same thing as people on the right?" That's a great question, an important one. In order to answer that, I worked with a data scientist: He wrote a script and we looked at the top 10 content producers on YouTube from the left and the top 10 on the right. So we looked at the channels of people with millions of followers, and his script looked at how the content creators were tagging their content. So this wasn't how YouTube was tagging their content, it was about how the creators themselves were tagging their content.

Tags are important, because algorithms aren't people: They read in tags, they read in metadata. The tag is important because it helps an algorithm attach significance to content. It says, "Oh, you're looking for 'feminism'? Oh, this says 'feminism' this is a match."

We found that content creators on the left had no idea how tagging worked, and they used very literal or strategic tagging. ... But PragerU had more videos tagged as "feminism" than as "conservative."

What we found when we looked at conservative content creators and progressive content creators is that content creators on the left had no idea how tagging worked, and they used very literal or strategic tagging, I guess you'd call it. They'd have these very literal tags that described what their content was. But conservative content creators recognize, "Well, some people might be looking for this stuff, and if we're trying to push back against theses ideas, we need to also tag our content this way." Prager University, for example, which runs a conservative YouTube channel, has more videos tagged as "feminism" than tagged as "conservative." This demonstrates that they just have a more nuanced understanding of how keywords and tagging work than content creators on the left.

I asked about that because it seemed parallel to the appropriation of the "X lives matter" theme.

Absolutely. We didn't look at that tag specifically, "Black lives matter" or "Blue lives matter," but the appropriation of keywords taking a concept that doesn't actually belong to you, but you're pretending that it does through metadata, then your content is going to be associated with that tag, even if it has absolutely nothing to do with that tag.

Step six is "Make old ideas seem new," which is particularly focused on how discredited racist ideas have been reintroduced. That adds another dimension to what we've just been talking about. Then step seven is "Close the loop." You describe the example of PragerU videos: "By providing textual evidence out of context, these videos invite conservatives to think critically about lines of text provided, but not question the broader cultural narrative in which those texts were created and now exist." How does that apply to the example you explore of how conservatives have subverted Martin Luther King Jr.'s message?

Conservative content creators have galvanized around a single phrase lifted from the "I Have a Dream" speech that allows them to take all of Martin Luther King's work out of context.

A huge number of conservative content creators have galvanized around the phrase lifted from the "I Have a Dream" speech, that King had a dream that his children would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. So by focusing in on this one very specific line, it allows these political elites whether that be media pundits or politicians to take all of Martin Luther King's work out of context. King very much advocated for civil rights under the notion that Black people were not being treated equally in the United States, and I find it interesting that he's now being used as an example of conservative embodiment, when at the time he was classified as a Communist threat and was monitored by the FBI as a potential domestic terrorist. It's a classic example of taking one line and pretending it means something that it does not.

How does this fit into the framework of "closing the loop?" What do you mean by that, and what does it tell us?

So the "loop," I think, is two things. One of the things I describe in the last chapter to close it all together is the cyclical nature of these narratives about outside agitators and radical leftists, which have been around for a very long time. I show how this well-worn path of disinformation has been flowing through this information landscape for the last hundred years.

The other thing I talk about is what I refer to as the IKEA effect of disinformation. Business scholars have found that when people put together low-quality furniture on their own, they're more likely to value it, and think that it's better quality than it actually is. The same tangible, do-it-yourself quality of saying, "Well, don't trust us, go online and Google it for yourself" or "DuckDuckGo it yourself," whichever one they're saying activates audiences to take part in this scavenger hunt, not really recognizing that because of the keywords that have been provided to them, specific returns are going to be provided to them, and that these have been written and vetted by those who are telling them to go out and do it themselves. So this is how the loop actually closes, and why it's all interconnected.

Finally, what's the most important question I didn't ask, and what's the answer?

One thing I'm worried about is that people will say, "Well, this is why I don't go to Google," as if it's their fault. While Google has its issues, I'm not a techno-apologist it's definitely selling our data, there's problems with the platform the information-seeking process, whether we go through Google or whatever search engine you choose, is ultimately going to return us largely the same information if we aren't critical about the keywords we start with. So one thing I think we need to be more mindful of is not thinking the fix is going to come from tech companies, but rather thinking about how the fix is contingent on different social interactions with these search engines.

So that's a message for consumers, but also for progressive producers.

Sure. People will say, "Isn't this happening on the left?" And I would say, "Sure, it could." Anyone can use search engine optimization. But it isn't, based on the data I have. It isn't happening to the same capacity. And then, part two is to be mindful. That was my dedication: "To the information seekers everywhere: be mindful where the journey leads." I think a lot of people go, "Be wary of what you're seeing on Facebook" or "Be careful of what you're seeing on Twitter" or "Don't trust what you're seeing on TikTok." So a lot of people will see things, and then go, "Oh, let me go find out." Then they'll take these same concepts and they'll go to Google, and often what's returned to them is the same bad content they saw on Facebook, Twitter or TikTok.

So if you're just kind of input-in/input-out, taking these same ideas and just searching for them, without really recognizing how that works or understanding that search engines aren't neutral arbiters of truth if you're trying to make sure you're getting the right information, you need to take a little more time in assessing the quality of your sources, and you need to understand that Google is not a helpful librarian.

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from Paul Rosenberg on the ideas behind the news

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How the right is winning the hashtag wars and how progressives can fight back - Salon

After a recent drive-by shooting in Dignowity Hill, residents took their fear and frustrations to Eddie Martinez.

Martinez, president of the neighborhood association, said they wanted more cops patrolling their near East Side community to counter a rise in violent crime. Their city councilman, Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, agreed. He said the Police Department should send officers where theyre most needed.

Yet McKee-Rodriguez also is councils most ardent opponent of increasing the size of San Antonios police force.

For some Dignowity Hill residents, thats a problem.

I know thats frustrating to a lot of individuals who live in the neighborhood who do want police presence, Martinez said.

Assistant City Manager David McCary, left, speaks with District 2 Councilperson Jalen McKee-Rodriguez, right, during the fourth public meeting regarding the Brackenridge Park Project at the Witte Museum in San Antonio on June 14, 2022.

McKee-Rodriguez wants to channel tax dollars to social services instead of hiring more police officers to attack the roots of crime.

How much money the city spends on law enforcement is just one hot-button issue brought forth by a group of first-term City Council members who may be the most liberal in recent memory.

Mario Bravo in the downtown and near North Side District 1, McKee-Rodriguez in the East Side District 2 and Teri Castillo in the near West Side District 5 were elected last year as an assumed new voting coalition, although Bravo has since taken a back seat.

Their image, often combative, may alienate some voters. Others say it makes sense that neighborhoods home to some of the citys poorest, long-neglected residents want to see bold new politicians who will break with the status quo.

Disagreement can be good, Castillo said. Thats important for folks to observe.

McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo represent a shift in their communities. Past voters in District 2 produced one of the citys most conservative mayors in modern history in Ivy Taylor. Those in District 5 supported a business-friendly agenda in former Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales.

The two new council members are part of a national wave of progressive elected officials who resemble Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Austins Greg Casar, a former councilman whos running as a Democrat for Congress. Voters placed them in office partly in response to growing income inequality and an authoritarian shift in GOP politics that crystallized under former President Donald Trump.

On ExpressNews.com: You need more law enforcement: San Antonio City Council splits over how best to cut crime

More than halfway through their first terms, their presence so far has not shifted their colleagues to the left. But they can count some wins. They tend to gain support for classic liberal goals, such as protecting abortion access.

By bringing issues such as law enforcement resources to council, other members are forced to take a public stance they may otherwise have not, McKee-Rodriguez said.

Martinez is personally glad to see his council member seek solutions to crime outside the Police Department. But he recognizes others have a different reality.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg, right, talks with District 1 Council member Mario Bravo during City of San Antonio first budget goal-setting session of the year at the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, Wednesday, April 13, 2022.

I think its well-intentioned, but we have to triangulate with whats happening in the community, Martinez said.

In one of councils more high-profile votes this year, the trio stuck together in voting no on the police union contract with the city, saying new reforms to discipline were necessary but didnt go far enough. They wanted to see a more independent civilian review board and to remove a provision allowing officers to use vacation days instead of unpaid suspension.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio police union contract approved by City Council over some community calls to try again

In raising those issues, council members echoed calls from ACT 4 SA, which consists of former organizers behind San Antonios Proposition B. The proposition called for stripping the police union of its right to collectively bargain with the city. It was narrowly defeated.

All three said their vote was about police accountability. But District 3 Councilwoman Phyllis Viagran, who represents the South Side, said their votes pointed toward a larger goal.

District 5 City Councilwoman Teri Castillo speaks during a press conference announcing a march organized by All of Us or None Texas and other partnering organizations held outside the Bexar County Courthouse in San Antonio, Texas, on Jan. 8, 2022. The march will be held on March 19 and aims to mobilize communities impacted by mass incarceration to show up and vote in 2022.

I dont understand how my council colleagues are gonna go back out into the community and explain how a vote no wasnt a vote to defund, Viagran said at the time.

Her comment was followed by shouts from community members who showed up at council chambers to ask for changes. Tension in the room was palpable as activists said those who supported the new contract didnt have the same political willpower as Bravo, McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo.

But its not always the same three in sync.

Bravo doesnt vote with McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo as often as some political analysts assumed. His District 1 predecessor, Roberto Trevio, was also a liberal member. While Bravo was seen early on as someone who could bolster an assertive left wing of council, he hasnt proved to be the firebrand voice the other two provide.

Instead, District 7 Councilwoman Ana Sandoval often joins the so-called progressive ranks. District 10 Councilman Clayton Perry, known as the lone conservative on council, also votes with the progressives regularly.

City Councilwoman Teri Castillo listens to Texas Poet Laureate Dr. Carmen Tafolla during a Cassiano Park event Sunday afternoon to commemorate the 83rd anniversary of the Pecan Shellers Strike.

Most council members make a show of pushing for infrastructure needs such as roads and drainage. When McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo advocate for the essentials, they make it about equity.

The pair represent low-income communities that see little business investment and few city services such as street repairs.

The East Side has more miles of F streets, or city roads in the worst condition, than any other district. McKee-Rodriguez asked for a different formula in how the city distributes road repair funds, one that would make a larger dent in the streets of his district.

He may soon be able to claim the change as a victory in the upcoming city budget.

The West Side often bears the brunt of code enforcement complaints. Castillo secured money in last years budget for a pilot program to repair aging homes at risk of city demolition orders, which could keep affected homeowners in place.

Still, these urban neighborhoods battle new development and rising property values that threaten to force out longtime residents.

It follows that those districts would elect more progressive council representatives, said Christian Anderson, a political consultant.

I think in those communities it makes perfect sense for them to elect council members based off this urgent shift in the community, Anderson said. And its certainly energized longtime residents to take an interest they hadnt in the past.

At the same time, gentrification has accelerated. Younger, more liberal voters may have replaced some longtime voters.

From council chambers, McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo focus on those poorer neighborhoods.

Both voted down a rate hike from city-owned utility CPS Energy this year. McKee-Rodriguez said a $5 per month increase in bills would push many of his constituents over the edge. Castillo said the timing of a rate hike was wrong and would burden low-income households.

The vote allowed the liberal council members to showcase a stand for their communities facing poverty and record-high inflation. It likely also satisfied younger, more liberal voters who have demanded action on climate change from CPS, such as the closure of the coal-fired J.K. Spruce power plant.

If council had said no to the rate increase, they could have gained leverage to make more changes at the utility, Castillo said. Her comments again mirrored those of activists.

The two council members comments show them seeing themselves as playing a larger role reforming CPS and not bowing to its business needs.

District 1 Councilperson Mario Bravo talks with attendees following the fourth public meeting regarding the Brackenridge Park Project at the Witte Museum in San Antonio, TX, on June 14, 2022.

While nonpartisan in name, council is composed mostly of Democrats. They tend to be more liberal than past council members, Anderson said. But many are still moderate and often take pro-business and pro-development stances.

The disagreements lead to political skirmishes once considered rare in San Antonio.

McKee-Rodriguez clashed with District 8 Councilman Manny Pelez when Pelez introduced a proposal to create a permanent cite-and-release program limited to marijuana arrests. Local activists and supporters of McKee-Rodriguez said it undercut their efforts to push for a more expansive program.

On ExpressNews.com: Four-year battle: San Antonio activists say proposal to reduce marijuana arrests isnt enough

McKee-Rodriguez had been preparing his own proposal on the subject, one that would have covered other low-level offenses such as graffiti, driving with an invalid license and theft. Pelez didnt support adding those to the program, and he moved on with his own version. He said council should still do what it can by including marijuana arrests. Activists working with McKee-Rodriguez said it made their goals less likely to become reality.

Such spats have increased in frequency.

Council this month passed a mostly symbolic resolution in support of abortion access. The rowdy meeting saw jeers from public speakers on both sides of the debate but by the end, it was McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo who scoffed at Pelez for his vote.

Pelez said no to the resolution after emphasizing the work hes done to support womens rights. He said the city needs access to abortion but that the resolution wasnt strong enough to make a difference.

Castillo, who drafted the resolution and felt San Antonio had to do what it could to send a message about abortion rights, derided Pelez.

I appreciate the mansplaining, Castillo said. And I also understand how as a straight male, you dont understand the impact this resolution will have on and for individuals who can carry a child.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg cut her speech off shortly after, when Castillo referred to Pelez as homie.

Relationships among council members and city staff are often key to accomplishing goals. Despite their clashes, McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo said they have worked to build rapport with colleagues and find common ground.

But some colleagues are frustrated that policy proposals arent realistic.

That may include McKee-Rodriguezs arguably most unique and consequential ask that the city establish a new office employed by criminologists who will re-envision San Antonios response to crime. It has languished amid bureaucratic delays.

Nirenberg has not introduced the proposal fast enough to make it into councils ongoing budget talks. Officials have instead turned to an academic study of the Police Department.

When voters elected McKee-Rodriguez and Castillo, they knew that on some level it may be harder for them to achieve results.

Their voters elected them knowing they would be working against the status quo, Anderson said.

During a first council term, a members votes are important. They show their direction and morals.

But as they move forward, they will have to create results and deliver on issues, Anderson said.

megan.stringer@express-news.net

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Progressive lawmakers in S.A.: What have they accomplished? - San Antonio Express-News

New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer appears set to gain another ally in his ongoing effort to undermine Democratic priorities on taxation and social welfare spending. Absent a rapid consolidation by progressive elements in the district, that ally, Long Island congressional candidate Joshua Lafazan, appears increasingly likely to win a hotly contested primary, where he has benefited from a fractured field, a lack of attention to his controversial record, and the last-minute support of a super PAC with ties to crypto interests.

Cryptocurrency billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried is spendingover half a million dollars through his political action committee aimed at pandemic prevention, Protect Our Future, to boost Lafazan in the run-up to the New York Democratic primary on Tuesday. The support from cryptocurrency interests, which Lafazan appears to have actively courted during his campaign and time in the Nassau County Legislature, giveshima financial advantageover a crowded field vying to replace retiring representative and failed gubernatorial candidate Tom Suozzi.

Voters in the 3rd District have a history of electing corporate-friendly Democrats. Suozzi, who has endorsed Lafazan, is considered one of the staunchest defenders of business interests in the caucus. But while Suozzi is a reliable defender of key Democratic priorities like firearm regulation, abortion rights, and LGBTQ+ protections, Lafazans history suggests there are few, if any, issues he is unwilling to compromise on in order to secure elected office.

That Lafazan has not rejected the sizable outside support raises further questions about his independence from corporate interests and conservative activists who have supported his prior runs for public office. Lafazan, who registered as a Democrat in order to run for Congress last year, has accepted the ballot line of a far-right New York political party in his last two runs for office and has long touted his close relationships with local business interests including a recent endorsement from corporate interest group No Labels, which worked to halt the passage of President Joe Bidens domestic agenda last year. Lafazan, who is presenting himself as a mainstream Democrat in his campaigns political advertisements, did not respond to multiple requests to comment for this story.

Lafazans apparent public auditioning for support from crypto kings began in March, when he self-published an op-ed extolling the technologys virtues. In it, he drew attention to legislation he introduced in the county legislature to create a task force charged with exploring how crypto can help bolster Nassaus economy and determining ways to attract crypto businesses to the county. That op-ed was followed by an announcement in June that his campaign would accept donations made via cryptocurrency, though it is unclear whether any donors have actually chosen to utilize the option.

Lafazans embrace of cryptocurrency interests is the latest episode in a political career marked by high-profile appeals to powerful interest groups. That record includes a questionable relationship with a local billionaire couple who provided a loan to Lafazan for college tuition while he pursued political office a relationship that is now the subject of a Federal Election Commission complaint by one of Lafazans opponents.

Lafazans political career started before he received his high school degree. As a senior, he ran for and won a seat on the Syosset County Board of Education in 2012, becoming the youngest elected officeholder in the state of New York. After reelection to another term in 2015, Lafazan rode the wave of anti-Trump sentiment to a seat in the Nassau County Legislature by defeating Republican incumbent Donald MacKenzie in 2017.

During his reelection bids in 2019 and 2021, Lafazan, who caucuses with the Democrats in the Naussau County Legislature, accepted the ballot line of the far-right Conservative Party, which touts extremist stances against gun control, abortion rights, criminal justice reforms, and a host of other issues. While Lafazan has distanced himself from the progressive Working Families Party, on whose ballot line he has also appeared, he defended his association with the Conservative Party earlier this year, telling local outlet City & State New York that the Conservative Partys two biggest priorities were taxes and substance abuse and they happen to agree with me on both of those issues. His continued alignment with the partys stances on taxes in particular signals that he is likely to continue courting corporate interests while in Congress.

Lafazan put even more distance between himself and the Democratic base following the uprisings over the murder of George Floyd. After declaring to a crowd of protesters that institutional racism is alive and well in this country, and in 2020, racism is alive and well in this county, Lafazan appeared to then reverse his position and curry favor with local police unions by supporting staunchly pro-police legislation that that sought to make law enforcement officers into a protected class andrestrict bystanders ability to record police interactions the following year.

Local leaders, including the NAACPs Long Island Regional Director Tracey Edwards, condemned Lafazans apparent opportunism in stark terms at a hearing for that legislation in August 2021. After recounting Lafazans words to Black Lives Matter protesters, Edwards expressed disbelief at Lafazans turnaround. Which legislator are you? she asked repeatedly.

Despite the considerable blemishes on Lafazans record, mainstream and progressive Democrats in the district appear poised to enable his election by failing to coalesce behind one of the three other candidates competing for the seat: Suffolk County Deputy Executive Jon Kaiman, Democratic National Committee member Robert Zimmerman, and progressive activist Melanie DArrigo.

No challenger is emerging as an ideal candidate to consolidate behind and overcome Lafazan, who has raised over $1.6 million in addition to his support from special interests. There is no public polling available to indicate which candidates are competitive, but fundraising records and endorsements indicate a two-man race between Lafazan and Zimmerman.

While DArrigo is the favorite of progressive organizations she has the endorsement of the Working Families Party her FECreports indicate that she is entering the final leg of the race with less than $30,000 on hand an amount far short of the resources necessary to mount a serious campaign. Kaiman, a moderate Democrat who entered the final stretch of the race with almost $200,000 on hand, has also lagged far beyond Lafazan in fundraising, bringing in only $600,000 over the course of the campaign. Zimmerman, who has never held an elected office, has managed to keep pace with Lafazan by raising $1.4 million, and his campaign began August with nearly half-a-million dollars on hand.

Despite holding elected office for the entirety of his adult life and his consistent appeals to conservative voters and business interests, Lafazan has deftly moved to position himself as an outsider with mainstream liberal positions in his bid for the Democratic nomination. Inarecent campaign advertisement, he ignores DArrigos candidacy and alleges that Kaiman and Zimmerman are career political insiders, and emphasizes his support for gun reform and abortion rights.

Zimmermans campaign manager, Evan Chernack, told The Intercept that their campaign is uniquely poised to consolidate the anti-Lafazan vote because his support comes from efforts to appeal to all corners of the party. While he has close relationships with the Democratic establishment, Zimmerman supports progressive priorities like Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. Robert is the only candidate in the race with overwhelming support from progressive activists, labor groups like the AFL-CIO and current and former party leaders like Hillary Clinton, Chernack said.

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With Progressives Split, Rep. Josh Gottheimer May Be Gaining a New Ally in Congress - The Intercept

By spending through an outside PAC rather than donating directly to the candidates campaigns, wealthy interests are able to spend unlimited sums of money under the Supreme Courts Citizens United decision rather than having to abide by the $7,500 contribution limit for a Senate primary. By law, the PACs have to remain independent and are not allowed to communicate with the candidates campaigns.

As of Tuesday, more than 85% of the outside spending on State Senate primaries had come from three groups:

The three PACs have already made their mark in some of the most-watched Democratic primaries, at least financially.

Take the 33rd District, where New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany has spent more than $540,000 on digital ads, direct mailers, phone banks, and polling in support of Camilo or opposing Rivera. Thats more than both candidates campaigns have spent, combined.

In the wide open 59th district in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, in just two days earlier this month, a real-estate PAC known as NYC Forward dropped $248,000 on ads and mailers supporting candidate Crowley about 73% of what her campaign has paid out since January, according to state records.

The NYC Forward ads have been heavily promoted on Facebook, YouTube, and other websites within the district.

The ads arent subtle. One 15-second video simply shows two men violently fighting on a city street. On screen, a message pops up We need to stop the attacks in the street, and start fighting for you as it cuts to an image of Crowley walking in the street and urges people to vote for her.

Another ad opens with the sound of a police scanner and a New York-accented voice saying, Shots fired. It criticizes the Defund the Police movement before suggesting Crowley will protect our streets and our rights, with the latter half being a reference to reproductive rights.

The digital ads were funded by $250,000 in contributions from five organizations, according to NYC Forwards state disclosures. Of those, $150,000 came from real estate interests $50,000 each from limited liability corporations associated with the Durst Organization, A&E Real Estate Holdings and REBNY. The remaining $100,000 came from the labor union District Council 9 and its parent organization, the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

Neither REBNY nor a representative for DC 9 returned a request for comment. Previously, a union representative told Spectrum News Crowley is a serious Democrat and highlighted that she began her career as a DC 9 painter.

In a statement, Crowley made clear the ads are not from her campaign. She said she is running on a campaign to protect a woman's right to choose, make our city more affordable, and reduce crime through smart investments in community programs, mental health, and addiction treatment."

This group does not speak for my campaign and it does not reflect the messaging my ads have paid for, she said. I do not condone the imagery nor content.

Crowleys main opponent isnt convinced.

Kristen Gonzalez is a progressive candidate and community organizer backed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She said the outside spending amounts to Crowley breaking her promise to reject real estate donations even though the money didnt go directly to Crowleys campaign.

I am incredibly concerned because it shows our communities cannot trust Crowley in a housing crisis to actually fight for Democrats and also fight for working-class New York, Gonzalez said in an interview.

Gonzalez has the backing of the left-leaning Working Families Party, which has been active in recruiting and supporting progressive-minded candidates. The party has been active on the ground, but so far hasnt put money into any independent expenditures as it did in the June primaries, when it spent about $400,000 on ads and mailers for a slate of Assembly candidates.

New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany, meanwhile, is backing outside spending efforts in favor of three candidates: Camilo in the Bronx, Sen. Kevin Parker in Brooklyn, and Angel Vasquez, who is challenging Sen. Robert Jackson in a district spanning upper Manhattan and a piece of the Bronx.

The PACs support is based on candidates who support the education reform movement including charter schools that is often opposed by the progressive left. The organization is closely aligned with StudentsFirstNY, an advocacy group for charter schools and school choice.

"New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany has a proud history of supporting candidates who advocate for education reform and parent choice, Crystal McQueen-Taylor, StudentsFirstNYs executive director, said in a statement. This years elections are critical for parents, and were proud to stand with our outstanding slate of candidates. We cant wait to see what they will bring to Albany.

Camilo who has the support of the Bronx Democratic Party is a supporter of charter schools, while Rivera has long been a critic. The 33rd District runs from Van Nest to Riverdale.

The pro-charter PACs major spending in support of Camilo has funded a blitz of social-media ads, which highlight Camilos background as the daughter of a bodega owner and as a lawyer who was once president of the Bronx Womens Bar Association. The only indication the ads are paid for by an outside group comes at the end, when a narrator makes clear they are funded by New Yorkers for a Balanced Albany.

Camilo said her support for charter schools is about expanding access to more quality education and opportunities for our youth, not about gaining a PACs support. Albany currently controls the number of charter schools that can open across the state. In April, advocates failed to convince the state Legislature to lift the cap on charter schools allowed across the state.

"While strong public schools remain essential to youth development and success, charter schools play a supportive role to our education system, giving families the right and the encouragement to decide on what's right for their children's academic planning and future," Camilo said in an email.

Rivera, like Gonzalez, is also backed by the Working Families Party.

While outside spending remains protected free speech in a post-Citizens United world, reformers are hopeful that a key change to the states campaign finance laws could help dull the impact of money in politics at the state level.

Starting after the 2022 elections, New York state will implement a program similar to New York Citys where donations of $250 and under to state-level political candidates will be matched with state funds at a 6-to-1 rate if the donation came from a New York state resident. The idea is to bolster the power of small donors, though critics say it amounts to a taxpayer handout.

This is really the boldest and most powerful response possible right now under the current Supreme Court's interpretation of the constitution to big money in politics after Citizens United, said Lee of the Brennan Center.

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Super PACs spend big on NY Senate races to hold off progressives - Gothamist

Yuh-Line Niou attends a rally for reproductive justice in Washington Square Park in New York City on August 13, 2022. (John Nacion / NurPhoto via AP)

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A down-on-his-luck New Yorker, anxious, a little street-worn, but in a fedora and a neat if very old suit, politely approached Yuh-Line Niou at Father Demo Square in Manhattans West Village last Sunday. I dont think he knew she was Assemblywoman Niou, or congressional candidate Niou. He knew we were two ladies on a park bench talking, and she seemed nice (maybe I didnt?). He asked her to buy him a slice of pizza at Joes across the street. She promised she would, as soon as she and I finished talking.

Niou kept her word. In the end, she bought me a slice of pizzafull disclosure, I missed lunch and had no cashand him two. But when we came back to the park, the man was missing, and her staff needed her to move onto other events. She held them off. Finally, the man in the hat showed up. He took the two slices of pizza with gratitude. Her staffers scooped her up and she went on to her next appointments, which apparently involved some call timedialing mostly for dollars, hours progressive candidates tend to hatebut then a karaoke bar in Brooklyn where she sang 9 to 5 by legendary queen, in her words, Dolly Parton.

The venue is not surprising: Niou has worked as a karaoke DJ, a bartender, an anti-poverty, anti-racism activist, chief of staff to the New York State Assemblys first Asian American member, Ron Kim, and then, surprising even herself, a candidate on her own. She won her race for the state assembly from a liberal but complicated Chinatown, Lower East Side, and Brooklyn district in the dispiriting year of 2016, and won it twice more. Vogue named her The New Face of Downtown Manhattans Political Scene. The New York Times endorsed her twice.

But in a crowded race for the Democratic nomination for the open 10th Congressional District seatthe election is next Tuesday, August 23the Times has been not been kind to Niou this year. The first slight was designating her merely a lesser known candidate in a headline about the news that the locally powerful Working Families Party endorsed her back in June. It merited a story, but the news value to the Times seemed to lie in the fact that she was lesser known. Niou got the paper to change the headline on its website, to drop lesser known and add her actual name.Related Article

Then came a joint Times profile, shared with New York City Council member Carlina Rivera, one of her closest ideological counterparts, which described the two progressive women of color as running surprisingly strong grassroots campaigns in a race of 12 candidates, including the self-funding Levi-Strauss heir, attorney Daniel Goldman, and well-funded Representative Mondaire Jones, a progressive Niou ally who moved into her home district to run against her after redistricting shifted the boundaries of his. It quoted only Rivera supporters, including an Asian American woman who specifically criticized Niou.

Finally, the Times endorsed Goldman, but the worst slight to Niou was that the papers endorsement didnt even mention her, or Rivera, despite the news sides describing them as competent, strong candidates with deep grassroots support, a little over a week before. Im used to being erased, she said.

The Times endorsement may well help Goldman, along with his wealth, despite his lack of political experience. But it also had the effect of galvanizing progressives, in anger. Niou teamed up with Jones at a press conference on Monday where they denounced Goldmanone of the Democrats impeachment lawyers and an MSNBC legal analystas a conservative trying to buy his seat, and urged district voters to choose Anyone But Goldman. Current Issue

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On one level, though, progressives should be angry at themselves. They failed to rally around one candidate, so that five politiciansNiou, Rivera, Jones, legendary former congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman and Assemblywoman JoAnn Simoncan all plausibly hunt progressive votes. In this district, there are many. But split five or more ways? Goldman likely wins. In a poll released Monday, he garnered 22 percent support, with Niou at 17, and Jones and Rivera both at 13.

Niou has one powerful asset, though: that endorsement by the WFP. The party chose her even though it had endorsed Jones in his first congressional run. Yes, we supported Mondaire in 2020. Hes been a tremendous member of Congress, said Sochie Nnaemeka, the local party head. But there are three candidates in the race that have represented these communities, she added, referencing Niou, Rivera, and Simon. WFP is committed, she said, to elevating candidates solidly based in the community.

Here, to be fair, I should note that Jones made his decision to move to the 10th district only after Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, moved into his. Maloney had his choice of two newly drawn districtsMaloneys was divided, with more Republican voters addedand chose to run in the safer Democratic district that mostly belonged to Jones. Such courage from the head of the DCCC! Jones could have kept his seat, and Niou, or potentially Rivera, or even Goldman, could have won the 10th. Two safe seats for the embattled Democratic House majority, or two safe seats for the states rising progressive majority. A victory for Democrats in either case.

But faced with having to defeat the partys fundraising maestro, Jones decamped to Brooklyn to run in the already crowded 10th.

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Before they teamed up against Goldman on Monday, in our Sunday conversation Niou lamented that Jones hadnt stayed in place to challenge the centrist rainmaker Maloney. I think he would have won. [Progressives] would have all galvanized behind him.

But Jones didnt, which leaves Nious left-wing supporters in a bind. Nnaemeka noted that the 10th district is one of the strongest in supporting WFP, as measured most recently by the partys push to get people to vote for Joe Biden on its ballot line (as I did). The 10th contains some of the strongest Working Families Party geographies in New York State, Nnaemaka said. In dense neighborhoods in Brooklyn, she said, upwards of 25 percent of 2020 general election voters voted for Biden/Harris on the WFP line.

Still, despite endorsing Niou, Nnaemeka would only say, We should align as progressives behind the strongest candidate, to defeat a self-funded, self-avowed moderate, in one of the most progressive districts in the country. Meaning Goldman. But when I asked her whether that meant WFP might try to get other progressives to drop out and endorse Niouthe party has some sway, since its backed Jones, Rivera, and Simon in the pastshe politely ducked the question.

Born in Taiwan, Niou mostly grew up in El Paso, Tex. She describes herself as a lifelong activist. At 12, she founded a group called Kids Helping Kids with some friends, to support children with cancer at a local hospital. Their fundraising strategy: collecting discarded cans and bottles and then turning them in for the recycling money. We were all out in the hot El Paso sun, scavenging for cans, but we only wound up collecting $60, she recalled with a laugh.

She graduated from Evergreen State College in Washington. At 22, she was diagnosed with autism. As a child, she says, I definitely knew there was something different. I didnt learn how to tie my shoes. Riding a bike, Im still bad at it. If you look at my report cards, you could tell: Straight As in all the subjects, an F in [physical education], and literally all the comments from teachers are like she doesnt talk in class, she doesnt want to do group projects. Im like: Mom and Dad, did you not think that maybe?

I think there was a lot of racism, too. People just assumed because I was Asian, I didnt speak English, she adds. And girls are diagnosed later in life. Women and girls learn to mask very well.

After college, she moved to Seattle. She describes one mentor, the late legendary civil rights activist Uncle Bob Santos, who with a multiracial team of allies taught her that oppressed communities shouldnt fight one another over the same piece of pie, we should fight for the whole pie. After a stint working for Washington state legislators, she moved to New York to get a masters degree in public administration at Baruch College, then went to work with Ron Kim.

In 2016, she ran for the seat vacated by the corrupt Democratic leader Sheldon Silver in a special election, and lost. Within months, she came back and won. Almost immediately she got attention for resisting then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, while he was at the top of his game. Niou voted against what she calls his austerity budgets, and made national news when she called him out for a $25,000-a-couple fundraiser where donors could also meet with budget director Rob Mericaduring a highly contentious budget season. It was a visual expression of corruption, she recalls. Cuomos top adviser then called Niou, and the two other assemblywomen who stood up with her, fucking idiots.

She has had 15 bills passed, her staff says, including establishing a hotline for sexual assault victims, and allowing hard-of-sight New Yorkers to opt to receive large text bills (Cuomo vetoed it, unbelievably; Governor Kathy Hochul signed it). Allies marvel that she was still able to get Covid relief to her hard-hit district even after falling out with the governorwho was soon to fall out himself. Niou was an early state leader demanding that Cuomo resign after sexual harassment and assault allegations surfaced. And resign he did. The fucking idiot outlasted him.

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The 10th Congressional District is 30 percent Asian. It puts together the two Chinatowns, Niou observes, the well-known hub in lower Manhattan plus Brooklyns Sunset Park (which also has a large Latino population). Roughly 20 percent of the district is Latino. Its also about 16 percent Jewish, which could be a hurdle for Niou: She hasnt denounced the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, and she has come out against moves, by the Trump State Department, the Cuomo administration, and others, to punish or withhold public funding from institutions or individuals who support BDS. I support the free speech rights of a nonviolent protest movement, she tells me. Its important to make sure people are able to fight for human rights issues. Some prominent Jewish advocacy groups insist that this means she supports BDS.

I point out to Niou that its possible to argue that the supporters of the BDS movement shouldnt themselves face sanctions, while also questioning, even opposing, the movement itselfand that she hasnt made that distinction herself.

I havent, she answered. Thats a good distinction that youre making. I think its a valid movement and needs to be heard. I found her answer evasive, to be honest. Its worth noting that Niou has said she would travel to Israel as a member of Congress. So shes clearly not boycotting.

Yuh-Line firmly believes in the right of Israel to exist and to defend itself, while supporting the consensus position that American taxpayer dollars should never be used to support violations of human rights, her campaign told me in a statement. While Yuh-Line has not personally participated in the BDS movement, she supports the free speech rights of BDS activists. At the same time, Yuh-Line does not agree with all of the BDS movements demands nor does she embrace all of its tactics. Thats a mouthful, but its a little different from saying she supports BDS, as in backs all of its stances and actions.

But that hasnt been enough to keep supporters from labeling her anti-Semitic. Which stings, she says.

I grew up in the Jewish community, in the Jewish Community Center of El Paso, Tex., she tells me. I was bullied as a kid, as a kid with a disability, and one of the only Asian kids. The Jewish community was the most welcoming to me, to my family, my little brother. I went to Jewish pre-kindergarten. Every year I went to a Jewish summer camp. As a teen, she went back as a counselor. Ive always seen the Jewish community as a safe haven.

While shes supported by the progressive local organization The Jewish Vote, the agitation over her BDS stance seems intended to make sure the Jewish community doesnt see her as a safe haven. Or electable.

Short of other progressives dropping out and rallying around her, Niou says shes counting on her army of roughly 1,000 volunteers, 600 of whom the campaign says are in the field every day, knocking doors and phone banking, to lift her to victory. Though she and Jones made common cause against Goldman at their Monday press conference, she also slightly tweaked the Mondaire-come-lately by saying that her estimated campaign volunteers are my neighbors, are my friends, are my family here in Lower Manhattan and in Brooklyn, won over by her six years representing the district. Which, by the way, is the only one, of all the other office holders, that completely, neatly fits inside the 10th CD.

Critics say Niou is too far to the left, and the progressive but center-moving Rivera might be a better choice for the left to rally around. But Rivera has made some moves to the center recently, and alienated progressives by taking a lot of real estate money. Still, she has the backing of SEIU 1099 and representatives Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Vasquez.

Niou is backed by not only the WFP but the Sunrise Movement, New York City public advocate Jumaane Williams, former gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, and many of her Assembly colleagues.

I should say here: I know and like Goldman, as a former MSNBC colleague. I think calling him conservative is a bit much. Hes a mainstream liberal, and hed probably be a fine congressperson. But in a majority-minority district, with an economically struggling majority whatever their race, but which nonetheless brackets in the West Village and Goldmans tony Tribeca neighborhood, I understand why 10th district progressives are outraged.

His admirers at the Times even acknowledged that Mr. Goldman would need to use his first term to convince the large numbers of lower-income and middle-class Americans he would represent that he understands the issues facing those constituents.

Seems like affirmative action for rich white guys to me. Goldman gets an extra two years to convince the large numbers of lower-income and middle-class Americans he understands them and can represent them?

The election is less than a week away, and the five top-polling candidates, including Goldman, Niou, Rivera, Jones, and Simon, face one another at a debate tonight. It will be interesting to see if progressives can get out of their own way, even at this late date, and unite behind one candidate. If they dont, its not inevitable Goldman will win. But its likely.

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Can Yuh-Line Niou Unite Fractured Progressives to Win a New York Congressional Seat? - The Nation