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Get this! Mike Johnson is now claiming — with no evidence whatsoever — that Donald Trump once served as an FBI informant to help dismantle sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s trafficking network. Johnson told reporters Trump “was an FBI informant in an effort to take Epstein down.”

I’M NOT JOKING!!! 🤣🤣

  • 58008@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    This is gonna cause a resurgence of Qanon. And even his “normal” base will lap it up, because now it’s not coming from 4chan, but rather his own speaker.

    This administration is the most insane government I’ve ever seen in a ‘developed’ nation, at any time in the recorded history of ‘developed’ nations. There isn’t even a close second, and it’s somehow worse than Trump’s first term.

    Looking forward to his third term, I’m sure it’ll be great fun.

    • hansolo@lemmy.today
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      6 days ago

      He tweeted something last week with a Q in it trying to stir them up again. Mostly to try and throw the deep-seeded maga nuts off of the Epstein files. They are 100% not going to let that go - this is the closest they’ll ever get in their lives to being correct about a cabal of pedos running things.

      • End-Stage-Ligma@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        I’m pretty sure Q was a “deep state” psyop all along. The whole Jan 6 thing was planned, and I think the perfunctory and relatively toothless response by the government was intentional so that those traitors could later be recruited in their gestapo.

        • hansolo@lemmy.today
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          5 days ago

          Deep state? No one in the “Deep State” wanted any of that. The “Deep State” is all the bureaucrats that tell political appointees “no, we can’t because of this law from the 70’s that says it’s illegal…” All the federal employees getting laid off in DC are part of that “Deep State” - you really think someone that processes HR vouchers for AmeriCorps is also running psyops in their spare time?

          The original Q stuff was most likely a 4Chan/8Kun prank that just spiraled into pure insanity and had no reason to slow down or stop. It’s fairly well accepted that Ron Watkins and his dad started it or were close to those who did, and once it built up momentum, just ran with it. It’s not hard to get people, especially conspiracy-prone folks to see patterns in anything once you prime them. It’s literally the basis of how Trump got elected, you give them enough info for the pareidolia to fill in the gaps for them. How many people of that same caliber fly flags where they make a well-known fat gun-hater into a ripped guy holding a gun? Same mechanic. These people are also very prone to getting scammed as well due to the same cognitive shortcoming. Someone gives them dogshit info on an obvious scam and if the right virtue signaling is there, their bias-confirming lizard brain will do anything to belong and donate money or buy Trump-branded BS like the “Trump Card” scam.

        • AlexLost@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          It was definitely a test of their power. Notice the instigators did not face any justice, only the foot soldiers. They also proved the inability to prevent disaster in “the pipe bomb incident” that went unsolved. That did not make anyone in Congress sleep any lighter. It’s also likely why we don’t see much push back. Trump is the fucking mob, and you’ll face the mobs justice if you step out of line.

  • Obinice@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Don’t you become an informant when they catch you and offer you the deal; You get to walk free for the crime you committed, but have to risk your life spying on your fellow criminals for the fuzz?

    • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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      7 days ago

      Trump would 100% take that deal if it was offered to him, without a moments hesitation. He’d also fuck it up within about 30 seconds. Which is why I know this isn’t real.

      • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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        7 days ago

        Which was only possible because they were starting out with a room temperature IQ. Anyone who had as much as two synapses to rub together would have seen through his claims to begin with. We are not exactly talking about masterly deceptions here, most of the time even he didn’t know where he was going with his ramblings.

        If it hasn’t been trump, it would have been someone else.

    • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      Don’t fall into it. It’s a classic case of

      It didn’t happen.

      And if it did, it wasn’t that bad.

      And if it was, that’s not a big deal.

      And if it is, that’s not my fault.

      And if it was, I didn’t mean it.

      And if I did, you deserved it.

      We’ve gone from “it didn’t happen” to “and if it is, that’s not my fault”. By saying “even if he was” you are inadvertently enabling the next step.

      It happened. It was that bad. It is a big deal. He took part in the fault. He did mean it. They (the victims) didn’t deserve it.

      • chrischryse@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Ik…I’m not saying it wasn’t bad or didn’t happen. And if he was an informant thte fact is he was def found guilty orignally and we know he did bad.

        • Atomic@sh.itjust.works
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          6 days ago

          No… no no no. Stop.

          The moment you start saying “if he was an informant” you are already enabling the next step. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s bad “even if he was”. He wasn’t. Don’t even play their game. That’s how they win.

          The next step will be, “He was an undercover informant”. And you will say “even if he was…” and on it goes until it’s downplayed to where they want it.

          Don’t you see, it’s already gone from “he wasn’t in the files at all” to “he was, but he was an informant”. And here we are, taking about “even if he was an informant”…

          He wasn’t. End of story. Don’t play their game.

    • IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      Exactly. The FBI “turns” people who are likely guilty into informants with the promise of leniency if they help to get dirt on “bigger fish”. They don’t just go up to a random business man in good standing and ask them to befriend the target of a criminal investigation.

      So if Trump admits to this then it implies the FBI was investigating him for similar crimes and decided to use him to further incriminate Epstein.

      • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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        7 days ago

        Ah, but this is a thing that crappy police procedurals MAKE YOU THINK happens. You go to someone they “might” recruit, or whoever’s next on THE LIST of people to recruit, and flip them BEFORE because OF COURSE these people will happily help with an investigation at the cost of their business, their credibility, maybe even their life.

  • DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    Hey guys, former MI6 Agent here, I have a confidential source from inside capitol hill confirming that US House Speaker Johnson’s words are false.

    Source: Idk, ask how Johnson he pulled that out of his ass

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Even magas can’t be buying this, can they?

    …they’re probably already buying t-shirts with ‘Agent Trump’ or some shit, or branding it onto their foreheads, as they do.

    Of course they’re buying it.

    • tempest@lemmy.ca
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      7 days ago

      Usually it’s less that they believe it and now that they will never hear it.

      People exist more and more in their own media bubble and the podcast Bros and Fox News will just not mention this.

  • slickgoat@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Least plausible explanation ever. It makes the 'dog ate my homework ’ seem like a masterclass in defence.

  • aceshigh@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    So they’re admitting that he’s in the files but that he was an undercover fbi agent, and part of the undercover operation was raping kids… so it’s all good?

  • PastafARRian@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 days ago

    This is literally an official admission of his guilt. FBI informants do NOT have qualified immunity. They probably brought him in for questioning once.

  • drhodl@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    How the hell are public officials allowed to just 100% lie and gas light ALL of the time?

    Before I retired, if an employee of mine lied to me about their job, and I found out, that person would have been terminated. Immediately.

    • Bizzle@lemmy.world
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      Because no American politician has ever been held accountable for lies or corruption. They know they can get away with it so why wouldn’t they

      • drhodl@lemmy.world
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        6 days ago

        Can’t you guys pretend that politicians are all black and/or poor? You all seem to have no trouble at all stomping all over those guys…

  • InvalidName2@lemmy.zip
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    7 days ago

    I’ll be honest, I know that the Epstein thing was/is supposed to be the unifying matter that Republicans and Democrats all agree on, but outside of online discourse, I haven’t heard any MAGA discussion of the topic in weeks (or longer).

    Maybe I’m just in an anomalous social circle, but from my perspective, it seems like there’s a vocal minority of MAGA online who make a ruckus about this, when in person, they just don’t give a crap.

    So, I hate to think it, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter what excuse Republican leaders give or what story they weave. I’m guessing they could literally just release mountains of evidence and fully admit that Trump did it, intentionally, and he enjoyed it immensely, and his popularity with MAGA would probably only drop a couple of percentage points (and that’s if it didn’t actually go up for him “telling it like it is”).

    • octopus_ink@slrpnk.netOP
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      Maybe I’m just in an anomalous social circle, but from my perspective, it seems like there’s a vocal minority of MAGA online who make a ruckus about this, when in person, they just don’t give a crap.

      I am in a similar anomalous circle if so. Even the articles about how angry maga finally is with Trump about this or that are never supported by anything more than a single-digit number of social media posts. Nearly all of those sorts of articles so far that I’ve seen have ultimately just been the author interpreting tiny little ripples in the way that most supports what we (and probably they) want to hear.

      I think this is done in earnest for the most part, because we all want to believe that a big chunk of maga voters somehow just haven’t heard about what he’s doing or what he’s done. And yet, all the evidence I’ve seen points to they absolutely are aware and they either fully support it or still think there is some benefit yet to materialize that will make it all worthwhile.