Tag: politicians
Republican Politicians Have Embraced Anti-Semitic Media Over 100 Times

Republican Politicians Have Embraced Anti-Semitic Media Over 100 Times

The Republican Party has an antisemitism problem that’s reflected in its support of antisemitic media. Media Matters found more than 100 examples of Republican officials and campaign nominees embracing and promoting antisemitic media figures and outlets in 2021 and 2022.

Republicans have promoted and embraced people who have said that “we don't want people who are Jewish”; stated that Jewish people should “get the fuck out of America”; smeared Jewish people as “deceivers” who “plot,” “lie,” and “do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda”; claimed that there was a “Jew Coup” against former President Donald Trump; and wished for “a total Aryan victory.”

Former President Donald Trump, who is running again for the White House, recently met with two virulent antisemites and admirers of Hitler: Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Nick Fuentes. House Republicans are also set to reinstate the committee assignments of Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA) and Paul Gosar (AZ), who have both frequently advanced antisemitism.

Antisemitic Media Figures And Outlets

The following antisemitic media figures and outlets are referenced multiple times in this guide:

Nick Fuentes. Fuentes is a streamer who uses his platform to forward white nationalist and antisemitic views. He is a Holocaust denier who has said that he wants “a total Aryan victory”; claimed that Jewish people have too much power; and stated that Jewish people should “get the fuck out of America.”

Andrew Torba and Gab. Torba is the CEO of social media platform Gab, which is a haven for white nationalists, neo-Nazis, and antisemites. Torba has said that he wants to exclude Jewish people from American political life, stating: “We don't want people who are Jewish. … This is an explicitly Christian movement because this is an explicitly Christian country.” He claims that Jewish people have too much power and “we're not bending the knee to the 2% anymore.”

Vincent James Foxx and Daily Veracity. Foxx is a streamer who heads the white nationalist site Daily Veracity. Foxx is a Holocaust denier who has also said that “the Holocaust is weaponized” against white people. He's claimed that Jewish people supposedly “not only control Hollywood, congress, and the media, but they control social media as well.” And he's alleged that the impeachment of former President Donald Trump was “The Jew Coup.”

Allen and Francine Fosdick. The Fosdicks host a streaming program and organize a yearly conference. They have promoted conspiracy theories alleging Jewish people, led by the Rothchilds, have been manipulating events such as wildfires through “space weather” and lasers; aim to subjugate the human race; and perpetuate evil “bloodlines” with other prominent Jewish people.

TruNews. TruNews is an antisemitic outlet led by Rick Wiles. TruNews has claimed that there was a “Jew coup” against former President Donald Trump and that “seditious Jews” were “orchestrating” his “impeachment lynching.” Wiles has said of Jewish people: “They are deceivers, they plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda. … You have been taken over by a Jewish cabal.” He’s also claimed that “the American people are being oppressed by Jewish tyrants.”

Jarrin Jackson. Jackson is a streamer who unsuccessfully ran for the Oklahoma state Senate. He said that he “largely” agrees with the conspiracy theories that Jews are “taking over the world” and that they are attempting to get rid of white people through immigration and miscegenation. He’s also stated that he’s “not beholden to Jews” and listed “the Jews” as evidence that “evil exists.”

Republicans Embracing Antisemitic Media From 2021-2022

Across multiple months

  • Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar regularly posts on Gab.
  • Arizona state Rep. and secretary of state nominee (unsuccessful) Mark Finchem regularly posts on Gab.
  • Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers regularly posts on Gab.
  • Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward has repeatedly posted on Gab.
  • California House nominee (unsuccessful) Mike Cargile regularly posts on Gab.
  • Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert regularly posts on Gab.
  • Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz regularly posts on Gab.
  • Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene regularly posts on Gab.
  • Greene made seven payments totaling $37,761.01 to Gab.
  • The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee in Idaho endorsed commentator David Reilly for a school board seat in 2021. Reilly has claimed “that ‘Judaism is the religion of anti-Christ,’ and that ‘all Jews are dangerous.’” In 2022, the Kootenai GOP paid $11,000 for “operations” to Reilly and also tried to install him in Idaho Democratic Party leadership. He served as a voting delegate at the Idaho GOP convention.
  • Maryland’s gubernatorial nominee (unsuccessful) Dan Cox frequently posted on Gab before removing his account following scrutiny.
  • New Hampshire state Rep. Roy Rock regularly posts on Gab.
  • New York Rep. Elise Stefanik stood by and defended right-wing commentator and congressional candidate (unsuccessful) Carl Paladino after he said that Hitler is “the kind of leader we need today. We need somebody inspirational.”
  • North Carolina House nominee (unsuccessful) Sandy Smith regularly posted on Gab.
  • Ohio House nominee (unsuccessful) J.R. Majewski regularly posts on Gab.
  • Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee (unsuccessful) Doug Mastriano regularly posted on Gab but later removed his account following criticism.
  • Washington House nominee (unsuccessful) Joe Kent regularly posted on Gab.
  • The Ashtabula County Republican Party in Ohio regularly posted on Gab before the election.
  • The Douglas County Republican Party in Georgia repeatedly posted on Gab before the election.
  • The Wyoming Republican Party regularly posts on Gab.

2021

January

  • Robert Regan, who would later become a Michigan state House nominee (unsuccessful), wrote a Facebook post that promoted a piece on the fringe right-wing website American Digital News accusing Jewish people, led by the Rothschild family, of causing global problems for their financial benefit.

February

  • Paul Gosar was the keynote speaker at Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference. (Gosar and Fuentes met at a restaurant after the event.)

March

  • Republican National Committee member Solomon Yue, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Drew Myers reported, appeared on the YouTube program of Greyson Arnold, who has “a history of racist, anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi statements.” During the program, Yue “spoke supportively” of Nick Fuentes. “Yue told CNN in an email he was unaware of the views of either man, Arnold or Fuentes, at the time of the interview and rejected them.”
  • Robert Regan used Facebook to agree with an antisemitic meme by QAnon influencer Jordan Sather which stated: “What is the real virus plaguing the world? (((Them))).”

April

  • Paul Gosar, as CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck reported, took a trip to the border with Greyson Arnold.

May

  • Paul Gosar praised Fuentes and told people to follow him on Twitter.
  • Gosar wrote to the FBI asking for information about its No Fly List. He tweeted of his letter: “Today young America First supporters like @NickJFuentes and tomorrow anyone else the regime dislikes. Secret tribunals and no ability to challenge in court is immoral.”
  • Robert Regan shared a meme sourced from the defunct pro-Nazi website smoloko.com that claimed that feminism “is a Jewish program to degrade and subjugate white men.”

June

  • Wendy Rogers appeared on TruNews.
  • Paul Gosar promoted Foxx’s Daily Veracity on Twitter.

July

August


September

October

  • Paul Gosar promoted Daily Veracity four times through his House email list.
  • Gosar promoted a column by Michelle Malkin on The Unz Review. As The Informant’s Nick Martin wrote, Gosar was promoting a site “that routinely publishes the work of neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and Holocaust deniers” and was founded “by former California businessman Ron Unz, who has written ‘it far more likely than not that the standard Holocaust narrative is at least substantially false, and quite possibly, almost entirely so.’”

November

  • Wendy Rogers wrote on Twitter: “Take Nick Fuentes off of the no fly list.”
  • Rogers wrote on Twitter: “Put President Trump, Alex Jones, Laura Loomer, Nick Fuentes, and others back on Twitter. Take Nick Fuentes off of the No Fly List.”
  • Paul Gosar twice promoted Foxx on Twitter.
  • Gosar, as Martin wrote, “retweeted Kyle Clifton, a young antisemite who has called Jews ‘evil’ and described the religion as an ‘elite cabal’ that controls the government and media.”
  • Gosar posted a video praising Gab and Andrew Torba.

December

  • Wendy Rogers wrote on Twitter after Nick Fuentes called her “based”: “Thank you, Nick Fuentes. We love you.”
  • Rogers wrote on Twitter: “Because Nick Fuentes said I am BASED, I am now truly BASED. It is official.”
  • Rogers wrote on Twitter: “To everyone who thinks they are BASED. I am officially based because Nick Fuentes said I am based. It is like knighthood. You have to get it from the originator.”
  • Rogers wrote on Gab: “I like Stew Peters, Lin Wood, Jarrin Jackson, and Nick Fuentes. I don’t know Baked Alaska but he is growing on me. Anyone who is being harassed by Pelosi’s Fedsurrection gulag team deserves to be heard.”
  • Rogers wrote on Gab: “Nick Fuentes and Lin Wood are being attacked by a lot of the same people. The Deep State is after them. That is why I defend them. I can't stand it when communists single out people and take away their rights and attempt to ruin their reputation.”
  • Paul Gosar responded to a tweet in which writer Jack Hadfield asked, “Why has Twitter taken down so many people on the populist nationalist right today?” Gosar wrote: “Go to Gab.” Hadfield has moderated a Facebook group that that includes “jokes about the Holocaust” and “antisemitic conspiracy theories.”

2022

January

  • Arizona gubernatorial nominee (unsuccessful) Kari Lake wrote on Twitter: “Join me on Gab. So much less vitriol than Twitter and easy to use.”
  • Matt Gaetz wrote: “I’m LOVING Gab!”
  • Paul Gosar, as the Twitter account AZ Right Wing Watch wrote, shared a tweet from the account “Based Andy Biggs Fan.” The account features antisemitic content.
  • Gosar wrote on Gab: “The phony January 6th Committee's partisan witch-hunt continues as they have now set their sights on young conservative Christians like Nick Fuentes. This is pure political persecution and it has to stop. @realnickjfuentes.” Fuentes responded by thanking him.
  • Gosar quoted the Gab user “Retardedist Retarded Retard” and wrote: “Thank you all for inviting me onto Gab back in August. I love the platform and I love the communities that use it. Gab is the future of social media - it's an honor to have your support.” The user that Gosar quoted is an antisemitic fan of Nick Fuentes.
  • Wendy Rogers wrote on Gab: “Listen to Stew Peters, Bannon’s War Room, Lin Wood, Jarrin Jackson, Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones, Tucker, Flyover Conservatives and many others who are exposing the truth. We may not agree with everyone, but there is wisdom in many counselors and it is better than listening to the #MockingbirdMedia.”
  • Rogers wrote on Gab: “Free Nick Fuentes. Free everyone. Free speech is not dangerous. Silencing speech is dangerous. If they can ban Fuentes they can ban the gospel.”
  • Rogers wrote on Gab: “Good evening to everyone except the people who hate our freedom of speech and want to ban Nick Fuentes.”
  • Rogers wrote on Gab: “First they came for Alex Jones and no one said anything. Then they came for Nick Fuentes and no one did anything. Then they came for President Trump. Next they will come for all of us.”
  • Rogers wrote on Telegram: “Happy show Anniversary to the most persecuted man in America - Nick Fuentes.”
  • Rogers wrote on Telegram: “I like Lin Wood, Andrew Torba, Laura Loomer, Nick Fuentes, and General Flynn. I think I made everyone mad all at the same time. Here we go! #JesusIsKing.”
  • Rogers wrote on Telegram: “Any politician who whines about censorship but doesn’t defend President Trump, Alex Jones and Nick Fuentes is a hypocrite.”
  • Rogers wrote on Telegram: “The Feds need to restore Nick Fuentes’ ability to travel or they are no better than the USSR. Take him and other patriots off of the no fly list NOW.”

February

  • Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke at Nick Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference.
  • Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who also unsuccessfully ran for governor, spoke at Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference through a prerecorded message.
  • Paul Gosar spoke at Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference through a prerecorded message.
  • Wendy Rogers spoke at Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference through a prerecorded message.
  • McGeachin was pictured with Vincent James Foxx at an event. She was subsequently asked about it but didn’t condemn him or his antisemitic views.
  • Rogers called on Foxx to “run for office.”
  • Gosar wrote: “I love Gab!”

March

  • Doug Mastriano appeared on Allen and Francine Fosdick’s program.
  • Paul Gosar wrote on Gab: “It's amazing what Andrew Torba and his team have done with Gab. I joined this truly free speech platform last November and since then I've watched as the performance, quality, and features have increased astronomically. There's even a Gab marketplace now where users can buy/sell goods and services. Andrew is a pioneer, leading millions away from the information stranglehold of Big Tech. I'm excited to see the Parallel Economy develop further. Gab on!”
  • Janice McGeachin defended speaking at Nick Fuentes’ America First Political Action Conference on the show of Jack Hadfield, who has moderated a Facebook group that that includes “jokes about the Holocaust” and “antisemitic conspiracy theories.”

April

May

  • Doug Mastriano appeared in a video interview with Andrew Torba, during which they both praised each other.
  • Media Matters documented that Georgia Senate nominee (unsuccessful) Herschel Walker ran advertising on Gab.
  • Media Matters documented that Paul Gosar has run advertising on Gab.

June

  • Joe Kent gave an interview to Greyson Arnold, as CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck reported.
  • Mark Finchem endorsed Jarrin Jackson.
  • Wendy Rogers endorsed Jarrin Jackson.
  • Paul Gosar wrote in a fundraising plea on Gab: “Andrew Torba & I have a great relationship and I'm thoroughly satisfied with my decision to join. Since that time, I have been attacked and smeared simply for having an account and posting on this platform to over 120,000 followers and for consistently promoting Gab on my other social media.”

July

  • The Washington Republican Party paid Greyson Arnold $821.87 for “payroll,” the Daily Beast reported.
  • Wendy Rogers thanked Andrew Torba for endorsing her state senate campaign.
  • Mark Finchem thanked Andrew Torba for endorsing his secretary of state campaign.
  • Doug Mastriano accepted a campaign donation from Gab CEO Andrew Torba.

August

  • J.R. Majewski reaffirmed his support for Gab following criticism in a post on the website.
  • Kari Lake endorsed antisemitic commentator Jarrin Jackson’s Oklahoma state senate bid, stating that “the Soros media attack him relentlessly because he's over the target.” Following criticism, she rescinded her endorsement through her campaign.
  • Paul Gosar wrote on Gab: “They've been going after Andrew Torba for months now - some would say years - because the platform that he is building threatens the Liberal World Order and their control over what we're allowed to say and see online.”

September

  • The Wyoming GOP praised Gab, writing: “The Wyoming Republican Party uses more than just Instagram and Facebook to communicate digitally. Gab is an awesome platform where Republican censorship is not evident. Head over to Gab and follow us @WYGOP.”
  • Paul Gosar promoted a film featuring Nick Fuentes, writing: “The persecution against Christians and Conservatives by the Biden Regime brings great dishonor to our country. If Americans do not have the freedom to dissent, then they have no freedom at all.” He later deleted the tweet.

October

  • Missouri Sen.-elect Eric Schmitt tweeted that “America needs a @kanyewest @KidRock tour” shortly after Ye wrote his “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE” tweet. Schmitt later deleted it and claimed he “wasn't aware of the recent comments.”
  • Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita tweeted after Ye’s “death con 3” tweet: “The constant hypocrisy from the media is at an all-time high. They have now gone after Kanye for his new fashion line, his independent thinking, & for having opposing thoughts from the norm of Hollywood.”

November

  • Doug Mastriano’s campaign, the Daily Beast reported, helped with “a Facebook group which has for months featured a stream of xenophobic, transphobic, and antisemitic memes.”
  • Trump had dinner with Ye and Nick Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
  • Paul Gosar wrote on Gab: “Gab is like Facebook but with free speech, anonymity, and a parallel economy of businesses who share our American values. The company is owned and run by Christian Americans, and the terms of service is the First Amendment. I'm glad to be here.”

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Anti-Abortion Politicians Confront Harsh New Reality

Anti-Abortion Politicians Confront Harsh New Reality

For decades, conservative politicians had a free ride on the abortion issue. They could tell their "pro-life" base that they were doing all they could to ban the procedure — while not scaring the pro-choice majority. As long as Roe v. Wade protected the right to an abortion, the talk about outlawing it was just talk.

Now that Roe is gone, unwanted pregnancies have become enshrined in the law. Parents, for example, face the possibility that their tenth grader could be forced into becoming an unwed mother at 16. There are real world consequences here, and that's why voters in generally conservative Kansas showed overwhelming support for abortion rights.

Republicans genuinely opposed to abortion should accept the political repercussions of their "success." But those who were simply opportunists and are now trying to dodge blame for ending a basic reproductive right have a hard climb.

You hear the trimmers say, look, we've made exceptions for rape and incest. That's blatant hypocrisy. If they believe that the embryo or fetus is an innocent baby, then the circumstances surrounding the conception should not matter at all.


The advantage of Roe was that anyone could obtain an early abortion without politicians demanding to know the reason. States that have made carveouts for rape and incest are going to see a lot of creepy intrusion into the lives of women — and their families.

Only the truly gullible would believe any of that sweet talk from abortion-banning states about how they'll help the women and their unplanned families. Mississippi will "take every step necessary to support mothers and children," said Gov. Tate Reeves.

Oh, sure. This is a state that couldn't summon the humanity to sign onto the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion, which would have extended health coverage to 43,000 women of reproductive age. Its welfare program limits payments to poor women with two children to a maximum $260 a month.

States severely restricting abortion will soon face the demographic realities of compelling women to have children they don't want and can't afford. Their affluent residents will go elsewhere for an abortion while the dysfunctional or poorer women will stay home and have children they can't care for. (A study found that after abortion became legal in Washington, D.C., in the early '70s, the percentage of girls who became mothers in their teens fell by a third.)

As the country divides into states that defend reproductive rights and states that attack them, the latter are bound to suffer economically as a result. Indiana, for example, just passed a strict anti-abortion law, quickly signed by Gov. Eric Holcomb. That day, Eli Lilly, one of the state's biggest employers, announced that the abortion ban would make it hard to recruit workers — and that it would look elsewhere to expand its business.

When Texas virtually banned abortions — while letting any ghoul try for a cash prize if he thinks one was illegally performed — 50 major employers signed a letter in protest. The list was heavy with the tech companies that Gov. Greg Abbott brags about attracting.

Richard Alm at Southern Methodist University says that this sort of social policy "also has a labor market component." With the likes of Apple and Google moving in, he said, "you need enough labor and the right kind of labor."

Thus, these places will have to deal with the loss of top employers to states and countries guaranteeing reproductive rights. And almost everywhere else guarantees reproductive rights.

With the end of Roe, politicians must now take responsibility for harsh new intrusions into families' ability to plan for their future. This is not a hypothetical concern, and offering free baby clothes is not going to allay the public's anger.

Reprinted with permission from Creators.

4 Other Politicians Who Have Been Caught Plagiarizing

4 Other Politicians Who Have Been Caught Plagiarizing

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

By the time they reach grade school, most students understand that plagiarism is unacceptable. But politicians seem to have a hard time remembering not to do it.

On Wednesday, TheNew York Timesreported that Senator John Walsh (D-MT) lifted at least a quarter of his War College thesis from other sources, without crediting them. His final paper, on American Middle East policy, had sections that were identical to other policy journals and academic papers.

His entire conclusion, which listed six recommendations for “The Case for Democracy as a Long-Term Strategy,” was copied from a Carnegie Endowment for National Peace document.

“In all, Mr. Walsh’s recommendations section runs to more than 800 words, nearly all of it taken verbatim from the Carnegie paper, without any footnote to it,” the Times reports.

At first, Walsh denied that he had plagiarized anything, saying, “I didn’t do anything intentional here.”

But later, Walsh said that he was on medication for PTSD when he was writing his paper, and suggested that it may have been a factor in his poor decision making.

This news won’t help Walsh, whose military record and foreign policy acumen were chief selling points in his Senate race against Republican Rep. Steve Daines. Walsh is already trailing by 12.5 percent, according to the Real Clear Politicspoll average.

But Walsh isn’t the only prominent politician who’s been caught plagiarizing. Here are four other political leaders who have come under scrutiny for their less-than-original work.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Paul, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, has had his fair share of plagiarism scandals. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow first pointed out that a 2013 speech referencing the film Gattaca was lifted directly from the movie’s Wikipedia page.

Then BuzzFeed reported that Paul had done the exact same thing in another speech, this time discussing the movie Stand and Deliver.

BuzzFeed also reported that Paul’s book, Government Bullies, borrowed from the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, and a Forbes article without any attribution.

The Washington Times later canceled his column after it came out that he hadn’t attributed one of his passages to The Week.

And Politico also revealed that the senator’s response to President Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address used similar language to an Associated Press report without citing it.

At first Paul defended himself, saying, “This is really about information and attacks coming from haters.”

But he eventually admitted that “I’m the boss, and things go out under my name, so it is my fault.”

Vice President Joe Biden

Photo: Abaca Press/MCT/Olivier Douliery

Photo: Abaca Press/MCT/Olivier Douliery

Biden may have been the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988 if he hadn’t started regularly using a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock without attribution.

Biden didn’t just use similar phrasing; he took actual biographical details from Kinnock’s life and tried to pass them off as his own. As it turns out, Biden wasn’t the first person in his family to attend college, and his ancestors weren’t coal miners.

Once the media started looking into Biden, they found that some of his speeches had also plagiarized Robert Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and John F. Kennedy. Biden subsequently admitted that he had actually been busted for plagiarizing five pages of a term paper in law school.

Former Senator Scott Brown (R-MA)

Photo: Talk Radio News Service via Flickr

Photo: Talk Radio News Service via Flickr

In 2011, Democratic group American Bridge 21st Century noticed that a section of Brown’s campaign website was taken directly from former North Carolina senator Elizabeth Dole.

His message to students was exactly the same as Dole’s campaign kickoff speech from 2002, except that it was missing the first line introducing her.

Brown’s campaign claimed that Dole’s speech was only supposed to have been the basis for the education section of his website.

“Senator Dole’s website served as one of the models for Senator Brown’s website when he first took office. During construction of the site, the content on this particular page was inadvertently transferred without being rewritten,” spokesperson John Donnelly told the Boston Globe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

AFP Photo/Maxim Shipenkov

AFP Photo/Maxim Shipenkov

Plagiarism might not seem like a big deal compared to everything else Putin’s done, but in 2006, Brookings Institution researchers accused the former KBG agent of stealing his economics dissertation from work done by University of Pittsburgh professors 20 years prior.

The researchers say that 16 of 20 pages of the dissertation’s opening are taken from the paper, “Strategic Planning and Policy.”

“It all boils down to plagiarism,” Brookings Institution’s Clifford G. Gaddy said. “Whether you’re talking about a college-level term paper, not to mention a formal dissertation, there’s no question in my mind that this would be plagiarism.”

Interested in politics? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!

Watch Out Hill Staffers, @congressedits Is Tweeting All Of Your Wikipedia Edits

Watch Out Hill Staffers, @congressedits Is Tweeting All Of Your Wikipedia Edits

Congressional staffers can no longer edit Wikipedia pages in their spare time at work without their changes being tweeted to the world. A new Twitter bot, @congressedits, tracks all anonymous edits to Wikipedia made from congressional IP addresses. So far, the bot has tweeted 97 times and has over 21,000 followers.

Web developer Ed Summers was inspired to create @congressedits after learning about Parliament WikiEdits, which tracks edits coming from the British Parliament.

“The simplicity of combining Wikipedia and Twitter in this way immediately struck me as a potentially useful transparency tool,” Summers wrote on his blog.

Summers posted the code for the Twitter bot to GitHub so others could create similar bots, all in the spirit of transparency and community.

“The truth is, @congressedits has only announced a handful of edits, and some of them are pretty banal. But can’t a staffer or politician make a grammatical change, or update an article about a movie? Is it really news that they are human, just like the rest of us?” he wrote. “I created @congressedits because I hoped it could engender more, better ideas and tools like it. More thought experiments. More care for our communities and peoples. More understanding, and willingness to talk to each other. More humor. More human.”

So far, @congressedits hasn’t caught anything particularly controversial (maybe because staffers now know that the bot exists). The edits range from pop culture pages (like those of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Step Up 3D) to pages about journalists (BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith is a Smirnoff ice enthusiast!) to JFK conspiracy theories.

Someone on the Hill called former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld an alien lizard.

Rumsfeld

A staffer added this entire paragraph to Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS)’s page, “Congressman Huelskamp has become an independent, national conservative leader in Congress for his unwavering commitment to Constitutional government, reduced spending and over-regulation, fighting waste and corruption, defending traditional values and civil liberties, stopping ObamaCare, and ensuring accountability and transparency in Congress.”

Huelskamp

And someone found it incredibly important to mention that The Heritage Foundation’s Brian Darling bred “rare long haired cats” as a child.

darling

This isn’t the first time that the public has tracked the Hill’s activity on Wikipedia. In 2012, BuzzFeed’s Andrew Kaczynski did a search of the House of Representatives’ IP address on Wikipedia, and found a few hilarious edits.

The staff of Allen West, a Republican representing Florida at the time, removed a mention of the time that he called the entire Progressive Caucus “Communists.” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS)’s office got rid of his entire “controversies” section. And Rep. Gregg Harper (R-MS)’s staff deleted any mention of the time he said he “hunted liberal, tree-hugging Democrats.”

As more Twitter bots are created, they’ll start to play an important role in holding politicians accountable. It’s already happened in Russia. @RuGovEdits, a bot launched to monitor the Russian government, caught that someone edited a Wikipedia page about plane accidents. The page had originally said that the Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17 was shot down “by terrorists of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic with Buk system missiles, which the terrorists received from the Russian Federation.” The editor changed it to say that the plane “was shot down by Ukranian soldiers.”

Screenshot: Twitter

Interested in U.S. politics? Sign up for our daily email newsletter!