12 MOTHER JONES |^ JULY / AUGUST 2019
OUTFRONTPETER RYANBut what has made Dworkin such
a polarizing figure—“a fucking abom-
ination,” one Democratic operative
complained to the Daily Beast; “a con
artist stealing from people whose only
crime was to care about their coun-
try,” in the words of an opposition
researcher—isn’t that he tweets too
much. It’s what he’s done with all the
money he’s raised. In 2017 and 2018, the
Democratic Coalition brought in more
than $754,000, most of it from small
donors responding to appeals to fuel
the “blue wave” and fight back against
Trump. Yet even as it boasted of being
the preeminent online resistance orga-
nization, it spent just $2,350—0.3 per-
cent of what it raised—on independentexpenditures supporting Democratic
candidates or targeting Republicans.
Instead, much of the money went to
Dworkin’s consulting firm Bulldog
Finance Group for fundraising consult-
ing and to other individuals associated
with the super-pac.
Dworkin says he’s done everything
he’s promised to do, even if his ac-
complishments are of a harder-to-
quantify, intangible sort. But to his
critics, he’s emblematic of a Trump-
era phenomenon: resistance grift. The
same urgency that has fueled grass-
roots organizing, fresh new voices,
and investigative journalism has also
spawned their opposites—organiza-
tions that raise money but seem tospend it on nothing substantial; public
figures who exploit the spotlight for
their own motives; and citizen sleuths
hyping dubious information to grow-
ing legions of followers. Or, in the case
of Michael Avenatti, all of the above.
Capitalizing on political appeals for
profit has long been baked into the dna
of the conservative movement, from the
rise of direct mail in the 1970s to the
financial newsletters and dietary sup-
plement sales of the ’90s and aughts,
to a president whose campaign was an
exercise in brand promotion and who
paid a $25 million settlement for fraud.
But the emergence of this kind of prof-
iteering on the left is something new, a
product not just of opportunism, but ofBRIAN AND ED
KRASSENSTEIN
Credentials: Twins, crypto-
currency speculators, and
Florida men once raided by
the feds as part of a possible
fraud investigation
Known for: Inserting them-
selves into Trump’s Twitter
replies
Profit center: A $19 donation
to their Patreon account to
fund their podcast, The Kras-
senCast, gets you a copy of
their satirical children’s book,
How the People Trumped
Ronald Plump.SETH ABRAMSON
Credentials: Creative writing
professor, poet
Known for: Extremely long
Twitter threads about collu-
sion. Wrote a 451-tweet thread
in response to Mueller report.
Profit center: His New York
Times bestseller Proof of Col-lusion. (A sequel, Proof of Con-
spiracy, is out this summer.)LOUISE MENSCH
Credentials: Former Tory
MP and author of the novel
Sparkles
Known for: First reporting that
Trump aides had been snared
in a fisa wiretap. (Whoa!) First
reporting that Steve Bannon
might face the death penalty
for espionage. (D’oh!)
Profit center: A crowdfunded
Russia blog called PatriboticsERIC GARLAND
Credentials: Futurist
Known for: Being the guy
who kicked off a 120-tweet
thread on Russian election
meddling with “It’s time for
some game theory.”
Profit center: Sold access
to his “premium” Twitter
account for $10 a monthCLAUDE TAYLOR
Credentials: Clinton White
House staffer, travel photog-
rapher
Known for: His Twitter
account @TrueFactsStated,
where he claimed that Trump
was secretly indicted in 2017
Profit center: His Mad Dog
pac, which paid him $72,000 in
2018 for fundraising and social
media consultingJOHN SCHINDLER
Credentials: Former nsa
staffer turned Naval War
College professor (until he
resigned after texting a dick
pic to a Twitter follower)
Known for: Using his NatSec
background to speculate
about what Mueller really
knows
Profit center: Charges $
a month for his “premium”
Twitter feed (sfw) —T.M.TIME FOR SOME
NAME THEORY
Some notable resistance hucksters