Ball of Thread

In honor of Don Jr's oligarch-funded wedding party, we're reissuing the Ball of Thread Series from a few years back. Episode 1 covers how I understand the 2016 Russian attack to include not just several attempts to recruit Americans and stoke polarization, but also laid the groundwork for three devastating attacks on the US intelligence community. Watch this episode: https://youtu.be/Shul5PbzBO0?s...

In a perfect phone call in July 2019 orchestrated for months by mobbed up corrupt Ukrainians -- some backed by Russia -- Trump attempted to corrupt the newly elected president of Ukraine, who had been elected on an anti-corruption platform. That attempted failed, but the aftermath corrupted virtually the entire Republican Party. Produced by LOLGOP Studios.    / lolgopstudios   A buck a month to he...

Why Andrew Boutros' invocation of Trump v. US in an attempt to dodge sanctions in the Broadview 6 case is terrifying.   Support these episodes by backing LOLGOP Studios on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/LOLGOPStudios    

DOJ rolled out a conspiracy indictment against 15 people in Minnesota that risks criminalizing opposition to Trump more generally. Watch:   https://youtu.be/tviFq9EkpvY?si=gqkgx5IUA6qrHHEG Read more:  https://emptywheel.net/2026/06/26/the-stories-todd-blanche-spins-about-antifa/   Produced by LOLGOP Studios.      / lolgopstudios  

Donald Trump has rolled out a Fraud Task Force, under JD Vance and Scott Brady (the guy who set up a way to criminally frame Joe and Hunter Biden). It itself is pretty fraudulent: an effort to shift attention and investigative focus away from the kind of fraud Trump commits to demonize brown people and defund Blue states. Produced by LOLGOP Studios.    / lolgopstudios  

To find a resolution with Iran, Trump will need to budge on one or another of his most fundamental psychological rules: He can't oppose Vladimir Putin and he cannot admit that Obama was a better President than Trump. Produced by LOLGOP Studios.    / lolgopstudios  

You can't separate Trump's disastrous war in Iran from the opportunities it gives Russia and China to wreak havoc in Europe and elsewhere. WATCH: https://youtu.be/nqNVpudA6_A?si=1G2dbnGp3eRZyS_t   Read more: Produced by https://www.patreon.com/cw/LOLGOPStudios

By sending an invoice for the damages Trump's tariffs did to the American consumer, JB Pritzker will make it obvious that Trump is trying to hoard the money he stole from American consumers. Produced by LOLGOP Studios. Read more: https://emptywheel.net/trumps-tantrum-tariffs/   Support emptywheel: https://emptywheel.net/support/ Back these podcasts and more at LOLGOP Studios: https://www.patreon.c...

Marco Rubio went to Europe and invited them to remain allies of the US, but only if they adhere to a vision of Western culture and history that excises the contributions of Latinos like him, to say nothing of Black Americans. Support emptywheel: https://emptywheel.net/support/ Support these podcasts and help change brains: www.patreon.com/lolgopstudios  

Behind the masks that Stephen Miller's goons are wearing lies a truth about America that destroys his claims of white supremacy. He cannot carry out his deeply racist project without relying on the labor of brown people. Read more:   https://emptywheel.net/stephen-miller-paid-latino-thugs-to-murder-alex-pretti/ Support emptywheel: https://emptywheel.net/support/ Help change brains: https://www.pat...

Republicans have made a choice: to dump billions of money that previously went into healthcare, including VA care, to pay goons who are shooting people dead in Minneapolis and elsewhere. They've literally taken money used to fund VA care to pay goons who shot VA nurse Alex Pretti in the back. Read  more: https://emptywheel.net/marco-rubio-will-let-2-5-million-children-die-so-sarah-rogers-can-fund-...

Two weeks ago we argued that Stephen Miller thinks of his invasions of Venezuela and Minneapolis the same. This week, after Alex Pretti's murder, Donald Trump confirmed that. Support emptywheel: https://emptywheel.net/support/   Back LOLGOP Studios: https://www.patreon.com/c/LOLGOPStudios  

It may be easier to separate MAGAt from Trump by stoking their conspiracism than by explaining, factually, all the problems with Trump. Read the post: https://www.emptywheel.net/portfolio-item/where-we-go-from-here/ Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/   Join LOLGOP Studios: https://www.patreon.com/cw/LOLGOPStudios  

Stephen Miller's plan to murderbomb boats in the Caribbean and invade Venezuela and Greenland has direct ties to the latest invasion of Minneapolis. Watch this: https://youtu.be/dIi6tA-DV_k?si=cLWePZcwI6gSZSzR   Read more: https://www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/07/stephen-miller-has-similar-plans-for-colombia-and-columbia/ Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/   Back LOLGOP Stu...

Donald Trump will never accept losing anything – whether an election or a bet. But that wouldn't matter if he didn't convince millions of Americans to make his grievances their own.  This Ball of Thread unwinds what made the pincer attack that overran the Capitol on January 6th possible. Donald Trump's grievance narratives gave disaffected Americans meaning, and in that meaning, he convinced thous...

Stephen Miller has had two notable failures in 2025. His initial success at deporting 200 mostly innocent men to a concentration camp has been backfiring ever since. And his demand that DHS attempt to snatch 3,000 people a day has led to backlash without making the US safe from dangerous immigrants. These failures must become part of making Stephen Miller the villain of Trump's failures in 2026. R...

Susie Wiles told Vanity Fair she didn't really know how bad the Epstein scandal would be, and so relied on her resident conspiracy theorists -- Dan Bongino, Kash Patel, and JD Vance -- instead. But she's still misjudging who cares about this. Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/ Back LOLGOP Studios: https://www.patreon.com/c/LOLGOPStudios  

Donald Trump's second term National Security Strategy was an attack on Europe. While boasting of its own competence, it lists a bunch of ways Donald Trump has made the US less safe -- starting with the way he sells out American sovereignty whenever anyone offers him a pile of cryptocurrency. Watch this: https://youtu.be/n-E-BU6OOfw?si=QLLy_AYSBU19_AzK Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net...

I've got bad news for you. Marco Rubio may be the main thing standing between us and the end of the Western Order and the dismemberment of Ukraine. He could be fired by noon. Or he could buy time for Congress to stand up to Trump on this. Read more: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/26/the-dim-philby-leaks/ Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/  

Pam Bondi did some reckless things in the Epstein and Comey cases a week ago Friday. They're likely to backfire.   Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/ Support LOLGOP Studios: https://www.patreon.com/c/LOLGOPStudios  

Jim Comey suspects that the FBI snuck into data they had not lawfully seized to get the indictment against him.   Read more: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/17/the-11-fuck-ups-pam-bondis-doj-made-in-indicting-jim-comey/   Support: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/  

Pam Bondi did two totally reckless things yesterday: re-ratify the indictment Lindsey Halligan obtained against Jim Comey, and immediately agree to investigate Democrats' involvement with Jeffrey Epstein. Read the post: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/11/16/might-pam-bondis-latest-prosecutorial-abuse-give-us-ponies-and-puppies/ Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/

Just about every aspect of Trump's tariffs are falling apart. And he's trying to convince credulous people that, instead, he's delivering them a win.   Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zjd_SkvN9c   Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/  

Marsha Blackburn and a bunch of other far right Republicans are whining that DOJ discovered they had ties to Donald Trump's criminal attempt to steal the 2020 election.   Meanwhile, between ICE's kidnapping and hit-and-run and the Trump Administration's murder, torture, kidnapping, and bribery, we're seeing a crime wave from white nationalists.   Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/abou...

"America's Hitler" is not just ripping down the public entrance of the White House, he must be building a big new bunker to replace the old one.   Support emptywheel: https://www.emptywheel.net/about/support/