The crisis of Donald Trump’s collusion with the Russian Federation has given rise to a new term online: citizen journalists. This new “job title” has emerged because, frankly, the major media outlets upon which we depend have failed to keep up with the sheer torrent of new, alarming updates on the perversion of American governance. The actions of the Trump Administration and its complicit legislative branch produce so many questions that, in some sense, it is entirely understandable that the traditional news media cannot react promptly enough to brace for the next hideous update.

That said, much of the media’s failure to keep up with Trump-Russia is that they lack a deep enough pool of talent to understand the complexities of the matter, which are legion:

Intelligence and national security

Offshore banking

Real estate

Structured finance

Big data and social networks

Clandestine extreme political movements

Plus, the Trump-Russia story is about an extraordinary combination of the above at an unusual moment in American political life. It makes sense that no one news outlet could maintain in-house talent – or even a network of freelancers – that could piece together narratives in time for the next outrage.

Enter the citizen journalists

Into this void stepped the so-called citizen journalists. Armed with specialized skills from their careers and alarmed for the future of their country, a new group of voices have emerged. Velocity being the most important factor, citizen journalists have mainly emerged from Twitter, where the rapid-fire flow of data and social networking suit this mission the best.

In a few short months, people like Dr. Sarah Kendzior, Andrea Chalupa, John Schindler, Louise Mensch, Claude Taylor, and many others have attracted hundreds of thousands of followers as citizens search for some sense of just what the hell might be going on in the surreal nightmare of Trump’s administration. Drawing from their own deep professional experiences, they and others have transcended the bounds of traditional journalism and shown the public just where this awful story was headed – and why to keep hope alive.

Not everyone has been happy about this.

For reasons as paltry as they are irrelevant, several media outlets have run pieces about these new voices that range from the merely bitter to the nearly libelous. Because these accounts – each with their own focus, style, and types of content – have not passed each sentence through a “major” media masthead, these outlets have seen fit to label the output that has attracted so many readers as “conspiracy theories.” Despite having professional experience ranging from PhD-level regional expertise, membership in the UK parliament, years as a White House staffer, and more, these articles have asserted that there is no credibility inherent in any of the work attracting attention for rationales that rarely depart from the ad hominem. Much more scurrilously, there is a shameful tendency to bandy about accusations of mental illness. Unless Trump repealed HIPAA laws, that’s quite ironic coming right next to complaints that certain citizen journalists are insufficiently sourced.

I won’t be providing any of these outlets pageviews to show advertisers, but I will highlight the following phrase that recently caught my attention:

“No one sane would leak any valuable information to a person who isn’t a journalist.”

American media has a penchant for hiring recent Ivy League grads with little more than entitlement and gumption to produce analysis-light and error-prone pabulum under prestigious looking JPEG headers. In other words, they don’t even hire journalists. For example, the author of the above quote has ten full months experience and, hilariously, no degree in journalism. Or career experience in national security. Or intelligence methodologies. Or structured finance. Or Eastern European regional studies. Nor, clearly, any experience cultivating sources who can provide context that can improve stories under development – which isn’t the same as “leaks,” incidentally.

In any event, none of this lack of merit stopped the author or editor from running a hit piece against people with PhDs, decades of relevant professional experience, and an annoying habit of stealing scoops. It’s a sad professional choice to write and publish such vitriol, really – but at least these quasi-journalists have a reassuring amount of mediocre company these past six months.

Back in the world of adult professionals, the real mark of a journalist, intelligence analyst, or other narrative-creating writer is whether their work is accurate and/or predictive. And this gets insufficient discussion.

Enter the citizen intelligence analyst

Though I’m a stickler to call myself an analyst, I have been happily lumped in with the citizen journalists, a brilliant, merry, and entertaining band without whom this maelstrom of political failure would never been mentally survivable. Also, they’ve been better curators and creators than most of the media, so I’ve learned a ton from them. (Personal note: Love you guys, we’re almost there!)

My membership in this group came early when I wrote a 127-tweet “thread” on Twitter that apparently made a mark. “Guys, it’s time for some game theory” was the beginning of my own explanation of:

how Trump got elected

why it was such a danger to the Republic

that American institutions would fight back against Russian political warfare

that we would win, perchance to take the country down a better path

I was flattered to receive effusive praise from some people whose work I’ve loved for years, and overwhelmed by the sudden rush of readership. But the reviews, of course, were not all positive. The tens of thousands of coordinated bot attacks were fairly negative, as were the hard-left democratic socialists who so hated Hillary Clinton that they (again, ironically) viewed any analysis of Russian active measures as a conspiracy against their narrative that Bernie Would Have Won. And then there was this cadre of middling journalistic aspirants, who just plain-old didn’t like my style.

Hey, I’m over forty. I know that I’m not for everyone! Celine Dion and Slayer have different fan bases, you know?

But what gets me is that despite the snark from quasi-journalists, nobody has ever actually taken issue with any single fact or theory I presented in the Game Theory thread of exactly six months ago. There were whole-cloth rejections of the theory based on my limited experience as a globally-recognized expert of intelligence methodologies, author of several books, and consultant to dozens of corporations and governments over 20 years. There was speculation about my relationship to methamphetamines due to a single Adderall joke in one tweet that one time. But nobody really asked, hey, was Game Theory an accurate prediction of the near-term future?

Well, six months later, as Trump has let Russians into the Oval Office to take propaganda photos and Jim Comey just got fired for that investigation I told everyone was going on – we have the perfect chance to go back and check.

Tweet by tweet – was Game Theory accurate way back on December 11, 2016?

Let’s check!

Fact check of Game Theory six months hence

This thing is on T-shirts and coffee cups and people know the phrase but don’t even know where it comes from, so let’s jump right in.

<THREAD> I’m now hearing this meme that says Obama, Clinton, et al. are doing nothing, just gave up. Guys. It’s time for some game theory. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

People kept expecting Obama to fly in with a cape, or for Hillary to protest. I knew that this was a complex game for how to repel the then-obvious Russian intelligence operation while maintaining sanctity of US institutions and minimizing damage. The “game theory” part was not a reference to economics or John Nash, but strategic wargaming which lets decision makers test their assumptions in advance of conflict.

Here I am discussing this with my partners at Aurora WDC, a consultancy with a best-in-class wargaming practice.



Sorry for all the hyperventilation this caused among economics professors. Check.

ACTOR ANALYSIS: The Russians enter the Game with a broad objective, flexible tactics, and several acceptable outcomes. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Putin wants to retain power by messing with the West and looking “studly” to the Russian people so they don’t rise up against his kleptocracy, which they’ve since done. Check.

Russian interests have been, for many years now, the subversion of Western institutions, principally NATO, but any will do. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

U.S. intelligence community officials have confirmed that Russia has been at this for years, with largely the same goals. Check.

This subversion can take many forms: driving wedges between US-Commonwealth-Euro intel cooperation, break up NATO, create chaos. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

We’ve already seen the Russians drive their puppet to hassle NATO allies, harass Five-Eyes intelligence partners, and disrupt key trade relationships. Check.

This game has been developing for many years, is asymmetrical, and much cheaper than building a decent aircraft carrier. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Behold Russia’s aircraft carrier.

Russia’s hacker game is stronger these days. Check.

Plus, the Russians f**king rule at covert shit. Always have. Ask a cold warrior. Mucho respect for our adversaries. They do clever work! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Well, it worked, right? Quod erat demonstrandum. And the Western Intelligence Community is both horrified and deeply impressed. Clever. A little too clever. Check.

Post-communism, they’re reduced to Drunk Uncle status in the global balance of power. Mouthy, smart, degraded, much reduced in stature. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Things got weird. Witness this cool slideshow and ask…well, ask Matt Taibbi. Check.

Russians as *people* are civilized, artistic, enamored of brilliance and tragedy, and generally proud. And should be. They do not like this. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

I don’t agree with this analysis, but here is an argument that Western “refusal to accept Russia as equal” is what caused Putin. It’s fair to say, however, that proud people with empires don’t like slipping in status. America feels like it’s doing the same thing, and we’ve gone half-way nuts. Check.

From this position launches an initiative from an old hand at the KGB, now solidified in influence: Subvert for the throat. Go big. Go hard. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Check out Heritage Foundation’s analysis of Putin’s rise by Ariel Cohen from way back in 2000. Nailed it. There’s some good futures work. Their concerns are the current reality. Check.

While the West is frivolous and lazy and “Post-History,” the clever take advantage. And here begins our present story. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Instead of frivolous and lazy, I might put “cocky and growing insensitive to serious strategic risks.” Could be better.

Let’s skip ahead to “Wikileaks.” BRILLIANT. Ingratiate the Left into this anti-establishment distrust of Western intel. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Russia’s specialty is that they don’t create things that are brand new in their active measures – they wait for you to create something legit – which I believe Wikileaks was, originally – and subvert for their use. Check.

George W Bush and Dick Cheney being slovenly, reckless idiots, the moral authority of Iraq and US intel is nil. In step “journalists.” — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Ahem. Check.

Stealing hard drives from US intel and dumping them to foreign agents? That’s *snicker* “journalism!” FREE SPEECH! ROFLMAO. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Please see the declassified report on Snowden’s exfiltration of NSA documents. Check.

Oh, and such grand characters, so well run: Manning, Greenwald. So righteous, yet fragile! And feisty! Try a Twitter war with Glenn! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Sure enough, Greenwald came at me a few hours after this, and he was as courteous, professional, rigorous, and honest as…well…as he usually is. MCCARTHYISMS!!! Check.

OH YOU PHILISTINE, YOU JUST HATE JOURNALISM! *sigh* *swigs something strong* And Moscow must have been doubling over. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

The NSA caught intercepts of Russians laughing about Trump’s victory. (Reported three weeks after this thread was published.) I’m assuming they had a good laugh about how many Americans swallowed this nonsense. Check.

THEN, OMG, that worked so well that the pièce de résistance was next: SNOWDEN!!! BOOYAH! THE BIG GAME! NSA! PRISM! SPASM! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Manning was the appetizer, and Snowden’s cache of NSA documents was a sumptuous meal. Check.

(incidentally, the NSA was about the only agency the Russians took seriously) But then this EARNEST young man. He tells THE TROOTH! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

The sheer wisdom and foresight of this towering figure. Check.

DID YOU KNOW YOUR TOASTER IS SPYING ON YOU? THE GUBMINT! IT IS EVERYWHERE! THEY SPY ON (*controls snickering*) ALLIES! ALL BAD! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

They thought I was ridiculous for using this mockingly, but then…KellyAnne. She delivers. Like Sarah Palin, but demonically evil. Check.

And still hungover from the rotten venality of the Iraq War and Bush’s perversion of the IC as reliable, Wikileaks journalisms the NSA! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Journalism! Where both China AND Russia get NSA docs! But it’s not Ed’s fault! JOURNAMALISMS! Check.

DON’T YOU CALL IT SOMETHING ELSE. HARD DRIVES FROM THE NSA IZ JOURNALISM! Even when you take the files to Brazil! Honest! Ask Glenn! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Greenwald’s husband is a Brazilian national – not a U.S. ally, and certainly not one for intelligence matters. The guy is traipsing through a Five-Eyes nation airport (Heathrow) with stolen top secret documents and gets detained and OH NO IT’S A CRIME AGAINST THE JOURNALISMS. *eye-roll*

Overtaken by events. Check.

And then, automagically, our man Ed ends up…what’s this now? In Russia? Well, they are such welcoming folks! How…nice! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Yeah. Weird. I wonder what that might portend. Check.

Langley and Fort Meade run out of bourbon in about three hours, and every intel guy in Russia is drunk, dancing on the desks, and LAFFING. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

I don’t have proof on the bourbon. I don’t need proof on the vodka. Hey, guys, take a victory lap – sweet Op! We respect our adversaries. They do clever work. Check.

AND THE LEFT! HOLY F**KING ADORABLE BATMAN! Honi soit qui mal y pense! How dare you suggest untoward Russian involvement! Journamalisms!!!! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Everyone in the Intelligence Community I know has sat patiently through some well-meaning, ill-informed conversations on just how heroic, and what do you mean “national security,” and bla-bla-bla ANOTHER ROUND, PLEASE? MAKE IT A DOUBLE. Check.

US intel snorts all of the Robotussin in the DC/MD/VA area. Putin calls Snowden “A weird guy.” LOLZ. Moving on to the current chapter. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

When he made that comment, it was a little like the insane photo-ops with Trump today – the Russkis give you a wink and a smile just to provoke you. “Ed. Weird guy. Wonder why he did it? Oh well.” LOLOLLLLZZZZZ. Check.

MEANWHILE, AT THE FOX NATION FORUMS: The other part of this impressive op is percolating – the buttress of the Alt-Right. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Using the Internet to make white Americans love both Nazism and Russians simultaneously.

I’m not saying that Stephen Miller bears an eerie resemblance to Reich Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels except oops OK here you go. pic.twitter.com/0Uo10M7XRO — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) February 12, 2017

Like, where the hell did they come up with this guy? Check.

ONCE UPON A TIME, Dan Rather chased Nixon around a room asking him questions VERY HARSHLY and the notion of the Evil Media Elite was born. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

That’s where the East Coast Media Elite Beating Up the GOP meme got started. Damn, it’s durable. Check.

See, because Nixon got impeached, that meant the media was in on it! WaPo! NYT! Traitors! We look bad! And the media hate begins. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

It’s funny: first the media, now the “Deep State.” Maybe don’t act like a criminal or a traitor? Check.

Never mind that to know something in Topeka, somebody’s gotta send you a newspaper or a radio signal or whatevs: The Media Is Lying. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

“I hate the Media! Check out this article…!” Check.

Now, it’s true, high level journalists and editors don’t always see the world like Johnny Lunchpail in Missouri. True facts. But. Trouble. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Reality started to bifurcate. We can see how dangerous this is now. Check.

Republicans decide to create a whole new layer of think tanks and media outlets in the 1980s dedicated to The Other Side. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Yup. Check.

The think tanks have a POV, but some are quite good, Cato in particular. Heritage came up with what’s now Obamacare. AEI…ehhh. 2 outta 3. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

THE GUYS AT AEI ARE NOW TOTALLY REASONABLE AND PATRIOTIC AND WE RETWEET EACH OTHER and damn this has been an interesting shift. But the Iraq War thing, sorry, that’s still on your permanent record. The tweet stands for that reason. Check.

But then the media play comes in. The cranky insane tent pastors on AM radio get…a makeover. They become Legitimate. Embraced. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Pat Robertson. Check.

Magnates start investing in outlets. Brand new pundits get huge audiences yelling about The Way Things Ought to Be (for White People). — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Limbaugh. Check.

And it’s more successful than free chicken and beer. The money flows, the ratings swell. An Australian starts a TV network in the US. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Fox. Check.

What develops is an attractive, well-produced alternate universe. You no longer need an alternate take. You have alternate facts. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

The administration started actually using the term “alternative facts” since I wrote this. Check.

Al Gore mutters and bores his way out of a presidency in a race against a guy who spoke English like he learned it from Rosetta Stone. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Trump of course has now made Bush look like Augustus Caesar. Check.

And now, the stage is set for a metastasis of batshit nuttery, jingoism, and irrational autocratic fervor. A party becomes a cult. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Yay. Check.

September 11, 2001 occurs. A buncha guys are in DC who couldn’t wait to go to Iraq. And the right wing media is shiny and tuned-up. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

A source told me that discussion of invading Iraq started within 48 hours of the Administration’s start…as a “hypothetical.” Check.

We go kick a bunch of barbarian ass in Afghanistan, as well we should have. They were beating women and destroying Buddhas. F**k ’em. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

We were super pissed about 9/11, and I was trying to reflect the unsophisticated anger of that moment, though I don’t like the tone now. But that’s what we did, so. Check.

But then, The Axis of Evil Speech. And all the analysts in DC I know collectively go, “Oh, fuuuuu…they’re not serious, are they?” — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Conversation from 2003: “Iraq? They don’t have a f**king SuperSoaker there.” Check.

Bill Clinton spent most of his years pounding the living snot out of Hussein. Dude built anything funny lookin’, in came the rockets. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

No Fly Zone. Also, if we see a radar signal, BOOM. Check.

There was one concerning nation-state for most, and – hint – it’s in Asia. The other threat was non-state actors. *ahem* Which played out. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

The other threat is a pain. Check.

And now – *headdesk* – they’re going to Iraq. With bullshit intel. Goddamn it. GODDAMN IT. This is going to suck, said smart people. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Real analysts, they knew. And true enough, it ended up sucking about as much as we thought. Check.

And there’s the entire right-wing think tank and media machine blaring, careening, gloating. From the gov’t itself, and from every outlet. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

They brought in Andy Card from GM. Treated it like marketing. Brilliant PR work on a shitty policy. Check.

HOW DARE YOU BE SKEPTICAL? WE HAVE AGENCIES! INTEL! IT’S SECRET! DO YOU WANT MORE PLANES IN YOUR NOSTRILS, UP YOUR BUTTS? BE PATRIOTIC! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Check.

And goddamn, did those media outlets sell a lot of ads for trucks, pain killers, pharmaceuticals and financial services. $$$$$$ — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Yup. Check.

Many earnest patriots also pointed out, hey, um, there apparently are no weapons that could have blown up Cleveland, so… — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

So, like, why did we go to war…? Check.

Ann Coulter comes on TV to talk over B-roll of rusty munitions WE SOLD HUSSEIN and said, well look, there they are. Total. Propaganda. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

God, they actually tried that gambit. Craven. Check.

Katrina. Bush. Looking out the window. Confused. Hey, but in intel news, the National Geospatial-Intel Agency helps critically. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

NGA came through with one of the only public successes for the IC in that time period. They worked tirelessly to get first responders maps of the area to save lives and protect American assets. True professionals. Check.

America’s banks, the one thing other than movies and video games we do reliably, all shit the bed simultaneously. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

And America entered a second moment of darkness, this time self-inflicted. Check.

They start the TEA PARTY! YO REMEMBER BOSTON! PAAAATRIOTS SOMETHING SOMETHING! TEA PARTY! NOTHING MATTERS TAKE IT ALL BACK YAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Things are about to get weird as the country splits apart. Check.

But ON GEORGE WASHINGTON’S GRAVE THIS HAS GONE TOO FAR!!! And the entire right-wing media gets its next several years of revenue LOCKED. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Obama’s a moderate in damn near everything, but they saw tan skin and lost their minds. Check.

Now, we’ve got a really, reaaaally fertile field in which former KGB agents can make a long play. And Moscow gets to work. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

See current events. Check.

Now the American Left has got some juice back again. But the Right is just apoplectic from pure suffering. Both are ripe for subversion. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Jill Stein on one side, Mike Flynn on the other. Just like at dinner. Check.

And the guys who have been twisting minds from Vladivostok to Havana and back get to work building an “alt” media structure. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Killary fake news on one side…and Pizzagate on the other. Elegant. Nice that Facebook played along so well. Check.

JESUS TAPDANCING CHRIST THERE’S A BLACK DUDE IN THE WHITE HOUSE! LIVING THERE! It’s not hard to convince Southerners this is insane. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

White supremacy is a helluva drug. Check.

A whole generation of disaffect Rush Limbaugh fans (WE LISTENED AND DITTOED SO HARD WHY IS THERE A BLACK DUDE THERE?) is ripe for picking. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

It hurt my soul to hear New Englanders start to sound like Confederate historical revisionists. Check.

In addition to alt-finance sites and “Russia Today” a new TV network, they start infiltrating “social media.” — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Did they ever! Check.

Fun fact: Al Jazeera and RT just let me talk. US media almost always wants some hand in your final product before booking you. Ironic, no? — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Since I wrote this, a source let me know just how much they profiled people like me in advance. Almost like they got government files kept on US media figures…. Check.

When you imbibe from this potion, everything is awful and everyone official is lying to you. Only other members of the cult are with you! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

“Alternative facts.” Check.

US media, which is complicit in many of our problems, is portrayed for the extremists as conspiratorial liars. All the time. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Old and busted: Media bias.

New hotness: Media conspiracy to steal all the Constitutions MAGA!!!! Check.

Only the Gubmint knew the Archangel Gabriel was sending him to find the next Jesus. So, cut it out, CIA! Stop it, Giant Conspiracy! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

True story and direct quotes! Check.

They started with CONSPIRACY, especially after 2012, because DAMMIT NO THERE SHOULDN’T BE A BLACK DUDE TWO TERMS NOOOO! NO NO NO NO NO NO — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

2013. It starts to get ugly. Check.

A CABAL CALLED The Pentaveret: The Queen. The Pope. The Gettys. The Rothschilds. AND COLONEL SANDERS, BEFORE HE WENT TITS UP! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

I didn’t plan this, so I’m stopping writing and going, “Whoa…this is…oh, well, thanks for sticking with me!” Check.

The Republicans debate over 712 times, discussing topics such as who hated Obamacare more, and who had a large penis. Jesus, that happened. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Jesus. That happened. Check.

I’m from Vermont and have known Bernie forever, so I’m very surprised, but everyone kinda likes it. Hillary wins anyhow. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Yup. Check.

Creating a conspiracy narrative around the Clintons is like creating a “southern” narrative around NASCAR and grits. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

They’re still trying it. Check.

The Russians didn’t create Trump – only New York City and American gullibility could have done that. But they’ve got a SWEETHEART outcome. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Like the dog that caught the car. Check.

Amazing scenario for Russia – instead of RT, they get an institutional nihilist chowderhead with American credentials. They butter him up. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

The Russians are going to wish they just got a mouthpiece. Check.

IF on the off chance, Trump actually (and who could guess this) wins, then…wow, they’ve got quite an opening. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Since corroborated by The Dossier, about which my colleagues and I had heard for many weeks. Check.

The U.S. IC had its hair on fire. This situation was incredibly dangerous. A paranoid U.S. faction backing a rogue with ties to Russia. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Comey: Trump-Russia launched in July. Check.

You come out and have the CIA enter the goddamn race for Clinton? True or not, we look like some weird cryptofascist state. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Both Comey and Obama White House officials have discussed their wrestling with this dilemma. Check.

Do you come out the day after this totally weird-smelling abomination of an election with all its technical difficulties? — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

They chose 1. Yes. 2. Yes and 3. No, and hate that those were the best choices. Check.

Do you tell America the day after the election that Russia spearfished all of our think tanks in brazen fashion? — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Their hackers ran a victory lap. Check.

Obama WELCOMES! Mr. Trump in an intense, welcoming welcome. To the White House. Mr. Big Winner Guy! Welcome! Fellow American! — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

She got out of Dodge. He told Trump, “We know about Flynn. Don’t.” Check.

In the next month, a small band of propagandists run in a circle and try to look like they’re forming a government. It’s ungainly. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

They were selling America’s foreign policy to Ambassador Kislyak for cash at Trump Tower. Allegedly. But didn’t bother to visit State or DoD. Check.

A lot of Republicans stare into the middle distance, except for McCain and Graham who are NOT HAVING THIS SHIT. (I salute you, gentlemen.) — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

Trump went on to pick fights with the entire IC. McCain and Graham…well, they’ve just kept this thing rolling forward. Check.

If you think any of this is easy, you’re ignorant and delusional. Tonight, though, I write to you with great hope. — Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

It wasn’t a partisan issue. Obama made every preparation. He set the traps for incoming traitors. Patriots have worked tirelessly. None of this is easy. CHECK.

And I still write tonight with great hope.

As I write this, there are indictments to unseal, evidence to present to a candid world, an enemy to push back, traitors to punish, and a nation to reclaim.

Looking at the evidence at the time, and given my trust in the brave men and women I know in the United States Government, I believed we would get here.

It was part analysis and part hope.

What you read above isn’t the typical output of journalism – on which I depend! – but this moment has been anything but typical, so I guess that’s why it reached people.

We still have much work to do. Let’s focus on what matters.

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