Last week my wife told me about a mid-level White House staffer who had opened a Twitter
account with the intention to tweet about the chaos going on inside the White House. The
account description reads, "I'm a mid-level White House staffer and I can't believe what I
signed up for. @realdonaldtrump and most of his staff are nuts! I'm going to chronicle it
all!"
The account, which was named "Whistle Blower" and used the handle "@WhiteHouseLeak", was
shut down after a few hours, but
the account's
activity was archived here.
PRO TIP: When live-tweeting about White House insidery
shenanigans, including President Trump's personal Twitter handle could be a
career-limiting move. The staffer is probably learning to tweet new phrases like "Do you
want fries w/that?
HMB."
To be fair, there's no way for me to be able to discern the credibility of the source;
I've no way to verify whether the account holder is (was?), in fact, a mid-level White
House staffer.
I came across the account just after
the Environmental Protection Agency was ordered to cease all press releases and social media
communications until the Trump Administration completes a review of its website.
The move was likely related to the sudden disappearance of climate change data from
whitehouse.gov, and the order issued to
the Department of the Interior to discontinue use of twitter after
a National Park Service tweet of photos comparing the inauguration ceremony crowds of the
two most recent US Presidents. National Park Service employees were also
instructed to remove web pages on climate change, cease dissemination of climate facts
and decline calls from reporters.
The EPA gag order sparked a tremendous series of online protests from scientists and
environmentalists either currently or formerly associated with multiple federal agencies.
New Twitter accounts were established with handles prefixed with "alt" or "Rogue" with
some thin degree of separation from the agencies they unofficially represent. Among them
(this is not an exhaustive list):
- AltDeptState (@AltDeptState)
- AltHomelandSecurity (@AltHomelandSec)
- AltImmigration (@ALT_USCIS)
- AltNASA (@Alt_NASA)
- AltUSED (@Alt_USED)
- AltUSForestService (@AltForestServ)
- Alt US Justice Dep't (@AltUSDOJ)
- Alternative HHS (@AltHHS)
- Alternative CDC (@Alt_CDC)
- Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA)
- The Resistance (@ActualEPAFacts)
The new accounts are producing tweets festooned with tags like #Resist and offering
information designed to counter events as they unfold: Regarding the
immigration debacle,
AltImmigration was tweeting that some legal immigrants were being coerced into signing
I-407 forms. The Resistance (the alt-EPA account) is tweeting climate change data
which the Trump Administration
appears determined to suppress as part of its pro-business position.
Personally, I'm completely blown away that there's an alt-DoD account, because when I
think DoD, I think military. If the
operators of alt-DoD are military, they're taking what I would consider to be an
unacceptable risk. There's an oath involved as a condition of their employment, and
there's no such thing as "free time" when the US owns you 24/7.
There's even an alt-GOV account, self-styled as a central news location for
these alt- account activities.
More on the origins of these alt- accounts may be found
in this People article.
As with the WhiteHouseLeak account, there's no way to verify these accounts are actually
operated by people with direct knowledge of the affairs they report.
And speaking of Whistle Blower, a second, similarly-named account appeared later on.
Under the handle @WhitehouseLeaks, the account notably was established back in June;
it is not a new account.
So there is the sequence of events, as I understand them.
This is the point where I had a sort of a summary paragraph, offering my thoughts
on all of this mess and a hopeful message. But before I get to that, I feel I should
remind us about the topic of a previous post under cover of the DNC debacle. I'd
mentioned the success the Russian cyberespionage team likely enjoyed due to the
wide adoption of social media in the US. As I'd said above, we've no way to know
whether the accounts are actually being operated as represented. What if some
percentage of these accounts are actually being operated by the Kremlin, or some
other entity intent on creating distrust (as if there wasn't enough already)?
I can't think of a better time than now to stand shoulder to shoulder with the
other alt groups to do exactly that. As I said, we've no means of knowing who is
actually posting to these accounts.
Okay. Time for the flowery stuff.
It's hard for me to discern where this all headed, and how this will all play out —
but I believe that, for those who are paying attention, this will be a lesson not soon
forgotten. A lesson about what it means to participate in the political process, and
about the price of complacency. I'm likely not the most politically aware person, but I
feel comfortable in saying that the public — at least my contemporaries — hasn't been
so aware of challenges like these in my adult life. I don't recall anything similar to
events which has driven multiple federal agencies to "go rogue" and walk the thin line
between compiance with executive order and providing information to the public. Nor,
I would imagine, such a tremendous public interest or outcry.
For these reasons, I opine the events of Trump Administration, week one, will remain
in the public consciousness for a long time. And I believe that we'll eventually be a
better nation for it; I'm willing to bet the next national political cycle will see
unparalleled participation.
There are very good reasons why the slogan "freedom isn't free" is so popular among
military veterans. Perhaps the events of the young Trump Administration will give new
meaning to the idiom.