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Oh, lookee here, suspected couchfucker and most-unpopular veep pick in human history JD Vance has a six-figure stake in an online platform that is a sumptuous smorgasbord of conspiracy theories, promotes neo-Nazi content, and hosts straight Russian disinformation (artisanally and directly from Russia!). No, not Twitter, but Rumble, aka the right-wing YouTube!
Vance, with help from his buddy Peter Thiel and other techbros, founded an investment company in 2020, Narya Capital, which is elvish for “fire ring” in Lord of The Rings, because Peter Thiel is really into Lord of the Rings and has nameses his companies after LOTR things. Not to be confused with Sean Parker, the one who had that whole multimillion LOTR-themed wedding where he made guests wear costumes and shit, or Marc Benioff, who lit up the Salesforce tower in San Francisco as the Eye of Sauron, but it looked like a giant glowing asshole instead. Why do the techbros love LOTR so much? A subject for another day!
Anyway, in 2021 Narya bought 7 million shares of Rumble, and Vance also personally put in an investment valued between $100,000 and $250,000. And in 2021, Thiel bought some shares in Vance, $10 million to Protect Ohio Values, a super PAC supporting his Senate candidacy, saving him from having to be a stay-at-home dad supported by his wife’s salary as a lawyer. Last month Rumble stock went up by 17 percent after Vance joined the ticket.
LOL, check out this Wonkette mis-prediction from 2021: “who bloody cares about JD Vance, right? He’s clearly going to lose this primary to either Josh Mandel or Jane Timken.” And so it seemed! But that was before he cashed fat checks from the likes of Thiel and Rebecca Mercer, then decided he liked Trump a whole lot, after all.
In 2022 Rumble went public, and recruited right-wing stars to provide content, reportedly paying Andrew Tate $9 million. Even after being accused of human trafficking and rape, Tate is still on there, because that’s the kind of standards they ain’t got.
How much of a sewer is Rumble? It’s got officially dedicated channels for Patriot Front and VDare, and rapping neo-Nazis rhyming about the “Reich” and putting Jews in ovens. They’ve got fireplug-headed Dan Bongino, alleged rapist-cum-dipped-Christian Russell Brand, human Adobe pinch tool Charlie Kirk, and even Don Junior. It’s a real who’s who! You can watch hours-long videos on the latest QAnon conspiracy, or why “deep-state puppetmasters” are panicking.
Do you think that former Colorado elections clerk Tina Peters is a brave whistleblower who was framed as part of a conspiracy? So does she! You can watch her show too, and literally dozens of other videos about what a persecuted hero she is, which is probably what attracted star power like Ricky Schroder (plus numerous threats) to her ongoing trial.
Do you enjoy videos that are mostly white men with their entire faces full frame, yelling about the gold standard, in between ads for drop-shippers, boner vitamins, and Vance himself? You are in for a treat! But Rumble does NOT have any porn or titties, that would be wrong.
Vance’s team issued a statement. “J.D. does not play an active role at Rumble, nor does he set Rumble’s content moderation policies. It’s a dishonest straw man to suggest that just because someone believes in free speech rights online that they also personally endorse that speech. It’s embarrassing that an industry like the media, which relies on the First Amendment, has so much trouble comprehending that.”
And sure, it’s not a lot of money compared to Vance’s estimated $5-10 million personal net worth. Still, he IS profiting off of Russian disinformation, and Andrew Tate and so on, so is that good?
How much is Vance’s stake worth today? We don’t know! He has not filed his required financial disclosures for 2023 which were due back on May 15, and filed an extension instead! If Kamala Harris invested even a nickel in a blog about tea towels, or couldn’t get her shit together enough to file required disclosures, conservatives would lose their minds. But double standards, it’s the only kind they’ve got!
[TPM]
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