One of the interesting moves Elon Musk made when he decided to bring in independent journalists to cover the Twitter Files was to tap Left-leaning but non-Establishment journalists to do the work.

The motive behind the move is pretty obvious: by picking liberals, he could avoid the accusation that he was on a Right-wing crusade against the Democrats; by picking independent journalists he could avoid the problem that the Left-wing media is now 100% behind censorship, as long as the censorship is done by them and theirs.

The backlash against those reporters by the Establishment, including or even especially the MSM, has been a wonder to behold. Far from taking any of these journalists or their stories seriously, the MSM and the Democrats have gone on a Jihad against these particular journalists and the idea of independent journalism itself.

Matt Taibbi has been a particular target for the media criticism, perhaps because he has humiliated the MSM the most. Remember his total victory over Michelle Goldberg and Malcolm Gladwell in the Munk Debate, where he and Douglas Murray convinced a very skeptical audience that the MSM was corrupt? It was a total humiliation, taking an audience who mostly trusted the MSM and convincing them in under two hours that the MSM is corrupt.

Taking down two MSM stars in a bit over an hour is enough to piss off the right people. Obviously Glenn Greenwald and Bari Weiss share the same sin: they have pulled back the curtain and shown how corrupt the MSM really is.

With all the hate being spewed at independent journalism and Elon Musk, it is no surprise that the new MSM idea is that these liberal journalists are stalking horses for the populist Right. Rather than addressing the revelations coming from the Twitter Files–that the government colluded with social media companies to censor disapproved speech, or that powerful Congressmen were demanding censorship of their critics while threatening the companies with new laws to harm them–the MSM is instead accusing the people bearing the bad news of inspiring insurrectiony-types like you and me.

Only @MSNBC could respond to an expose about how the DHS, FBI, DOD, CIA, and other agencies are funneling masses of content moderation requests to private companies by calling the author of that report "authoritarian." #credibility https://t.co/WZ4v6SWSEb

— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) January 9, 2023

A group of journalists and media personalities who once were at home on the far left has formed a niche but influential political subculture that encourages leftists to abandon leftism for the populist right. Its most recognizable faces are former icons of leftist discourse who have millions of diehard fans: Glenn Greenwald, a co-founder of The Intercept, known as one of the most powerful critics of the “war on terror” in the Bush era. Matt Taibbi, a former Rolling Stone writer, who was famous for excoriating defenders of neoliberalism and likening Goldman Sachs to a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity.” Tulsi Gabbard, formerly a Democratic House member and 2020 presidential candidate, was aligned with the Bernie Sanders wing of the party.

But in recent years their focus has changed. These commentators had never hesitated to criticize Democrats alongside Republicans. But now they’ve pivoted to targeting liberals nearly exclusively, while forming ties with the authoritarian right.

Interesting. What makes somebody authoritarian is that they want the government to suppress people’s rights LESS than the Left. Opposing censorship of viewpoints which differ from your own isn’t authoritarian–censorship itself is authoritarian. Revealing government malfeasance is authoritarian. Questioning oppressive mandates is authoritarian.

Opposing authoritarianism, in other words, is authoritarian.

On issues such as free speech, the war in Ukraine, and social inclusivity, this group’s commentary has garnered tremendous attention and plaudits from right-wingers, and some of them have grown fond of using conservative media platforms to spread their message. In 2022 this trend appeared to reach new heights. Gabbard served as a guest host for Fox News’ white nationalist-in-chief, Tucker Carlson. Taibbi became right-wing Twitter CEO Elon Musk’s go-to stenographer for a series of leaks from Twitter’s internal documents meant to make Musk’s takeover of the social media platform look necessary. Greenwald attended the premier of a documentary about right-wing disinformation mogul Alex Jones and conducted a shockingly sympathetic interview with him.

Collectively, these and other lesser-known pundits push a political position that could be called “anti-lib populism.” (“Lib” as in the pejorative slang term for a liberal, in currency among leftists and the right.) Like all populisms, it purports to oppose elitism and speak on behalf of the people. But as a practice, it funnels people toward the snake-oil populism of the right.

Anti-lib populism may not necessarily convert leftists into MAGA activists en masse. But it could still do damage by generating cynicism that could divide the left. That’s why the left must be vigilant about its rise.

Vigilance! If you see something, say something. Whatever you do, ignore the man behind the curtain. He is just a security state official who lied to Congress and got away with it. Perjury in the service of Leftism is no vice! The idea that people should be cynical about the motives of our Elite overlords is unpatriotic and fascist!

One of the most prominent strategies of anti-lib populists is casting liberal media as the biggest threat to free speech in America. Taibbi and Greenwald spend a lot of energy warning about cancel culture and opposing deplatforming and speech regulation on internet platforms OKed by a liberal worldview. Some of it is legitimate — I, too, worry about opaque internet censorship and certain aspects of cancel culture like self-sabotaging groupthink and targeting people’s jobs for misbehavior. But what’s odd about the anti-lib outlook is its singular focus on liberals.

Hard to believe that Taibbi and other independent journalists would worry about liberals wanting to censor people. After all, it is well known that conservatives want to get pornography out of schools, and that is censorship too. (He really does compare efforts to get sex manuals out of schools to government censorship of private citizens’ speech on Twitter).

Everybody does it! Really. Everybody. Did you know that Fox News exists too? So really we should just shut up about the government sending every alphabet agency in the world to social media companies to target dissent. It is no big deal, and saying so is fascist. Conservatives bad!

What makes Matt Taibbi, Tulsi Gabbard, and Glenn Greenwald so dangerous is that they expose the modern Left for what it is: an authoritarian movement:

A skeptic of my schematic might say that I’m simply describing right-wing populists. Well, not exactly. First of all, these commentators don’t fit neatly into any conventional ideological box (and, complicating things further, never really did very neatly fit on the left). Greenwald’s stated normative views are decidedly not conventionally right-wing; Gabbard identifies as an independent and has declined to join the Republicans (at least for now); Taibbi calls himself a “run-of-the-mill, old-school ACLU liberal” who likes Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Moreover, as discusser earlier, they still hold some views that overlap with a leftist sensibility, and it’s reasonable to assume they still have many left-wing followers. And that’s why their interventions matter. Anti-lib populists can do something doctrinaire right-wing populists can’t — use their cred in leftist circles to issue critiques that act as a crowbar to crack open fissures on the left.

All right, whatever. Let’s get back to the larger point: the Establishment, today, is totally Left. Taibbi, annoyed at being attacked as an authoritarian Right winger, pointed out the obvious: he is getting attacked as a tool, yet MSNBC and CNN are absolutely filled with agents of the alphabet agencies who have been silencing their critics. The alphabet agencies basically run the MSM and social media now.

The Left isn’t standing up for the little guy against the oppressive state, as they so often like to portray themselves. They ARE the state, the media, academia, the schools, the public health establishment, Hollywood…they are everything.

MSNBC, that voice of the people, is actually these people:

Here’s a brief list of talking heads at the network now claiming people like me, Glenn Greenwald, Tulsi Gabbard and Jimmy Dore are the ones guilty of funneling audiences to “authoritarianism”:

John Brennan, former Director of the CIA, now senior intelligence analyst at MSNBC

Frank Figliuzzi, formeer Assistant Director of Counterintelligence at the FBI

Asha Rangappa, former Special Agent for the FBI, specializing in counterintelligence

Nicolle Wallace, former Communications Director for George W. Bush

Jeremy Bash, former Chief of Staff of the CIA

Clint Watts, former FBI counterintelligence agent and MSNBC national security analyst

Chuck Rosenberg, former Acting DEA administrator and senior FBI official

Nayyera Haq, former Senior Director of the White House

Richard Painter, former Chief Ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House

Neal Kaytal, former Acting Solicitor General of the United States

Ben Rhodes, former National Security Advisor to Barack Obama

Barry McCaffrey, former U.S. Army General and Drug Czar, security analyst for NBC and MSNBC

Stephen Twitty, former Lieutenant General of the U.S. Army

Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney

Barbara McQuade, former U.S. Attorney

Glenn Kirschner, former Assistant U.S. Attorney

The media likes to portray itself as taking the role of “speaking truth to power.”

No. They ARE  the power.