Over at American Thinker (AT), a hard core MAGA site, the owners have figured out an effective way to keep the echo chamber squeaky clean without banning or blocking people who criticize. They simply require people to pay to comment. Other MAGAland websites are either getting rid of comments or doing the same thing that AT has done. In the case of AT, here is the gatekeeper language:
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Hm, $6.79/month? Not worth it, but a review of the
comments shows no pushback against the article discussed below
There's lots of praise for Gabbard, lots of criticism of Obama
I asked Pxy to fact check an AT article that discusses a bombshell report, Gabbard’s ODNI bombshell: Obama central figure in Russia hoax. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released this report regarding Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Q: Assess and comment on the veracity of this article https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/07/gabbard_s_odni_bombshell_obama_central_figure_in_russia_hoax.html. Just analyze the entire article as a whole.
A: Bottom-line: The American Thinker piece is largely false and highly misleading. It cherry-picks language from newly declassified e-mails, ignores the difference between manipulating vote tallies and conducting influence operations, omits contrary findings from every major bipartisan investigation, and relies on a source with a demonstrable history of publishing retracted election-fraud stories.
ICA = intelligence community assessment
1. The Republican-led Senate Select Committee on Intelligence confirmed that Russia “directed extensive activity” against U.S. election infrastructure and ran an influence campaign favoring Trump.2. The Mueller Report documented “sweeping and systematic” Russian interference, including the GRU hacks and the Internet Research Agency social-media operation.3. The House Intelligence Committee (2019 minority and majority reports) also upheld the ICA’s core judgments.
None of those investigations depended on the Steele dossier. None implicated Obama in any wrongdoing or hoax.
This is what MAGA online politics looks like these days. They paywall their comments to keep the echo chamber squeaky clean. What % of the rank and file actually believe this kind of MAGA demagoguery and lies is unclear. Pxy estimates:
The evidence suggests that approximately 50-70% of Trump voters would be receptive to pro-MAGA reporting that portrays mainstream investigations (like those into Russian interference) as fabricated "hoaxes." This estimate aligns with the high rates of election fraud beliefs (67-69%) and the substantial minority who embrace broader conspiracy theories (25% for QAnon, 61% for replacement theory).
Q: Did AT get it right to report that the whole idea of any Russian interference in the 2016 election was a hoax created by Obama and based on fabricated evidence, or might there be reason to suspect that AT's reporting on this matter is a wee smidge inaccurate?