How Russia's 2016 Attack Led Trump to Destroy US Hegemony
Ball of Thread
The 2016 attack by Russia on the 2016 election helped US abandon rational discourse, created deep polarization, and continues to harm the US Deep State. Get the whole story: Support emptywheel:
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A Shutdown Must Be Tied to a Strategy to Fight Fascism
Ball of Thread
While much of the left is pushing for a shutdown later this month, almost none are talking about how a shutdown ties to any articulable strategy to fight fascism. Indeed, the hope it will be an "attentional" event simply outsources the agency of fixing the Democrats' attentional problems generally. Watch this episode: Read more: Support emptywheel:
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A Tale of Two Governors
Ball of Thread
JB Pritzker and Gavin Newsom both gave press conferences showing that Trump's attempts to invade their states is about authoritarianism, not law enforcement. But Newsom's effort more successfully exposed Trump's authoritarian spectacle. Read more: Support emptywheel:
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Big Balls Has Unfettered Access to Our Social Security Data
Ball of Thread
In June, Republicans on the Supreme Court lifted a stay, giving DOGE access to all Americans' Social Security records. Then, DOGE gave Ed "Big Balls" Coristine -- a guy with ties to criminal hackers -- access to that. Read more: Support emptywheel:
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The Conspiracy Theory that Got NSA's Top Math Whiz Purged
Ball of Thread
Tulsi Gabbard just stripped the security clearances of 37 intelligence officials, including one of the NSA's top math whizzes. Her excuse for doing so stems from conspiracy theories invented by a disgruntled whistleblower. Watch this: Read more: Support emptywheel:
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Stop Looking for a F@%king Pee Tape!
Ball of Thread
We know why Vladimir Putin has leverage over Trump, and it's not the goddamned pee tape. Trump has survived for the last eight years--not just the Russian investigation, but his first impeachment, his second impeachment, January 6, stealing classified documents--by claiming every push for accountability was just a hoax by Hillary Clinton. Russia Russia Russia. But Putin has proof that Trump knows Hillary didn't frame him--instead, Russian spies framed her. And if he released that, it would destroy the very means by which Trump has avoided accountability for eight years.
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How a Batshit Letter May Help Trump Bankrupt America
Ball of Thread
Solicitor General John Sauer wrote a batshit letter to the appeals court reviewing Trump's tariffs. It's little more than Trump's Truth Social posts slapped on a page -- not even on DOJ letterhead! But here's why it might work with SCOTUS. Read more: Support emptywheel:
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John Durham's Show Trials: A Preview of Coming Attractions
Ball of Thread
The ways in which John Durham sustained his prosecutions of Michael Sussmann and Igor Danchenko even after concluding that the theory of his case was actually Russian disinformation provide a good sense of how Pam Bondi plans to do it going forward. Read more: Support emptywheel:
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The Secrets Trump's Spies Share with Putin's Spies
Ball of Thread
Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel, and John Ratcliffe share a secret with Vladimir Putin's spies: There's an email redacted in the classified Durham appendix that makes it clear that Hillary Clinton didn't frame Trump, Russian spies framed Hillary. Read more: Suport Marcy and emptywheel:
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John Durham's Crime
Ball of Thread
Back in 2021, John Durham discovered that both prongs of his investigation into Hillary Clinton -- that Hillary Clinton had a plan to smear Donald Trump, and that the FBI got notice of that -- were false. He also had to have known that Kash Patel and John Ratcliffe misrepresented what spooks have found. But he continued to investigate for another two years anyway, committing precisely the crime he set out to investigate. Read more: https://www.emptywheel.net/2025/08/03/john-ratcliffe-and-kash-patel-and-durham-himself-committed-the-crime-john-durham-was-hunting/
info_outlineMarcy Wheeler ties it all together.
In this last bonus episode of Ball of Thread, Marcy explains how the confirmation of Ka$h Patel and the Trump administration’s abandonment of Ukraine confirm the big ideas behind Ball of Thread.
Eight years ago, Kash Patel helped Trump turn a legitimate investigation into Trump’s ties to Russia into a grievance narrative. Over and over, Kash added to the tale: with Ukraine, with January 6, with the stolen documents.
And now, as Kash prepares to turn the FBI into an instrument of Trump’s vengeance while gutting the agency’s ability to counter Russian operations and crime, Trump has all but fully capitulated to Vladimir Putin.
For eight years, Kash and Trump have worked together to turn every effort to hold Trump accountable into a grievance fantasy to sell, to slowly train Republicans to eschew rule of law. Along the way, Trump delivered everything Vladimir Putin might have sought in 2016: a divided America, the end of the Western Order, and a world bartering corruption.
Ball of Thread hoped to help avoid the exact reality we now face. We failed, but we will persist.
Marcy carries on, as always, at emptywheel.net, where you can follow and support her work.
Thanks to everyone who supported us in creating this document. Hopefully, we’ve shown that some of us were very, very aware of the risks our democracy faced from Donald Trump in real-time. May the lessons in these episodes help us defend our nation as we try to limit the misery of the biggest mistake this country's voters were ever lured into making.