Salon Publishes List of Approved Trump-Hating Twitter Conservatives

Donald Trump shrug
AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill
Lucas Nolan

Salon.com published last week their list of 25 approved Twitter conservatives, and unsurprisingly nearly every single one of them is fiercely anti-Trump.

Salon’s article, titled, “The 25 Conservatives Actually Worth Following on Twitter,” identifies an approved list of conservatives that liberals are allowed to like. Unsurprisingly, the main caveat for each of these conservatives was that they must all be anti-Trump. Salon starts the article by stating that liberals should look to more conservative personalities to better understand why Democrats lost the 2016 election. However, despite losing the election to President Donald Trump, Salon insists that their readers only follow anti-Trump conservatives.

Salon journalist Taylor Link writes, “With every right-wing follow added on Twitter, liberals inched closer to the likes of Mike Cernovich and Jack Posobiec appearing on their “who to follow” suggestions. A few brave liberals likely made the leap and added Cernvovich and Posobeic to their timeline, only to find their feeds polluted by offensive nonsense.” Link continues, “But what if we told you there are 25 conservatives actually worth following on Twitter? What if we said that there are conservatives that not only dislike President Trump, but also engage in a level of ideological introspection that has surpassed most liberals? Wouldn’t you have to check them out?”

Link then lists 25 Never Trumpers, including Republican political strategist and media consultant Rick Wilson, former Jeb Bush campaign staffer Tim Miller, former White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration Richard W. Painter, and National Review and Real Clear Politics writer Josh Jordan. Link included tweets from each of these conservative Twitter users, the majority of which were anti-Trump.

None of the tweets from Rick Wilson explained his conservative viewpoints. Instead, they were direct attacks on President Trump,

Wilson has previously branded President Trump a “fascist”:

And has openly described how he prefers his “fascists”:

Richard W. Painter’s tweets were quite similar, calling out Trump for a number of issues and insulting the President and his administration’s intelligence and attacking his advisors:

The tweets included from Josh Jordan had nothing to do with politics or conservatism and were in fact just blatant attacks on President Trump.

The Salon-approved list of conservatives also includes Twitter users operating under pseudonyms, such as Kilgore Trout, Atticus Goldfinch, Allahpundit, and Brandt. All of these Twitter users are anonymous and unsurprisingly, quite anti-Trump. Kilgore Trout describes himself in his bio stating that he “is trapped somewhere in a large corporation where he officially has no controversial opinions on anything.” Trout’s profile is filled with stellar tweets such as these.

Atticus Goldfinch describes himself in his bio as “Ex-conservative. I left that tribe, but still hold many of the ideals. Recovering ecologist, budding programmer. Whisper campaign president.” This anonymous, self-professed ex-conservative apparently also meets Salon’s criteria for a worthwhile Twitter conservative. Goldfinch regularly takes on President Trump and the conservative media in his tweets.

Allahpundit, who is best known for being quoted by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, runs the HotAir blog but still finds time to take to Twitter to bash President Trump.

Brandt acts as a critic of right-wing media, specifically The Federalist, which Brandt seems to have a particular vendetta against.

Of course, like most of the conservatives on Salon’s list, Brandt spends a good amount of his time attacking fellow conservatives.

And of course, Brandt is fiercely anti-Trump.

Others included on Salon’s list are Tim Carlson, who declared he was “no longer a conservative” over the NFL national anthem protests:

Former Jeb Bush campaign staffer Tim Miller also appears on the list; Salon describes Miller as a “token” conservative columnist for Crooked Media and “go-to pundit representing the never-Trump movement.”

According to Salon one of the most important reasons for following Miller on Twitter is his name-calling and ridicule of President Trump and other Republicans.

Bill Kristol made Salon’s list, a possibly unpopular choice which Link acknowledges. “Bill Kristol’s presence on this list may not go over well with some on the left. After all, it was he who helped bring about the neoconservative agenda during the Bush years. And his hawkish stance on foreign policy rarely meshes with liberals.” But, Kristol is anti-Trump, so he gets a spot on the list.

Ana Navarro made the list, described by Salon as a “Florida-based Republican politico who is now a frequent contributor on CNN.” Salon accurately states that Navarro is best known for her criticism of President Trump and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Steve Bannon.

Washington Post writer Jennifer Rubin is listed as an acceptable conservative by Salon due to her vocal opposition to President Trump and his administration.

Red State journalist Ben Howe also made the list, once again for his vocal opposition to the president. Howe is currently working with Rick Wilson to produce a documentary attacking President Trump and the first year of his administration. Howe has openly accused the president of being a sociopath, a tweet listed by Salon as an example of why their readers should follow Howe.

Howe has also compared President Trump to Harvey Weinstein, who was recently accused of sexual harassment, assault, and rape by multiple women.

Howe was quite open about Salon’s reasoning for including him on their list:

Ken White is a lawyer who, according to Salon, “respects the Constitution more than politicians.” Salon states that White “enjoy his First Amendment rights by ridiculing Trump and his supporters, usually with a hint of sarcasm thrown into the mix.”

Independent Journal Review journalist Haley Byrd is spoken of very highly by Salon: “When she’s not tracking down members of Congress, she’s usually cracking jokes on everybody’s favorite social media platform.”

National Review and Real Clear Politics writer Josh Jordan is listed as “no fan of liberals or Trump. But, fortunately for liberals, he directs much of his ire at the president” and appears to be another conservative that made the list solely based on his Twitter Trump-bashing.

John Weaver, former John McCain and John Kasich strategist, CNN contributor and ardent defender of the Affordable Care Act made the list for his criticism of President Trump and the current healthcare system. “He constantly uses his platform on Twitter to shine a light on how the Trump administration is sabotaging health care in America,” writes Link.

Author Tom Nichols made the list for his criticism of President Trump’s national security policies.

And of course, just general Trump criticism.

Fox News host Kat Timpf was included in Salon’s list for her anti-Trump remarks. Salon states that Timpf gives Fox News viewers an “even-handed” look at the state of politics.

Former Mitt Romney adviser Stuart Stevens is described by Salon as, “one of the most influential conservatives on Twitter,” and praises Stevens saying that he, “keeps a close eye on Trump and swiftly denounces him whenever he slips up.”

Commentary magazine editor and regular guest on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show, Noah Rothman is described by Salon as someone who, “takes swings at the left from time to time,” but is a “worthy Twitter follow because he explains how impotent Trump is policy-wise.”

Dallas Morning News writer Jay Caruso will reportedly be palatable to liberal when he’s, “not tweeting about the Second Amendment,” but due to his criticism of Trump, “Caruso’s account is a dependable telescope.”

S.E. Cupp, the conservative commentator and host of “SE Cupp Unfiltered” on HLN was included on the list for her scathing criticism of President Trump. Cupp’s criticism of Trump is what helped her to gain popularity during the 2016 election.

Cupp did not accept her position on Salon’s list happily though,

New York Post columnist John Podhoretz is described by Link as “ornery” at times but is “admittedly very smart.” Link also suggests Salon readers check out Podhoretz’ podcast with Abe Greenwald.

Political commentator and senior editor at the Atlantic, David Frum is also not a popular choice amongst liberals but Link describes Frum as, “somewhat of a professional roaster of Trump on Twitter,” which has garnered him his place on Salon’s list.

Stephen Hayes, the editor-in-chief of the Weekly Standard, made the list as Link’s final conservative to follow as according to Link, Hayes “tells it like it is.”

In short, every single conservative that Salon believes their liberal readers should follow in order to better understand Trump, actively dislikes Trump. The Salon suggestion for stepping outside the liberal social bubble is to view an even smaller bubble of anti-Trump conservatives without taking into account the massive number of Trump voters that helped President Trump to win the 2016 election. This is a perfect example of why the left continues to fail to understand Trump and his voter base.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com

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