Trolling The Right Is So Easy | Ben Palmer | TMR
Quick Read
Summary
Takeaways
- ❖Ben Palmer's 'Palmer Trolls' persona originated from early online pranks before he even knew the term 'trolling.'
- ❖The fake ICE tip line exposed callers' willingness to report individuals for trivial reasons, often driven by personal vendettas.
- ❖Palmer successfully impersonated the 'City of Atlanta' on Facebook, leading to news coverage and a list of satirical demands.
- ❖A prank targeting the MLM company Monat involved fake Vin Diesel quotes and a legal threat, which Palmer countered with a 'Jones, Jones and Jones LLC' lawyer persona.
- ❖The fake 'Parlor.social' website, created to mock the conservative social media app, was mistaken for the real thing by former Congressman Ted Yoho.
- ❖Yoho sought Palmer's help to produce a podcast, unwittingly revealing his true opinions and hypocrisy on various issues.
- ❖Palmer used a legally binding contract, similar to those used by Sasha Baron Cohen, to protect himself during the Yoho hoax.
- ❖During an in-person meeting at Liberty University, Yoho blamed 'TikTok disruptors' (China) for security concerns about Palmer's associate, Walter Masterson, rather than realizing he was being pranked.
- ❖The prank culminated when Palmer presented Yoho and Michelle Bachmann with props referencing their earlier, absurd conversations, leading to Yoho's realization and an attempt to retrieve the signed contract.
Insights
1The Fake ICE Tip Line and 'Revenge Deportations'
Ben Palmer created a fake ICE tip line, which received numerous calls from individuals seeking to report others for perceived immigration violations. Callers often used the line for personal revenge, targeting ex-partners, neighbors, or even a kindergarten student's parents, demonstrating a disturbing willingness to weaponize immigration enforcement for trivial reasons.
Palmer recounts calls from people seeking 'revenge deportation attempts,' including an egregious case where a kindergarten teacher wanted a 5-year-old's parents deported because they 'looked out of place.' He also mentions a woman reporting a Publix employee who helped her find water because she 'spoke Spanish and her English wasn't great.'
2Duping a Former Congressman with a Fake Podcast
Palmer and a collaborator created 'Parlor.social,' a parody website of the conservative social media app Parler. Former Congressman Ted Yoho, believing it was the legitimate platform, contacted them to produce a podcast. Palmer spent months developing the podcast, creating a website, and even meeting Yoho in person, all while Yoho remained oblivious to the hoax.
Yoho left his phone number on the form, wanting 'Parlor' to help him produce a podcast. Palmer called him, and despite saying 'crazy stuff' like suggesting school shooting ranges with 'six-year-old boys and girls as targets,' Yoho 'never really picked up on anything.' Palmer created a website for Yoho's podcast, 'God, Country, Family,' and uploaded his blogs under a 'manifesto' section.
3Yoho's Admission of Lying to Congress and Public
During the fake podcast development, Ted Yoho privately admitted to Palmer that he did call AOC a 'f***ing b****' as he walked away, directly contradicting his public apology to Congress where he claimed the words were 'never spoken to my colleagues' and apologized only for 'their misunderstanding.'
Palmer plays a clip of Yoho's congressional apology () and then a recording of Yoho telling him, 'truth is, as I walked away by myself, I said, 'What an FNB?'' (). Palmer states, 'So, he admitted to me some things that he lied to Congress about.'
4The Sasha Baron Cohen Contract Strategy
To protect himself legally during the elaborate hoax with Ted Yoho, Palmer consulted one of Sasha Baron Cohen's lawyers. He obtained and had Yoho (and later Michelle Bachmann) sign an 'airtight contract' for the podcast production, establishing a legal framework for the satirical content.
Palmer explains that Sasha Baron Cohen 'always wins' lawsuits because he has people sign 'airtight contracts.' He states, 'That same lawyer sent me the same contract and I got Ted to sign it.' He also confirms, 'Michelle Bachmann signed the Sasha Baron contract as well.'
5The Confrontation and Yoho's Attempted Cover-up
The hoax culminated at Liberty University when Palmer presented Yoho and Michelle Bachmann with props referencing their earlier absurd conversations, including a target with children on it, which made them realize they were being pranked. Yoho then attempted to physically retrieve the signed contract and falsely accused Palmer's team of assault, only to be disproven by iPhone footage.
Palmer describes presenting a horse prop, forceps, and a 'vasectomy survivor' mug, which they found 'funny.' The situation turned 'uncomfortable' when he presented 'the target with the kids on it,' leading them to realize 'something isn't quite right.' Yoho then 'demanded that we give the contract back,' tried to 'close the camera guy hired in the door,' and later accused them of assault, which was disproven by Mac's iPhone footage.
Bottom Line
The ease with which a former U.S. Congressman, Ted Yoho, fell for an elaborate, months-long prank involving a fake social media company and podcast production, despite numerous red flags and absurd suggestions, suggests a profound lack of critical discernment among certain political figures.
This indicates that figures in positions of power can be highly susceptible to manipulation, especially when presented with opportunities that align with their self-interest or existing ideological bubbles, making them vulnerable to both genuine misinformation and satirical exposure.
This vulnerability creates an opportunity for satirical activism to expose hypocrisy and challenge narratives, but also highlights the danger of real misinformation campaigns targeting similarly uncritical audiences.
Palmer's successful use of a Sasha Baron Cohen-style legal contract to protect his satirical work, even when dealing with a former Congressman and another prominent political figure, demonstrates a robust legal precedent for parody and journalistic-style pranks.
This suggests that individuals engaging in high-stakes satirical or investigative pranks can establish legal protections, provided they adhere to certain frameworks, potentially enabling more audacious forms of political commentary and exposure.
This legal strategy could be adopted by other satirists or investigative journalists to push boundaries and secure their work against legal challenges from powerful figures they target.
Key Concepts
The Gullibility Gap
This model describes the phenomenon where individuals, particularly those with strong ideological biases, exhibit a reduced capacity for critical thinking and are more susceptible to misinformation or obvious hoaxes, especially when the content aligns with their existing worldview or offers a perceived advantage.
Parody as a Mirror
This model suggests that effective parody and satire function by holding a mirror up to societal absurdities, hypocrisies, and biases. By exaggerating or mimicking the target's behavior, language, or beliefs, parody can reveal underlying truths or expose flaws that might otherwise go unnoticed or be dismissed.
Lessons
- Cultivate extreme skepticism towards online information, especially from unfamiliar or unverified sources, as even seemingly legitimate platforms can be elaborate hoaxes.
- Recognize that public figures, regardless of their position, are not immune to manipulation or gullibility, and their public statements may not always align with their private admissions.
- Support and engage with satirical activism that uses humor and elaborate pranks to expose hypocrisy and challenge powerful narratives, as it can be a potent form of social commentary.
Notable Moments
Palmer's fake ICE tip line receives a call from a kindergarten teacher attempting to deport the parents of a 5-year-old student.
This moment exemplifies the extreme and often petty motivations behind some calls to the fake tip line, highlighting a disturbing willingness to use severe measures for trivial or prejudiced reasons.
Ted Yoho, during a private call with Palmer for the fake podcast, admits to calling AOC a 'f***ing b****,' contradicting his public apology to Congress.
This directly exposes Yoho's hypocrisy and dishonesty, demonstrating his public persona was a deliberate fabrication, and providing concrete evidence of his true sentiments.
At Liberty University, Palmer presents Yoho and Michelle Bachmann with a target featuring images of children, a reference to Yoho's earlier 'school shooting range' comments, leading to their realization of the prank.
This is the climax of the prank, where the absurdity of Yoho's previous statements is brought into sharp, uncomfortable focus, leading to the immediate collapse of the hoax and a desperate attempt by Yoho to cover it up.
Quotes
"If you like the Vin Diesel look, you should try our hair products cuz they'll make you bald."
"I've relied on Monat to keep me bald for years."
"If you take any legal action against Jackie at the Colorado and Times, even just a tiny hair of legal action, I'll respond by photoshopping every Monad executive bald and these photos will be posted on the internet and made easily accessible by a simple Google search."
"The offensive name calling words attributed to me by the press were never spoken to my colleagues. And if they were construed that way, I apologize for their misunderstanding."
"Even if the targets were, you know, six-year-old boys and girls as the targets, you know, that saves a life, then hey..."
"Um, but truth is, as I walked away by myself, I said, 'What an FNB?'"
"On the abortion side, I mean, if you get rid of the male population and get it manageable, then you can manage your herd from that point forward. I think that's a great analogy to go with humans, too."
"It was unfortunate that I created Michelle Bachmann. I said, 'I apologize for your misunderstanding, but I cannot apologize for my passion, for loving my gods, my damn it, and my family.'"
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