Al Giordano, the journalist and blogger who recently announced he may run as a Democratic challenger for Bernie Sanders’ Vermont senate seat in 2018, has become embroiled in some delicious Twitter drama with Sanders supporters and Weird Twitter jokesters.
Giordano told the Daily Beast he’s to the left of Sanders on many issues, but his primary concern is preserving Barack Obama‘s Democratic coalition, which he feels Bernie’s enthusiastic online supporters are putting at risk.
But online is hard, and Giordano now finds himself at odds with those at the intersection of Weird Twitter and Bernie Twitter, a community that has coalesced around the very funny Bernie-leaning podcast Chapo Trap House.
You may remember when the Chapo boys—Felix Biederman, Will Menaker, and Matt Christman—and their fans went in on right-wing commentator Dan “The Baseball Crank” McLaughlin, turning his brand and his Twitter avatar into a joke. Well, Giordano is wandering into the same minefield. Late last week, he posted a multi-part Twitter rant accusing the Chapo boys of “organizing… fake accounts” to troll him by pretending to be supporters and making him look bad later.
https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/741671983562166272
https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/741674292048322563
The alleged plot was foiled by Giordano’s use of the “block” button.
https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/741673618510249985
The thing is, acknowledging anyone who gets you riled up online can’t end well, and Giordano went deep, deep down that rabbithole. He’s been replying to opponents and jokesters who want to ruffle his feathers, and has also been quick to block any “dudebro” who gives offense.
https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/742520996708507648
Some have also reported that Twitter has locked their accounts “for security reasons”—something that happens after failed login attempts—after Giordano blocked them.
https://twitter.com/Bro_Pair/status/742781029694509057
https://twitter.com/Boringstein/status/742783608188964864
Jesus Christ it's true pic.twitter.com/4h5KfUB51R
— K. Thor Jensen 🐀🐀 (@kthorjensen) June 14, 2016
Giordano says the allegations that he attempted to log into anyone’s accounts are a “conspiracy theory,” and that he doesn’t have the “god-like power” to get people’s account access suspended:
https://twitter.com/AlGiordano/status/743107803942817793
Arguing and blocking on Twitter is one way a human being can choose to spend his limited allotment of time on this Earth, but Weird Twitter will have a field day with it:
https://twitter.com/Bro_Pair/status/742709070596018177
Al Giordano is poised to become the first person to get so Mad online he ran for Congress
— Virgil Texas (@virgiltexas) June 11, 2016
https://twitter.com/Bro_Pair/status/742780766124429315
https://twitter.com/ItsTonyNow/status/741762682332839945
If you tweet anything mildly humorous at @algiordano, he will not only block you but Twitter will lock your account for security reasons
— Mike Cobraman (@MKupperman) June 14, 2016
hahah Al Giordano is the weakest baby on earth
— Jude E.O. Bolshevik (@notveryraven) June 15, 2016
i dunno he seems pretty cool to me @AlGiordano
— BAKOON (@BAKKOOONN) June 15, 2016
None of this is looking especially great for Giordano’s possible campaign or his personal brand. And according to the Chapo Trap House hosts—who discussed Giordano during their June 11 episode—his beef with them is based on a misunderstanding.
“We were talking about how Scotty Burberry was doing the fake accounts, not us!” Menaker said.
“Yeah, we were talking about how [Giordano] was convinced to run by the multiple fake accounts of delusional Hillary Man Scotty Burberry,” Christman added. “We didn’t say anything about us doing the accounts!”
The Chapo boys then intimated that they would actually like people to donate to Giordano so that his campaign continues, because it is a funny joke to them.
https://twitter.com/DJScootIsADoot/status/742358364978454529