By Robert Laurie ——Bio and Archives--August 23, 2017
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Former undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson is looking to crowdfund enough money to buy Twitter so President Donald Trump can’t use it. Wilson launched the fundraiser last week, tweeting: “If @Twitter executives won’t shut down Trump’s violence and hate, then it’s up to us. #BuyTwitter #BanTrump.” The GoFundMe page for the fundraiser says Trump’s tweets “damage the country and put people in harm’s way.” As of Wednesday morning, she had raised less than $6,000 of the billion-dollar goal. In an emailed statement, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the low total shows that the American people like the president’s use of Twitter.
“Her ridiculous attempt to shut down his first amendment is the only clear violation and expression of hate and intolerance in this equation,” the statement read. Wilson wrote on the fundraiser’s GoFundMe page that she hopes to raise enough money to buy a controlling interest of Twitter stock. If she doesn’t have enough to purchase a majority of shares, she said that she will explore options to buy “a significant stake” and champion the proposal at Twitter’s annual shareholder meeting. If Plame were to hit her billion-dollar goal, she’d still fall far short of gaining a controlling interest in the company. As of Wednesday, a majority stake would cost roughly $6 billion.So, a billion dollars - which she won't get - won't make her the majority shareholder, but it would buy enough Twitter stock to give her considerable sway when it comes to corporate decisions. She would then, apparently, demand President Trump be banned from the service and... then what? Either Twitter would acquiesce - a move that would probably create a company-destroying backlash - or they'd refuse and Plame would have lots of Twitter stock. I can't decide if this a deeply misguided-but-sincere effort, a bid for renewed fame, a get rich quick scheme, or simply a desperate plea for attention. Maybe it's a combination of all four. Whatever it is, it's doomed to failure, so have fun crowd-sourcing your fascism, guys.
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