Let me return to

the attack on you,

because this is something

that we know from other times,

in other places.

I mean, it's not just,

you know,

something that the Trump

administration does.

That attacking the messenger,

attacking the journalist,

attacking the institution

of journalism,

attacking The Atlantic.

This is a way,

this is something that autocrats

and dictators

do in other countries

in order to be able

to create their own reality.

Right?

I mean, they want to say, Nothing,

don't believe anybody except me.

You know, ignore Jeff Goldberg.

He's a, he's

a scumbag

and a loser and a sleazebag.

You know, only listen to our,

into what we are saying.

Do you think that by publishing

the texts,

you injected

that little dose of reality

into the conversation?

Their goal, the goal of people

who are authoritarian-

minded is to force compliance,

right?

They can only do

what they want to do if no one

fights them,

if no one argues with them,

if no one counters it.

And so if you have a,

if you have a dose of reality

that you can inject

into the system,

into the cognitive system

of the United States, well,

then you should,

you should do it,

because they're counting on people

not doing it.

So Mike Waltz

calls you a loser on TV.

Implies that you're,

you know, that you've

somehow mysteriously made

your phone number

appear on his telephone.

Yeah, it was using my brain waves.

That's right, that's right.

Yeah. You know. So.

So how does that

work in your brain?

So you're accused of these

very bad things,

and, and

you're meant to be intimidated,

and you're meant to say,

You're right, your Honor.

We won't publish anything.

Yeah, well, I mean, he could.

Mike Waltz can call me a loser

if he wants,

but at least I know how to text.