Devin Nunes’ Fake News Site Suggests Male Privilege Doesn’t Exist

Lowlights from its short-lived Twitter feed.

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) at the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in June 2013. Charles Dharapak/AP

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It wasn’t around long, but in its short life, the Twitter feed for “The California Republican”—an alternative “news” site paid for by Devin Nunes Campaign Committee that lambasts the mainstream media and pushes GOP-friendly stories—blistered social media with some serious swings and misses. Presumably all in an effort to win over constituents in the beleaguered congressman’s home district, the Twitter feed employed the hashtag #LockHerUp, and railed against immigrants. It told the LGBT community that Republicans don’t care about them, and it retweeted the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones of InfoWars. It sent out a Tweet suggesting that male privilege does not exist, by cataloguing the many ways in which men ostensibly have it harder than women. And then this week, what was formerly known as @CaRepublicanCom went dark.

Before it did, we got some screenshots of a few of its worst takes:

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We were built for times like these

Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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