The Power of Social Media Pressure

If there’s one thing dissidents know best, it’s the sad truth that the average person has little sway over national politics. Washington, D.C. is teeming with national lobbies, deep state bureaucrats, and corporate media propagandists. The representative ratio of Congressmen to constituents is now 1 to 750,000, and even a personal conversation with one’s representative is a rare occasion.

That said, sometimes the rise of social media breaks the political paradigm in interesting and unprecedented ways. One such occasion unfolded last week, where one of president-elect Donald Trump’s prospective nominees was completely undermined by the concerted uproar of the masses.

It all started when Trump announced he was appointing Chad Chronister to head the DEA on November 30. Taking issue with this, the Libertarian Party of Mississippi took to X to rebuke the decision. As it turned out, Chronister played a major role in his state’s iron-handed COVID regime as a Florida sheriff. Most controversially, he arrested Rodney Howard-Browne, a pastor who defied his state’s lockdown policies by holding worship services.

If that wasn’t enough, Chronister boasted about the arrest on social media, claiming the pastor “intentionally and repeatedly disregarded state and local public health orders, which put his congregation and our community in danger.” Furthermore, he posted a press release accusing Howard-Browne of having a “reckless disregard for human life.”

A true adherent of the Church of Fauci, Chronister also used his position to sell the vaccine propaganda to the masses. “Stop listening to the politicians…start listening to the medical professionals and scientists and get vaccinated,” he told a local news station. Thomas Massie quote-tweeted the Libertarian Party of Mississippi’s criticism of Chronister, resulting in 3.9 million additional views. From there, a who’s who of right-wing influencers followed suit, calling Chronister out and criticizing Trump for the selection.

On December 3, news spread that Chronister had withdrawn from consideration for the position. “The gravity of this very important responsibility set in,” he explained on social media, claiming that he had turned down the nomination.

This announcement was a huge cause for celebration for those whose lives were ruined under COVID regime policies, but there was another comical twist. Refusing to let Chronister’s explanation stand, Trump posted on Truth Social that it was actually he who rescinded the appointment. “He didn’t pull out, I pulled him out, because I did not like what he said to my pastors and other supporters,” he wrote. Regardless of what the true story was, we all benefit from a Chronister-free DEA.

Those who have resisted the federal government’s drug war for decades know that the DEA shouldn’t even exist, and its elimination should always be our North Star aim. Even so, it behooves us to admit that Washington’s sinister enforcement schemes would be far less tyrannical if headed by an administrator who exercises discretion—the kind that Chronister lacks.

Short of changing Washington from the inside, working locally to thwart the enforcement of the federal drug enforcement regime has paid the most dividends. The feds have completely lost the plot on marijuana, for instance, where 24 states have openly legalized its use despite rigid federal prohibition laws.

Under the government we have now, it’s easy to become cynical. The banks, military industrial complex, and regulatory agencies direct our domestic and foreign policy with remarkable continuity regardless of who occupies the White House. Making any headway against the leviathan often seems insurmountable, especially from those outside of the political class itself.

At the same time, incidents like this give dissidents hope for the future, and underscore the true potential of online activism and the independent media. The wave of antipathy that was unleashed against Chronister had a palpable effect on the composition of the federal law enforcement regime, and seems to challenge the notion that “social media isn’t real life.”