Jacob Wohl may have Smolletted himself


Jacob Wohl, the right-wing dumbass who strolled through a pleasant neighborhood in Minneapolis and declared it a “no-go zone” infested with terrorists, has come out with a “documentary” about his terrifying experience. He even claimed to have received an online death threat from a gay Hispanic diversity coordinator! Except that, because he’s one of the dumbest people on the internet, he used one of his own fake accounts to send it to himself.

He reported that threat to the police! So now the Minneapolis police are looking into it as a false report of a crime. It’s kind of amazingly idiotic: he included video shots of the “threat” in his own “documentary”, and also included shots of him filing a police report. He committed a crime and recorded every step of it. He is so helpful to the police.

Even his own good pal, Ali Alexander, who accompanied him on this field trip, is now desperately distancing himself from Wohl, slamming his friend publicly.

“It confirms that he’s not operating at a level where there’s useful misinformation, but kind of stupid, vanity-filled, ego-fueled disinformation,” Alexander said. “And that won’t look good for Jacob.”

I saw the videos Alexander and Wohl made during their visit, and while he may not have been responsible for a fake police report, he certainly was an enthusiastic participant in spreading “stupid, vanity-filled, ego-fueled disinformation”.

Comments

  1. Owlmirror says

    Coming soon, I bet: False flag! Fake news! He’s really a deep-cover leftist crisis actor paid by George Soros directly to do things that make the right look dishonest and stupid!

  2. Ed Seedhouse says

    “I saw the videos Alexander and Wohl made during their visit, and while he may not have been responsible for a fake police report, he certainly was an enthusiastic participant in spreading “stupid, vanity-filled, ego-fueled disinformation”.”

    Hey, a guy’s gotta have a hobby!

  3. ardipithecus says

    YOU TOO CAN TAKE THE “I’ve just filed a false police report alleging a death threat” CHALLENGE!!!

  4. John Small Berries says

    Well, if the truth doesn’t support your position, you can either reevaluate your position, or disseminate “useful misinformation”.

  5. anthrosciguy says

    It puts a new twist on the term “own goal”.

    I’m Reading you loud and clear!

    Good one. :)

  6. nomdeplume says

    A good thing so many of these alt-right loons are so dumb. Sadly a few aren’t.

  7. ridana says

    This loser wants to be James O’Keefe so badly he can taste it. Yet even with such latrine-level aspirations, he still can’t clear the bar.

  8. Brain Hertz says

    Jim Hoft is suddenly looking concerned at losing his coveted title to the new upstart

  9. says

    Coming soon, I bet: “False flag! Fake news! He’s really a deep-cover leftist crisis actor paid by George Soros directly to do things that make the right look dishonest and stupid!”

    And then: “I used to be a leftist crisis actor paid by George Soros, pay me to tell you all about it.”

    The things people do to avoid an honest day’s work.

  10. Frederic Bourgault-Christie says

    @5/12: That was my first thought, that the biggest problem is that we live in a world where quite a lot of people think there’s such a thing as “useful misinformation”. If your ideas require lies to defend, they’re not worth defending.

  11. says

    nomdeplume on 13 March 2019 at 7:10 pm:

    “@15 except they weren’t Nazis, just Wehrmacht…”

    Fun fact! The Wehrmacht were the army of National Socilaist (Nazi) Germany.

  12. raven says

    This loser wants to be James O’Keefe so badly he can taste it.

    I don’t see why.
    James O’Keefe is a total loser.
    He’s been in court a few times.
    And lost a few times in court.
    One of them was a criminal trial and he is now a convicted criminal for trying to bug the Democrats in Louisiana.

  13. anthrosciguy says

    This loser wants to be James O’Keefe so badly he can taste it.

    I don’t see why.
    James O’Keefe is a total loser.
    He’s been in court a few times.
    And lost a few times in court.
    One of them was a criminal trial and he is now a convicted criminal for trying to bug the Democrats in Louisiana.

    He’s their best and brightest.

  14. Kagehi says

    Almost makes you wish the entire GOP was just as bright and intelligent as these two, doesn’t it. What a wonderful world it would be, as the song goes, if they all shot themselves in the foot on a regular basis like this.

  15. Azkyroth, B*Cos[F(u)]==Y says

    This loser wants to be James O’Keefe so badly he can taste it.

    He really shouldn’t put that in his mouth.

  16. nomdeplume says

    @17 Um, yes, but they weren’t Nazis themselves. The WaffenSS were the military wing of the Nazi Party. Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schulltz were just regular army.

  17. Azkyroth, B*Cos[F(u)]==Y says

    @15 except they weren’t Nazis, just Wehrmacht…..

    @17 Um, yes, but they weren’t Nazis themselves. The WaffenSS were the military wing of the Nazi Party. Colonel Klink and Sergeant Schulltz were just regular army.

    This is like an example you’d make up to illustrate the concept of “a distinction without a difference” for a small child.

  18. says

    Would just be curious what would happen if a Wehrmacht soldier denied he was a National Socialist. “No, not me, that’s those nutters in the SS. And the command structure. And GeheimStaatsPolizei. And every level of government. But I’m not a Nazi, and neither are my comrades in the army! Can’t speak for the Luftwaffe or Kriegsmarine though. Probably loads of them.”

    Of course plenty of Germans, civilians and otherwise weren’t Nazis, but when it comes to the armed forces during WWII, it’s perfectly legit and longstanding to use the collective term “Nazi” to describe them. They were pursuing Nazi goals, following Nazi orders, and were for the most part actua fucking Nazis. To fap around and be a pedant about that isn’t a worthy use of one’s time.

  19. nomdeplume says

    I don’t know why I am bothering. The distinction between regular army and the SS was important during and after the war. Well known. It is not “legitimate” to use the term Nazi collectively.

    And @26 with the weird, but obviously deeply meaningful name, if you can’t discuss historical issues without calling someone a troll, I suggest you fuck off.

  20. rrhain says

    And thus, Godwin’s Law arrives.

    On a completely separate note: I’m now torn regarding how I feel about what to do with Wohl. Part of me feels that this will be a good way to determine how much white privilege is going to be at play as we consider how many charges, if any, are going to be filed against Wohl when there are 16 charges that Smollett has been indicted under.

    But the flip side is my reaction of 16?! There are 16 charges for this? That is such an overreach. They’re all for the same statement and it seems they’re charging him for every variation of the Illinois Code regarding filing a false police report (https://dig.abclocal.go.com/wls/documents/2019/030819-wls-smollett-indictment-doc.pdf). If Wohl doesn’t get that much, I’ll be happy because I don’t think there should be that many charges, but that still leaves Smollett hung out to dry.

  21. jblackfyre says

    Didn’t he tried to set up Robert Mueller with sexual assault in a similar (stupid) manner? Why isn’t he in jail already?

  22. KG says

    Would just be curious what would happen if a Wehrmacht soldier denied he was a National Socialist. – Hank_Says@27

    It would depend on the context, the tone, who he said it to. He’d be unlikely to receive promotion, and if unlucky the consequences could be dire, but not necessarily. In any case, many soldiers (and scientists, etc.), were not members of the NSDAP (the Nazi Party), and even if they would not risk saying so did not believe in central tenents of Nazi ideology, but felt it was their “patriotic duty” to “serve the Fatherland” in the war (poisonous German nationalist ideology predated and extended beyond the Nazis), or just went along with Nazi rule in their own interests. There are documented instances of Wehrmacht troops refusing to take part in the massacre of civilians and getting away with it.

  23. says

    @jblackfyre:

    Because that was about disseminating false information to the general public – in other words, defamation, which would require a civil lawsuit by Mueller to address and the remedy would be to assess damages and force payment of those damages. It would not include jail time. Had he reported his false narrative of Mueller’s non-existent behavior to the police, then it would have constituted filing a false police report which is typically a minor crime, theoretically punishable by jail time (though often not). Depending on the exact circumstances, it could constitute a felony but wouldn’t always be felonious. Of course it would also depend on the specific state since laws vary. I can’t remember where the press conference was for the fake-Mueller allegations, but I think it was DC. Even so, if he had wanted to file a false police report he would have had to do it where the alleged behavior supposedly took place (even though it really took place only in his imagination). The physical location identified in association with this imaginary crime might have been NYC, I can’t remember for sure. So my best guess is that if he had reported this as a crime, his false report would have been adjudicated under the law of New York state.

    But, again, he didn’t report. So we’re left with just defamation. If Mueller ever files a private, civil suit for defamation, I’m sure it would be after his investigation is over. Normally it’s hard to prove defamation against a public figure like Mueller, but in this case I would think he has a real shot.

  24. johnson catman says

    rrhain@29

    There are 16 charges for this? That is such an overreach. They’re all for the same statement and it seems they’re charging him for every variation of the Illinois Code regarding filing a false police report

    It is the American Way. Charge everything, including the kitchen sink, then accept a plea-bargain for less charges without having to prove the charges in court. It provides prosecutors with a “win” without all the extra work.

  25. says

    “Smolletted himself”
    I must bereally out of it, I just spent quite a few minutes trying to figure out how Mr Wohl was connected to eighteenth center Scottish literature.
    I had to resort to my friend Google to discover that it wasn’t Tobias Smollett.

  26. Kagehi says

    @33 johnson catman

    Sadly, it may also say something about the competence of police work, in that the idea is, “Even if they do not plea out, hitting them with everything, including the kitchen sink, means we can still jail them for ‘something’, even if we/the prosecution fuck up every other part of the case.” Its a very common tactic, especially, with drug busts, or any other case where the authorities are desperate to prove they are doing their jobs – just arrest them for everything possible, so even if they prove you where wrong about 99% of it, they will still end up in jail for having jaywalked while being arrested, or something, and you can still claim you, “sent the bad guy to jail.” The public will never know the difference.

  27. Dr. Pablito says

    Come on, you’re forgetting the recurring character of Major Hochstetter, SS. And he was a complete idiot on the show, always outsmarted by Col. Hogan and gang, even occasionally outsmarted by the regular-army guys Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz. I win the thread. “Major Hochstetter! What a pleasant surprise to have you drop by Stalag 13! What brings you here?!”

  28. Onamission5 says

    Rather than use a stock photo for his bullshittery, Wohl decided to steal a selfie of a Minnesota realtor off that realtor’s own instagram account and use that realtor’s image as the avatar for the account Wohl created to send himself a death threat.

    I am not remotely familiar with laws regarding such actions but I do wonder if the realtor might have cause to sue.

  29. says

    @Onamission5:

    Possibly defamation. If anyone identified the realtor from the picture before finding out that Wohl had created a fraud and thought that the realtor sent it, then there could be reputational damage. If the realtor is mobbed by press/paparazzi even after the fraud was uncovered, then there might be other causes of action. For instance, if the overwhelming press attention interfered with his work, etc.

  30. Onamission5 says

    @Crip Dyke: Per a reporter from NBC who’s spoken with the realtor, he had no idea who Wohl even was until he got a call from a client letting him know his image had been hijacked and was all over the news. Maybe there will be some recourse for him? I have much sympathy for the guy and how much this has to suck.