A Grifting Case Study

From Outrage to Echo Chamber: A Field Guide to Grifting

A few weeks ago, I wrote How to Spot a Grifter. In that post, I laid out four red flags for identifying one. Today, I want to put those red flags to work. Our case study: @bonchieredstate, a writer at RedState— a state-controlled populist media outlet¹. His reaction in the days after Charlie Kirk’s assassination is a textbook example of how grifting works in real time.

Stuck at 11

The first red flag is that grifters never describe anything as “normal, measured, or routine.” Bonchie wasted no time. Hours after Kirk’s assassination, he declared Democrats were “exclusively” trying “to assassinate those they disagree with politically.” The next day, he doubled down. He later claimed Democrats “will murder you and then blame you for making them murder you.” He even argued Democrats were actively trying to provoke their base into killing Republicans.

Echoes, Not Arguments

The second red flag is that grifters post “indefinitely in a friendly social media environment.” A quick scroll through Bonchie’s replies and you’ll see the pattern. He never critically engages with his peers on any topic². He rarely engages critically with anyone at all. Whenever he does respond, it is through one-off or two-off Tweets at people with 102, 123, or 756 followers. Long enough to get some engagement (nearly 400 likes over 4 tweets), but short enough not to need any substantive grasp of the topic or have any risk of being embarrassed.

For example, Bronchie replied to @AmanitaFugax, who had sharply criticized his characterization of Vance Boelter. Instead of addressing the point—that calling an “anti-abortion, anti-trans evangelical Christian” a Democrat is absurd—he fell back on the standard populist script and sidestepped the critique entirely³.

Morally, Not Factually Right

The third red flag is that grifters are always “reinforcing what the audience wants to hear.” Bonchie has repeatedly played fast and loose with the truth. He repeatedly cited a Guardian report and then never mentioned to his audience that it was retracted. Similarly, he cited a Wall Street Journal report that “confirmed Crowder’s scoop”, describing it as a “holy crap” moment. Then ignored its withdrawal.

He claimed Democrats are “exclusively” trying “to assassinate those they disagree with politically”. Conveniently, he forgot about January 6th or the Gretchen Whitmer plot. He denied that “every time there is a violent (shooting) attack in this country, the unified Dem response is to try to tone down the temperature, while the entire RW immediately uses it as an excuse to dial things up to 11…” A quick scan of actual statements from party leaders shows otherwise. Nor is he aware of “any celebration happened on the right” as it pertains to political violence against Democrats. Ironically, he is unaware of Charlie Kirk’s response to the attack on Paul Pelosi.

Lastly, he’s spread a conspiracy theory about a trans-cabal and accused Gavin Newsom of promoting violence. Sure, none of these Tweets were factually right. But they were morally right.

A Degree in Vibes

The final red flag is that there’s “no methodology, no accountability, no expertise—just vibes and volume.” Bonchie insisted Kirk’s assassin was a radical leftist. Not because he had evidence. Because it fit the vibes. In fact, he didn’t need any evidence. Within hours, and without knowing a single fact about the shooter, he was reflexively blaming Democrats.

As real details emerged, they felt like they supported his predetermined conclusion. Who needs anything more than a single contextless factoid to judge an assassin’s motives? The bullets had “anti-fascist engravings”! Acknowledging they were from Helldivers 2 and Far Cry 6 is bad for the vibes⁴. Other bullets had a reference to his trans significant others! Admitting the reference is a long-standing internet meme is bad for the vibes. His family said he was left-wing! Except, as far as I am aware, only his mom has described him as left-wing. But phrasing it that way would be bad for the vibes.

Bonus

To be fair, Bonchie did manage a flicker of skepticism. He warned followers not to trust an obvious AI hallucination. “AI enhancements can get things way wrong. I wouldn’t trust this.”

1. Ironically, RedState was a center for Trump-opposition within the conservative movement in 2015 and 2016. The blog took a turn in 2018 by purging those insufficiently loyal to Trump.

2. The closest I found was this one quote Tweet, and a response Tweet with Cathy Young.

3. Bonchie himself thought Boelter was a Republican just three months ago.

4. Bonchie claimed there is “no evidence that anything he wrote was ‘irony.” The assassin’s own text explicitly states the engravings were “big memes”.