Paste.DM me and I’ll send you the brand. Mayor Francis Suarez (@FrancisSuarez) January 4, 2021
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Miami’s Francis Suarez had the same response for each of them, and for many, many more of his followers on Twitter: “DM me.” That is also the message pasted up on a pair of billboards in San Francisco last month, in the form of a (mock-up) tweet from the mayor: “Thinking of moving to Miami? DM me.”
Naturally, when I wanted to know how Suarez became one of local government’s Grade A Twitter users, I did just that. Suarez responded to my message in 90 minutes, with a screenshot of his spokesperson’s iPhone contacts page. The next day, the mayor and I were on the phone. That is more or less how it went with Elon Musk, whom Suarez engaged on Twitter last month about building tunnels beneath Miami.
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There’s a photo of me, tan and lean in front of the Château d’Azay-le-Rideau, my dark curls and long orange dress blowing wildly. My backpack is slung over one shoulder and my right wrist is ringed in “
Ciao Bella” bracelets, a discotheque admittance stamp fading just above. I squint my eyes not because of the sun or the camera’s flash, but because everything is so bright and beautiful and exciting that this moment makes every part of my face smile.
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I often reflect on this image and that halcyon day, one of many from a college trip across Europe. But sadly, I cannot gaze at it directly: The photo itself is gone, the camera holding it lost somewhere on a train.
Your Travel Guide to the Rudderless Right-Wing Web After Trump
Illustration: Angelica Anzona/Gizmodo
Moving into 2021 and forward, conservatives angry about “cancel culture,” censorship, shadowbans, or the attention of the FBI have a rich array of social destinations to choose from. We’ve prepped a travel guide for the unwitting observer who might be thinking of checking any of these conspicuous and lesser-known internet hellholes out whether it’s to keep an eye on what the far-right is up to or to tell you exactly why you shouldn’t be going to these places.
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Donald Trump and the Republican media ecosystem spent the last few years building an elaborate fantasy world for his supporters. They insisted, at every turn, that any unflattering portrayal of his unpopular administration was the product of a liberal media establishment staffed by socialist journalists and amplified by Silicon Valley tech companies angling to take him down.