Brian and Ed Krassenstein

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About

Brian and Ed Krassenstein are American twin brothers known for their presence on Twitter as part of the anti-Trump Resistance movement.

History

The Krassenstein brothers first gained attention when they were raided by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE in 2016, though the precise details of the case were unknown. The investigations focused on sites called TalkGold.com and MoneyMakerGroup.com, accused of promoting high-yield investment programs, which Homeland Security Special Agent Michael Adams claimed “are typically operated as online Ponzi schemes, and are by nature fraudulent.“^[7] While Adams had seen the potential for illegal activity, the Krassensteins were never charged a crime.

Since then, the brothers have grown popular on Twitter, gaining a combined 1.5 million followers for tweeting anti-Trump sentiments which have been described as "conspiratorial"^[1] and often involve calls for impeachment (examples shown below). They also launched The Hill Reporter,^[2] a news website which follows their Twitter brand.

In the summer of 2018, the brothers published a parody book titled How the People Trumped Ronald Plump.^[8] The book was mocked for its cartoonish portrayal of possible impeachment of Trump, including a depiction of Trump appearing to drag Senator Elizabeth Warren off to Trump Tower (shown below, left). The book was also mocked for its portrayal of Robert Mueller as shirtless and muscular (shown below, right). Many called the book a grift attempting to capitalize on anti-Trump sentiments.^[4]^[3]

Of note, the Krassensteins and The Hill Reporter were behind uncovering the Surefire Intelligence Plot to Smear Robert Mueller.

Reddit AMA

On January 20th, the Krassensteins hosted a Reddit AMA^[5] that was quickly taken over by people criticizing the brothers, asking questions such as "You’ve been digging your own graves for a little over four hours now. How does that make you feel?" and "How are those Ponzi schemes going?" In the thread, people were pleasantly surprised to see that Trump and anti-Trump factions were united in hating the Krassenstein brothers.^[6]

Podcast

On January 11th, 2019, the brothers announced a podcast titled "KrassenCast: Defending What's Left" in a video uploaded to YouTube (shown below). The first episode of the podcast was released on iTunes on January 22nd, featuring an interview with Curtis Ingraham, the brother of conservative television host Laura Ingraham.

Ban from Twitter

On May 23rd, 2019, Twitter permanently banned the Krassensteins for allegedly operating fake accounts and purchasing fake interactions with their accounts.^[9] Speaking to the Daily Beast, the Krassensteins denied the allegations, saying "Twitter claims that we manipulated our interactions through the purchase of fake accounts and fake interactions. We have never once acquired anything for the purpose of increasing our Twitter presence.” They did admit to using other accounts but they said it was for the purpose of monitoring death threats. The pair posted the e-mail they wrote to Twitter on their site The Hill Reporter^[10] about the suspension, offering possible reasons for why they were banned, including Twitter perhaps mistaking an old Justin Bieber fan account they ran for a "fake account."

Many Twitter users joked about the ban with sarcastic tributes to the brothers. User @MilesKlee^[11] tweeted a screenshot of one of their tweets, gaining over 50 retweets and 660 likes (shown below, left). User @KenKlippenstein^[12] joked he was happy that now people would stop mistaking him for a Krassenstein brother, gaining over 350 retweets and 6,100 likes (shown below, right).

Ed Krassenstein's /r/ChapoTrapHouse Address

On June 18th, 2019, Ed Krassenstein made a lengthy post in the /r/ChapoTrapHouse^[13] subreddit outlining the brother's thoughts on the ban and their lives since. He once again denied allegations that they had purchased Twitter interactions and accounts, writing:

Twitter has every right to ban us, if you understand what Freedom of Speech really means. We aren't angry over our suspension. We are angry that Twitter refuses to provide evidence or claims that we broke any specific rule. Nor do they clarify their statement when the media asks them if we specifically broke these rules. We are angry with the media for using Twitter's statement to accuse us of running bot farms or paying for engagement. We never did this.

He also stated that he and his brother were "not grifters" and that they had only made $4,000 off their Twitter account in the last 4 years through their work with Hill Reporter. They also said that financially they're doing fine after having purchased large amounts of Bitcoin eight years ago.

In the ensuing thread, he interacted with subreddit users, saying that he was not a socialist but liked some socialist ideals and stated "The one thing I hate worse than being called a “grifter” is being called a roid user." He also took a swipe at Jacob Wohl, writing "He isn't worth the flesh he's printed on." The thread was covered by the Daily Dot.^[14]

2Krassensteins

On October 21st, 2019, the Krassensteins briefly returned to Twitter under the handle @2Krassensteins.^[15] The account was active for only a few hours, during which time, they reiterated the claims made in their Chapo AMA. They admitted that they had amassed their huge following in a "deceptive" way by following thousands of anti-Trump accounts and said they believed this was why they were suspended. The account was quickly banned.

During their hours on Twitter, the duo mentioned they'd sold Hill Reporter and were prepping a lawsuit against a "certain popular individual" on Twitter with "over 500,000 followers."