My name is Mark Coester.
Some of you know me; some of you don’t. I want to address the recent controversy stirred by the Politico “left-wing rag” hit piece targeting the Young Republicans and Vermont’s leadership, allegedly going after Samuel Douglas.
First, I have been familiar with Telegram since 2020, using it and expanding my presence there. As a Republican, I noticed significant censorship on Facebook in 2020, as well as on what was then Twitter, YouTube, and Google. We did what we could to bypass this and use free speech platforms. While it may not seem like many, a fair estimate is that 30,000 Vermonters use or have used Telegram. Numerous people in the GOP, even those in their 80s, have been using Telegram for some time.
Yes, I have participated in chats. Some channels have a main channel and a behind-the-scenes chat accessible through two portals. From the main channel, a user cannot see what’s in the back chat, which is usually overseen by admins or moderators.
I have created channels and served as an admin on others, alongside as many as 15 other admins. It can be chaotic. Eventually, one learns about spam, bots, and nefarious actors. Group chats can often become honeypots or traps for propaganda. They are typically free speech spaces, though some have stricter rules than others.
Automated post deletions, adding, and removing posts can complicate things. Factually, if you reply to a post high up in the chat, your reply appears at the bottom, which could be 100 or even 1,000 posts later. One would need to scroll back to see what’s in between. For example, I’m looking now at channel logs: one channel out of 50 or more has 26,953 posts I haven’t viewed, another has 2,110 unviewed, and another has 27,721 I haven’t bothered to look at. Truthfully, I don’t have the time. Here’s an example from “The Vigilant Fox”: 3,422 posts not viewed. The last one has a title, “Liberal influencer claims political violence ‘overwhelmingly comes from the right.’” It includes a 1:45-minute video and some text, discussing a town hall at the Kennedy Center. @AndrewKolvet replied to that statement.
My point is, I skipped 3,421 posts to look at the last one. I’ve been doing this for years. Unless it’s my job as an admin, I don’t review every post. As an admin, I took my role seriously, deleting spam, bots, or other garbage that violated the rules and occasionally responding to questions if I thought I could help.
In 2022, one of our channels was attacked by 2,500 bots and spam per week ahead of the election. I found a Telegram tool that kept it 95% cleaner and passed it to the channel owner, solving the problem.
Let it be clear: I am not Samuel Douglas’s close friend. We barely know each other, having worked on one committee together, and I’ve seen him at events. We are separated by distance and age.
I’ve seen what the so-called VT GOP leadership has done in some knee-jerk reaction. God can attest I’m no perfect soul, but I find it completely appalling that young Sam, whose wife has either recently given birth or soon will, has been trashed so thoroughly for things that are so simple . How do you ever expect to keep young families in Vermont ? Lord have mercy, you’re all outrageous. I could curse a blue streak at the political posturing and claims of “Vermont values.”
When not one of you can condemn Antifa, BLM , the Muslim brotherhood or even state publicly that there are only 2 genders.
Each of you must look in the mirror every day, unless you’re all “unwashed.” For a party that would cannibalize its youth, you should either repent or face the consequences of bending the knee to the radical left, as Nancy Pelosi did in the House Chambers in 2020.
As for me, I will die on my feet fighting for the Constitution and what’s right. Be aware: the youth will not look kindly on any of the “alleged” leaders who threw Sam under the bus in the blink of an eye. Every Republican leader should apologize for losing touch with God and compassion.
Look to Socrates for philosophy, not the linear mob mentality of the far-left radicals.
God bless you all, and I’ll cuss you no more today.
The author is a Westminster resident, logger, and 2024 and 2026 candidate for U.S. Congress.