How to Make Sure You Don’t Become Radicalized or Insane on the Internet

How to truly protect your mind in a digitized information war and regain clarity where it has been lost.

Announcement: The American War on Election Corruption has been published for two weeks, and has now hit #1 on THREE Amazon bestseller lists. Get your copy here, and if you’ve already ordered, please leave a review on Amazon and consider buying extras for friends and family. Please send any event requests to kesler.holly@gmail.com.

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I made a lot of enemies in 2021 when I first obtained a large online platform. The big fuss was all about the 2020 election, and the political right was divided into two camps:

• Group A: Nothing else matters

• Group B: Move on

Elections are a big enough deal to me that this newsletter has been humming along for four years now, and I have a popular book out on that particular topic available in multiple formats, including audio. I still don’t believe we can maintain a constitutional republic without confidence our elections are fair, and the urgency is palpable as the Senate debates the SAVE America Act.

My commentary is usually focused on election reform or geopolitical events, particularly those involving military conflict or strategic problem solving related to America’s standing in the 21st century. I leave medical freedom, J6 justice, social issues, and other topics to those who command the subject, so as not to interfere with those I respect and to ensure people don’t think I run a scattershot system of filling up your inbox. Marketing my new book has been a productive experience for me, because I’ve been on everyone’s shows across all factions, and have learned to deflect the texts or emails going something like, “I can’t believe you went on so-and-so’s show, because someone online said they’re bad.”

General Flynn’s impact in my journey is detailed in The American War on Election Corruption. He and the late, great Boone Cutler authored Introduction to 5GW: The Citizen’s Guide to Fifth Generation Warfare, in 2022, and I highly recommend you read that book. To help you understand what fifth-generation warfare is, you need to first understand the first four generations:

• First: hand to hand, swords, catapults, and other stabbing and striking instruments (for example, the Battle of Hastings)

• Second: gunpowder age (for example, the Battle of Antietam)

• Third: planes, armor, and more advanced strategies for outmaneuvering the enemy (for example, the Battle of the Marne)

• Fourth: the nuclear age (for example, the bombing of Japan, or the Cold War)

• Fifth: non-kinetic warfare (for example, PSYOPs and deep fakes)

The attempts to attack the rising MAGA/America First movement from the left have utterly failed for a decade. It resulted in everyone making fun of deranged, white liberal women, everyone else with Trump Derangement Syndrome, and more minorities voting for a Republican presidential nominee in 2024 than any time in more than a half-century. This fact requires the attacks to splinter that movement, begun by the original Tea Party and punctuated by the rise of Trump, from the right. The main weapon of war for the enemy is to wield narrative and information in a way that breaks the brains of their opponents. Welcome to 5GW.

So, here’s how to keep your brain together as you navigate the information war:

I. Know What You Believe, and Defend It

I’ve learned the ins and outs of American elections in every state. This is why I’m impossible to challenge, and also why the mainstream media hasn’t announced or reviewed my new book. It is so littered with facts and examples it damages the only counterpoint they ever offer me - that various government agencies and media say the elections are fair. This piece does not suggest people refrain from criticizing the administration; good leaders appreciate feedback and I believe President Trump does listen if things get loud enough. Just yesterday, in a meeting with Japan’s prime minister, Trump suggested there are no plans for ground forces in Iran. I’m assuming he means large combat units taking up permanent quarters for a decade, because there are definitely special operators in country raising hell if I know anything about warfare at all.

If you know a thing or two about failed counterinsurgencies, like I do, then don’t be afraid to talk about why they fail, and persuade people of those opinions. The die is cast, and we are busy gutting Iran’s military capabilities, and I believe it is being done to cripple China’s ambitions for the duration of the century. Too many people neglect the impact of realpolitik and lean on absolutes, which leads me to my next point:

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II. Recognize When Your Biases are Winning

There is hardly anything more polarizing than the subject of U.S.-Israel relations on today’s right. I have been lambasted by both sides in this fracas. If I express some degree of support for operations in Iran, well here’s an AIPAC meme in the comments. If I express my skepticism for all governments worldwide and point out that all countries inherently pursue their own selfish ambitions with regard to the U.S., including Israel, then I have Israel First friends telling me I must be a raging antisemite.

The truth of worldwide geopolitics (and domestic politics, for that matter) is that nothing is clear, nothing is for certain, and nothing lasts forever. Realpolitik is a muddy, ugly thing. If you don’t believe that statement, then ask yourself why the United States aligned with the Soviet Union in World War II. This must mean, that out of all the extreme positions available online, that the truth is between those extremes. No, we shouldn’t be chided for questioning Israel’s ambitions, but we also shouldn’t be expected to be taken seriously if we believe all of the world’s problems are tied to them.

The same is true of elections; as badly as I want to see voter rolls dumped across the country, all mail ballots shredded, and machines melted into prison bars (thanks, Mike Lindell), any election reforms are going to take root gradually and in keeping with the progression of the Overton Window. That is why the SAVE America Act, a perfectly reasonable piece of legislation with well over 80% support of the American people, is so difficult for corrupt Senators to oppose publicly. If it went too hard, too fast, it never would have made it out of a committee.

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III. You Are What You Consume

I’ve known far too many people since Trump took office a second time who have become radicalized by the Internet. They’ve sided with a few contrarian positions, and then thrown the entire baby out with the bathwater. Rachel has a former friend here in Pima County who has gone this direction and now spends all of her time online harassing, trolling, and “exposing” her former friends who she could just simply pick up the phone and call if she had an ounce of decency or moral courage about her. I have a hunch her tune is about to change (wink, wink).

There exist just two ways to fix this country:

• Violence - which no patriot or person of sincere faith should seek to inflame or provoke (but you must be ready to deal with should it break out)

• Peaceful engagement - also known as the political system, which is badly damaged and corrupted

Embracing positions so extreme they completely reject the concept of citizen engagement are not productive. They only lead to animosity, strife, and an inability to shift the Overton window. Consistent pressure over election corruption has driven the percentage of Americans who believed the 2020 election was rigged at the time of the election from 40% to more than 60% today.

Here is a personal anecdote. I have only recently waded back onto X, which I still don’t like because it is such a toxic platform; however, I’d be a fool not to use it as I’m trying to market a book that took off in a strong way. Back in November, Lane Kiffin ditched the championship-caliber Ole Miss football program to take a few more bucks at LSU. I spent a couple hours during the drama surfing my ghost X account I used for information gathering, and immediately, the algorithm decided I cared nothing about politics and needed a feed full of college football information.

That is how people become the black-pilled, negative people they are when divisive chapters emerge. They click on one grift post, which links to a rage post, which links to a negative doom post, and the vicious cycle repeats. Doom posts and “I voted for Trump three times and I am done” posts get 40% more engagement than informative posts or optimistic posts. Your algorithm trains itself on what you are consuming, and soon, everything in between your ears says “give up and walk away.”

And that, my friends, is how you give up and walk away, when in fact you should be busy replicating yourself and creating more people who are willing to knock doors, register and turn out voters, make phone calls, write editorials, meet with legislators, create incredible video and written content, and change as many minds as possible with a long-term view of success in mind.

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Conclusion

You are what you consume, and your actions follow your emotions and gut feelings. If those emotions and gut feelings are stuck on apathy and doom, then your actions will drive you back into your scrolling and negative energy. It goes right back to what my dad wrote about attitude maintenance many years ago, as he was dying of cancer and I was serving in Afghanistan:

I don’t plan to get sucked back in to X and use it like my phone is glued to my hand, but the block button is there for a reason, you don’t have to tolerate strangers insulting you (many of them are paid or instructed to do so), and you sure as hell don’t have to answer questions for people who are too afraid to use a real name or identify themselves as they cyberstalk, harass and threaten (always remember, healthy people don’t use online platforms to air out personal or speculative grievances with former colleagues or people they don’t know). All of your social media platforms should be cultivated to feed you a steady stream of verifiable, fact-based information from which you can form your own opinions.

Do not allow your mind to be hijacked. It is the most important tool you have!

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Seth Keshel, MBA, is a former Army Captain of Military Intelligence and Afghanistan veteran. His analytical method of election forecasting and analytics is known worldwide, and he has been commended by President Donald J. Trump for his work in the field.