The Federalist is a web magazine and podcast that covers politics, policy, culture, and religion with a decidedly hard-right stance. While attempting to appeal to the conservative demographic, The Federalist has consistently crossed that threshold into right-wing wacko territory, spreading disinformation about COVID as well as the 2020 election, and taking an overarching racist and anti-LGBTQ+ stance. In case anyone would like to debate that, let's have a look at one of their contributors, an author who goes by the pen name "Aristophanes" and has over 77k followers on Twitter.
With that kind of following, "Aristophanes" has got to feel pretty good about himself while he spreads violent racist, homophobic, transphobic and antisemitic rhetoric through his "blue check" Twitter account. The big question is, how will he feel when the world knows he is really Justin Dean Cookson of Cypress, Texas? Let's find out!
"Aristophanes"
"Aristophanes," describing himself as "a dad, anon, GWOT veteran, and lover of stories" on his author page at The Federalist, penned a recent article entitled "It’s Time To Save Literature From The Woke Publishing Industry" in which he decries "wokeness" and a perceived bias against heterosexual white males. However, he has been trolling on the internet for years, using various Twitter accounts until they get suspended, only to reappear with new account. His current Twitter account has over 77,000 followers, a Twitter verified "blue check mark," and has tweeted some pretty rotten stuff, like one tweet in which he states, "I mog zionists, I don't tolerate troons, endorse TND, and consider homos to be molesters." In that post he made his racist, antisemitic, transphobic and homophobic positions clear. To the unfamiliar, in online neo-Nazi circles "TND" means "Total N_gger Death."
Aristophanes has used several Twitter usernames in the past, including , While Aristophanes claimed to not be a "fashy natsoc" he went on to say that he "damn sure understand[s] where they were coming from," in one Twitter post where he also posted a photo of Hitler Youth burning books. Despite his claim to not be a "fashy natsoc," Aristophanes sure posts about Hitler, Nazis and Weimar Germany a lot. This could, perhaps, lead a reasonable person to conclude that he actually is a "fashy natsoc."
Whether he identifies as a Nazi versus "merely" approving of them is of little consequence at the end of the day. "Aristophanes" is racist, antisemitic, homophobic and transphobic however one looks at it. Aristophanes has a particular fixation against those of the LGBTQ+ community and often expresses his obsession with violent imagery. In one Twitter post he floated the idea that transsexual persons should be euthanized. In another he stated his position that fascism was preferable to LGBTQ+ equity and that given a choice he would "gladly wear the armband."
Aristophanes' huge following on Twitter means he's spreading this garbage to tens of thousands of people every day. What makes this even more problematic is his advocacy of ideological violence. In one post he encouraged others to commit arson on someone's house, writing, "What’s it take for someone to burn down a professors[sic] house already, jesus christ, lets[sic] get the deniable 3 AM arson going already."
Aristophanes also promoted Antelope Hill Publishing, a neo-Nazi small press on which we have reported in past articles. Antelope Hill Publishing purports to be the preserver of lost works, but a brief look at their catalogue shows that their focus is on works by fascist authors. Aristophanes has been a frequent customer, often promoting them in his Twitter posts. He wrote: "I will *always* shill for the @AntelopeHill homies, they are doing the lords work"
a right wing 4chan anon who freely posts and retweets offensive things of every ism and phobic concept imaginable.
Sometimes it's because it's what I actually believe, sometimes I just think it's funny, but any attempts to be offended will be met with a block. I hate lefties, abortion is wrong, feminism and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race, you can't choose your gender
A lot of normies showing up here and I don't want anybody to be shocked or surprised and result in unnecessary histrionics over that. If the most edgy thing you find acceptable could be in a marvel movie or reddit post you should probably scroll on.
Aristophanes' position is one of right-wing extremism, which he contrasts to the position of "normies" (ie, mainstream conservatives), although he encourages those normies "to *stop* being normies and hop on the ride." Aristophanes' posts on Twitter celebrating Nazis, ridiculing LGBTQ+ persons, blaming Jewish people for the world's ills, mocking persons of color and deriding anyone politically left of hard-right are so numerous that we have provided links to archived Tweets hosted at the Wayback Machine at the end of this piece.
From Pseudonymous to Identified
While "Aristophanes" may feel comfortable writing his garbage from behind the relative safety of his pseudonym, it took a just a few personal comments made online and the matching of related data points to de-anonymize this neo-fascist numbskull, revealing the real identity behind the alias: Justin Dean Cookson of Cypress, Texas.
In one Twitter post, writing under the pseudonym "Jessica Epstein @jess_therapist," Cookson wrote, "As a conservative Californian who moved to TX 8 years ago, currently a GOP precinct chair, I have not been as impressed as I'd have hoped with normie Texans." In another post he wrote, "I grew up there in the 80's, I miss the California everyone could afford." We could not confirm that he was actually a GOP precinct chair, but we learned from many statements he made regarding his personal history that he was a Californian living in Texas.
In another Twitter post under the same screen name, Cookson made a comment on a thread about Jan 6 insurrectionist Ashli Babbit: "I deployed with her in the deployment that picture on the right is from. Al Dhafra Air Base in UAE, summer of 2014." We were able to confirm that Cookson did deploy during that time frame with the California Air National Guard, as verified through public records.
Other data points from public sources across the internet provided further confirmation of his real identity, like the photo shown below that he posted on Twitter which was also posted on Instagram by his spouse, but showing his real face, as well as a military-themed tattoo on his right arm that he had posted elsewhere on the internet.
At the end of his service in the California Air National Guard, Cookson was worried about not receiving an Honorable discharge after failing a drug test, which he claimed was the result of "accidentally" ingesting a hydrocodone tablet. He was concerned that he would not be able to land a law enforcement job because of that and posted his concerns on a police forum. While we don't know the character of the discharge he ended up with, we do know another thing he was worried about: the state of his "post-military beard." So concerned was he about his facial hair that he had to consult with his internet brethren about it.
Cookson's online life as an antisemitic, racist raconteur seems to be at odds with his IRL marriage to a woman of Mexican descent and of Jewish faith. In one Twitter tirade he railed about the unrest in Waukesha, Wisconsin, writing, "All this blatant anti white shit just makes me start to entertain the ideas they are so afraid of, not chase me away." He continued to write, "They destroyed all the good faith I was raised to have towards race. Now I'm a white supremacist married to a mexican."
While we are not privy to how aware his spouse is of his online proclivities, this surely is not the path to marital harmony. Cookson's online antisemitic rantings run counter to his familial life, in which he participates in activities related to his spouse's faith. As shown by his spouse's Instagram profile he often celebrates Jewish holidays and events with the family. One must wonder about his motives in light of the terrible antisemitic violence by right-wing actors in recent years and the current rise in such violence.
As part of his antisemitic obsession, Cookson wrote that he checks the "early life" section on Wikipedia profiles of public figures to see if they have any Jewish heritage, and posted about this often on Twitter.
Cookson also suppresses his white supremacist views when it comes to supporting political candidates, as long as his candidate of choice is a right-wing nutjob. He has supported failed gubernatorial candidate Allen West, who was accused of torture while in the military (about which Cookson wrote "this is a plus, not a negative") and has supported whack-job Q-Anon conspiracy theories. Cookson also worked on the campaign for unsuccessful far-right congressional candidate Roland Lopez, who was endorsed by white nationalist politicians like former congressman Steve King and current extremist Paul Gosar.
Under his pen names, Cookson often advocated for ideological violence in his Twitter posts. In one post he encouraged others to commit arson on someone's house, writing, "What’s it take for someone to burn down a professors house already, jesus christ, lets get the deniable 3 AM arson going already." In another post he advocated for firebombing and lynching Catholic and Jewish charities who aid undocumented immigrants at the southern U.S. border. He wrote:
I don't care if it's glowposting I'm fucking mad, these charities are facilitating mass illegal immigration which is a fucking crime, would someone string up these jewish and catholic charities and hang them from that fucking bridge already
Like a lot of internet tough guys, Cookson likes to talk big about his guns and his ability to use them. But what is the line between internet bravado and real-world violence? In one Twitter thread, Cookson described in detail how he would go about taking over a military airfield with "a few truckloads full of armed and competent guys." He wrote:
But remember, no local PD means that base is yours to hold, during which you could pretty much slaughter all of that talent and experience.
…
And keep in mind the replacements for those casualties have to be taken *away* from somewhere *else*.
Or if you're targeting personnel, you could just start popping these people in the face while they shop at their local walmart and not even attack the base. No pilots, no planes
The point I'm making is that there's a lot of ignorant neoliberals who cry about AR's, but they also turn around and go "lol you couldn't do shit about the military with your stupid rifle" And I didn't even go into the potential for insider attacks, sabotage, or spying.
Cookson's potential for organized real-world violence goes beyond his fantasy scenarios and rhetoric. He has posted often about his collection of firearms and tactical equipment. While many Americans collect such gear, most do not hope for a societal breakdown as an excuse for violence as Cookson does, as he demonstrated when he posted:
God I hope we get food riots. Nobody gives a fuck about trannies when they're hungry, and anyone who still does when everyone else is hungry is going to get gutted like a deer.
Furthermore, we found his name in leaked member lists of the Oathkeepers militia group released by DDOSecrets in 2021. The Oathkeepers is a militia group that played a key part in the violent January 6 Capitol insurrection and whose leader was convicted of seditious conspiracy for his role in the event. Clearly, Cookson's willingness to step beyond keyboard "fed posting" into real-life organizing is concerning.
Cookson's Bigoted Hiring Practices
Cookson currently works in the IT industry. As indicated by a post his spouse made on Instagram, his most recent employer is Executech, a managed IT services company. While his career field is information technology, he has written on Twitter about how he has weaseled his way into the human resources department and claimed to have hiring authority at his job, which he abuses by "doxing" prospective employees who appear to have any possible left-leaning political inclination.
He wrote in one Twitter post, "I snuck my way into the hiring team at my company as a side responsibility, I love reviewing resumes and shredding the leftoid ones." Cookson explicitly laid out how he personally manipulates the hiring process of his employers to favor people who he feels lean towards his extremist, racist, sexist, and homophobic ideologies. "I'm part of the hiring process at my own company IRL, and it's a real slog sometimes looking up applicants because I don't want to hire poisonous leftist critters and essentially let the wolf into the henhouse," he wrote.
What's worse is that Cookson's work culture seems to condone and even encourage his practices. In another discussion on a Twitter thread, Cookson wrote, "Lefties make for annoying ass coworkers so those resumes go in the trash," and continued, "We have (one) lefty-ish guy who was sort of a reddit bernie bro, and he doesn't pipe up because he's outnumbered. Usually he's alright." When a participant in the thread suggested that Cookson was being ridiculous he replied, "Not when the stakes are a cohesive workplace where politically incorrect memes on Teams are a daily occurence. I treasure my work environment which could easily be destroyed by one perpetually offended shitheel." Cookson and his company's culture make a practice of discriminating against candidates for hire based on political views, but to be sure this extends beyond politics.
In another Twitter post Cookson related a story about a hockey game that his boss attended, where his boss wrote, "…so VIP seats, great view, awesome food and drinks," but then complained about seeing "rainbow shit everywhere," sarcastically calling it "Another loud and proud demonstration of the bravery and beauty that is trannsies[sic]." Cookson wrote, using a transphobic slur:
I told him "Look on the bright side, at least there weren't any snipers in the stands with orders to shoot the first person to stop clapping for the troons"
"It's coming" he says
Justin Dean Cookson: Aristo_Revealed
A huge online following, violent racist and LGBTQ-phobic rhetoric and connections to real-life extremist groups make Justin Dean Cookson of Cypress, Texas a walking red flag. Furthermore, his bigoted hiring practices, enabled by the toxic company culture of Executech, is very likely illegal, and may be violating any number of employment discrimination laws.
The current age of online neo-fascists hope to achieve their goals of subjugating marginalized people from behind pseudo-intellectual online personas, hiding from the culpability they may face when their words incite the violence they hope for, which happens far too often. In Justin Cookson's case, that is no longer an option. Now everyone knows who he is.
A more complete set of links to Justin Dean Cookson's Twitter posts, archived by the Wayback Machine may be found below:
- Aristos_Revenge (5612 tweets, 20 June 2022 to 13 October 2022)
- RatUtopian (2867 tweets, 5 May 2022 to 19 June 2022)
- AristophanesBox (1375 tweets, 24 March 2022 to 4 May 2022)
- AristophanesTX (2244 tweets, 20 December 2021 to 23 March 2022)
- jess_therapist (3384 tweets, 14 June 2021 to 23 October 2021)