‘West Point’ for Democratic operatives hires director who calls terrorism a ‘political dream’

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Hannah Grossman, FOX News

The self-described “West Point for Democratic Party operatives” that helped secure President Biden’s victory has hired a digital director who previously said “terrorism is a political dream.”

Johanna King-Slutzky took a job as digital director at the Democratic-backed The Arena in the fall of 2019, several years after posting a post discussing “terrorism” on her personal blog.

“Terrorism is a political dream, the ultimate unity, the ultimate reality, which neutralizes criticism,” JKS said in a post on his personal blog before he was hired. “The point is that terrorism (and American counterterrorism) is persuasive because it claims to be real (unlike iconoclastic art).” And that realism is persuasive. have power. This is because (1) it stops criticism, and (2) my argument is that it fulfills the political dream. ”

On her LinkedIn, King-Slutzky describes herself as a “full-service digital communications specialist for progressive and leftist causes.” She recently made headlines for her leadership of an anti-Israel camp at Columbia University, where protesters who occupied the building risked death or serious illness unless authorities allowed an influx of “humanitarian aid.” he told media personnel.

“At Arena, she is spearheading membership growth through digital advertising, email and social media, and has already contributed over 5,000 new members to our community,” said Arena co-founder and former Obama Staff member Ravi Gupta made the announcement in a press release. About her recruitment.

King-Slutzky had been involved in operating the arena for at least a year and a half. The last time she was publicly involved was in April 2021, when she posted information on her website in the arena about tips for hosting virtual her workouts.

On his now-deleted professional website, King-Slutsky bragged about allegedly training thousands of Democrats during the 2020 campaign. This claim is unsubstantiated at this time, as is whether her work at the arena has any connection to its operations.

King-Slutsky did not respond to requests for comment or documents regarding her allegations.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is listed as one of Arena’s partners. Arena previously hosted a training session with Team Biden at the 2020 DNC convention in Wisconsin.

Arena and the DNC similarly did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The group said Arena’s influence within the Democratic Party has grown significantly. The arena honors her work leading President Biden to victory in 2020. In an ad on the arena’s YouTube channel, she described herself as “the West Point of Democratic operatives.”

Hillary Clinton similarly praised Arena for her influence in changing the Democratic Party’s power game. Onward Together, a political group founded by Clinton, has been funding Arena since 2018.

“The work Arena has done is exactly what I wanted…and as I’ve seen what Arena has done…I’m even more encouraged,” Clinton said at an Arena event in August 2019. It made me feel optimistic.”[The Arena’s] Focusing on down-ballot races is what we need to do. ”

Arena is focused on training “women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community” as part of its mission to bring DEI into the work of the Democratic Party at the national and local level.

“Arena-trained staff fill thousands of roles in campaigns and movement organizations every cycle,” Arena said of its impact. “Arena has been instrumental in building the campaign teams that won Democratic majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and the White House in 2020.”

In addition to calling terrorism a “political dream,” King-Slutsky’s post about terrorism claims that terrorists are the ultimate modern artists, as videos of torture and murder are staged and played in the media. shared academic papers on

In an article by Boris Groys entitled “The Fate of Art in the Age of Terror,” “By pressing the button that detonates the bomb, modern warriors and terrorists also press the button that starts the media machine.” it is written like this.

A Groys article shared by King-Slutsky called Islamic extremist terrorist Osama bin Laden a “video artist.”

“Video art in particular has become the medium of choice for modern warriors. Bin Laden mainly uses this medium to communicate with the outside world. Everyone knows that he is a video artist in the first place. The same is true of videos depicting beheadings, terrorist confessions, etc. In all these cases we are dealing with consciously and artistically staged events that have their own easily recognizable aesthetics. ,” the Groys article said.

Her blog also said that her dream is to call out white men for allegedly sexist behavior. Her specific violation that sparked her anger was that she received “unsolicited advice.”

“My dream finally came true. I called an upper-middle-class, straight, white man on the phone and called him out on his sexist behavior… This man happened to give me unsolicited advice. I told him that we are typically oppressed groups because of the fundamental assumption that we cannot assess situations or solve problems on our own. “I told them they could be sensitive to receiving advice,” she wrote.

Another post by King-Slutsky, in which the diaries of people suffering from anorexia discuss drastic and risky steps to reduce food intake by tracking everything they consume, is called “literature.” “It definitely has the potential to be art,” he argued.

“There’s definitely an argument to be made that just as newspapers publishing data on suicide increases the number of suicides, depictions of anorexia will inspire even more anorexics. Taken together, anorexia literature can definitely be art,” she said.

In addition to the Clinton connection, the arena was packed with former President Obama’s staff from the beginning. Two of the company’s three co-founders are Obama administration alumni, as are many board members and top staff members.

Arena co-founder Kate Catherall is an alumnus of President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns and “believes this experience shaped her approach today.”

Ravi Gupta, another co-founder, served in many roles during President Obama’s first campaign and first term, including as assistant to David Axelrod and Susan Rice.

Three of Arena’s top executives are also Obama alumni.

Managing Partner Lauren Baer, ​​the most senior executive, said: “He served as a government official in the Obama administration for six years and was a senior advisor to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry, as well as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power. Ta”.

The next level’s elder statesman, Santiago Martinez, worked on “President Obama’s re-election campaign.”

Arena’s other partner, Debra Cohen, worked on Obama’s campaign and his nonprofit organization, Organizing for Action.