An Ode to the Krassenstein Brothers, the Large Adult Sons of the #Resistance

If you've clicked on any of the President's tweets in the previous two years, chances are you've seen a Krassenstein brother chiming in right below it. Brian and Ed Krassenstein fashioned quite the niche for themselves during the Trump administration, becoming some the most prominent Reply Guys of the #Resistance movement on Twitter. For those who are unaware, #Resistance Twitter is a faction of anti-Trump posters who post as if they are characters on the West Wing, offering insipid rebukes to the President's tweets. For example, if Trump tweeted "Why is the FBI investigating me and not Hillary Clinton?!? FAKE NEWS! this is CORRUPTION," a #Resistance tweeter would reply with a grandstanding statement such as, "Sir! The only thing corrupt here is YOU! And Robert Mueller is COMING to restore the RULE OF LAW!" Turns out there's a massive audience for these sorts of posters, and in the previous two years, people like Louise Mensch, Eric Garland and Michael Avenatti have grown into prominent political tweeters, even if most of their posts are conspiratorial nonsense.

No one embodied the cringeworthy, impotent fight of #Resistance tweeters like the Krassenstein brothers, who racked up a combined total of 1.4 million followers by consistently grabbing the top reply spot beneath Donald Trump tweets. Sadly, their reign on the platform has come to an end, as Twitter permanently banned them for allegedly operating fake accounts and purchasing fake interactions, violating the site's terms of service. They have denied this and have posted an open letter to Twitter essentially begging for their accounts back, but if they're truly gone for good, then Twitter has lost two of the most unintentionally hilarious posters of all time.

The Krassensteins first entered the public eye when they were raided by the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for allegedly promoting ponzi schemes. They were never charged, but nevertheless developed a reputation as grifters that accompanied their swift rise to Twitter prominence. They individually gained hundreds of thousands of followers by stoking liberal conspiracies and literally tweet-screaming "IMPEACH!" They popped up underneath every Trump tweet threatening Trump with "JUSTICE and THE RULE OF LAW" and whatever. They were the personification of an unhinged liberal fantasy.

In many ways, the Krassensteins were to the left what Jacob Wohl is to the right. Both are fairly obvious con artists who nevertheless attracted significant followings from their respective political tribes by popping up beneath Trump tweets, though few take either very seriously. In a poetic turn of events, it was the Krassensteins who scooped Wohl's fraudulent plot to smear Robert Mueller. And oh, how the Krassensteins love Robert Mueller. They love Mueller so much they portrayed him as a shirtless, cut-from-iron hunk in their #Resistance-themed children's book How the People Trumped Ronald Plump, a bizarre and tasteless bit of literature that, in addition to featuring sex-symbol Mueller, shows Trump carrying Elizabeth Warren off in what critics have described as a "rape sack" (the Krassensteins have denied it is a rape sack). For many, the book cemented the Krassenstein's reputation as liberal grifters trying to make an easy buck off liberal desperation (this too they have denied).

Still, if you ignore the insidiousness of the Krassenstein brothers' rise to fame, the fact remains that the duo were incredibly dedicated, and oftentimes unintentionally hilarious posters. Krassenstein tweets were oftentimes completely nonsensical, occasionally kiss-your-dad-on-the-lips levels of uncomfortable, and always beautifully naive. This tweet during Super Bowl LIII courtesy perfectly embodies the wonder that is the Krassenstein brothers:

This is a hall-of-fame tweet. It's such terrific, useless dreck and brutal self-ownage that it reads like #Resistance parody. Even if you think the Krassensteins were screwing with us by playing self-righteous #Resistance pricks, their commitment to the bit never wavered, and thus we have beautiful tweets like the one above. Of course, that isn't the only classic Krassenstein tweet. Other greatest hits include: