One of JD Vance’s key Senate financial advisors, Aaron Kofsky, is behind a Reddit account under the name PsychoticMammal that posted about using a variety of drugs, including cocaine, kratom, “gas station heroin,” and many more. others. The account also calls Vance a “Trump bootlicker” and provides instructions on how to obtain medications through TSA while traveling.
In one of the posts, Kofsky shared a video of Vance at a Senate hearing and provided other identifying information. That information, along with a Poshmark account using the same username and an image of Kofsky as an avatar, were two of the big breadcrumbs that helped me confirm that Kofsky was behind the account.
Kofsky’s drug use places him in stark contrast to Vance’s political priorities. During his Republican National Committee speech this summer, Vance spoke at length about his mother’s battle with drug addiction and how it has influenced his anti-drug stances. Since entering the Senate, Vance has become a leading voice against fentanyl trafficking and has joined former President Donald Trump’s suggestions that drug traffickers should be punished with the death penalty.
Is Not your average political newsletter. Makena Kelly and the WIRED Politics team help you understand how the Internet is shaping our political reality.
Kofsky isn’t just any staff member; He is Vance’s financial policy advisor. It’s hard to say how much influence Kofsky had on Vance’s crypto policy, but it was enough to warrant a brief political profile praising him for it. From what I could see on his X account (before he blocked it yesterday), Kofsky held many of the same deregulatory positions as Vance and the crypto industry in general. In fact, Support cryptocurrenciesone of the largest pro-cryptocurrency super PACs, has given Vance and Trump a “pass” rating on the issue. (President Joe Biden received a “thumbs down,” while Vice President Kamala Harris is not qualified.)
Both the Trump and Harris campaigns have made efforts to win over the crypto community in recent months. Just this week, Trump’s crypto joint venture with his sons Eric and Don Jr. launched, but only a small amount of the company’s crypto tokens were purchased, mainly due to the website crashing in the middle of the launch. According to WIRED reports, only 8,500 people participated in the pre-sale of the coin and collectively purchased 750 million of them.
Beyond the Trump family’s personal crypto ventures, the campaign has been raising millions of dollars in donations from coin holders. Tuesday was the Federal Election Commission’s last deadline before the election, and the Trump 47 joint fundraising committee filing listed more than $7.5 million in donations made in cryptocurrency. CNBC reported. The joint committee includes the Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and the party’s state committees. While crypto donations are only a fraction of the total $145 million raisedThe donations still show the growing influence of what was once a fledgling industry.
The fact that the cryptocurrency industry clearly favors the Trump-Vance campaign has apparently spooked the Harris campaign to some extent. Whether they’re afraid of turning off wealthy tech donors or isolating crypto voters (if they exist by any meaningful metric), Harris formally announced his support for the technology this week as part of a new initiative to protect black men who have invested in these assets.