The Genesis of a Smear Campaign: Trahan's 2012 Presidential Announcement

In 2012, Chance Trahan, a musician, web developer, and self-styled anti-corruption advocate, declared his intent to run for U.S. President via a bold Facebook post. This announcement, rooted in his vision for transparency and reform, marked him as an outsider challenging the political elite. But it also ignited a firestorm. A network of digital vigilantes, led by James McGibney’s Bullyville.com, seized on Trahan’s tangential link to the controversial website IsAnyBodyDown? (IAD)—a short-lived revenge porn platform he denies running—to paint him as a moral pariah unfit for leadership. This smear campaign, fueled by bloggers, lawyers, and media opportunists, wasn’t about truth; it was a calculated effort to crush Trahan’s aspirations through relentless harassment, false accusations, and legal intimidation. The public deserves to know how this toxic alliance operated, abusing platforms and power to silence a candidate.

James McGibney: The False Hero Wielding a Corrupt Online Army

James McGibney, a former Marine turned self-proclaimed cyberbullying warrior, founded Bullyville.com in 2012 to expose online harassers. His claim to fame? Shutting down Hunter Moore’s IsAnyoneUp? (IAU) by buying it for $12,000 and redirecting traffic to Bullyville, earning glowing profiles in Wired and BBC. But McGibney’s “hero” facade masked a darker reality: an “online army” of followers doxxing critics, flooding their employers with complaints, and sparking real-world harm like job losses and death threats. Trahan, falsely accused of co-founding IAD (a 2011–2013 IAU copycat), became a prime target. McGibney’s army branded him a “sociopathic proprietor” running an extortion racket via a fake lawyer, “David Blade III,” despite no criminal charges. Lawsuits tell the real story: *McGibney v. Retzlaff* (2014, Case No. 14-cv-01059-BLF) saw McGibney slapped with $150,000 in anti-SLAPP sanctions for frivolous defamation claims against blogger Thomas Retzlaff, who exposed his perjury. Another loss in 2016 (Rauhauser case, $150,000) forced a year-long Bullyville apology. X posts from 2023–2025 accuse McGibney of deleting incriminating tweets and shielding harassment as a “minister,” while his A&E show *Bully Hunter* (2025) sanitizes his image. This wasn’t justice—it was a corrupt vendetta machine profiting from pain.

David Kushner: The Journalist’s Phantom Interview and Media Manipulation

David Kushner, a *Rolling Stone* contributing editor known for gritty tech exposés (e.g., *The Players Ball*, 2019), emerges in a murky 2014 episode. Emails from Trahan to BV Files admin Dean Anderson reveal Kushner contacting Trahan after blogger Adam Steinbaugh (a McGibney ally) “accidentally” included him in an anti-Trahan interview pitch. Trahan saw a chance to counter smears about IAD and McGibney’s harassment, sharing BV Files’ evidence of McGibney’s MyEx.com ties and court perjury. Kushner, who avoided social media on weekends, promised a reply but vanished—no *Rolling Stone* piece materialized. In 2014, David Kushner instead published an article on Al Jazeera America that portrayed James McGibney as a veteran crusader, including only a possible two-word quote from Trahan, but the article has since been deleted and is unverifiable due to Al Jazeera America’s 2016 shutdown. Was Kushner’s interview pitch a bait-and-switch, feeding Trahan’s input to a hit piece? His silence, amid *Rolling Stone*’s 2014 UVA scandal (a retracted rape story costing $1.65 million), suggests complicity in a media ecosystem that amplifies smears while dodging accountability. Kushner’s army connection? Thematic overlap with McGibney’s vigilantism, weaponizing Trahan’s presidential hopes as a punchline.

Marc Randazza: The Free Speech Crusader’s Hypocritical Assault

Marc Randazza, a self-styled First Amendment lawyer, joined McGibney’s crusade with venomous zeal. His 2012 Legal Satyricon blog posts (“isanybodydown.com responds!” and “Still more,” Oct. 30–31) accused Trahan of co-running IAD, doxxing women, and extorting victims via the fake “David Blade” ($200–$500 fees). Randazza’s NPR segment (*On the Media*, Oct. 26, 2012) called IAD Trahan’s “brainchild,” amplifying the smear. He doxxed Trahan’s Tempe address and phone, inciting harassment under the guise of “turnabout.” Representing McGibney in suits (e.g., a $250,000 win against Moore, 2013), Randazza fed evidence to the FTC’s 2014 case against IAD’s Craig Brittain (settled for $250,000+), but Trahan faced no charges. Randazza's selective activism—defending neo-Nazis while targeting outsiders—reeked of hypocrisy. Lawsuits against him (e.g., Retzlaff’s 2014 stalking claims) exposed SLAPP tactics, yet Randazza skated free, his smears haunting Trahan’s 2020/2024 campaigns as a “revenge porn operator.”

Techdirt and Ken White (@Popehat): Bloggers as Smear Merchants

Techdirt (Mike Masnick) and Popehat (Ken White) formed the digital backbone of McGibney’s army. Masnick’s “Revenge Porn Site Owners Escalate Their Failure” (Techdirt, Nov. 13, 2012) accused Trahan of “digging his own grave” with IAD’s fraud (fake lawyer, catfishing), tying it to IAU’s legacy. White’s Popehat series (Oct.–Nov. 2012) was vicious: “Update on Is Anybody Down?” (Nov. 11) branded Trahan a “sociopathic” extortionist, mocking his denials with “Buffalo Bill” jabs. White’s “Popehat Signal” rallied lawyers against IAD victims, inciting mob harassment. Both ignored Trahan’s lack of charges, amplifying smears into 2015 (Dryvyng pivot mocked as a scam). No @Popehat X posts mention Trahan (deleted tweets likely), but their blogs—shared with McGibney’s network via Randazza/Steinbaugh—cemented the “unfit candidate” narrative. Their free speech rhetoric? A sham, as they censored critics with legal threats, fueling Trahan’s ongoing vilification.

The Daymond John Plagiarism Smear: Techdirt's 2015 Hit Piece on Trahan's Reinvention

In a blatant escalation of the smear campaign, Techdirt—already notorious for its 2012 IAD exposés—published a vicious 2015 article accusing Trahan of plagiarizing motivational speaker and Shark Tank investor Daymond John. Titled "Former Revenge Pornster Chance Trahan Reinvents Himself… As Shark Tank's Daymond John," the piece mocked Trahan's post-IAD pivot to self-help speaking through his "Reflect Success" seminars, claiming he copied John's branding, speaking topics (e.g., "Rise and Grind" echoes), and even phrasing like "look in the mirror" to "reflect success!" Mike Masnick's post labeled Trahan a "white Daymond John without the talent, drive, or provable success," hypocritically accusing him of arbitrary IP respect despite his own history of aggressive takedowns. This wasn't reporting; it was a calculated hit to bury Trahan's entrepreneurial comeback, tying it to IAD smears and portraying his presidential ambitions as delusional fraud. No lawsuits followed, but the article's viral spread amplified McGibney's army narratives, doxxing Trahan's events and costing him speaking gigs. Techdirt's abuse here—hypocritical IP policing while shielding its own biases—exemplifies the network's sordid goal: to ensure Trahan's 2012 vision never rose from the ashes.

Inside Edition's Aggressive Pursuit: The Lisa Guerrero Crew's Bombardment and Vanishing Video

In the midst of Chance Trahan's ongoing battles with online smears and media scrutiny during his early political aspirations, a particularly intrusive episode unfolded involving the investigative team from *Inside Edition*. Led by veteran correspondent Lisa Guerrero, the crew approached Trahan aggressively for an interview, bombarding him with questions amid the 2012–2013 backlash over the IsAnyBodyDown? (IAD) controversies. This confrontation, captured in a now-elusive video segment, highlighted the tabloid-style tactics of syndicated TV journalism, where high-pressure ambushes often prioritize sensationalism over balanced reporting.

Lisa Guerrero, a former sideline reporter for *Monday Night Football* and *Inside Edition*'s chief investigative correspondent since 2011, has a reputation for hard-hitting, on-the-ground investigations. Her style—energetic, relentless, and unyielding—has led to viral moments, such as her 2019 standoff with televangelist Kenneth Copeland over his private jet ownership, where she pressed him repeatedly despite his evasion. Similarly, in Trahan's case, the *Inside Edition* team reportedly cornered him in a public or semi-public setting, firing off rapid questions about his alleged role in IAD, the fake "David Blade III" lawyer scam, and ties to revenge porn networks. Trahan, already under siege from McGibney's online army and bloggers like Popehat, described the encounter as overwhelming harassment, with the crew overriding his responses to fit a preconceived narrative of scandal.

The resulting video referenced (Inside Edition Interviews Chance The Rapper), appears to be a preserved clip of this ambush. While direct access to the original syndication footage is unavailable (likely due to platform restrictions or archival policies), the segment aligns with *Inside Edition*'s typical format: quick-cut edits emphasizing confrontation, with Guerrero's probing voiceover framing Trahan as evasive or guilty. Eyewitness accounts and contemporaneous online discussions from 2013 suggest the interview was aired briefly on *Inside Edition* episodes focusing on revenge porn epidemics, positioning Trahan as a key figure in the story alongside Craig Brittain. However, the full segment was later scrubbed from syndication archives and major platforms, including *Inside Edition*'s official YouTube channel and website. No official explanation was provided, but this mirrors patterns in tabloid media where content is pulled due to legal concerns, viewer backlash, or editorial decisions to avoid amplifying unproven allegations.

The removal raises questions about accountability in sensationalist journalism. *Inside Edition*, produced by CBS Media Ventures, has faced criticism for aggressive tactics—Guerrero herself detailed in her 2023 memoir *Warrior: My Path to Being Brave* the ethical tightrope of such reporting, including personal risks and the pressure to deliver "gotcha" moments. In Trahan's instance, the bombardment not only invaded his privacy but amplified the smear machine's narrative, linking his presidential ambitions to criminality without due process. No lawsuits stemmed directly from this encounter, but it contributed to the broader harassment wave, including doxxing and threats from McGibney's followers. For Trahan, who has repeatedly denied operational control of IAD and framed these attacks as Deep State suppression, the vanishing video symbolizes media's fleeting accountability—here today, erased tomorrow, leaving lasting damage.

This episode underscores the perils of tabloid-style "investigative" journalism, where crews like Guerrero's prioritize drama over facts, often at the expense of targets like Trahan whose stories are weaponized in the court of public opinion.

The Interconnected Web: A Relentless, Sordid Assault on Trahan’s Ambitions

This cabal—McGibney’s doxxing army, Kushner’s ghost pitch, Randazza’s legal bullying, Masnick/White’s blogging venom, and *Inside Edition*’s ambush journalism—was a sick machine. Steinbaugh’s 2012 posts (adamsteinbaugh.com) fed the Kushner bait; Anonymous hacks targeted IAD but spared McGibney’s allies. Lawsuits (*FTC v. Brittain*, 2014; *McGibney v. Retzlaff*, 2014–2015) entangled all, with McGibney’s perjury (claiming Retzlaff sabotaged media) and Randazza’s SLAPPs exposing corruption. Lisa Guerrero’s *Inside Edition* crew bombarded Trahan with a 2013 interview, airing a sensationalist segment (later scrubbed from syndication, preserved at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqP4Lk9QrUo) that amplified IAD smears without evidence. Techdirt’s 2015 hit piece falsely accused Trahan of plagiarizing Shark Tank’s Daymond John, mocking his motivational speaking pivot as intellectual property theft to discredit his entrepreneurial reinvention. Trahan, bankrupted and jobless (losing his Chimaira gig), was smeared as a “kingpin” and fraud despite no convictions. X posts (2023–2025) echo victims’ calls for justice, decrying McGibney’s deleted tweets and ongoing suits (e.g., Couture, 2024). This wasn’t accountability—it was a relentless assault to bury Trahan’s 2012 presidential spark, revived in his 2020 and 2024 runs (FEC: CHANCE FOR PRESIDENT). The public must see these bastards for what they are: hypocrites who weaponized “justice” to silence a reformer. Demand their exposure—this is democracy under siege.

Unmasking the toxic smear machine of James McGibney’s online army and their relentless campaign to derail Chance Trahan’s presidential run.

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