In 2019, then-California Congressman Devin Nunes waged a legal war against the anonymous Twitter writer who heckles him as a fake cow online.
Now “Devin Nunes’ cow” is roaming beyond the 280-character bounds of Twitter.
The writer behind @DevinCow — she uses “she/her” pronouns in her Twitter profile — and members of the so-called herd have formed a political action committee to support progressive values and candidates, imploring potential donors and followers to “join the mooovement.”
“We‘re going to really try hard to be who we are and make this a very human enterprise, unapologetically, even if it’s bovine in origin,” Ryan Byrne, the director of the COW PAC, said in an interview with The Bee.
Byrne is listed as the PAC’s treasurer in its Federal Election Commission filing. The person behind “Devin Nunes’ cow” inspired, advises and works on aspects of the PAC, but is not legally an officer, said Byrne, who helped create another liberal Twitter account mixing politics, culture and humor, “HISTORY FALLS APART.”
Among their prime concerns are conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection promoted by former President Donald Trump and supporters like Nunes — and what future Trumpist politicians may espouse.
After someone signs up to follow the COW PAC, the website lists issues that the proprietors say are “time to go on offense” for, including abortion access, civil rights, free speech, L.G.B.T.Q. rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, gun control and climate change.
“No more foxholes. No more passive resistance. No more Ms. Nice Cow,” it reads.
COW PAC wants empathy, transparency
Assuming the PAC gets donations, funding would go to producing informational content and bolstering campaigns that prioritize empathy and human rights, Byrne said. Today’s polarization endangers not only American democracy, but also other countries that look to the U.S., he said.
“We are refusing to listen to each other,” Byrne said. “You can think that somebody else is misguided as a result of their differing perception of reality, but dismissing it out of hand does not advance anybody’s interests ever.”
Their teaching vehicle is comedy and satirical videos, as evidenced by @historyfalls and @DevinCow’s Twitter pages.
Byrne said that they are making many of their PAC decisions as public as possible — a sort of living textbook on how political fundraising organizations work. They want feedback on what to focus on.
He added that they were particularly interested in contests for state and local offices that enforce election laws.
“We were thinking, ‘Well, what happens if we devote a disproportionate amount of attention to those races? Is there a way to make those races more famous by making the personalities in those races known so that people do want to horse race them, so people want to contribute money to them?’” he said.
The PAC will officially launch with a film this week, Byrne said. People are able to sign up on their website now and follow them on Twitter, where Byrne says they will post their satirical videos.
Some posts will be related to former President Donald Trump and Nunes, he said. But much like “Devin Nunes’ cow,” they will focus on broader issues.
“He drew her into this, but she’s outgrown him,” Byrne said.
Nunes is still suing the Twitter cow
Nunes left Congress earlier this year to lead Truth Social, Trump’s social media venture. The California Republican represented the area around Tulare for about two decades.
He has filed 10 defamation lawsuits against media organizations and critics since 2019. The first was against Twitter, a Republican strategist and the anonymous writers of two Twitter accounts that parody a cow and his mother.
The judge told Nunes in 2020 he could not sue Twitter over what users post to its platform. In 2021, the judge dismissed the strategist, Liz Mair, writing that Nunes failed to show that she defamed him.
The lawsuit against “Devin Nunes’ cow” and “Devin Nunes’ Alt-Mom” is ongoing because Nunes’ lawyer does not know who they are, he told the court. He cannot appeal the decision dismissing Mair unless the former congressman drops the Twitter account owners’ from the suit or his lawyer figures out who to serve.
Nunes has not relented in his lawsuits since leaving Congress despite a series of setbacks: Judges recently told him that he could not revive cases against CNN or the Washington Post. Another suit against the Post is ongoing as well as one against a former constituent of his, the parent company of Esquire magazine and the parent company of MSNBC.
Neither a spokesperson for Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, nor Nunes’ lawyer responded to a request for comment.
Before Nunes filed suit in March 2019, “Devin Nunes’ cow” had just over 1,200 followers. The day after, her followers swelled to half a million. Now, she has more than 760,000.
“He created his own archnemesis,” Byrne said.
