Robert “Beto” O’Rourke, the latest Democrat to throw his name into the 2020 presidential election bid, was reportedly part of a hacktivist group called “Cult of the Dead Cow,” and went by the pseudonym “psychedelic warlord.”
O’Rourke, who served three terms in Congress as a Texas representative and recently made a failed attempt to knock off Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, announced Thursday that he’ll be running for the White House. The following day, a report from Reuters claimed O’Rourke was a member of the prominent hacking group and apparently penned some pretty bizarre writings fantasizing about the murder of children as a teen.
Reuters reports:
The hugely influential Cult of the Dead Cow, jokingly named after an abandoned Texas slaughterhouse, is notorious for releasing tools that allowed ordinary people to hack computers running Microsoft’s Windows. It’s also known for inventing the word “hacktivism” to describe human-rights-driven security work.
Members of the group have protected O’Rourke’s secret for decades, reluctant to compromise his political viability. Now, in a series of interviews, CDC members have acknowledged O’Rourke as one of their own. In all, more than a dozen members of the group agreed to be named for the first time in a book about the hacking group by this reporter that is scheduled to be published in June by Public Affairs. O’Rourke was interviewed early in his run for the Senate.
“There is no indication that O’Rourke ever engaged in the edgiest sorts of hacking activity, such as breaking into computers or writing code that enabled others to do so,” noted the outlet.
As highlighted by Mashable, Joseph Menn’s forthcoming book, called “The book, Cult of the Dead Cow: How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World,” reports alleged inside-info on O’Rourke, such as his apparent “psychedelic warlord” pseudonym:
O’Rourke had his own bulletin board named TacoLand. Oh, also, that he wrote under the handle “Psychedelic Warlord.” And yes, you can still find some of his writing online.
“Think, a free society with no high, middle, or low classification of it’s [sic] people,” O’Rourke reportedly said in one of his writings. “Think, no more money related murders, suicides, divorces, or theft. Think, no more families living below a set poverty line or children starving to death because of a lack of money.”
“Remember, we are the next generation, and will soon rule the world,” he wrote in another piece.
Oh, yes, he also apparently wrote about killing children. The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra reports:
In writings that Reuters says still exist online, O’Rourke reportedly fantasized about ‘toppling the government,’ but fretted that “the masses would support such a radical move at this time.”
O’Rourke also reportedly wrote about murdering children by running them over with a car.
“One day, as I was driving home from work, I noticed two children crossing the street,” O’Rourke wrote. “They were happy, happy to be free from their troubles…This happiness was mine by right. I had earned it in my dreams.”
“As I neared the young ones, I put all my weight on my right foot, keeping the accelerator pedal on the floor until I heard the crashing of the two children on the hood, and then the sharp cry of pain from one of the two,” O’Rourke continued. “I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head.”