In a 2019 interview , a '' Playboy '' interviewer said that " Abramson helped pioneer the literary form of the Twitter ' thread ' " and , speaking of his 2018 book '' Proof of Collusion '' , credited " the eccentric New Hampshirite " for " his meticulous attention to the evidence of Trumpworld ’s alleged collusion with the Kremlin . " The magazine added that Abramson was a " left-brained gonzo . " During the 2016 Democratic primary race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders , Abramson supported Sanders . He authored what Jonathan Chait of '' New York Magazine '' called " a cult-favorite series of Bernie Sanders delegate-math fan fiction . " '' The Washington Post 's '' Philip Bump , took issue with Abramson 's analyses , calling them " empty theory , unproven ... but innovative . " Writing in '' The Chicago Tribune '' , Stephen Stromberg called Abramson a " Sanders zealot ... in reality-denial . " '' The Atlantic '' , citing an article by Abramson in which he referred to his writing on the Democratic primary as " experimental journalism , " attributed Abramson 's articles not to his political leanings but his self-identification as a " metamodernist creative writer . " '' Politico '' concurred , referring to Abramson 's political commentary as " verses from the abstract . " After the 2016 U.S. presidential election , Abramson received widespread attention for his Twitter threads alleging collusion between the Trump campaign and foreign governments , especially Russia , but also Saudi Arabia , the UAE , and Israel . Abramson suggests that , through intermediaries , Trump and Putin came to an understanding in 2013 that Trump would run for president and push for an end to U.S. sanctions against Russia , and that Putin would in return greenlight a multibillion-dollar Trump Tower Moscow deal and other potential Trump ventures in Russia while using Russian capabilities to aid the Trump campaign . According to the '' Washington Post '' , " There are , to be sure , many leaps in his analysis . Abramson 's tweets link copiously to sources , but they range in quality from investigative news articles to off-the-wall Facebook posts and tweets from Tom Arnold . " Writers at '' The New Republic '' , '' The Atlantic '' , and '' Deadspin '' have described Abramson as a conspiracy theorist . Ben Mathis-Lilley of '' Slate '' argues that Abramson is " not making things up , per se ; he 's just recycling information you could find on any news site and adding sinister what-if hypotheticals to create conclusions that he refers to ... as ' investigatory analyses . ' " '' The Chronicle of Higher Education '' notes that Abramson often " feuds with anti-Trump conspiracy theorists whom he sees linking to dubious sources and making claims without evidence . " Virginia Heffernan writes in '' Politico '' that Abramson 's " theory-testing " is " urgently important . " '' Der Spiegel '' calls Abramson " a quintessential American figure : an underdog who became an involuntary hero . " '' The New York Observer '' writes that " events like Trump 's 2013 trip to Russia for Miss Universe were covered extensively on Abramson 's feed prior to the mainstream media catching on , a fact that has given him a reputation for being early to connect events within the broader Russia story . " According to Avi Selk of '' The Washington Post '' , Abramson " has become virally popular by reframing a complex tangle of public reporting on the Russia scandal into a story so simple it can be laid out in daily tweets . " In November 2018 , Abramson published the '' New York Times '' bestselling book '' Proof of Collusion '' ( Simon & Schuster ) , which sought to establish " proof of collusion in the Trump-Russia case . " A '' Playboy '' interviewer wrote of '' Proof of Collusion '' that " not one error has been found in the book . " According to a review in the '' Herald , '' " Amassed theories and suggestive juxtapositions notwithstanding , we end up with something closer to the Scottish ' not proven ' verdict with its unique mix of moral conviction of guilt and inability to conclusively prove the case . " Abramson has published a number of poetry books and anthologies . '' Publishers Weekly '' describes Abramson as " serious and ambitious ... uncommonly interested in general statements , in hard questions , and harder answers , about how to live . " '' Colorado Review '' and '' Notre Dame Review '' have written favorably about Abramson 's poetry . Abramson won the 2008 J. Howard and Barbara M.J. Wood Prize from '' Poetry '' . Editor Don Share said of Abramson 's " What I Have , " " The poem absorbs certain details but does n't fasten upon them the way poets are tempted to do ; it 's not adjectival , it 's not descriptive , it 's not painting a kind of canvas with scenery on it , and yet those details are really fascinating . " In May 2014 , Abramson was criticised for his '' Huffington Post '' piece " Last Words for Elliot Rodger " , a " remix " of words taken from the final YouTube video of the perpetrator of the Isla Vista killings , which Abramson published less than two days after they took place . Both the reuse of Rodger 's words and the timing of the poem caused offense . Although Abramson called the work " a vehicle for amity and compassion " , Omnidawn , Abramson 's publisher at the time , issued a statement saying that it was " dismayed , disheartened , distressed " , adding that " his actions in this matter are not in alignment with our principles . " Abramson and poet Jesse Damiani have been series co-editor of the annual anthology of innovative verse , '' Best American Experimental Writing '' , since its inception with Omnidawn in 2012 . The series was picked up by Wesleyan University Press in 2014 . Guest editors for the series have included Cole Swensen ( 2014 ) , Douglas Kearney ( 2015 ) , Charles Bernstein and Tracie Morris ( 2016 ) , Myung Mi Kim ( 2018 ) , and Carmen Maria Machado and Joyelle McSweeney ( 2019 ) . In 2018 , '' The Rumpus '' called the anthology " meaty , daring , and beautiful . " Nicole Rudick , managing editor of '' The Paris Review '' , has called the series " just my kind of rabbit hole . " Abramson authors '' The MFA Research Project '' ( MRP ) , a website that publishes indexes of creative writing Master of Fine Arts ( MFA ) programs based on surveys and hard-data research . Indexes appearing on the MRP include ordered listings of program popularity , funding , selectivity , fellowship placement , job placement , student-faculty ratio , application cost , application response times , application and curriculum requirements , and foundation dates . The MRP also publishes surveys of current MFA applicants , and of various creative writing programs . Writing for '' The Cambridge Companion to American Poetry Since 1945 '' , Hank Lazer described Abramson 's project as " a daring and data-rich endeavor . " '' The Missouri Review '' observed that Abramson , along with novelist Tom Kealey , " had done a tremendous amount of work to peel back the layers of MFA programs and get applicants to make informed decisions . " Data from the MRP was regularly published by '' Poets & Writers '' between 2008 and 2013 . '' The Chronicle of Higher Education '' termed the '' Poets & Writers '' national assessment methodology " comprehensive " and " the only MFA ranking regime . " The data was not without its critics . In September 2011 , a critical open letter signed by professors from undergraduate and graduate creative writing programs was published . In their response , '' Poets & Writers '' asserted that it adhered to the highest journalistic standards . The magazine 's Editorial Director Mary Gannon said of Abramson , the rankings ' primary researcher , that he " has been collecting data about applicants ' preferences and about MFA programs for five years , and we stand behind his integrity . "
Isla Vista killings
2014 Isla Vista killings
Seth Abramson