Smear merchants come in all shapes and sizes, but they all carry many of the same traits.
Introduction Rucki case
The Rucki case stands apart for notoriety in American child custody cases.
Not only did the courts and police turn a blind eye to David Rucki’s decades of abuse, but the media- both local and national- then carried his water culminating in the hatchet job by 20/20 called Footprints in the Snow.
David Rucki’s history of family violence included putting a gun to his seven year old son’s head, choking his daughter, ripping an organ leg and choking his wife, and leaving six gun shots as a voicemail on his daughter’s phone.
None of that mattered in court which determined Sandra “Sam” Grazzini-Rucki was alienating the children.
The children- on April 19, 2013- were ordered using local Lakeville, Minnesota Police to live with their paternal aunt, a temporary arrangement until their father got custody.
The two oldest girls- Samantha and Gianna- ran less than an hour after police left upon dropping them off on April 19, 2013.
For about two years, the media largely ignored the story until Brandon Stahl, then at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, did a flashy cover story on the two-year anniversary of the girl’s disappearance.
From there, it was a feeding frenzy, only none of the media covered the numerous incidents of abuse. The girls were found in November 2015, and the media firestorm focused on their whereabouts not on why they ran.
Chief among the media propagandists was Michael Brodkorb, a former political operative turned blogger, who covered the Rucki case obsessively for nearly a decade before transitioning back into politics.
Hales/Rucki similarities
In the YouTube drama involving YouTuber Jeremy Hales, Hales files frivolous lawsuits and then turns each machination of those lawsuits into YouTube content.
Hales first sued his neighbors in Florida, John Cook and Michelle Preston.
Over time, he sued anyone who looked at him funny.
Already, a lawsuit against a prosecutor was dismissed, most of Hales second federal lawsuit was also dismissed.
Hales also orchestrated a bogus petition claiming that his neighbor, Michelle Preston, had committed fraud in adopting her daughter. That petition was dismissed days after it was filed.
Those supporting Jeremy Hales also look the other way on years of domestic violence.
Any objective observer can see that Hales uses the legal system to torture and bully people, but he has a popular YouTube channel, and he’s been able to coopt other popular YouTubers to do his bidding.
Chief among them is Matthew Lewis, AKA That Umbrella Guy (TUG) on YouTube.
TUG made his name by clout chasing on popular YouTube stories like the Depp/Herd trial, but for the last two years he’s only covered the Hales case.
Brodkorb’s Unhealthy obsession
Michael Brodkorb had a circuitous route to covering the Rucki case.
For years he was a political operative in Minnesota until he had an affair with Minnesota Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch.
Former Republican Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch is breaking her silence about her resignation.
Koch told WCCO’s Chad Hartman she’s taking responsibility for her actions, but feels senate leaders handled her resignation poorly.
“I finally felt strong enough and I felt it was important to clear the air,” she said. “It’s not about excusing my behavior. And I hope that people know the apology that I made a year ago was sincere.”
In December of 2011, Koch stepped down as senate leader after an affair with senate staffer Michael Brodkorb, 39, came to light.
Brodkorb went down fighting, threatening to expose everyone who had an affair under the argument that he was being singled out.
Attorneys for former Senate Republican caucus spokesman Michael Brodkorb said Thursday that they would pursue legal action against the Senate for firing Brodkorb because he had an affair with his boss, former Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch.
Brodkorb’s attorneys said they are willing to expose sexual affairs between other Senate staffers and lawmakers to show that their client was wrongly fired in December, when Koch resigned her post.
Despite rumors that the two were having an affair, Senate officials have said Brodkorb was dismissed because there was no longer the will to keep the “at-will employee” employed. His potential lawsuit, which has put Senate leaders on the defensive, could cost state taxpayers money.
That threat ended his political operative career, but he got an infusion when the Minneapolis Star Tribune hired him to write a political blog on state and local politics.
He was writing on those topics when his colleague, Brandon Stahl, wrote his article on the Rucki case in April 2015. Suddenly, that political blog turned into a blog on the Rucki custody case.
His contract with the Minneapolis Star Tribune ended in December 2015 and he started Missing in Minnesota to continue writing about the Rucki case.
He updated on the case, including a book, until 2021.
He showed no visible income besides the book the entirety of his breathless coverage.
Brodkorb and I only did one interview together- no longer on line- but during the interview he said that he was tired of having to read all my stuff, watch all my interviews, and follow all my coverage of the Rucki case.
I remember thinking that he didn’t need to do that, unless he did. Only one person benefited from his propaganda.
TUG’s unhealthy obsession
TUG made a name for himself clout chasing stories popular on YouTube like the Depp/Herd trial.
That made the Hales story a natural choice, however, it’s not natural that he’s covered nothing but Hales for two years.
Recently, he found a spelling mistake and posted the following.
It took chutzpah for TUG to comment on my spelling since he can’t string a sentence together, as shown below.
More than that, the error is from a Substack Note, Substack’s social media platform.
If he follows me on Substack Notes, he’s following everything I do.
He’s already commented on several articles and a fundraiser.
This started recently; someone assigned him to become my fan.
Only one person benefits from TUG being a poor man’s version of Jeremy Hales.
Brodkorb Manipulates Evidence
Brodkorb used his background as a slimy political operative to smear Sam. He did this by ignoring the evidence of abuse.
Below is part of audio Samantha made shortly after running describing how abusive her dad was. Brodkorb was aware of this audio because I emailed it to him, but he ignored it when covering the case.
By pretending like David Rucki never abused his kids, he portrayed him as a heroic dad trying desperately to find his daughters. Sam was portrayed as the vindictive mother who hid them.
One of his most insidious tricks was slowly changing the narrative of what happened on April 19, 2013. Shortly after it happened, the local Fox affiliate did a story including an interview with the girls, where they made it clear they ran.
When 20/20 broadcast their hatchet job, they reported accurately the girls ran.
(20/20 did not report on any of the abuse, despite being given forty plus pages of evidence by Sam’s attorney Michelle MacDonald.)
Over time, Brodkorb and others started referring to the events of April 19, 2013, as an abduction or kidnapping.
It wasn’t an abduction. The girls were taken to a police station on April 19, 2013. They were told they’d live with their paternal aunt until their father got custody. They were driven by police. After being dropped off, they ran minutes after the police left.
They called people who knew their mother until they called Dale Nathan, who was with her. She then picked them up, took them to a friend’s house, who called Doug and Gina Dahlen, who lived in Herman, Minnesota, and ran a horse farm for abused children.
Everyone in Herman knew who the girls were and no one called police. That’s because everyone knew they were hiding from an abusive father.
By changing the narrative, Brodkorb could hide all those details. If he said they ran, he’d need to explain why. He had no explanation- besides the truth- why two teenagers would rather live with strangers than with their abusive father.
In his campaign, Brodkorb smeared Sam’s attorney, Michelle MacDonald, relentlessly. He smeared me, and anyone else who helped Sam.
TUG manipulates evidence
Like Brodkorb, TUG relentlessly attacked attorneys who represented the other position.
In 2024, attorney Bruce Matzkin represented Michelle Preston and John Cook in the first federal lawsuit Hales filed against them.
Since, TUG has attacked him relentlessly. A few samples are below.
At the same time, Hales’ attorney, Randall Shochet, is treated with kid gloves. Shochet committed fraud and lost his dental license before becoming an attorney. TUG does approximately three shows a week on the Hales and has never fully addressed Shochet’s fraud.
He tried to make light of it a couple weeks ago, and in twisting himself into knots stated that fraud was no big deal.
When covering my stories, he only showed the audience parts of my articles, thereby manipulating what they saw.
Early on, he made it clear he was not allowed to say anything negative about Jeremy Hales.
In February 2025, I sent him a video and police report showing that Jeremy Hales was deliberately approaching Preston and Cook, even though he took out a protective order claiming he feared for his life.
TUG’s response was to attack me, Preston and Cook.
it’s no different than Brodkorb failing to report on any of the abuse allegations against David Rucki. Both are required to lionize one side and demonize the other. Smear merchants both of them.
Conclusion
TUG sent the following statement when asked for comment on this article.
Wittle Michael got his fefes in a twist again today?
That vulnerable women market not paying well this month? No ladies you can get thrown in jail or manipulate into touching your pee pee?
That why you crying to Daddy Tug?
You need a pep talk, baby?
Post-script
Check out the fundraiser to help me create more articles on the Hales case. Find articles one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, and twenty-eight.
