The story of David Elias Goldberg was a sophisticated psychological operation (psyop) that emerged in 2019. While presented as a “dead Jewish whistleblower” who was murdered for revealing classified White House secrets, extensive evidence suggests the persona was fabricated.

Goldberg as presented in a “tell all video” was a 59-year-old journalist who was found dead in his New York apartment in June 2019. Following his death, a “dead man’s switch” was supposedly activated, releasing recordings and documents he had obtained from a White House insider.

The core of Goldberg’s “revelations” involved a plot by a “Zionist” cabal within the Trump administration to eliminate political dissidents. This plan consisted of two primary operations:

• Project Pogo: A program designed to “Tag, Track, and Identify” (T, T & ID) opponents of a one-world government. Goldberg claimed the government funded “gatekeeper” YouTube channels to attract open-minded viewers so they could track their IP addresses and true identities.
• Project Zephyr (or Zyphr): The “extermination phase”. This involved a plan to round up an estimated 15 million Americans during coordinated nationwide power blackouts. High-value targets would be exterminated, while others might be targeted through engineered viruses.

Despite the detailed claims, investigators found that Goldberg likely never existed.

• There were no public records of his journalism.
• There was no obituary.
• The organization he claimed to represent—the “Jewish Center for Antisemitic Studies”—did not exist.
• The photo used to represent Goldberg was traced back to a Russian profile for a man named Igor Dovlatov.

Some suggested that the character was a “controlled leak” designed to tell the truth and then discredit it by using a phony messenger.

Iran was a “core pillar” of Goldberg’s broader narrative and the leaked documents he referenced. He alleged that the U.S. was preparing for a massive, imminent conflict with Iran, with the following details offered:

• Nuclear Ground Invasion: Goldberg claimed the Trump administration planned a ground invasion of Iran for the fall of 2019, which would involve the use of 100 tactical nuclear weapons to “wipe Iran off the map”.
• The “Messiah” Prophecy: The war was framed as a fulfillment of “Jewish prophecy”. Goldberg alleged that high-level officials believed Jared Kushner was the “Messiah” (Moshiach) and could not take his “throne” until Iran was destroyed. He further claimed Trump had secretly converted to Judaism in 2017 and was acting on behalf of the Chabad cult.
• False Flag Pretext: The invasion was to be justified by a “False Flag” operation, possibly involving an attack on boats in the Strait of Hormuz, which would then be pinned on Iran.
• Domestic Cover for the “Purge”: Significantly, the war with Iran was linked to the domestic “Project Zephyr”. The nationwide blackouts intended to cover the rounding up of American dissidents were planned to be blamed on Iranian cyberattacks. This would allow the government to eliminate political opponents at home while the public was distracted by the breaking war.

Ultimately, this narrative was a disinformation operation—probably launched by Russia—to manipulate alternative media, test public reactions to a potential war, and stir resentment against U.S. foreign policy.

Since then, independent investigators and researchers have thoroughly debunked the “David Goldberg” story, confirming that the individual was entirely fictional.

The narrative heavily relies on standard psychological operation techniques designed to manipulate public perception, create panic, and exploit existing political anxieties.

Nevertheles, the specific claims regarding a 100-weapon tactical nuclear strike on Iran and a domestic “purge” of anti-Zionists carry significant political weight. Within the context of national security and public trust, these narratives put pressure on an administration to demonstrate their falsehood through policy and public action.

The hoax alleged a massive nuclear invasion planned for late 2019. In reality, while tensions between the U.S. and Iran reached historic highs during that period—specifically surrounding incidents in the Strait of Hormuz—the Trump administration’s actions ultimately contradicted the Goldberg narrative.

To counter the narrative that it was seeking a catastrophic war, the administration leaned into maximum economic pressure rather than total military destruction. When military actions did escalate, they were highly targeted kinetic strikes rather than a wholesale ground invasion or the usage of tactical nuclear weapons. Proving the negative—that an administration does not plan to launch a nuclear war—is typically achieved through open diplomatic channels, declassified intelligence reporting, and adherence to established international military doctrines that strictly forbid the unprovoked first use of tactical nuclear weapons.

Further, the claim that the government was actively using “Project Pogo” and “Project Zephyr” to tag, track, and eventually round up 15 million anti-Zionists or dissidents during a black-out is a direct modern adaptation of the decades-old “FEMA Camp” conspiracy theory.

For any administration to prove it is not conducting a mass domestic purge of specific political or religious ideological groups, it relies on institutional transparency:

• The absolute protection of First Amendment rights, ensuring that public dissent, anti-Zionist speech, and alternative political viewpoints remain legal and legally protected.
• The role of congressional oversight committees, which have direct access to classified domestic intelligence operations and are tasked with whistleblowing any unauthorized mass surveillance or tracking programs like the fictional “Project Pogo.”
• The legal system, as a mass roundup of millions of American citizens would require an unprecedented suspension of habeas corpus that would instantly be challenged and struck down by the judicial branch.

By letting real-world policy be governed by constitutional boundaries and conventional military strategies, the Trump administration structurally disproved the extreme, apocalyptic scenarios cooked up by the Goldberg psyop, but it is undoubtedly still sensitive to those who remember it today.

You can find the video on YouTube; I am not sharing it here.