Brought to public attention by
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in the book on the fall of
Richard Nixon, All The President’s Men, ratfucker was Nixon’s term for a political operative who sows chaos among opponents; an agent provocateur. It is thought to have originated among campus political rivalries at
USC, and seems to have some usage in the US military.
Along with Nixon’s other ratfuckers, Roger
Stone caused fights at otherwise peaceful Democratic
Party protests to generate a false narrative that the Democrats were violent and
dangerous.