Right Wing Watch: Recent Episodes
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Indiana's Christian nationalist Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith says that the LGBTQ movement is driven by an ancient "demonic spirit": "This is the same demonic playbook just playing out all over again."
- Christian Nationalist Promotes Christian Nationalism
- 'Criminals Do Not Have Rights'
- A Very Costly Victory
Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau suspects that Vance Boelter was a left-wing wacko and not a Christian because "Christianity does give you a sound mind": "Boy, am I grateful that there's a solution to this mental illness that causes other people to go to that level of crazy."
After prophesying to Mike Lindell that he would win the defamation lawsuit filed against him and be avenged by God, self-proclaimed "prophet" Hank Kunneman now claims that Lindell will win on appeal.
Anti-LGBTQ activist Seth Gruber says that, historically, if you talked to kids about sexuality and gender issues, "you were called a pervert and a groomer and the community or town you lived in might wake up the next morning to find you dead in an alleyway."
- That's Exactly Who He Is
- Spreading The Same Lies
- We Also Have No Evidence That They Were Involved
When news broke Friday night that two Democratic legislators had been shot in Minnesota, Christian nationalist Gene Bailey immediately began praying for the victims before declaring "we're going to see government changed in Minnesota, we're gonna see Gov. Tim Walz figure out he's on the wrong side."
While many religious leaders are taking part in peaceful "No Kings" protests, religious-right media is smearing the pro-democracy events as un-American.
David Barton's propaganda on current events is every bit as believable as his Christian nationalist history.
Monica Crowley positively gushes over how "providential" it is that Trump is president during America's 250th anniversary because "the MAGA generation are the natural heirs to the revolutionary generation": "God knows what he's doing."
MAGA pastor Shane Vaughn breaks out in song celebrating Israel's attack on Iran, overjoyed by the prospect that it fulfills biblical prophecy that the End Times are rapidly approaching: "What wonderful days these days are before the coming of the Lord."
Christian nationalist pastor Douglas Wilson lays out his plan for establishing an "American ethnos" in which non-Christians will be second-class citizens.
Hard to imagine a more telling statement than MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau complaining that Democrats are trying to stop Trump's rampage by using "the rule of law."
Far-right broadcaster Stew Peters had a meltdown over the Super Bowl halftime show, claiming that it was orchestrated by "subversive Jews" to give a "platform for degenerate blacks" to put on an "an anti-white shitshow."
Bigoted far-right Edward Szall is now apparently a White House correspondent for election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell's network.
Education Department nominee Linda McMahon's primary qualifications seem to unwavering loyalty and massive financial support for Donald Trump.
Elon Musk's rampage through federal agencies has been widely denounced as lawless, but Trump's US Attorney Ed Martin is running interference for him.
Reps. Eric Burlison and Gary Palmer discuss the role of Congress amid the Trump administration's blitzkrieg.
Self-proclaimed "prophet" Donna Rigney claims that she opened a portal to Heaven over the White House to cleanse it of all evil and wickedness before Trump took office.
Trump's nominee to head the Civil Rights Division has downplayed the need for the Justice Department to enforce the Voting Rights Act, saying "the era of Jim Crow is long gone."
Vincent James and Rebecca Hargraves admit that they have basically "completely destroyed" their lives by being unabashed white nationalists, but claim it was all worth it so that others can now "talk about the Jews on Twitter": "We were like the civil rights activists."
Christian nationalist Wesley Todd says women should not be allowed to serve in office, especially if they're pregnant: "Do I want an 8-months pregnant woman voting on legislation and deciding different economic, rule of law, and civil things for our nation? Of course not, that's stupid."
Far-right broadcaster Steve Deace announced that he'll be releasing a new project in June that will "punch Pride Month right in the balls. Hard."
With Paula White returning to the White House, it seems fitting to remind everyone of just who she is.
- Marshall Cohen and Daniel Dale @ CNN: Fact check: 12 election lies Trump is using to set the stage to dispute a potential 2024 defeat
Former President Donald Trump has escalated his long-running assault on the integrity of US elections as the 2024 presidential campaign enters its final stretch, using a new series of lies about ballots, vote-counting and the election process to lay the groundwork to challenge a potential defeat in November.
- Rob Schenck @ Mother Jones: Confessions of a (Former) Christian Nationalist
In effect, we were like other lobbyists and pressure groups, only our visits to offices included saying a prayer or reading a Bible verse with the occupant. Clergy, often arrayed around the stately benches where members of both houses of Congress sit during official proceedings, accompanied us to more formal meetings.
- Althea Legaspi @ Rolling Stone: Trump Suggests Giving Cops ‘One Really Violent Day’ to Stop Crime
During yet another anti-migrant rant, the former president falsely claimed crime is up and so cops should be allowed to be “extraordinarily rough.”
- Matt Keeley @ LGBTQ Nation: This rightwing activist gets major brands to turn their backs on diversity. How is he doing it?
Robby Starbuck, the former music video director behind clips like “Super Collider” for Megadeth, has a new job: hectoring companies to drop their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs and cut their ties to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and the organization’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI).
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Ryan Walters wants Oklahoma taxpayers to spend $6 million on public school bibles
Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, Ryan Walters, always looking for new ways to shove Christianity into public schools, now wants to spend $6,000,000 on New King James Version bibles for teachers across the state.
- Paul Rosenberg @ Salon: Who created the “constitutional sheriff” myth? Hint: It’s not in the Constitution
Author Jessica Pishko on how two Arizona sheriffs created an entire mythology — and a dangerous movement.
- Matthew Sheffield @ Flux: How far-right Christian media brainwash evangelicals
Peter Montgomery of Right Wing Watch tells how Christian nationalist media are radicalizing their viewers.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- David Barton penned an op-ed on the importance of Christians voting: “Church leaders have a duty to guide their congregations into a closer relationship with Christ. Part of that relationship includes participating in voting efforts and encouraging civic action.”
- Right-wing pastor Jack Hibbs claims the Founders made the First and Second Amendments the top two items in the Bill of Rights because they knew those rights came from God. In actuality, their position atop the Bill of Rights was just an accident of history.
- Micah Beckwith, a Christian nationalist pastor who is the GOP nominee for lieutenant governor in Indiana, says Indiana residents face a choice between “godly boldness” and “the Jezebel spirit.”
- In now, Lance Wallnau proudly declared himself to be a Christian nationalist. Now, he is trying to distance himself from the term.
- Finally, Trump-loving evangelist Mario Murillo declares that Vice President Kamala Harris is “the puppet embodiment of a system that is here to destroy us” and warns that if you don’t vote for Trump, “you are mocking God.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, now a Fox Nation host and cheerleader for Donald Trump’s campaign, used his account on the social media site X (formerly Twitter) to spread a dangerous antisemitic trope among his 2.6 million followers last week.
After philanthropist Alex Soros posted a photo of himself with Democratic vice-presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz, Ramaswamy reposted it with the comment, “If you squint, you can see the strings on the marionette.”
Alex Soros is the son of philanthropist George Soros, a longtime funder of progressive and pro-democracy causes. As Media Matters noted, “The ‘puppet master’ imagery is a classic antisemitic trope, and right-wing media and Fox hosts have used it for years to smear George Soros.”
It is so recognizably antisemitic, in fact, that three years ago Fox News deleted social-media posts with a cartoon portraying Soros as a “puppet master” after critics called them out.
But that hasn’t stopped MAGA activists. Last year, when a podcaster asked Ramaswamy about having received a scholarship funded by George Soros’s late brother Paul, Ramaswamy said, “I think the big question that comes up is who’s the bogey man pulling the strings. I have no tie to George Soros other than criticizing him.” Ramaswamy later said he was unaware of the podcast host’s record of peddling tropes about Jews owning “almost everything.”
Trump himself has used the “puppet master” trope to rile his followers and motivate them to send him money. Last year, Trump sent a fundraising email that attacked Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as a “bought-and-paid-for Soros prosecutor” carrying out his “puppet master’s plot to put me in JAIL for committing NO CRIME.”
Trump and other right-wing leaders revere Hungary’s “illiberal” leader Viktor Orbán, who deployed antisemitism in forcing a university funded by George Soros to leave the country where he was born, and has continued to use antisemitic narratives—more recently targeting Alex Soros—to maintain his grip on power. Orbán’s heavy-handed moves to impose ideological control over the judiciary, media, education, and culture have made him a hero to U.S. right-wing leaders like Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, who views Orbán as the model for the kind of strongman they would like Trump to be in his second term.
Often the promotion of antisemitism is more coded than overt. While Ramaswamy has publicly criticized antisemitism as “morally outrageous” and “a symptom of something that is broken in our society,” he has also participated in the MAGA movement’s embrace of antisemitic conspiracy theories. Last year, when Ramaswamy was running for president, The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer dubbed him “The new face of the ‘great replacement.’”
The BBC describes “great replacement” as “the far-right idea that a cabal of people—often named as ‘globalists,’ ‘elites,’ or Jews—is deliberately plotting to change the demographic of Western countries,” and “a version of the ‘white genocide’ conspiracy theory that there is a plot to entirely ‘eliminate’ white people.” Proponents of this theory—including Trump and Carlson—sometimes blame George Soros directly for this imagined scheme.
As Right Wing Watch has noted, “the theory that global elites are out to ‘replace’ white people motivated mass murderers who killed Muslims in New Zealand, Jews in Pittsburgh and San Diego, and Latinos in El Paso, Texas. It also inspired organizers of the deadly Unite the Right protest in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, where protesters chanted, ‘You will not replace us’ and ‘Jews will not replace us.’”
But none of that has stopped right-wing pundits like Tucker Carlson or far-right openly antisemitic figures like white nationalist Nick Fuentes from promoting great replacement rhetoric.
The poison is spreading within the MAGA movement. Trash-talking commentator Candace Owens told Tucker Carlson in 2021 that George Soros’s philanthropy was designed to “undo American civilization.” Owens, who lost her job at the Daily Wire earlier this year, has veered into antisemitic territory that is uncomfortably close to what is spewed by Fuentes.
Owens’ antisemitic rhetoric was called out by some conservatives. Yet two months after Owens’ highly publicized departure from the Daily Wire, Ramaswamy was urging BuzzFeed, where he had just bought a significant stake, to hire her. Owens is still promoted on the Turning Point USA site, whose founder Charlie Kirk is touring colleges with Ramaswamy this fall.
Carlson, meanwhile, recently hosted Holocaust revisionist Darryl Cooper on his online show—a top-rated podcast—and Cooper followed up with a social media post saying that Hitler had tried to “work with the other powers to reach an acceptable solution to the Jewish problem.”
The Atlantic’s Yair Rosenberg cited the episode in his recent article, “The Anti-Semitic Revolution on the American Right,” which noted that Carlson was given a prime-time speaking slot at the 2024 Republican National Convention. “Anti-Semitism has always existed on the political extremes, but it began to migrate into the mainstream of the Republican coalition during the Trump administration,” Rosenberg writes.
Rosenberg notes that the MAGA movement’s angry anti-elite populism “readily maps onto the ancient anti-Semitic canard that clandestine string-pulling Jews are the source of society’s problems.” That brings us back to Ramaswamy and other MAGA insiders. “Trump fundamentally refuses to repudiate anyone who supports him,” notes Rosenberg, who cites a conservative columnist who told him last year, “What you’re actually worried about is not Trump being Hitler. What you’re worried about is Trump incentivizing anti-Semites” in a way that brings them real political power.
There are other strains within the right wing of American politics that threaten to foster the marginalization of American Jews.
Among the “illiberal” and “post-liberal” thinkers that J.D. Vance pals around with is Yoram Hazony, whose Edmund Burke Foundation sponsors the National Conservatism conference at which Vance has spoken repeatedly in the past few years. Hazony believes that in a Christian majority country, “public life should be rooted in Christianity and its moral vision, which should be honored by the state and other institutions both public and private.” When journalist Katherine Stewart asked about minorities in such a society having outsider status, Hazony said, “That simply is reality,” adding that minorities would not get the same treatment as the majority, but “should be grateful for the fact that you’re not persecuted as minorities often have been in history.”
Like Trump, American religious-right groups loudly declare their support for Israel’s government and love for the Jewish people. But some of the movement’s increasingly aggressive, exclusionary, and dominionist Christian nationalist leaders declare that the U.S. is meant to be a Christian nation, with certain kinds of Christians ordained to rule. Some claim that the U.S. was founded with a national mission to advance the Christian faith. Some assert that Christian beliefs should be amended into the Constitution and that public officials should be required to be Christian. One has called for public worship by non-Christians to be banned.
Religious-right groups have also attacked Soros’s philanthropic support for progressive religious groups, calling it “evil.” A letter circulated among right-wing evangelicals several years ago portrayed George Soros as a global schemer whose goal may be “the imposition of a global monoculture” but is “at least the destruction of our national identity through demoralization, open borders, drugs, crime, law-fare and media propaganda — the ‘fundamental transformation’ (weakening) of American civil society for the leveraged power of global ‘elites.’” Signers included broadcaster Eric Metaxas, anti-LGBTQ activist and New Apostolic Reformation figure Jim Garlow, and the Family Research Council’s Jerry Boykin.
Trump himself has inflamed antisemitism on the right since his 2016 campaign rhetoric electrified white nationalists. He has routinely disparaged American Jewish voters for not supporting him more widely based on his support for Israel’s far-right government. And Trump recently threatened to blame American Jews if he loses the election. What could be more calculated to inflame the antisemitism already surging through his conspiracy-embracing MAGA movement?
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Vivek, Trump and the Puppet Master Trope: MAGA’s Soros Obsession Inflames Raging Antisemitism on the Right appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2014, Right Wing Watch dubbed Rafael Cruz “the poor man’s David Barton” because the speeches he delivers are little more than a recycling of a variety of myths long promoted by Christian-nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton.
Ten years later, Cruz, the father of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, is still out on the Christian nationalist lecture circuit and he’s still spreading Barton-esque lies. Over the weekend, Cruz made an appearance at the 2024 Christians Engaged conference in Texas, where he baselessly claimed that “everything in our government came out of the Bible.”
“Did you know that the Bible tells you exactly who to vote for?” Cruz said, citing a passage from Exodus 18 in which Moses, having led the Israelites out of Egypt, was overwhelmed by the responsibility of having to settle all the disputes that arose, and so his father-in-law, Jethro, urged him to select judges who would hear the simple cases while reserving for Moses the difficult ones and thus easing his burden.
“In Exodus 18: 21, God speaks to Moses through Jethro and he says, ‘You select from among the people,'” Cruz stated. “Now that word ‘select’ is the same as ‘elect.'”
Obviously, the word “select” is not the same as “elect.” As we pointed out years ago when Barton was making this claim, in this passage from Exodus, Moses was instructed to select able men “who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe” and place them as judges over the Israelites. In this case, the people were not instructed to elect their representatives, but rather had their leaders selected by Moses and placed over them, which clearly undermines Cruz’s entire claim.
Undaunted, Cruz continued.
“Do you realize that everything in our government came out of the Bible?” he asked. “Do you know why we have three branches of government? Isaiah 33:22, where God says ‘I am your king, I am your judge, I’m your lawgiver’; executive branch, judicial branch, and legislative branch. Do you know why churches are tax exempt? Ezra 7, which says that the workers of the temple and the Levites should not be taxed. Do you know why we are a Constitutional representative republic and not a democracy? The rest of Exodus 18: 21-22, where he says that after the four qualifications [mentioned above], you set them up as rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, rules of ten … That’s equivalent to federal government, state government, county government, local government, school board.”
“Only take up to Moses, that is to the federal government, matters of great importance; everything else you handle yourself at the local level,” Cruz continued. “That’s Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution. It’s called the enumerated powers of Congress. [There are] only 18 powers described in Article 1, Section 8. If it isn’t [listed], the federal government has got no jurisdiction and all those powers are reserved to the local government; that’s the Ninth Amendment and the Tenth Amendment. It all came out of the word of God.”
Cruz, like Barton before him, neither provides nor has any evidence to support any of these claims. Nevertheless, he continues to boldly assert them time and again because, like so many other Christian nationalists, he knows that these sorts of myths are useful in bolstering his modern-day right-wing political agenda.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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If there’s anything the MAGA movement loves, it’s a rally with a bunch of speakers who can be counted on to blend “anti-wokeness,” conspiracy theories, Christian nationalism, and hero-worship of Donald Trump.
The latest assemblage, traveling under the name of Rescue the Republic, will grace the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, Sept. 29, with the stated mission of mobilizing Americans to save the republic and western civilization itself from “a conglomerate of industrial complexes.”
The speaker lineup includes Trump booster Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Sen. Ron Johnson, Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, Moms for Liberty’s Tiffany Justice, Pizzagate promoter Jack Posobiec, Former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, anti-feminist public intellectual Jordan Peterson, anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree, and journalist Matt Taibbi. Also speaking is #WalkAway founder Brandon Straka, who was sentenced to three years of probation for his role in inciting the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
A video promoting the event warns of shadowy forces manipulating world events. “Today the curtain has been pulled back to reveal the liars at the levers,” intones a narrator over images from the Wizard of Oz. “They are masters of deception, hell-bent to divide and conquer. Like magicians, they use the art of redirection to keep us distracted as they trick us. Nearly every war we have fought was initiated by their propaganda.”
“Everything we have fought for, everything we’ve earned, and everything we love is under attack,” the narrator says, “At what point do we say, enough is enough.’?”
Rescue the Republic claims to represent a “rebel alliance” of people “of every culture, creed, and ideology” who “are putting politics aside” to “secure peace and freedom.” Libertarian Party chair Angela McArdle is listed as a founder of the group, the latest iteration of a coalition of “COVID-19 dissidents” that rallied against vaccine requirements as “Defeat the Mandates.” They later organized a right-left coalition against U.S. aid to Ukraine under the banner, “Rage Against the War Machine,” which is holding a rally on Saturday.
We will have to see how many MAGA-movement speakers “put politics aside” on Sunday.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post RFK, Jr. and Motley MAGA, Anti-Vaxx Crew Descending on DC to ‘Rescue the Republic’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Analysis
Vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance has spent his short career in politics soaking in and promoting anti-democratic ideas. It is terrifying that he could become vice president to Donald Trump, the oldest presidential nominee in history, who is displaying his own increasingly aggressive dictatorial intentions. Americans’ freedom and our future as a democratic society are at stake.
- Vance’s leap into the U.S. Senate in his first run for elected office was funded by Peter Thiel, a billionaire who has openly expressed his contempt for democracy. Over the past few years, Vance has aligned himself with different strains of the “illiberal” right, including Christian nationalism, right-wing Catholic integralism, “National Conservatism,” anti-immigrant nativism, and, of course, “America first” Trumpism.
- While these movements and their leaders have different underlying motivations and priorities, they share a willingness—or eagerness—to sacrifice democracy and Americans’ freedom in order to impose “traditional” values and their vision of “order” and an ideal society on all Americans. For some, that vision goes back centuries, well before America’s founding. Some openly call for an American Caesar.
- Vance’s anti-feminist and anti-LGBTQ allies “aim to control women’s reproductive choices and individual freedoms concerning gender, sexuality, and identity,” among other things, as journalist Molly Olmstead has noted.
- Like the authors of Project 2025, the policy roadmap for a second Trump term, right-wing factions aligned with Vance have abandoned a libertarian distrust for government power in favor of an intention to use power aggressively to reshape our country. Vance has been clearon this front, saying “we need to be really ruthless when it comes to the exercise of our power.”
- Vance “comes from an authoritarian, reactionary tradition that explicitly rejects conservatism, liberalism, and democracy,” writes political analyst Matthew Sheffield, formerly a conservative activist. “Trump wants absolute power, and Vance wants him to have it to destroy what he believes to be a decadent and corrupt society.”
- Vance has repeatedly spoken at “National Conservatism” conferences; the movement’s statement of principles declares that “in those states or subdivisions in which law and justice have been manifestly corrupted, or in which lawlessness, immorality, and dissolution reign, national government must intervene energetically to restore order.”
Vance described his outlook in a far-right podcast appearance in 2022, recounted by the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank:
Vance suggested that former president Donald Trump, once elected in 2024, should fire all civil servants and replace them with “our people,” defy court orders blocking such an illegal action, and then “do what Viktor Orban has done,” referring to the Hungarian dictator’s bans on certain topics from school curricula. Vance justified such “outside-the-box” authoritarian actions by reasoning that the United States is “far gone” and not “a real constitutional republic” anymore.
Before Vance decided to run for office, he called Trump “reprehensible” and wondered whether Trump might be “America’s Hitler.” But when Vance became a candidate in the MAGA Republican Party, he flipped so hard that former Trump aide Steve Bannon suggested that Vance could be, as a reporter paraphrased, “St Paul to Trump’s Jesus—the zealous convert who spreads the gospel of Trumpism further than Trump himself ever could.”
J.D. Vance vs. Democracy and Freedom
- Vance has echoed hard-right calls for “regime change” and said it is necessary to “get pretty wild, pretty far our there, and go in directions that a lot of conservatives right now are uncomfortable with.” Vance expressed a desire to “seize the administrative state for our own purposes” and ignore the Supreme Court if it objects.
- Vance says if he were vice president in 2020, he would have done what Vice President Mike Pence refused to do: Vance would have abused his power, ignored the Constitution, and refused to accept the electors certified by states that Trump was contesting.
- Vance defends the illegal “fake electors” scheme that Trump strategists used to try to override the will of the voters. Vance says Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election were addressing a “very legitimate grievance” and says “I can’t help but roll my eyes” at the idea that Trump threatens democracy. “I don’t believe this is about some deep principle,” he says. “This is about power.”
- In a speech at the National Conservatism conference in 2021, Vance said the movement has to “aggressively attack the universities in this country,” claiming that they “transmit deceit and lies” rather than “knowledge and truth.” Vance has praised Hungary’s dictatorial leader Viktor Orban for his “smart decisions” in seizing control of universities. Trump’s own Agenda 47 calls for seizing the endowments of top universities to fund an anti-wokeness online academy.
- At this year’s National Conservatism conference, Vance said that the American nation is not an idea but “a people with a common history,” and he claimed that immigration has made western societies “poorer, less safe, less prosperous, and less advanced,” a preview of his recent willingness to spread dangerous lies about Haitian immigrants for his own political gain—despite the very clear harm it has brought to the community of Springfield, Ohio.
- While Vance as VP candidate has adopted Trump’s deliberately muddled stance on access to abortion, his own opinion has been that abortion should be banned without exceptions for cases of rape and incest. In 2022 he called for a “federal response” to prevent women living in states where abortion has been banned from traveling to states where abortion remains legal. Last year he signed a letter urging the Justice Department to ban the mailing of abortion medicine, part of Project 2025’s agenda.
- Vance opposed the Respect for Marriage Act, which was passed to protect legal recognition for same-sex couple’s marriages if the MAGA Supreme Court justices reverse the court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling as religious-right groups are urging them to do. Vance has defended far-right “groomer” smears. He introduced legislation that would ban higher education institutions from teaching about gender-affirming care and ban any federally subsidized insurance plans from covering it.
- Vance is aligned with Christian nationalists who seek to dismantle separation of church and state. Vance is scheduled to join dominionist New Apostolic Reformation figure Lance Wallnau’s “Courage Tour” in Pennsylvania Sept. 28. In 2022, Vance told Christian-right radio host Eric Metaxas that “one of the great evils of modern liberalism is this pretense of neutrality” on religion, claiming that “if you can’t say a prayer before a public school session, then you’re not neutral, you’re explicitly anti-Christian.” Vance said the First Amendment “doesn’t mean you can’t talk about Jesus in a public school.”
Birds of a Feather: Vance’s Ideological Connections
Vance has spoken at National Conservatism conferences and events organized by “post-liberal” thinkers—who want to abandon liberal democracy—and advocates for integralism—a sort of right-wing Catholic version of Christian dominionism. At a 2023 conference at Catholic University, Vance identified as “a member of the post-liberal right.” Vance’s 2019 conversion to Catholicism was reportedly assisted by priests connected to Opus Dei, which has invested decades in building political power among and for right-wing Catholics in Washington, D.C.
Journalists and scholars like Laura Field have published quite a few detailed looks into Vance’s ideological allies, many of which are linked to in this post. Here are brief descriptions of just a few of the many far-right and antidemocratic intellectuals and institutions that Vance is associated with:
- Curtis Yarvin is a self-described monarchist and founder of a school of thought called “neoreactionism.” He argues that a visionary leader should seize power and dismantle the current regime. When Vance was describing his plan to fire federal employees and defy the Supreme Court, he acknowledged Yarvin’s influence, saying, “So, there’s this guy, Curtis Yarvin, who has written about some of these things.” Vance calls Yarvin a friend; both have benefited from Peter Thiel’s support.
- Patrick Deneen is a Notre Dame professor who has written books about the failure of liberal democracy and the need for “Regime Change,” the title of his latest book. To Deneen and his fellow “post-liberal” Catholic thinkers, “this means replacing the people and institutions that dominate America’s cultural, economic, and political life with a new elite willing to eschew liberal norms in service of supposedly higher ideals,” writes scholar Damon Linker. In other words, Deneen wants to put the power to govern in the hands of a conservative aristocracy. In 2023, Vance attended a speech by Deneen, praised his book, and “wrapped him in an enthusiastic hug,” Politico reported.
- Adrian Vermeule is a Harvard University professor and former Supreme Court clerk who promotes a form of integralism, which he calls “common good Constitutionalism.” He says it “does not suffer from a horror of political domination and hierarchy, because it sees that law is parental, a wise teacher and an inculcator of good habits.” That means the government wielding authority “against the subjects’ own perceptions of what is best for them” and changing laws around “free speech, abortion, sexual liberties, and related matters.” Journalist Sarah Jones notes, “integralism imagines a future when the state may punish the baptized for violations of ecclesiastical law”—a frighteningly far cry from the American principle of church-state separation. Vance appeared at a conference with Deneen and Vermuele at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, in 2022.
- Rod Dreher is a blogger, author, and right-wing culture-warrior who in recent years moved further to the right and actually moved to Hungary where he functions as a sort of international p.r. agent for Orban’s authoritarian and Christian nationalist government. Dreher is a friend of Vance; in an article for a Hungarian conservative publication this summer, he compared Vance to a young Orban and said Vance “embodies” Trumpism.
- Yoram Hazony chairs the Edmund Burke Foundation, which was created in 2019 to promote National Conservatism. Vance has regularly spoken at its conferences. Its statement of principles declares, “Where a Christian majority exists, public life should be rooted in Christianity and its moral vision, which should be honored by the state and other institutions both public and private.” When journalist Katherine Stewart asked about minorities in such a model being stuck with an outsider status, Hazony said, “That simply is reality,” adding that minorities would not get the same treatment as the majority, but “should be grateful for the fact that you’re not persecuted as minorities often have been in history.”
- Claremont Institute is a think tank that ramped up its attacks on multiculturalism in advance of the 2020 election; the New York Times has called it a “nerve center of the American right.” Claremont is home to Michael Anton, who called the 2016 presidential election “the flight 93 election”—referring to the flight hijacked during the 9/11 attacks in which passengers stormed the cockpit. Anton’s book called for a stop to the “ceaseless importation of Third World foreigners with no tradition of, taste for or experience in liberty.” He has suggested that an American Caesar is inevitable. Claremont was also a center of pro-Trump activity after the 2020 election. Claremont lawyer John Eastman has defended his involvement in Trump’s efforts to stay in power by saying Trump’s presidency was necessary to save America from a left bent on its destruction. Politico reports that “Vance is “closely tied to Claremont circles, frequently speaking at their events and appearing alongside their scholars.”
Two Futures: Freedom or Fascism?
Long before Donald Trump selected J.D. Vance as his running mate, there was a mountain of evidence that Trump’s election would threaten Americans’ freedom and undermine democracy: Trump’s own threats to jail his political opponents, go after universities and media outlets he doesn’t like, and carry out vast police state operations against immigrants; Project 2025 plans hatched by former Trump officials to give him virtually unchecked power; and the MAGA Supreme Court justices preemptively telling Trump he would not be held accountable for crimes committed as president.
Trump’s selection of J.D. Vance—cheered by “post-liberal” and anti-democratic leaders—is confirmation that the authoritarian threat to freedom and democracy is an urgent issue in this year’s presidential election—and that the threat will continue regardless of the outcome.
The post J.D. Vance and America’s Anti-Democracy Activists appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Republican congressman’s racist rant generates immediate backlash
Rep. Clay Higgins’ racist online message probably won’t help the Republican Party’s pre-election outreach to Black voters.
- Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Clay Higgins Defends Tweet He Deleted After Being Confronted by Republican Colleagues: ‘It’s All True’
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) defended his controversial social media post about Haitians after deleting it on Wednesday, claiming his remarks were “all true” and that he could “put up another controversial post tomorrow.”
- J.D. Wolf @ MeidasTouch News: Trump Shared Laura Loomer and Her Content a Whopping 101 Times on Truth Social
MeidasTouch has documented all the times Trump has amplified the far right activist on his own platform
- Jennifer Bendery @ HuffPost: Just A Reminder That Mark Robinson Has Been Openly Vile For Years
It’s one thing to fly under the radar as North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, but you can’t escape scrutiny as a gubernatorial candidate.
- Nicholas Bariyo and Gabriele Steinhauser @ The Wall Street Journal: Russia and U.S. Religious Conservatives See Common Foe in Africa: Gay Rights
Unlikely coalition provides moral support for local activists pushing laws criminalizing homosexuality; death penalty in Uganda.
- Alyson Klein @ Education Week: Moms for Liberty Co-Founder Would Be ‘Honored’ to Be Trump’s Education Secretary
Tiffany Justice, the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, is interested in serving as former President Donald Trump’s education secretary—or in another key position—should he win a second term.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- 258 senators and representatives received a 2024 Friend of the Family Award from the Faith & Freedom Coalition for having “earned at least a 90% rating according to the newest edition of Faith & Freedom’s biannual Congressional Scorecard.”
- Right-wing pastor Jack Hibbs says that politics is a religion for Democrats and a pagan one at that: “It’s perverse, coming from perverts … These are those who are reprobates.”
- Dave Daubenmire declares that There is a war on WCM [white Christian men] in America today being waged by often WHITE NON-CHRISTIAN men.”
- Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon reports that he has ties to those within Charlie Kirk’s orbit at Turning Point USA.
- Once again we are forced to debunk the Christian nationalist claim that the Founding Fathers quoted or cited the Bible, specifically the book of Deuteronomy, when creating our government and Constitution.
- Finally, unlike self-proclaimed “prophetess” Kat Kerr, we don’t have regular conversations with God. But if we ever do, we’ll be sure to correct him if he claims that “my name … is written in your Constitution” because actually, it’s not. Frankly, that seems like something that God ought to know.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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In 2023, self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and unabashed Trump cultist Lance Wallnau announced his intention to travel the country ahead of the 2024 elections in order to break the “demonic strongholds” in swing states that have supposedly been preventing Republicans from winning elections. Wallnau’s vision manifested itself in the form of the “Courage Tour,” a series of multi-day events during which attendees hear from religious-right activists who mobilize them politically during the daily sessions, while the evening sessions are dedicated to spiritual revival and miracle healings lead by right-wing evangelist and fellow Trump cultist Mario Murillo.
This week, Wallnau and Murillo—both of whom have have been vicious critics of Vice President Kamala Harris, declaring that she is “the devil’s choice” and that her campaign is under “demonic power”—are taking their “Courage Tour” to Pennsylvania, where they will be joined by Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance.
While the immediate purpose of the “Courage Tour” is to reelect Trump, Wallnau revealed during a stop in Michigan earlier this year that the ultimate purpose behind the event is to prepare Christians to rule and reign when Jesus Christ returns by training them to “occupy territory now.”
This agenda is deeply rooted in Seven Mountains Dominionism, a radical theology associated with the New Apostolic Reformation that advocates having right-wing Christians control all aspects of society. Followers of Seven Mountains theology believe that they are to “do whatever is necessary” to take control of the seven main “mountains” that shape our culture—education, government, media, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion—in order to implement the will of God throughout the nation and the world.
Wallnau has long been a leading promoter of Seven Mountains theology, declaring in 2022, “we want souls and we want nations.”
In 2023, Wallnau warned that God was going to start killing American political leaders in response to the arrest of Trump for falsifying business records. In the end, Trump was found guilty on all counts and God didn’t kill a single politician.
Wallnau has repeatedly praised dictators, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he lauded for clamping down on “the LGBTQ doctrine … like a good dictator does.”
Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau defends Putin while declaring that "this entire Democratic Party is a judgment of God on America" and asserting that Biden is "an evil ruler." pic.twitter.com/op2LlMRQln
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 15, 2022
Trump-loving evangelist Lance Wallnau declares that "it's hard to make Putin the villain if you have all the facts," claiming that the CIA & Hillary Clinton tried to undercut him by injecting "the LGBTQ doctrine" into Russia until Putin "clamped down, like a good dictator does." pic.twitter.com/vJyRhVtKJ3
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 23, 2022
Wallnau is also fond of accusing those with whom he disagrees of being under the control of demons.
MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau says "the left is loaded with demons" just like in Nazi Germany: "I don't think it's people anymore; I think you're dealing with demons talking through people." pic.twitter.com/oreD6bffbR
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 21, 2024
If you want to know what Christian nationalism sounds like, just listen to MAGA evangelist Lance Wallnau talk about the importance of waging spiritual warfare to exorcise the "communist demon" from "the chapel of Washington" in the midterm elections this November. pic.twitter.com/2D5m5OgywC
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 27, 2022
Christian nationalist MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau declares that transgenderism is "a psychological disorder that has demons that get attached to it": "Satan has taken 'em over with crazy talk about them being in the wrong bodies." pic.twitter.com/Ak31WJRbSW
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 6, 2023
Trump-loving evangelist Lance Wallnau warns that Black Lives Matter is engaged in witchcraft and the "summoning of demons through a ritual of incantation." pic.twitter.com/BzRwqGWjkz
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) September 3, 2020
On top of that, Wallnau is a right-wing anti-LBGTQ activist who regularly uses his media appearances and social media platform to make outlandish claims and spread baseless conspiracy theories.
Christian nationalist MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau claims that those attending the RNC were united in "their thinking" whereas the DNC is just a "hivemind," "a borg" and "a zombie takeover." pic.twitter.com/yikzqBXFJb
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 21, 2024
MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau says Memorial Day should also honor the "living martyrs" like those imprisoned for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection or those who lost their jobs for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine. pic.twitter.com/uUrLTbhXoo
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 30, 2023
MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau says that as he a praying recently, a mysterious man whispered in his ear that "Donald Trump will be elected for one more turn," after which the Antichrist will emerge. By the time Wallnau turned around, the man had already disappeared. pic.twitter.com/2k2g4cYCQP
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 18, 2023
Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau claims the Proud Boys where only at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 "to protect Trump supporters from antifa" and to "clean up the garbage" that was left behind: "Clean up the mess, any debris that's there: glass, paper, garbage cans turned over." pic.twitter.com/zRNezE3OaD
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 20, 2022
MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau says the "silver lining" to the Baltimore bridge collapse is that it might be a sign from God about the importance of the 2024 election. pic.twitter.com/5v9cqiZ22L
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) April 2, 2024
On Saturday, the Republican vice presidential nominee will be sitting down for a town hall hosted by this man.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Yonat Shimron @ Religion News Service: Mark Robinson may no longer be the headliner. But NC evangelicals still back him.
Robinson has spent years cultivating Black and white evangelical church members with a message that aligns closely with their conservative values. Those church members still think highly of him.
- Chauncey DeVega @ Salon: Trump’s transformation into a religious totem turns Christian nationalism toxic
[Robert] Jones explains the almost mythical and divine role that Trump occupies in the collective minds of white right-wing Christians. Jones also discusses his new research which shows the frightening overlaps between white right-wing Christians and support for authoritarianism and political violence as seen on Jan. 6 and its implications for the future of American democracy and society in the Age of Trump and beyond.
- Molly Olmstead @ Slate: Sent by God
They’re gathering by the thousands. They’re growing fast. They believe that Democrats are possessed by demons—and that Donald Trump must be president again at any cost.
- Elizabeth Williamson @ The New York Times: Alex Jones’s Infowars Will Be Auctioned Off to Pay Sandy Hook Families
A sale of the Infowars website and other property is set for November, and could determine the conspiracy theorist’s fate as a broadcaster.
- Stephan Rodrick @ Rolling Stone: Inside Tucker Carlson’s Traveling Conspiracy Show
Cow humanoids, calls for Diddy’s release, Trump’s discussions with his gardener: On the road with Tucker and special guests J.D. Vance and Alex Jones.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Glenn Beck did a segment on “How to DEPROGRAM your friends from the anti-Trump CULT” and never once seemed to realize that every characteristic he listed applies directly to members of the Cult of Trump.
- KrisAnne Hall declares that the American population is deeply polarized “because the Democrat Party has become full-on communist.”
- Ben Zeisloft wants to see public executions.
- Asked about his statement that he’d choose a White doctor over a Black one, Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon insisted he’s not racist and blamed the left: “Wicked people, Marxist people instituted DEI and it set our country back in race relations about 80 years. I put the blame squarely at the feet of the left.”
- Finally, Trump-loving evangelist Mario Murillo claims to have received a word from God that Vice President Kamala Harris is “a daughter of lies” and that the nation will not survive if she becomes president: “We will not come back from this.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers is a far-right pastor and unabashed Christian nationalist who wants to abolish abortion, ban no-fault divorce, outlaw pornography, and literally see this nation taken back to the 1600s.
Earlier this month, Deevers joined fellow Christian nationalist and former Trump administration official William Wolfe on the latter’s Center for Baptist Leadership podcast to discuss the presidential debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
During the discussion, Deevers asserted that Harris would never support any restrictions or limitations on reproductive choice because those who vote for her are “wicked, murderous people” who are “demon possessed.”
“They have rabid, wicked, murderous people who are voting for them and who are the loudest supporters that if they claimed even 30 weeks, 24 weeks, 15 weeks, they are going to be vicious against them and the demons are going to come out,” Deevers said. “I’m not saying that those people are demons; I’m saying that a lot of them are demon possessed.”
“The demons who want their child sacrifice, who want this land being covered in blood … that’s what the demons want,” Deevers declared. “Now, whether they theologically understand that, the demons know it that are advising them,” Deevers declared.
In 2023, Deevers and Wolfe were among the contributors to a document called “The Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel,” which declared that the United States must formally “acknowledge the Lordship of Christ” in all its laws, “abolish abortion,” outlaw marriage equality, and “recapture our national sovereignty from godless, global entities who present a grave threat to civilization.” Wolfe is also a colleague of Project 2025 co-author Russ Vought, whose Center for Renewing America hopes to infuse Christian nationalism throughout a second Trump administration.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Kiera Butler @ Mother Jones: To Understand JD Vance, You Need to Meet the “TheoBros”
These extremely online young Christian men want to end the 19th Amendment, restore public flogging, and make America white again.
- Nick Visser @ HuffPost: Wave Of Senior Staffers Resign From Mark Robinson Campaign Amid Porn Scandal
Four senior staffers on Republican Mark Robinson’s campaign for North Carolina governor have resigned, just days after his bid was embroiled in scandal following reports alleging he wrote a series of shocking posts on a porn website.
- David Gardner @ The Daily Beast: Trump Avoids ‘Black Nazi’ Mark Robinson as GOP Cuts His Cash
Donald Trump and the Republican Party are ditching Mark Robinson, their scandal-plagued nominee in the North Carolina governor’s race.
- Mikael Thalen @ The Daily Dot: ‘Scorched earth’: Laura Loomer unleashes anti-GOP tirade after reportedly getting booted from Trump’s entourage
Far-right commentator Laura Loomer is going on an anti-Republican tirade after reportedly being banned from traveling with former President Donald Trump.
- Stephanie Kirchgaessner @ The Guardian: Project 2025 mastermind allegedly told colleagues he killed a dog with a shovel
The man behind Project 2025, the rightwing policy manifesto that includes calls for a sharp increase in immigrant deportations if Donald Trump is elected, told university colleagues about two decades ago that he had killed a neighborhood dog with a shovel because it was barking and disturbing his family, according to former colleagues who spoke to the Guardian.
- Jared Holt and Nathan Doctor @ Institute for Strategic Dialogue: A ‘Groyper War’ struggles to exert influence but paves the way for other bad actors
White nationalist influencer Nicholas Fuentes and his loyal fanbase have tried to pressure Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign with blasts of online propaganda. They may have violated social media platform policies in the process, but platforms have not taken action against them. The sense of impunity for crude platform manipulation may encourage others to try similar tactics.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Mike Lindell insists that the $14.88 sale price for his product was just a coincidence and not a Nazi dog whistle. Of course, Lindell’s defense might be more believable if his company didn’t have a history of teaming up with people like antisemitic white nationalist Holocaust-denier Vincent James.
- Speaking of James, last week he was flown to Virginia to appear on Tim Pool’s podcast and spent six hours just sitting in his hotel because he was afraid that “some Blacks” might start fighting, or shooting, or stabbing. Then, to top it all off, Pool canceled James’ appearance.
- Ali Alexander says that people sent him unsolicited nudes in order to “entrap” him so they could accuse him being a predator. That, of course, is not at all what Alexander admitted when his scandal broke last year.
- Joshua Feuerstein claims that Trump’s campaign called him up because Trump wants a photo-op with “influential leaders” like him.
- It’s telling that white nationalist “America First” activist Tyler Russell sees nothing wrong with Lauren Chen (allegedly) taking in millions of dollars to run a Russian influence operation: “I’d take money from Russia.”
- Finally, Donald Trump Jr. thinks that his father’s biggest political liability is that he just has too much empathy and kindness.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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MAGA insider and “prophetic” entrepreneur Lance Wallnau is an ardent self-promoter as well as an enthusiastic promoter of Donald Trump and Seven Mountains Dominionism. As Right Wing Watch has reported, Wallnau’s election-year “Courage Tour” of swing counties fuses religious tent revivals with MAGA movement political organizing in an effort to return Trump to power. A recent direct mail piece from Lance Wallnau Ministries describes that kind of two-pronged effort in biblical terms.
“We have TWO great weapons of WAR,” screams the outside envelope: “The HARP and the SLINGSHOT.”
The letter inside explains that the harp and slingshot refer to biblical stories about the future King David, one in which his harp playing bound the demons that were tormenting King Saul, and one in which the young David used a slingshot to kill a “giant predator” who was threatening the Israelite Army.
Seven Mountains Dominionism teaches that entire nations can and must be transformed by the right kind of Christians taking “dominion” over the “mountains” of influence in society—government, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, family, and religion—setting the stage for Christ to return to “rule and reign” with a triumphant church.
This teaching is associated with the New Apostolic Reformation, whose leaders often portray American politics as spiritual warfare Trump as anointed by God. Their vision of our future is an America in which our freedoms are sacrificed to force the country into alignment with their right-wing “biblical worldview.”
“If Christians continue to depend upon a flawed strategy, we will not succeed,” Wallnau’s letter states. “Revival is necessary for the church, BUT reformation is what changes the nation. If we want to see change, we must be both spiritual worshipers and cultural warriors. We must hold the harp with one hand and the slingshot in the other!”
More from Wallnau’s letter:
As I see it, the church today has two tools—essentially the same two tools that David had. We have the ‘harp,’ and we have the ‘slingshot.’ And we need both tools to accomplish our mission as the Body of Christ.
The harp represents our worship, our access to heaven, and the anointing. The harp is the way we keep ourselves in the Holy Ghost. Once you have ‘tasted the powers of the age to come,’ it is easy to want to stay in God’s presence. …
BUT if intimacy with God is the only goal, then God would have killed us and taken us to heaven after He converted us. After salvation, our goal is not intimacy, our goal is to be like Jesus, who said, ‘my will is to do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work.’ Intimacy is the secret behind the harp, and the harp is the power behind the slingshot. Our goal on earth is not heaven; salvation has taken care of that. Our goal is to plunder the gates of Hell. We are an invasion force. We ‘go into all the world’ to impact the world. That is where the slingshot comes in. The harp fills you with heaven; the slingshot is what plunders hell. You need both. The harp is for warfare in the spirit, the slingshot for warfare in the natural.
We need more slingshot saints. More Daniels and Josephs in government. We need more Esthers in the king’s palace and more Mordecais at the king’s gate refusing to bow to Hamon! We need more Davids who know how to walk in the Spirit and use a slingshot. We need them in media, journalism, courtrooms, academia, medicine, entertainment, business, and all areas of government.
So as much as we love the harp on Sunday, we need the slingshot in the marketplace, school system, and government on Monday through Friday. If you are a pastor or minister, please hear me—you can be both a shepherd and a city council member in your town. If you are retired and wondering what God has next, I can help you. If you are frustrated because you are not doing your high calling, I can help you. God is not done with you. You are called to be a David in your field.
That is why this ministry is so crucial at this time. If Christians continue to depend upon a flawed strategy, we will not succeed. Revival is necessary for the church, BUT reformation is what changes the nation. If we want to see change, we must be both spiritual worshipers and cultural warriors. We must hold the harp with one hand and the slingshot in the other!
Wallnau’s letter urges people to “give your best gift” so that he can spread “this vital message to the entire Body of Christ.” In return, he will act as a coach and mentor by sending a copy of “The Slingshot Strategy Your Unconventional Plan to Get to the Top,” which he writes will help “turn your problems into promotions, your weaknesses into strengths, and show you how to unlock your full capacity to use both the harp and the slingshot.”
The post Lance Wallnau on ‘The Slingshot Strategy’: ‘We Are an Invasion Force’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson joined Donald Trump adviser Paula White on a call last night hosted by the National Faith Advisory Board, an operation White set up after Trump left office to continue the work she did as a White House aide to keep religious-right leaders solidly in the MAGA camp. The call was streamed by Intercessors for America, a group of pro-Trump prayer warriors whose leader Dave Kubal is closely associate with White and helped her set up her One Voice Prayer Movement during Trump’s first term.
Johnson called himself an “ambassador of hope,” telling the MAGA faithful, “I am absolutely convinced that we are going to keep and grow the House majority, we’re going to win a Republican majority in the Senate, and President Donald J. Trump is going to go back to the White House.”
“This is a real inflection point, a civilizational moment, a turning point for our country,” he said, calling this “the most important election of our lifetimes, arguably one of the most important in the history of our nation.”
Johnson said he spent almost three hours with Trump at Mar-a-Lago just after the Secret Service disrupted a second assassination attempt. Johnson said he told Trump that “it seems apparent to us that God has chosen him to do this, to lead the greatest nation in the history of the world for a second time.”
White prayed for Johnson, and asked God to “raise up this army of millions that you’ve called to bombard Heaven [with prayers]” and secure Johnson’s anointing.
Johnson was followed on the call by Rabbi Yaakov Menken of the Trump-inspired right-wing Coalition for Jewish Values. “This is a fight for biblical values,” Menken said. He claimed that “Intersectionality is a union of people who hate values.”
Next up was Father Calvin Robinson, a right-wing Anglo-Catholic priest who recently moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, from the United Kingdom. He said what is happening in England is evidence that “nanny statism is demonic” because “there is no liberty without Christ.”
“I believe that America will become the last stand for Christendom, which we now call the West,” he said, calling the upcoming election “kind of the make or break for the West, really, where we get to say, ‘Do we believe in Christ or not, collectively.’”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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The Courage Tour, organized by Trump-promoting dominionists Lance Wallnau and Mario Murillo, and co-sponsored by the MAGA movement organization America First Policy Institute, rolls into Pennsylvania this week on its tour of 19 swing counties that could decide the outcome of the presidential election. The event will be held Friday night and all day Saturday in Monroeville, which is located east of Pittsburgh.
Scholar Matthew Taylor, who attended a Wisconsin stop, called the tour “the most targeted and tactical voter mobilization effort done by Christian nationalists ever,” adding that “they’re doing it hand in glove in many ways with the Trump campaign and with the apparatus of the Trump campaign through an organization like AFPI.”
Indeed, the Courage Tour exemplifies the de facto merger between the MAGA movement and dominionist Christian nationalists. AFPI, a “think tank” organized by and filled with former Trump administration officials, is an active participant in Project 2025, another example of the shared authoritarian goals of Trumpworld and the Christian nationalists who helped put Trump in power in 2016 as part of their long-term plan to take “dominion” over every sphere of influence in society. Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk has also supported the tour.
In 2023, AFPI President Brooke Rollins, a former Trump adviser who had been preparing his second-term agenda before he lost the 2020 election, held an America First Summit where she discussed AFPI’s Vision 2025, a preview of Project 2025’s plans for the aggressive use of government power to promote the far-right agenda. Rollins happily admitted that their “ideologically revolutionary” goal is to “seize control of the administrative state” as part of “an America First confrontation against anti-conservative institutions.” That echoed language used by the Heritage Foundation when it launched Project 2025 as a plan for the MAGA movement to “take the reins of government.”
The Courage Tour’s combination of tent revival-style religious rallies with political mobilization reflects the beliefs of New Apostolic Reformation figures like Wallnau and Murillo that spiritual revival will lead to political transformation of the country to bring it into alignment with their particular biblical worldview. Wallnau has said the tour’s purpose is to break “demonic strongholds” that have supposedly kept Republicans from winning elections, and to prepare Christians to rule and reign after Christ’s return by training them to “occupy territory now.” In other words, the Courage Tour is an example of NAR “spiritual warfare” in pursuit of earthly power—for Trump and for themselves.
Right Wing Watch reported that when the tour stopped in Wisconsin in July, the leader of a group called The Lion of Judah urged people to sign up to serve as election workers so that they could be in effect a “Trojan Horse” for the Christian nationalist political movement. At an earlier stop in Michigan, Christian nationalist political operative David Barton spread false Christian nationalist history.
Researcher Jenny Cohn has pointed out that Rob Pacienza, senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida—a longtime center of Christian-right political organizing—is a senior fellow in the Center for the American Dream at AFPI. This Wednesday, Sept. 25, Pacienza will kick off 40 days of prayer leading up to the election with an online event with Courage Tour speaker Alveda King. Pacienza’s project comes with a daily prayer guide that includes prayers for policies protecting life “from conception until natural death” and “restoration” of marriage being limited to one man and one woman. It includes a prayer that “Christians would use the power we have as citizens to rein in big government so that the State never becomes our Master.” It also urges people to pray that God would “remove those from office who oppose Him” and “cause chaos and confusion among groups who oppose Him and His people so that their plans are thwarted.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Trump-supporting “prophets” and “apostles” are functioning as an unofficial arm of the Trump campaign, using their substantial media and social media platforms to repeat Trump’s lies about voter fraud, tell people that God has anointed Trump to be president, and declare that Trump’s opponents are evil and demonic.
“Prophet” Robin Bullock provided another example this week in an appearance on ElijahStreams with host Steve Shultz. ElijahStreams provides dominionist prophets with a significant platform; it claims that 1.2 million viewers watch Shultz’s daily livestream show, and its channel on video platform Rumble has 181,000 followers.
Bullock repeated Trump’s false assertions that President Joe Biden could not have legitimately won the 2020 election, declared that the Democratic Party is “evil,” claimed that the “problems” with “crooked” voting machines have never been fixed, and asserted that Democrats cannot win without cheating.
Trump’s claim that he can only lose if his opponents cheat is designed to undermine his supporters’ faith in the legitimacy of the election process and prime them to respond with rage if he loses. In 2020, that rhetoric led to harassment and threats against election officials and fueled a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol. This year, it is forcing election officials to invest in significant new security measures. MAGA prophets’ spiritual warfare rhetoric—like Bullock saying Democrats “are not just bad, they’re evil”—similarly poisons our political culture.
Democrats’ strategy in the presidential election, Bullock claimed, is to make their candidate popular enough to convince voters that it would be possible for her to win a close election. But Bullock said God is preparing to defeat all those plans:
I saw it in the spirit. And I saw God and the devil playing chess. And the Lord was sitting back like this, just laying back, looking at the chess board. And Satan had his tongue stuck out of his mouth. He was really thinking about his move. And he finally moved one player and sat back like he was so proud. ‘I’ve done it.’ And the Lord in my vision did this [makes sweeping motion with his arm] and then stuck his arm out and just wiped the whole chess board clean and knocked every piece on the floor. And that’s what he’s about to do.
Bullock called on God to give pastors “a David anointing to take down the giant of the deep state elites with their stone of truth.” And he urged pastors to speak up and tell their churches that Trump was anointed by God. If pastors speak up, he said, “this whole thing is done.”
Bullock warned pastors who don’t have the courage to tell people God has anointed Trump, “you and your church will not be spared.”
Along the way, Bullock also talked about witchcraft being deployed against Trump and on the world stage on behalf of globalists. Reflecting an extreme version of religious-right support for Vladimir Putin and other dictatorial leaders, Bullock declared, “The Lord said, ‘Putin is my battle-axe against the one-world regime.’”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- William Wolfe has a plan for deporting millions of undocumented immigrants: “One illegal immigrant at a time. It’s not a matter of ‘how,’ it’s simply a matter of will.”
- Before former President Donald Trump flip flopped on the issue of reproductive rights, Ali Alexander was prepared to drop his support: “I cannot and will never allow a Republican to promise me one thing on abortion and then switch it up. It’s not worth it longterm. I’d sooner vote for an independent or write someone in who was pro-choice than a Republican who went from pro-life to pro-choice. Because I cannot vote for the extinction of the single most important moral issue facing our country. God has damned Moloch, Ba’al and all their followers.”
- Ben Zeisloft was likewise outraged: “Donald Trump is a tyrant to innocent preborn babies and must repent of his wicked stances.“
- Nick Fuentes hates it when he loses his temper on his program, but he can’t help himself because he has “Hitler energy.”
- There seems to be a pattern of virulently antisemitic and racist right-wing commentators like Fuentes, Lucas Gage, Stew Peters, and Elijah Schaffer being brought on as guests on Jake Shields’ show. So what was Michael Flynn doing there?
- Finally, Eric Metaxas likens the current situation in the United States to Nazi Germany: “I promise you, if Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are elected, they are going to come after pastors and people of faith like you have never seen.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Earlier this year, hardcore Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon declared that Christians who share his worldview must gain political power and then use that power for the purpose of “crushing our enemies and rewarding our friends.”
During the most recent episode of his “Theology Applied” program, Webbon elaborated about just what “crushing our enemies” would entail in his utopian Christian nationalist theocracy.
“What does it mean culturally to crush your enemies?” he asked rhetorically. “It means making leftist thought a complete pariah to where someone is ashamed to publicly utter views that the Lord hates, that God hates.”
“Leftists should be ashamed and anyone who has said those things publicly in any serious position of power and media, they should be crushed. Meaning what?” he continued. “It means they lose their job. It means they lose their livelihood. They lose stock. They lose credibility. It means all those things.”
“We’re talking socially, culturally, politically in all these ways that are perfectly conducive with biblical standards,” Webbon proclaimed. “We’re talking about all the mechanisms that are at our disposal and that are righteous to use. And in those ways, that’s what we mean by crushing enemies and rewarding friends. This is perfectly conducive with Christian thought.”
Webbon’s guest Charles Haywood, the creator of the Society for American Civic Renewal who longs to one day serve as a “warlord” at the head of an “armed patronage network,” wholeheartedly agreed, saying that the first order of business would be to put leftists on trial.
“It is entirely appropriate at some future point for the right to set up judicial tribunals to try people for crimes that took place in the past,” Haywood said. “It would be similar to something like was done after World War II with the de-Nazification program, where you basically examine the behavior of people in the past, you find particular malefactors and you sentence them to jail for some period of time.”
“It’s not revenge,” Webbon insisted. “It’s justice.”
In 2023, Webbon was among the contributors to a document called “The Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel.” Drafted by Christian nationalists like Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers, former Trump administration official William Wolfe, and others, the document declared that the United States must formally “acknowledge the Lordship of Christ” in all its laws, “abolish abortion,” outlaw marriage equality, and “recapture our national sovereignty from godless, global entities who present a grave threat to civilization.”
Elsewhere, Webbon has made his extremist political agenda quite clear, insisting that the American people are too degenerate, stupid, and cowardly to abide by the Constitution and must therefore be governed by a Christian dictator who “just rules with an iron fist” and forces everyone to “pretend to be Christian.” Under such a dictator, Webbon wants to see the Apostles’ Creed added to the Constitution; abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, in vitro fertilization, and birth control outlawed; women banned from voting; and non-Christians kept out of his neighborhood.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Hannah Knowles @ The Washington Post: 24 hours of Trump: QAnon tributes, crude attacks and hawking pieces of his suit
Donald Trump amplified a vulgar joke about Vice President Kamala Harris performing a sex act. He falsely accused her of staging a coup to secure the Democratic nomination and faulted her without evidence for a security lapse that enabled a rogue gunman to try to assassinate him. He shared a manipulated online image of Bill Gates in an orange jumpsuit and a call for Barack Obama to face a “military tribunal.” He promoted explicit tributes to the QAnon conspiracy theory. He hawked digital trading cards in an online infomercial along with pieces of his debate night suit. (“People are calling it the knockout suit.”) His campaign feuded publicly with Arlington National Cemetery over their visit. And that was just in the span of 24 hours.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Trump’s Arlington Scandal Expands as Speaker Johnson’s Role Revealed
The Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, reportedly pulled strings to get Donald Trump into Arlington National Cemetery, amid what has become a scandal and a crisis for the ex-president’s campaign to re-take the White House and once again become Commander in Chief.
- Ian Ward @ Politico: ‘It Is Not the Job of the Pro-Life Movement to Vote for President Trump.’
For years, the anti-abortion activist Lila Rose has pushed the GOP to curtail access to abortion. But now, as Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance conspicuously soften their abortion message ahead of the November election, Rose — who leads the prominent anti-abortion group Live Action — is embracing a more radical strategy: Urging her followers not to vote for Trump unless he changes course.
- Chauncey DeVega @ Salon: “Downright strange”: How Trump’s warped litmus test for MAGA Christians spread beyond abortion
The 2024 Election is existential. It will decide if the United States will remain a democracy or succumb to some form of authoritarianism and neofascism under Dictator Trump and his MAGAfied Republican Party and movement. The stakes of the 2024 Election are literally that high.
- Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: White nationalist Keith Woods brags about “huge money coming in” from YouTube Super Chats while streaming with Nick Fuentes
Keith Woods, a known white nationalist who has openly described himself as a “raging antisemite,” hosted a livestream with fellow white nationalist Nick Fuentes — who was banned by YouTube in 2020. During the livestream, Woods bragged that he was earning “huge money,” strongly implying that YouTube’s “Super Chat” feature was a source for it.
- Rebecca Hopkins @ The Roys Report: President of MorningStar Resigns, Then Admits Sexual Misconduct
Chris Reed, CEO and president of the prophetic ministry MorningStar, resigned Tuesday, telling The Roys Report (TRR) it was because he’s “standing on the side of victims,” who are suing the ministry. But Wednesday, after TRR confronted him with allegations he pursued a woman sexually in 2021, Reed admitted sending the woman “terrible” sexual texts and kissing her.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Ivan Raiklin, who has proclaimed himself to be Trump’s “secretary of retribution,” is threatening to have Mark Zuckerberg executed for genocide.
- Mark Meckler and Rick Green claim that the Democrats don’t appeal to “real men,” such as themselves, but only to weak, effeminate “men who want to be like women.”
- Elijah Schaffer says that “I supported Trump [in 2016] because I was racist.” He claimed that he was just kidding, but he wasn’t, later admitting that he’s “a motherfucking racist asshole.”
- Speaking of which, Lilly Gaddis, who got fired for dropping the N-word, now has a show on Gavin McInnes’ platform.
- Finally, not to be outdone, Nick Fuentes brags that “I really am like Hans Landa,” the infamous Nazi “Jew Hunter” from Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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When former President Donald Trump lost the election in 2020, it caused a serious problem for the various self-proclaimed “prophets” who had repeatedly guaranteed that he’d be reelected to a second term. While some of these “prophets,” like Hank Kunneman, have spent the last four years attempting to defend themselves by insisting that the election was stolen, others have gone in a different direction by incessantly asserting that Trump not only won the election but that he has secretly been president this entire time.
Alabama pastor Robin Bullock has been among the latter, proclaiming that “prophets” such as himself could not possibly have been wrong and therefore “Donald J. Trump is the president.”
Naturally, this sort of conspiracy theory creates its own difficulties, as all of the terrible things that Bullock and his ilk say have happened during the presidency of Joe Biden would actually be Trump’s fault. Furthermore, if Trump really has been president, then he’d be constitutionally barred from serving another term in office.
When Bullock appeared on the “Elijah Streams” program earlier this week, it was clear that even though both he and host Steve Shultz fully believe that Trump has been president for the last four years, neither is capable of unraveling the tangled web of contradictions and confusion it creates.
“[Trump] was actually president for these two term,” Bullock said. “People says, ‘Well, don’t know if I believe that.’ Well, do you believe [former President Barack] Obama is calling the shots from a basement during Biden’s term? You know, he was. Everybody knows he was.”
“So, if you believe he did that from behind the scenes, why is it so hard for you to believe Trump’s been president this whole time?” Bullock asked, ignoring the glaring contradiction at the heart of his assertion. After all, if Obama has secretly been “calling the shots” during Biden’s presidency, then how could Trump have “been president this whole time”?
“I absolutely believe without question [Trump] has been commander-in-chief of the military,” Shultz replied. “Now can I prove it? No.”
“What you’re looking at is the tail wagging the dog,” Bullock continued. “That’s what I believe. I believe that Trump is the president and has been the president the whole time. I do. No doubt about it. … In the rightful context and even in winning the the right votes, he’s the president. He’s been the president.”
Bullock claimed that the entire world recognizes that Trump is still the president, but then confusingly pivoted to blaming Biden for what happened in the aftermath of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.
“Look at all the debacles that are taking place,” Bullock said. “The military certainly wouldn’t have humiliated themselves this way.”
At that point, even Shultz had to admit that the conspiracy theory had become so confusing that even he can’t make sense of it.
“Yeah, some of those things, I can’t work out in my mind,” he said.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Jason Wilson @ The Guardian: Revealed: top Vance aide worked for far-right consultancy with extremist links
Parker Magid was recently appointed as Vance’s press secretary and his employment history links Vance and his circle to elements of the extremist right far outside the mainstream of American politics.
- Charisma Madarang @ Rolling Stone: J.D. Vance Says Childless Leaders ‘Disorient’ and ‘Disturb’ Him: Audio
In resurfaced audio from 2021, Trump’s running mate attacked Democratic leaders who choose not to have children.
- Quil Lawrence and Tom Bowman @ NPR: Trump campaign staff had altercation with official at Arlington National Cemetery
Two members of Donald Trump’s campaign staff had a verbal and physical altercation Monday with an official at Arlington National Cemetery, where the former president participated in a wreath-laying ceremony, NPR has learned.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Trump Insists He Won California in Wild, Jesus-Filled Rant With Dr. Phil
Donald Trump insisted in a meandering interview with television host Dr. Phil McGraw on Tuesday that he had actually won California, adding that all he needed was an “honest vote counter”—Jesus Christ, to be exact.
- Tommy Christopher @ Mediaite: ‘God Believes That!’ Trump Tells Dr. Phil Heavenly Father Wants Him To Win Because He Has ‘More To Do’
Dr. Phil McGraw asked former President Donald Trump if he thinks God spared him from an assassin’s bullet because he has “more to do” to which Trump replied “God believes that!” and suggested it was God who caused President Joe Biden to drop out.
- Jordan Green @ Raw Story: Rudy Giuliani finds a new low: platforming a Nazi
It’s hard to imagine how the man once widely admired for leading his city in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack could fall any lower. It would take something like hosting a Nazi on his YouTube channel. Which is exactly what Giuliani did on Aug. 23 following the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Brent VanNorman, who ran for mayor in Tulsa, Oklahoma, because “we need to get back” to requiring elected officials to be Christian, failed to advance out of the primary election yesterday.
- John-Henry Westen says that if Elon Musk has any “chance of destroying the ‘woke mind virus,'” he has “got to become a Catholic.”
- Jackson Lahmeyer declares that “Jack Smith is a SON OF THE DEVIL”: “His day will come.”
- MAGA cultist Mary Grace demands to know what Donald Trump ever did to make people think that he wants to “trample your democracy.” Hmmm. Seems like we ought to be able to think of something.
- Finally, the Democrats should obviously just pack it in now that “prophet” Robin Bullock has spoken: “You spirit of hell driving the Democrat Party, we order you helpless and non-victorious. We will, by the help of Almighty God, we will win this election.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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When it comes to promoting the Big Lie that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election only to have the presidency stolen away from him, few can match the dedication shown by right-wing pastor and conspiracy theorist Hank Kunneman.
Kunneman, of course, has a vested interest in promoting this lie since, as a self-proclaimed “prophet,” he repeatedly guaranteed that not only would Trump be reelected in 2020, but that Vice President Mike Pence would be elected president in 2024. The former didn’t happen and the latter is obviously not going to happen, but Kunneman has petulantly refused to apologize for his false prophecies or even admit that Biden is president, instead promising that God will reward those who stand with him while attacking those who have dared to criticize him.
Over and over and over again, Kunneman has insisted that the 2020 election was stolen, so it was something of a surprise to hear him call on Christians to pray and fast against supposedly forthcoming efforts by Democrats to assert that the 2024 election was stolen.
During his appearance Tuesday night on the Christian nationalist “FlashPoint” program, Kunneman claimed to have been told by God that Christians must be prepared to “bind the thief” spiritually.
And the reason conservative Christians must be ready themselves for such spiritual warfare is because Kunneman alleged that polls showing Kamala Harris leading in the race for president are being intentionally exaggerated in order lay the groundwork for Democrats to claim that the election was stolen in the event that Harris loses.
“When you have Kamala Harris—who has received, watch this, zero votes and she is their candidate running on their ticket—[that] ought to send an alarm to every single person—whether it’s on the left or the right—that they’re planning, once again, to cheat like they’ve always done and they always do,” Kunneman said. “That’s all the Democratic Party; that’s how they get their candidates forward. But if we bind the thief, they’re not going to have any opportunity. ”
“They are exaggerating the polls,” he continued. “They’re doing it because they’re trying to create narrative. … I feel that the Democrats are going to try to play that the election has been stolen, and they’re going to use everything they can in their power to try to contest the results. So, I think we got to continue to pray and fast as people that we have the rightful people that God wants, and the thief be bound over our country.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: How MAGA Is Already Justifying The Use Of Military Force At Home If Trump Wins
Many MAGA influencers have an apocalyptic story to tell about the country, the political divide, and where we’re all headed, and they’re already using it to lay the groundwork for crossing what has long been a red line: deploying the military for domestic law enforcement purposes.
- Mariana Alfaro and Niha Masih @ The Washington Post: More than 200 former Bush, McCain and Romney staffers endorse Harris
More than 200 Republicans who worked for President George W. Bush, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) or the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, warning in a letter that a second Trump presidency “will hurt real, everyday people and weaken our sacred institutions.”
- Zack Beauchamp @ Vox: An inside look at how the far right is mainstreaming itself
The influence of these fringe ideas on the right is, at this point, unmistakable. But most people don’t understand the particulars of how it happened — and, in fact, is continuing to happen.
- Hafiz Rashid @ The New Republic: Ken Paxton Is in Big Trouble After Raiding Homes of Latino Democrats
The Texas attorney general is cracking down on Democrats in a supposed crusade to root out “voter fraud.”
- Olivia Little @ Media Matters: Moms for Liberty is raising money to put Glenn Beck’s teen fiction book in school libraries
Right-wing media figure and now teen fiction author Glenn Beck is partnering with Moms for Liberty to place his new novel in public schools.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Why do Republicans keep forgetting who was president in 2020?
To hear Donald Trump tell it, “the White House” was responsible for trying to suppress a controversial report in 2020. But wasn’t he president at the time?
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Scott Lively attempts to expose “the concise history of the American culture war that has evolved into the DEI and child grooming/mutilating nightmare Donald Trump and the MAGA movement promise to end.”
- Anti-choice absolutist Ben Zeisloft fumes: “Donald Trump spits in the face of God by supporting child sacrifice. If he does not repent and bow the knee to King Jesus, he can have nothing but a fearful expectation of judgment.”
- Nick Fuentes announces that the next phase of his war on the Trump campaign will involve him traveling to Michigan in September to “counter program” a Trump or Vance event by holding a press conference to air his grievances. He claims to have “at least 10,000 absolute loyalist America First soldiers that are willing to do everything in their power … to deprive [the Trump] campaign of votes.”
- Gene Bailey and Greg Stephens know what really precipitated WWII and the Holocaust: “Darwinism.”
- Finally, Rick Santorum says the left are “Stalinists” and “if you are not hated by the Stalinist leftists out here, you are not doing your job.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Right-wing anti-LGBTQ Christian apologist Alex McFarland appeared on “The Pete Santilli Show” on Monday, where he declared that the recently completed Democratic National Convention was “a megafest of blasphemy and unrighteousness” and warned that electing Kamala Harris as president will turn the United States into a “dystopian hellscape.”
McFarland, a self-professed Christian nationalist who is fond of accusing Democrats of treason, was well-matched with Santilli, an extremist broadcaster who has repeatedly advocated for violence against his political enemies.
“The Democratic National Convention just wrapped up and that was like a megafest of blasphemy and unrighteousness,” McFarland declared. “My heart is heavy for those people, because they don’t know Jesus.”
“The Democrats are wrong on everything because they don’t know Jesus, who is truth,” he continued. “You might not like Trump. Fair enough. But if you want an open border; if you want Americans to die; if you want the invasion and the jihad from this southern border to continue; if you like that your grocery dollar goes 30 to 70% less than it used to; if you enjoy $3.79 gas and it’s going to $6 or $7; if you want instability in the Middle East; if you want Islamic terrorists to have nuclear capabilities; if you want our kids to be illiterate and our inner cities to crumble and our schools to not teach and our big metropolitan areas to be a war zone; in other words, if the dystopian hellscape that the Democrats are creating, if that’s your gig, then let Kamala get elected.”
“But,” McFarland said, “if, like myself, you still care about God and truth and America’s Constitution and our future, I implore, I plead with you to pray, vote, and influence your friends and together, let’s try to save our nation.”
McFarland has a long history of using these sorts of overwrought scare tactics for years in order to motivate conservative Christians to vote against Democrats, whom he has alleged are the pawns of Satan.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Trump And Vance Pretend To Moderate On Abortion After DNC Highlighted Horrors Of Their Agenda
Former President Donald Trump and his running mate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) attempted to downplay the Trump campaign and the far-right’s extreme positioning on abortion over the weekend, after Democrats spent the past week of the Democratic National Convention highlighting the GOP’s attacks on reproductive freedoms.
- Elaina Plott Calabro @ The Atlantic: The Man Who Will Do Anything for Trump
Kash Patel was dangerous. On this both Trump appointees and career officials could agree.
- Serge F. Kovaleski @ The New York Times: Colorado Republicans Vote Out Party Chair Following Anti-Gay Posts
State Republicans accused Dave Williams, who was ousted in a landslide vote, of dividing the party with “hateful narratives,” most recently against the L.G.B.T.Q. community.
- Paul Egan @ The Detroit Free Press: Karamo ejected from convention as divisions persist in Michigan Republican Party
The former state party chair, Kristina Karamo, who was ousted by party dissidents in January after less than a year in office, showed up at the Dort Financial Center and was soon escorted out of the building by security and local police. “Corruption,” Karamo said as she exited.
- Angry White Men: White Nationalist Lucas Gage Complains That Jews Turned His Family Against Him
In an Aug. 21, 2024 livestream for the extremist-friendly video platform Rumble, white nationalist Lucas Gage suggested that his family no longer supports him and that his marriage might have fallen apart. A virulent antisemite, Gage blamed the Jews for his problems, saying that they “turned my whole family against me.”
- Tricia Crimmins @ The Daily Dot: Tim Walz petted a dog that wasn’t his—and the far-right absolutely lost it
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) adopted a dog named Scout after getting elected. Scout is a black labrador retriever and Walz frequently posts pictures of him on social media. That should be the end of the story, but a post from a trip to the dog park sparked a fake controversy.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- After the Obamas spoke at the Democratic National Convention last night, white nationalist Nick Fuentes unleashed a ten minute rant about how much he hates them and their “uppity” ways: “I’m so sick of that attitude we get. They’re so proud, so uppity.”
- We’re still not sure how Isabella Moody’s “women are cringe and dumb” message is supposed to bolster her career as a right-wing commentator.
- Mark Meckler says it’s “unprecedented” for Kamala Harris to be the Democratic nominee without winning any primary votes: “What we’re witnessing is something that’s never been done before in American history.” Well, considering that the primary system didn’t really even exist until the middle of the 20th Century, it’s actually been done dozens of times before in American history.
- Stew Peters is asking for his viewers to subscribe to his show because companies refuse to advertise on his program. Gee, we can’t imagine why any business would be unwilling to support a Hitler-loving, modern-day Nazi.
- Finally, Lance Wallnau claims that those attending the RNC were united in “their thinking” whereas the DNC is just a “hivemind,” “a borg” and “a zombie takeover.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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During the most recent episode of her “Jesus, Guns, and Babies” program, which airs on the network owned by virulently antisemitic conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, Christian nationalist GOP activist Kandiss Taylor claimed that the Christian church is supposed to be running the government and therefore non-Christians are not entitled to freedom of religion.
Taylor is flat-earth conspiracy theorist who unsuccessfully ran for governor of Georgia in 2022 and despite her paltry showing in the Republican primary, she steadfastly refused to accept that she had lost. In 2023, Taylor became a Georgia GOP district chair and started voicing increasingly radical views, even going so far as to call for the public execution of those who oppose her Christian nationalist worldview.
Those radical views were on display during her recent program as she insisted that the Constitution was founded on common law and that common law is rooted in the Bible, meaning that the United States “was founded on Jesus Christ.”
“The idea behind the whole document was that the church runs the state,” Taylor asserted. “The church is we the people. We are the church … and so we run the state. But the state, the government, has no control over the church.”
“And everybody is like, ‘Then you gotta let Satanists come in and you gotta let witches come in, and you’ve gotta let Muslims and Hindus,'” she continued. “No. No, we don’t. No, we don’t because America is founded on God almighty, Creator God, Yahweh, Elohim. That is what we’re founded on and I don’t have to honor your religion. I don’t have to give you freedom of religion. Freedom of religion is there for us to worship Jesus. It’s not for you to come force anything else upon me.”
“So we have that all wrong,” Taylor declared. “We’ve had tolerance. We’ve been politically correct. And at what point are we going to say, ‘No, we’re not going to be’? You can do whatever you want to the comfort of your home. You can do whatever you want to, but don’t come into my government and bring any of that trash in there.”
“We shouldn’t be electing anyone in government—local, state or federal—that is not a Christian,” Taylor concluded.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Khaya Himmelman @ Talking Points Memo: Republican State Officials Do Trump’s Election Denying Prep Work For Him
State-level Republican officials have been making a big show of the work they are doing to boot alleged non-citizens from the voting rolls — an emphasis that echoes the efforts by presidential candidate Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to stoke pre-election panic about the false and dangerous narrative that non-citizens are voting en masse for Democrats.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Conservative Christians can’t handle the potential impact of “Evangelicals for Harris”
White MAGA-loving evangelicals have never cared for the “least of these.” They’re now lashing out against Christians who do.
- Edith Olmstead @ The New Republic: Pro-Trump Activists’ Attempt to Infiltrate DNC Goes Hilariously Awry
Far-right commentators Jack Posobiec and Charlie Kirk went to the DNC. It did not go well for them.
- Angry White Men: Joel Webbon: ‘The Abolitionists Were Not The Good Guys’
Antisemitic, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon declared that Christians will be shocked to find that Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson are in Heaven, while civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. is in Hell. Webbon also claimed that “the abolitionists were not the good guys.”
- Matt Gertz and Lis Power @ Media Matters: Maria Bartiromo’s wild and “kind of racist” election conspiracy theory collapses immediately
Maria Bartiromo repeatedly used her Fox Business show to peddle an election fraud conspiracy theory that she claimed originated with the wife of a friend of a friend in Texas and that she made no apparent effort to confirm. But when the Texas Department of Public Safety and the local Republican Party investigated her reckless allegation, they discovered that none of it was true.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Charlie Kirk keeps claiming that Deuteronomy was the most source most quoted by the Founding Fathers when forming the Constitution. That is entirely untrue.
- John Amanchukwu appeared on a program hosted by unhinged QAnon conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin.
- Nick Fuentes says that all non-Christians are “wrong, they’re going to Hell, they should not have political power, and there should be no ambiguity about any of that.”
- Ben Zeisloft gets onboard the Christian nationalists’ “women should not be able to vote” bandwagon: “Christians are not heretics if they reject the idea that every adult should have a vote. Mass democracy is not mandated by the Bible and is clearly unwise. We are allowed to discuss limiting the vote to heads of household, as well as by taxpayer status or property ownership.”
- Finally, QAnon conspiracy theorist/self-proclaimed “prophet” Mark Taylor, who all but disappeared in the wake of his false prophecies that former President Donald Trump would be reelected in 2020, is back, warning that weather control weapons will be used to send Category 6 hurricanes to disrupt the election.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Religious-right organizations are quick to falsely portray criticism of their political positions or tactics as an attack on their faith—and they can be just as quick to mock or demean the faith of others.
Ben Johnson, a reporter and editor for the Family Research Council’s “outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview,” began his review of the first day of the Democratic National Convention with a snarky critique of the opening prayer offered by Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Johnson’s commentary appeared under the heading, “A ‘Christian’ invocation without Jesus or a cross?”
The cardinal’s prayer recognized that the U.S. is “a nation composed of every people and culture, united not by ties of blood but by profound aspirations of life, freedom, justice, and unbound hope.” It called for unity and “the courage to imagine and pursue a loving future together.” That was apparently not a message that FRC and its right-wing Catholic allies wanted to hear.
“The Democratic National Convention began its first day in prayer — but not one that mentioned the Name of Jesus Christ or displayed the symbol associated with His death and resurrection,” Johnson began. He noted, “although Cupich did not mention Jesus, he did, however, quote Pope Francis.”
Francis is frequently reviled by far-right Catholics and their religious-right allies. In another article critical of the cardinal’s prayer, LifeSite News quoted one of the pope’s most rabid critics, the Trump-promoting and recently excommunicated former archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who ranted, “The scandalous endorsements of Blase Cupich and the heretical ultra-progressive Jesuits in favor of Harris and Walz and the radical Left woke agenda confirm the blood pact between the globalist Deep State and the … Deep Church.”
FRC’s Johnson quoted the right-wing group Catholic Vote, which declared, “The DNC is demonic.” Right Wing Watch reported recently that Catholic Vote has falsely smeared Vice President Kamala Harris as someone who possesses a “vile hatred of Catholics.” As RWW noted about Catholic Vote and its leader Brian Burch:
Catholic Vote postures as a political organization representing American Catholics, but most American Catholics disagree with the group’s support for a total ban on abortions. In fact, 61 percent of U.S. Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Catholic Vote supported Ohio Republicans’ democracy-limiting effort to stop voters from enshrining the right to an abortion in the state’s Constitution. Catholic Vote supported the Arizona 1864 total abortion ban that went into effect after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and Burch opposed the law that overturned it.
Similarly, most U.S. Catholics support marriage equality for same-sex couples, but Catholic Vote does not, and the group regularly attacks progressive Catholic political leaders who support abortion rights or LGBTQ equality.
As Right Wing Watch has noted in the past, the Family Research Council postures as champions of religious liberty while having a selective track record on the topic. FRC, which energetically supported Donald Trump’s illegitimate efforts to stay in power after his 2020 defeat, is a participant in the right-wing government-takeover plan Project 2025. FRC President Tony Perkins and board chair Michele Bachmann are involved in the American Family Association’s Christian nationalist effort to ensure that only judges who meet the group’s “biblical worldview” standard are nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court and other federal courts.
Johnson’s report was also critical of other DNC speakers who cited their own faith while supporting legal access to abortion. He quoted Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life—who calls for criminalization of all abortion nationwide with no exceptions for cases of rape or incest—as saying, “Hey maybe the party that promotes abortion through all nine months until birth and all kinds of sexual degeneracy shouldn’t be quoting from the Bible that condemns both.”
President Joe Biden is the nation’s second Catholic president. In July, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki prayed at the Republican National Convention.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Last month, Christian nationalist pseudo-historians David and Tim Barton delivered a presentation at the TPUSA Faith’s “Believers’ Summit” in Florida, during which the father-son duo spread the sorts of disinformation for which they are known, including the debunked claim that the Bible was the most cited source by the Founding Fathers, the falsehood that the Due Process clause came out of the Bible, and the false assertion that John Locke’s “Two Treatises of Civil Government” contained more than 1,500 Bible references.
Like his father, the myths spread by Tim Barton have a tendency to evolve over time so that what began as a misrepresentation eventually become almost unrecognizable. In this case, it was a claim about an 1844 Supreme Court case called Vidal v. Girard’s Executors.
“If you go to 1844, the U.S. Supreme Court had a case that was known as Vidal v. Girard’s Executors,” Barton said. “In this case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a unanimous 8-0 decision that you could not be a public school [and] receive government funding and prohibit the Bible, gospel ministers, evangelism from taking place on school campuses.”
“If you tried to hinder those things,” Barton claimed, “you would lose your government funding because one of the things we were going to make sure our schools did in America was emphasize religion and morality, was teach the Bible.”
If we were being generous, we’d suggest that Barton simply doesn’t know what he is talking about because his description of this case bears literally no resemblance to the actual decision.
As Right Wing Watch has explained several times before, the case involved an extremely wealthy man named Stephen Girard who, as a childless widower, left in his will large sums of money to the City of Philadelphia for various civic improvements, as well as money to establish a school for “poor male white orphan children.” Among the stipulations Girard placed upon the school was that no religious leader was ever to hold a position there, nor could any specific denominational doctrine be taught.
Some of Girard’s heirs sued, arguing, among other things, that prohibiting clergy from working or teaching at the school was a violation of both the Constitution and the Common Law because it discriminated against Christianity.
The Supreme Court unanimously rejected this argument:
Looking to the objection therefore in a mere juridical view, which is the only one in which we are at liberty to consider it, we are satisfied that there is nothing in the devise establishing the college, or in the regulations and restrictions contained therein, which are inconsistent with the Christian religion or are opposed to any known policy of the State of Pennsylvania.
This view of the whole matter renders it unnecessary for us to examine the other and remaining question, to whom, if the devise were void, the property would belong, whether it would fall into the residue of the estate devised to the city, or become a resulting trust for the heirs at law.
Upon the whole, it is the unanimous opinion of the Court that the decree of the Circuit Court of Pennsylvania dismissing the bill, ought to be affirmed, and it is accordingly.
Contrary to Barton’s assertion, the Supreme Court in no way issued a “unanimous 8-0 decision that you could not be a public school [and] receive government funding and prohibit the Bible, gospel ministers, evangelism from taking place on school campuses.” In fact, the court unanimously upheld the stipulation in Girard’s will that “no ecclesiastic, missionary, or minister of any sect whatsoever shall ever hold or exercise any station or duty whatever in the said college, nor shall any such person ever be admitted for any purpose, or as a visitor, within the premises appropriated to the purposes of the said college.”
Barton obviously knows this, which is why we are not inclined to be generous in attributing his false claim to mere ignorance. Rather, it is far more likely that Barton was deliberately lying because, like so many other Christian nationalists, he doesn’t actually care about the truth because he believes that these sorts of myths are useful in bolstering his modern-day right-wing political agenda.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Nathalie Baptiste @ HuffPost: This Major Conservative Culture Warrior May Have Finally Gone Too Far
Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma are investigating whether state superintendent Ryan Walters is equipped to do the job he was elected to do.
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: George Santos Pleads Guilty To Federal Charges
During a court appearance, Santos pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. The charges come with a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison. Santos will be sentenced next year, according to multiple reports from the courthouse, and will also have to pay nearly $400,000 in restitution.
- Angry White Men: Candace Owens: ‘Anything Happens To Me, Blame The Zionists’
Yesterday, in an X (formerly Twitter) livestream, former Daily Wire host Candace Owens ranted about a “cult” of pedophiles which, she claimed, founded the nation of Israel and murdered European Christians during Passover. Owens also told viewers that if she’s killed they should “blame the Zionists.”
- Isaac Schorr @ Mediaite: Candace Owens’s Famous Father-in-Law Rebukes Her Over Latest Blood Libel
Candace Owens’s father-in-law, Lord Michael Farmer, a member of the British House of Lords, issued a thinly veiled rebuke of Owens over her most recent promotion of blood libel on Monday, observing that Jesus Christ was a “Jewish man” who was “born to a Jewish woman” in a lengthy thread on X.
- David K. Kirkpatrick @ The New Yorker: Infiltrating the Far Right
The threat from domestic terrorism is rising, but, with Republicans decrying the “deep state,” the F.B.I. is cautious about investigating far-right groups. Vigilantes are leaping into the fray.
- Joe Jervis: Cultists Brandish Fake Vance Semen Samples At Rally
Just when you think they couldn’t get any weirder….
- Colin Kalmbacher @ Law & Crime: Pro-Trump defamation attorney Lin Wood must pay former law partners $4.5 million after defaming them as ‘criminal’ extortionists on social media
Pro-Donald Trump defamation attorney L. Lin Wood must pay three of his former law partners a combined $4.5 million after he was found liable for defaming them on social media, a jury on Friday determined.
- Elaine Godfrey @ The Atlantic: Conservative Women Have a New Phyllis Schlafly
A rising star on the religious right thanks to her Relatable podcast, Allie Beth Stuckey knows what’s good for you.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Steve Maxwell says that it’s an honor to be labeled a Christian nationalist. Of course, it should be pointed out that Maxwell is the one who labeled himself a Christian nationalist.
- Stew Peters is now approvingly posting Adolf Hitler quotes on his social media pages.
- Mark Meckler cheers on a security guard for punching a climate change protester: “People need to know that when they behave like this, there will be consequences.”
- Josh Bernstein wants to “see bloodshed” at the Democratic National Convention.
- MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer reveals that he is contemplating another run for office.
- Finally, Charlie Kirk and right-wing pastor Lucas Miles are not fans of Evangelicals For Harris”: “This is an oxymoron … It’s Jews For Hitler. This is really what we’re talking about here.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Texas-based pastor Joel Webbon was among the contributors to a 2023 document called “The Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel.” Drafted by Christian nationalists like Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers, former Trump administration official William Wolfe, and others, the document declared that the United States must formally “acknowledge the Lordship of Christ” in all its laws, “abolish abortion,” outlaw marriage equality, and “recapture our national sovereignty from godless, global entities who present a grave threat to civilization.”
In his own capacity, Webbon has been even aggressively theocratic, proclaiming that Christian nationalists must gain and use political power for the purpose of “crushing our enemies and rewarding our friends.” Christian nationalists must wield that power, Webbon has argued, because the American people are too degenerate, stupid, and cowardly to abide by the Constitution and must therefore be governed by a Christian dictator who “just rules with an iron fist” and forces everyone to “pretend to be Christian.” Under such a dictator, Webbon wants to see the Apostles’ Creed added to the Constitution; abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, in vitro fertilization, and birth control outlawed; women banned from voting; and non-Christians kept out of his neighborhood.
During a recent appearance on “The Green Dragon Tavern Show,” Webbon explained what life under this sort of Christian nationalism would be like for non-Christians, who would be banned from any public displays of faith in order to prevent the judgment of God from falling on the nation.
“How do we deal with our unbelieving neighbors in a manner that is fitting to the Christian gospel?” Webbon said. “I would not have a government police system that’s going into private homes of Muslims or Jews or Hindus and trying to catch them mid-family worship as they’re bowing down to some idol. I think that that would be incredibly inappropriate and a breach of the sanctity of individual privacy and that it would be the government stepping outside of its jurisdiction that God has given.”
“However,” he continued. “I would be comfortable saying there will be no Islamic parades. For instance, in Minnesota [there are] Islamic, five times a day, public calls to prayer. I would say you can have church bells—Christian church bells—that everyone in town can hear, including the non-Christians and they can just kind of put up with it. It’s not unnecessarily antagonistic—church bells, not church sirens; you’re not going out of your way to be a jerk—it’s a pleasant sound, but it is a publicly universally heard sound throughout the day by all the citizens, whether they’re Christian or not. But you could not have Islamic siren calls to prayer, even if they were pretty. You still couldn’t have them because allowing for private worship in the home of a Muslim would be permissible, but public displays of worship to false gods, that’s erecting high places in a nation to false gods and God will not bless that.”
“It’s not even in the Muslims’ best interest for them to have public high places to false gods,” Webbon insisted. “He and his family would experience more joy and more peace and more tangible temporal blessing in their life if they worshipped Allah privately and did not bring reproach upon the nation publicly so that the nation could continue to receive the blessings of the triune God.”
In addition to serving as pastor at Covenant Bible Church in Texas, Webbon is also the founder of Right Response Ministries, through which he organizes events like next year’s “Christ Is King: How To Defeat Trashworld” conference that is scheduled to feature a variety of far-right Christian nationalist activists like Dusty Deevers, Steve Deace, Stephen Wolfe, Auron MacIntyre, Andrew Isker, and others. William Wolfe, one of Webbon’s co-editors of “The Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel,” is a former Heritage Action employee and close associate of Russ Vought, a Project 2025 leader who hopes to infuse a future Trump administration with Christian nationalism.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Stop the Steal organizer and MAGA political consultant Alex Bruesewitz is joining the floundering Trump campaign. Bruesewitz is among several new hires, including Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Bruesewitz has been a “top official” at a pro-Trump super PAC and a participant in the online pro-Trump “troll army.”
Bruesewitz is one of the right-wing activists mobilized by Roger Stone ally Ali Alexander to mobilize support for Trump’s efforts to stay in office after losing the 2020 election. Bruesewitz went to Wisconsin, where he organized a rally and called for a revote.
In December 2020, after the states cast their Electoral College votes, Bruesewitz called it a “disgrace” that then-Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had reportedly urged Republican senators not to support efforts to challenge the outcome, and said he had spoken with “many billionaires” willing to fund primary challenges to Republican incumbents who didn’t back Trump. Bruesewitz was among the MAGA loyalists who vowed to take revenge on Trump’s enemies by funding primary challenges to congressional Republicans who didn’t go along with efforts to block certification of Trump’s victory.
Bruesewitz spoke at a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan. 5, 2021, the eve of the insurrection, where speakers mingled conspiracy theories, Christian nationalism, and threats of violence. “What’s going to start a civil war is if we legitimize a rigged and stolen election,” Bruesewitz said. “We will never acknowledge Joe Biden as the president of the United States.”
Since the Jan. 6 insurrection, Bruesewitz continued to claim—against all evidence to the contrary—that “The January 6th ‘riot’ wasn’t conducted by Trump supporters to stop the certification of the election.” He claimed that the violence was carried out by “federal informants to stop the debate of the election so the American people couldn’t get the transparency they deserved.”
In 2022, Bruesewitz said the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 resolution could “go to hell” and said, “I will never apologize for exercising my constitutional rights after the 2020 ‘election,’” which he had called “the greatest scam in the history of our nation.” He repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment in refusing to answer investigators’ questions.
In August 2022, when an FBI office in Ohio was attacked after the FBI carried out a search at Mar-a-Lago, Bruesewitz claimed that the attack was a “hoax” by “Biden’s Gestapo.”
Last year, he was reportedly considering a move to his home state of Wisconsin to mount a run for Congress. Earlier this year, Bruesewitz joined Donald Trump, Jr. on the campaign trail for Rep. Lauren Boebert.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Curt Devine, Casey Tolan, Audrey Ash and Kyung Lah @ CNN: Hidden-camera video shows Project 2025 co-author discussing his secret work preparing for a second Trump term
[Russ] Vought, one of the key authors of Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for a second Trump term, expected the meeting would help his think tank secure a substantial contribution. For nearly two hours, he talked candidly about his behind-the-scenes work to prepare policy for former President Donald Trump, his expansive views on presidential power, his plans to restrict pornography and immigration, and his complaints that the GOP was too focused on “religious liberty” instead of “Christian nation-ism.”
- Brett Meiselas @ MeidasTouch News: JD Vance Claims Suburban Women Care About “Normal Things,” Not Reproductive Rights
In an interview on Fox News Wednesday night, Senator JD Vance downplayed the importance of reproductive rights to suburban women, suggesting they care about “normal things” like inflation, grocery prices, and public safety instead.
- Angry White Men: Laura Loomer: ‘I Have A Weave In My Hair, So Maybe I Am Blacker Than Kamala Harris’
On the Aug. 14, 2024 episode of Loomer Unleashed, Trump ally Laura Loomer insisted that she had Black friends after doing a racist impression of a Black woman. Loomer, who spread racist falsehoods about Kamala Harris, also boasted that she may be “blacker than” Harris because she wears a weave.
- R.G. Cravens @ Hatewatch: Debunking ADF’s ‘Debanking’ Conspiracy Theory
Anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) is engaged in an ongoing crusade to force private businesses to adhere to conservative Christian theology, in part by spreading the false narrative that private sector banks have been dropping conservative religious clients since the Obama administration. The conspiratorial claim, which ADF calls “debanking,” has arisen out of an ongoing effort from ADF to ban or disrupt private sector investments in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and environmental sustainability.
- David Gilbert @ Friendly Atheist: Trump’s Shooting Rattled QAnon Believers. Then They Doubled Down
A month after the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, QAnon believers and their families are still stuck in a cycle of despair.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- William Wolfe declares that Evangelicals for Harris are “essentially Nazi Regime theologians.”
- Sean Feucht says “the fact that there is even such a thing as ‘Evangelicals for Harris’ that pastors/influencers join shows you just how apostate much of the American church has become.”
- Jackson Lahmeyer gripes that Evangelical for Harris represents “godless globalism”: “No true Christian supports 304 @KamalaHarris.” For the record, “304” for Lahmeyer’s childish and cowardly way of calling Harris a “hoe.”
- Tim Barton complains that people are unwilling to vote for former President Donald Trump because Democrats “villainized their political opponent.”
- Upset about being accused of being a sexist and misogynist, Elijah Schaffer went on an extended sexist and misogynistic rant: “Fuck you, you feminist twats!”
- Finally, Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon has “grown to despise democracy” because it allows women to vote: “I think the 19th Amendment should be repealed. I think that because, first and foremost, I’m a Christian. That is the Christian position.”
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Earlier this month, the Remnant Alliance held a three-day “pastors training conference” in Texas that featured a variety of Christian nationalist speakers, including Charlie Kirk, Jim Garlow, Rick Green, Steve Deace, Rick Scarborough, Paul Blair, and others.
As the Texas Observer reported earlier this year, the Remnant Alliance “operates as a sort of clearinghouse for Christian nationalist ideology,” that frames political activism “as spiritual warfare against satanic evil in the pursuit of realizing the kingdom of God on earth.”
Among the speakers at the coalition’s “For Such A Time As This Gala” was Steve Maxwell of Citizens Defending Freedom. During his remarks, Maxwell openly admitted that the Remnant Alliance is a Christian nationalist effort to inject its far-right “biblical worldview” into every level of society.
“The question before us tonight is can America rise once again to defeat a multi-headed enemy that is both inside our homeland and overseas?” Maxwell said. “My role here tonight is to share with you the mission, the mindset, the model that has been proven successful throughout all of human history and how this model is being implemented once again in these United States.”
“It’s called the the Remnant Alliance,” he stated. “The Remnant Alliance is a group of Christ-centered organizations that have come together, combining skill sets and resources, creating a plexus of support for our pastor leaders and citizens throughout the United States through the local church. You say, ‘Steve, you sound like a Christian national.’ And I say, ‘You’re daggum right we sound like a Christian national!'”
As the Texas Observer reported, the Remnant Alliance has a five-step plan for imposing its agenda on the nation:
First, local pastors are trained to have a “Biblical Worldview” through Liberty Pastors; second, pastors begin teaching a “Biblical Worldview” from the pulpit with the help of preprepared notes; third, congregants are trained on “Biblical Citizenship” and “Constitutional Defense” through the so-called Patriot Academy; fourth, pastors form a “Salt and Light” ministry at their church and are paired with a Citizens Defending Freedom liaison; and fifth, entire congregations are mobilized to “extend the Kingdom of God” with the help of advocacy groups—in other words, to vote for “Biblical values” candidates in races that can be decided by a few hundred votes.
This was precisely the plan that Maxwell laid out in his remarks.
“So what is the Remnant Alliance?” he asked. “We first have a boot camp for pastors. … Those pastors leave that three-day boot camp with their wives and then they go home and they begin preaching. They have an armful of of sermons and they’re excited and they commit to go home and preach a biblical worldview and teach this history we’re talking about. Next, we train the congregants. Most of our American citizens have never taught our Christian heritage and so we take care of that through Rick Green and [his] Patriot Academy [which has] over 30,000 coaches across the nation. Millions of people have been watching this. We train our congregation.”
“Next is the Salt and Light Council,” Maxwell continued. “It is a toolkit inside that church that now everything involved from selecting and training leaders, to voter guides, how to start a private school, anything you need in that community to get activated, it’s in that toolbox. Our organization is Citizens Defending Freedom. We bring the attorneys at the grassroots level. We bring the media and we bring our own intelligence so we can understand the money flows and what’s going on in that community.”
“Now we have a biblical citizenship ministry [in the local church] and their job is to help shine the light on that community,” Maxwell declared. “There are 320,000 churches in America today; every single one of them is an embassy, or could be an embassy, for the Kingdom of God. We are ambassadors for Christ. This is not our home. Our mission is to represent our Kingdom on Earth.”
“Our job is to extend the Kingdom of God,” Maxwell proclaimed.
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- Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling @ The New Republic: MAGA Senate Candidate Exposed Long History of Gross Comments
[Royce] White, a former NBA player who had been an outspoken advocate for mental health in sports, has cultivated some disturbing positions since befriending Steve Bannon in 2021. Those include becoming an ardent Trump supporter with an affinity for antisemitic, misogynistic, and homophobic conspiracies—all of which will only make it that much more difficult for him to unseat the incumbent Democrat, who has maintained the seat since 2007.
- Zachary Leeman @ Mediaite: Dan Bongino Accuses Kellyanne Conway and Others of ‘Sabotage’ Against Trump: ‘You’ve Been Warned’
Former Fox News host Dan Bongino accused Kellyanne Conway and other Republicans of behind-the-scenes sabotage against Donald Trump and his campaign. The sabotage, Bongino said, concerned Trump’s choice in running mate, JD Vance.
- Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: A Journey Through the Authoritarian New Right
A non-exhaustive look at the influencers behind Republicans’ recent turn toward the bizarre.
- Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski @ CNN: GOP nominee to run North Carolina schools advocated pro-Trump military coup in January 6 video
Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee to run K-12 public education in North Carolina, filmed a video after attending the January 6 riot at the US Capitol urging then-President Donald Trump to put “the Constitution to the side” and use the military to stay in power.
- David Covucci @ The Daily Dot: Nick Fuentes’ all-out Groyper posting war defeated by Truth Social mods
Nick Fuentes’ Groypers learned a hard lesson when it comes to war. Your opponent can fight back—especially if you’re on their turf.
- Noah Dowe, Gideon Taaffe, Reed McMaster and Casey Wexler @ Media Matters: A guide to Laura Loomer, Trump ally and “pro-white nationalism” bigot
Loomer, a self-proclaimed “proud Islamophobe,” has called to execute “Democrats who are guilty of treason” while maintaining a close connection to the former president and his allies.
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- KOCO News reports that “Oklahoma Republicans are circulating a letter calling for an impeachment investigation into State Superintendent Ryan Walters.”
- Andrew Wommack is dialing back his leadership role at Charis Bible College.
- Lance Wallnau declares that “David French and Russell Moore work for the devil and do not know it.”
- Elijah Schaffer hates multiculturalism because “it’s a massive trap to punish white people.”
- Finally, Glenn Beck is warning that “if we lose this election, I truly believe we’ve lost the country. … This could very well be the last free election in an America that we have understood for 250 years.” He’s been delivering this same message since 2012.
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Nick Fuentes, a Hitler–loving racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, homophobic Christian nationalist fascist, has grown increasingly disenchanted with former President Donald Trump since the two dined together at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
Fuentes was outraged by Trump’s decision to tap Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate because Vance’s wife is Indian and Hindu, complaining that Vance is someone who clearly “doesn’t value his racial identity” since he was willing to marry somebody “that far outside your race who isn’t even a Christian.”
Following the completion of the Republican National Convention last month, Fuentes was fed up, declaring that he would not vote for Trump and that “you could not bribe me to care” about the election. But all of that changed last week, when Fuentes reversed course and decided that instead of sitting out this election, he was going to actively work to undermine the Trump campaign in retaliation for allegedly abandoning the issues that Fuentes cares about.
Last night, Fuentes used his program to lay out his demands for the Trump campaign to meet if it hopes to prevent Fuentes and his followers from “formally declaring war”: promising a complete ban on all immigration, vowing to avoid going to war with Iran, and firing campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles.
Should these conditions fail to be met, Fuentes vowed to deploy activists to swing states to encourage Republicans to “refrain from voting.”
“We will be watching very closely the rhetoric on immigration, on foreign wars, and we will be monitoring the personnel decisions that are being made,” Fuentes said. “Depending on how things proceed from now until the election on those issues, we may undertake a series of menu options to escalate or deescalate our campaign.”
The first part of Fuentes’ war will largely involve online activism but, he said, “it will only escalate and expand from there.”
“Depending on how things go in the coming weeks, we will begin deploying on the ground in the state of Michigan,” Fuentes announced. “If things don’t get better, we will put boots on the ground in the state of Michigan. We will engage in other guerrilla political tactics in Michigan, which I will not disclose at this time. Michigan is a must-win, extremely competitive state with a very large Muslim population which is deeply interested in the current policy regarding Iran, Israel and Palestine.”
“If things don’t improve after that, we will escalate the Groyper war into every swing state in the country, including Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona,” he continued. “And we will persist in all of these actions—digital, e-mail, other traditional and non-traditional tactics—in every swing state until the election, which includes telling people to sit this one out and refrain from voting unless or until we see a real change in policy regarding immigration, foreign war, and a change in posture towards the loyal and disloyal personnel that operate inside the Trump movement.”
For what it is worth, Fuentes has a history of impulsively announcing ambitious campaigns that never materialize, so whether he actually has the capacity, resources, and motivation to follow through on these threats remains to be seen.
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- Alan Feuer and Nick Corasaniti @ The New York Times: Former Pro-Trump County Clerk Is Found Guilty of Tampering With Voting Machines
Tina Peters, the former clerk of Mesa County, Colo., was convicted on Monday of tampering with voting machines under her control in a failed attempt to prove that they had been used to rig the 2020 election against former President Donald J. Trump.
- Anna Merlin @ Mother Jones: Elon Musk’s Twitter Space With Donald Trump Was a Dumpster Fire
A heavily publicized Twitter conversation between Elon Musk and Donald Trump on Monday night began with an immediate bed-shitting technical crash. When things finally kicked off 42 minutes later with a much smaller audience, Musk blamed a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack, which did not appear to be true, as the rest of his site continued to function as normal.
- Jesse Valentine @ American Journal News: Far-right extremist Jack Posobiec to speak at event for North Carolina Trump supporters
The campaign to reelect former President Donald Trump will host a virtual training event that features Jack Posobiec, a purveyor of far-right conspiracy theories.
- Zack Beauchamp @ Vox: The right’s plan to fix America: Patriarchy 2.0
JD Vance and like-minded conservatives are theorizing a kind of “neopatriarchy.”
- Media Matters: Roger Stone uses anti-LGBTQ slur to describe Tim Walz
“Now she’s picked, this guy, Tim Walz. Saw him at a rally. I mean, I hate to quote, Mel Brooks, in Blazing Saddles, but he was jumping around like a Kansas City f—–. This guy — really, really weird.”
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- Eric Metaxas complains that Christian nationalism is “an evil term” because “it’s trying to silence God’s voice in the nation.”
- Lance Wallnau also gripes about being called a Christian nationalist, asserting that people who use the term to describe him “are under a very serious species of mind manipulation which causes them to hear everything you say almost through a paranoid vector.”
- Hank Kunneman claims that Democrats only play by the rules when “they can be slimeballs.”
- Brenden Dilley continues his attack on Nick Fuentes for daring to criticize the Trump campaign: “That guy is a dumb fuck and a loser.”
- Liberty Counsel warns that “the LGBTQ lobby” seeks “to ram the LGBTQ agenda down every throat, from Olympic viewers to quiet Christian women seeking to live out their faith. The LGBTQ agenda seeks nothing less than to eliminate all religious freedom rights that might make them feel bad about their choices. And they have Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as their new mouthpieces.”
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On multiple occasions, Gene Bailey and Greg Stephens have used their “Revival Radio” program on televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel network to spread the false claim that George Washington and Congress used the first presidential inauguration to make a covenant with God on behalf of the nation. That claim, which serves as the foundation of a recent book written by Copeland and Stephens, has been debunked on multiple occasions by Right Wing Watch.
Contrary to Copeland’s assertion, Congress never made any such covenant with God; not in its official capacity as a legislative body, nor during the “divine service” that followed Washington’s inauguration, which was presided over by Rev. Samuel Provoost, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, who merely read from The Book of Common Prayer.
Stephens and Bailey, of course, don’t actually care about the truth because the myth is useful in bolstering their Christian nationalist political agenda, which is why they repeated it once again during the latest episode of their program.
“[Washington] invoked God’s name and his blessing in his first leadership role as the president of the United States,” Stephens claimed. “He [did] on purpose invoke God’s name and his blessing for this land and he put his hand the Bible. That’s his very first act as president. The very first Speaker of the House when we get our Constitution will be a pastor. Our Founding Fathers were not winging it. These guys had a biblical worldview.”
“Right after he puts his hand on the Bible and takes the oath of office, he walks down to a church with everybody with him and he gets down on his knee and he says, ‘We will be your people and you will be our God,'” Stephens added. “So we aligned ourselves with the God of Israel at the very beginning.”
As we already noted, Stephens’ claim is false, but he was quickly outdone by his co-host, Gene Bailey.
“Nowadays, public schools don’t teach that [Washington] was such a man of faith,” Bailey complained. “In fact, he was so committed, he was a man of prayer and if you go back and read true history, you’ll find that’s exactly who he is. And here’s a quote: ‘The American cause would have come to a complete disaster except for one thing, the direct intervention of God to save us.'”
Washington, of course, never said this. The quote Bailey cited actually came from Andrew Allison, author of the book “The Real George Washington,” during a 2010 appearance on Glenn Beck’s program on Fox News.
We don’t know anything about Allison, but the fact that his book was edited by conspiracy theorist W. Cleon Skousen doesn’t fill us with confidence regarding the credibility of his scholarship. Regardless, the quote Bailey cited originated with Allison, who was offering his interpretation of Washington’s beliefs, and was not something that Washington actually said.
So this is not “true history,” as Bailey claimed, but an outright lie.
As RWW has noted countless times before, the willingness to misrepresent history is a common theme among Christian nationalists who time and again spread blatant falsehoods in defense of their right-wing ideology, inevitably leading one to wonder why, if their position is true, do they have to keep lying to try and “prove” it?
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Commentary
The Trump campaign’s desperate and dishonest attempts to distance itself from the MAGA movement’s wildly unpopular Project 2025 policy agenda are failing miserably.
The Heritage Foundation, a central hub of the right-wing political infrastructure which moved aggressively into the MAGA camp under the leadership of its current president Kevin Roberts, launched Project 2025 in 2022. Right Wing Watch took notice, reporting on the project’s confident assertion that it was preparing the MAGA movement to “take the reins of government” after the 2024 election. As RWW noted, by that point the right-wing movement had achieved its long-sought goal of taking dominant control of the Supreme Court. Project 2025 is a game plan to do the same for the executive branch.
Heritage gathered dozens of former Trump administration officials and other MAGA movement leaders to produce a more than 900-page policy agenda detailing their plans. They created a blueprint to give the next conservative president virtually dictatorial powers to bend federal agencies to his will, turning them into weapons against his personal enemies and political opponents and an enforcement arm for the Christian nationalist worldview, while at the same time sabotaging agencies’ ability to carry out their mission to protect American workers, communities and the environment. Project 2025 began recruiting and training tens of thousands of ideological warriors to prepare them to fill the jobs of the federal government employees they plan to purge.
But the Heritage Foundation’s arrogance may have gotten the better of them. It turns out that most Americans do not want to gut environmental protections, public education, and civil rights enforcement. Most Americans don’t want federal power being used to intrude into families’ most intimate decisions—or to enforce the idea that there’s only one legitimate form of family.
Public opposition to Project 2025 grew as more media outlets and policy experts dug into the policy agenda this year, and explained who would be hurt if these policies were implemented. Public awareness soared after John Oliver dedicated the June 16 episode of Last Week Tonight to exposing Project 2025, and again when actress Taraji P. Henson used her platform as host of the June 30 BET Awards to sound the alarm, telling people, “The Project 2025 plan is not a game. Look it up.”
Trying to limit the political damage, Trump has pretended not to know anything about Project 2025, using his Truth social network to claim on July 5, “I have no idea who is behind it” and “I have nothing to do with them.” These literally unbelievable claims unraveled quickly.
Here are some of the reasons Trump cannot shake himself loose from Project 2025:
- In April 2022, as the Heritage Foundation was gearing up to launch Project 2025, Trump gave a speech to Heritage donors, where he said, “This is a great group, and they’re going to lay the groundwork and detail plans for exactly what our movement will do and what your movement will do when the American people give us a colossal mandate to save America.” A Heritage Foundation press release announcing Trump’s appearance noted, “During his four years as president, his administration worked closely with Heritage on a number of policy initiatives. In addition, dozens of Heritage staff and alumni worked in the Trump administration; several of whom have since returned to Heritage.”
- At least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a role in Project 2025, including six former cabinet secretaries, according to CNN, and dozens more Trump staffers work for groups that are part of the Project 2025 coalition, which is made up of more than 100 MAGA and right-wing organizations.
- The Heritage Foundation was a major sponsor of this year’s Republican National Convention and hosted a day-long “policy fest” to promote Project 2025’s agenda on the first day of the convention. The event ended with a conversation between Heritage President Kevin Roberts and former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, who delivered a spiritual warfare message.
- Russ Vought, a Christian nationalist former Trump administration official and a Project 2025 architect, was a leader of the Trump team that jammed the campaign’s platform language down the throats of the GOP platform committee in an authoritarian, dissent-crushing manner suggestive of the methods by which Project 2025 envisions a second Trump administration wielding power.
Trump’s attempts to distance himself from Project 2025 were ultimately doomed by his choice of MAGA hardliner J.D. Vance as his running mate. Vance has praised Project 2025’s authoritarian, anti-equality, anti-freedom policy agenda. Right Wing Watch reported during the RNC that Vance wrote the introduction to Roberts’ new book, “Dawn’s Early Light: Burning Down Washington to Save America.” As Right Wing Watch noted at the time, “Roberts’ book title is reminiscent of a joke told among Federalist Society operatives describing their long game to repeal the New Deal and reverse a century of precedent and progress: ‘Rome Wasn’t Burned in a Day.’”
Since then, the Trump camp has been flailing.
At the end of July, Project 2025 director Kevin Dans, championed as hero by MAGA leaders like Steve Bannon, was apparently forced to step down under pressure from the Trump campaign, which wanted some beneficial headlines suggesting that Project 2025 was shutting down. In reality, the policy agenda is in place, along with the secret 180-day game plan for pushing it forward, and Heritage continues to recruit potential foot soldiers.
Roberts and his publisher toned down his book’s subtitle, removing the unlit match from the cover and changing “Burning Down Washington” to “Taking Back Washington.” Then they announced that the book’s release—which was scheduled for September—would be delayed until after the election. Unfortunately for Trump and Vance, some journalists and researchers got review copies of the book and have reported on Roberts’ ideology and Vance’s violent rhetoric.
Roberts’ book and Vance’s enthusiastic endorsement of it are good examples of a phenomenon I identified in an article on Project 2025 for Political Research Associate’s Public Eye magazine earlier this year. I noted that Project 2025 reflects “a movement-level, ideological shift away from a libertarian mistrust of government power and toward an authoritarian view of government power being used ruthlessly—whether as a righteous force wielded to advance a ‘biblical worldview’ or turned against an ‘administrative state’ supposedly captured by a radical Marxist left.”
As Alex Shephard reported in The New Republic, Vance writes in his foreword, “The old conservative movement argued if you just got government out of the way, natural forces would resolve problems. We are no longer in this situation and must take a different approach.” Vance continues:
As Kevin Roberts writes, “It’s fine to take a laissez-faire approach when you are in the safety of the sunshine. But when the twilight descends and you hear the wolves, you’ve got to circle the wagons and load the muskets.”
We are now all realizing that it’s time to circle the wagons and load the muskets. In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon.
The most recent blow to the Trump campaign’s attempts to hide the MAGA movement’s agenda from the American public is the release by ProPublica and Documented of 14 hours of Project 2025 training videos, “which are intended to train the next conservative administration’s political appointees ‘to be ready on day one.’” ProPublica and Documented reported that 29 of the 36 speakers on the videos worked on Trump’s transition team, his administration, or his 2024 campaign.
One video suggests that Project 2025 seeks to ensure that a returned President Trump would not hire the kind of staffers who were willing to stand up to him and defend the rule of law when he tried to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. Former Trump administration lawyer Dan Huff seems to confirm that Project 2025 is only interested in people willing to go along with the president, no matter what. “If you’re not on board with helping implement a dramatic course correction because you’re afraid it’ll damage your future employment prospects, it’ll harm you socially — look, I get it,” Huff says. “That’s a real danger. It’s a real thing. But please: Do us all a favor and sit this one out.”
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- Andy Kroll and Nick Surgey @ ProPublica: Inside Project 2025’s Secret Training Videos
The Project 2025 videos coach future appointees on everything from the nuts and bolts of governing to how to outwit bureaucrats. There are strategies for avoiding embarrassing Freedom of Information Act disclosures and ensuring that conservative policies aren’t struck down by “left-wing judges.” Some of the content is routine advice that any incoming political appointee might be told. Other segments of the training offer guidance on radically changing how the federal government works and what it does.
- Rick Pidcock @ Baptist News Global: How concerned should we be about conspiracy theorists counting our votes?
Growing up as an independent fundamentalist Baptist, the highlight of each year for our church was the weeklong revival meeting, where we began each night with songs that prepared our hearts for a sermon by a fiery evangelist who then gave an altar call to get us to commit our lives to the cause. So, imagine if that same formula were applied to the 2024 election by a group of conspiracy theorists who openly admitted their plan was to be a “Trojan Horse” at polling stations in order to “make history this November.”
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: JD Vance Is An Investor In A Far Right Video Platform Filled With Neo-Nazi Content
Vance has had a six-figure stake in Rumble, an online video platform. The company has played host to Russian propaganda and to far-right personalities like Stew Peters and Tim Pool. It has also featured even more extreme content, including explicitly neo-Nazi images and themes like this song touting the “Reich” and calling for Jews to be placed in ovens from a “dissident rapper” with a dedicated page on the site. The site features a plethora of channels and videos dedicated to the concept of “white genocide,” which is a core belief for white supremacists. It also hosts channels for explicitly white supremacist organizations including VDare and Patriot Front, which has led masked demonstrations around the country.
- Danielle Paquette @ The Washington Post: A pastor said his pro-Trump prophecies came from God. His brother called him a fake.
Jeremiah Johnson became a sensation when he embraced politics. His brother Josiah, also a preacher, couldn’t shake his concerns.
- Kipp Jones @ Mediaite: Jon Karl Presses JD Vance on Nick Fuentes’ Racist Comments About His Wife: ‘A Guy That Dined With Donald Trump’
ABC’s Jonathan Karl pressed Sen. JD Vance on Sunday about comments White supremacist Nick Fuentes recently about his wife and also noted the Holocaust denier visited the home of former President Donald Trump in November 2022.
- David Covucci @ The Daily Dot: Gropyers launch all-out meme war on Trump’s campaign team
If you logged on to Truth Social this morning, the top trends weren’t praising former President Donald Trump or criticizing his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Instead, they called his campaign manager and senior adviser traitors to America. Welcome to Groyper War 2.
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- We are not at all surprised to learn that far-right Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon thinks that the Civil War was “atrocious and wrong and unjust.”
- Self-proclaimed “prophet” Amanda Grace claims that “Aaron Burr was a deep state operative.”
- Mark Meckler claims that “England has fallen”: “It’s now a totalitarian state, primarily run by a Muslim theocracy.”
- Why do Christian nationalists like Richard Harris know so little about history? No, the Founders did not “put religious freedom the first of the first of the first” in the Bill of Rights. They actually put no establishment of religion first and even that was an accident of history.
- Finally, Nick Fuentes is vowing to wage war against the Trump campaign and MAGA cultist Brenden Dilley is not happy about.
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Right Wing Watch reported last week that FlashPoint, a prominent Christian dominionist and MAGA-minded television show, had featured “prophet” Joseph Z claiming that “the antichrist spirit” had chosen Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz to fit in with the “wicked overlord lizard mafia” and its “goblin masters.” Right Wing Watch readers commented that such rhetoric is grounded in antisemitic conspiracy theories, which encouraged us to follow up on that post.
The FlashPoint program was not the first time Z has used such rhetoric. An episode of his podcast posted last September is entitled “EVIL LIZARDS ATTEMPTING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD.” In a portion of the podcast focused on the World Economic Forum and its founder Klaus Schwab, Z referred to “wicked lizard goblin pervert mafia scumbags” and “lizard wicked scumbags trying to take over the world.” Z also used the phrases “global domination plan,” “dominion spirit,” and “right out of the antichrist playbook.”
Z’s previous episode is notable because FlashPoint host Gene Bailey, a prominent Trump backer who was invited to Mar-a-Lago last year to interview the former president, vouched for Z on last week’s show, saying he had been watching the “prophet” closely for a year.
The World Economic Forum and its call for an economic “great reset” after the COVID-19 pandemic have spawned an array of conspiracy theories promoted by right-wing media and grounded in the idea that “a group of world leaders orchestrated the pandemic to take control of the global economy.” These claims are variations on an older “New World Order” conspiracy theory, which has antisemitic origins, and taps into the same strain of conspiracist thinking promoted by the infamous forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” which has been used to promote antisemitic violence. Among those promoting “great reset” and COVID conspiracy theories has been the vehemently antisemitic far-right broadcaster Stew Peters.
In Z’s earlier “lizard” video, the “prophet” also referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Castro’s kid” – a reference to another false conspiracy theory that Donald Trump promoted recently during his interview with far-right online personality Adin Ross, who has a history of promoting racism and antisemitism.
In a 2021 NBC story about a conspiracy theory about reptilian aliens hiding among humans to achieve world domination, cultural historian Lynn Stuart Parramore explored its roots in both science fiction and antisemitic conspiracy theories:
The notion of shape-shifting, blood-sucking reptilian humanoids invading Earth to control the human race sounds like a cheesy sci-fi plot. But it’s actually a very old trope with disturbing links to anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic hostilities dating to the 19th century.
…
The world-ruled-by-lizard-people fantasy shot to prominence in recent years in part through the ramblings of David Icke, a popular British sports reporter-turned-conspiracy theorist known for his eccentric ideas. [note: Icke’s son is among the promoters of Great Reset conspiracy theories.]
Icke would have you believe that a race of reptilian beings not only invaded Earth, but that it also created a genetically modified lizard-human hybrid race called the “Babylonian Brotherhood,” which, he maintains, is busy plotting a worldwide fascist state. This sinister cabal of global reptilian elites boasts a membership list including former President Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Mick Jagger.
This nonsense is espoused by a variety of internet conspiracy-mongers, including far-right, Trump-loving QAnon adherents, one of whom was accused in 2019 of murdering his own brother because he thought he was a lizard. As many as 12 million Americans believed in this lizard people conspiracy in a 2013 Public Policy Polling survey. It’s safe to assume the number is higher today.
The outlandish trope has roots in the second half of the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution, Darwin’s theory of evolution and rapid scientific advances upended time-honored traditional ways of life, leaving people unsettled and unsure what to believe. It emerged more strongly toward the end of the century, when anxieties about perceived outsiders, especially Jewish ones, were fueled by waves of immigrants flooding urban centers in Great Britain and the United States in search of economic prosperity and religious freedom. The tide of immigrants ignited cultural conflicts, as well as health and sanitation crises, in cities that lacked adequate infrastructure for the millions of arrivals.
…
Does any of this sound familiar? It should, because today’s internet postings by conspiracy theorists often carry traces of just the sort of anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic tensions that show up in history whenever segments of the population feel betrayed by elites and fear loss of their own social and economic status.
…
Billionaire George Soros is a frequent bête noire among this crowd, and he is often depicted as a world-dominating reptile.
Parramore also noted that Anthony Quinn Warner made statements about a conspiracy of lizard people taking over the planet before setting off an explosion in downtown Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 2020. A 2021 Business Insider story on that bombing noted, “Like the lizard-people theory, QAnon draws on centuries-old anti-Semitic tropes.” The Daily Beast reported that a man who stabbed his brother to death—claiming that God told him his brother was a lizard—was also a QAnon adherent and had tried to join the Proud Boys.
Literary Hub cited another example of the lizard conspiracy theory turning deadly:
In August 2021, the owner of a Christian surf school in Santa Barbara, California, drove his two young children to the Mexican resort town of Rosarito, where he killed both children (ages two years and ten months) and left their bodies by the side of the road. He would later claim that his wife “possessed serpent DNA” and he had killed his children out of fear of “interbreeding” between humans and reptilians—a theory he seems to have adopted through the work of ex-athlete and Green Party politician David Icke.
Z’s references to goblins may have been influenced by controversy about whether or not the portrayal of goblins in the Harry Potter books and movies—particularly an evil banker—was promoting age-old antisemitic tropes. Comedian and commentator Jon Stewart was among those who raised the issue, though he later said people were taking his “light-hearted” comments too seriously. When the goblin controversy reemerged last year with the release of the video game “Hogwarts Legacy,” the Times of Israel noted that following Stewart’s comments, the UK’s Campaign Against Antisemitism released a statement saying that “the portrayal of the goblins in the Harry Potter series is of a piece with their portrayal in Western literature as a whole” and “is a testament more to centuries of Christendom’s antisemitism than it is to malice by contemporary artists.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Dallas-based pastor Robert Jeffress, who has been one of Donald Trump’s most energetic cheerleaders, told readers of his Daily Devotions this week that God hates lying. He also told readers to avoid abusive speech, which includes bullying and belittling. Those words would not be particularly surprising coming from a pastor, except that Jeffress is such a relentless Trump cheerleader.
Let’s face it: lying, bullying, and belittling people pretty much sum up Donald Trump’s communication style—a kind of gleeful cruelty and brazen lying that are the hallmark of Team Trump and the broader MAGA movement.
It’s especially jarring to read Jeffress’s words after witnessing Trump’s shamelessly dishonest performance at his Thursday press conference. As The New Republic noted, “Trump’s list of lies on Thursday was almost the length of the speech.” His falsehoods included a made-up story about sharing a helicopter with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown and almost dying in a crash.
The disconnect brought to mind a book Jeffress published in 2020, while he was campaigning hard for Trump’s reelection. In that book, Jeffress called for a commitment to truth and civil dialogue, denounced “fake news,” and told readers, “Ask God to silence those who strive to spread division and hatred and to bring any slanderers in the media to repentance.”
Jeffress has hosted Trump at First Baptist Church of Dallas. In last year’s “The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism,” author Tim Alberta described the Trump “shrine” in Jeffress’s office:
The corner of Jeffress’s office was a shrine–his secretary used that specific word to describe it–to President Donald J. Trump. There was an eight-foot tall poster memorializing the “Celebrate Freedom” concert in D.C. (the one where the choir sang “Make America Great Again”). There were boxes of Trump cuff links and a golden Trump commemorative coin. There were dozens–dozens–of framed photos of Jeffress and Trump: praying over him, talking with him, shaking hands with him, giving thumbs-up with him…In the sweep of my reporting on the former president and his many sycophants, I had never seen such a temple to Trumpism.
Jeffress, who declares that America is a Christian nation, told an audience in 2019, “We have allowed the secularists, the atheists, the humanists to hijack our Constitution and pervert it into something our forefathers never intended.” He added, “Thank God we have a president like Donald J. Trump who understands that.”
That same year, Jeffress predicted that Trump’s impeachment would energize his base for “a massive landslide win in 2020,” a prediction that did not come to pass despite Jeffress’s best efforts, which included appearing in a pro-Trump propaganda film. Three weeks ago, Jeffress again predicted that his “friend” Trump will have “a landslide victory in 2024.”
When Trump was running for president in 2016, Jeffress was among the religious-right leaders who gave religious justifications for supporting Trump. One of Jeffress’s contributions was to claim that it was “biblical” to support a “strongman” and “the meanest, toughest, son-of-a-you-know-what.” He also described that year’s election as “a battle between good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness.”
Jeffress was among the religious-right leaders who said Trump survived the recent assassination attempt due to “divine intervention.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Update: A follow-up to this post explores the antisemitic origins and deadly consequences of the rhetoric and conspiracy theories this post reports on.
Monday night’s edition of the FlashPoint program on televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel focused on the selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the Democratic candidate for vice president.
Guest Rick Green, an associate of Christian nationalist historian David Barton, declared Walz a “power-hungry tyrant” who is “perfect for the Communist Democrats.” If Green was hoping that would be the program’s most memorable attack line, he would soon be sorely disappointed.
That honor goes to “prophet” Joseph Z. Here’s part of his answer to his first question from host Gene Bailey, who asked if Z was encouraged or discouraged by what’s going on the country right now:
I believe very clearly the spirit of the Lord is making a way for the body of Christ to go through in this time. And you know even when we bring up guys like Tim Walz and look at what’s going on, people say he’s you know midwestern folksy, I have another word for him, being from Minnesota myself, and it’s weird. The guy’s just weird. You see the way he hugs his wife. You see the way he does everything. I believe the Spirit of the Lord is letting them overextend their reach. I believe he’s giving them a sense of confidence that’s actually going to be a surprise silver lining turnaround in this whole narrative. I believe the spirit of the Lord is going to bring victory and breakthrough. And you know it’s interesting how the spirit of antichrist just loves to pick these people that fit right in with the wicked overlord lizard mafia that is really driven by their goblin masters, and when you’re looking at this, I believe that’s exactly what we’re facing right now—a spirit of antichrist that wants to have its way.
Remarkably, Bailey had just introduced the Colorado-based Z to FlashPoint viewers by vouching for his credibility:
What we put on the air we take very seriously. And who we put on the air we take seriously as well. But that comes even more so when it comes to men of the cloth and prophets. Well, I met Joseph Z over a year ago, and I’ve continued to watch Joseph. My friend Hank Kunneman—we’ve continued to watch him. When he didn’t know we were watching, we were watching to see how he handled things. And I’m glad to say, I’m proud to have Joseph Z on the show tonight.
FlashPoint was launched by the Victory Channel in the fall of 2020 to help rally conservative Christians to support Trump and likeminded candidates, and as Right Wing Watch has reported, “provides a steady platform for pro-Trump, Christian nationalist propaganda and conspiracy theories, as it did on the night of Jan. 6, 2021.” Trump has rewarded the show’s loyalty by calling in repeatedly and sitting down with Bailey for a Mar-a-Lago interview last year. More from RWW:
“FlashPoint” played a key role in spreading lies about the 2020 election and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, with host Gene Bailey regularly welcoming right-wing “prophets” and evangelists like Lance Wallnau, Hank Kunneman, and Mario Murillo on to the program, where they steadfastly refuse to accept the election results.”
Wallnau, a New Apostolic Reformation figure and promoter of Seven Mountains Dominionism, wrote a foreword to Z’s book “Demystifying the Prophetic,” which promises among other things to teach readers how to “identify real and false prophets.”
Last year Green displeased Bailey and other Christian nationalist leaders and activists when he said he thought then-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy could make a good president, and Green was forced to “eat crow” on the program and insist that the nation’s founders said “over and over again” that the country needs “biblical leaders.”
FlashPoint regularly takes its show on the road, hosting events in front of live audiences to rally conservative Christian activists. Promoting a 2023 event to train right-wing Christians how to take over local school boards, Bailey declared, “That sounds like we’re trying to take over the world? Yes, we are. I fully admit that. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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California megachurch pastor Jack Hibbs, a close ally of right-wing Christian nationalist political operatives David Lane and Charlie Kirk, declared on his podcast last week that people who vote for Democrats cannot be Christians. Hibbs’ influence stretches beyond his congregation through his political alliances and online followers; his YouTube channel has 659,000 subscribers. Earlier this year, House Speaker Mike Johnson invited Hibbs to give a prayer to the House of Representatives.
From an edition of his “Real Life with Jack Hibbs” podcast posted Aug 1:
Democrats, sorry. Look, I gotta tell you man, I’m gonna say it again, you cannot be a Democrat and be a believer in Jesus Christ. You can lie to yourself all you want. Jesus Christ is not an abortionist. Jesus Christ does not attack borders and say they don’t matter. The God of the Bible established borders, he says so. The God of the Bible is pro-life, he says so. So, if you’re a Democrat, and you say you’re a Christian, that means you vote Democrat, which means you vote against the Bible. Actions speak louder than words. So, I have no interest in you.
In reality, of course, millions of Christians regularly vote for Democratic candidates, which apparently rankles Hibbs almost as much as conservative evangelicals who vote, something he has been complaining about for years. On last week’s podcast he railed against conservative Christians in California who don’t vote, saying “I have so much more respect for Democrats who go out and vote in huge numbers for their sick, perverse ideology, their godless platform.” Hibbs has previously referred to the Democratic Party as a “death cult.”
The purported focus of Hibbs’ Aug. 1 podcast episode was Christian nationalism, a term he said he doesn’t take seriously because news outlets all have different definitions. (Christian nationalism is a complex ideology, and scholars and journalists do define it in varying ways; generally, it is grounded in the belief that the U.S. was founded by and for Christians, and that Christians have a duty to “take America back” so that it remains or returns to being a “Christian nation” whose laws align with a particular “biblical worldview.”)
Hibbs said he is not a Christian nationalist because he doesn’t want a state church and doesn’t want to make everyone Christians, adding, “Most people are going to hell.” But Hibbs often acts like a Christian nationalist, for example by promoting false versions of American history—including slavery—that Christian nationalists use to buttress their claims about America’s divine founding and mission. On his podcast, Hibbs urged people to read the Mayflower Compact, a document that Christian nationalists like David Lane claim gives America a national mission to advance Christianity.
Hibbs referenced a biblical directive attributed to Jesus, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s,” then gave his take on the passage:
The truth of the matter is, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s,’ meaning California belongs to God. Caesar belongs to God. The presidency of the United States belongs to God, as does the crown of England belong to God. Those are secular institutions—of course, I understand that—under the sovereignty of God, meaning God raises them up and God takes them down.
When former President Donald Trump was shot, Hibbs claimed it was a warning that the former president must publicly “bow the knee,” adding, “It’s time to say that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he’s the one that rules over the affairs of men.”
When people criticized Hibbs’ invitation to pray in Congress this year, Hibbs responded by declaring that those who criticize or oppose Christian nationalism are a “systemic cancer” in this nation and are carrying out the agenda of “the Third Reich under Hitler,” as Right Wing Watch reported. In May, Hibbs responded to college protests against the war in Gaza with a diatribe claiming that student protesters aren’t protected by the First Amendment because Hibbs doesn’t recognize them as Americans.
Hibbs and his church are active in trying to influence politics at the state and local levels. His church conducts voter registration and ballot harvesting operations. Members of his congregation took over the local school board, pushed members of his church to take over school boards, part of his message that “as Christians we are to take back this nation.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Carlo Maria Viganò, who used to be a far-right full-on MAGA Catholic archbishop, is now a far-right full-on MAGA former archbishop, having been excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church in July. Viganò has been one of the most frenzied right-wing critics of Pope Francis, who he called a “servant of Satan.”
Viganò apparently intends to continue using his platform to rile up right-wing activists. He released a raving rant against the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games, which set off more than a few religious-right activists. Viganò’s statement went much further than claims of blasphemy, anti-Christian bias, and “wokeism.” He also promoted false far-right conspiracy theories claiming that the wife of French President Emanuel Macron and former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama are actually men:
It is no coincidence that the one sponsoring this revolting carnival is an emissary of the World Economic Forum, Emanuel Macron, who passes off a transvestite as his own wife with impunity, just as Barack Obama is accompanied by a muscular man in a wig. It is the reign of mystification, of falsehood, of fiction erected as a totem, in which man is disfigured precisely because he was created in the image and likeness of God.
Viganò’s statement was irresistible to BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales, who called it “the take that everyone needs to be talking about.” She called attention to Viganò’s remarks in the Monday episode of her “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” show. “He brings up both Big Mike [the snide term used by far-right activists who claim Michelle Obama is a man] and Macron, the president of France’s ‘wife,’ question mark?”
The ridiculous claims about Michelle Obama, often accompanied by falsified documents and faked photos, were featured in a Teen Vogue investigation into such misogynist and anti-trans disinformation in March, which noted that “baseless, lurid, purposely rude theories about Michelle Obama being ‘a man’” have been circulating online for at least a decade as “part of an attempt to discredit both her and President Obama.”
The thoroughly debunked claim about Macron’s wife has been given new life online this year by far-right pundit Candace Owens.
On her show, Gonzales showed a video clip of Michelle Obama dancing on The Ellen Show and claimed that the video shows something “shaking” in her pants—an obsession in some corners of the internet—with Gonzales repeatedly showing the clip and asking her producers to “zoom in.”
Asking why these conspiracy theories or drag queen performances matter, Gonzales returned to Viganò’s statement, which says “Tolerance cannot be the alibi for the systematic destruction of Christian society.” Responded Gonzales, “Well said.”
Viganò built a following in the MAGA movement with his near-religious devotion to Trump. In 2020, Vigano published an open letter praising Trump as a leader in the struggle between “the children of light and the children of darkness.” The letter was rife with conspiracy theories.
After Trump lost the election, Viganò appeared on the weekly prayer call of Stop the Steal activist Ed Martin on the eve of a Nov. 13 Stop the Steal rally. Vigano suggested that Trump’s opponents were “forces of evil” and that “the kingdom of darkness has sought to subvert the outcome of the presidential elections.” A month later, Vigano participated in an ecumenical pro-Trump rally at which Oath Keepers founder Stuart Rhodes threatened bloody civil war.
Reuters reported that after his excommunication, Viganò released a diatribe against Francis for representing an “inclusive, immigrationist, eco-sustainable, and gay-friendly” church, none of which Viganò means as a compliment.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Donald Trump’s lies and racist remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris at the National Association of Black Journalists convention this week have been widely criticized, but some Trumpworld insiders, including his running mate J.D. Vance, are defending Trump and rallying around his racist remarks.
Political dirty trickster and MAGA insider Roger Stone used his StoneZONE Live show on the Rumble channel to defend Trump—and to carry Trump’s claims to a truly ridiculous conclusion. (Note: TPM reported this week that Vance has a six-figure investment in Rumble, which offers a platform to an assortment of deeply unsavory racists, antisemites, and neo-Nazis).
First, let’s review a few facts. Kamala Harris is the daughter of an Indian American mother and a Black Jamaican father. She has always embraced both sides of her family tree, identifying as an Indian American and a Black woman. She attended Howard University, a prestigious historically black institution, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a culturally significant Black sorority.
On stage at the NABJ, Trump lied that Harris had “always” identified as Indian until at some point she “became” Black, as if it were impossible or somehow illegitimate or deceptive for her to identify with all the elements of her mixed ethnicity.
Stone and his guest Troy Smith, editor-in-chief of Slingshot News, showed photos of Harris with the Indian side of her family and videos in which she talked about that part of her identity—and treated them as if they were some kind of “gotcha” moments or proof that Trump was correct. Stone praised Trump for confronting “the entire false narrative about who Kamala Harris really, actually is.” Smith referred to Harris’s “false portrayal of her race.”
Stone confidently summed up the Trump/MAGA argument with the stunningly stupid statement, “She bragged about being the first Indian American U.S. Senator, and then she brags about being a Black American U.S. Senator. She cannot be both.”
Of course she can be both. In the 2020 U.S. Census, about 10 percent of the population, nearly 34 million people, reported having a multiracial identity. And more uncomfortably for the Trump crowd, his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance is married to a woman of Indian ancestry and their children are among the millions of Americans of mixed ancestry.
Stone is not perhaps the best person to count on as a character witness. He was pardoned by Trump after a jury convicted him on seven counts of lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice. The congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection exposed just how deeply Stone was involved in Trump’s plan to falsely claim victory on election night—and worse. Right Wing Watch reported in 2022:
“I really do suspect that [the election result] will still be up in the air,” Stone said on Nov. 1, as shown in the video clip provided by Danish documentary filmmakers of “A Storm Foretold.” “When that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine tenths of law. ‘No, we won, fuck you. Sorry, you’re wrong, fuck you.’”
Stone also advocated for violence. “I say fuck the voting, let’s get right to the violence,” Stone says in another clip a day before the election.
Stone has since aligned himself with MAGA minded “prophets” and claimed to have proof that a “satanic portal” had opened over the White House during the Biden administration.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon and podcast co-host Michael Belch devoted the latest issue of the Right Response ministries podcast to promoting “the ancient Christian virtue of hatred.” In the episode titled “It’s Time to Hate Sin (and sinners) Again,” Belch referenced the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics and complained that Christians have become too tolerant of “displays of open, rampant, unashamed wickedness in our society.”
Webbon and Belch discussed the need to hate the enemies of God while simultaneously loving them by praying for their conversion. Webbon was careful to state that he is not calling for vigilante violence, but suggested other ways that righteous hatred could be put to use, including consumers boycotting “woke” companies, business owners hiring only Christians, and legislators writing laws that bring “just, strict, swift penalties to those who do wicked things.”
Webbon, who longs for a Christian dictatorship that will crush its enemies, is no fan of democracy, believing that the American people have become too degenerate to function as a constitutional republic. Noting that people call him out for being opposed to the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, he declared, “I think there’s a lot of people that shouldn’t be able to vote, besides just as it pertains to the Nineteenth Amendment.”
“Democracy has not been great,” he said in this week’s podcast. “Part of the reason things get worse and worse and worse is because of democracy. You poll the degenerate peanut gallery, and what you get is further devolving into degeneracy.”
He did encourage people to cast “righteous votes” given our current system, but added that “by God’s grace I hope that one day we don’t” have a voting mechanism.
Webbon smeared the Democratic party and its supporters, making false and ridiculously broad claims that “the left hates children” and that the end goal of the Democratic party is to facilitate “the diddling of children.” Webbon blamed women in leadership—which he called a “gynocracy”—for Christians having “forfeited” their once-dominant political power, because women, he said, are not temperamentally suited to hating their enemies.
Webbon also promoted the ancient antisemitic portrayal of Jews as Christ-killers. While some Jews followed Jesus, he said, many were even more opposed to Jesus than the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who for political reasons “gives the Jews what they like, which is killing God.” Webbon recently complained about Hindus and other non-Christians living in his neighborhood, which he called a sign of God’s judgment upon our land.”
Webbon used the podcast to promote his ministry’s “Christ is King” conference next April in Temple, Texas, and its “super-based” speakers list, which features “the Christian prince himself, Dusty Deevers,” a white Christian nationalist Oklahoma state senator who argues that “nations will rise and fall on the basis of their submission to Christ.” Another speaker will be Stephen Wolfe, author of “The Case for Christian Nationalism,” which in the words of one reviewer “advocates for an ethnically uniform nation rules by a ‘Christian prince.’” Joining them will be radio host Steve Deace, who has made “repeated calls for violence against his political opponents,” as Right Wing Watch has reported.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Phillip Nieto @ Mediaite: ‘She Became a Black Person!’ Trump Spars With Moderator Over Whether Or Not Republicans Should Call Harris a ‘DEI Hire’
The former president spoke at the National Association of Black Journalists annual convention in Chicago where he questioned if Harris was Black, adding “someone should look into that.” Trump said he was not aware Harris was Black until a few years ago because she only promoted her Indian heritage, but then claimed she “happened to turn black.”
- Sarah K. Burris @ Raw Story: ‘Stunning’ details emerge about Trump’s scheme to remove protesters for a photo op
The Justice Department Inspector General released its report about the officers sent into a group of peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., so Donald Trump could conduct a photo-op when he was president.
- Tim Murphy @ Mother Jones: Election Deniers Just Scored a Major Win in Arizona’s Biggest County
Maricopa County recorder Stephen Richer held the line against Kari Lake and the Big Lie. But he couldn’t survive a Republican primary.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Everything wrong with Candace Owens’ conspiracy-laden anti-evolution rant
The right-wing conspiracy theorist said people accept evolution because of “modern Satanists.”
- Jennifer Bendery @ HuffPost: JD Vance In 2021: ‘We Have To Go To War’ Against The Idea That Women Don’t Have To Have Kids
“You’re going to be a sad, lonely, pathetic person” if you support women prioritizing their careers over making babies, said Trump’s vice presidential pick.
- Nikki McCann Ramirez @ Rolling Stone: Fox Host Says Men Who Vote For Women ‘Transition’ to Women
Jesse Watters inexplicably claimed that “when a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman.” His colleagues weren’t happy.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Turning Black appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Michael Flynn’s America’s Future organization will be holding a “Champions for America Celebration Gala” at Mar-a-Lago in December at which Tucker Carlson and Kid Rock will be honored.
- Joshua Feuerstein issues a warning: “Dear Libtards, If you take out Trump, it’s over! We’re gonna start it popping.”
- Jackson Lahmeyer held an event for Tulsa mayoral candidate Brent VanNorman at his church last night during which Lahmeyer openly told his congregation to donate to VanNorman’s campaign because they need to have “someone in office who is on our team.”
- As long as Christian nationalists like Tim Barton are going to keep claiming that the Bible was “the top cited source” by the Founding Fathers, we are going to keep correcting the record.
- Ali Alexander offers some advice to the Trump campaign: “YOU HAVE TO GET NATIVIST, RACIST, NATIONALIST, AND CATHOLIC! TO WIN!”
- Finally, Glenn Beck, of all people, is insisting that it is the Democrats who are weird. What? The guy who once aired an hour-long special broadcast from the year 2054 thinks the Democrats are the weird ones?
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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In 2023, self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and unabashed Trump cultist Lance Wallnau announced his intention to travel the country ahead of the 2024 elections in order to break the “demonic strongholds” in swing states that are supposedly preventing Republicans from winning elections. That idea eventually merged with the revival Fire and Glory Tour that Wallnau was doing with fellow MAGA cultist Mario Murillo, resulting in plans to merge political rallies with Christian revival meetings in order to help former President Donald Trump return to the White House.
Dubbed “The Courage Tour,” Wallnau and Murillo have so far held events in Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan, consisting of Christian nationalist political organizing during the day and evening sessions focused on spiritual revival and miracle healing. The purpose of these events, as Wallnau explained earlier this year, is to prepare Christians to rule and reign when Jesus Christ returns by training them to “occupy territory now.”
The plan for training Christians to rule in the End Times by getting them politically involved today was on full display when the Courage Tour stopped in Wisconsin this week, and longtime political activist Joshua Standifer urged attendees to sign up to serve as election workers this November so that they can function as a “Trojan horse” for the Christian nationalist political movement.
Standifer leads an organization called The Lion Of Judah that believes “it’s time that Christians led by the Holy Spirit take back the mountain of Government and transform our nation.”
Talk of taking control of “the mountain of government” flows from Seven Mountains Dominionism, a radical theology associated with the New Apostolic Reformation that advocates having right-wing Christians control all aspects of society. Followers of Seven Mountains theology believe that they are to “do whatever is necessary” to take control of the seven main “mountains” that shape our culture—education, government, media, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion—in order to implement the will of God throughout the nation and the world. Wallnau is a leading proponent of Seven Mountains Dominionism and the theology is at the center of his Courage Tour efforts.
During his remarks on Monday, Standifer urged the conservative Christians in the audience to become election workers, not just volunteers, because “when the polls start to close or chaos unfolds, they’re gonna kick the volunteers out” while right-wing Christians will remain behind to be “the ones counting the votes.”
“I promised you guys an action plan,” Standifer said. “We spent months calculating and creating, meeting with experts, something that we felt like could take Christians and put them in a place of influence. Just imagine: It’s election night. Chaos is happening. The polls are closing. The volunteers are getting kicked out, but what if we had Christians across America and in swing states like Wisconsin that were actually the ones counting the votes and making sure what’s happening?”
Standifer urged the audience to sign up for his “Fight The Fraud” campaign, which will teach them “how to become an election worker in four easy steps.”
“A lot of people don’t realize this, but in Wisconsin, you can get paid to be an election worker,” he announced. “On election night, what happens is when the polls start to close or chaos unfolds, they’re gonna kick the volunteers out. You are actually going to be a paid election worker. You’re going to be trained by your local municipality. I call this our Trojan Horse in; they don’t see it coming, but we’re going to flood election poll stations across the country with spirit-filled believers.”
The Trump-controlled Republican Party has also launched a major effort to put MAGA-minded election officials in place and recruit poll workers who could be primed to create chaos by Trump’s repeated insistence that the only way he can lose the election is that Democrats cheat. David Becker, a former Justice Department lawyer who heads the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told the Associated Press that for the Republicans to recruit people “in a way that feeds your voters with the idea that the election is going to be stolen, that prepares them to be angry if their candidate loses — that can be very dangerous.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Meridith McGraw and Daniel Lippman @ Politico: Head of Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 steps down
Paul Dans, who directed the Heritage Foundation’s controversial 2025 Presidential Transition Project, or Project 2025, is stepping down from his role in August, according to an internal email to staff. Dans’ departure does not mean the project, which has been repeatedly criticized by Democrats as well as Donald Trump, is shutting down.
- Paige Skinner @ HuffPost: Twitter Suspends ‘White Dudes For Harris’ Account After $4 Million Fundraising Call
The video call, which featured celebs like Jeff Bridges and Josh Groban, attracted nearly 200,000 supporters of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
- Isaac Arnsdorf @ The Washington Post: Vance tells donors Harris change was a ‘sucker punch,’ at odds with campaign
“The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden,” Trump’s running mate acknowledged at a private event.
- David Gardner @ The Daily Beast: Not Just Cat Ladies: J.D. Vance Also Called the Childless ‘Sociopaths’ and ‘Psychotic’
The GOP vice presidential nominee is trying to play down his childless cat lady comment as a one-off, but a new report suggests more of a running theme.
- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Vance’s History Of Extremist Remarks On Family Doesn’t Stop At ‘Childless Cat Ladies’
Despite the clean up Vance and the former president are attempting, Vance has a history of making extremist remarks about women and families.
- Justin Glawe @ Rolling Stone: These Swing State Election Officials Are Pro-Trump Election Deniers
At least 70 pro-Trump conspiracists are election officials in key battleground counties — and they are poised to make a giant mess on Election Day.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Scott Lively wonders if Kamala Harris might be the “Whore of Babylon” mentioned in the Book of Revelation: “We might just be witnessing her grand entrance on the world stage in the form of Kamala Harris – ‘sex-worker’ to the elites.”
- Johnny Enlow claims that polls showing Harris tied with Donald Trump is all part of the plot to steal the election: “Poll pushing is the first stage and most important stage of the steal.”
- Nick Fuentes declares that “white men are the best,” so “let’s put them in charge again.”
- Nearly everything Kenneth Copeland says in this clip is Christian nationalist myth, especially his assertion that George Washington and Congress dedicated this nation to God, as we have explained before. Furthermore, his claim that “we’re the longest lived unchanged Constitution in the history of the world because it was based on scripture” is nonsense given that the Constitution has been changed multiple times.
- Finally, Tim Barton’s assertion that Christians always led the movements to stop bad things in American history provides a key insight into how Christian nationalists formulate their mythology by intentionally leaving out the fact that often those who fought to preserve those bad things were also Christians. While some Christians opposed and fought against slavery, other Christians defended and fought for slavery—the same for Jim Crow segregation and the violence that sustained it.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Brent VanNorman is a conservative businessman who is running for mayor in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On Sunday, he made an appearance at right-wing Christian nationalist MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer’s church, where he declared that “we need to get back” to requiring elected officials to be Christian.
VanNorman opened his remarks by saying that Proverbs 14‘s “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” is one of his favorite Bible verses. After declaring that “righteousness [also] exalts a city,” VanNorman then cited Proverbs 29 to declare that “when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.”
As such, VanNorman then proclaimed, “my number one qualification for being mayor of Tulsa is that I am an unashamed follower of Jesus.”
“I think that if you go back and study the history of our nation and our founding,” he added, “the pulpit was the primary tool [during] the Revolutionary War [for] communicating to people. But [also], public officials had to be Christians in many areas and we’ve gone so far away from that and we need to get back.”
When questioned by the Tulsa World about his comments, VanNorman backtracked, claiming that he didn’t mean what he had very clearly said:
“No, no, no, no. My point would be that I think people that are informed by Christian values make good public servants and they have a servant’s heart,” VanNorman said. “And so I would hope that, as a result of my value system, in which I care for humanity and … I try to treat people with equality, I try to treat people with love, and there’s a moral foundation that gives me that I hope people would appreciate, and that I hope that my motives are pure in what I’m doing and I’m not doing them for the wrong reason.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- McKay Coppins @ The Atlantic: The Most Revealing Moment of a Trump Rally
A close reading of the prayers delivered before the former president speaks.
- Rachel Leingang and Stephanie Kirchgaessner @ The Guardian: Kevin Roberts, architect of Project 2025, has close ties to radical Catholic group Opus Dei
Heritage Foundation leader has long received spiritual guidance from group and his policy goals align with its teachings.
- Will Carless @ USA Today: Project 2025 decried as racist. Some contributors have trail of racist writings, activity
A closer look at the named contributors to Project 2025 adds to the concern: A USA TODAY analysis found at least five of them have a history of racist writing or statements, or white supremacist activity.
- Warren Throckmorton: Ben Carson Botches Ben Franklin Prayer Story
The Constitution Wasn’t Rescued with Delegates Kneeling in Prayer.
- Angry White Men: Stew Peters Promotes Mein Kampf And Calls Jews ‘A Depraved People’
During a recent episode of Tin Foil Hat With Sam Tripoli, Holocaust denier and Nazi sympathizer Stew Peters referred to Jews as “a depraved people.” On the show, which is available on X (formerly Twitter), Spotify, and Apple Podcasts, he also recommended people read Mein Kampf and used the N-word.
- Bradley Onishi @ Salon: J.D. Vance Will Be a More Extremist Christian VP Than Mike Pence
The vice presidential pick’s Catholicism hasn’t received a lot of attention, but it’s the key to the populist radicalism he wants to impose on America.
- Melissa Gira Grant @ The New Republic: The Violent Implications of the “Jezebel” Attacks on Kamala Harris
Calling Black women “Jezebel” has a long, racist history. But as a recent video shows, it also has a more modern meaning among Christian nationalists.
- Dennis Aftergut @ Salon: The man who set the stage for an imperial presidency if Trump wins
A look at Leonard Leo’s American theocracy.
- Ben Blanchet @ HuffPost: Trump Tells Crowd ‘You Won’t Have To Vote’ Again After Election In Bizarre Remarks
GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump told Christians on Friday to vote “just this time” and said they “won’t have to do it anymore” after the election in November.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer sums up the choices in this year’s presidential election: “Donald Trump is like King David. Kamala Harris is like Queen Jezebel. Easy decision for EVERY Bible believing American Christian.”
- Betsy McCaughey declares that “Kamala Harris is a race hustler, a divider when the nation needs a unifier.”
- Hank Kunneman used his Sunday sermons to dub Harris “Cackle-a Hamas.”
- Andrew Torba insists that “women need to be put in their place by masculine men and then all of this madness will come to a swift end”: “The time approaches. Women who are honest about what is going on in our society, churches, and culture will agree with me.”
- Ben Zeisloft asserts that “we need to restore true blasphemy laws.”
- Tyler Russell admits what everyone already knows: “I’m a fascist.”
- Finally, David Barton praises the late Sen. James Inhofe, claiming that “there were three different occasions in which civil wars in Africa were stopped because he got both sides to come to the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. and kneel down and pray with each other.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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John Pierce, a lawyer representing dozens of defendants facing charges for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, told supporters in a fundraising email Sunday that if Kamala Harris defeats Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election, his “contingency” plan for getting presidential pardons for his clients will be off the table.
Pierce, who created the National Constitutional Law Union in 2021, said in an email that the group “has represented more January 6 defendants than any other attorney or law firm.”
“Since Joe Biden withdrew from the race, Kamala has become the front-runner, and fear has been keeping me up at night for our clients,” he wrote. Pierce said that while he hopes to win in the courts, presidential pardons for his “patriots” has always been his backup plan, but “they will NEVER happen under President Harris.”
Pierce has good reason to hope that Trump could come to the rescue if he returns to office. Not only has Trump floated the idea of pardoning Jan. 6 defendants—he has referred to them as “hostages”—he also appeared in a fundraising video for the NCLU earlier this year. “I’m a victim, but there are many victims” of the “weaponization of our government,” Trump claimed, adding that Nov. 5 will be “the single biggest day in the history of our country.”
When Pierce set up the NCLU, Newsweek noted that in addition to “several Proud Boy suspects accused of taking part in the Capitol attack,” he has also represented MAGA insiders Rudy Giuliani and George Papadopoulos and helped raise $2 million in bail money for Kyle Rittenhouse, who became a MAGA movement folk hero after killing two people at a protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin after police shot and killed a black man.
While he was representing Rittenhouse, Pierce was “more interested in promoting himself than representing Kyle,” said Mark Richards, another lawyer who represented Rittenhouse. Richards said Pierce had set an unknowing Rittenhouse up with a photo op with Proud Boys leaders, adding that “people were using this kid to raise money and profit themselves, and it turns my stomach.” Rittenhouse, who was acquitted of homicide charges in November 2021, said that he had fired Pierce for “putting me in situations like that with people I don’t agree with.”
In September 2021, NPR ran a story noting that Pierce was representing more Jan. 6 defendants than anyone else and asking, “Should he?” NPR reported that Pierce had been a civil attorney who had never done any criminal trials. His association with Rittenhouse and his “fiery” pro-Trump stance may have helped him win clients, NPR noted:
In fact, on the day of the riot, when someone tweeted that there was only room for, quote, “peaceful people in the Trump movement,” Pierce responded, wrong. In another tweet after the riot, he wrote, quote, “When tyranny reaches a certain point, the time for peaceful protest comes to an end.”
Pierce told NPR that statement was not a reference to the attack on the Capitol but “a general statement about America’s philosophy of government.”
The NPR story quoted other unnamed conservative attorneys calling Pierce a “grifter.” The fundraising email Pierce sent Sunday says that contributions are not tax-deductible, and concludes with this fine-print note:
The NCLU is a non-profit social welfare organization that is in the process of applying for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status. It is anticipated that a substantial amount of funds raised by the NCLU will be paid to a law firm owned and/or controlled by the founder, chairman of the board and CEO of the NCLU for legal services and costs incurred by clients of the firm in connection with litigations within the full mission statement as determined in the sole discretion of the NCLU board of directors and as approved for payment by those clients.
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When the news broke last week that President Joe Biden would not be seeking reelection and had endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump-loving evangelist Mario Murillo was quick to warn that “as a Christian, voting for her will be the most reckless thing you will do in your life.” Similarly, self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and unabashed Trump cultist Lance Wallnau quickly posted a video in which he warned that Harris represents “the spirit of Jezebel” and shortly thereafter proclaimed that Harris is “the devil’s choice.”
Last Friday, Murillo appeared on Wallnau’s podcast, where he baselessly asserted that Harris was chosen to be the Democratic nominee because she is “devoid of anything that could possibly get in the way of their agenda,” which is a sign that “demonic power is at work.”
“That’s why God spared Trump’s life, for such a time as this,” Murillo declared. “But he needs another miracle.”
Wallnau agreed, asserting that Harris represents “Hillary Clinton 2.0” but “with an augmented heat seeking missile capacity” to “stir up strife and civil war.” Harris, Wallnau proclaimed, is an “aggrieved female … who will paint [herself] as a black minority against a white majority.”
It is “demonic,” Wallnau warned, adding that Harris will likely pick Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg as her running mate in order to make the campaign all about “racism and sexual perversion” in order to “[pierce] the heart of the vulnerable American who doesn’t want to fight those battles.”
Murillo and Wallnau are close spiritual and political allies who are currently leading a “Courage Tour” to swing states ahead of the 2024 election in order to break the “demonic strongholds” in swing states that have supposedly been preventing Republicans from winning elections. The Courage Tour consists of series of multi-day events during which attendees hear from religious-right activists who mobilize them politically during the daily sessions, while the evening sessions are dedicated to spiritual revival and miracle healing. The purpose of these events is, as Wallnau explained earlier this year, to prepare Christians to rule and reign when Jesus Christ returns by training them to “occupy territory now.” As that language suggests, Murillo and Wallnau are associated with the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Media Matters: Daily Wire host Matt Walsh attacks VP Kamala Harris for having a career
Walsh: “She’s a woman who has chosen to dedicate her life to her own personal ambition and career advancement. She has lived a very self-serving life. The lack of children is a symptom of that.”
- Laurie Roberts @ AZ Central: Holy cat lady, Blake Masters agrees with J.D. Vance that childless people can’t lead us
Arizona congressional wannabe Blake Masters says childless people have no stake in this country. Yeah, now I’m remembering why he didn’t win his 2022 Senate race.
- Zachary Folk @ The Daily Beast: Trump Says He Won’t Change After Assassination Attempt: ‘Not Gonna Be Nice!’
At a rally in North Carolina, Trump also rambled about J.D. Vance’s memoir, Kamala Harris’ bar exam, and the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter.
- Andrew Prokop @ Vox: J.D. Vance has made it impossible for Trump to run away from Project 2025
He wrote the foreword for a new book by Project 2025’s architect — and has backed some of its most extreme ideas.
- Arthur Delaney @ HuffPost: JD Vance Wrote Book Blurb For Jack Posobiec, Far-Right Influencer Of Pizzagate Fame
The book, “Unhumans,” suggests progressives aren’t really people.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: GOP candidate calls gay people “pedophiles” while raging at Democrat’s rainbow flag
Missouri secretary of state candidate Valentina Gomez was in D.C. yesterday and she stopped by Congress, apparently to get mad at the flags one congresswoman flies in front of her office.
- Tessa Stuart @ Rolling Stone: Trump Allies Sure Are Talking A Lot About Civil War
The former president’s supporters keep raising the idea there’s violent conflict in America’s future.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Gab founder Andrew Torba reports that he has “learned that Thomas Crooks, the deranged Joe Biden supporter who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump, may have had an account on our platform.” For the record, Torba’s platform is a haven for far-right extremists and not Joe Biden supporters.
- C. Jay Engel lauds former President Donald Trump for reportedly regularly using the N-word and saying that disabled people “should just die.”
- Nick Fuentes misses the Trump from 2016 when he had real “Hitler energy.”
- Mario Murillo shares a warning about Kamala Harris: “As a Christian, voting for her will be the most reckless thing you will do in your life.”
- Gordon Klingenschmitt says that “Kamala Harris will be the first ‘traded-money-for-sex’ prostitute to become President.”
- Ali Alexander has some thoughts: “Jews hate everyone who ever enslaved them. Because they hate God. Their CONSTANT war with Him (Daddy issues) is so exhausting. Like: GET OVER IT. MOVE ON. Damn.”
- Finally, Jack Hibbs asserts that “well over 90 percent of people who opt for the homosexual experience were molested as a young child and/or were exposed to heavy pornography.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Radical Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon used his most recent podcast to explicitly lay out his agenda, which boils down to gaining political power and then using that power for the purpose of “crushing our enemies and rewarding our friends.”
That agenda is perfectly in line with Webbon’s previously stated beliefs that the American people are too degenerate, stupid, and cowardly to abide by the Constitution and therefore must be governed by a Christian dictator who “just rules with an iron fist” and forces everyone to “pretend to be Christian.” Under such a dictator, Webbon wants to see the Apostles’ Creed added to the Constitution; abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, in vitro fertilization, and birth control outlawed; women banned from voting, and non-Christians kept out of his neighborhood.
“We need to win,” Webbon declared. “We need to wield power righteously. … I want Christians to have power and with that power, I want it to be wielded righteously. What does that mean? It means crushing our enemies and rewarding our friends.”
What that will look like in practice, explained co-host Wesley Todd, is “the end of Pride Month, the end of DEI society” and the enforcement of “Christian virtues.”
“When you see those four things: our enemies fired en masse; friends hired, ascendant to positions of power all over as judges, as appointments by the Senate, as vice president; money flowing to our networks; and then society reinforcing those values that those leaders and those friends and those networks are pushing, that’s when you know we’ve made good progress,” said Todd.
Webbon added that a good first step is seeing people fired from their jobs for having made posts on social media celebrating the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and/or lamenting its failure.
“The solution isn’t to prevent [those people from being fired],” Webbon declared. “The solution, by the grace of God, is that that would multiply by 10,000. We need so much more of that.”
The biggest impediment to achieving “so much more of that,” Webbon griped, is “female leadership.”
“Women are supposed to think, when a husband comes home and says, ‘Yeah, this woman lost her job at Home Depot,’ the correct natural response from your wife is, ‘Oh, that’s sad, I feel bad for her,'” Webbon said. “That’s a good instinct for her to have. It becomes a bad instinct, though, if she’s got her own podcast and she’s wearing a pantsuit and she’s got a blog and a million followers of other suburban moms, and all of them have a vote and all of them actually make more money than their husbands, and the court system is in their direction to where, if they ever divorce their husband, they get all the stuff and they get the kids. So in a in a gynocracy, in a woman-led nation and culture—which is what we currently have—there’s only two types of leaders: women and those who are women-adjacent. That’s it. So, in that society, it’s going to be really hard for us to get friends hired, enemies fired, those kinds of things because those are things that men do.”
In addition to serving as pastor at Covenant Bible Church in Texas, Webbon is also the founder of Right Response Ministries, through which he organizes events like “Blueprints for Christendom 2.0: Seven Doctrines for Ruling the World,” which took place earlier this year and featured militant Christian nationalists like Doug Wilson and Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers as speakers.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Laura K. Field @ Politico: JD Vance Has a Bunch of Weird Views on Gender
The one instinct that Vance and the rest of the New Right share is a deep skepticism about modern feminism and gender equality — or what the New Right calls “gender ideology.” Overt chauvinism that seeks to roll back much of feminism’s gains is one of the most obvious unifying threads of this varied movement, and Trump’s choice of Vance anoints and entrenches it into the culture-war side of the MAGA movement.
- Joe Jervis: Sen. Tommy Tuberville: Most Immigrants Are “Garbage”
“How can you put somebody in charge of a situation where you let 15, possibly even 20 million people come in our country? “Now, some of these people are good, but most of them are garbage. They come from jails and prisons from other countries.”
- Jesse Scheckner @ Florida Politics: Donald Trump to keynote Turning Point Action faith summit in West Palm Beach
Donald Trump will deliver the keynote address at a Christian conservative political conference this weekend in West Palm Beach. Turning Point Action, the political arm of the influential Turning Point USA nonprofit, announced he will headline its “Believers’ Summit.”
- Angry White Men: Laura Loomer: Kamala Harris Is A ‘Braindead Bimbo’ And ‘Not A Woman Of Color’
On her Rumble show, Loomer Unleashed, Trump ally Laura Loomer went on a racist and misogynistic rant about Vice President Kamala Harris. Loomer, a white nationalist and conspiracy theorist, referred to Harris as a “braindead bimbo” who is not Black or a “woman of color.”
- Katherine Stewart @ Religion News Service: Road to Majority conference showed how Trump plans to keep the Christian right close
As the GOP pivots to an unpredictable general election season, it remains committed to framing the contest in the familiar tropes of the Christian right. The choice the nation faces, the party leaders assert, is between godly governance or the triumph of the ungodly. Former President Donald Trump, according to this narrative, has divine protection — and the proof is in his survival of the assassination attempt on July 13.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Candace Owens Dropped From Trump Jr. Event Promoted with Dad’s 2024 Campaign Logo
Highly controversial media personality and conspiracy theorist Candace Owens dropped Tuesday from an event with Donald Trump Jr. that was promoted with the Trump 2024 campaign logo attached to it.
- Sarah Ladd @ Kentucky Lantern: Kim Davis’ legal counsel moves to make her appeal a springboard for overturning marriage rights
A conservative legal group has filed a brief on behalf of a former Kentucky county clerk that it says could lead to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the right of same-sex couples to marry.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Radical right-wing activist Beverly Beatty, who first made a name for herself by vandalizing Black Lives Matter murals, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for blocking access to reproductive health clinics.
- Dave Kubal gripes that “the progressive agenda is a horseless carriage careening off the cliff. In the last decade, we have gone from rights for gays and lesbians to legalized same-sex marriage to LGBTQ rights to 50+ genders to transsexuals’ rights to picking your pronouns to legalized mutilation of minors without parental consent.”
- Self-proclaimed “prophet” Kat Kerr claims that former President Donald Trump “actually is our president right now, legally in Heaven and legally by our laws.”
- Mat Staver says that Kamala Harris “has a very evil, wicked Jezebelian agenda, so don’t underestimate her Jezebel spirit.”
- Finally, Todd Starnes actually had the gall to declare that Black voters will support Harris because “there’s a vast number of Americans who will only vote for candidates based on skin color and political party — even if their picks are incompetent morons.” Um, couldn’t the same be said for white Trump voters?
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Shorty after President Joe Biden announced that he would not be running for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and unabashed Trump cultist Lance Wallnau posted a video in which he warned that Harris represents “the spirit of Jezebel in a way that will be even more ominous than Hillary [Clinton] because she’ll bring a racial component and she’s younger.”
On Tuesday, Wallnau participated in an emergency broadcast during which he delivered another unhinged attack against Harris, claiming that she is controlled by demons and is being used by the devil to destroy the nation.
“She is more radical than [former President Barack] Obama,” Wallnau said. “She’s going to stir up the race wars by playing the race card. She’s gonna stir up the gender wars by playing the woman against man. She’s going to go back and tear open the wounds in America to say Trump is an angry white racist with a dangerous MAGA movement.”
“This is what the devil’s choice is,” he declared.
“I’m a Christian and so when I say this, I say this as a Christian,” Wallnau continued. “There are certain people who are manifesting a spirit talking through them—and I’m not having a problem with the person, I’m having a problem with the demon that is talking through them—and it’s like nails on a chalkboard. She predictably says every incendiary, crazy thing that you don’t want said in public discourse that’ll stir up America. [Remember] the Civil War narrative we had months ago? This is the instrument that’ll revive it.”
Wallnau then worried that the Democrats “might haul out [Secretary of Transportation] Pete Buttigieg as their divine VP candidate” because “he looks good in a uniform and he’s ticked off all the Ivy League boxes.”
“[They’re] gonna inflate his resume as a military hero and scholar that can rival [Trump running mate Sen.] J.D. Vance in a debate,” Wallnau predicted. “And then [they’re] gonna play the intolerant Christian card, and [they’re] gonna kind of get all those homophobes exposed; the racists on Trump and the homophobe Christians with [Buttigieg]. I mean, that’s how the devil works.”
Wallnau, for his part, is current in the midst of a nationwide tour aimed at putting former President Donald Trump back in office by breaking the “demonic strongholds” in swing states that have supposedly been preventing Republicans from winning elections, all for the purpose of preparing right-wing Christians to rule and reign when Jesus Christ returns.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Mara Richards Bim @ Baptist News: Want to know who’s behind Project 2025? Follow the money through the swamp
In the 1976 film All the President’s Men, the character Deep Throat tells Robert Redford, playing Bob Woodward, to “follow the money” to get to the bottom of the Watergate scandal. The line is a classic. It’s also pretty good advice for anyone interested in knowing more about some of the funders behind the Heritage Foundation’s now-infamous Project 2025.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: A Southern Baptist leader praised Biden’s “selfless” act. Now he’s out of a job.
Brent Leatherwood was fired a day after saying Joe Biden “put the needs of the nation above his personal ambition.”
- Angry White Men: Joel Webbon: Women Who Have Abortions Should Be Prosecuted For ‘First Degree Murder’
On his YouTube show, Theology Applied, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon declared that women who have abortions should be prosecuted for “first degree murder.” The self-described “abortion abolitionist” also argued that Christians should cast their votes for Donald Trump.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: GOP Lawmaker Introduces JD Vance By Warning If Trump Isn’t Reelected It ‘Will Take a Civil War to Save the Country’
Ohio state Sen. George Lang (R) introduced Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, at a rally on Monday and flat-out declared the U.S. might need a second civil war in order to be “saved” if Trump is not reelected in November.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: ‘DEI,’ ‘Colored,’ ‘Jezebel’: MAGA Attacks on Kamala Harris Are Getting Ugly
The right can barely contain its racist, sexist contempt for Biden’s likely 2024 replacement.
- Joe Jervis: Roseanne Barr: Obama Is Secretly President And He’ll Appoint His Wife And Hillary To Head The 2024 Ticket
“It doesn’t really matter who the Democrats choose because the president is Obama, and he’s in his third term now, and he’ll be running for his fourth term.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Peter Brimelow announces that he is resigning from his role at VDARE and that the organization’s website is shutting down.
- Brian Brown reacted to Brimelow’s announcement by praising him as “an old friend and great man.”
- Jackson Lahmeyer says that fellow MAGA pastor Greg Locke is a “charlatan.”
- Ivan Raiklin, Trump’s self-proclaimed “secretary of retribution,” is urging far-right activists—”particularly those who don’t have a big public profile”—to volunteer for the Democratic National Convention.
- Nick Fuentes hates a lot of people, but there are few he hates more than his own supporters, as every show he grows increasingly exasperated listening to their comments even while they are showering him with money.
- Finally, if we didn’t know better, we’d have assumed that Brenden Dilley was talking about himself: “Why do you think all the Twitter tough guys, when you meet them in person, are colossal pussies?”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Christian nationalists and right-wing fascists have never been shy about their agenda, but lately many of them have become increasingly bold in laying out the future they envision for this country.
For instance, during a recent podcast, Christian nationalist pastor Douglas Wilson declared that, “In the republic I envision, Hindus would not be able to hold public office.”
A short thread of Christian nationalists and fascists being very open about their agenda. First up, Douglas Wilson: "In the republic I envision, Hindus would not be able to hold public office." pic.twitter.com/axyZDhrql3
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 23, 2024
Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon used his own podcast to explain what “true revival” in America would look like: “It would look like millions of people being deported. It would look like mothers getting death row for murdering their children” through abortion.
Joel Webbon explaining what "true revival" in America would look like: "It would look like millions of people being deported. It would look like mothers getting death row for murdering their children." pic.twitter.com/uZ0qmKRcOk
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 23, 2024
During a recent appearance on “The Byce Eddy Show,” Christian nationalist activist Ben Zeisloft proclaimed that “our role as Christians who are involved in the political process is not to compromise with them, but to make them do what we want.”
Ben Zeisloft: "Our role as Christians who are involved in the political process is not to compromise with them, but to make them do what we want." pic.twitter.com/Sw7fNUd3qR
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 23, 2024
For his part, antisemitic Christian nationalist fascist Vincent James used his program to proclaim that “the only way to start the return to moral order in the country is by force. … People have to start to realize that faith in God [and] Christian understanding of morality [has to be] the foundation. And this is not gonna be done by choice.”
White nationalist Vincent James: "The only way to start the return to moral order in the country is by force … People have to start to realize that faith in God [and] Christian understanding of morality [has to be] the foundation. And this is not gonna be done by choice." pic.twitter.com/NBZq39RH9I
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 23, 2024
This is precisely the radical agenda that former President Donald Trump is emboldening by promising Christian nationalists that they will have “power at a level that you’ve never used it before” if he returns to the White House.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: Trumpworld Howls Over The Switch From Biden To Harris
Within hours of President Joe Biden withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsing Kamala Harris to run in his stead, Donald Trump had a response: It was all very unfair.
- Matt Gertz @ Media Matters: Flailing right-wing media are not ready for Kamala Harris
President Joe Biden’s decision to end his reelection campaign and support Vice President Kamala Harris has sent the right-wing propaganda machine spiraling out of control, with its anti-Biden message honed over the past few years replaced by total chaos.
- Marina Villeneuve @ Salon: “The lawsuits will lose”: Legal experts pour cold water on right-wing threat to sue over Harris nom
Legal experts say they’re confident that lawsuits filed over the potential placement of Vice President Kamala Harris atop the Democratic ticket will fail — and said campaign finance lawsuits will wind up tangled up in legal battles that won’t be settled until after the election.
- Josephine Walker @ The Daily Beast: Laura Loomer Cheers Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s Death in Racist Rant
Laura Loomer, a white nationalist and Donald Trump’s one-time favored pick for a campaign role, sparked outrage on social media by metaphorically dancing on a Black Congresswoman’s grave.
- Peter Stone @ The Guardian: Pro-Trump Patrick Byrne boosts funds to far-right voter-conspiracy groups
The multimillionaire and prominent election denier Patrick Byrne has been boosting his funding to the Maga-allied America Project and using it to steer six-figure checks to far-right groups that push voting conspiracies in Arizona, Michigan and elsewhere, according to tax records and voting experts.
- Gil Duran @ The New Republic: Where J.D. Vance Gets His Weird, Terrifying Techno-Authoritarian Ideas
Yes, Peter Thiel was the senator’s benefactor. But they’re both inspired by an obscure software developer who has some truly frightening thoughts about reordering society.
- Stephanie Mencimer @ Mother Jones: I Found the “Secretary of Retribution” at the Republican Convention
I found the “Secretary of Retribution” on Tuesday, sitting on a couch on media row during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. As an associate filmed him with a phone camera, Ivan Raiklin was railing against enemies of former President Donald Trump. The self-styled Retribution Secretary had an ominous message: “Constitutional sheriffs,” he warned, were going to round up all the people on Raiklin’s “Deep State target list” in live-streamed “swatting raids” so they could be punished for treason.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Shane Vaughn calls President Joe Biden “the biggest coward in American history” for announcing that he will not run for reelection.
- Todd Starnes immediately went off the deep end: “Is President Biden still alive? Is he awake and alert? Is he in command of his faculties? With respect, we need to see proof of life.”
- With Biden out, Lance Wallnau is already warning that Vice President Kamala Harris represents “the spirit of Jezebel in a way that will be even more ominous than Hillary because she’ll bring a racial component and she’s younger.”
- Ben Zeisloft declares that “female leaders are judgments on a nation.”
- Finally, Jackson Lahmeyer says Harris a “hoe,” though he doesn’t have the courage to do so openly.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Earlier this month, Oklahoma’s Christian nationalist state superintendent of education Ryan Walters announced that he was creating an executive review committee to overhaul the state’s social studies curriculum and that it would be stocked with far-right activists and ideologues.
Among those appointed to the committee was Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, a longtime religious-right activist who has repeatedly misrepresented his academic credentials and whose scholarship is so shoddy that one of his books was pulled off the marked by his own publisher in 2012 after it concluded that “basic truths just were not there.”
Barton is notorious for misrepresenting history in order to bolster his right-wing political agenda and for continuing to repeat his false claims long after they have been debunked. Both of these tendencies were on display when Barton appeared on “The War Room” over the weekend.
“According to University of Houston, they did a 10 year study,” Barton said. “They collected the writings the Founding Fathers in the founding era—15,000 they used—and they found in those 3,154 direct quotes. They said, ‘All right, now let’s see who the Founding Fathers quoted.’ The number one source for their quotes was the Bible. Thirty four percent of all those political quotes came out of Bible verses, and the number one Bible book [was] the book of Deuteronomy.”
“So, this is not hyperbole,” Barton insisted.
While it might not be “hyperbole,” Barton’s statement is certainly misleading, as Right Wing Watch has pointed out time and again:
This claim is a deliberate misrepresentation of a 1984 study conducted by professor Donald S. Lutz of the University of Houston that sought to identify which writers and sources of ideas were most cited in “the political writings of Americans published between 1760 and 1805.” Lutz found that the Bible was cited most frequently solely because many of the pamphlets included in the research were sermons that had been reprinted for mass distribution. Once the sermon pamphlets were excluded, Lutz reported that quotes from the Bible appeared no more frequently in the political writings of the era than citations of the classical or common law.
More importantly, Lutz also noted that when the focus was solely on the public political writings from 1787 to 1788, when the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified, “the Bible’s prominence disappears” almost completely.
Undaunted, Barton continued to spread claims that were debunked years ago.
“I was involved in 13 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court,” Barton stated later in the interview. “Even [former Supreme Court Justice] Stephen Breyer said, ‘We all know the due process rights of the Constitution came out of the Bible.”
“The right to confront your accusers comes out of John 8:10,” Barton insisted. “The right to compel witnesses in your behalf comes out of Proverbs 18:17. The right to speak in your own defense [comes out of] Acts 22:1. If you don’t know scriptures, you’re not going to understand how the Constitution works.”
Right Wing Watch first debunked this claim nearly a decade ago, pointing out that what Breyer actually said in his 1999 concurrence in Lilly v. Virginia was merely that “the right of an accused to meet his accusers face-to-face is mentioned in, among other things, the Bible, Shakespeare, and 16th and 17th century British statutes, cases, and treatises.”
The Court’s effort to tie the Clause so directly to the hearsay rule is of fairly recent vintage, compare Roberts, supra, with California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 155—156 (1970), while the Confrontation Clause itself has ancient origins that predate the hearsay rule, see Salinger v. United States, 272 U.S. 542, 548 (1926) (“The right of confrontation did not originate with the provision in the Sixth Amendment, but was a common-law right having recognized exceptions”). The right of an accused to meet his accusers face-to-face is mentioned in, among other things, the Bible, Shakespeare, and 16th and 17th century British statutes, cases, and treatises. See The Bible, Acts 25:16; W. Shakespeare, Richard II, act i, sc. 1; W. Shakespeare, Henry VIII, act ii, sc. 1; 30 C. Wright & K. Graham, Federal Practice and Procedure §6342, p. 227 (1997) (quoting statutes enacted under King Edward VI in 1552 and Queen Elizabeth I in 1558); cf. Case of Thomas Tong, Kelyng J. 17, 18, 84 Eng. Rep. 1061, 1062 (1662) (out-of-court confession may be used against the confessor, but not against his co-conspirators); M. Hale, History of the Common Law of England 163—164 (C. Gray ed. 1971); 3 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *373. As traditionally understood, the right was designed to prevent, for example, the kind of abuse that permitted the Crown to convict Sir Walter Raleigh of treason on the basis of the out-of-court confession of Lord Cobham, a co-conspirator. See 30 Wright & Graham, supra, §6342, at 258—269.
Needless to say, there is absolutely no historical evidence to support Barton’s claims that our due process rights came out of John, Acts, or Proverbs. More importantly, Barton has never even bothered to cite any historical record to support his claim, nor has he ever had any incentive to do so. And this is because Barton has built his career on exploiting the biblical and historical ignorance of his own audiences, knowing that they are unprepared to question his assertions and will get no traction even if attempt to do so.
Now that Barton has been tapped to overhaul the academic standards in Oklahoma, it is entirely possible that these sorts of bogus claims will work their way into the state’s social studies curriculum, indoctrinating future generations with a Barton-esque Christian nationalist worldview that is built on lies and intentional misinformation.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Trump Blasts ‘Cheating’ Democrats and ‘Crazy Nancy Pelosi’ in RNC ‘Unity’ Speech
Former President Donald Trump attacked “crazy” Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and accused the Democratic Party of cheating in the 2020 election during his Republican National Convention (RNC) unity speech on Thursday evening.
- Sam Levine @ The Guardian: Election denialism front and center at Republican national convention
Doubts about 2020 and fears of another ‘stolen’ election persist – while Trump has beseeched attendees to ‘protect the vote.’
- Kiera Butler @ Mother Jones: At the RNC Prayer Breakfast, Speakers Said the Quiet Part Out Loud
The speeches weren’t all personal testimony. Many were peppered with the language of Christian nationalism and the shadowy charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. In personal testimonies chock full of miracles and Bible verses, speakers assured the crowd that God was guiding their presidential candidate, and would help them accomplish their political goals—especially a complete end to abortion.
- Jake Lahut @ The Daily Beast: Conspiracy Theorist: Huge Social Media DM Dump Is Coming
Donald Trump’s self-proclaimed “secretary of retribution” has been given a pass to the Republican National Convention despite calling for the former president’s enemies to be executed, the Daily Beast has learned.
- Warren Throckmorton: David Barton Complains Leopard Ate His Face
I bet Christian nationalist leaders David Barton, Tony Perkins and their pro-life compadres never thought Donald Trump would shapeshift on them. And surely, they never thought he would get all totalitarian on them. Well, here’s a sad story of face eating leopards eating faces.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Glenn Beck is teaming up with Moms For Liberty to get his new novel placed in school libraries across the country.
- Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers fumes over “the removal of Christian morality from the RNC platform”: “We must look forward, continue to minimize Neo-Cons, and influence the New Right with abolitionist and Christian Nationalist principles.”
- Stew Peters is equally outraged about the “Hindu prayer, Satanic seance, demonic oppression nonsense” that took place at the RNC.
- White nationalist Vincent James says the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump will help him with Black voters because “if anything is gonna get the Black vote, it’s getting shot at right after you just got convicted of multiple felonies.”
- Finally, Matt Shea claims that the U.S. had “less casualties than every other country” during World War II because of prayer. (We’d argue that the fact that the war took place almost entirely overseas and raged for years before the U.S. even joined probably had something to do with that.)
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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In 2021, far-right conspiracy theorist and self-proclaimed “alpha toxic male” Clay Clark organized a “Reopen America” event in Oklahoma that was designed to protest restrictions that had been put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. That event was such a success that Clark quickly rechristened it “ReAwaken America” and launched a nationwide tour, holding similar events all over the country.
Convinced that a vague 2013 prophecy from the late self-declared “prophet” Kim Clement about “a man by the name of Mr. Clark and … another man by the name of Donald” was a prophecy about himself and former President Donald Trump, Clark’s events quickly became a nonstop cavalcade of outlandish conspiracy theories and explicitly violent rhetoric mixed with aggressive Christian nationalism.
Eventually, members of the Trump family began to participate in Clark’s event, leading Clark to form a particularly close friendship with Eric and Lara Trump, whom he credited with “legitimizing what we are doing in the minds of many people.”
In 2023, Clark bragged that through his tour, he had managed to establish direct connections to the Trump family and campaign, and was working to ensure that Trump would be “surrounded by both prophets and pastors” in his run for president.
On Monday, Clark appeared on a program hosted by self-proclaimed “prophet” Julie Green, where he revealed that his current plan is to leverage the access he has gained to place a “prophet” in Trump’s cabinet if the former president returns to the White House.
After bragging that Eric Trump had personally invited him to attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week, Clark recalled how Eric had asked him to organize a right-wing prayer call for the Trump family earlier this year.
“For the president’s son to ask [us] to organize a night of prayer, that’s just not normal of what you would expect, and it shows that God is moving on him,” Clark said. “I feel like the purpose of the ReAawaken Tour is to flip the [organization] chart [so] you have God at the top, prophets second, and then the politicians third.”
“You’d have God, and then you’d have the prophets, and then you would have President Trump listening to them and treating them in the same way that he might talk to the Secretary of Defense, or the same way that he might talk to the head of Homeland Security,” Clark continued. “I would like to see President Trump have a prophet in his cabinet.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Carl Gibson and Maya Boddie @ AlterNet: JD Vance caught quietly deleting ‘100% pro-life’ position from his website
Abortion is one of the defining issues of the 2024 election. Now, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the GOP’s presumptive vice presidential nominee, is trying to conceal his past opposition for the procedure in all cases.
- Andy Kroll and Nick Surgey @ ProPublica: In Private Speech, J.D. Vance Said the “Devil Is Real” and Praised Alex Jones as a Truth-Teller
Vance gave the speech to the secretive Teneo Network. The GOP vice presidential nominee has been a member of the Leonard Leo-backed group, which seeks to cultivate conservative influence in business and culture.
- Jacob Shamsian @ Business Insider: Steve Bannon filmed Jeffrey Epstein for 15 hours. His ‘documentary’ has never surfaced
Before his 2019 death in jail, Jeffrey Epstein spent hours being interviewed on camera by Steve Bannon.
- Tabitha Mueller @ The Nevada Independent: Grand jury indicts ex-Las Vegas Councilwoman Michele Fiore on wire fraud charges
A federal grand jury has indicted Michele Fiore — a former Las Vegas city councilwoman and current Nye County justice of the peace — on four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud after she allegedly defrauded donors of more than $70,000 for personal gain.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Why the leaked phone call between Trump and RFK Jr. matters
We don’t have to wonder what Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. talked about, because a partial recording of candidates’ chat leaked.
- Zachary Folk and Jake Lahut @ The Daily Beast: Republicans Are Wearing Ear Bandages to Copy Trump
Some attendees at the Republican National Convention are wearing fake bandages in an apparent display of solidarity with the former president.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- In response to calls for unity in the wake of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, Andrew Torba declares that there “will be no unity with people who hate us and want us dead, who advocate for the killing of infants, promote the use of hormone blockers for children, endorse the sexual mutilation of minors, support men participating in women’s sports, and who seek to dismantle the traditional family structure. There will be no common ground, no compromise, and no collaboration with these wicked, vile, and disgusting demons.”
- Johnny Enlow claims that Heaven has stopped hundreds of assassination attempts against Trump and that “even two of President Trump’s doubles had been assassinated.”
- Mark Meckler says that Trump is poised to make greatest comeback “in world political history.”
- Christian nationalist Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers is outraged about what is happening at the Republican National Convention, in particular, the decision to allow GOP official Harmeet Dhillon to deliver a non-Christian prayer.
- Jackson Lahmeyer, on the other hand, loves what he sees at the RNC: “The RNC Convention is a Political Convention NOT a Church Service. The Republican Party needs more influencers like Amber Rose to reach a generation that the Democrats nearly totally control.”
- Finally, the Truth and Liberty Coalition’s Richard Harris is blindly spreading David Barton’s lies.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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After a rough year of scandal, electoral defeats, and effective counter-organizing, the anti-LGBTQ, book-banning Moms for Liberty put on a show of force at the Republican National Convention.
A Moms for Liberty town hall Tuesday afternoon drew two governors, three members of Congress, and three state attorneys general. Also addressing the crowd were former Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who now runs the Young America’s Foundation; Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts; anti-abortion activist and “Stop the Steal” leader Ed Martin; and Michael Seifert, who heads Public Square, a fast-growing network of “anti-woke” businesses.
The event started with a promotional video including footage of Donald Trump calling Moms for Liberty “the best thing that’s ever happened to America.” Martin, who was on the leadership team of the Trump-controlled RNC platform process, delivered an opening prayer and told the crowd that the Trump platform’s chapter on education—which denounces “gender indoctrination,” critical race theory, and “left-wing propaganda” while endorsing “universal school choice” and the abolition of the federal Department of Education—reflects the “fingerprints” and “extraordinary influence” of M4L.
The Trump campaign’s reported plans to shift to a more unifying message were not on display at the town hall. “They’re coming after our kids,” said M4L cofounder Tiffany Justice in her opening remarks. She claimed, “Radical Marxists are trying to steal our children’s future.”
Sounding a theme heard from the convention stage, co-founder Tina Deskovich portrayed American political debates in spiritual warfare terms as a battle between good and evil:
There’s something going on in our country right now. And you can’t see it with your eyes, but we all know what it is: It’s the battle between good and evil. It’s a battle for the soul of our country. It’s a battle for the souls of men and women in our country. And bigger and more focused, it’s a battle for the soul of our children….
Our focus is to protect children, and to protect our rights to raise our children as God intended us to raise them. The enemy wants to come between us and our children.
Deskovich cited the 380 Moms for Liberty members she said are now serving on school boards and 42 state laws backed by the group to buttress her claim that “we are winning.”
The first panel featured Sen. Ron Johnson and Reps. Byron Donalds and Harriett Hageman. Justice began with a question that teed up one of the gaslighting themes of the convention, asking about Trump critics “labeling anyone who stands for freedom” as “a threat to democracy.” Hageman denounced Democrats for demonizing conservatives and Donalds denounced “venom” from the left, both ignoring the brutally divisive and literally demonizing rhetoric that is a hallmark of Trump and the MAGA movement.
Panelists criticized the Department of Education—calling to abolish it was one of the most reliable applause lines at the town hall—and criticized teachers unions. Asked why education issues have become so partisan, Johnson claimed that the left “wants to control people’s lives,” asserting, “We’re the party of freedom.”
The state attorneys general panel—featuring Lousiana’s Liz Murrill, West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey, and Missouri’s Andrew Bailey—talked about legal challenges to Biden administration rules interpreting Title IX. In a discussion of limiting access to library materials, Bailey claimed that “the left wants to groom children” and “sexualize children.” Murrill called it an “attack on faith” for librarians to allow children to access books their parents don’t approve. The AGs also talked more broadly about right-wing Republican priorities like eliminating “Chevron deference”—which the Supreme Court majority recently did—to weaken the regulatory power of federal agencies
Highlighting the fact that Moms for Liberty is, despite its nonpartisan protestations, fully integrated into the right-wing MAGA movement, the event included a trailer for a new Citizens United pro-Trump propaganda film called “Rescue Mission: Saving America.” It also included leaders of two powerful MAGA hub organizations, Ed Corrigan of the Conservative Partnership Institute and Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation.
Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas took turns bragging about their states’ attacks on “gender ideology,” diversity, equity, and inclusion, and more. DeSantis talked about how the state is expanding its control over what is taught in public universities.
The event closed with remarks from former presidential candidate and M4L favorite Vivek Ramaswamy, who denounced “left-wing woke indoctrination poison.” Citing the sacrifices made by the signers of the Declaration of Independence, he urged activists to do more, telling them, “2024 is our generation’s 1776.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Earlier this year, Hitler–loving racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, homophobic Christian nationalist fascist Nick Fuentes warned former President Donald Trump not to pick Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election because, said Fuentes, Vance is a race traitor who has “a non-white wife” and “a mixed-up family.”
White nationalist Nick Fuentes says that Trump cannot choose Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate because Vance is a race traitor who has "a non-white wife" and "a mixed-up family." pic.twitter.com/D8LyjyjjcK
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 24, 2024
Trump, who dined with Fuentes at his Mar-a-Lago club in 2022, ignored Fuentes’ advice and named Vance as his pick on the first day of the Republican National Convention earlier this week.
On Monday night, after watching the first day of the RNC, Fuentes renewed his attack on Vance and his wife Usha, who is Indian and Hindu. Fuentes blasted Vance as someone who clearly “doesn’t value his racial identity” if he’s willing to marry somebody “that far outside your race who isn’t even a Christian.”
“Who’s gonna take over after Trump? J.D. Vance with his Indian wife,” griped Fuentes. “Look, I’m not a racist guy so I’m not saying, like, ignorantly, ‘Oh, you have an Indian wife. Eff U.’ I’m saying, what kind of values does a man have to marry somebody that far outside your race, who isn’t even a Christian?”
“It says something about your values,” he continued. “I was raised differently. … You marry someone that’s like you. You marry someone that’s like the kind of people that you grew up with and [is] like your parents. And you marry a Christian. What kind of man marries somebody that isn’t a Christian? What kind of man marries somebody named Usha? Clearly, he doesn’t value his racial identity, his heritage. Clearly, he doesn’t value his religion. He doesn’t marry a woman that professes Jesus Christ? What does that say about him?”
Fuentes, for his part, is himself of Mexican heritage and has openly fantasized on myriad occasions about taking a non-white wife, preferably a child bride who will live in fear for her life due to his psychological and physical abuse.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Michael C. Bender, Andrew Trunsky and Neil Vigdor @ The New York Times: After Saturday, Trump’s Devotees See ‘God’s Protection’
Some of Donald J. Trump’s followers had long viewed him as handpicked by God. The attempted assassination has only increased such quasi-religious devotion and rhetoric.
- Sam Kestenbaum @ Harpers: The Demon Slayers
The new age of American exorcisms.
- Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Conservatives Slam RNC For ‘Giving a Primetime Speaking Slot to a Pro-Abortion Feminist’ Who ‘Praised Satanism’
The Republican National Convention (RNC) received backlash from conservatives for “giving a primetime speaking slot” to “pro-abortion feminist” Amber Rose on Monday.
- Logan M. Davis @ The Colorado Times Recorder: Fire on the Mountain: Inside a Secretive Colorado Bible College (Part I)
After giving nearly a decade of his life to Charis Bible College, Tim knew he needed to leave. Four thousand six hundred miles from his home in the English Midlands, living in the United States on a work visa sponsored by the school, he did not have a plan, he did not know where he would go next, but he knew he needed out.
- John Fea @ Current: Eric Trump compares Christian Right concerns about the GOP platform to “worrying about spots on the wall in the basement” when there are “real holes in the roof.”
The GOP landscape is changing. The Christian Right is in a tough spot right now. If they want to pledge blind loyalty to Trump they will have to deal with his views on abortion and marriage.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friend Atheist: Oklahoma superintendent rejects Bibles in schools despite Ryan Walters’ demands
A couple of weeks ago, Oklahoma’s Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters, a proud Christian Nationalist, announced that he would soon force teachers across the state to use the Bible in their classrooms. Now one superintendent says he won’t be telling his staff to make any changes in line with what Walters wants when the new school year begins.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Divine Protection appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Lance Wallnau claims that he prophesied former President Donald Trump’s decision to choose Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate.
- Racists and Christian nationalists are not happy about Harmeet Dhillon delivering a prayer at the RNC last night.
- Days after Oklahoma state superintendent of education Ryan Walters tapped several right-wing propagandists to overhaul the state’s social studies curriculum, he wrote an op-ed with two of them (David Barton and Steve Deace) urging Christians to vote for Trump because “he will end atheism as a state-run religion.”
- Rep. Lauren Boebert says that she is “always praying for our government to be righteous, that God would remove the unrighteous and install righteous men and women who will honor his word and his people because that’s what we need now more than ever.”
- Joel Webbon asserts that he an obligation to protect his family from the “invasion of military-aged men who hate our country and hate families like mine; white, traditional conservative families.”
- Finally, while Tony Perkins now insists that we must stop demonizing our political opponents, just a month ago he declared that “[the Biden administration] is aligned with the devil and we have to not be afraid to say that.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson closed out the all-day Heritage Foundation policy fest on the first day of the Republican National Convention. He warned the crowd that they are in a “spiritual battle” against “anti-human” forces that want to “eliminate” Christians.
In a strange choice for talking to political activists, Carlson began by describing politics as a “repulsive” process and politicians in general as ruthless and power-hungry and miserable people. But he said he is “thrilled” by Trump picking Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, because “every bad person I’ve ever met in a lifetime in Washington was aligned against J.D. Vance.” Carlson said that was because “they thought he would be harder to manipulate and slightly less enthusiastic about killing people…that he would be an impediment to their exercising power.”
Carlson veered into spiritual warfare rhetoric, saying that since he spoke at the Heritage Foundation’s 50th anniversary celebration 15 months ago, he has experienced “a total change in the way that I see the world,” explaining, “this is not ultimately political. This is much deeper…There is a spiritual battle underway.”
From Carlson’s remarks:
And I think what happened on Saturday, the assassination attempt against President Trump, reminded a lot of people this, or awakened a lot of people to this. There is a spiritual battle underway. There is no logical way to understand what we’re seeing now in temporal terms. You just can’t.
These are not political divides. There are forces, and they’re very obvious now. They’ve decided, for whatever reason, to take off the mask, whose only goal is chaos, violence, destruction. And there are the rest of us who, once again, are not always certain we’re right, but we know that that’s bad and we’re against that, sort of standing, watching, thinking, ‘Is someone going to explain to me why this is politics?’
This is not politics at all. This is much deeper and older and more recognizable than that. This has been going on since the beginning of time. And I do think, by the way, that the more literal among us, and I would count myself in that category, fail to see this because we’re so desperate to ascribe some kind of recognizable human motive to what we’re seeing.
So we call it leftism or neoliberalism or communism or anarchism. We come up with some phrase to describe it, but those phrases are inadequate. They do not describe what’s actually happening. So what you’re seeing now is really not at all different in substance from what you saw in 1789 in France, from what you saw in 1936 in Spain, from what you saw in 1917 in Russia, from what you saw in 1975 in Phnom Penh. It’s all the same. These are forces of chaos and destruction which are fundamentally anti-human, which are against people.
Carlson railed against a number of movements he described as “anti-people,” including what he called “the climate cult.” He told the activists to pay close attention to what makes “them” angriest.
What group do they dislike most? What group are they absolutely terrified of and hoping to eliminate? Well, it’s Christians. That’s who it is. It’s Christians. … The group that makes them angriest, triggers them most, I guess we would say now, is Christians. Christian nationalism. People pray outside abortion clinics. People celebrate Easter, not trans visibility day. These are their real enemies.
Carlson talked about religious persecution during the Cultural Revolution in China and the French Revolution. He said at the start of the Spanish Civil War, the “anti-Christian” side opened fire on a statue of Jesus. “If you find yourself firing bullets at a statue, what you’re really doing is revealing your deepest priority, and that’s to kill Christians,” he said.
“I don’t know if any Christians here or people who are interested in continuing to live in the country you grew up in, but these are the terms and these are the stakes,” Carlson said. “They are not the ones that we’ve been told they are–left versus right, Republican versus Democrat.”
Carlson also talked about the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, saying that Trump’s show of strength—fist raised in defiance—had won him the election, because people want and need strong leaders.
After delivering his remarks, Carlson engaged in some Q&A with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. In response to a question about what kind of conversations people could have to bring their friends and neighbors into the MAGA movement, Carlson said they should pray for people who are willing to accept the status quo. He then veered into a diatribe against “weak men,” saying that fathers should be willing to beat up school counselors who “indoctrinate kids and try and turn them into freaks, circus freaks.” Roberts agreed, saying that “what we’re all yearning for is just a return to normal. And it is normal for a strong man, for a man period, to respond the way you describe to the school counselor.”
Asked about what kind of message the Trump team should be delivering, Carlson said the campaign was trying out a “unity message,” to which he responded:
And a lot of people hear “unity” and they think, well, unity implies some sort of compromise conversation. You can’t have a conversation with people who are unwilling to compromise. The left, which is a religious movement, is unwilling to compromise on any level at all. They won’t even admit men can’t become women. So you how can you have unity with people like that? And of course, you can’t.
Carlson recommended that Trump’s team ignore his critics and simply show through his actions that he is calm and in command. He urged activists to take Trump’s bravery as a model for their own political engagement.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Ever since Joe Biden became president, few right-wing commentators have been as viciously unhinged as religious-right broadcaster Eric Metaxas.
Now, in the wake of the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump over the weekend, Metaxas has the gall to place the blame for the attack entirely on the left, accusing liberals of comparing Trump to Hitler and, in doing so, being responsible for the death of Corey Comperatore, who was shot during the Trump rally.
“Leftist Trump hatred murdered this godly man,” Metaxas tweeted on Sunday.
Metaxas repeated this accusation on Monday’s edition of his radio program.
“I have absolutely known this was coming because when you can’t defeat Trump in the various ways that you’ve outlined, you’re going to find a way to get rid of him if you believe he’s Adolf Hitler 2.0, which they seem to,” Metaxas said. “They have no evidence. It’s insane. He’s never done anything to warrant those comparisons, but they’re thinking emotionally, which is to say they’re not thinking clearly, and I never saw this as anything but inevitable.”
“Now they [have to] deal with the fact that they have been implicated and are implicated in the minds of any fair-minded American in bringing this about,” he continued. “There’s no doubt about that. They look horrible, and they’re trying to call for unity. One of the most despicable tweets I saw was from Condoleezza Rice. Condoleezza Rice said something about, ‘We need to do better [as] the American people, we need to do better.’ And I thought, ‘No, Condoleezza, you need to do better because you’re implying that [it was] nastiness on both sides that led to that bullet being fired.’ … It’s just despicable that she would not-to-obliquely but rather diplomatically try to implicate pro-Trump people in raising the temperature in this country.”
Of course, if anyone is to be implicated in “raising the temperature in this country” by making wild accusations and leveling outrageous attacks, it is Metaxas himself, who has repeatedly compared his political opponents to the Nazis and attacked them as demonic.
Christian nationalist commentator Eric Metaxas says that the only difference between Biden and Hilter is that "Hitler was elected; Biden had to steal the election." pic.twitter.com/uxcB0iSFm2
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 31, 2023
Trump cultist Eric Metaxas' hatred of Biden is making him increasingly unhinged as he calls Biden a "puppet of the devil" and declares that "this man is wicked. There's an absolutely horrifying malevolence [about him]." pic.twitter.com/x247s5KCTw
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 13, 2024
"Our enemies are demonic": Right-wing commentators Eric Metaxas and John Zmirak agree that "the Democratic Party is possessed by preternatural evil. It is not a human institution any more. It is an instrument of wicked spirits." pic.twitter.com/aYLiqfJO2d
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 15, 2022
Far-right commentator Eric Metaxas conducted an unhinged interview with Doug Mastriano in which he called Mastriano's Democrats opponent "evil" and "a villain" and warned that people will regret not voting for Mastriano "if a year from now, a relative of yours is murdered." pic.twitter.com/k3EigWT9uQ
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 6, 2022
Right-wing radio host Eric Metaxas and right-wing pastor Greg Locke agree that Biden's presidency is "a waking nightmare" that God is using to show just how "satanically bad" things can get. https://t.co/PKdiOV9XB0 pic.twitter.com/MgC68yI5vQ
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) June 16, 2021
Some "punk" told Eric Metaxas he had to wear a mask on the ski lift, which was exactly how Germany slid into Nazism: "How did it happen in Germany that these young Brownshirts would behave like that? And I was astonished 'cause I thought, 'This is how it happened.'" pic.twitter.com/G5Yp2oGcIi
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 17, 2021
Right-wing radio host Eric Metaxas compares the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to the Reichstag fire, saying Dems are using it to gaslight the nation and crush dissent: "It is nothing less than Satanic deception." pic.twitter.com/im6yjb93Wr
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 7, 2022
Right-wing commentator Eric Metaxas says that Christian leaders who don't talk about Hunter Biden's laptop or "the hoax of Jan. 6" are exactly the same as Christian leaders who stayed silent in Nazi Germany: "We have exactly the same thing." pic.twitter.com/L2AbDBCuOq
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 23, 2022
Right-wing commentators John Zmirak and Eric Metaxas have become so extreme that they're now spreading the far-right "white genocide" conspiracy theory, likening the situation for white Christians in the U.S. today to Nazi Germany and the genocide in Rwanda. pic.twitter.com/3l1NmrLGYQ
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) September 15, 2022
Even in the wake of the attempt on Trump’s life and Biden’s call for unity, Metaxas is still attacking Biden as “my enemy and the enemy of America.”
You are my enemy and the enemy of America. Jesus commands me to pray for my enemies, and so I do. But you are my enemy. https://t.co/tv5jpOKj2V
— Eric Metaxas (@ericmetaxas) July 16, 2024
And let’s not forget that in the days leading up to the Capitol Insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, Metaxas himself emceed a far-right rally at which Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes vowed to wage a “much more bloody war” if Trump was removed from office.
“Oh, God bless you,” said Metaxas, following Rhodes’ threat. “This guy’s keepin’ it real, folks.”
In 2023, Rhodes was found guilty of seditious conspiracy for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
For Metaxas to claim that rancorous rhetoric from the left has been solely responsible for “raising the temperature in this country” while ignoring the fact that he has spent the last several years using his daily program to literally demonize his political opponents is the height of hypocrisy.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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White nationalist Nick Fuentes hosted an emergency livestream on Saturday night in response to the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump that was carried out by a lone 20-year-old shooter earlier that day.
Fuentes, who in addition to being a racist, misogynistic, homophobic Christian nationalist fascist is also a virulent antisemite, used his program to baselessly suggest that Israel was responsible for the attack on Trump.
Fuentes claimed that even though Trump brags of having done more for Israel than any other president, he has also been critical of Israel’s response to the October 7 attacks. As such, Fuentes concluded that Trump is not blindly pro-Israel enough for the likes of Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, which therefore attempted to assassinate Trump and replace him with the Republican presidential nominee like former Gov. Nikki Haley who will give Israel a free hand to carry out its agenda in the region.
“Is it possible that now that the path has been cleared—Biden is no longer a threat—they don’t even really need a strong contender from the Republican side, they just need anybody really?” Fuentes asked, angrily. “Is it possible that they thought to discard Trump a few days before the convention so that they could install—in a completely undemocratic way, amidst the chaos—their perfect ally that would not question them and would absolutely support what they want to do, their real ambition: going for broke, a once and for all victory against Iran, against Hezbollah, against the Houthis, against Hamas, and against the Palestinian Authority?”
“I think that’s a very real possibility,” Fuentes stated.
Later in the broadcast, Fuentes grew increasingly irate as he attacked Jewish commentators like Ben Shapiro for failing to break Shabbat to condemn the attack on Trump.
“Notice who was silent today,” Fuentes fumed. “When our leader was shot in the face; silence from Ben Shapiro, from Jordan Peterson. Not important. Not important enough. Fuck them. Un-American. Un-American. Tonight is a night for Americans. Fuck them and all these Israel Firsters on Shabbat. … They can burn in hell, just like the traitors that put Christ up on the cross.”
It is worth remembering that despite his long history of openly and repeatedly making known his abhorrent views, Fuentes nevertheless managed to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago with former President Donald Trump and musician Kanye West in November of 2022 and has previously secured the support of elected leaders like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Paul Gosar, and Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers.
The post Antisemitic White Nationalist Nick Fuentes Blames Israel For Trump Assassination Attempt appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Zack Beauchamp @ Vox: What J.D. Vance really believes
The dark worldview of Trump’s choice for vice president, explained.
- Katelyn Polantz, Hannah Rabinowitz and Devan Cole @ CNN: Judge dismisses classified documents case against Donald Trump
A federal judge on Monday dismissed the classified documents case against Donald Trump, a shock ruling that clears away one of the major legal challenges facing the former president.
- Joe DePaolo @ Mediaite: Rep. Lauren Boebert Flat Out Declares ‘I Do Believe Joe Biden is Responsible for the Shooting’ in Stunning Interview
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) declared she believes President Joe Biden is responsible for the shooting at former President Donald Trump’s rally.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: These MAGA Leaders Claim God Spared Trump’s Life
Did divine intervention save Donald Trump from certain death in Pennsylvania? Marco Rubio and Charlie Kirk are apparently believers.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Watch televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s family pray for Donald Trump’s ear
During a livestream Sunday night, televangelist Kenneth Copeland, his daughter Terri Pearsons, and her husband George Pearsons held their hands to their right ears as they prayed for Donald Trump to be healed following the assassination attempt against him.
- Angry White Men: White Nationalist Elijah Schaffer Announces He ‘Will Be At The RNC’
Elijah Schaffer is a far-right propagandist and white nationalist who espouses racist, antisemitic, misogynistic, and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. Schaffer, who hosts a show on Rumble, said in a recent livestream that he will attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
- Andy Kroll @ ProPublica: Inside Ziklag, the Secret Organization of Wealthy Christians Trying to Sway the Election and Change the Country
The little-known charity is backed by famous conservative donors, including the families behind Hobby Lobby and Uline. It’s spending millions to make a big political push for this election — but it may be violating the law.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Randall Terry reacted to the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump by blaming reproductive choice: “We are reaping what we have sown as a nation. We have spilt the blood of 65,000,000 innocent human beings. The violence we have permitted and promoted will bring more violence and bloodshed. God is not mocked.”
- Mario Murillo reacted to the assassination attempt by attacking the Democrats: “This is no political party. It is a death cult—totally devoid of morals, decency or regard for anything but their hold on power. Every American should be angry—angry enough to vote them all out.”
- It took one day for MAGA pastor and Trump cultist Shane Vaughn to start selling $110 silver coins commemorating the assassination attempt.
- White nationalist Tyler Russell responded to the assassination attempt by declaring that “it’s time” for Trump to burn the Constitution and go full Nazi.
- Christian Nationalist Ben Zeislof claims that in vitro fertilization is “Christological heresy.”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes makes the case for converting to Catholicism by bragging that “the Jews hate the Catholics” and “Catholics have always said that the Jews are perfidious.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Trump Assassination Commemorative Coin appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The Trump campaign’s recent dishonest efforts to distance itself from the deservedly reviled Project 2025 policy agenda created by his former aides and closest allies got even less convincing Monday with Trump’s choice of MAGA hardliner J.D. Vance as his running mate. Vance has praised Project 2025’s authoritarian, anti-equality, anti-freedom policy agenda.
Vance is a close ally of the Heritage Foundation, Project 2025’s primary sponsor. Vance he was “thrilled” to write the introduction to Heritage President Kevin Roberts’ new book, “Dawn’s Early Light: Burning Down Washington to Save America.”
Heritage sponsored a “policy fest” on the first day of the Republican National Convention. Held at a symphony hall a few blocks from the secure zone, the policy fest was a day-long series of speeches and panels promoting the kinds of policies laid out in Project 2025.
Roberts addressed the RNC audience just after the lunch break. He said Heritage welcomes the recent media coverage of what he called “the conservative movement’s plans for taking back this country,” claiming that “the vast majority of American people” support the project’s efforts to undermine the federal government’s regulatory powers and dismantle the administrative state.
Roberts tried to make the case that Policy 2025 is “a plan among a unified movement to speak on behalf of the everyday American, the Forgotten American.” In reality, Project 2025 would gut the federal government’s ability to protect American workers, families, and communities from corporate wrongdoing, predatory financial institutions, irresponsible polluters, and more. Roberts’ book title is reminiscent of a joke told among Federalist Society operatives describing their long game to repeal the New Deal and reverse a century of precedent and progress: “Rome Wasn’t Burned in a Day.”
At the same time, Project 2025 would grant a future President Trump virtually unchecked power to use federal agencies to target his political opponents, personal enemies, and mainstream media. That’s why historian Heather Cox Richardson has called it “a playbook to end American democracy.”
When Vance was running for the Senate in 2022, Right Wing Watch noted his support for Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election and Vance’s contempt for democratic checks and balances:
If you’re wondering what kind of United States Vance envisions, it’s one where Trump rules with an iron fist and only employs loyalists at all levels of government. “If I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people,” Vance said.
Vance added that if the courts rule against such a move, Trump should defy them. That kind of stance explains why Vox calls Vance a “naked authoritarian” with a worldview that is “fundamentally incompatible with the basic principles of American democracy.”
Earlier this year, Jack Jenkins at Religion News Service reported on Vance’s connections to Catholic integralism, a right-wing Catholic version of authoritarian Christian nationalism.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Trump V.P. Pick J.D. Vance Wrote Intro to New Book by Heritage President Kevin Roberts appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Michael Flynn, Trump’s former National Security Advisor, has welcomed self-described “secretary of retribution” and “deep state marauder” Ivan Raiklin to the board of directors of America’s Future, Inc., which Flynn chairs.
Raiklin, subject of a recent in-depth Raw Story investigation, has developed a far-right following online and at Flynn’s ReAwaken America tours with his calls for mass arrests of government officials, civil society advocates, and members of the media who he believes should be “criminalized for their treason.”
Flynn’s enthusiastic embrace of Raiklin is confirmation that Donald Trump’s stated plans to bring Flynn back into the White House are what Right Wing Watch called “a five alarm threat to democracy”—and affirms historian and authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s description of Flynn as “one of the most dangerous individuals in America today.” Raiklin has called on Trump to make Flynn his Vice President,
In a June 27 press release announcing that Raiklin has joined the America’s Future board, Flynn said Raiklin “will never back down or quit the fight to save our nation from the tyranny at our doorstep.” America’s Future executive director and Flynn’s sister Mary Flynn O’Neill called Raiklin “a fearless powerhouse in the fight for freedom and liberty worldwide.”
That doesn’t seem like a terribly accurate description for someone who has drawn up a list of 350 elected officials, intelligence agents, government employees, and journalists to be arrested when Trump is reelected. Raiklin responded to questions from Raw Story by posting that his “Deep State target list” is just “the scratching of the surface of who is going to be criminalized for their treason, okay?”
In a disturbing video he posted on social media in May, an intense and hostile Raiklin told NPR reporter Zoe Chase that the mass arrests he was describing would take place no matter who wins the presidential election. “This is going to take place at the hands of the American people, with or without an election.”
Raiklin said he hopes to be deputized by a red-county sheriff to help carry out the mass detentions. NJ.com, drawing on the Raw Story report, wrote, “If Trump is re-elected, Raiklin wants to enlist so-called ‘constitutional’ sheriffs in rural, conservative counties across the country to lock up Trump’s political enemies. He lusts for ‘live-streamed swatting raids’ against Trump’s political enemies on his ‘Deep State target list.’”
Like Flynn, Raiklin backed Trump’s efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election. Raiklin helped devise and promote the Trump team’s bogus theory that Mike Pence had the power to reject state-certified electoral college votes. Flynn called on Trump to declare martial law after the 2020 election and told right-wing activists on the eve of the insurrection not to accept the outcome. Since then, he has teamed up with conspiracy theorist Clay Clark for the ReAwaken America tour, a road show of radicalizing extremism that combines right-wing conspiracy theories with aggressive Christian nationalism.
Raiklin spoke at a ReAwaken America event and held a press conference with right-wing media in Detroit in June, where he laid out his plan to have sheriffs deputize the 80,000 veterans he says are “clamoring” to help carry out live-streamed raids against people on his enemies list. He hopes some of them will be executed, saying, “Some states have something called capital punishment. It would be so glorious for capital punishment to go from the ‘o’ spelling to the ‘a’ spelling in Texas, in Louisiana, in Kansas, in Florida, and the list goes on, as we start the retribution cycle.”
Trump family members and surrogates have often spoken at ReAwaken America events. Eric Trump and Trump adviser Kash Patel are scheduled to speak at a ReAwaken America Tour stop in North Carolina in October.
Raw Story reported that Raiklin tried without success to recruit so-called “constitutional sheriffs” at an April gathering of Richard Mack’s Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. Raiklin also met with Mack in June, though Mack has since distanced himself, saying he disagrees with Raiklin’s rhetoric. Raiklin told right-wing media that he would be speaking at a sheriffs event in Texas right after the Republican convention.
In his ReAwaken speech, Raiklin floated a couple of extremely implausible conspiracy theories. In one, establishment Republicans would try to somehow change RNC rules to deny Trump the nomination. In another, several establishment Republicans would retire from the House, allowing Democrats to name Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker, thereby allowing Congress to pass and President Biden to sign legislation designating Trump as an insurrectionist to keep him off the ballot. Raiklin also urged attendees to demand that red-state legislators allocate their state’s Electoral College votes to Trump.
Responding to Raw Story’s report about Raiklin’s mass arrest plans, Rep. Jamie Raskin warned, “A retired U.S. military officer has drawn up a ‘Deep State target list’ of public officials he considers traitors, along with our family members and staff. His hit list is a vigilante death warrant for hundreds of Americans and a clear and present danger to the survival of American democracy and freedom.”
After the assassination attempt at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, Patriot Takes unearthed footage from five months ago of Raiklin and Alex Jones talking about how a Trump assassination could unleash the forces of retribution. Raiklin said it would be “so much better for us and so much worse for them,” because it would provoke “the best cleansing and the fastest cleansing that we’ve ever seen in my lifetime.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Right Wing Watch reported this week that members of the Republican Platform Committee were subjected to heavy-handed authoritarian tactics by the Trump RNC, which refused to allow any questioning of the candidate’s wishes. Rather than drafting and debating the platform in public, Trump’s team closed the doors, shut down debate, took away delegates’ phones, and intimidated them into rubber stamping the language wanted by the Trump campaign. Not surprisingly, that hasn’t gone over too well with some platform committee members.
On Thursday, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins used his Washington Watch show to slam the “despicable” and “disgusting” process and criticize the “heavy-handed” platform committee chairperson, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who apparently acted as the Trump team’s enforcer. She was “unbelievable,” said Perkins:
I mean, it was shocking. They allowed for no amendments or discussion before forcing a scripted vote. Now, this process done in secrecy behind closed doors, quite frankly, is unbecoming of a party that champions free speech and due process.
Ironically, the document itself calls for vigorous defense of free speech and the end of government censorship. Well, deprived of the opportunity to actually discuss this so called draft document and strengthen the weak platform that lacked the party’s historical stand for the unborn, there was a group of us delegates that have submitted a minority report to supplement the platform…
The delegates had a gag, basically a gag rule put on them, their phones taken. Media was not allowed in. So most people don’t know what happened in the room. But fortunately, I have a microphone, and I can tell you. It was despicable. It was disgusting. It was not befitting of a party that claims to be a defender of law and order, due process, and the freedom of speech—and certainly not a party that claims to protect the unborn.
A July 11 action alert from FRC criticized the “highly choreographed” and “unprecedented, tightly scripted process that allowed for no amendments or substantive debate before the vote.”
Perkins and his FRC colleagues aren’t the only ones angry about the process. “They rolled us,” outraged platform committee member Gail Ruzicka told Milwaukee’s WISN12News.
The language rammed through the platform committee is purposefully vague on issues like abortion and marriage. That way, the Trump campaign can send two different messages. Religious-right leaders loyal to the campaign can put the strongest anti-abortion spin on the language, while the campaign encourages headlines about a new “moderate” position to appeal to the majority of voters who don’t share the religious right’s anti-choice and anti-equality obsessions.
Still, the abandonment of more explicit language calling for constitutional bans on abortion and laws defining marriage as one man and one woman is rankling some religious-right leaders.
Perkins called the platform “woefully inadequate in communicating a definitive position on the protection of human life.” He complained that the last GOP platform recognized God 15 times, while the Trump version has just two “passing references” to God. And he noted that the platform contains no reference at all to the Second Amendment—“none, zero.”
Religious right activist Michael Brown complained this week that the platform language was so “watered down” that the GOP can no longer be viewed as “the party of life.” Brown warned that “allowing the platform to be weakened in the name of electoral pragmatism might signal a whole new wave of GOP candidates who are less committed to the pro-life cause but who are allegedly better than the Democrats.” He added, “It might also embolden current GOP congressmen to soften their own stances in the name of electability, thereby continuing to erode the GOP’s stance for life. In the end, there might be little to distinguish the two parties when it comes to abortion.” Brown continued:
My counsel would be that we do not take this new platform lying down, but do our best to work for a change until the last minute possible. If, in the end, we cannot bring change about, then we still work with the GOP for the moment while making it clear behind the scenes that the next GOP candidate will have to embrace our pro-life position — otherwise, they will not make it through the primaries.
Among other religious-right figures unhappy about the platform include former VP Mike Pence, Jason Rapert of the Christian nationalist National Association of Christian Lawmakers, and former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis, who went dramatically for a maximalist position, posting, “You cannot be a faithful Christian and a faithful Republican after today.” Brent Leatherwood, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission called it “political malpractice.” Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, called the platform changes an example of “cowardice.”
Anderson and his mentor Robert George—who has urged the Supreme Court to require all states to treat abortion as homicide—were among a group of anti-abortion activists who released a letter to GOP delegates Friday urging them to “vote down any platform that weakens the party’s pro-life stance.”
At the right-wing Christian outlet The Stream, John Zmirak slammed MAGA politicians and anti-abortion activists who have gone along with Trump:
It’s sickening to see previously pro-life politicians like Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance sell their souls for pennies on the dollar, then watch pro-life groups pretend the miserable half of a moldy loaf tossed to them by the Trump campaign is a wedding cake. It’s both morally repulsive and deeply humiliating.
As Right Wing Watch noted earlier this week, Trump’s team clearly calculated that religious-right activists have nowhere else to go. At The Stream, Zmirak demonstrated the thinking that Trump’s team is counting on. “We must yell our heads off now, try to bluff Trump and his lowbrow cronies into thinking we might sit the election out,” Zmirak wrote, but in the end religious-right voters would have to “quietly go ahead and vote in our own self-defense.”
Other religious-right activists who have worked hard to cement the relationship between conservative evangelicals and the Republican Party warn that even if very few of their constituents would ever vote for a Democratic candidate or sit the election out, many who feel betrayed may feel less motivated to make phone calls and knock on doors to turn out voters.
And maybe some of them, perhaps those who learn how Trump’s team treated his close allies on the platform committee, may be more open to warnings about Trump’s dictatorial tendencies, the authoritarian agenda of Project 2025, and the consequences of giving Trump power after the right-wing Supreme Court ruled that he is virtually immune from accountability for any crimes he commits as president.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Tony Perkins Calls GOP Platform Process ‘Despicable,’ Slams Chair Marsha Blackburn’s ‘Unbelievable’ and ‘Shocking’ Behavior appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
One of the defining characteristics of Christian nationalism is the willingness of its adherents to spread myths and false history about the Founding Fathers in an effort to bolster the movement’s modern-day political agenda. This tendency was on full display last week as multiple Christian nationalist politicians, commentators, and activists spread a series of demonstrable falsehoods during various media appearances celebrating the Independence Day holiday.
For instance, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who is now running for governor, appeared on the “Washington Watch” program last week, where he asserted that when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 reached a stalemate, they went to church and “prayed for wisdom from God to finish the Constitution.”
Mark Robinson, the GOP gubernatorial nominee in North Carolina, claims that when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 were at a stalemate, they went to church and “prayed for wisdom from God to finish the Constitution.” That never happened. pic.twitter.com/omM1vELUAt
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 8, 2024
That never happened, as Right Wing Watch has explained before:
[George] Washington did not adjourn the convention so that the delegates could spend “three days going to church and praying together.” [Benjamin] Franklin delivered his speech on June 28, 1787, a Thursday. According to “Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution” by historian Richard Beeman, the convention continued to meet on Friday, Saturday, and the following Monday before taking a break to celebrate the Independence Day holiday. Even during this break, members of the Grand Committee, which was created to try to hammer out a compromise over apportion representatives in the new national legislature, continued their work.
When pastor Jack Hibbs appeared on One America News, he claimed that Benjamin Franklin had called for Congress to begin every day with prayer.
Christian nationalist pastor Jack Hibbs claims that Benjamin Franklin called for Congress to begin every day with prayer. That is, of course, both totally wrong and entirely untrue, as RWW has explained over and over again. https://t.co/VWsOXEHg9H pic.twitter.com/QFtz2Z6ESs
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 9, 2024
That is entirely untrue and a misrepresentation of a recommendation made by Franklin during the Constitutional Convention, a recommendation which, as RWW has pointed out repeatedly, was rejected by the other delegates:
At the conclusion of the day’s session in which the delegates rejected his suggestion, [Franklin] scrawled a note on the bottom of the speech he had written expressing his incredulity: “The convention, except three or four persons, thought prayer unnecessary!”
MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer delivered an Independence Day sermon that, once again, was full of disinformation and false quotes.
According to the Center for Digital History at the Washington Library at Mount Vernon, there is no record of Washington ever saying, as Lahmeyer claimed, that “it is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”
Furthermore, Lahmeyer quoted John Adams as having said that “the destiny of America is to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to all men everywhere. We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world.” While the final part of this quote regarding the Bible does appear in a letter Adams wrote in 1813, the other statements do not appear in that letter or anywhere else.
During an episode of their “Revival Radio TV” program on televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel, hosts Gene Bailey and Greg Stephens claimed that President George Washington and Congress made a covenant with God during the first presidential inauguration.
“The first recorded act of Congress was to make covenant with God,” Stephens asserted.
Christian nationalists Gene Bailey and Greg Stephens claim that George Washington and Congress made a covenant with God during the first presidential inauguration: “The first recorded act of Congress was to make covenant with God.” This is nonsense: https://t.co/Ed5bBX198B pic.twitter.com/dbd0WV2jmD
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 11, 2024
This too is entirely false, as RWW explained in 2023 when Copeland himself made this claim:
Contrary to Copeland’s assertion, Congress never made any such covenant with God; not in its official capacity as a legislative body, nor during the “divine service” that followed Washington’s inauguration, which was presided over by Rev. Samuel Provoost, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, who merely read from The Book of Common Prayer.
Pastor George Pearsons, who is Copeland’s son-in-law and pastor at Copeland’s church, delivered a sermon in which he claimed that Roger Sherman, one of the few men to sign both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, had proclaimed that “the volume that we consulted more than any another was the Bible.”
“Don’t let them lie to you! Don’t let them give you disinformation about all of this,” bellowed Pearsons.
Christian nationalist pastor George Pearsons claims that Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration and Constitution, declared that “the volume that we consulted more than any another was the Bible.” Sherman never said anything of the sort. pic.twitter.com/ksHd45XZKo
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 11, 2024
The source of this quote actually originated in a volume of the Niles’ Weekly Register from 1837 and simply cited an unnamed biographer of Sherman who wrote that “the volume which he consulted more than any other was the Bible. It was his custom, at the commencement of every session of Congress, to purchase a copy of the Scriptures, to peruse it daily, and to present it to one of his children on his return.”
While Sherman may have personally consulted the Bible regularly, that is a far cry from the impression that Pearsons attempted to create by misrepresenting the quote to insist that “the Bible was consulted for the founding of the United States of America.”
Finally, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, who in many ways is the original source for many of the myths and falsehoods listed above, appeared on a World Prayer Network program where he made multiple false claims, insisting that “the number one cited source for the ideas on which we built the Constitution was the Bible.”
Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton claim that “the number one cited source for the ideas on which we built the Constitution was the Bible.” We’ve pointed out repeatedly that this entirely untrue. https://t.co/d8SScZACR7 pic.twitter.com/3deAtBEC2B
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 12, 2024
RWW has debunked this claim multiple times:
This claim is a deliberate misrepresentation of a 1984 study conducted by professor Donald S. Lutz of the University of Houston that sought to identify which writers and sources of ideas were most cited in “the political writings of Americans published between 1760 and 1805.” Lutz found that the Bible was cited most frequently solely because many of the pamphlets included in the research were sermons that had been reprinted for mass distribution. Once the sermon pamphlets were excluded, Lutz reported that quotes from the Bible appeared no more frequently in the political writings of the era than citations of the classical or common law.
More importantly, Lutz also noted that when the focus was solely on the public political writings from 1787 to 1788, when the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified, “the Bible’s prominence disappears” almost completely.
As for Barton’s claim that “the language on capital punishment in the Constitution” is the same as “the language on capital punishment in Deuteronomy,” this is s likewise false since there is literally no mention of capital punishment in the Constitution.
As RWW has noted before, the willingness to misrepresent history is a common theme among Christian nationalists who time and again spread blatant falsehoods in defense of their right-wing ideology, inevitably leading one to wonder why, if their position is true, do they have to keep lying to try and “prove” it?
Clearly, these activists simply do not care about the truth because perpetuating these myths is useful for convincing Americans that their Christian nationalist political agenda is deeply rooted in our history.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Christian Nationalists Celebrate Independence Day By Spreading Myths And Lies appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Contorno @ CNN: Trump claims not to know who is behind Project 2025. A CNN review found at least 140 people who worked for him are involved
At least 140 people who worked in the Trump administration had a hand in Project 2025, a CNN review found, including more than half of the people listed as authors, editors and contributors to “Mandate for Leadership,” the project’s extensive manifesto for overhauling the executive branch.
- John Whitehouse, Helena Hind, and Jane Lee @ Media Matters: Oklahoma is having right-wing media figures rewrite its social studies curriculum. Here’s what you need to know about them.
On July 9, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction Ryan Walters announced that a number of people — many of them key figures in right-wing media — would be rewriting the social studies curriculum in the state. The list includes right-wing hosts with ties to Walters like Steve Deace, Dennis Prager, and Stacy Washington. Also included is Kevin Roberts, the head of The Heritage Foundation, which has organized Project 2025.
- Annika Brockschmidt and Ben Lorber @ Religion Dispatches: Persecution, Betrayal, and the Zero Sum Fight for Global Domination — Day 1 of NatCon 2024
The opening day of 2024’s National Conservatism conference was shot through with familiar themes of far-right triumphalism, civilizational war, xenophobia and existential threat.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Texas pastor fined after illegally using church donations to boost his city council campaign
A Texas politician and the churches that donated directly to his campaign have been fined for violating state law. But the fines are so low that there’s no reason to think it’ll prevent the further mingling of church and state.
- Chuck Tanner and Devin Burghart @ Searchlight: White Nationalist Motown Meltdown
On 15 June, influential white nationalist “Groyper” leader Nick Fuentes attempted to hold a fourth version of his America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC IV) in Detroit, Michigan. It was his latest move to pull the right in a more antisemitic and fascist direction. Amidst the chaos of an ill-planned event, Fuentes and a coterie of followers and “VIPs” were booted out of three venues. Along the way, Fuentes made clear his current strategy is not “America First,” but “antisemitism first.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Self-proclaimed “prophet” Julie Green told Rudy Giuliani that God assured her that Giuliani will receive “total exoneration” and “your name will be fully cleared.”
- After failing for a third time in the last eight years to get elected to Congress, Mark Burns declares that “God is not done with me yet.”
- It’s pretty telling that Joel Webbon’s defense of his bigoted views is that they are the same views that were “held by any Christian before 1945.”
- George Pearsons claims that Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration and Constitution, declared that “the volume that we consulted more than any another was the Bible.” Sherman never said anything of the sort.
- Finally, Nick Fuentes says that the problem with marriage today is that women are not afraid of their husbands: “She’s not afraid of getting hit, she’s not afraid of being killed, she’s not afraid of violence.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Last month, radical Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon participated in a panel discussion during which he called for an end to immigration because he had to explain to his daughter why there was a woman in “straight-up Hindu garb at our neighborhood swimming pool.”
“I don’t even know what country I’m in, in my own neighborhood,” Webbon fumed as he complained about having too many non-white, non-Christians in his neighborhood.
Naturally, Webbon’s comments generated some controversy, which prompted him to double down during his livestream podcast on Wednesday.
“My hometown and my neighborhood, my state, is being flooded with non-citizens, and then even those who are citizens … are still worshiping false gods,” Webbon griped. “They’re not American in any sense of our heritage, and primarily I’m talking about that being a problem as it pertains to religion.”
“They worship other gods,” he continued. “They are Hindu. They are Muslim. They are Jews. They are not Christians.”
Webbon said that he and his fellow white Christians have a “civic duty” to ensure that their children and grandchildren “have the privilege of growing up in a country that bears at least some semblance to the country that you got to grow up in and is not completely decimated by pagan gods and foreign people from foreign lands.”
“All throughout scripture, the idea of full-blown invasions from foreign peoples who worship foreign gods, it is never, in scripture, spoken of as a blessing of liberty. It is always spoken of as a judgment,” Webbon declared. “I believe that America is under God’s judgment. And I don’t think that the forms or the expressions of God’s judgment merely lie with Drag Queen Story Hour, but that they also include the fact that my neighborhood is 30 percent Hindu.”
“That,” Webbon stated, “is a sign of God’s judgment upon our land.”
Webbon is a militant Christian nationalist who believes that the American people are too degenerate, stupid, and cowardly to abide by the Constitution and therefore must be governed by a Christian dictator who “just rules with an iron fist” and forces everyone to, at the very least, “pretend to be Christian.” Under such a dictator, Webbon wants to see the Apostles’ Creed added to the Constitution; abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, in vitro fertilization, and birth control outlawed; and women banned from voting.
In addition to serving as pastor at Covenant Bible Church in Texas, Webbon is also the founder of Right Response Ministries, through which he organizes events like “Blueprints for Christendom 2.0: Seven Doctrines for Ruling the World,” which took place earlier this year and featured fellow Christian nationalists like Doug Wilson and Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers as speakers.
The post ‘They Worship Other Gods’: Joel Webbon Says Non-Christians Living In His Neighborhood Is A Sign Of God’s Judgment appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jordan Green and Mark Alesia @ Raw Story: Trump’s ‘secretary of retribution’ has a ‘target list’ of 350 people he wants arrested
Trump’s loyal surrogates have duly embraced the project — perhaps no one more zealously than Ivan Raiklin, a retired Army Reserve lieutenant colonel and former U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency employee, who bills himself as the former and would-be president’s “future secretary of retribution.”
- Rachel Leingang @ The Guardian: Project 2025: inside Trump’s ties to the rightwing policy playbook
Donald Trump’s attempt to distance himself from Project 2025 after extreme comments from one of its leaders falls flat given the extensive Trump ties and similarities between the project’s policy ideas and the former president’s platform.
- Karen Yourish, Charlie Smart and David A. Fahrenthold @ The New York Times: How Mar-a-Lago Became the Center of Gravity for the Hard Right
Since Mr. Trump left office in 2021, Mar-a-Lago has transformed into a White House in exile and the nerve center for some of the most extreme elements of the party’s MAGA wing. This includes a nearly steady stream of promoters of conspiracy theories that include lies that the 2020 election was stolen and that the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, was a federal setup.
- Angry White Men: Stephen Wolfe: The Term ‘Judeo-Christian’ Is An ‘Utter Subversion’
Last month, at a far-right conference, Christian nationalist author Stephen Wolfe denounced the term “Judeo-Christian” as an “utter subversion” that should be “eradicated from our thinking.” He also claimed that, in a “Christian nation,” Jews would be “tolerated” but actions that “undermine” the “Christian nature of the nation” would not.
- Isaac Schorr @ Mediaite: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell Asks Trump to Put Him ‘In Charge’ of American Elections
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell made his case for being put “in charge” of elections in a second Trump administration during an appearance on the War Room podcast Tuesday.
- Phoebe Petrovic @ Wisconsin Watch: The Gospel of Matthew Trewhella: How a militant anti-abortion activist is influencing Republican politics
For much of his public life, Trewhella has made a career of denouncing the law while railing against abortion and gun restrictions. Twenty years ago, that made him a political pariah. His reputation for blockading abortion clinics, calling for churches to form militias and defending the murder of abortion providers was so extreme that two state chapters of Right to Life, the anti-abortion group, condemned him. But today, the world has changed. He has been invited to speak by local Republican parties and other groups across the country. He gave a prayer breakfast sermon to one of the nation’s preeminent law enforcement associations. And a prolific booster of election conspiracy theories has used his work as the basis for a campaign to disrupt elections.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman is now blaming the Biden administration for the COVID protocols that were put in place in 2020, when Donald Trump was president.
- Gene Bailey and Greg Stephens repeat the false claim that President George Washington and Congress made a covenant with God during his first inauguration: “The first recorded act of Congress was to make covenant with God.”
- This sort of baseless Christian nationalism is running so rampant that right-wing commentator Doug Billings is now drawing parallels between the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the death and resurrection of Jesus.
- Nick Fuentes says that he needs a wife who, after he “justifiably” throws her through a wall, will apologize, clean up the mess, and make him a sandwich.
- Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon insists that Jews “hate Christ”: “Israel, not being God’s chosen people, are not even Christ-adjacent to God’s chosen people. In fact, if anything, Talmudic Judaism is uniquely hostile to Christian faith and to Christ.”
- Finally, Stephen Wolfe, author of “The Case For Christian Nationalism,” declares that Jews should be “tolerated” but “we would not tolerate any action that would undermine that Christian nature of the nation”: “If we say that America is a Judeo-Christian country, then it can’t be a Christian country.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Last month, Oklahoma’s Christian nationalist state superintendent of education Ryan Walters announced that the Bible must be taught in all public schools in the state. Now, Walters is taking things a step further, announcing that the state’s social studies curriculum will be overhauled in order to further promote his Christian nationalist worldview.
“The revised standards will incorporate the introduction of the Bible as an instructional resource that Superintendent Walters announced last week as well as the ensuring that social studies reflect accuracy and not political slanted viewpoints,” stated the press release issued by Walters’ office on Tuesday. Walters’ claim is laughable, given that the state’s new curriculum will undoubtedly reflect the “political slanted viewpoints” of the various far-right activists he has appointed to the executive review committee.
Among the participants is Kevin Roberts, the hard-right activist who has pushed the Heritage Foundation into increasingly extreme MAGA territory and is leading the Project 2025 effort to seize control of the federal government should former President Donald Trump win the 2024 election.
In 2023, Right Wing Watch reported:
In a speech celebrating the 50th anniversary of Heritage’s founding, Roberts said the 2024 election “may be our last, best chance to rescue this nation from a woke, socialist left bent on its destruction,” mocked “non-vaccine vaccines” and “useless masks,” declared that there must be no bargaining with the “woke left,” and asserted that “dismantling the woke and weaponized Administrative State” is a matter of national survival. A Heritage ebook about critical race theory suggests that systemic racism cannot exist because racial discrimination is illegal.
Joining Roberts is Everett Piper, the former president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, a right-wing commentator, and self-proclaimed proud “right-wing religious nut.”
In 2017, RWW reported:
Everett Piper is the president of a Christian college who has found success on the Religious Right speaking circuit by attacking the “ideological fascism” of gay-rights supporters and other liberals, who he says area waging a “war against Christians” in academia and the broader culture. Piper gave a rousing culture warrior’s closing keynote to the 2015 summit of the World Congress of Families, which works to restrict LGBT rights and reproductive freedom around the globe. Piper has described WCF’s critics as “a hateful people who hate anyone who dares stand in their way of hating God.” At a 2015 conference organized by anti-gay activist Jim Garlow, Piper described the Obama White House as “seemingly more aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood than Franklin Graham.” Piper was listed earlier this year as a member of the education committee of the secretive far-right Council for National Policy.
Commentator Dennis Prager will be lending his “expertise” as well, which is ironic given that the educational materials produced by Prager’s own organization are rife with disinformation and right-wing propaganda.
In 2023, RWW wrote:
Dennis Prager is a prominent far-right propagandist whose PragerU videos have been viewed billions of times. Prager argued against the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee from the U.S. Capitol. Prager is allied with Christian nationalists and promotes their false claims about U.S. history. When Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress and chose a Quran for his ceremonial swearing in, Prager slammed him for not using a Bible, saying, “If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.”
Unhinged far-right broadcaster Steve Deace has also been named a member of Walters’ committee, despite his repeated calls for violence against his political opponents, including openly declaring that he wants to see “antifa members hanging from gallows in Trump ties.”
Finally, and most alarmingly, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton has been named to Walters’ committee. As RWW has noted before, Barton is almost single-handedly responsible for creating the Christian nationalist myths that the far-right uses to justify its push to enact harmful public policies that weaken the separation of church and state, undermine women’s rights, and deny legal equality to LGBTQ Americans.
RWW profiled Barton in 2023 after Rep. Mike Johnson, who credited Barton with having a “profound influence on me and my work and my life,” was elected Speaker of the House:
David Barton has built an entire career out of misusing, misrepresenting, and outright falsifying history, the Bible, and current events and doing so to promote his Christian nationalist political agenda. He has been highly influential not only within Republican politics, where he has many fans among current and former GOP legislators, but also internationally. On top of that, Barton’s Christian nationalist pseudo-history is shaping both Christian and secular educational institutions across the country.
Barton, who has repeatedly misrepresented his academic credentials and personal history, had his book on Thomas Jefferson pulled by his own publisher in 2012 after it concluded that “basic truths just were not there.”
Undaunted, Barton has soldiered on, repeatedly declaring that Christians who share his far-right worldview are supposed to be choosing our elected leaders and ruling the world because everything must operate according to biblical principles.
Barton falsely insists that our Constitution and entire system of government are based on the Bible and thus asserts that everything from the minimum wage to the income tax to the teaching of evolution are unconstitutional because they supposedly violate Biblical teachings. Barton also believes that there should be literally no limits on the Second Amendment, meaning that average citizens are entitled to own tanks, fighter jets, and even nuclear weapons.
Predictably, Barton takes a far-right position on issues like abortion—going so far as to proclaim that life actually begins before conception—and on LGBTQ issues, asserting repeatedly that AIDS is God’s punishment for sin and therefore a cure will never be found.
In his press release, Walters’ proclaimed that the “unparalleled expertise” of these panelists “will help craft new academic standards that will serve as a mode for the nation and help Oklahoma students for years to come.” In reality, what will likely emerge from this process is a curriculum warped by political bias and riddled with intentional disinformation designed to indoctrinate students with right-wing propaganda.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Philip Bump @ The Washington Post: The ‘great replacement’ theory, now in legislation form
A Republican effort to combine election denialism and border alarmism, known as the Save Act, is having the desired effect.
- Andre Gee and Asawin Suebsaeng @ Rolling Stone: The Fyre Fest Fraudster Is Connecting Trump With Rappers
Trump’s Justice Department sent Fyre Fest organizer Billy McFarland to jail. Now, he’s helping arrange Trump’s meetings with rappers, sources say.
- Marlon Ettinger @ The Daily Dot: Antisemites on X demand Musk reinstate former Marine suspended for burning Talmud
Angelo John Gage, who goes by Lucas Gage on social media, was suspended from X after posting a video over the weekend of himself slashing an Israeli flag with a sword captioned “Death to Jewish supremacy.”
- John Fea @ Current: Eric Metaxas on why ministers who don’t preach politics, and Christians who attend their churches, are under judgment
Billy Hallowell interviews Eric Metaxas on Christians and politics.
- Edith Olmstead @ The New Republic: Trump Has Turned RNC Into a “Slut Walk,” Republicans Complain
Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis was not pleased by the convention’s platform or scheduled speakers.
- Cassandra Jaramillo, Jeremy Kohler, Sophie Chou and Jessica Kegu @ CBS News/ProPublica: Texas sends millions to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. It’s meant to help needy families, but no one knows if it works.
An investigation by ProPublica and CBS News found that the system that funnels a growing pot of state money to anti-abortion nonprofits has few safeguards and is riddled with waste.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- The Family Policy Alliance Foundation and Christians Engaged are merging.
- Owen Strachan has been tapped to lead the newly formed Dobson Culture Center (as in James Dobson).
- Jon Miller says that if he had been alive in 1776, he would have sided with England and gladly chosen death over living in “the jewnited states of weimerica.”
- Jack Hibbs claims that Benjamin Franklin called for Congress to begin every day with prayer. That is, of course, both totally wrong and entirely untrue, as RWW has explained multiple times before.
- Ryan Helfenbein of Liberty University’s Standing for Freedom Center declares that “God bequeathed this nation to us” and that “the idea that religion and politics do not mix is a lie the Devil came up with to keep Christians from running their own country.”
- Finally, Sen. Josh Hawley makes it abundantly clear: “Some will say now that I am calling America a Christian Nation. And so I am. And some will say that I am advocating Christian Nationalism. And so I do.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Donald Trump’s dictatorial impulses were on full display in Milwaukee Monday, as Trump’s team at the Republican National Committee steamrolled the platform committee into endorsing language drafted by the Trump campaign. The bare-knuckled pressure deployed by Trump’s operatives against his own allies was more revealing about the threat of a Trump presidency than the platform language itself.
The drafting and adoption of the GOP platform used to be a decentralized and democratic process. Each state party elects two delegates to the platform committee. In the past, sections of the platform were worked on in subcommittees, and the committee met over multiple days to discuss, amend, and vote on the drafts. Those meetings were open to the media and broadcast on C-SPAN.
Not in the MAGA era.
Trump’s operatives reportedly ignored, bent, and broke RNC rules in order to purge two South Carolina delegates they deemed too committed to the anti-abortion platform language Trump wanted to soften. One of them, former state GOP chair and former leader of faith outreach for the RNC Chad Connelly, describes an operation similar to the fake elector scheme Trump operatives used to try to overturn the 2020 election: Although Connelly was elected to the committee according to the state GOP process, RNC operatives convened their own meeting, elected their own delegates, and then got Trump loyalists at the RNC to accept the Trump team’s bogus delegates.
When Trump’s RNC announced that the platform committee meeting would be held behind closed doors, some religious-right leaders objected. Over the week of July 4, they mobilized an effort to lobby RNC delegates to restore a degree to transparency to the process.
Team Trump didn’t listen.
Not only did the doors remain closed, but delegates and observers were forced to give up their cell phones so they could not record the proceedings. Trump and RNC campaign staff held “vote yes” signs and took photos of delegates as they voted, Politico reported. “Debate” was limited to one minute per person. Committee members got the language that morning, were bullied to accept it, and were done before lunch.
In other words, instead of the expected two days of deliberation and debate, Trump’s operatives turned the platform committee into a rubber stamp operation worthy of a Chinese Communist Party leadership election.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and other FRC officials complained about the process and the “watered down” platform on Perkins’ Washington Watch show Monday evening. Former Rep. Jody Hice, FRC’s senior vice president, repeatedly called the process “disturbing.” Another FRC vice president, Brent Keilen, criticized the lack of openness and transparency. Travis Weber, yet another FRC vice president, described the level of “tight control” that was “exerted upon the whole process.”
“Everyone knows when someone is trying to ram something down their throat,” said Weber. “And it was very clear that this was being rammed down the throats of everyone there today.” He said that the “iron-fisted” process and “pressure tactics” disrespected the delegates. Noting that the process led to a platform with far fewer references to God, Weber said, “God was not given a place of honor it that room.”
You might hope that this dissent-quashing display of authoritarian control might make some right-wing activists question their commitment to a candidate with a record of praising the “strength” of dictatorial leaders. But the MAGA movement has fully embraced Project 2025’s vision of an authoritarian presidency. And many religious-right political operatives like Ralph Reed are being good MAGA foot soldiers, rallying around Trump and the new platform.
But Connelly, whose Faith Wins organization urges conservative pastors to be more politically engaged, said he heard from more than 1,000 pastors in recent days, and said he believes “the base is going to be deflated” by the process and platform changes.
The far shorter platform language rammed through committee by Trump’s team drops some language that religious-right groups had fought to keep—like a call for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion and opposition to marriage equality—while still embracing a litany of far-right positions, including the anti-abortion movement’s claims that fertilized eggs are protected by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
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In June, a variety of far-right pastors gathered in Utah for a “Building Christian Boroughs” conference organized by the New Christendom Press. Among the participants was pastor Joel Webbon, an ardent Christian nationalist who believes that the American people are too degenerate, stupid, and cowardly to abide by the Constitution and therefore must be governed by a Christian dictator who “just rules with an iron fist” and forces everyone to, at the very least, “pretend to be Christian.”
Webbon—who wants to see the Apostles’ Creed added to the Constitution; abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, in vitro fertilization, and birth control outlawed; and women banned from voting—participated in a conference panel discussion on “Christian Nationalism, Women in Politics, & Jewish Influence on American Society” during which he declared that immigration must be curtailed and the southern border sealed because his neighborhood in Texas is being overrun by non-white non-Christians.
“We can’t afford to lose Texas,” Webbon said. “Unless something drastically happens, I think by 2028, Texas will officially be blue in presidential elections, in large part because of the border.”
“I walk around my neighborhood and it’s not that there are [just] different shades of white and brown,” he added. “No, it’s like full, straight-up Hindu garb at our neighborhood swimming pool that my daughter is asking [about and] I’m trying to explain.”
“I don’t even know what country I’m in, in my own neighborhood,” Webbon declared. “I don’t know where I am.”
“When we go on a family walk, the number of Pakistanis, Hindus, [there are] all these different not just ethnicities but religions with visible religious outfits on,” Webbon griped. “And the same thing when we go to Costco. I’m like, ‘Where am I?'”
“We’ll go on a family walk and every now and then we’ll pass by, you know, a white family that’s a man and a woman and has more than one kid,” he continued. “And every time I see it, I’m like, I don’t want to be this way but I feel this small sense of relief. Like, ‘I I see you. I’m glad you’re one of my neighbors.'”
Insisting that his outrage is “not about whiteness,” Webbon claimed that his concern is that “at the end of the day, if things get rough, I don’t know if my Hindu neighbor is going to fight to save the lives of my children.”
“I love this country. I am willing to fight to defend it. A lot of people here I don’t think are,” Webbon asserted. “One thing that it’s time for is to shut down the border.”
In addition to serving as pastor at Covenant Bible Church in Texas, Webbon is also the founder of Right Response Ministries, through which he organizes events like “Blueprints for Christendom 2.0: Seven Doctrines for Ruling the World,” which took place earlier this year and featured militant Christian nationalists like Doug Wilson and Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers as speakers.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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The Republican Platform Committee will meet in Milwaukee on Monday and Tuesday; unlike previous platform committee meetings, which were open to the press and broadcast to the public, this year’s deliberations will be behind closed doors.
Anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ religious-right activists had a major hand in writing the most recent GOP platform in 2016, and they are organizing to stop Trump’s team from changing the hardline anti-abortion and anti-marriage equality language to something Trump’s advisors think will be less off-putting to voters.
It’s getting ugly. Politico reported on July 2 that the RNC apparently overrode a vote by South Carolina delegates in order to replace two social conservatives with Trump loyalists. One of the activists reportedly dumped is Chad Connelly, a former head of faith outreach for the RNC who has been actively organizing conservative pastors to mobilize turnout among their congregants.
Connelly’s group, Faith Wins, is among more than two dozen religious-right groups supporting a “Platform Integrity Project” that is urging followers to contact RNC delegates and askig them to sign a request that the platform committee meetings be open. Backers include the Family Research Council, David Barton’s WallBuilders, Intercessors for America, Eagle Forum, the American Principles Project, and the political action arms of the American Family Association and Council for National Policy. FRC’s Perkins, himself a member of the platform committee, wrote to RNC chair Michael Whatley and other party leaders on July 1 to protest what he called “the RNC Gag Rule” and the possibility that the platform would be “watered down to a few pages of meaningless, poll-tested talking points.” FRC has announced that it will be tracking and scoring how delegates vote on the platform.
The Trump campaign’s willingness to play hardball with its closest allies suggests how urgently Trump’s advisers want to make abortion less of a voting issue this fall, given that most Americans oppose abortion bans. The RNC seems to assume that the right-wing evangelical voters who overwhelmingly backed Trump in 2016 and 2020 will not abandon him over platform language given that he gave them a Supreme Court majority that overturned Roe v. Wade.
Organizing intensified in recent days. The group Created Equal, which argues that the law should treat abortion like murder, declared in a Friday email, “We won’t allow the GOP to throw preborn babies under the bus.” It said the group “will fly a giant aerial tow banner of a 15-week aborted baby juxtaposed with the words ‘VOTE ANTI-ABORTION’ over Milwaukee” during the convention. A Saturday morning action alert from FRC asked activists to contact their state’s platform committee delegates to ensure that the platform is not “watered down.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio, still auditioning to be Trump’s V.P. pick, backed Trump’s position that abortion should be a state issue and that a federal ban is not feasible, telling CNN’s Dana Bash that “our platform has to reflect our nominee.” FRC’s Perkins responded Sunday evening saying he was “stunned” by Rubio’s “capitulation to the forces of abortion” and asserting, “I can assure you that if the GOP abandons the unborn in the Party Platform, it will dampen Bible-believing, conservative voter enthusiasm and turnout.”
Public feuding aside, this year’s platform committee is in hardline hands, with Christian nationalist Project 2025 leader Russ Vought and anti-abortion extremist Ed Martin among the committee’s leadership team. GOP activist and Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton is serving again on the committee, and declared recently that his mission is to ensure that the platform aligns with the first twelve chapters of the book of Genesis.
It will be particularly interesting to learn what role Ed Martin plays. Martin, who supports a federal no-exceptions abortion ban, portrays himself as the keeper of the late Eagles Forum founder Phyllis Schlafly’s legacy. As Right Wing Watch has reported, during the 2016 Republican convention, “Schlafly hosted a ‘Life of the Party’ event celebrating that the GOP has been officially anti-abortion since 1976; she told attendees that she endorsed Trump after he pledged loyalty to a pro-life platform.”
But Martin and other religious-right activists are also MAGA Trump supporters, so they may try to prevent an all-out fight by working out a compromise that tries to make their followers as well as Trump’s political operatives happy. At the 1996 Republican convention in San Diego, Schlafly, Ralph Reed, Bay Buchanan, and Gary Bauer successfully beat back nominee Bob Dole’s effort to soften the platform’s anti-abortion language. At the time, Reed was gleeful about flexing the religious right’s political muscle and demonstrating the movement’s power to humiliate Dole, which could have ultimately contributed to his defeat.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein @ Politico: Steve Bannon to report to prison Monday after Supreme Court declines to give him a reprieve
The decision means the influential right-wing podcaster will head to prison on July 1, with his release date just days before the November election.
- Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: Supreme Court Executes Massive Power Grab From Executive Branch In New Ruling
The Supreme Court overruled a key pillar of federal agency authority Friday, appropriating a massive amount of executive branch power to itself.
- Rachel Olding @ The Daily Beast: Supreme Court Upends Hundreds of Capitol Riot Cases
In a ruling that will have implications for one of Donald Trump’s criminal cases, the high court ruled that the feds must narrow their use of obstruction charges.
- Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling @ The New Republic: Trump Proudly Brags About Rollback of Abortion Rights in Biden Debate
Donald Trump proudly took responsibility for the overturning of Roe v. Wade during the first presidential debate on Thursday, rewriting history as though he had accommodated the majority of Americans in choosing to do so.
- Carl Gibson @ AlterNet: CO GOP chair who said he wanted to ‘burn all the Pride flags’ loses congressional primary
While June is typically celebrated as LGBTQ+ Pride month, Colorado Republican Party chairman Dave Williams has spent the last several weeks bashing the LGBTQ+ community. And on Tuesday night, Centennial State Republicans handed him a major loss.
- Angry White Men: Joel Webbon Prays With Holocaust Denier For Israel To ‘Repent’ Of Its ‘Perversion’
Yesterday, Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon appeared on the show of Holocaust denier and Nazi sympathizer Stew Peters. During the interview, Webbon claimed that no religion has a “more hostile view towards the person and work of Jesus Christ” than “talmudic Judaism.” Webbon also said a prayer for Israel to “repent” of its “perversion.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Eric Metaxas says that celebrating Juneteenth is “evil”: “It’s the celebration of victimism, of victimhood.”
- Christian nationalist Joel Webbon continues his attack on gay people: “If you’re willing to sodomize someone, then it’s just a hop, skip, and a jump from there to doing unspeakable things with children.”
- Speaking of Webbon, he wants to see a “distinctly Christian preamble” added to the Constitution and all Ten Commandments turned into law, including “you shall have no other gods before me.”
- Matt Barber’s effort to undermine the legitimacy of former President Trump’s hush money conviction is undermined by Barber’s own lack of understanding regarding the basic facts and timeline of the case.
- Finally, Jack Hibbs credits Noah Webster with being “personally responsible for Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.” We have no idea where Hibbs got that idea, given that Webster was not among the delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Oklahoma’s Christian nationalist state superintendent of education Ryan Walters this week instructed all public schools to teach the Bible, which the New York Times called “an extraordinary move that blurs the lines between religious and instruction and public education.”
Walters, an energetic supporter of former President Donald Trump, actively seeks the media spotlight for his aggressive Christian nationalism and culture war posturing. As Right Wing Watch has noted, “Walters seems intent on using public education funds to proselytize Christianity, while falsely characterizing church-state separation as promoting atheism.” Walters is allied with Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who has dedicated “every square inch” of the state to Jesus, saying that with his authority as governor, “I claim Oklahoma for you.”
Walters pushed state officials to approve a taxpayer-funded religious charter school last year. He responded to a complaint about a Bible verse being posted in a classroom by sending teachers a memo declaring, “I do not want to see Oklahoma school districts becoming complicit in promoting atheism.” A month earlier Walters claimed, “President Joe Biden wants to destroy this country. He wants to destroy our schools. He wants to destroy your family. And he wants to destroy our Christian faith.”
The timing and lack of detail in Walters’ new order suggest that he may have been trying to prevent himself from being upstaged by Louisiana’s governor signing a new law requiring that the Ten Commandments be posted in every public school classroom. That legislation has been promoted by religious-right groups as part of “Project Blitz,” a long-term strategy to push Christian nationalist legislation at the state level. Last fall, Walters spoke at the Pro-Family Legislators Conference sponsored by WallBuilders, which has claimed credit for the Louisiana law. Christian nationalists are urging legislators to go “on offense” to take advantage of the right-wing Supreme Court majority’s moves to undermine church-state separation.
Courts have said that public schools can teach about the Bible consistent with the First Amendment as, for example, part of a course on comparative religion or literature. Schools can teach about the Bible’s role in history, but cannot teach Bible stories as factual history. Schools cannot use the Bible for indoctrination or proselytizing. Those rules are often not followed.
In 2000, People For the American Way Foundation published the results of an in-depth investigation of the way Florida school districts were teaching “Bible History.” Course materials made it clear that the classes were often being taught as religious instruction, often assuming that students and teachers were Christian. In 2019, when Trump endorsed the Project Blitz call for more Bible teaching in public schools, Right Wing Watch reviewed the evidence:
Among the details included in the PFAWF report were this question which appeared on tests in two high schools: “Why is it hard for a non-Christian to understand things about God?” Another high school exam question asked, “If you had a Jewish friend who wanted to know if Jesus might be the expectant [sic] Messiah, which book [of the Gospels] would you give him?” Another lesson asked, “Who, according to Jesus is the father of the Jews?” The answer: “The devil.”
The Texas Freedom Network Education Fund has published multiple reports on the way Bible classes have been taught in that state’s public schools. Southern Methodist University religious studies professor Mark Chancey has documented that classes were being taught from a right-wing fundamentalist Christian standpoint, including a literal interpretation of the Bible, with materials “designed to evangelize rather than provide an objective study of the Bible’s influence.”
In addition, noted Chancey in a report originally published in 2006, Bible courses often fostered “notions of American identity as distinctively Christian,” using videos and materials from Barton’s WallBuilders. Chancey described WallBuilders’ “America’s Godly Heritage” video as “so inaccurate in its content and so unabashedly sectarian in its goals that one federal court has prohibited its use in public schools.”
Walters has aligned himself with the pro-censorship group Moms for Liberty and has viciously attacked teachers unions. Right Wing Watch noted in its preview of last year’s Moms for Liberty summit:
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is waging a scorched-earth campaign against teachers and teachers unions, which he called “terrorist organizations” at a budget hearing in May; he has been accused of lying to legislators at that hearing. At a state board of education meeting, Walters played a five-minute video savaging teachers unions, a video so hostile—it included insinuations that teachers supported pedophilia—that educators feared it would incite physical attacks on public schools. His agency banned sexually explicit materials from school libraries without defining the term. After Trump’s recent indictment, Walters put out a press release headlined, “Joe Biden Leading a Banana Republic Coup Against American Justice,” an indication of his focus on MAGA politics and promotion of Trumpish conspiracy theories.
Public education and the separation of church and state are just two of the many targets of the religious-right and MAGA movement groups behind Project 2025, which has drawn up plans for right-wing activists to “take the reins of government” if Trump or another conservative president is elected.
The post Oklahoma Superintendent Orders Public Schools to Teach Bible as White Christian Nationalists Go ‘On Offense’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Garnet Henderson @ Rewire News Group: Supreme Court Rules Idaho Doctors Can Provide Emergency Abortions—For Now
The Idaho v. United States decision allows a district court injunction against full enforcement of Idaho’s abortion ban to go back into effect, but also allows the legal battle to continue.
- Ron Filipkowski @ MeidasTouch Network: OK Schools Chief Says Schools Will Now Be Required to Teach the Christian Bible
After getting smacked down by the Oklahoma Supreme Court yesterday after his attempt to fund a Catholic school using tax dollars, Schools Superintendent Ryan Walter announced today that from this day forward every public school in the state will be required to have a Bible in the classroom and teach from it.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: In pitch to Black voters, Trump emphasizes his ‘amazing’ mugshot
It was bad enough when conservative media said Black voters would like Donald Trump’s mugshot. Watching the Republican push the same line makes it worse.
- Angry White Men: On YouTube, Tim Pool Tries To Rehabilitate Richard Spencer
On June 21, 2024, right-wing streamer Tim Pool brought white supremacist Richard Spencer on his YouTube show, The Culture War with Tim Pool. Spencer’s appearance was part of a debate with Andrew Wilson, a far-right, anti-LGBTQ Internet personality who once went by the moniker “Big Papa Fascist.”
- Marlon Ettinger @ The Daily Dot: Rudy Giuliani advertised MyPillow every single day for a month—it earned him $1,200
Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani disclosed that his consulting LLC took in just over $1,200 in May from 2020 election conspiracy impresario Mike Lindell’s company MyPillow, even after promoting the product every day on his YouTube and Rumble channels.
- Alex Kaplan and Camden Carter @ Media Matters: Trump’s “meme team” ally Brenden Dilley uses his online show to spew threatening and discriminatory rhetoric, rampant misogyny, and other vitriol
Brenden Dilley, a far-right podcaster who previously pushed the QAnon conspiracy theory, leads a “meme team” that creates pro-Trump content that The New York Times says “traffics freely in misinformation,” “racist stereotypes,” and “demeaning tropes about L.G.B.T.Q. people.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry defends his state’s recently enacted Ten Commandments law, saying the Supreme Court “got it wrong in the 1940s when it created this metaphor of church and state.”
- Jack Hibbs says that by putting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, “teachers are not going to be raping kids any more.”
- Tony Perkins reacts to churches that celebrate Pride Month: “Those aren’t churches. Those are social clubs.”
- Joel Webbon hopes that “by God’s grace” the word “‘gay’ would be used an insult more and more and more.”
- We don’t want to hear Stew Peters complain about people calling him a Nazi ever again.
- Finally, the National Faith Advisory Board held a prayer call for former President Donald Trump ahead of tonight’s presidential debate during which Paula White prayed that he would “the mind of Christ” and speak “with the wisdom of God” while Jentzen Franklin prayed that God would give Trump “the tongue of the learned” and expose the “wickedness” and “evil intent” that he claims are in President Joe Biden’s heart.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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As he has multiple times in the past, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton will once again serve on the committee responsible for drafting the Republican platform ahead of the Republican National Convention next month. Addressing the responsibility on his radio program today, Barton said that his mission is to see that the Republican Party platform aligns with the first twelve chapters of the book of Genesis.
Barton discussed the upcoming meeting of the platform committee with fellow committee member Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, who, like Barton, has been a member several times in the past. Barton vowed to fight against any effort to “get all that social conservative stuff out of the platform.”
“Biblically, that’s just not the way it works,” Barton said. “Scripture is really clear that righteousness exalts a nation … Jesus says, ‘Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness,’ and all this other stuff will get added to you. So one of the things, as Tony pointed out, that we’re really going to work on in the platform is the first twelve chapters of Genesis.”
“If you take the first twelve chapters of Genesis, it starts with, ‘In the beginning, God.’ So what do you get out of that? God is central to everything in the story. So if you’re not acknowledging God, that’s a problem,” Barton added. “You’ve got to have a willingness to acknowledge God because if you stop being God-conscious, your behavior changes. If you stop being God-conscious, that’s a problem.”
“You start with the acknowledgement of God,” Barton continued.” Then as you go, it says that God created man. Well, God created life. So life is an important issue. That is a creation of God. You need to be protecting life; that includes unborn life. That’s throughout the scriptures. Back in the Old Testament law, God talked about the penalties for taking unborn life. So that’s a big deal in the first twelve chapters of Genesis. And then it says, ‘And he made them male and female.’ So now we get gender involved in it. Four times it says that God made them male and female, so giving up on gender stuff, or Title IX and letting that go away, those are social issues but they are the top issues of God. They’re right there at the start of the book.”
“Then Adam and Eve had children,” Barton asserted. “Now you’re into the family. So you want to protect the nuclear family, you want to protect the traditional family. And then as you continue on, you go through and you get to chapter twelve where …God makes a covenant with [Abraham] and says, ‘You’re going to become a nation, and whoever blesses that people, I’m going to bless and whoever doesn’t bless that people, I’m not going to bless.’ That’s Israel.”
“So, when you look at the first twelve chapters of Genesis, you’ve got a pretty good grid there of the first things we’ve got to be looking for,” Barton declared. “It’s going to be, number one: Are you God-acknowledging? Is God part of what you do [and] in your thinking? Are you talking about it? Number two is going to be the life issue. Number three is going to be gender. Number four is going to be family. And number five is going to be Israel. And certainly those are things we’re working very hard on in the Republican platform not to take out.”
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- Anne Nelson @ The Washington Spectator: God and QR Codes for Trump; The Courage Tour Goes to Michigan
At the outset, the Courage Tour looks like an updated version of an old-fashioned Elmer Gantry-style revival, complete with Bible verses, Christian rock, and the promise of faith healing for sufferers of anything from arthritis to sciatica. But within minutes it took on all of the characteristics of a political rally, recruiting worshippers for door-knocking, letter-writing, phone banking, and election oversight, driven by Pentecostal fervor and fear of the devil.
- David A. Fahrenthold and Alexandra Berzon @ The New York Times: Michael Flynn Has Turned His Trump-World Celebrity Into a Family Business
The former national security adviser took over a nonprofit group. Soon, it was paying five of his relatives and trafficking in conspiracy theories.
- Lisa Mascaro @ The Associated Press: Conservative-backed group is creating a list of federal workers it suspects could resist Trump plans
Tom Jones and his American Accountability Foundation are digging into the backgrounds, social media posts and commentary of key high-ranking government employees, starting with the Department of Homeland Security. They’re relying in part on tips from his network of conservative contacts, including workers. In a move that alarms some, they’re preparing to publish the findings online.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Louisiana GOP lawmaker can’t defend her own Ten Commandments law
State Rep. Lauren Ventrella couldn’t answer basic questions about the legality of the law she sponsored.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Trump’s new pitch: having migrants fight each other for sport
Donald Trump’s idea of putting migrants into a ring to fight for Americans’ entertainment is, among other things, new.
- Ed Pilkington @ The Guardian: Charlie Kirk once unified conservative youth for Trump. Why are Republicans now turning on him?
Kirk’s non-profit, Turning Point Action, is planning a $100m ‘chase the vote’ operation to help propel the ex-president to the White House, but his outsized influence is being subjected to scrutiny.
- Molly Redden @ HuffPost: A Leonard Leo-Linked Group Is Secretly Funding Legislative Attacks On Trans Rights
Documents obtained by HuffPost show that Leo, a powerful figure who helped Donald Trump select Supreme Court justices, has funneled money to a group pushing gender-affirming care bans.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Christian nationalist Doug Wilson complains that by giving women the right to vote, “we were, in fact, taking it away from families.”
- Mark Meckler says that if his organization actually manages to convene a convention of the states to propose constitutional amendments, it will literally be “the biggest political event in the history of the world.”
- Andrew Torba, the antisemitic white nationalist founder of Gab, vows that he will “take any necessary measures to guarantee that my children are raised in a White-majority community.”
- Sen. Josh Hawley declares that “religion unites America” but the “radical left” is trying to “erase the foundation that this country has in, yes, the Bible”: “We don’t need less Christian influence in our society. … We need more, in every part of government.”
- Ben Zeisloft calls for “a separation of sodomy and state.”
- Finally, self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman hopes that at the start of tomorrow night’s presidential debate, former President Donald Trump will move to shake President Joe Biden’s hand but then reach up and pull off Biden’s face so we can “see who is under that mask”: “Wouldn’t that be great for the whole world to see?”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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When the National Association of Christian Lawmakers held its National Policy Conference at Liberty University earlier this month, participants on one panel discussed ways to take advantage of the far-right majority’s control of the Supreme Court to “unwind” the separation of church and state. During a separate session, participants, led by radical right-wing conspiracy theorist and anti-choice activist Janet Porter, discussed a plan to enact laws mirroring the one passed in Texas in 2021 that allows anyone to sue a clinic, doctor, or any person who facilitates an abortion for up to $10,000 and apply the same strategy to LGBTQ issues in public schools.
During her remarks, Porter bragged that she has been working with Jonathan Mitchell, the right-wing attorney behind the Texas abortion law, on her efforts to draft this model legislation and she practically cackled with delight as she unveiled her slogan for it: “If there is grooming, a lawsuit is looming.”
“What if, instead of us putting out all these fires in this library and in this school and in this county, what if we stopped it at the source?” Porter said. “What if we put together a bill that says, hey, guess what, if you’re involved in any kind of grooming … if you don’t tell mom and dad what Johnny and Susie are reading, then you’re liable to a lawsuit.”
“This addresses the transvestites, the Drag Queen Story Hour, the outside speaker that they bring in from GLAAD or from Planned Parenthood or from whatever the name they pick for the latest homosexual activist group,” Porter continued. “I had been praying for years, ‘How do we address the alphabet mafia?’ You know, the LGBTQRSTD. How do we go after that and get it out of our schools? … We can actually take out the grooming, we take out the pedophilia, the sodomy, it’s all listed in this bill. … Essentially, we’ve got a bill that says if Johnny or Susie comes home with any material that violates this long list of anything from pedophilia to grooming to the LGBT agenda, then guess what? They are opening themselves up to a lawsuit.”
Porter then bragged that “just like” the Texas bill, her legislation is crafted so that “we can sue them and we can get the legal fees, [but] if they sue us, they can’t get legal fees.”
“I’m laughing,” Porter admitted. “I’m like, ‘Can can we even do this?’ Well, we can. That bill’s [been] upheld. The court did not strike it down and that same kind of language is in here so that we’re not opening up parents to legal fees.”
“So, it’s just a bill that says again, if you do this, then you will be held accountable, whether you are a teacher, whether you are a librarian, or whether you are an advisor to the gay club on school, whether you are someone who brings in an outside speaker, or the outside speaker,” Porter declared. “We’re going to be able to say, if there is grooming, a lawsuit is looming.”
Founded by zealously anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice former Arkansas state legislator Jason Rapert, the National Association of Christian Lawmakers regularly holds conferences at which Republican leaders, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, and religious-right activists plot strategy about how to enact their radical political agenda throughout the country, largely through model legislation that is specifically designed to be taken home by participating state legislators and turned into law. The ultimate goal of the NACL is to “take authority” over every level of government across the nation and one day put one of its members in the White House.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Mark Burns is a right-wing pastor, conspiracy theorist, and unabashed Trump cultist who, after running unsuccessfully for Congress in South Carolina in 2018 and 2022. switched districts in 2024 to take advantage of GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan’s decision not to run for reelection in what the Associated Press described as “a solidly Republican South Carolina district.”
Earlier this month, Burns advanced to a runoff for the Republican nomination, no doubt assisted by the endorsement of former President Donald Trump. As Right Wing Watch reported at the time, Burns is a radical MAGA activist who has repeatedly demonized and endorsed violence against his political enemies, even going so far as to proclaim that the LGBTQ agenda represents “a national security threat” and declaring that anyone promoting it is guilty of treason and should be executed.
With just one day to go before the runoff election, Burns released a “final appeal” video that basically amounts to a “greatest hit” of the sorts of wild and outlandish claims for which he is infamous.
“Our nation is at a crossroads,” Burns said. “Our enemies are operating in plain sight. Evil is on the march and they’re not even trying to hide it. Satanic forces are taking over our schools, preying on our children with transgender surgeries and Drag Queen Story Hours.”
“South Carolina is being invaded by terrorists and drug cartels,” he continued. “Our enemies in China are waging economic warfare against every American, making it impossible to afford to live here, to buy groceries, gas, or even pay the light bill. And traitor Joe Biden’s far-left Department of Defense is working to destroy our military from within.”
“D.C. is taking our tax dollars and using it to fund the takeover,” Burns asserted. “Let me say that again: American taxpayers are paying for the destruction of their own nation. Look at Iran and Afghanistan. We must hold responsible those elected officials who take our hard-earned dollars to use them to do battle against us. It is treason, plain and simple.”
“We cannot afford to allow medical tyrants that gave us the mandates and shutdowns and forced vaccinations to continue they’re homicidal march for total control,” Burns declared. “Our faith and our freedom is under fire. Any country that would spy on Christian church attendance is just one step away from all-out gun confiscation and totalitarian communism.”
“No one else was fight like I will to defend our God-given rights enshrined in the Constitution,” Burns vowed. “Send me to Washington D.C. Let me clean this mess up and take back this nation for our children, our grandchildren, our God, our family, and our country.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: Only Clarence Thomas Would Let Domestic Abusers Keep Their Guns In New Ruling
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that individuals who pose a “credible threat to the physical safety of another” may be stripped of their guns, showing that even its extremely expansive reading of the Second Amendment stops short of letting a proven domestic abuser carry arms.
- Bill Scher @ Washington Monthly: Donald Trump’s Get-Out-The-Vote Plan is Bonkers
The Trump campaign is tasking the far-right Turning Point network with spearheading its ground game despite having no track record of success.
- Matt Ford @ The New Republic: Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Law is Supreme Court Bait
A new Louisiana law will require its public schools to display copies of the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Most Americans might reasonably assume that such a law violates the establishment clause and a few Supreme Court precedents. They would be correct—and that is precisely the point.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: ‘Desperately Needed’: Trump Wants ‘Revival’ of Religion and Ten Commandments in Classrooms
Jumping on Louisiana’s controversial and likely unconstitutional new law mandating posters of a specific version of the Bible’s Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, Donald Trump overnight declared the nation “desperately” needs a religious “revival” and called for the religious text to be placed in classrooms across America.
- Angry White Men: Joel Webbon Celebrates A ‘Glorious And Righteous White Boy Summer’
On the latest episode of his Right Response Ministries show, Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon declared that he was celebrating White Boy Summer — a meme popularized by white supremacists. Webbon claimed that White Boy Summer is about celebrating “Anglo-Protestant culture,” which he called “the best culture.”
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: ‘Joe McCarthy Was Right’: Ex-Trump Official Praises McCarthyism At Faith & Freedom Coalition Conference
Former Fox News personality and Trump administration official, Monica Crowley, spoke Friday at the Faith & Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington, DC. Crowley was joined by the likes of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in addressing the annual event and used her time at the podium to defend infamous former Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI).
- Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley @ Rolling Stone: Trump’s Not ‘Bluffing’: Inside the MAGA Efforts To Make a Second Term Even More Extreme
“OF COURSE WE aren’t fucking bluffing.” That’s the message one close Trump adviser and former administration official — who requested anonymity to speak candidly — wants to get across to the press and public, when asked about Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign vows of “retribution,” unprecedented force, and militaristic action.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- North Dakota state Rep. Nico Rios fumes that “legal immigrants are worse than illegal immigrants” because “they’ll be harder to kick out when the mass deportations start.”
- Jim Garlow says that posting the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms will “begin to tame the evil in the human heart, and slowly begin to produce an atmosphere where human thriving and peace take root. To the extent that a community, state or nation follows God’s biblical governance, human pain, suffering and poverty will be reduced.”
- Stew Peters claims that WNBA player Caitlin Clark is “being physically assaulted EVERY GAME by Shaq-looking black lesbians but nobody wants to talk about it”: “She’s literally being treated WORSE than when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.”
- Eric Metaxas offers up a bizarre explanation for why he doesn’t criticize the Proud Boys or “Christian nationalist maniacs”: “The Nazis are the threat.”
- Ben Zeisloft declares that “it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.”
- Finally, former President Donald Trump sent a birthday greeting to Brenden Dilley, the campaign troll who recently vowed to lie, cheat, and steal to help Trump get reelected.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Why Louisiana’s radical new law on Ten Commandments, schools matters
The Supreme Court has said Ten Commandments displays in public schools are unconstitutional. Louisiana Republicans passed a new law on this anyway.
- Hannah Gais @ Hatewatch: What We Know About the VDARE Legal Situation That They Say ‘Finished’ Them
Four years after purchasing a castle in rural West Virginia intended as their headquarters, the white nationalist outlet VDARE has said that an investigation by New York Attorney General (AG) Letitia James has “crucified” the site and left it “on life support.”
- Angry White Men: Joel Webbon Defends Death Penalty For Homosexuality
During a June 12, 2024 livestream, Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon defended making homosexuality a capital offense. Webbon suggested that death, as a “maximum penalty,” would act as a deterrent. He also claimed that it is a “natural reaction” to want to “throw up” at the sight of same-sex couples holding hands or kissing.
- Marco Margaritoff @ HuffPost: GOP Candidate Tells Black Americans Seeking Reparations To ‘Get The F**k Out’ Of America
Valentina Gomez, whose campaign for Missouri secretary of state has consisted of homophobic stunts and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, was eviscerated on social media.
- Laura Jedeed @ Rolling Stone: Inside the Rise and Fall of Project Veritas
James O’Keefe helped transform U.S. conservatism into a war machine — then it all imploded.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- John Hagee will receive the Winston Churchill Lifetime Achievement Award at the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s upcoming Road to Majority Policy Conference.
- Paul Blair did not appreciate our coverage of his recent meltdown over Pride Month.
- Mike Davis calls on the Supreme Court to disbar Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse because of his criticism of the court and its justices: “His unethical conduct is an embarrassment to the legal profession, he is a grave danger to the rights of criminal defendants, and he is unfit to practice before our nation’s highest court.”
- Eric Metaxas says that “the Biden administration is so anti-American it makes King George III look like George Washington.”
- Joel Webbon is celebrating White Boy Summer.
- Finally, now that Hung Cao is officially the Republican candidate for Senate in Virginia, maybe he can explain what he plans to do to protect the state from all that witchcraft.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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MAGA activists have been attacking President Joe Biden by producing and spreading fake, deceptively edited, and misleading videos in an effort to undermine his reelection. And, according to pro-Trump broadcaster Brenden Dilley, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Dilley is a overtly racist, unapologetically misogynistic, and gleefully amoral Trump cultist who has established close ties not only to the Trump campaign, but to the former president himself, thanks to the role he plays in leading a “troll army” that relentlessly promotes Trump and attacks his enemies on social media.
The “Dilley Meme Team” has been responsible for the “God Made Trump” video that went viral earlier this year, the “Unified Reich” video that generated widespread outrage last month, and as a series of virulently sexist attacks on former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley during the Republican primary.
Dilley has, in the past, openly stated that he doesn’t “give a fuck about being factual” and will “make shit up” if doing so furthers Trump’s political agenda, and that attitude is still motivating Dilley’s efforts, as he made clear during a recent broadcast.
“There’s nothing I won’t fucking do or say,” Dilley declared. “Nothing! It’s war. I view you as a fucking enemy of the country. I will do anything necessary.”
“Republicans don’t give a fuck if you think we’re good people anymore,” he continued. “We don’t care. You don’t think we’re gonna fuck you square in the ass every chance we get after what you’ve done to this country, after you stole a fucking election? Fuck you. Call me an immoral godless scumbag, I don’t care, motherfucker. Call me a criminal. Call me a liar. I don’t give a fuck.”
“You can save the moral high ground virtue signaling bullshit for a Republican that’s still stupid enough to play those fucking games, but it ain’t me, dude,” Dilley added.
“Fucking print that shit, bitch; ‘Dilley Goes On Show, Says He Will Lie, Cheat, Fucking Steal,” Dilley concluded. “I don’t even have shame in telling you that. I know what my role is. I know what my purpose is. I will let my creator dictate and decide and judge me when I get there. Until then, fuck you.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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House Speaker Mike Johnson accused Democrats of trying to “destroy the American dream” in a fundraising email sent to right-wing activists Thursday morning. Johnson, who told Christian nationalist lawmakers last year that God put him in power as an American “Moses,” wrote, “The radical Left hates our freedom, they hate our Judeo-Christian values, and they hate our Constitution.”
Johnson has led congressional Republicans in supporting former President Donald Trump’s efforts to discredit his recent criminal prosecution and conviction. Johnson continued the attack in today’s email, writing, “They manipulated a coordinated political hitjob to escalate a cluster of bogus charges to 34 felony convictions – with the help of a Biden-minion judge and prosecutor!”
Johnson wrote that the 2024 election is not only the most important in our lifetimes, but “the most important election in our country’s history.” He asked for cash to “Expose the Democrats for their failures and attempts to destroy the American dream, and fundamentally change our great country.” He accused the left of “attempting to bring in a legion of illegal immigrants and turn them into voters by neglecting the border.”
Johnson’s email is headed by a “Team Trump Official” logo. It is raising money for his own campaign account and for a joint Trump-RNC fundraising committee. The default allocation for a $100 contribution is $95 to Johnson and $5 to the Trump National Committee JFC President.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Michelle Goldberg @ The New York Times: In Indiana, the MAGA Revolution Eats Its Own
After the Republican convention this weekend, the influential conservative lawyer James Bopp Jr. wrote, in a confidential memo obtained by Politico’s Adam Wren, that there’s a “serious threat” to the party’s nominee for governor, Senator Mike Braun. That threat is Micah Beckwith, a Pentecostal pastor, podcaster and self-described Christian nationalist who was just chosen, despite Braun’s wishes, to be his running mate.
- Lucian K. Truscott IV @ Salon: How a semi-secret right-wing media empire is blanketing America with lies
By conquering local TV and spewing relentless pro-Trump propaganda, Sinclair is winning a war no one noticed.
- Tricia Crimmins @ The Daily Dot: A far-right streamer tried to sic the cops on a queer dad influencer—it backfired
Far-right media personality Stew Peters took down videos in which he claimed a gay influencer sexually abused his own children and suggested that the New York Police Department investigate him for sex crimes.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: MAGA Influencers Spread Fake SCOTUS Barricade Videos Before Trump Ruling
Several right-wing accounts on X pushed a false narrative Monday that barricades had been installed around the Supreme Court ahead of its ruling regarding former President Donald Trump’s sweeping claims of immunity from criminal prosecution.
- Anna Merlan @ Wired: Alex Jones Is Now Trying to Divert Money to His Father’s Supplements Business
A Texas bankruptcy court judge brought Infowars back from the brink of death on Friday, a surprising ruling which conspiracy kingpin Alex Jones attempted to use to—naturally—make more money. This time, Jones is promoting a supplement company owned by his father.
- Kiera Butler @ Mother Jones: Christian Nationalists Are Opening Private Schools. Taxpayers Are Funding Them
Dream City Christian Academy is one of a growing number of religious schools that are supported by public funds.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Eric Metaxas claims that “the biggest ‘deep fake’ is that Biden was ever actually running the country”: “He’s never actually been leading the country.”
- Stephen Strang insists that “in his own, simple way [former President Donald Trump] has accepted Christ.”
- Lance Wallnau declares that “if you are a preacher and don’t back [Trump], you are a lousy Shepherd and should be identified as such.”
- Right-wing pastor Micah Beckwith, who recently became the Indiana GOP’s nominee for lieutenant governor, says that every Christian “should be a Christian nationalist.”
- We can’t imagine why AFPAC IV lost its venue and then got booted from its own after party in Detroit. After all, what business could possibly object to allowing Nick Fuentes and his followers to use their space to chant, “Fuck off, Jew”?
- Finally, Religious-right leader Tony Perkins asserts that the Biden administration “is aligned with the Devil.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Seven Mountains dominionist Lance Wallnau is conducting a swing-state “Courage Tour” this year that is designed to break “demonic strongholds” and help former President Donald Trump win this year’s presidential election. In an email sent Tuesday, Wallnau portrayed his effort to “bring the gospel and align the saints in SEVEN key battleground states in America” as part of a global spiritual battle that will divide the countries of the world into Christ-aligned “sheep states” and antichrist “goat states” as part of “God’s End Time plan for nations.”
Wallnau is associated with the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement that seeks to transform both the Christian church and whole nations—it has global ambitions—and bring them into alignment with the religious and political worldviews promoted by NAR’s “apostles” and “prophets.” He is one of the most energetic promoters of Seven Mountains dominionism, which teaches that getting the right kind of Christians in control of all the “mountains” of influence in society—education, government, media, business, arts and entertainment, religion, and the family—will bring about revival and transformation and even speed the coming of Christ’s return and rule.
In his June 18 email, Wallnau warns that in the U.S., people who “despise Christianity” will increasingly “lay siege to God-given rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of worship, and the right to assembly.” If Christians do not step up, he writes, “we will continue to lose more and more territory to the forces of darkness.” His email encourages people to make a generous donation to receive his CD “teaching” called “Endgame: A Time For Peace And A Time For War.”
Here’s more:
Now is our time, as the church, to step up and step out to win the nations for Christ. This is the endgame. We are at war with dangerous trending ideas that seek to undo the system the Founders put in place. Right now, we have more resources and more freedoms than any other people in history.
We can win, but we need to be clear—our nation is in a battle to determine if we will keep what God has given us! And it is not the president who will make the difference; it is the people themselves. More specifically, it is the church—we need to come down from the church mountain and move into systems where we can manifest the Kingdom in government and business. God will open the doors, but He needs people to go through them!
…
We must rise as the Body of Christ in these Last Days because we are facing one of two serious outcomes—either the Antichrist is going to crush our freedoms, or we will see the glorious manifestation of the Kingdom of God in our lives and nation. Please help us win this battle with your best gift today!
Right Wing Watch reported in May that pseudo-historian David Barton spoke at a Courage Tour stop in Michigan, where he predictably promoted false versions of American history meant to buttress right-wing White Christian nationalists’ political agenda.
Before the 2016 election, Wallnau published a book which declared that Trump was anointed as “God’s Chaos Candidate.” He was rewarded with insider status, evidenced by his being invited to a private White House briefing on the administration’s Middle East policy. During the 2020 campaign, Wallnau declared that “fighting with Trump is fighting with God.” In 2021, he declared himself a Christian nationalist. Last year, he warned that God was going to start killing people who stood in Trump’s way.
Trump is counting on massive turnout and overwhelming support from white evangelical Christians to return him to power. As Right Wing Watch noted earlier this year, “religious-right organizations and activists are gearing up to make a widespread and sustained effort to mobilize conservative Christian voters for the purpose of electing Trump to office. In turn, Trump has already promised to return the favor by giving them unprecedented power to use the levels of government to impose their Christian nationalist agenda on the nation.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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In 2022, flat-earth conspiracy theorist Kandiss Taylor unsuccessfully ran for governor of Georgia and despite her paltry showing in the Republican primary, she steadfastly refused to accept that she had lost. In 2023, Taylor became a Georgia GOP district chair and started voicing increasingly radical views, even going so far as to call for the public execution of those who oppose her Christian nationalist worldview.
During the most recent episode of her “Jesus, Guns, and Babies” program, which airs on the network owned by virulently antisemitic conspiracy theorist Stew Peters, Taylor declared that women cannot become president of the United States because the president has to be “kind of a butthole.”
“When you’re the president of the free world, when you’re the most powerful man in the world, you need to be kind of a butthole, and you need to tell people, ‘Back up,'” Taylor said. “People are like, ‘Oh, I want a female VP.’ I don’t. I don’t want a female VP. I want both president and vice president to be men, alpha strong men that love Jesus, that only bow their knee to him, Jesus Christ.”
“I want those men in place,” Taylor continued. “I don’t want a woman. And I’m a strong woman. I hear from the Lord. God has anointed me and I can do what God’s called me in my role. I have a calling on my life. My calling is not to be the president or the vice president of the United States, and it’s not for any other woman either. I know that’s not popular among women; I don’t care. The word of God is clear about leadership and who should be submissive and who should take the reins.”
“Women are detailed and we’re emotional and we see things differently and we are powerful in the spirit in the kingdom of God and there are places for us,” Taylor said. “Obviously, I believe that. I ran for governor. But there’s a difference [between being] a governor of a state versus the leader of a whole nation.”
Taylor is currently under fire for her “‘racist and sad’ online behavior” from local activists and parents of students in the Appling County, Georgia, school system, where she serves as the student services director.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Stephanie Mencimer @ Mother Jones: MAGA Youth Activist Charlie Kirk’s Big Conservative Shindig Is Full of Old Folks
Judging from the first two days of the event, it would be hard to call this a youth movement. Saturday morning, I attended a breakout session headlined by voter registration activist Scott Presler. There were about 50 or 60 people in the room, virtually all well over 40. When Presler opened the floor for a Q&A, the first questioner said he was 77 years old.
- Tricia Crimmins @ The Daily Dot: ‘Who says romance is dead?’: Right-wing influencers launch campaign to ‘outbreed the left’
Far-right figures Chaya Raichik and Charlie Kirk both said they plan to “outbreed the left” this week by having more children than liberals and raising them to have right-wing views.
- Amanda Marcotte @ Salon: A tradwife drops a racist slur: Why the right’s trolling economy made Lilly Gaddis’ rise inevitable
Cashing in as a “cancel culture” martyr is getting harder, so attention addicts have to get more extreme.
- Kathleen Culliton and David Edwards @ Raw Story: ‘It’s God’s plan’: Mike Lindell intends to ‘deputize’ Trump voters for Election Day
MyPillow CEO and election-denier Mike Lindell told conservatives this weekend he was going to deputize them as part of “God’s plan” for former President Donald Trump’s Election Day victory.
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: Trump-backed House candidate Mark Burns: A wife should be “submissive” and “obey”
Burns made the remarks on a show hosted by Jesse Lee Peterson, who has repeatedly said allowing women to vote was a mistake.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Perry Stone claims that “on the year of every major election, there are attacks that begin occurring in which the secular news begins to hit ministers and large churches.” Stone says he has plan for exposing “what is being plotted by the leftists,” but will only share it at an event “where just MY people will be in attendance.”
- Ben Zeisloft vows that “Christians will criminalize abortion in America.”
- Finally, someone is offering a “rebellious” anti-woke water.
- We’re not sure we understand the logic behind Isabella Moody’s attempt to become a far-right commentator when her entire message is literally “women aren’t smart” and “that’s why we should never listen to women.”
- Finally, white nationalists Vincent James and Dalton Clodfelter realize that they both have a Google problem that has rendered them virtually unemployable.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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The National Association of Christian Lawmakers is a Christian nationalist organization that seeks to “take authority” over every level of government across the nation and one day put one of its members in the White House.
Founded by zealously anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice former Arkansas state legislator Jason Rapert, the NACL regularly holds conferences at which Republicans leaders, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, and religious-right activists plot strategy about how to enact their radical political agenda throughout the nation, largely through model legislation that is specifically designed to be taken back home by participating state legislators and turned into law.
Recently, the NACL held a National Policy Conference at Liberty University, during which participants discussed ways to take advantage of the far-right majority’s control of the Supreme Court to all but eliminate the separation of church at state.
Among the speakers urging aggressive action was Matt Krause, a radical former Texas state legislator and an attorney at First Liberty, a right-wing legal group that successfully argued the case of a former high school football coach who was fired for refusing to stop praying at midfield after games. Krause said that the Supreme Court’s decision in that case represented “a fundamental shift that is very much in favor for us,” and was every bit as significant as the decision striking down Roe v. Wade.
Krause said the right must now “go on offense” by placing Ten Commandments monuments outside government buildings and inside schools and requiring prayer before government and school board meetings.
“Why not go on offense and why not assert our rights, especially with this opportunity we’ve been given that we have not had in half a century?” Krause said, revealing that he’s been working with state legislators “to put Ten Commandments back up in the schoolhouse” and to enact policies requiring schools to allow students to leave during the day to “get religious instruction.”
“We think it’s a unique opportunity,” Krause added. “We’d love to come alongside each and every one of you in your states, if you have something that you want to do—whether at the state level or in your districts, at the county level, or city level—to restore faith in America. We haven’t had this opportunity since the 1970s; we want to use it to its fullest advantage while we have that opportunity.”
Following Krause’s presentation, he and his fellow panelists were questioned by Oregon state Rep. E. Werner Reschke, who serves as NACL’s state chair, about whether there might be “a way to go back and undo Abington School District v. Schempp,” a Supreme Court case from 1963 which declared that mandatory Bible reading in public schools was unconstitutional.
“You can look at that watershed moment in that case decision and look at America’s history from that point on, and how we became a secular society and how everything fell from there,” Reschke said, asking if there was anyway to get the Supreme Court to “undo” its ruling the Schempp case.
“Yeah,” replied Krause. “This is a place of hope because in a lot of other areas in our country, we feel like we’re losing battles; in the religious liberty, especially in the courts, we’re actually gaining ground all the time … I think now that this court has gone back to the history and tradition test, we can unwind a lot of those things that started in the 40s went to the 50s, 60s, 70s that kind of set up this wall of separation [as] we know it.”
“I think you can see a light at the end of that tunnel,” Krause assured the audience. “You just got to get the cases up there. It’s got to be the right ones with the right fact patterns, but with this court—especially with the tests that they’re promulgating—I absolutely think you can unwind that at some point.”
“With the history and traditions test, all is possible at this point,” agreed fellow panelist Richard Mast of Liberty Counsel. “All can be questioned based on this current court and this makeup, so I encourage legislators where you have the majority, be aggressive. … This new court and a return to a history and traditions test calls everything bad into question.”
Mast then encouraged the state legislators present to launch a blitz of right-wing church-state legislation to overwhelm the opposition.
“I cannot express enough how important it is to have concerted efforts around the country where you’re all running similar bills so they cannot using the Alinsky tactic of isolate, polarize, and destroy one individual crazy senator or representative,” he said, “You’ve got our side of the issue [creating] a diffuse target that they cannot laser in on and zero in on and it causes them to have to expend resources in a broad swath where we can push things through in one or two states and then advance these majority and historic and traditional positions.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Dave Collins and Juan A. Lozano @ Associated Press: Alex Jones’ personal assets will be sold to help pay Sandy Hook debt as judge decides Infowars’ fate
A federal judge on Friday ordered the liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones ′ personal assets but was still deciding on his company’s separate bankruptcy case, leaving the future of his Infowars media platform uncertain as he owes $1.5 billion for his false claims that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
- Stephanie Mencimer @ Mother Jones: Rudy Giuliani Is Turning to the Christian Right for Help With His Bills
In a suburban Detroit church, he warmed up the crowd by calling Fani Willis a “ho.”
- Mike Hixenbaugh and Allan Smith @ NBC News: Charlie Kirk once pushed a ‘secular worldview.’ Now he’s fighting to make America Christian again
In 2018, Kirk urged conservative Christians to respect the separation of church and state. Today, he calls that foundational principle “a fabrication.”
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: At event for Christian lawmakers, panelists insist Satanists can’t be school chaplains
During a meeting geared toward Christian lawmakers earlier this month at Liberty University, panelists promoted the idea of putting chaplains in public schools while rejecting the idea that non-Christians could take advantage of the new laws.
- Angry White Men: Lauren Chen Wants America To Join The ‘List Of Countries’ Where LGBTQ Pride Is ‘Not Socially Acceptable’
BlazeTV host Lauren Chen condemned Pride Month on the latest episode of her online show, Pseudo-Intellectual Live. During an interview with fellow BlazeTV personality Auron MacIntyre, Chen said she wanted America to “be on the list of countries where it is not socially acceptable to signal support for pride” — alongside Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where homosexuality is criminalized.
- Talia Jane @ The New Republic: MAGA Media Won’t Stop Sharing This Doctored Biden Video
MAGA world keeps sharing an obviously edited video of Joe Biden at the G7 summit.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Lance Wallnau says that Pride Month is “a spiritual manifestation of the spirit realm, led by a high-level principality called Jezebel.”
- GOP Rep. Kevin Hern was “honored to be a part of this community of believers who are working to reclaim our culture for Christ” while speaking to a group of Christian nationalists in Oklahoma: “Our red states love God. And our blues? I’m not sure what they love.”
- Ben Zeisloft declares that “atheists should neither be permitted to run for office nor testify in court proceedings.”
- Throughout Trump’s presidency, all we heard was that God anoints and appoints the president. But now that Joe Biden is president, “prophet” Mary Colbert claims that is not how it works: “Not everybody who is put in position are put in position because that who God wants.”
- Finally, right-wing commentator Vanessa Hicks-Callaway accuses journalist Lauren Windsor of “blasphemy” for using “the sacredness of our faith” to obtain a recording of Justice Samuel Alito: “Some day, with the white throne of justice and judgment, she will give an account.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: Unanimous Supreme Court Shoots Down Bid To Restrict Abortion Drug Mifepristone
A unanimous Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the anti-abortion doctor plaintiffs in a major mifepristone case lack standing to reimpose restrictions on the drug.
- Michelle Boorstein and Hannah Knowles @ Washington Post: Here’s what the Christian right wants from a second Trump term
Religious conservatives see opportunities for fresh gains after a series of victories during Trump’s first term. Rights advocates see a dangerous blurring of church and state.
- Griffin Eckstein @ Salon: Largest evangelical group in the US condemns IVF in vote, gearing up campaign battle
At the Southern Baptist Conference, a vote against IVF argued for a “right to life … in an embryonic stage.”
- David Gilbert @ Wired: A January 6 Rioter Is Leading an Armed National Militia From Prison
As the US election approaches, Edward “Jake” Lang says that the militia will focus on potential “civil unrest” around the vote and will be ready to activate at a moment’s notice.
- Angry White Men: Elijah Schaffer Isn’t Sure If ‘Millions Of Jews Died’ In The Holocaust
On the June 10, 2024 episode of Nightly Offensive, Elijah Schaffer said he was unsure if “millions of Jews” died in the Holocaust. Schaffer, who’s hosted white supremacists and Holocaust deniers on his program, also claimed that World War II was actually a “genocide of white people.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Sean Feucht has filed a lawsuit against the city of Spokane for criticizing the former mayor for speaking at an event with him and radical right-wing pastor Matt Shea, declaring, “I won’t sit quietly and let these anti-Christian bigots get away with persecuting Christians for exercising our Constitutional Rights. So I filed a lawsuit. I’m taking them to court. Their anti-Christian bigotry has gone too far.”
- Parents and local activists are outraged over Kandiss Taylor’s “‘racist and sad’ online behavior.”
- Self-proclaimed “prophetess” Kat Kerr, who repeatedly guaranteed that Trump would win the 2020 election, still refuses to accept the results, claiming that hundreds of thousands of Trump ballots are still being found: “They even shot down a Black Hawk helicopter [carrying military ballots] so that they could never be counted.”
- Rep. Matt Rosendale declares that First Lady Jill Biden “should be absolutely ashamed of herself”: “I think that she is guilty of elder abuse.”
- After spreading the right-wing myth that schools are putting litter boxes in bathrooms for students who identify as cats, self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman says that if former President Donald Trump is reelected, he must put “deliverance rooms in every single school” to cast the “liberal demons” out of teachers.
- Finally, Lauren Chen asserts that if Trump is reelected, he must go “full-on scorched earth”: “I want him to be exactly the type person that the left fearmongers he could possibly be.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Paul Blair is a far-right pastor and Christian nationalist who runs an organization called Liberty Pastors, which is dedicated to training pastors to become more involved politically. To that end, Liberty Pastors regularly hosts multi-day retreats around the nation where local pastors and their spouses are instructed by right-wing speakers like Rick Scarborough, Mat Staver, Rick Green, E.W. Jackson, Alex McFarland, and others on how to become members of a modern-day “Black Robe Regiment.” The gatherings are financed largely by religious-right activist Art Ally, founder of the Christian investment firm The Timothy Plan, and are generally limited to 100 pastors so that attendees have an opportunity to interact with the speakers personally “and that really helps with this transformation of their ministry,” Blair claimed last year.
“Over three days at a luxury hotel, we have 20 hours of their time where we literally teach them biblical principles of civil government,” Blair has bragged.
Blair is also a longtime anti-LGBTQ activist, and his virulent bigotry was on full display during a recent episode of his “Liberty Pastors” program during which he ranted about Pride Month.
“This is child abuse,” Blair fumed while showing a photo of a child holding hands with his mother at a Pride event. “This person will one day will stand before God and give an account, but the damage that she is doing to this young man and the likelihood that he is going to wind up on drugs and contemplating suicide because of his mother’s abuse; you’re right, this is child abuse.”
Blair grew even more outraged when he showed a photo from 2015 of a father kissing his young son at a Pride event in New York, and expressed dismay that no one had put the father “face down on the concrete.”
“It’s one thing when this pervert is going to kiss this pervert, but this is abuse of a child,” he said. “This is pedophilia.”
“What’s this wench smiling about?” Blair demanded to know while pointing at a female spectator.
“And this fa**ot over here? What’s he’s smiling about over there?” Blair seethed while pointing at a male spectator. “They ought to be intervening and putting this guy face down on the concrete for abusing this child. I can’t imagine that this is going on in the streets in the United States of America and there’s no one here that’s godly enough or courageous enough to protect this child from this. One day, these men and these accomplices to the crime will stand before God and they’re gonna give an account.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is promoting “Flynn,” a new film that portrays him as a heroic figure battling persecution by the deep state traitors he claims went after him as a way of bringing down Donald Trump. Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI, then withdrew his plea and was ultimately pardoned by Trump after the 2020 election, touted his movie in an appearance on the radio show of religious-right conspiracy theorist Eric Metaxas this week.
After Trump’s 2020 election defeat, Flynn backed Trump’s lies about the election and urged Trump to declare martial law. He has spent the post-Trump-administration years promoting conspiracy theories, Christian nationalism, and extremist figures as part of the ReAwaken America tour. In 2022, historian and authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat called Flynn “one of the most dangerous individuals in America today.” Last year, Right Wing Watch published “12 Reasons Donald Trump’s Pledge to Hire Michael Flynn is a Five-Alarm Threat to Democracy.”
Flynn told Metaxas and his listeners that what is happening to Trump in the courts is a continuation of a “coup” against Trump and the U.S. that was started by Barack Obama in a January 2017 White House meeting, where he said Obama and his advisers talked about how to get Flynn out of the way so they could go after Trump. It was all designed, he claimed, “to continue to control the levers of power within our government.”
That’s an interesting framing, because the thrust of Project 2025, a massive undertaking by Trump allies across the right-wing movement in the U.S., is to seize the levers of power in government and force civil servants and federal agencies to bend unquestioningly to Trump’s will if he returns to the presidency. Trump and his allies have made clear that he will use that power to seek revenge and retribution against his enemies, something Metaxas and Flynn are clearly looking forward to. Here’s Metaxas:
Trump has to win. The left will do literally anything. They would really love to put a bullet in his head. But they’re not going to be able to do that. But they might try. They’ll do anything. They’ll start World War III. They’ll do anything. Because they do not care whether people die, whether the country goes under, they just want power. That’s all they care about.
They can and will do anything to prevent him getting back in. But if he does get back in by the grace of God, that’s the starting line. We have a lot of work to do.
Metaxas said the “evil” deep state is “at war with we, the people,” and asked Flynn if Trump understands that he needs to put the right people in place to gut the deep state. Yes, Trump realizes it, said Flynn. “He knows what he’s got to do. And he’s fully prepared to do it.” More from Flynn:
I know that he realizes that the people he brings into his inner circle going back into the White House have to be really dedicated patriots who have not only his objectives and what he wants to accomplish, but also people who are prepared and ready to do the necessary functions of government and to hold people accountable. We have to have one standard of justice in this country, and people are going to need to be held accountable.
Flynn portrays Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence as part of the “uniparty establishment” plot against him, and portrays himself as the ultimate honest man, taken down by scheming insiders for being unwilling to lie in the service of power, a mythology that is likely to be swallowed whole by the MAGA faithful. Mother Jones magazine’s Stephanie Mencimer has called Flynn’s new movie “a triumph of revisionist history” and an “example of how good right-wing filmmakers have gotten at making these sorts of propaganda films.” In her review Mencimer wrote, “If Flynn the movie fails to shed much light on the unraveling of Flynn the man, it does succeed as a painful reminder of what the Trump years were like—with all the chaos and corruption—and a foreshadowing of what might happen should he be elected again.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Robert Downen and Juan Salinas II @ Texas Tribune: “War on white America”: Influential Texas group hosting pro-Christian nationalism conference
True Texas Project has for years worked with Attorney General Ken Paxton, Sen. Ted Cruz and other prominent Republicans.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: Meet Trump’s New Christian Kingpin
Oil-rich Tim Dunn has changed Texas politics with fanatical zeal — the national stage is next.
- Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling @ The New Republic: Alito Caught on Tape Whining His Corruption Was Exposed
The Supreme Court justice accused ProPublica of unfairly targeting him and Clarence Thomas.
- Angry White Men: BlazeTV Host Alex Stein Praises Pro-Segregation Shock Jock
On the June 6, 2024 episode of Prime Time with Alex Stein, BlazeTV host and right-wing troll Alex Stein spoke with disgraced shock jock Anthony Cumia. Stein praised Cumia, who has a history of white supremacist rhetoric, as “one of the funniest guys in the entire world” and told viewers to follow him on X (formerly Twitter).
- David Kurtz @ Talking Points Memo: GOP Cranks Out Whole New Disinfo Shitstorm After Hunter Biden Conviction
You might think tacking his son’s scalp above the door would calm for at least a moment the GOP’s venomous attacks, sinister insinuations, and relentless disinformation campaign against Joe Biden. You would be so wrong.
- Katherine Stewart @ Religion News Service: At Florida homeschool convention, an education in MAGA politics
Amid more typical homeschool concerns such as combating screen time and filling gaps in homeschool math curricula, the overarching message of the 40th annual Florida Homeschool Convention was about politics, not education.
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- Ed Martin, who was recently chosen to serve as deputy policy director of the RNC platform committee, has launched a 40 day prayer campaign leading up to the GOP convention.
- “Prophet” Mary Colbert warns that October will be “a very perilous month” and is therefore launching her own prayer effort in anticipation of the election.
- Jack Hibbs tells parents to send their children to Liberty University, because if they go anywhere else, they’re “gonna come out of college hating America [and] hating white people.”
- After having his “Extreme Accountability Event” canceled by Caesars, Stew Peters has now moved it to the Sarasota Fairgrounds.
- Self-proclaimed “prophet” Donna Rigney reads a passage from the book of Jeremiah, which was composed over 2,500 years ago, and declares it “was speaking prophetically of Donald Trump”: “He is a righteous man. He is a man with a heart after [God’s] heart.”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes encourages his supporters get involved with the Trump campaign, the America First Policy Institute, Project 2025, and other right-wing efforts so that if Trump is reelected, they can “fill up the White House with groypers.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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True the Vote, a group that has promoted false claims about election fraud to justify restrictions on voting, made a fundraising pitch on X/Twitter on Tuesday, saying it was trying to raise $150,000 to meet a match and advance toward their goal of recruiting and training “1,000,000 pro-liberty election workers.”
Given that True the Vote leader Catherine Engelbrecht has portrayed its work—such as its opposition to vote-by-mail—in terms of spiritual warfare, it is not surprising that the “URGENT” request for money linked to in Tuesday’s social media post used apocalyptic rhetoric:
We’ve talked for some time about the coming of dark days. They are now upon us.
Do not fear.
It had to be this way. This moment had to come. The darkness must be defeated. The corruption of our country can not continue.
The question is, what will you do to help?
We are fully committed to winning. I believe we will win – and not just the election – America is rising.
Yes, our organization is being attacked on all sides. Yes, parts of our justice system have been co-opted. Yes, the Executive Branch of government has been weaponized. Yes, there are foreign actors pressing in. Yes. It’s true.
But nothing … nothing … can arrest the God-given, spirit-filled gift of freedom that is WORTH fighting for. And that gift of freedom, given not by government but endowed to us by our Creator, is like a flame, exposing the darkness and lighting our path.
Englebrecht’s pitch ends with a plea: “Now is the time. Step onto the battlefield with us. Let’s save our country.”
Just a day earlier, Jessica Huseman at Votebeat noted that True the Vote has not joined Salem Media in apologizing for the false claims about election fraud in the 2020 election in the widely debunked “2000 Mules” movie that Dinesh D’Souza produced with True the Vote’s Englebrecht and Gregg Phillips.
Salem, True the Vote, and D’Souza were all sued for defamation by a man the movie falsely accused of committing voter fraud. At the end of May, Salem Media apologized and agreed to remove both the film and subsequent book from its platforms; Salem said it had “relied on representations made to us by Dinesh D’Souza and True the Vote.”
After Salem’s settlement and apology, Englebrecht issued a defiant statement declaring that “the war that is being waged against liberty is plain for all to see,” pledging that “we will not be a casualty,” and promising, “If we must stand alone, so be it, we will stand. In truth.”
But truth doesn’t have much to do with “2000 Mules,” as True the Vote seemingly admitted earlier this year when, as AP reported, it “told a Georgia judge that it doesn’t have evidence to support its claims of illegal ballot stuffing during the 2020 general election and a runoff two months later.” A spokesperson for the Republican Secretary of State responded, “Once again, True the Vote has proven itself untrustworthy and unable to provide a shred of evidence for a single one of their fairy-tale allegations. Like all the lies about Georgia’s 2020 election, their fabricated claims of ballot harvesting have been repeatedly debunked.”
In spite of the movie having been repeatedly debunked, former President Donald Trump and his allies continued to promote it. And millions of MAGA Republicans still believe its clams. Noting that “Salem’s choice to apologize and stop distributing the film may not dent the faith of the people who already believe the film’s claims,” Votebeat’s Huseman cites The Bulwark’s Andrew Eggar’s comment on Salem’s retraction: “Mopping up the water doesn’t un-carve the gorge.”
Some Trump allies are still trying to carve the disinformation gorge even deeper. Turning Point Action, for example, is planning to screen “2000 Mules” in Wisconsin in October a few weeks before the election.
Speaking of the election, D’Souza’s son-in-law Brandon Gill, who reportedly worked with D’Souza on “2000 Mules,” rode a Trump endorsement to victory in a crowded primary in a deep red Texas district in March, making it very likely that he’ll be in Congress next year no matter who is elected president.
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Mark Burns is a right-wing pastor, conspiracy theorist, and unabashed Trump cultist who ran unsuccessfully ran for Congress in South Carolina in 2018 and 2022. Burns is running again this year, but in a new district in hopes of taking advantage of GOP Rep. Jeff Duncan’s decision not to run for reelection in what the Associated Press described as “a solidly Republican South Carolina district.”
On Tuesday, Burns advanced to a runoff for the Republican nomination, no doubt assisted by the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.
The race for South Carolina’s most conservative U.S. House district is headed to a runoff.
Mark Burns, a leading face of the Christian nationalist movement, and Sheri Biggs, a nurse and lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard, battled for the lead in the first round of voting in the June 11 Republican primary for the Upstate’s 3rd Congressional District.
Because neither garnered more than 50 percent of the vote, the pair are heading to a runoff where Upstate voters will be asked to come out again June 25.
When Burns first announced his latest run for Congress, Right Wing Watch highlighted his long history of lying about his accomplishments and making outlandish statements.
Burns is an overt Christian nationalist who has declared that far-right Christians intend to “take over” the government and ensure that “laws that are contrary to God’s word” are overturned. He has repeatedly demonized and endorsed violence against his political enemies, declaring that if he is elected, he’ll resurrect the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee for the purpose of charging citizens, members of the media, and elected officials with treason.
Burns even went so far as to proclaim that the LGBTQ agenda represents “a national security threat” and that anyone promoting it is guilty of treason and should be executed.
“They were indoctrinating those young minds then; they are doing the very same thing here in America,” Burns said. “The LGBT, transgender grooming our children’s minds is a national security threat because it is ultimately designed to destabilize the republic we call the United States of America. That’s why when I’m elected, I don’t want to just vote, I want to start holding people accountable for treason to the Constitution.”
“I am going to push to reenact HUAC, the House Un-American Activities Committee,” Burns vowed. “It is a committee that we should reenact that starts holding these people accountable for treason.”
Burns has continued his habit of making incoherent and outrageous statements during his current campaign, such as declaring that there must be wall on the southern border because “there is a wall in Heaven” to keep people out, asserting that the Rapture will happen within his lifetime, and demanding that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of “The Squad” be placed “in chains” and “held for treason.”
MAGA pastor/Trump-endorsed GOP congressional candidate Mark Burns is pretty sure the Rapture will happen within his lifetime, claims that Christians are being bullied in America, then declares that AOC and other members of "The Squad" should be "in chains, held for treason." pic.twitter.com/RrvzAhepzP
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) June 6, 2024
At a rally on the eve of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Burns fired up the crowd, telling Trump supporters “we’re ready to do war” and shouting, “We are gonna make it hell for Joe Biden! Because I believe he won’t be the next president of the United States. Somebody say, ”Never!’ Shout, ‘Never! Not on my watch! Not on my watch!’”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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The American Family Association’s Center for Judicial Renewal has been urging Republican presidential candidates and senators to adopt its explicit religious test for future Supreme Court justices; the group is attempting to blackball conservative judges who fail to meet its “biblical worldview” standard.
In a fundraising email sent Tuesday, AFA Action CEO Walker Wildmon revealed that the group is also seeking to apply its religious worldview test to judges for the lower courts, which he calls “a crucial, much-needed expansion of CJR’s scope.”
Walker makes the group’s Christian nationalist agenda for the courts quite clear, writing that “if America is ever going to return to its Christ-centered, constitutional roots, it’s up to us.” In return for a “generous gift,” the group will send donors a copy of the widely debunked Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton’s “God in the Constitution.”
Wildmon’s email also brags about the group’s involvement in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led project to engineer a far-right takeover of the executive branch if Donald Trump or another Republican is elected president this fall.
In spite of promoting an explicit religious test for federal judges—a clear betrayal of the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution—and supporting Project 2025’s authoritarian plan to undermine checks and balances, Wildmon’s email portrays AFA as a defender of the Constitution against “radical progressives” who he claims are “bent on destroying the rule of law altogether.”
Wildmon’s email complains about “brazen attacks enacted by rogue activist judges,” but of course he’s not talking about AFA-approved judges like Trump’s Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho, who Right Wing Watch has noted “has become notorious as a virtual parody of a right-wing activist, whose extreme opinions read like far-right ideological diatribes.”
In March, Wildmon interviewed the Center for Judicial Renewal’s Phillip Jauregui about the group’s Supreme Court project. The two complained about the “horrible” lack of representation by conservative evangelicals on the Supreme Court. Jauregui said that the Trump campaign’s reported plan to announce a list of about 20 potential Supreme Court nominees was “probably a bad idea” because there aren’t enough candidates that meet the AFA’s worldview standard. Jauregui reviewed the “green list” of six potential justices who he said meet their biblical worldview standard and demonstrate sufficient “courage” to use the court to impose that standard. That list includes three judges, along with Alliance Defending Freedom President Kristen Waggoner, the dean of Liberty University’s law school, and the former law school dean at Pat Robertson’s Regent University.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Johnny Enlow, a Seven Mountains dominionist and QAnon conspiracy theorist, declared this week that all three branches of the federal government have been so “corrupted” that the U.S. military will have to “step in.” Enlow called it a “long shot” that the November 5 election would take place “before the whole thing is interrupted by military presence.”
Enlow, who is associated with the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation movement, appeared Monday with Steve Shultz, who runs Elijah Streams, a streaming platform for modern-day “prophets.” As of noon Friday, the interview had been viewed more than 200,000 times.
After the 2020 election, Enlow said former President Donald Trump would be justified in imposing martial law and calling for revolution. This week, Enlow railed against Trump’s criminal convictions, making a big deal out of Trump’s frequent use of the term “election interference” to describe legal proceedings against him. According to Enlow, the convictions provide “absolute proof” of the corruption in the system, giving the “white hats” in the military full justification to step in. “There’s good reason why a lot of the people are like, ‘What in the world are you waiting for?’ with the proof that has already been made directly to the American people with all that’s taking place.”
In his conversation with Shultz, Enlow compared Trump to biblical figures God used to advance his will, including Cyrus, Moses, Joshua, and Jesus. “The Lord says, ‘I love Trump. He is my ally,’” Enlow claimed, insisting that Trump is a shepherd and “anointed” by God.
Other dominionists like Lance Wallnau have compared Trump to Cyrus, a Persian king who God used to free Jews from in exile in Babylon. On Monday, Enlow read multiple Bible verses about Cyrus, urging listeners to replace “Cyrus” with “Trump” as he and Shultz marveled at how “specific” the scriptures are in applying to Trump. “This is like Trump, Trump, Trump, Trump,” Enlow said, adding that Trump’s “assignment” comes with “higher consequences for global and kingdom matters.” Enlow said even many of Trump’s supporters fail to understand the “destiny” and “mantle of God” on him. “Trump’s assignment, if anything is 10 times larger than what Cyrus’s assignment was.”
Enlow brought in classic antisemitic and modern QAnon conspiracy theories to describe the forces that God has called on Trump to battle: “The Lord has chosen Trump as his ally,” he said. “He will use him to put an end to the empire of Babylon. And now where you see Empire of Babylon, think Federal Reserve, central banks, Rothschild dynasty.”
“So that is what’s being taken now,” Enlow said. “The Federal Reserve, even the religion of those who are what we would call the deep state, the Illuminati, those that are that are part of the cabal, this ruling corrupt pedophilic elite around the world, they really religiously connect completely with the same practices, even the same gods as Babylon, the same Babylon, that Cyrus had to deal with.”
Enlow is currently promoting a documentary called “Big God.” His latest book, “Kingdom Come: Understanding the Reign of God on Earth,” was published this week.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- It is the 80th anniversary of D-Day and antisemites Nick Fuentes, Dalton Clodfelter, and Jon Miller are recognizing it by celebrating the Nazis.
- Elsewhere, Fuentes reveals that his passion for former President Donald Trump is waning: “I am totally apathetic about the outcome in 2024. I just don’t care. Should Trump win? Sure, I guess. Whatever. I can’t fake excitement or enthusiasm for a movement that is out of ideas and will be inherited by an administration full of cucks.”
- David Barton claims that, historically, political “partisans” largely shared the same values, principles, and worldview and simply differed over the details. If he really believes that, then he is an even worse “historian” than we ever imagined.
- Speaking of terrible historians: Dinesh D’Souza.
- Finally, MAGA pastor/Trump-endorsed GOP congressional candidate Mark Burns is pretty sure that the Rapture will happen within his lifetime, claims that Christians are being bullied in America, and then declares that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of “The Squad” should be “in chains, held for treason.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: After saying atheists are unfit for public office, Oregon lawmaker let off the hook
Months after an Oregon lawmaker said that atheists and Muslims shouldn’t hold public office, he’s been absolved of any wrongdoing by a State House committee. It’s an absurd decision that rewards bigotry in the name of Jesus.
- Angry White Men: Elijah Schaffer Guest Praises Hitler And Compares Indians To A Virus
On Friday’s episode of Nightly Offensive, Elijah Schaffer once again spoke with Australian Neo-Nazi Joel Davis. Davis, who recently argued in favor of ethnic cleansing on Schaffer’s program, said Australians need guns to protect themselves from minorities, defended Adolf Hitler, and compared Indian people to a “virus.”
- Robert P. Jones @ Religion Dispatches: Trump the Totem: Like Other Fascist Leaders, Trump has Turned from Man to Symbol — And That’s the Danger
The transformation of Trump from a person to a symbol is the key to understanding the power of the MAGA movement and the internal logic of the upside-down world where a unanimous guilty verdict in a fair trial results in solidified support, record fundraising, and desperate Christian defenses of a convicted felon.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Trump Just Suggested Jailing His Political Opponents – and MAGA Has a Plan in Place
Donald Trump once again is threatening to jail his political opponents, including President Joe Biden. And unlike his 2016 presidential debate remark to Hillary Clinton, this time there’s an actual plan in place to do just that.
- Daniel Villarreal@ LGBTQ Nation: State GOP tells people to “burn all Pride flags” during June
The Colorado Republican Party called LGBTQ+ people “godless groomers” who want to “harm our children” in a recent email to its members. The party has encouraged its members to burn all Pride flags in June and called queer people “Satanic” and “demonic” via social media.
- J.D. Wolf @ MeidasTouch News: Charlie Kirk Claimed Trump’s Felony Conviction “Equally as Significant” to 9/11
Trump ally Charlie Kirk claimed Trump’s felony conviction is “equally as significant” to the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the assignation of John F. Kennedy.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Ben Johnson of The Washington Stand exposes “The Spiritual Warfare Behind the Trump Conviction.”
- In a shocking development, Christian nationalist Jerry Newcombe did not like “Bad Faith,” the documentary about the dangers of Christian nationalism.
- Randall Terry’s quixotic presidential campaign has scored the endorsement of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
- Gene Bailey, host of the “FlashPoint” program, says that “nobody is going to give it to you 100 percent straight, besides us.”
- Finally, religious-right activists insist that former President Donald Trump has a deep Christian faith, yet whenever he is asked about it, he inevitably responds by talking about how much evangelicals love him and rambling on incessantly.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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In early April, MAGA pastor and self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman endorsed a right-wing effort to get the Nebraska legislature to change the way the state allocates its electoral votes. Kunneman even made his church in Omaha available to right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, who organized a rally in support of his campaign to pressure the Nebraska legislature to change the system explicitly for the benefit of Donald Trump.
More than two weeks later, a devastating outbreak of tornadoes swept across the Midwest and, predictably, Kunneman thinks it was “a manifestation of the Devil,” who was upset about their efforts to help Trump.
Kunneman has been one of the most obstinate of the self-proclaimed “prophets” who repeatedly guaranteed that Trump would win reelection in 2020. In the years that President Joe Biden has been in office, Kunneman has petulantly refused to apologize for his false prophecies or even admit that Biden is president, instead promising that God will reward those who stand with him while attacking those who have dared to criticize him.
During a recent “Prophetic Pulse” program, Kunneman asserted that the two things were obviously connected because Lincoln, Nebraska, was hit particularly hard and that is where the state legislature sits.
“You gotta remember something that was happening,” Kunneman said. “There had been legislative arguing going on about winner-take-all, the electoral [vote] being changed. It’s no coincidence that within a week of that being discussed that this thing shows up in Lincoln.”
“I think they’re connected because you’re going to see from one of [Kunneman’s] prophecies, God talks about ‘tornadic,’ and then he says, ‘Even regarding your election process,'” Kunneman added. “You say ‘Well, the Devil and the weather, he can’t create.’ No, but he can use things.”
For the record, the Nebraska legislature adjourned on April 18 without taking up the issue of the state’s electoral vote system, which was more than a week before the tornado occurred. In addition, the tornado that struck Lincoln was part of widespread storm system that spawned tornadoes in Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.
Despite the fact that the tornado occurred long after the rally at Kunneman’s church and after the state legislature had adjourned without taking action, and that the tornado was just one of at least 92 that spawned that day, Kunneman is convinced—or is at least trying to convince his followers—that this natural disaster was really a “manifestation of the Devil” brought about by his efforts to change the election process to help Trump.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Charisma Madarang @ Rolling Stone: Epoch Times Executive Charged in Alleged $67 Million Money Laundering Scheme
Weidong Guan, the CFO of the right-wing outlet, was accused of funneling illicit funds into his own personal bank and crypto accounts.
- Zachary Leeman @ Mediaite: ‘This is a War!’ Tommy Tuberville Tells Newsmax Americans ‘Need to Wake Up’ After Trump Conviction
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) declared “war” over Donald Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges, telling Newsmax the American people and some of his Republican colleagues need to “wake up.”
- Marlon Ettinger @ The Daily Dot: Nick Fuentes mocked for Alex Jones tribute that edited out Ali Alexander
White nationalist streamer Nick Fuentes jumped to Alex Jones’ defense on X over the weekend after Jones claimed in a broadcast on Infowars that federal agents were going to try to shut down his show and lock him out of his studio in the coming days. But eagle-eyed viewers noticed that the photos Fuentes posted had been cropped to exclude a one-time key ally of Fuentes, whose reputation has taken a beating over allegations of inappropriate sexual solicitation of minors: Ali Alexander.
- Angry White Men: White Supremacist Nick Fuentes Gets Warm Welcome On Right-Wing ‘Hodgetwins’ Podcast
In a May 31 post on X (formerly Twitter), right-wing Internet personalities Kevin and Keith Hodge released a softball interview with white supremacist Nick Fuentes. During the interview, the Hodges allowed Fuentes to deny being a white supremacist, and appeared receptive to his racist and antisemitic conspiracies.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: ‘Get the demons out’: Marjorie Taylor Greene demands ‘exorcism’ of Mike Johnson
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) demanded that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) shut down the federal government until the state of New York overturns former President Donald Trump’s conviction.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Scott Lively loves former President Donald Trump but worries that he might actually be the Antichrist: “I don’t want that to be true about Trump, even in the slightest. I’m just performing my Christian due diligence on the biblical math as I perceive it.”
- Todd Starnes declares that “Anthony Fauci is a monster”: “He’s responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Americans. He’s the face of a modern-day genocide.”
- Angry over Alex Jones’ legal problems, Ali Alexander fumes that “The Sandy Hook Activist Families SUCK!”: “They’re killing America’s children.”
- MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer says that “the LGBTQXYZ+3 movement is a demonic-inspired movement. It’s totally demonic.”
- Finally, Tony Perkins claims that Trump’s hush money payment to cover up his adulterous affair with an adult film actress is something that conservative Christians “would completely call out, and have.” In reality, Perkins and company actually “gave [Trump] a mulligan.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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During a recent episode of his “Theology Applied” podcast, far-right pastor Joel Webbon said that his critics would be shocked to learn that “massively influential” and wealthy people are reaching out to him to voice their support for his radical Christian nationalist agenda.
Webbon is an ardent Christian nationalist who believes that the American people are too degenerate, stupid, and cowardly to abide by the Constitution and therefore must be governed by a Christian dictator who “just rules with an iron fist” and forces everyone to, at the very least, “pretend to be Christian.” Under this Christian leader, Webbon says, the Constitution will be amended to include the Apostles’ Creed, abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, in vitro fertilization, and birth control will all be outlawed, and women will be banned from voting.
On Monday’s podcast, after Webbon and his guest, fellow Christian nationalist Adam Robles, discussed the need for the United States to be ruled by an “American Caesar” or “Protestant Franco,” they both agreed that Christian nationalism is not just some small, fringe movement.
“I think people would be surprised if you found out the kinds of people that we’re talking to and are following us,” Robles said. “It’s very easy to mock Christian nationalism as a small movements, it’s fringe, nobody cares. And as far as I’m concerned, they can keep doing it.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Webbon agreed. “Without sharing too many details or names, it is a fact that people—massively influential people, high, high, high, high up—it’s not just that we have a speculation; no, they are calling us, texting us, ‘Hey, I saw what you posted on Twitter. I think that’s really good. Hey, I watched your podcast, I think that’s really good.’ I’m talking massive celebrities. Millionaires, if not billionaires.”
“You can keep patting yourself on the back and consoling yourself that Christian nationalism will go away,” Webbon said. “It won’t. It won’t. You might as well go ahead and get with the program.”
In addition to serving as pastor at Covenant Bible Church in Texas, Webbon is also the founder of Right Response Ministries through which he organizes events like “Blueprints for Christendom 2.0: Seven Doctrines for Ruling the World,” which took place earlier this year and featured militant Christian nationalists like Doug Wilson and Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers as speakers.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Kathleen Culliton @ Raw Story: ‘We apologize’: Publisher vows to stop selling debunked election conspiracy film
Publishers of right-wing activist Dinesh D’Souza’s debunked election fraud book and film will stop distributing 2,000 mules and have issued a public apology to the Georgia man it falsely accused of voting illegally.
- Angry White Men: ‘Timcast IRL’ Livestream Abruptly Ends After Laura Loomer Calls For Executing Democrats
Today’s episode of Timcast IRL — the YouTube show hosted by right-wing streamer Tim Pool — came to an abrupt end after Trump ally Laura Loomer called for executing Democrats.
- Teddy Wilson @ Radical Reports: ‘Hang Everyone’: The Far Right’s Violent Rhetoric in Response to the Conviction of Donald Trump
In response to the conviction of Donald Trump, the far right made explicit calls for political retribution, and expressed violent fantasies including demands to ‘hang everyone.’
- Jack Jenkins @ Religion News Service: The second coming of Doug Wilson
Conservatives are elevating long-controversial Idaho pastor Doug Wilson, framing him as a champion of a relatively moderate form of Christian nationalism — but critics says his ideas remain extreme.
- Hatewatch: Christian Supremacy and U.S. Politics: An Interview With Theologian André Gagné
The NAR is a global, Christian movement whose leaders aim to restructure and transform the society, culture, religion and politics in the United States, and those of the world’s nations, to fit their authoritarian vision.
- Ed Pilkington @ The Guardian: A Black pastor is preaching support for Trump – but can he win over voters?
Darrell Scott, a Pentecostal minister from Cleveland, identifies himself as Trump’s ‘senior adviser’ – and has paid a high price for his allegiance.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Last month, Mario Murillo declared that he was going to “make one of the biggest announcements of my life” on June 1 and that is was going to have something to do with combating Pride Month. As promised, Murillo made his announcement and it was basically just a fundraising pitch so he can expand his ministry efforts.
- Jason Rapert warns that “we are in the early stages of civil war” and “the good and decent people in our nation must organize themselves and defend the U.S. Constitution and America as we know it.”
- Did Jon Miller really try to convince his sister to change her wedding date just so he could attend AFPAC IV? Wow.
- Oklahoma state Rep. Justin Humphrey claims that furries are “a precursor to bestiality.”
- Anthony Sabatini is running for Congress “to imprison as many Democrats as possible.”
- Ralph Drollinger says that married same-sex couples should not get tax breaks because they provide “no real benefit to the state.”
- Stew Peters has been banned from using Eventbrite to sell tickets for his “Extreme Accountability Event,” so naturally he’s calling them “pedophile enablers.”
- Finally, Sean Feucht claims that when families followed his recommendation to stop listening to Taylor Swift, their daughters were no longer angry all the time and stopped having nightmares.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Right-wing activist Mark Meckler is calling for New York City to be expelled from the United States in response to the conviction of former President Donald Trump for trying to cover up his adulterous affair with an adult film actress out of fear that its revelation would hurt his 2016 presidential campaign.
Meckler is a radical Christian nationalist who serves as president of the Convention of States Foundation which seeks to get state legislatures to call for a dangerous Article V convention that will propose constitutional amendments to dramatically limit the power of the federal government.
From the start of Trump’s trial, Meckler has repeatedly demanded that Republicans “engage in full lawfare” against Democrats as retribution, calling on every district attorney in every conservative county in every red state to bring “the most brutal changes we can possibly bring” against every Democrat they can. But now Meckler has kicked things up a notch by calling for New York City to be walled off and removed from the union.
“We ought to build a wall around New York City. We ought to close off the bridges and we ought to separate them from the United States of America,” Meckler declared, saying he was only being “semi-facetious.” “There is no rule of law in New York City anymore. There is no due process in New York City anymore. There is no United States Constitution in New York City anymore. It operates as if it doesn’t believe in the rule of law, it doesn’t believe in the United States Constitution, so let’s just cut them out. Let them figure it out on their own. Let’s see how well New York City does without the rest of the country.”
“I think we ought to look into figuring out, when Trump’s in office, how and if we can do this,” Meckler continued. “This is a cancer in our country and it needs to be removed. I don’t know what the best remedy is so that’s why I said this is semi-facetious, but I’d be willing to look into let’s get New York City out of the United States of America because they don’t believe in due process anymore.”
“I think New York City is forfeiting its right to be part of the United States of America, and I think we ought to seriously look into that,” Meckler concluded. “I don’t know if it can be done, that’s why I say I’m only half-serious about this. [But] I could be made to be wholly serious.”
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- Peter Montgomery @ Other Words: Red Flags Over the Supreme Court
America’s highest court is supposed to be impartial — especially when it comes to our elections and constitutional rights. Unfortunately, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has been sending not very subtle signals that he’s aligned with former President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement — and the exclusionary Christian nationalism that motivates many of Trump’s followers.
- Francesca D’Annunzio and Avery Schmitz @ The Texas Observer: Border Vigilantes Are Blurring the Lines of Law Enforcement
Armed groups in Arizona and Texas are collaborating with and courting police and immigration agents—with alarming results.
- Phillip Nieto @ Mediaite: Trump Says His Witnesses Were ‘Literally Crucified’ in Wild Press Conference Attacking Prosecution
Former President Donald Trump claimed witnesses in his hush money trial were “literally crucified” following his criminal conviction by a New York jury.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Following felony conviction, will Trump be able to vote for himself?
In the wake of his criminal conviction, will Donald Trump be able to vote for himself in the fall? The answer is, “Probably, yes.”
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: Extremists Fantasize of Violence After Trump Guilty Verdict
Far-right Trump backers say it’s time to “take matters into our own hands” after Trump’s conviction.
- Angry White Men: BlazeTV’s Lauren Chen Interviews Self-Described ‘Raging Antisemite’ Keith Woods
On Wednesday, BlazeTV host Lauren Chen continued her streak of interviewing white nationalists and antisemites by speaking to Keith Woods. Woods — real name Keith O’Brien — is an Irish white nationalist and self-described “raging antisemite” who’s spoken at white supremacist gatherings, and is listed as a VIP for an event hosted by Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Glenn Beck reacted to the conviction of former President Donald Trump by recalling “something that Ben Franklin asked himself during the writing of the Declaration of Independence”: “As they were going through what they went through, he sat in his chair, and he had been looking at John Hancock’s chair, and it had a half sun on it. And he said, this whole time I had been sitting here thinking, wondering, praying, is that a setting sun or a rising sun? He deemed at the end that it was a rising sun.” That happened after the Constitutional Convention and it was George Washington’s chair.
- Charlie Kirk calls on attorneys general to respond to Trump’s conviction by “getting creative” and finding ways to bring charges against “Open borders NGOs, Democrat ‘Civil rights’ foot soldiers, Leftwing COVID tyrants, [and] Democrat 501c3s gaming our elections.”
- Someone should explain to Kandiss Taylor that “furries” is not “bestiality.”
- Just a reminder that Stew Peters is racist.
- Finally, Dalton Clodfelter finds out that being a racist, antisemitic streamer is not quite as great as it seems.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Former President Donald Trump, top Republican officials, MAGA movement leaders, and dominionist religious-right figures, all reacted badly to Trump’s May 30 conviction on 34 felony counts. A jury of citizens found that he repeatedly broke the law while trying to prevent embarrassing information about his sexual dalliance with a porn star from hurting his 2016 presidential campaign.
Even before the verdict, Trump and his allies had denounced the trial as rigged, smeared the judge, and portrayed Trump as the victim of political persecution. When the jury’s verdicts were announced Thursday afternoon, the MAGA Republican martyrdom machinery went into full swing. Right-wing figures attacked the judge, jury, prosecutors, and President Biden, who they accused of masterminding the prosecution. Trump cultist Joey Mannarino accused them all of committing treason before taking to Twitter to have a vulgar meltdown.
Trump cultist Joey Mannarino seems rather displeased with the Trump guilty verdict: “Fuck you. After what you’ve done to Donald Trump. Fuck you.” pic.twitter.com/gitNNG1tuf
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 30, 2024
Trump himself denounced the trial as “rigged.” In a series of text messages tied to fundraising asks, Trump called himself a “political prisoner” and declared, “JUSTICE IS DEAD IN AMERICA! Our country has FALLEN!” Trump called on his supporters to mobilize “IMMEDIATE PUSHBACK SO MASSIVE IT WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY!” and added, “WE MUST MAKE JOE BIDEN REGRET EVER COMING AFTER US!”
Trump, his son Don Jr., and daughter-in-law Lara, all sent fundraising emails. In one of them, Trump said the trial was a “sick & twisted” effort to turn his supporters against him. “NOW IT’S TIME FOR ME & YOU TO SHOVE IT BACK IN THEIR CORRUPT FACES!” he ranted. Trump called the day of his convictions the “darkest day in American history!” Junior repeated the claim that his dad is a “political prisoner” and called America “a third-world shithole.” Lara called Trump’s conviction an “assault on America” and accused Democrats of “using a SHAM TRIAL to silence, imprison, and ERASE PRESIDENT TRUMP FROM HISTORY!” Right-wing media reported that the flood of contributions from Trump supporters overwhelmed his fundraising site.
Trump’s capture and corruption of the Republican Party is on full display. When the guilty verdicts were announced, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson declared, “Today is a shameful day in American history.” Johnson claimed the trial was “evidence that Democrats will stop at nothing to silence dissent and crush their political opponents”—some high-level gaslighting considering that is actually what Trump has been promising to do if he gets back into power. The Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell fumed that the criminal charges “never should have been brought in the first place.”
Right-wing Trump supporters went ballistic. Culture warrior Matt Walsh railed that he didn’t want to hear statements from Republicans condemning the verdict. “The only thing I want to hear from these people is which Democrats they will have arrested,” he posted on social media. “Don’t tell us that you’re sad about the verdict. We don’t give a shit about your feelings. We want to see corrupt Democrats frog marched on camera in handcuffs. If you won’t do that, then shut up.”
Eric Metaxas declared that the guilty verdict was “like a lynching” while fellow right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk proclaimed that “they just executed a legal assassination.” Far-right activist Ali Alexander claimed that “Today is January 6th for the entire nation,” and former Trump administration official William Wolfe welcomed everyone “to the United Soviet States of America.”
Mark Meckler, who heads the Convention of States movement to do a right-wing rewrite of the U.S. Constitution, demanded that officials in “deep red” parts of the country “bring immediate prosecutions of every Dem official they can tag with even the most spurious charges.” Meckler was so outraged that he even did an emergency livestream to demand that every district attorney in every conservative county in every red state bring “the most brutal changes we can possibly bring” against every Democrat they can.
Radio host Todd Starnes asserted that “There MUST be payback. The judge and the district attorney should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The House must immediately defund the Justice Department. Justice must be served.” Religious-right activist Carol Swain lamented that “for the first time in my life, I am ashamed of my nation.”
Trump’s religious-right backers also rallied around him. “Jesus was a convicted felon. Convicted by political enemies,” declared dominionist Mario Murillo. Like many other far-right figures, Murillo predicted that the convictions would strengthen Trump by energizing his outraged supporters. He invoked the Japanese admiral who planned the World War II attack on the U.S. at Pearl Harbor, who wrote afterward in his diary, “I fear all we have done is to awake a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”
“Apostle” Dutch Sheets, a leading figure in the New Apostolic Reformation, called on God to “strengthen President Trump” because “he is being martyred politically.”
Speaking of terrible resolve, far-right pastor Joshua Feuerstein asked, “At what point do we take up arms?” Never one to be outdone, far-right broadcaster Stew Peters, who has a record of calling for political violence, did so again, tweeting, “Our judicial system has been weaponized against the American people,” adding, “We are left with NO other option but to take matters into our own hands,” a statement he followed with an emoji of crossed swords. In case Peters wasn’t clear enough, he followed that up with a tweet that simply said, “It’s time” and featured a photo of a noose.
It’s time. pic.twitter.com/1KwL3pqsrM
— Stew Peters (@realstewpeters) May 30, 2024
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Jeremy Herb @ CNN: Trump found guilty in hush money trial
A Manhattan jury found Donald Trump guilty of 34 charges of falsifying business records Thursday, an unprecedented and historic verdict that makes Trump the first former president in American history to be convicted of a felony.
- Ben Blanchet @ HuffPost: Trump Spokesperson Teases ‘Revenge’ Tour Over Hush Money Trial: ‘Justice Needs To Be Served’
Karoline Leavitt told Fox News’ Jesse Watters that “people need to be held accountable.”
- Colby Hall @ Mediaite: Former Apprentice Producer Claims Trump Said ‘Would America Buy A N* Winning?’ — And It’s On Tape
Former President Donald Trump is alleged to have used the N-word during deliberations of who should win the first season of The Apprentice, and according to a former producer whose NDA just expired, there are tapes of him saying the racial epithet.
- Angry White Men: Jeremy Carl: Letting Far-Right ‘Crazies’ Back On X Has Made Him Look ‘Mainstream’ By Comparison
Jeremy Carl appeared on the YouTube show of Christian nationalist Joel Webbon in order to promote his new book, The Unprotected Class. While discussing how to use right-wing “strategic radicals” to their advantage, Carl said that letting far-right “crazies” back on X (formerly Twitter) could make his views appear “mainstream.”
- Martin Pengelly @ The Daily Beast: Gun Control Org Resurfaces New NRA Prez’s Speech to White Supremacist Group
Former Rep. Bob Barr gave a speech in 1998 to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC), a white supremacist group.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Texas found a devious way to get the Bible in front of elementary school students
Texas has somehow found another way to shove Christianity into public schools and this one’s just plain sneaky.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Alito’s Opinion in a 2022 Christian Flag Case Flies in the Face of His Recusal Refusal
The case made it to the Supreme Court, and in 2022, Shurtleff won. In his concurring opinion, Justice Alito had a different take on what a reasonable person would think when seeing a flag being flown.
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- Never forget that Christian nationalist legislators like Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers are intent on outlawing birth control.
- A reminder that when Georgia GOP district chair Kandiss Taylor told Stew Peters that she wanted “extreme accountability” for those who oppose Christian nationalism, she meant public execution.
- Speaking of Peters, Lauren Witzke released a statement in response to his allegations that she’s a “fake Christian white nationalist.” She also released a wedding photo to debunk the idea that she “got knocked up by some border jumper in a sombrero.”
- Milo Yiannopoulos claims that since becoming “ex-gay,” dogs have stopped barking at him: “One morning, shortly after making my vow, the hex was lifted. I woke up entirely dog-friendly.”
- Self-proclaimed “prophetess” Kat Kerr insists that God told her that Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi would die in a helicopter crash. Conveniently for her, she never mentioned that before Raisi died.
- Finally, antisemitic white nationalist Nick Fuentes threatens that he and his groyper followers won’t vote for former President Donald Trump because his campaign is controlled by Jews and pro-Israel neocons.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Mark Burns, a right-wing pastor, conspiracy theorist, and unabashed Trump cultist, made an appearance on “TNT Radio” on Wednesday, where he provided an incoherently ahistorical explanation of how former President Donald Trump was integral in transforming him from a Democrat into a Republican.
Burns, who is currently running for Congress with Trump’s endorsement, claimed that he had long been a Democrat because he was “not politically astute,” but all of that changed once he met Trump and learned the true history of the Democratic Party.
“I was one of the early evangelical leaders that was invited to Trump Towers to discuss with him—there was about 20 or so leaders that were there—and it was in that meeting that I began to discover the difference between Republicans and Democrats,” Burns said. “As a Black man in America, the majority of us are Democrat Party supporters because of the civil rights movement and the things that happened prior [with] Dr. Martin Luther King and how the civil rights movement worked hand-in-hand with the Democratic Party of Lyndon Baines Johnson and John Kennedy, before his assassination, [on] the voting rights bill, the civil rights bill.”
“This is how all of this came out to be,” Burns continued. “And the Southern Strategy of the Democratic Party, which is not so much because they were pushing for Black advancement—it was the Republican Party that pushed for Black advancement—but the Democratic Party took advantage of Dr. King’s name and they took advantage of the Southern Strategy, the large population of Black people in the southern states who were never really allowed to vote. And that’s how they were able to push these initiatives through. In some of the southern states like Georgia, like Alabama, and Mississippi that have large Black populations, they were able to communicate with that audience, and that’s how Black people in general become Democrat because of the civil rights movement.”
“Now, let’s be clear,” Burns added. “The Democratic Party of Dr. King is not the Democratic Party of today, of Joe Biden. It is not. It is the not the Democratic Party of Barack Obama. These are two separate entities and they do not go hand-in-hand. The Democratic Party today is evil. I can call them evil. Their policies are evil and they come from the gates of hell.”
It’s difficult to even know where to start in explaining everything that is wrong with Burns’ statement, since it’s hard to understand even what he is trying to say, especially since he seems to think that the “Southern Strategy” was some Democratic ploy to win over Black voters.
In reality, the “Southern Strategy” was developed by Republican activists to win over traditional southern Democrats who were angry by the party’s emerging pro-civil rights positions and get them to vote for Richard Nixon. As Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips explained it:
The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That’s where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.
Ronald Regan’s strategist Lee Atwater was even more blunt about the reasoning behind the strategy:
“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Nier, nier, nier,’ ” said Atwater. “By 1968, you can’t say ‘nier’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.”
Burns’ explanation of history became even more convoluted just a few moments later when he basically contradicted everything he had previously said, beginning with falsely insisting that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican.
“[Black people] don’t know that even Dr. Martin Luther King was a Republican,” Burns declared. “Most Black people during that time period were Republican. They were friends with Richard Nixon, the vice president at the time who was running for president. They were not friends with John F. Kennedy. They were friends with Richard Nixon because of the advancement of Black people through the outreach of the Republican Party. And hence, that’s why the Republican Party fought to free slaves. Hence, that’s where the 13th Amendment come from. People gotta go back and read the history. Rep. Alexander Stevenson, who led that charge, was considered part of the radical Republicans who was wanting to free slaves. It was the Democrats, the Dixiecrats, who fought it tooth and nail to keep Black people in chains.”
To recap: Having first asserted that Black voters support the Democrats because it is the party of MLK and the civil rights movement, Burns subsequently asserted that Black voters were actually Republicans who supported Richard Nixon … despite the fact that it was the Nixon campaign that actually used the “Southern Strategy” to appeal to racist white southern voters.
Furthermore, there is no “Rep. Alexander Stevenson.” Presumably, Burn was referring to ardent abolitionist Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, whom he seems to have confused with Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy.
On top of that, the “Dixiecrats” did not form until 1948, more than 80 years after the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 13th Amendment.
Ironically, we are inclined to agree with Burns that “people gotta go back and read the history.” Maybe he should take his own advice instead of allowing himself to “become educated” by someone like Trump.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Ian Millhiser @ Vox: Alito says the Supreme Court’s fake ethics code allows him to be unethical
In a development that should surprise absolutely no one, Justice Samuel Alito announced in a brief letter on Wednesday that he will not recuse himself from two cases involving the January 6 insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s attempt to steal the 2020 election.
- Angry White Men: Stew Peters: ‘If The Feds Come For My Guns, I’m Gonna Shoot The Feds’
On Friday, Peters made his first appearance on Rumble’s Fresh & Fit Podcast — a show hosted by antisemitic manosphere influencers Myron Gaines and Walter Weekes — where he claimed he would rather die in a violent shootout with federal agents than surrender his firearms.
- Media Matters: After being called a “prophet,” Rudy Giuliani says he feels “a great deal of responsibility as a result of it, and to try to fulfill it”
Host Steve Shultz: “It’s like God’s seeing you in a higher plane than maybe you would even see yourself.”
- Josh Fiallo @ The Daily Beast: Ex-Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Has Law License Suspended in Colorado
The decision is the latest fallout Ellis has faced since she tried to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election.
- Alice Miranda Ollstein and Megan Messerly @ Politico: Trump says he won’t ‘ban’ birth control. Here’s what he may do instead.
The “Project 2025” blueprint includes proposals to require coverage of natural family planning methods and remove requirements that insurance cover certain emergency contraception.
- John Fea @ Current: The GOP is a Trump cult. Just ask Bob Good
Good has a pretty impressive MAGA record. But that won’t get him very far in today’s GOP. Why? Because he would not bend the knee to Trump.
- David A. Graham @ The Atlantic: Mark Robinson Is Testing the Bounds of GOP Extremism
If he loses, the Republicans have a problem. If he wins, they also have a problem.
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- Tim Barton delivered a presentation for Memorial Day in which he argued that “God is not anti-war” and is actually “in favor of wars sometimes.”
- Mike Huckabee will soon “share his wisdom and guiding hand in this new daily program airing Monday through Friday at 6:30pm ET” on the Christian broadcasting network TBN.
- Jason Rapert is outraged that the Libertarian Party nominated a gay man as its presidential candidate: “Another sign the nation is going to hell in a hand basket. When are you going to finally stand up loud and strong Americans?”
- Antisemitic Christian nationalist Andrew Torba helpfully admits that “in recent years, the Appeal to Heaven Flag has been adopted by Christian Nationalists as a symbol of their commitment to upholding the principles of faith, freedom, and self-governance. As a Christian Nationalist myself, I have been flying the flag outside my home for over five years.”
- Finally, while former President Donald Trump is currently on trial for breaking the law while trying to cover up an adulterous affair, religious-right commentator Sandy Rios insists that his commitment to his wife Melania shows he’s a man of character who has “great respect” for God.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Joel Webbon is a far-right Christian nationalist pastor who believes that the American people have become such “degenerates” that the Constitution is no longer adequate and therefore the nation must be governed by a Christian dictator who “just rules with an iron fist.”
The American people are too stupid and cowardly to rule themselves, Webbon believes, and thus must fall under the control of a Christian leader who “comes in with a sword” and forces everyone to, at the very least, “pretend to be Christian.” Under this Christian leader, Webbon says, the Constitution will be amended to include the Apostles’ Creed and abortion, pornography, no-fault divorce, in vitro fertilization, and birth control will be outlawed.
Webbon is the founder of Right Response Ministries through which he organizes events like “Blueprints for Christendom 2.0: Seven Doctrines for Ruling the World,” which took place earlier this year and featured militant Christian nationalists like Doug Wilson and Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers as speakers discussing the issue of biblical patriarchy.
Webbon, of course, is an ardent proponent of biblical patriarchy and believes that women would not be permitted to vote in a properly Christian nation, as he explained during a recent interview on the program “Eschatology Matters.”
“If we had a Christian nation and women could vote, then within 50 years we will no longer have a Christian nation,” Webbon said. “God has not designed women for warfare, and that’s part of what politics is. It’s really all that politics is; it’s war without the blood.”
“That’s what politics is,” he continued. “It is war, and I believe that the sword has been given to men. The sword is—without being crude, I think this is a fact—it is a phallus. It is assigned by God to men.”
“War is something that is belonging to men and it’s not something that we employ in our ranks—whether it be political war or whether it be literal war—women and children.” Webbon declared. “You won’t let women vote? Well, our society doesn’t let five-year-olds vote. … Are you saying that a woman is like a child? Yes. But not intellectually. I’m not saying that. The question is how? In what way is a woman like a child? She is like a child in the way that God has appointed men to protect them. Women are not supposed to be leading the way, they’re to be protected.”
While Webbon’s views sound—and are—extreme, he is not the only far-right figure who has said the country would be better off if women were denied the right to vote. As People For the American Way President Svante Myrick noted in a recent op ed, misogyny is central to the conservative agenda, evidenced in legal and political attacks on access to contraception and abortion, and in efforts by Donald Trump’s Project 2025 supporters to use the power of the federal government to enforce their version of a “biblical worldview” and “traditional” views of family, sexuality, and gender on the entire country.
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- Robert Downen @ The Texas Tribune: At Texas GOP convention, Republicans call for spiritual warfare
At the three-day convention, delegates moved the needle further to the right, preaching Christian nationalism and approving rules that would give them unprecedented control of elections.
- Tess Owen @ Religion News Service: MyChurchFinder is an online directory to Christian nationalist congregations
To receive an A rating, pastors must demonstrate that they lead a ‘biblically sound, culturally aware & non-socialistic legislatively active church.’ Failing to meet any of those criteria earns a church a ‘WNR’ — ‘Would Not Recommend.’
- Paul Rosenberg @ Salon: Cracking the Christian nationalist code: A glossary for the confused
The Christian right has a clearly anti-democratic agenda — but it’s concealed with deliberately confusing terms.
- Judd Legum @ Popular Info: Florida educators trained to teach students Christian nationalism
Training materials produced by the Florida Department of Education direct middle and high school teachers to indoctrinate students in the tenets of Christian nationalism, a right-wing effort to merge Christian and American identities.
- Andrew Perez and Tessa Stuart @ Rolling Stone: GOP Officials Are Outsourcing Their Lawsuits to a Far-Right Christian Group
Conservative public officials are hiring the Alliance Defending Freedom to lead their culture war lawsuits — and handle their public statements.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Christian zealot who destroyed Satanic display in Iowa Capitol accepts plea deal
Michael Cassidy will avoid jail time and a hate crime charge, but he has to plead guilty.
- Elizabeth Dias and Lisa Lerer @ The New York Times Magazine: The Untold Story of the Network That Took Down Roe v. Wade
A conservative Christian coalition’s plan to end the federal right to abortion began just days after Trump’s 2016 election.
- Angry White Men: Elijah Schaffer Leans Into Holocaust Denial
Far-right propagandist Elijah Schaffer has not been shy about his antisemitic beliefs, having blamed Jews for “destroy[ing] our Western civilization” and controlling the Atlantic slave trade. More recently, however, Schaffer has turned his Rumble show into a platform for Nazi apologia and Holocaust denial.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Jim Garlow and Michele Bachmann met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
- Jon Miller posted this Memorial Day message on his Telegram channel: “Fuck the troops.”
- Stew Peters, who is currently locked in a legal battle with his former producer Lauren Witzke and various others, accuses Witzke of being a “fake Christian white nationalist,” alleging that she is “now pregnant with a Mexican, who I think is gay.” Witzke says that Peters’ allegations are “extremely nasty, untrue, and reckless.”
- Nick Fuentes’s effort to pass off his pro-Nazism as anti-Stalinism might work better if he hadn’t been so open about his idolization of Joseph Stalin.
- Finally, Shane Vaughn insists that it’s okay for him to drive a very expensive car because Jesus was rich: “Almost a million dollars was given to the Baby Jesus.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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For the last several election cycles, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton has been traveling the country as part of a “Faith Wins” campaign aimed at mobilizing conservative Christians to vote and get involved in politics.
Earlier this month, the “Faith Wins” campaign briefly merged with the “Courage Tour,” which was launched by Christian nationalist and unabashed Trump cultist Lance Wallnau for the purpose of training conservative Christian activists how to gain political power now in preparation for ruling and reigning when Jesus Christ returns.
When the “Courage Tour” made a stop in Michigan, Barton was among the featured speaker and, predictably, he used his time on stage to spread Christian nationalist disinformation that had first been debunked by Right Wing Watch back in 2022.
“What I’m going to show you is the report of the superintendent of education in public schools in New Jersey in 1816,” Barton said. “They’re talking about the first and second classes—we would call it first and second grades—here’s what they’re learning … It says, ‘All the scholars of the first and second classes commit to memory portions of New Testament or Psalms, a lesson of the catechism, and several hymns and the texts of the preceding sabbath.'”
“We’re talking first and second grade,” Barton continued, “‘One of the scholars has committed a memory the Book of John, and the first 30 Psalms together with Psalm 119.’ … It says, ‘The majority have committed to remember the Gospel by John.’ Every first and second grader memorizes the Book of John, but we did have one guy that was so smart, he memorized 30 chapters out of Psalms and Psalms 119, but everybody does the Gospel of John.”
“That’s first and second grade public schools in New Jersey in 1816,” Barton declared.
Barton’s claims are entirely false.
First of all, these were not first and second graders, as Barton claimed, as the document he cited explicitly states that students in this school were “divided into seven classes” based upon their reading and writing abilities and that “most of the children in the fifth class were unable to read when they entered school.” As such, the students in “the first and second classes” were obviously older students who had advanced reading and writing skills relative to their classmates.
Secondly, and most importantly, this was not a report from the New Jersey superintendent of public education, as Barton claimed, but rather a report from the board of directors of the Free School Association of Elizabeth-Town, which was a Sunday school.
The document Barton used as the basis of claim very clearly states that the students were “taught on the Lord’s day, immediately after the conclusion of public worship in the afternoon” and even notes the existence of “two other Sunday schools” that were not under the board’s control.
As professor John Fea, chair of the History Department at Messiah University and author of “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?,” told Right Wing Watch in 2022, a search of American newspapers and periodicals published in the early 1800s “clearly show that this is a Sunday School.”
“This once again shows that Barton fails to understand the larger context of the periods from which he cherry-picks his facts,” Fea told Right Wing Watch. “It would have taken Barton less than an hour, with the historical databases available to professional historians, or even just a search on Google Books, for him to dig up multiple primary sources showing that the ‘Free School Association of Elizabeth-Town’ was, in fact, a Sunday School. In fact, ‘public schools’ as we know them today did not exist in the early decades of the 19th century. This is the kind of sloppy work—void of any concept of context or change over time—that has characterized Barton’s entire career as a Christian Right activist who raids the past for something useful to help him advance his political agenda in the present.”
Despite the fact that Barton’s claim was exposed as false well over a year ago, it remains a key part of his presentations to this day. And it remains a key part of his presentations because Barton doesn’t actually seem to care about the truth since his primary objective is finding ways to use these sorts of myths about America’s supposed Christian history to promote his own modern-day right-wing political agenda.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Frederick Clarkson and André Gagné @ Religion Dispatches: A Reporter’s Guide to the New Apostolic Reformation
The story of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) lives at the epicenter of the intersection of politics and religion in the US—and reporting about it is as essential as it is challenging.
- Kathryn Post @ Religion News Service: How is the ‘Appeal to Heaven’ flag spotted at Alito’s house linked to Jan. 6?
‘Throughout the Trump presidency, the flag became a symbol for Trump, for Christian America, for this insurgent Christian nationalism,’ says scholar Matthew Taylor.
- Julianne McShane @ Mother Jones: Moms for Liberty Is Coming for the Swing States
The group will launch more than $3 million in ads attacking Biden in several battleground states—but they will not say who’s paying for it.
- Roger Sollenberger and Mini Racker @ Daily Beast: GOP Senate Candidate Spent Thousands in Donor Funds on Strip Clubs, Luxury, and Mysterious Wire Transfers
Star athlete and conspiracy theorist Royce White just landed the Minnesota GOP’s endorsement for Senate. They must not have seen his previous campaign expenses.
- Jason Wilson @ The Guardian: At least 66 members of far-right group in rural Oregon standing for office
At least 66 members of an anti-government group founded by far-right militia figure Ammon Bundy have attempted to win local positions of influence in the Republican party in Oregon, the Guardian can reveal.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Rafael Cruz, father of Sen. Ted Cruz, told Lance Wallnau that “we have a communist regime in the White House today”: “The Biden administration is a communist administration.”
- Johnny Enlow is telling people to pre-order his new book because doing so will “really help the body of Christ and help the Kingdom.”
- Ben Zeisloft says that birth control “may prevent implantation of a fertilized embryo” and therefore “should be banned”: “We need equal protection under the law for all humans, with no exceptions or compromise.”
- It appears as if Mike Lindell is now partnering with groypers.
- Finally, speaking of groypers, white nationalist Nick Fuentes declares that Donald Trump must not choose Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate because Vance is a race traitor who has “a non-white wife” and “a mixed-up family.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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On Tuesday night, far-right broadcaster Stew Peters announced that he would be holding an “Extreme Accountability Event” in October at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel and Casino in New Jersey.
On Wednesday, Right Wing Watch reported on Peters’ plan, noting that he is a virulent antisemite and racist who has openly advocated violence and called for the overthrow of the U.S. government. RWW also revealed exactly what Peters had in mind for this event:
According to the website, the theme of the weekend will be “Nuremberg 2.0” and the event will feature “drinks and specialty cocktails all weekend like ‘The Retribution’ and ‘Bloody Bidens,’” as well as “a red-carpet ‘Gallows Gala’” and a “Gallows and Mimosas” brunch.
But the highlight of the event will be a literal book-burning, reminiscent of those that occurred in Nazi Germany, which Peters has repeatedly praised.
By Thursday, Caesars had canceled Peters’ event and, predictably, Peters used his show that evening to lash out at RWW and other outlets that had reported on his plans.
“Just one day after we announced the Extreme Accountability Event,” Peters fumed, “these people at Right Wing Watch, these lizard things, these pedophile-enablers at Right Wing Watch … these parasites at Right Wing Watch and the rest of the corporate media came out running hit pieces on me, and you, and our event.”
“In response, the cowards—who we now know are pedophile-enablers—at Caesars of Atlantic City, New Jersey, canceled on us,” Peters complained. “Their whole legal team, a team of lawyers was in a complete panic based on the lies told by Right Wing Watch, and Newsweek, and Raw Story. It took less than 24 hours for the Extreme Accountability Event that was announced right here on ‘The Stew Peters Show’ to be shut down by Caesars, who knew exactly who I was, who knew exactly who we are, and what it is that we plan to do, and who it is that we plan to protect. But they booted us off of their reservation list so they could try washing their hands of the entire thing as quickly as possible.”
Undaunted, Peters announced that he is working on moving his event to Florida and vowed that it will feature “an even bigger bonfire.”
“We will restore order to this country,” Peters pledged. “We will restore the rule of law in this country, whether these people like it or not. They can run their little fake hit pieces. They can call up Caesars or any other place that they would like and complain about us, but they will not stop us from cleansing our society. They can’t stop any of you from ripping the filth off of the shelves at these public schools, from writing it out of the textbooks, from burning all of it in a massive bonfire for national salvation. And now, we’ll have an even bigger bonfire, we’ll burn even more of these perverted pedophile training manuals, and we’ll have an even bigger impact. You know, we are the normal ones; they are the freaks!”
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- Tony Perkins warns the GOP to stand firm in its opposition to reproductive choice: “To abandon it now, to adopt a platform that declares this issue of no national significance, that leaves the unborn completely exposed to dismemberment, cardiac injections, and poisoning in the womb, that sets the stage for a national policy of abortion on demand by a Democratic majority, would be a tragedy of historic proportions.”
- Rep. Glenn Grothman says the International Criminal Court has accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of war crimes and crimes against humanity because the ICC is controlled by “anti-God countries.”
- Perry Atkinson declares that “the most despised person on the face of the Earth is a white, heterosexual, Christian, Republican male.”
- Josiah and Isabella Moody explain how tradwife Christian submission works in practice, whereby she has to take his emotional abuse “with a smile on [her] face” and then wait for him to eventually repent to God for his sinful behavior.
- Finally, Lance Wallnau believes that future historians will date the beginning of the Third Great Awakening to when Christians prayed Donald Trump into office in 2016: “The only people that don’t agree with me are religious people and people that got devils.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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The New York Times reported Wednesday that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag was flown over Justice Samuel Alito’s beach house last summer. Like the upside-down American flag flown at the Alito’s home in the days following the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, the Appeal to Heaven flag was carried by insurrectionists who believed that fighting to keep Donald Trump in office was a righteous cause.
The flag, featuring an evergreen tree and the words “Appeal to Heaven” was used by some patriots in the Revolutionary War. But in recent years it has become what religious-right expert Frederick Clarkson calls “the battle flag of the New Apostolic Reformation,” a symbol of dominionists who rallied around Trump’s presidency and his efforts to stay in office after losing the 2020 election. House Speaker Mike Johnson has also drawn criticism for displaying the flag outside his office.
NAR “apostle” Dutch Sheets has been promoting the flag since 2013. In 2014, Right Wing Watch reported that Sheets and anti-choice activist Janet Porter were invoking the flag to support her abortion-banning “Heartbeat Bill.” In a video at the time, Sheets says of the flag, “this is the banner we were born under.”
Sheets preaches that the church, or ekklesia, is meant to be “God’s governing force on the Earth.” Promoting a 2018 gathering at Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C. called “The Turnaround: An Appeal to Heaven,” Sheets declared, “The Church is about to move into a completely new level of enforcing Kingdom rule and the will of God on earth.”
During Trump’s term in office, Sheets was intensely focused on the Supreme Court, praying that God would create multiple vacancies for Trump to fill.
Like other religious-right figures, Sheets promotes false Christian nationalist narratives about history and the U.S. founding—which takes on added importance at a time when right-wing Supreme Court justices have used a “historical practices and understandings” test to undermine church-state separation.
Sheets was extremely active in the religious-right wing of the “Stop the Steal” movement to help Trump stay in power, insisting that God did not want Joe Biden to be president. As Biden’s popular and electoral victory margins grew in the week after the election, Sheets declared, “We are in the middle of an evil attempt to overthrow the government of the United States of America,” adding on a hopeful note, “We still have time to see the rod of Christ’s authority fall and crush the rebellion at the gate.”
People For the American Way, which had already called on Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, released a statement from President Svante Myrick saying the news about the Appeal to Heaven flag “calls into question his ability to be impartial not just in cases related to the January 6 insurrection but on a range of other issues as well.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Zoë Richards, Ken Dilanian and Ryan J. Reilly @ NBC News: GOP lawmakers conflate standard FBI policies with an assassination attempt on Trump
Congressional allies of Donald Trump on Tuesday conflated standard FBI operating procedures with what they called an attempt by President Joe Biden’s administration to assassinate the former president during a 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago property for classified documents, even though the FBI specifically planned the search during a time when they knew Trump was hundreds of miles away in New Jersey.
- Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling @ The New Republic: Damning Evidence Blows Up Trump’s Classified Documents Defense
Recently unsealed court documents suggest that prosecutors in Donald Trump’s classified documents case have even more damning evidence that he tried to obstruct the government’s attempts to retrieve the documents.
- Angry White Men: Stew Peters Promotes Claim That The Capitol Was Built By A Race Of Giants
White nationalist Stew Peters recently unveiled the trailer for his network’s latest propaganda film. Titled Old World Order, it promotes the so-called “Tartarian Empire” conspiracy theory, which posits that buildings such as the Chicago Federal Building and the U.S. Capitol were built by a race of technologically-advanced giants who were wiped out in a great “mud flood.”
- Ian Ward @ Politico: The right’s fascism problem
Trump’s defenders — and even some of his more historically-minded critics — argue that the comparison is ahistorical; that he’s not a true fascist. Yet the ongoing “f-word debate” seems to ignore one key dynamic: Trump and his campaign keep inviting the comparison themselves.
- John Knefel and Tyler Monroe @ Media Matters: Key Project 2025 figure Russ Vought was appointed to the RNC’s platform committee. Mainstream coverage of the move was minimal.
Vought, a former Trump official who runs MAGA think tank the Center for Renewing America, has pushed Christian nationalism and wants to recruit an “army” of right-wing activists with a “biblical worldview” to serve in the next Republican administration
- Andy Kroll @ ProPublica: Scenes From a MAGA Meltdown: Inside the “America First” Movement’s War Over Democracy
Across the country, the Republican Party’s rank-and-file have turned on the GOP establishment. In Michigan, this schism broke the party — and maybe democracy itself.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- When former President Barack Obama celebrated the confirmation of the 200th federal judge nominated by President Joe Biden today by noting that “more than half are women and people of color,” Christian nationalist worship leader Sean Feucht responded by dismissing them as “DEI judges.”
- Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon would like to see this nation “reinstate blasphemy laws that defend Christ.”
- Only someone as deeply narcissistic and virulently antisemitic as Nick Fuentes would to say something like this with a straight face: “They lied about Jesus. They lied about Hitler. They lie about me.”
- Milo Yiannopoulos hopes that if former President Donald Trump is reelected, he will “award himself a federal holiday, a day the nation pauses to remember how it debased and destroyed itself out of vengefulness and pride.”
- Ben Zeisloft declares that “if anything in the Constitution is found to be at odds with the Bible, then the Constitution should be lawfully amended.”
- Finally, Mary Szoch of the Family Research Council digs deep to rationalize the organization’s opposition to IVF: “Pornography is an integral part of the IVF process … That’s not good for a marriage.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Far-right broadcaster Stew Peters is a racist, anti-LGBTQ bigot who regularly uses his nightly program, speeches, and social media accounts to promote white nationalism and virulent antisemitism while spreading wild conspiracy theories, bigotry, and open calls for violence.
Peters has repeatedly called for violence against the government and his perceived political enemies, threatening time and again to deliver “extreme accountability,” by which he means public executions.
Now, Peters appears poised to take his radicalism out from behind the camera and into the real with an “Extreme Accountability Event” to be held in October at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel and Casino in New Jersey. According to the website, the theme of the weekend will be “Nuremberg 2.0” and the event will feature “drinks and specialty cocktails all weekend like ‘The Retribution’ and ‘Bloody Bidens,'” as well as “a red-carpet ‘Gallows Gala'” and a “Gallows and Mimosas” brunch.
But the highlight of the event will be a literal book-burning, reminiscent of those that occurred in Nazi Germany, which Peters has repeatedly praised.
“If we demand that the classroom bookcases and school library shelves be cleansed of filth and perversion and pedophilic materials, then we’re called a bunch of book burners. Well, guess what? That’s exactly what we are, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Peters said during his Tuesday night broadcast. “It’s time for us to go into the public libraries, to go into these public schools, and rip the filth off of these shelves and destroy it. To remove it from the face of the planet for all of eternity. To turn it to ash. And every time it’s reprinted, we do it all over again. And eventually we’ll get ahold of the perverts’ hard drives, and we’ll burn those too. All of this filth will never again see the light of day and an army of Americans, an army of patriots millions of men strong, will make sure of it.”
“We will not stop until we are victorious on all fronts,” Peters declared. “And when they finally have waved the white flag, they’ll be put on trial. And when they’re found guilty of grooming and mutilation and child rape and all of their other crimes against our kids and against our country and against humanity, they will face the ultimate punishment: Maximum accountability. Extreme accountability at the end of a rope.”
Peters pledged that “we’ll do the things that those at Nuremberg 1.0 were too cowardly to pull off” and vowed that “the perverts and globalist Zio-crime syndicate ruling over our country will fall to its knees and will beg us for mercy.”
“This is what has to be done,” Peters proclaimed, insisting that he is focused on “taking real action and stepping out into the physical world and fighting back and exposing these freaks and criminals that are ruining our country.”
“We’ve all sat idly by long enough,” Peters announced. “It’s time to do something. And this fall, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. I’m not talking about some gay, rigged presidential election. No, I’m talking about taking real action in the real world. And I’m calling for every single one of you to join my army. Come and join me in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on October 11, 12, and 13 where we will begin the march down the road to extreme accountability.”
“We will begin the national cleansing process right then and right there,” Peters said. “We’re gonna spend the summer going into our communities and removing all of the filth and smut and pedophilic and pornographic materials from the schools and the library bookshelves and everywhere it’s hawked onto our kids. And come October, we’re going to bring it all to Atlantic City Beach, New Jersey, and we’re going to kill it with fire. We’re going to vanquish it from the Earth.”
“This will only be the beginning,” Peters promised. “This is an extreme event like no other. You want to call us extremists? We’ll show you extreme.”
It is important to remember that despite his bigoted views and openly violent rhetoric, Peters regularly manages to get Republican leaders, elected officials, and candidates for office to appear on his program, and that Peters himself has participated in ReAwaken America events alongside various Trump insiders and members of the Trump family.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Allison Quinn @ The Daily Beast: Trump Shares ‘Unified Reich’ Campaign Video During Lunch Break
The 30-second video was shared on his Truth Social account while he was on a lunch break from his hush-money trial.
- Hafiz Rashid @ The New Republic: Russian TV Has a New Propaganda Star: Tucker Carlson
The former Fox News host has completed his evolution into a Kremlin stooge.
- Brendan Fischer and Victoria Cadostin @ The Guardian: Trump-linked dark-money group spent $90m on racist and transphobic ads in 2022, records show
Citizens for Sanity was one of top political spenders last election cycle and is back for 2024 with more extreme messaging.
- Liz Skalka @ HuffPost: Trump Says He Is ‘Looking At’ Restricting Contraception Access — Then Backtracks
The former president denied that he’s considering pushing for contraception restrictions later on Tuesday.
- Angry White Men: Tim Pool Hosts Misogynistic ‘Trad Wife’ Panel
On Friday, right-wing streamer Tim Pool hosted a panel discussion on feminism for Tenet Media — an outlet operated by BlazeTV host Lauren Chen and her husband. While it was billed as a debate about the so-called “trad wife” phenomenon, the panelists also railed against sex work, women in leadership positions, and women’s suffrage.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Texas state Sen. Phil King says that if President Joe Biden is reelected, this nation is “in for some very, very difficult times.” But if former President Donald Trump wins, King says “it’s a brave new world.” The fact that he meant that as a compliment suggests that he never read the book.
- White nationalist Lauren Witzke delivered a speech about “the slow fade, decades-long agenda that led to the crumbling of America’s foundation” to a gathering of pro-family activists in Russia.
- Apparently, radical right-wing pastor Greg Locke is an “apostle” now.
- In April, far-right activist Isabella Moody deactivated her social media accounts amid outrage over a video of her praising her baby saying something that sounded like the N-word. Moody has now reactivated her accounts.
- Religious-right pollster George Barna claims that during the founding of this nation, “it appears that … a large share of Americans had a biblical worldview.” Of course, he doesn’t actually have any research to prove it.
- Finally, Christian nationalist William Wolfe says that red states must make themselves “absolutely inhospitable to the left.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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In 2023, self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and unabashed Trump cultist Lance Wallnau announced his intention to travel the country ahead of the 2024 elections in order to break the “demonic strongholds” in swing states that have supposedly been preventing Republicans from winning elections.
Wallnau’s vision manifested itself in the form of the “Courage Tour,” which is a series of multi-day events during which attendees hear from religious-right activists who mobilize them politically during the daily sessions, while the evening sessions are dedicated to spiritual revival and miracle healing.
So far, the Courage Tour has made stops in Georgia and Arizona, and it is currently stationed in Michigan, where Wallnau laid out the true purpose of these events: To prepare Christians to rule and reign when Jesus Christ returns by training them to “occupy territory now.”
Wallnau is a leading proponent of Seven Mountains Dominionism, a radical theology associated with the New Apostolic Reformation that advocates having right-wing Christians control all aspects of society. Followers of Seven Mountains theology believe that they are to “do whatever is necessary” to take control of the seven main “mountains” that shape our culture—education, government, media, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion—in order to implement the will of God throughout the nation and the world.
This worldview is also clearly the foundation of Wallnau’s “Courage Tour.”
“One of the interesting things about the Courage Tour is that we’re unashamed about the role of the body of Christ in the affairs of planet Earth,” Wallnau explained during Monday evening’s session. “We don’t realize that the ultimate role of Jesus is to come back to Earth to rule it. And when he comes back, he’s going to be administrating his affairs over nations with people that get it; meaning they understand that he is a ruler who rules.”
Wallnau then linked the Courage Tour to the Parable of the Ten Minas in the book of Luke, in which a nobleman gave his servants money to invest before he went away and then judged them on how well their investments did when he returned. The message of the parable is widely understood to be encouraging Christians to be diligent in their responsibilities in preparation for the return of Christ, but Wallnau specifically cited the King James version of this parable because it is the only translation in which the nobleman’s command is translated as “occupy till I come” rather than some variation of “conduct business until I come back.” Like many Christian nationalists, Wallnau prefers the KJV because this language can be used to justify the claim that Christians are called to “occupy” positions of influence in society.
“The Courage Tour is a unique alchemy,” Wallnau proclaimed. “It’s one of the few times where you’re gonna have election integrity, understanding how to vote, understanding how the state works, understanding stewardship, and occupying Michigan for the Kingdom of God. And then you can easily transition right from there into Jesus in the city, Jesus in the streets, worship, evangelism, and healing. Where in the world do you have the Kingdom of God so comfortably folded and naturally folded into ruling on planet Earth? You have it in the Bible, and you have it in the Courage Tour.”
“All of us are going to be invited to rule in the new administration,” Wallnau continued. “You want to be on the left hand and the right hand of Jesus. You want to be close to his administration. The great reward in the next stage isn’t mansions, it isn’t gold, it isn’t endless hedonistic pleasures and delights; it’s proximity to the power that rules the universe. And to him who has an understanding of that, they get more influence. To him who understands they’re stewarding what they’ve got to increase their leverage for his glory, to occupy territory now so that when he returns, you have something to offer him, to them that have that revelation, more resources will be given.”
“I want God to begin to transfer the resources of Earth into the hands of people that get it and that will use that influence in order to expand and occupy territory for the Kingdom of God,” Wallnau declared. “Are you willing to do that?”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Earlier this month, Right Wing Watch posted a couple of clips of far-right pastor Joel Webbon laying out his Christian nationalist vision for America in which this nation is controlled by a Caesar-like dictator who “rules with an iron fist” and forces everyone to at least “pretend to be Christian.”
In response to Right Wing Watch’s post, Webbon dedicated an entire episode of his podcast to insisting that his call for dictatorship was being misrepresented because, he claimed, he was merely speaking descriptively (i.e., explaining what could happen) and not prescriptively (i.e., explaining what should happen).
We’re not sure we buy that defense, especially given Webbon’s explicit declaration that “men must be governed” and “you need a Caesar-type” dictator to do that governing could certainly be interpreted as a prescriptive statement.
Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon says Americans are “degenerates” and therefore the Constitution doesn’t work anymore, so this nation needs a Caesar-like dictator who “Constitution be dammed, just rules with an iron fist.” pic.twitter.com/2sDev7ZFy1
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 8, 2024
We are even less convinced by that defense after watching the rest of Webbon’s podcast as he very clearly laid out a prescription for how he’d like to see his Christian nationalist worldview implemented.
“I love the Constitution,” Webbon claimed. “I absolutely love it. If there was anything that I would do to the Constitution at all—if revival swept through the land, or we got an American Cesar and he was Christian … One of the first things that I would advocate for is not even changing the Constitution, but simply adopting to the Constitution a preamble of the Apostles’ Creed.”
“Other than that, I love the Constitution,” Webbon added.
Webbon later insisted that nations must be governed by men who use their power to ensure that “we will serve the Lord, whether you like it or not.”
“We are going to behave as a Christian people,” Webbon proclaimed. “And what does that mean? It means we’re going to ban pornography. It means we’re going to ban no-fault divorce. It means we are going to absolutely, utterly abolish abortion, including in vitro, including the hormonal birth control pill, every single one of its forms; not just the Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, but we’re going to go down to the local CVS and we’re going to start knocking those pills off the shelf. No more human sacrifice. So, a civil magistrates can do that. He can and should do that.”
Webbon concluded by completely agreeing when his co-host asserted that it is preferable to see the United States become a Christian nation under whatever form of government is necessary to achieve that result rather than to see it remain a republic.
“I’d rather have a Christian monarchy than our current state of affairs,” Webbon replied.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Mark Meckler and Robert Natelson insist that the Texas state government has the right under the Constitution to invade Mexico in order to fight drug cartels and secure the border.
- James Linzey had a dream that was apparently so prophetically significant that he had to issue a press release about it.
- Antisemitic far-right activist Ryan Sánchez says that “you can’t be a Christian and be a friend of they who had Him crucified.”
- Fellow antisemite Andrew Torba echoes the sentiment: “If you cannot affirm that the Jews killed Jesus, then you reject the Word of God and thereby deny Christ Himself.”
- Finally, Isabella Moody reveals that she is waiting until her husband gives her permission to reactivate her social media accounts after she shut them down in the wake of going viral for all the wrong reasons.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Adele M. Stan @ The New Republic: How FreedomWorks Paved the Way for Trumpism—and for Its Own Demise
If you’d known what to look for, you could have seen it coming miles and miles away: the demise of movement conservatism in the face of Trumpism. The only thing surprising about the collapse of FreedomWorks, the loud and splashy libertarian astroturf outfit, is that it hadn’t happened sooner.
- Bob Smietana @ Religion News Service: PCA cancels anti-polarization panel with David French for being too polarizing
Leaders of the conservative denomination canceled the discussion of dealing with polarization after online backlash.
- Chuck Tanner @ IREHR: The Radicalization of Sam Parker
This is the story of one man who went from a clean-shaven, if far-right-leaning, candidate for the U.S. Senate to a bushy-bearded white nationalist in just six years. His plunge into vicious antisemitism and racism is similar to others radicalized online, drawn to real-world far-right activism, and pulled down into the white nationalist movement.
- Marlon Ettinger @ The Daily Dot: A police investigation into Ali Alexander over allegations he groomed underage boys now extends to Texas
A police investigation into Republican operative Ali Alexander is still ongoing, a spokesperson for the Johnstown Police Department in Colorado confirmed to the Daily Dot on Wednesday, and has now extended to Texas.
- Justin Peters @ Slate: The Resting Smirk of the Bulletproof Moron
[Jesse] Watters relies on low-effort mockery and lazy analysis, delivered in a mellow tone, often paired with a mirthless laugh. It is the mean-spirited snort of the frat brother when he spies a man with long hair; the smarmy chuckle of the righteous prick, intent on mocking, rather than forgiving, all those who trespass against him—even and especially if those trespasses are purely imaginary ones.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Sean Feucht is outraged over a German church that held a Taylor Swift-themed service: “This is not a church. This is a shrine to the demon god of Molech.”
- Self-proclaimed “prophet” Robin Bullock calls on God to “save people who know the election was stolen and bring them out to speak the truth.”
- Jackson Lahmeyer voices his support for bringing back arranged marriages.
- Tony Perkins and Bill Koenig assert that God has been punishing the U.S. with tornadoes and floods as punishment for pressuring Israel over the Gaza war: “There’s no other explanation.”
- Ben Zeisloft proclaims that “every legislature, courtroom, and executive mansion in our land must be brought into submission to the risen and ascended Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
- Finally, since what Elijah Schaffer seemingly means to say is that “Adolf Hitler was right,” he should probably just come right out and say that.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Christian nationalist pseudo–historian Rick Green appeared on the “FlashPoint” program earlier this week, where he laid out what he claimed were biblical standards for political leadership set forth in Exodus 18. Green’s purpose in doing so was to argue that President Joe Biden fails to meet these standards, though all he did was unwittingly make the case against his own preferred candidate, former President Donald Trump.
Green, who bills himself as “America’s Constitution Coach,” is the founder of Patriot Academy and a co-host of the radio program “WallBuilders Live” with fellow religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton, who shares Green’s obliviousness about Trump’s failure to measure up their own stated biblical requirements.
“We’ve got to start loving truth again,” Green said. “And if you look at Exodus 18, it tells us the kind of leaders we need to choose: ‘Able men such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.'”
“Four things: able men; such as fear God; a man of truth; hating covetousness,” Green reiterated. “[Biden] fails on all four. He’s not capable. He certainly doesn’t fear God. He certainly is not a man of truth, and he loves to covet, or take bribes as other translations [put it] … This guy just absolutely fails all four.”
First of all, as Right Wing Watch has explained before, Exodus 18 is not about telling us “the kind of leaders we need to choose,” but rather is passage in which Moses is advised by his father-in-law Jethro to select judges from among the people who can help ease his burden of leading the Israelites.
But more importantly, if anyone “just absolutely fails all four” of these biblical standards, it is Trump and the fact that Green doesn’t even realize it is rather remarkable.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: Tommy Tuberville Seems to Admit Republicans Went to Trump’s Trial to Circumvent the Gag Order
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) was unabashed when asked about attending former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, telling Newsmax’s Chris Salcedo that Republicans did it to “overcome this gag order” on Trump.
- Riley Rogerson @ The Daily Beast: Capitol Rioter Loses His Bid to Return as a Member of Congress
Derrick Evans filmed himself strolling the halls of Congress as a member of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021. Three years later, the ultraconservative West Virginian hoped to return to Capitol Hill as a full-fledged congressman. On Tuesday, however, those dreams were dashed.
- Molly Sprayregen @ LGBTQ Nation: Moms for Liberty sues DOE for their children to have the right to misgender trans classmates
The anti-LGBTQ+ group Moms for Liberty has joined the more than 20 Republican-led states currently suing the administration of President Joe Biden for the right to discriminate against transgender kids in school.
- Steve Contorno @ CNN: Trump’s playboy past is in the spotlight. His allies are readying a new fight against pornography
For the past several weeks, witnesses in Donald Trump’s hush money trial have evoked a chapter of his past when the adult entertainment industry helped him brandish an image as a Manhattan playboy. If some of the former president’s allies get their way, a second Trump term would put that industry on the ropes – and potentially its actors and producers behind bars.
- Luke Winkie @ Slate: The Blank Slate of Barron Trump
Freshly 18, Trump’s youngest offspring has cultivated a bizarre hive of fans who project their weirdest fantasies onto him.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- It is important to remember that when evangelicals like Jack Hibbs talk about the importance of standing with Israel, it is entirely rooted in their mission of seeing Jews “experience the salvation” of Jesus Christ.
- Speaking of Hibbs, he claims that it is “impossible” for Christians to be antisemitic, which is interesting given that actual Jews assert that Hibbs is antisemitic because of things like his above-mentioned views.
- Far-right broadcaster Stew Peters calls for America to be turned into a monarchy: “I don’t think that a king is really a bad idea.”
- We’d love to see Greg Stephens provide some actual evidence for his assertion that the Founders used “Israel’s ancient constitution” in the book of Deuteronomy as a framework for creating our system of representative government.
- Christian nationalist William Cook says that the “persistent unwillingness to address political topics in the pulpit is a moral failure no less egregious than sodomy or preaching falsehood because it leaves flocks to participate in their own enslavement and destruction.”
- Finally, Jason Rapert declares that “it is a badge of honor that the devil’s people track me constantly and find my work worthy of their time.” He is talking about us.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Right-wing activists and members of Congress are currently spreading a conspiracy theory that the Biden administration is preparing to hand over American sovereignty to the World Health Organization. It’s not true, but among those sounding the alarm is Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers, a far-right pastor and unabashed Christian nationalist who literally wants to see this nation taken back to the 1600s.
On Tuesday, Deevers joined other far-right activists like Frank Gaffney, John Bennett, and Paul Blair at a rally demanding that the Oklahoma legislature pass a bill that “would deny the WHO, WEF and UN any jurisdiction in Oklahoma.”
In keeping with Deevers’ rabidly Christian nationalist approach to governing, the speech he delivered spent little time discussing the legislation so that he could focus primarily on making the case for theocracy.
“Christ rose from the dead,” Deevers declared. “Forty days later, he was seated at the right hand of the Father on high. And at that moment, the Father gave him the nations and he set him above every authority in every name that is named in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth. Christ is Lord of Lords. He is King of Kings. He is the sovereign.”
“Why has God set the peoples, the times, and the places of the nations?” Deevers asked. “They exist for the glory of the son. They exist for Christ to rule over them. Jesus has been given the nations as his heritage. You either submit to God through Jesus Christ, or even nations will submit to the enemy of their souls—the serpent—in that age old warfare that we are facing.”
Asserting that the World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization, the United Nation, and the Council on Foreign Relations have all “set themselves against the Lord,” Deevers warned that “if we do not stand up to these global bodies, who are usurpers, then it will be to our own demise and our own judgment.”
“We can have Christ as king or we can have Christ’s judgment. Which do you want?” Deevers asked. “Because Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, he is the only rightful ruler with sovereign jurisdiction over all the world and all the peoples, of all times and all places. Therefore, nations will rise and fall on the basis of their submission to Christ! Serve him. Kiss the son.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Alexander Mallin, Jonathan Karl, and Laura Romero @ ABC News: DOJ requests judge order Steve Bannon to begin prison sentence
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday requested the judge overseeing ex-Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal contempt of Congress case to order that he begin his four-month prison sentence, after an appeals court last week upheld his conviction.
- Heather Cox Richardson @ Milwaukee Independent: Project 2025: Understanding the Heritage Foundation’s playbook to end American democracy
The tight cooperation between Heritage and Orbán illuminates Project 2025, the plan Heritage has led, along with dozens of other right-wing organizations, to map out a future right-wing presidency.
- Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Megyn Kelly Reverses Course, No Longer Believes Trump Had Affair with Stormy Daniels: ‘It Could Have Been a Setup’
Megyn Kelly declared on Monday that she no longer believes former President Donald Trump had an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels, just one month after she said the two had an “interlude.”
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Facing a tough race, Ted Cruz makes a new and implausible pitch
Sen. Ted Cruz has always been a fierce partisan, but facing a tough re-election campaign, the Texas Republican is at least pretending to try something new.
- Riley Rogerson and Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: Jan. 6 Rioter Candidate Hires Fringe Publisher to Boost Far-Right Cred
House candidate Derrick Evans is challenging a pro-Trump incumbent in West Virginia, so he turned to a notorious online publisher—and is getting more than his money’s worth.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Scott Lively says that by changing its name to Scouting America, the Boy Scouts have reached “that openly grooming stage after a decade of increasing degeneracy.”
- Eugene Delgaudio claims that “shots were fired near Public Advocate’s CEO and staff during a live stream video announcement of a billboard campaign opposing transgender surgery on children and promoting the reality of just two genders.”
- Christian nationalist pastor Jack Hibbs warns that the Biden administration is “actually insulting God” by withholding weapons shipments to Israel: “That is just poking the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob right in the eye.”
- Valentina Gomez, who is running for secretary of state in Missouri, has unveiled a winning campaign slogan: “Don’t be weak and gay.”
- Finally, Holocaust denier and Nazi fanboy Jon Miller complains that Adolf Hitler has been made to seem like “this obscene monster” because otherwise people would realize that the Nazis were the good guys.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Next to the myth that the Bible was the source most frequently cited by the Founding Fathers, there is no claim that Christian nationalists love citing more than that Benjamin Franklin’s call for prayer played a pivotal role in the Constitutional Convention.
This false claim is a staple of Christian nationalist propaganda, so it was no surprise to see Rick Green repeat it during a recent “FlashPoint” event, though he did add a few new wrinkles to the myth.
Green, founder of Patriot Academy and a co-host of the radio program “WallBuilders Live” with religious-right pseudo-historians David and Tim Barton, bills himself as “America’s Constitution Coach” despite his tendency to routinely misrepresent basic facts about the Constitution, which he did again on “FlashPoint.”
“Franklin was the one in all of this disunity and all of this fighting and all of this trying to create this new government really in almost a secular way, he was the one to finally stand up and say, ‘What are we doing?'” Green claimed. “He stood up and he said, ‘In the beginning of the contest, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room.’ And what he was really telling those guys was, ‘When the wolf was at the door and we were in danger [in 1776], we cried out to God and we said, “We can’t do this without God.'”
“Just 11 years into our history, he gives them a history lesson,” Green continued. “He says, ‘Our prayers were heard and they were graciously answered. All of us engaged in the struggle must have observed frequent incidences of a superintendent providence in our favor. Have we now forgotten this powerful friend?’ … He said, ‘Do we imagine that we can do this without God?’ He said, ‘We need God. We need the Father of Lights to illuminate our understanding so that we can do this’ and he just gives this long speech, quotes 11 Bible verses calling on them to prayer, saying, ‘We should have regular prayer in order to get our hearts right so that we have unity on the right things, so that we can move forward.'”
“And George Washington did something interesting,” Green added. “He said, ‘We’re going to break,’ and they spent three days going to church and praying together, and it brought about the unity so that when they came back into the Constitutional Convention, they were able to solve all of those conflicts and leave with a Constitution that they could all go back home and be proud of and sell the people back home on supporting. But it required first, the prayer, first, the worship, first, the study of scriptures to see what the truth was that they could build upon.”
Right Wing Watch debunked this claim when David Barton made it back in 2022. Incidentally, Barton claimed that Franklin’s speech quoted 14 Bible verses, whereas Green claims that it quoted 11. We still have no idea where they are getting these figures, but Green, like Barton and everyone else who cites this speech, conveniently fails to mention that the delegates to the Constitutional Convention explicitly chose not to heed Franklin’s call to prayer and adjourned without taking any action on his suggestion. In fact, on the bottom of the handwritten version of the speech Franklin delivered that day is a note acknowledging that “the convention, except three or four persons, thought prayer unnecessary!”
Furthermore, Washington did not adjourn the convention so that the delegates could spend “three days going to church and praying together.” Franklin delivered his speech on June 28, 1787, a Thursday. According to “Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution” by historian Richard Beeman, the convention continued to meet on Friday, Saturday, and the following Monday before taking a break to celebrate the Independence Day holiday. Even during this break, members of the Grand Committee, which was created to try to hammer out a compromise over apportion representatives in the new national legislature, continued their work.
Thus, not only did delegates ignore Franklin’s call to prayer, but they certainly did not then break for three days to engage in collective worship, as Green baselessly claimed. Furthermore, the Constitutional Convention began in late May of 1787 and didn’t produce a finished document until mid-September. Given that Franklin delivered this particular speech just one month into convention, it cannot even plausibly be argued that the delegates “were able to solve” all their conflicts after supposedly breaking for three days of prayer in July since it still took them several more months to complete their work.
The willingness to misrepresent history is a common theme among Christian nationalists who time and again spread blatant falsehoods in defense of their right-wing ideology, inevitably leading one to wonder why, if their position is true, do they have to keep lying to try and “prove” it? Clearly, these activists simply do not care about the truth because perpetuating these myths is useful for convincing Americans that their Christian nationalist political agenda is rooted in our history.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Rudy Giuliani can’t stop spreading lies about the 2020 election and now it has cost him his radio show.
- A school board in Shenandoah County, Virginia, has voted to rename two local schools in honor of Confederate military leaders after having removed those names just a few years ago.
- Televangelist Benny Hinn says that he now regrets promoting false prophecies and the prosperity gospel.
- Laura Loomer is excited to see Barron Trump become “king someday.”
- Finally, James Robinson praised Charlie Kirk for being a “great inspiration to the church and to the nation”: “There is nobody making a better impact, especially on the younger people in our nation, but on the whole nation.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Media Matters: Steve Bannon on Trump arresting his political opponents: “The criminals and traitors around Biden, you should be very worried”
“Hillary, understand something, President Trump is actually very kind-hearted, he’s a good man, he’s a decent man, he’s a very kind man, but there are people in this movement that are not kind, okay? I consider myself one of them. You’re a target.”
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- Hafiz Rashid @ The New Republic: Mike Johnson Has a Racist Election Conspiracy He Admits He Can’t Prove
At a press conference Wednesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson pushed a right-wing conspiracy theory that undocumented immigrants are voting in elections—and then in the same breath admitted that there was no proof.
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- Steven Monacelli @ The Texas Observer: The ‘Remnant Alliance’ Is Coming for a School Board Near You
For decades, various far-right, faith-based organizations have been working to train pastors and turn congregants into school board activists and candidates. But now, the Remnant Alliance has united several powerful conservative Christian groups.
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- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: How Republicans Went From The Tea Party, To ‘Stop The Steal,’ To The Next Big Election Conspiracy
Activist Jenny Beth Martin’s involvement in Speaker Mike Johnson’s ‘non-citizen’ voting push shows how it’s rooted in the effort to keep Donald Trump in power.
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- Ron Dicker @ HuffPost: Ann Coulter’s Bluntly Racist Admission To Vivek Ramaswamy Is Jaw-Dropping
Right-wing commentator Ann Coulter told ex-GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Wednesday she would not have voted for him because he’s Indian.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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- Far-right anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Sherri Tenpenny’s medical license has been restored after it was suspended last year.
- Right-wing pastor Jack Hibbs issues a warning about congressional investigations into UFOs: “I believe that we’re not looking at little creatures from other worlds; I believe that we’re looking at demonic, satanic deception.”
- Ali Alexander is obsessed with the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, declaring it to be a modern-day version of the feud between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson.
- Elijah Schaffer thinks that “homophobia is good! More people need to toughen up.”
- Finally, white nationalist Vincent James says that the problem with society today is that women want to have careers instead of children, and so the only solution is to “unliberate women.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Joel Webbon is a Christian nationalist pastor at Covenant Bible Church in Texas and the founder of Right Response Ministries. Through his ministry, Webbon organizes events like “Blueprints for Christendom 2.0: Seven Doctrines for Ruling the World,” which took place earlier this year and featured militant Christian nationalists like Doug Wilson and Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers as speakers.
Webbon also hosts a podcast called “Theology Applied,” which he uses to promote his far-right theology, as he did during a recent episode in which he declared that the American people have become such “degenerates” that the Constitution is no longer adequate and therefore they must be governed by a Christian dictator who “just rules with an iron fist.”
Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon says Americans are “degenerates” and therefore the Constitution doesn’t work anymore, so this nation needs a Caesar-like dictator who “Constitution be dammed, just rules with an iron fist.” pic.twitter.com/2sDev7ZFy1
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 8, 2024
Last month, Webbon delivered a sermon called “Why Many Christians Don’t Want A Christian Nation,” during which he laid out this theocratic worldview in greater detail, asserting that people are too stupid and cowardly to govern themselves and thus must ruled by a Christian leader who “comes in with a sword” and forces everyone to, at the very least, “pretend to be Christian.”
“The average person is a coward. They are,” Webbon declared. “And the average person is not intelligent. They’re not. And the average person is not a free thinker.”
“Men must be governed,” he continued. “They must. That is absolutely true. Men must be governed. Now, ideally, men would govern themselves … but when you don’t have a populace that is capable of self-governance—when the fruit of the Spirit that is self-control has left the building for decades and nobody seems to have it—then men must be governed. And if they will not govern themselves, then someone else needs to govern them.”
Webbon said that “must be governed” by someone who will “outwardly legislate in accordance with God’s law” and grant “special privileges and favor for his people.” When that happens, Webbon promised, it will influence all the weak, ignorant people in the nation to begin to identify as Christians and “start putting a Christian flag in their bio on social media because they’re not free thinkers, they’re not courageous, they’re not intelligent.”
“They’re men, and men must be governed,” Webbon proclaimed, “and if they must be governed, then our prayer as Christians is that they will be governed in the right direction at least, for the good of the church.”
Earlier in his sermon, Webbon asserted that throughout human history, the proper form of government has always consisted of God appointing “some kind of ruler who is unapologetically Christian and he comes in with a sword and says, ‘I’m sorry, but lawlessness and wickedness will not be tolerated anymore.'”
“He doesn’t go around forcing conversions,” Webbon insisted, “but instead, what he does is he forces external morality. He doesn’t force a change of heart; only the Gospel can do that. But what a king can do is he can say, ‘Whether you’re regenerate or not, you’re going to pretend. You’re at least going to pretend to be Christian.'”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post ‘Men Must Be Governed’: The Christian Nationalist Worldview Laid Bare By Pastor Joel Webbon appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Annie Grayer @ CNN: GOP lawmaker claims KKK is ‘the military wing of the Democratic Party’ in closed door meeting ahead of antisemitism hearing
GOP Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania said in a closed door briefing with lawmakers on Tuesday that the Ku Klux Klan is the “the military wing of the Democratic party” and that migrants coming to the US “have no interest in being Americans,” according to audio of Perry’s comments shared with CNN.
- Dahlia Lithwick @ Slate: How Originalism Ate the Law
America is captive to a legal theory that dictates our laws on guns, abortion, and so much more. We need to act.
- Angry White Men: Trump-Endorsed Candidate Mark Burns Tells Holocaust Denier Stew Peters That There Is ‘A Skyrocket Of Attacks Against Christians’
In a conversation with Holocaust denier and Nazi sympathizer Stew Peters, Pastor Mark Burns blamed President Biden for “a skyrocket of attacks against Christians and Christian churches.” Burns also claimed that being transgender is “an evil from the gates of Hell,” that America “is a Christian nation,” and that, if elected, he will “push back any laws that are contrary” to “God’s Word.”
- Marlon Ettinger @ The Daily Dot: Video of Nick Fuentes admitting he knew about Ali Alexander grooming allegations resurfaces after Fuentes has X account reinstated
Videos of Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes admitting that he knew about allegations regarding grooming by Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander resurfaced this week after Fuentes’ X account was reinstated by Elon Musk.
- Troy Matthews @ MeidasTouch: Trump Aide Promises Ban on Pornography in 2nd Trump Term
Former Trump aide John McEntee promised a ban on pornography was coming in the United States in a recent interview with Daily Wire host Michael Knowles. McEntee had a senior position in the Trump White House and is a key contributor to the infamous Project 2025, a collection of policy proposals to transition the United States to Christian nationalist authoritarianism in the first 180 days of Trump’s second term.
- Emily Shugerman @ The Daily Beast: New Hampshire Pol Who Called Teens ‘Ripe’ Won’t Apologize to His ‘Haters’
[Rep. Jess Edwards], the New Hampshire lawmaker who called teenagers “ripe” and “fertile” says the uproar over his comments was an overreaction and that he will not apologize to the “haters.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- FreedomWorks, a right-wing organization that rose to prominence on the Tea Party movement during the Obama era, is closing because former President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement has taken over the entire conservative movement.
- Joeylynn Mesaros is being sued for her role in a “Trump Train” that dangerously harassed a Biden campaign bus in Texas during the 2020 election, but WallBuilders claims that she is being harassed just for exercising her First Amendment rights.
- MAGA pastor Mark Burns, who is running for Congress in South Carolina, vows that if he’s elected, he will use “the word of God to push back any laws that are contrary to his word”: “I don’t care if they call it Christian nationalism.” Burns made these comments while appearing on “The Stew Peters Show.” Peters is a virulent antisemite who has called Adolf Hitler “a hero.”
- Joseph Farah says that Trump is the only one who can save America: “The Democratic Party is now the existential threat we face. It truly encompasses all our worst enemies and diabolical foes.”
- Finally, Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon declares that Americans are “degenerates” and therefore the Constitution doesn’t work anymore. As such, this nation needs a Caesar-like dictator who “Constitution be dammed, just rules with an iron fist.” Webbon’s call for fascism is being cheered on by other Christian nationalists like Andrew Torba and Ben Zeisloft.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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Jack Hibbs, a far-right anti-LGBTQ pastor, conspiracy theorist, and Christian nationalist, posted a video on his YouTube channel earlier this week in which he lashed out at the protests that have sprung up on college campuses around the country in opposition to the ongoing war in Gaza.
Hibbs, an ardent Christian Zionist whose own support for Israel is riddled with antisemitism, declared that these campus activists have no First Amendment right to protest because, by virtue of protesting, they are proving that they are not even real Americans.
“This morning, I turned on the news and I watched the idiocy of the news media—from channel to channel to channel covering Columbia University and NYU—say the same thing: ‘You know, they’re just expressing their First Amendment rights. This is the First Amendment in action,'” Hibbs sneered. “Those are the words of fools. Fools!”
“We’ve got people who I believe have forfeited their rights to the First Amendment,” Hibbs declared. “They don’t have the First Amendment [right] to do what they’re doing on over 220 university campuses.”
“If I went to Moscow and did what they’re doing, I know what would happen,” he continued. “I’ve seen how the police and how the military deal with people on the streets and it ain’t pretty. That’s why it doesn’t happen there!”
“That’s not your First Amendment right to shout, ‘Fire’ in a theater,” Hibbs insisted. “Neither is it your First Amendment [right] to say that you’re using the First Amendment to speak your opinion when you’re not even an American. You say, ‘Pastor, I was born and raised here.’ Just because you were born here doesn’t mean you’re an American. That’s ridiculous. You don’t even know what ‘American’ is if that’s what you think.”
“Being an American is to choose the U.S. Constitution as your governing document,” he claimed. “You’re an American because you’ve chosen to bring your life under the rule of the U.S. Constitution. People on these university campuses, they don’t even know what the Constitution is. So when they say, ‘It’s my First Amendment right to say, “Death to America, Death to Israel,'” you don’t have the right to do that because you’re not an American, and you are actually somebody who, yourself, you have no constitutional rights. We don’t recognize them because you’re not an American.”
Hibbs argument makes no sense, of course, given that the First Amendment is part of the Constitution, meaning that all Americans who live “under the rule of the U.S. Constitution” have a fundamental right to freedom of speech and to protest.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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A multi-day right-wing event took place at The Gathering church in North Carolina last weekend, aimed at mobilizing pastors to become more active in politics. The event was organized by America’s Black Robe Regiment, a Christian nationalist group founded by Rev. Bill Cook, who has made it his mission to see “the government of God [established] throughout every square inch of the Earth.”
Cook is also a radical conspiracy theorist who was among the speakers at a prayer rally aimed at keeping former President Donald Trump in power after he lost the presidential election in 2020. Cook took to the stage that day clad in an Oath Keepers T-shirt. Later at that same event, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes openly threatened bloody civil war if Trump was removed from office. Rhodes and the Oath Keepers subsequently played a key role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, for which Rhodes was ultimately found guilty of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Among the speakers at last weekend’s event was Ché Ahn, a Dominionist pastor and leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, who was tasked by Cook with “commissioning” attending pastors into America’s Black Robe Regiment.
New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostle Che Ahn recently joined with Pastor Bill Cook in ordaining & commissioning new pastors into America’s Black Robe Regiment, a militant pastors group founded by Bill Cook (who wore an Oath Keepers shirt during the Dec 2020 Jericho March). 1/ pic.twitter.com/02h10Ukp4Q
— jennycohn@toad.social (@jennycohn1) May 7, 2024
Joining Cook and Ahn was self-proclaimed “prophet” Chris Reed, who in 2021 was tapped to take over MorningStar Ministries from far-right pastor and supposed “prophet” Rick Joyner. Reed opened the event by delivering a speech on Christian nationalism during which he asserted that practicing Muslims can never be true Americans.
“If we were to define what a nation is,” Reed declared, “it would be a number of tribes or people groups with a common language, a common religion, [and] a common defense.”
“I’m not saying Americans have to be Christians, but I will say this: I don’t believe the Constitution …,” Reed said, pausing to think through what he was about to say. “I don’t believe you can be a practicing Muslim and be an American, if you follow the Quran closely and believe it.”
“I know I’m really stepping in it tonight,” Reed acknowledged. “[Islam] is in total disagreement with our Constitution. Now, I’m not against [them]. I don’t hate those people. I’m not trying to get them out. I’m not racist against them. I’m talking about a religion, not a people group because, you know, there are people of all skin colors that are Muslim.”
Reed concluded by reiterating his belief that a nation must share “a common religion.”
The religious-right has a long history of insisting that Muslims cannot be genuine Americans and are therefore not entitled to the basic rights and protections granted to all citizens.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Chris Reed Says Muslims Cannot Be Americans appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
A multi-day right-wing event took place at The Gathering church in North Carolina last weekend, aimed at mobilizing pastors to become more active in politics. The event was organized by America’s Black Robe Regiment, a Christian nationalist group founded by Rev. Bill Cook, who has made it his mission to see “the government of God [established] throughout every square inch of the Earth.”
Cook is also a radical conspiracy theorist who was among the speakers at a prayer rally aimed at keeping former President Donald Trump in power after he lost the presidential election in 2020. Cook took to the stage that day clad in an Oath Keepers T-shirt. Later at that same event, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes openly threatened bloody civil war if Trump was removed from office. Rhodes and the Oath Keepers subsequently played a key role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, for which Rhodes was ultimately found guilty of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Among the speakers at last weekend’s event was Ché Ahn, a Dominionist pastor and leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, who was tasked by Cook with “commissioning” attending pastors into America’s Black Robe Regiment.
New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostle Che Ahn recently joined with Pastor Bill Cook in ordaining & commissioning new pastors into America’s Black Robe Regiment, a militant pastors group founded by Bill Cook (who wore an Oath Keepers shirt during the Dec 2020 Jericho March). 1/ pic.twitter.com/02h10Ukp4Q
— jennycohn@toad.social (@jennycohn1) May 7, 2024
Joining Cook and Ahn was self-proclaimed “prophet” Chris Reed, who in 2021 was tapped to take over MorningStar Ministries from far-right pastor and supposed “prophet” Rick Joyner. Reed opened the event by delivering a speech on Christian nationalism during which he asserted that practicing Muslims can never be true Americans.
“If we were to define what a nation is,” Reed declared, “it would be a number of tribes or people groups with a common language, a common religion, [and] a common defense.”
“I’m not saying Americans have to be Christians, but I will say this: I don’t believe the Constitution …,” Reed said, pausing to think through what he was about to say. “I don’t believe you can be a practicing Muslim and be an American, if you follow the Quran closely and believe it.”
“I know I’m really stepping in it tonight,” Reed acknowledged. “[Islam] is in total disagreement with our Constitution. Now, I’m not against [them]. I don’t hate those people. I’m not trying to get them out. I’m not racist against them. I’m talking about a religion, not a people group because, you know, there are people of all skin colors that are Muslim.”
Reed concluded by reiterating his belief that a nation must share “a common religion.”
The religious-right has a long history of insisting that Muslims cannot be genuine Americans and are therefore not entitled to the basic rights and protections granted to all citizens.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Chris Reed Says Muslims Cannot Be Americans appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- David A. Fahrenthold @ The New York Times: Pro-Trump Nonprofit Paid Millions to Companies Tied to Its Own Leaders
The Conservative Partnership Institute’s three highest-paid contractors had connections to the group’s leaders or their relatives, raising concerns about self-dealing.
- Julia Laurie @ Mother Jones: Mystery Group Announces $5 Million Fund to Pay for Reports of Election Fraud. What Could Go Wrong?
It’s not clear who’s behind the newly launched Fair Election Fund.
- Kara Voght @ The Washington Post: For Laura Loomer, a Trump comeback is everything
Loomer is dead set on landing a role in a second Trump administration, no matter what his aides think. (“That will never happen in any way shape or form,” said a person close to Trump’s advisers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak for the campaign.) Either way, she sees the stakes of his reelection as dire — not just for the country, but for her.
- Angry White Men: Elijah Schaffer Uses ‘Timcast IRL’ Appearance To Defend White Supremacist Nick Fuentes
On Friday, Elijah Schaffer appeared as a guest on Timcast IRL — a YouTube show hosted by right-wing streamer and conspiracy theorist Tim Pool. Schaffer used his appearance on Pool’s show to defend Holocaust denier and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, arguing that “gatekeepers of the right-wing movement” were wrong to ostracize him.
- J.D. Wolf @ MeidasTouch: GOP Candidate Welcomes White Nationalist Nick Fuentes Back to Twitter
Valentina Gomez is a Nestlé employee and currently running for Missouri Secretary of State.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: RNC troubles continue as party parts ways with its chief counsel
Two months ago, the RNC hired two lawyers to oversee the party’s election-year legal efforts. One has been indicted, and the other has been pushed out.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Nick Fuentes asserts that “what I mean is what I said” and resents his own followers for trying to do damage control by insisting that he’s not actually racist: “What if I am? Is that a problem?”
- With Fuentes being restored on Twitter, North Dakota state Rep. Nico Rios was quick to follow his account.
- John Amanchukwu warns that if the Republican Party removes language opposing marriage equality from its platform, “then it is all but guaranteed that our Republican representation becomes even weaker in defending off the Democrat’s side to turn all of America into Sodom and Gomorrah.”
- It’s remarkable how often the people we cover, like Elijah Schaffer, think that we are “upset” by whatever it was we posted about them.
- Finally, David Barton claims that Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, George Washington, and John Adams “all pointed to Jeremiah 17:9 as the reason we have the separation of powers in the Constitution.” That is, of course, not true.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Tess Owen @ Wired: Extremist Militias Are Coordinating in More Than 100 Facebook Groups
After lying low for years in the aftermath of January 6, exclusive reporting shows, militia extremist groups and profiles have been quietly reorganizing and ramping up recruitment and rhetoric on Facebook.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Trump responds to falling crime rates in a decidedly Trumpian way
Donald Trump doesn’t want to believe that crime rates went down, which is why he said all evidence reflecting reality must be dismissed as “fake.”
- York Dispatch: Head of right-wing, Christian law firm told leaders to be ‘clever as serpents.’ That’s what they did.
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
- Brad Reed @ Raw Story: GOP lawmaker promotes video of Ole Miss student making monkey sounds at Black protester
Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) on Friday drew instant criticism after he approvingly promoted a video showing white students at the University of Mississippi taunting a Black demonstrator — with at least one student making monkey noises at her.
- Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: Pro-Nazi streamers laud “groyper” takeover of Turning Point USA
During an April 30 stream, Holocaust denier and far-right media figure Nick Fuentes claimed that conservative student group Turning Point USA is being taken over by young extremists associated with his “groyper” movement.
- Isaac Schorr @ Mediaite: Turning Point USA Is Operating A Secret Website Distancing Itself from Candace Owens
Turning Point USA, the right-wing youth advocacy organization founded and run by Charlie Kirk, is operating a secret website distancing itself and Kirk from Candace Owens, the controversial former employee that TPUSA continues to associate itself with despite her recent embrace of overtly anti-Semitic rhetoric.
- Mike Hixenbaugh @ NBC News: Inside the Christian TV show rallying Trump superfans with apocalyptic warnings
“FlashPoint” has gained influence on the Christian right by portraying Donald Trump as a singular leader anointed by God to save America.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin says that if Nick Fuentes is going to have his Twitter account reinstated, then Anglin should have his account reinstated too because “we’re ostensibly in the same category”: “There is no reason not to unban me along with Nick. It will be the same media hit. There is no difference in a media attack about one or two neo-Nazi white nationalist Hitler-lovers.”
- It’s hard to argue with Anglin, because Twitter is already full of neo-Nazis and antisemites like Lucas Gage and Elijah Schaffer.
- Ben Zeisloft is upset that the Alabama House of Representatives’ National Day of Prayer event featured a Hindu prayer: “Prayers to demons should never be allowed in our governmental bodies. We should only acknowledge the Triune God.”
- Just a reminder that no matter how many times Christian nationalists claim that the Bible was the source most cited by the Founding Fathers, it’s not true.
- Finally, we’ll be sure to let Lance Wallnau and Mercedes Sparks know if their “Red Rover mantra” for us ever works.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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There is no myth that Christian nationalists love repeating more than the claim that the Bible was the source most frequently cited by the Founding Fathers. And Tim Barton of WallBuilders has a particular love for spreading this false claim, which makes sense given that it originated with his father, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton.
On yesterday’s episode of “WallBuilders Live,” the younger Barton was at it again.
“When people talk about America being a secular nation, it’s really because they don’t understand the history, they haven’t done the research,” Barton said. “And there’s some people that claim to have done the research, and [say], ‘We don’t see it.’ Well, you have to be completely intentionally ignoring it when it’s so evident.”
“We can point to books like ‘The Origins of American Constitutionalism,’ where a group of professors went through and they documented who the Founding Fathers quoted and cited the most in their writings,” Barton continued. “And what they identified was that 34 percent of all of the quotations they found in the Founders’ writings were quotations from the Bible. They only included things that were in quotation marks. … [While] they’re only measuring what’s in quotation marks, they acknowledged that they recognized so many Bible references that were very obvious Bible references that weren’t in quotation marks, that [had] they included what the very obvious things were, they would have been far higher than 34 percent of the quotes and references to the Founders’ writings coming from the Bible.”
“This wasn’t a study done by a group of Christian professors,” Barton concluded. “This was a study done by intellectually honest professors who were saying, ‘We just want to see what really influenced the Founding Fathers,’ and the Bible is so far above and beyond any other influence on the Founding Fathers, as far as evidenced in their writing.”
As Right Wing Watch has explained multiple times, this claim is rooted in a 1984 study conducted by professor Donald S. Lutz of the University of Houston that sought to identify which writers and sources of ideas were most cited in “the political writings of Americans published between 1760 and 1805.” Lutz found that the Bible was cited most frequently solely because many of the pamphlets included in the research were sermons that had been reprinted for mass distribution. Once the sermon pamphlets were excluded, Lutz reported that quotes from the Bible appeared no more frequently in the political writings of the era than citations of the classical or common law. More importantly, Lutz also noted that when the focus was solely on public political writings from 1787 to 1788, when the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified, “the Bible’s prominence disappears” almost completely.
In 1988, some of the contents from that study made their way into a book Lutz wrote called “The Origins of American Constitutionalism” and, predictably, it does not say what Barton claims it does. What Lutz’s book actually says is that “approximately 80 percent of the political pamphlets published during the 1770s were reprinted sermons” and that his study found that “about three-fourths of all the references to the Bible came from reprinted sermons.” Lutz said that he included about “one-third of all significant secular publications” in his study, but only “one-tenth of the reprinted sermons.” Had the two sources been “strictly proportional” in his study, Lutz said it “would have resulted in an abundance of religious references.”
When biblical citations contained in sermons were excluded, Lutz reported that the citation of the Bible among secular works represented “about 9 percent of all citations—about equal to the percentage for classical writers.”
Lutz did not find, as Barton asserted, that “34 percent of all of the quotations … found in the Founders’ writings were quotations from the Bible.” And Lutz most certainly did not say, as Barton claimed, that if indirect references to the Bible had been included in the study, there “would have been far higher than 34 percent of the quotes and references to the Founders’ writings coming from the Bible.”
Barton was deliberately misrepresenting what Lutz wrote in both his study and his book, and he presumably knows that. But what Barton also presumably knows is that his audience does not know this, which is why he and so many other Christian nationalists continue to repeat it, because doing so helps them promote their own modern-day right-wing political agenda.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Kate Riga @ Mediaite: Fearing Blowback, A Couple Arizona Senate Republicans Join Democrats To Repeal 1864 Abortion Ban
A couple Arizona Senate Republicans crossed over Wednesday to help Democrats repeal the state’s 1864 ban as national Republicans hope to avert electoral punishment.
- Jaxon White @ Lancaster Online: Conservative lawmakers, faith leaders meet with Christian dominionist activist in Harrisburg
Two Republican state lawmakers and several faith leaders were among those who met Wednesday with a controversial Christian activist to discuss promoting a prayer rally in Harrisburg ahead of the general election. Sean Feucht, an evangelical musician who has become increasingly active in politics, told several dozen people at the Capitol media center in Harrisburg that his organization, Let Us Worship, will host a prayer rally on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol in October to “prophesize over” the fall election.
- Angry White Men: AZ State Senator Anthony Kern Appears On Rumble Show Of Holocaust Denier Stew Peters
On May 1, 2024, AZ State Sen. Anthony Kern made a guest appearance on the Rumble show of Stew Peters. Peters is a Holocaust denier and Nazi sympathizer with a history of violent, racist, anti-LGBTQ, and antisemitic rhetoric. Kern, who was recently indicted for his role in Donald Trump’s fake electors plot, claimed that God was “raising up” Trump and Peters.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: MAGA State Superintendent Supports Chaplains in Public Schools – But Not From All Religions
As several Oklahoma news outlets report, there’s a wrinkle lawmakers may not have anticipated.
- Joe Jervis: MAGA Prophet: Trump Critics Will Be Struck With Boils
“My children, you are about to see biblical-type plagues strike some of your enemies, even on their faces. Boils will be seen. See who was infected by them. See how they will try to explain it away. But know your enemies are very afraid just as they were in Egypt.”
- Evan Vorpahl @ True North: True North Issues New Research Report Detailing Who Is Targeting State Courts to Limit Freedoms
True North is issuing a new research report shining a light on those men–Leonard Leo, Dick Uihlein, Charles Koch, and Jeff Yass–and right-wing groups targeting state courts and other levers of power to change the rules and limit our freedoms. This new report also documents how Leo used the Federalist Society to target state supreme courts and the judicial selection process in order to advance his agenda, and more.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Ali Alexander declares that “antisemitism ain’t real.”
- Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin seems to disagree, proclaiming that antisemitism is “the duty of all Christians” because “these k*kes murdered God” and vowing to wipe out Jews in “rivers of blood.”
- Elon Musk has pledged to restore Nick Fuentes’ Twitter account.
- Jarrin Jackson appears to be deliberately misleading his followers by misrepresenting the dates on these two photos.
- Finally, Gene Bailey says that Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were “not just penned by man; they were written by the divine hand of God.” For good measure, Greg Stephens added in the false claim that George Washington made a covenant with God on behalf of the nation during his first inauguration.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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The second Thursday in May is designated as the National Day of Prayer by federal law, which requires the U.S. president to issue a proclamation recognizing the day. While the occasion is officially nonsectarian—President Joe Biden’s 2024 declaration recognizes “Americans of every religion and background”—the National Day of Prayer Task Force, which promotes the day and organizes events, has long been dominated by Christian-right leaders.
The “national prayer” being promoted by the Task Force this year deploys the language of Seven Mountains dominionists, who teach that every “mountain” or sphere of influence in society must be taken over by Christians who share their right-wing religious and political worldview: “Lead us forward to dispel the darkness and bring light throughout the Church, Family, Education, Business, Military, Government, and Arts, Entertainment, and Media.” The task force website is even more explicit, encouraging people to pray for America “by praying into seven centers of influence in our nation.”
Leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation teach that taking dominion and bringing nations into alignment with their biblical worldview can help speed the return of Jesus Christ and usher in a period when the church will “rule and reign” with him.
As Right Wing Watch has noted, “The rhetoric of the seven mountains has been adopted across the religious right even by leaders who may not share NAR’s theology, but find the concept a convenient lingua franca for encouraging conservative evangelicals to get more involved in politics.”
Right Wing Watch reported in 2020 that the Southern Baptist Convention’s guide to the National Day of Prayer that year used the framework of Seven Mountains Dominionism.
This year’s “national observance” will be broadcast Thursday night from the U.S. Capitol visitors’ center, featuring religious-right leaders including Family Research Council President Tony Perkins and New Apostolic Reformation figure Doug Stringer, who has worked with Christian nationalist political operative David Lane to organize political prayer events. Another NAR figure, Samuel Rodriguez, co-hosted last year’s broadcast.
Dave Kubal, president of the pro-Trump Intercessors for America and an associate of Trump spiritual advisor Paula White, is a member of the task force’s board of directors, as is Matt Lockett, an associate of dominionists Dutch Sheets and Lou Engle.
As Andrew Seidell noted at Americans United for Separation of Church and State this week, Task Force president Kathy Branzell, who wrote this year’s “national prayer,” is author of “Prayer Warrior: The Battle Plan to Victory.” In an interview with FRC’s Perkins this week, Branzell said that Satan is “working really hard to get us to be quiet”—not something religious-right leaders have ever been.
During the Trump administration, televangelist Kenneth Copeland was among the religious-right leaders who dined at the White House on the eve of the 2019 day of prayer. Copeland’s Victory Channel is home of FlashPoint, a program started in the fall of 2020 that has promoted dominionist and Christian nationalist supporters of Donald Trump as well as falsehoods about the 2020 election and Jan. 6 insurrection. This year, FlashPoint is holding a series of live events they’re calling the Rescue America tour.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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Commentary
Project 2025, a scheme led by the Heritage Foundation to “take the reins of government” after former President Donald Trump or another MAGA Republican becomes president, is backed by more than 100 right-wing organizations. The project’s harmful agenda and destructive operational plans have generated significant critical media coverage, to which Heritage has responded with snarky commentary that confirms the organization’s identity as a propaganda arm for the MAGA movement.
Project 2025 is a detailed policy agenda and action plan meant to advance two different long-term goals. One is a libertarian-leaning effort to gut federal agencies from within and limit their ability to regulate corporate behavior and protect the climate. The other is an openly authoritarian plan to empower the president to dismantle checks and balances, impose his will on the executive branch, use federal agencies to punish his critics and enemies, and deploy the power of the government to enforce the religious right’s “traditional” views on abortion, family, sexuality, and gender.
The scope and intent of Project 2025 is alarming, and journalists and progressive activists have been sounding the alarm about its consequences for democracy, people and the planet.
In response, Heritage has mocked critical news coverage and published an electronic pamphlet titled “5 Reasons Leftists HATE Project 2025,” which declares, “Radical leftists are terrified…and they should be.”
The Heritage flyer is less of a substantive engagement with Project 2025 critics and more of a Trumpish exercise in name-calling and inflammatory MAGA-movement rhetoric meant to demonize opponents.
For example, a section promising that Project 2025 will “restore the American family” begins with these claims: “The radical left hates families, because when people have strong families, they don’t worship big government and succumb to leftist ideologies like gender ideology. The Left wants to eliminate the family and replace it with the state.” Among the policies Heritage says will somehow restore families: imposing work requirements for food stamps, censoring teaching about race and gender, promoting privatization of public education, outlawing pornography, and banning abortion.
Another section of the pamphlet boasts that Project 2025 will “dismantle the deep state”—code for purging professional civil servants, weakening regulation of corporate behavior, and eliminating institutional checks on the president’s power. Heritage says Project 2025 will eliminate “woke propaganda at every level of government” and shut “wasteful and corrupt bureaus and offices.” If you get past the “wasteful bureaucracy” rhetoric and wade into Project 2025’s detailed agenda, you find out that means defunding, dismantling, and redirecting agencies that provide vital services and protect Americans and their communities, like the Environmental Protection Agency.
When it comes to immigration, the Heritage pamphlet equates the Biden administration with “the radical left,” which Heritage claims “rejects the idea of borders and national sovereignty.” While that claim shouldn’t be taken seriously, Project 2025’s plans for aggressive detentions and massive deportations should be.
Heritage also brags that Project 2025 will “reject climate hysteria.” Its pamphlet contains no recognition of the well-documented harms already caused by climate change and its potentially catastrophic future effects. Heritage dismisses the very idea of a “climate crisis” as simply “a tool for scaring Americans into giving up their freedom.” Like Trump’s “drill, drill, drill” ideology, Project 2025 focuses on maximizing fossil fuel production, abandoning sustainable development goals, and otherwise undermining or reversing federal government actions to protect the climate and regulate pollution.
The fifth reason Heritage says that “leftists” hate Project 2025 is that it promises to “stop socialism in its tracks.” For MAGA movement leaders, the actual meaning of words or the truth of statements doesn’t seem as important as their potential propaganda value. Just as Heritage Foundation’s MAGA-minded president Kevin Roberts and Trump aides like Stephen Miller smear opponents as “communists,” Project 2025 lumps progressives together with both communists and fascists: “Leftists today are driven by the same rotten socialist ideas that nearly destroyed much of the world during the 20th century. The promise of socialism—Communism, Marxism, progressivism, Fascism, whatever name it chooses—is simple: Government control of the economy can ensure equal outcomes for all people.”
Given what we know about Trump’s admiration for authoritarian strongmen, his equating brutality with strength, and his willingness to undermine the Constitution for his own benefit, the Heritage Foundation’s hopes for Project 2025 read as a clear threat: “The next conservative president will enter office with a simple choice: greatness or failure,” declares the Heritage Foundation, adding that “Project 2025 will ensure the next president has the tools needed to succeed at this daunting task.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
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- Eric Cortellessa @ Time: How Far Trump Would Go
Donald Trump thinks he’s identified a crucial mistake of his first term: He was too nice.
- Warren Throckmorton: Eric Metaxas Still Using the Fake Bonhoeffer Quote
It is a popular quote and many people still attribute it to Bonhoeffer; but it can’t be found in any of his writings, nor is there a record of it in his sermons or speeches.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Newsmax Host Eric Bolling Goes Off the Rails Over Biden Eating Salad
President Joe Biden’s eating habits are no longer just the subject of Fox News host Jesse Watters’ invaluable scrutiny, after Newsmax host Eric Bolling grew increasingly angry Monday with the president eating salad at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner over the weekend.
- Alanna Vagianos @ HuffPost: Anti-Abortion Extremist Will Be On The Presidential Ballot In 12 States
Randall Terry, the founder of the far-right group Operation Rescue, has been chosen as the Constitution Party’s presidential nominee for the 2024 election.
- Angry White Men: Speakers At White Nationalist Conference Included Ex-DOJ Official
Over the weekend people gathered at West Virginia’s Berkeley Springs castle to attend a conference held by VDARE — a white nationalist hate group. Speakers at the event included well-known white nationalists and antisemites such as Jared Taylor, Steve Sailer, and Kevin DeAnna. It also included former Department of Justice official John Lott.
- Zachary Leeman @ Mediaite: Conservative Activist Chris Rufo Urges Right to Fuel Pro-Palestine Protests on College Campuses
Conservative activist and author Christopher Rufo declared in his Substack newsletter that pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses are a “disaster” for the left that conservatives should “exploit.”
- Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman @ The New York Times: Trump Wants to Prosecute Biden. He Also Thinks Presidents Deserve Immunity
In arguing to the Supreme Court that he cannot be charged for acts while in office, Donald Trump has asked the justices to enforce a norm that he has long threatened to shatter.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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- Scott Lively warns former President Donald Trump that if he attempts to compromise on the issue of abortion in hopes of “bringing a huge wave of baby-murdering women to the polls this November,” then “you will set God Himself against you.”
- Tim Barton is “having a hard time wrapping [his] head around” allowing a “pharmacist to say that ‘I am not going to fill a prescription because I don’t like ivermectin.'” Presumably, Barton would not have a hard time wrapping his head around a pharmacist refusing to fill a prescription for things like birth control or Plan B.
- Kandiss Taylor is not sure that she agrees that “liberals are the dumbest people on earth” because “there are [some] pretty dumb people who call themselves Republicans.” You don’t say?
- Right-wing pastor Jack Hibbs played a video during his Sunday service urging congregants to sign a petition to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom because “he’s in opposition to our biblical worldview.” Hibbs then admitted that this is part of a strategy to derail Newsom’s political aspirations.
- Finally, Johnny Enlow proves that being a “prophet” is the easiest job in the world because when you repeatedly prophesy that Trump will be reelected and it doesn’t happen, you just accuse the media of being “a false prophet” for not reporting the truth that “he was the winner.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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Drenda Keesee is a right-wing pastor, broadcaster, Seven Mountains dominionist, and conspiracy theorist who appears poised to become a county commissioner in Knox County, Ohio, after winning the Republican primary last month.
Recently, Keesee preached at a “Woman, You Are Anointed” conference hosted by right-wing pastor Brenda Kunneman, wife of self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman, where she revealed that she had been personally instructed to run for office by Jesus himself.
Keesee claimed that she was hosting a women’s conference of her own last year and in between speaking engagements, she was lying down backstage when Jesus appeared to her.
“He was holding my cheeks, and I was holding his cheeks and it was darkened but I could see him,” Keesee said. “He was there and we were holding each other’s face.”
Keesee said that this encounter signaled that something important was going to happen in her life, which happened a short time later when Jesus told her to run for office.
“I get this call that I’m supposed to run for office and I’m like, ‘What am I going to do, Lord? Am I supposed to do this? Are you asking me to run for office?'” Keesee recalled. “He said, ‘Isn’t this what you’ve asked everyone else to do?'”
“Yeah,” she claims she replied, “but you want me to do it?”
“Yes,” Keesee concluded. “He says, ‘Yes.'”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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- Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Josh Dawsey, and Liz Goodwin @ The Washington Post: Tensions grow between Trump and Lake in Arizona race for Senate
The former president fears that GOP candidate Kari Lake might not win and will drag down his own prospects in the battleground state.
- Angry White Men: Elijah Schaffer Hosts Holocaust Denier Ron Unz
On his show Slightly Offensive, Elijah Schaffer took his antisemitism to its logical conclusion by discussing World War II with Holocaust denier Ron Unz. Unz, a crank whose website publishes articles by white supremacists, called Winston Churchill a “political puppet” of wealthy Jews and accused Franklin Roosevelt of allowing Japan to bomb Pearl Harbor.
- Andrew Perez and Adam Rawnsley @ Rolling Stone: Supreme Court Puppet Master’s Consulting Firm Clients Exposed in Leak
Leonard Leo’s consulting firm has worked for Eli Lilly, the Koch network, and a dark-money group pushing the Supreme Court to block a billionaire tax.
- Riley Rogerson @ The Daily Beast: GOP Campaign Aide’s X Account Shared and Liked Racist Posts
Tim Sheehy, GOP candidate for Senate in Montana, hired a campaign staffer with social media accounts and public statements emblematic of the fringe far right.
- Gaby Del Valle @ Politico: The Far Right’s Campaign to Explode the Population
Behind the scenes at the first Natal Conference, where a motley alliance is throwing out the idea of winning converts to their cause and trying to make their own instead.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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- David Lane gripes that “America was not settled by lily-livered Christians,” but “over the last 200 years, however, radical change has overtaken the nation, resulting in benumbing paganism now being America’s official religion.”
- Mark Meckler calls for former President Donald Trump, if he’s reelected, to use a “weaponized DOJ” to raid the homes and offices of left-wing organizations: “We need to engage in full lawfare against the radical left.”
- Christian nationalists Steve Cruz and Ben Zeisloft agree that any woman who gets an abortion “should be killed”: “She should be tried and convicted; dig a hole and put her down.”
- Jason Rapert fumes over the U.S. providing humanitarian aid to Gaza: “You are lying devils and you’re evil.”
- Shane Vaughn claims that Federalist 43 lays out “why Donald Trump is absolutely immune from prosecution.” Vaughn clearly never actually read that essay, since it says nothing of the sort.
- Finally, MAGA pastor/self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman used his Sunday sermon to declare that “God is far right” while ranting that Democrats are “dark black evil.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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Kandiss Taylor is a flat-earth, election-denying conspiracy theorist who unsuccessfully ran for governor in Georgia in 2022. Undaunted by her paltry showing in that election, Taylor subsequently became a Georgia GOP district chair and also began hosting a weekly program called “Jesus, Guns, and Babies” on the far-right Stew Peters Network.
Peters himself if a racist, far-right anti-LGBTQ bigot who regularly uses his own nightly program, speeches, and social media accounts to promote white nationalism and virulent antisemitism while spreading wild conspiracy theories, bigotry, and calls for violence.
Taylor has said that Peters is her “best friend,” so it was not surprising to hear her issue a threat of violence during a recent appearance on Peters’ program.
Peters has repeatedly and openly called for violence against the government and his perceived political enemies, threatening time and again to deliver “extreme accountability,” by which he means public executions.
Taylor, who has her own history of issuing warnings of violence, used that exact phrase during her recent appearance on Peters’ show while discussing what will happen to those who oppose her Christian nationalist efforts to place the church in control of the government.
“We need to make church the state’s business again,” Peters said. “We need to bring Jesus Christ to the state, and we need to eradicate any form of government that is oppressive to the individual rights, individual liberty, prosperity, peace, liberty, property, of anything, our God-given inherent, unalienable rights, and replace that with a form of government that’s representative of the people and God’s law.”
“We are the church and we run the state,” Taylor replied. “Even if they don’t believe it to be so, it is a fact. And if they keep pushing around with American people, and they keep playing all these games, they’re gonna find!”
“How are they gonna find out?” Peters asked. “How are they gonna FAFO [fuck around and find out]?”
“Extreme accountability,” Taylor answered.
“I love it,” Peters gushed. “You’re speaking my language.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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- Travis Gettys @ Raw Story: ‘I hated that dog’: Kristi Noem recalls gunning down family’s ‘worthless’ pup
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a frontrunner to be named as Donald Trump’s running mate, admitted to killing her family dog for misbehavior.
- Christian Right Observer Weekly: Volume 13
CROW’s 7 stories on the Christian Right that you need read this week.
- David Gilbert @ Wired: No, a Shadowy Figure Is Not Buying Tents for Columbia Student Protesters
Conspiracies about outside forces funding and orchestrating the university protests at Columbia and NYU have taken hold online, primarily on X.
- Media Matters: On Steve Bannon’s show, Mike Davis threatens to “rain hell on these Biden Democrats” and warns them to “lawyer up”
Davis calls Trump criminal trial “lawfare” and threatens “the most severe legal, political and financial consequences come January 20, 2025.”
- Joe Jervis: Judge Upholds $360,000 Judgment Against Kim Davis
A federal judge denied an appeal by former Rowan County clerk Kim Davis. Davis made national headlines when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples while acting as Rowan County clerk in 2015.
- Gil Duran @ The New Republic: The Tech Baron Seeking to “Ethnically Cleanse” San Francisco
To fully grasp the current situation in San Francisco, where venture capitalists are trying to take control of City Hall, you must listen to Balaji Srinivasan. Before you do, steel yourself for what’s to come: A normal person could easily mistake his rambling train wrecks of thought for a crackpot’s ravings, but influential Silicon Valley billionaires regard him as a genius.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | |
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- MAGA pastor Shane Vaughn held an impromptu prayer session in his car yesterday to ask God to send angels into the Supreme Court to give former President Donald Trump a victory in his presidential immunity case.
- Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau told the audience gathered for this “Courage Tour” that they cannot trust anyone but God and “those who God has anointed.” Wallnau, of course, is one of “those who God has anointed” and can therefore be trusted.
- Christian nationalist Ben Zeisloft says that Christians must enact laws for the good of their neighbors, which means “abolishing abortion, outlawing same-sex mirage, ending no-fault divorce, and banning pornography.”
- Antisemite Nick Fuentes is formulating a plan to send his followers to Trump rallies to chant “Genocide Joe” in an effort to use the current Gaza War protests to pressure Trump to drop his support for Israel.
- Finally, speaking of Fuentes, he explains that doesn’t want to get married because he will inevitably end up losing control, punching his wife, and killing her. Then, of course, he claimed that he was “just kidding.” It didn’t seem like he was kidding..
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
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Rick Wiles is a deeply antisemitic right-wing conspiracy theorist and End Times broadcaster who has dedicated countless episodes of his “TruNews” programs to railing against Israel and Jews.
Now, Wiles is running for Congress.
I am a candidate for Congress in Florida’s District 21. Today the Sec. of State certified my name to appear on the Aug. 20 Republican Party primary. God willing, I will defeat Brian Mast. I will never wear a foreign army military uniform. Always America first!
— Rick Wiles (@realRickWiles) April 25, 2024
Wiles joined fellow antisemitic right-wing conspiracy theorist Stew Peters on “The Stew Peters Show” last night to say that he decided to run for office because he was outraged by seeing Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, in whose district Wiles lives, appear on Capitol Hill wearing the uniform from his service in the Israeli Defense Forces.
Wiles said that if he is elected, his first priority will be to introduce legislation “to make it a felony for any member of Congress—House or Senate and their staff members—to wear a foreign military uniform.”
“A felony,” Wiles said. “Put them in prison. It’s treason.”
Wiles was likely motivated to run by his deep hatred of Jews and the state of Israel, as well as his desire to “provoke a goyim uprising” and “overthrow the Talmud in America.”
“We are going to impose Christian rule in this country,” Wiles has declared.
Wiles is a radical conspiracy theorist who spent the Obama administration claiming that Barack Obama was literally demon-possessed and “a devil from hell” who “spiritually sodomized” the nation in his role as the head of a modern-day Nazi regime that sought to round up “patriotic men” and seize their homes so that they could be given to illegal immigrants.
There is no conspiracy theory too outlandish for Wiles to promote, ranging from declaring that Tom Brady was “sleeping with a witch” to warning that Rachel Maddow was using her MSNBC program to orchestrate a violent coup during which President Trump and his family would be dragged out of the White House and beheaded.
Wiles has also openly and repeatedly advocated violence against his political enemies, urging Trump to round up liberal activists and torture them.
Wiles has a special hatred for Right Wing Watch, because of our efforts to chronicle his radical views and statements. In 2020, Wiles even thanked God for the fact that the U.S. Special Forces were supposedly getting ready to hunt down and shoot “Right Wing Watch commies.”
Obviously, that didn’t happen and thus Right Wing Watch is still here to expose Wiles now that he is running for Congress.
End Times conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles hopes that Donald Trump and Bill Barr will line Democrats, the news media, leftists, scientists, and professors up against a wall and shoot them "because that's what they deserve." pic.twitter.com/cTw8t5qenu
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 30, 2020
Radical conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles tells Trump to take the billions of bullets that Obama supposedly stockpiled and put them "to good use" against protesters. pic.twitter.com/yESP8TriTy
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 24, 2020
End Times broadcaster Rick Wiles says America is facing a Satanic communist takeover that will crush the church and so Christians must prepare themselves to be gunned down in the streets as they resist. pic.twitter.com/jkEEhUCL18
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 20, 2020
Right-wing conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles says that Trump got COVID as a result of an assassination attempt carried out by miniature drone "that was weaponized to spray an aerosol in the Rose Garden." pic.twitter.com/dsgFXD1MWI
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 14, 2020
End Times conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles claims that COVID-19 vaccines contain "an egg that hatches into a synthetic parasite and grows inside your body." pic.twitter.com/mOUHaztXT0
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 20, 2021
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
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- Yvonne Wingett Sanchez @ The Washington Post: Meadows, Giuliani and other Trump allies charged in Arizona 2020 election probe
An Arizona grand jury on Wednesday indicted seven attorneys or aides affiliated with Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign as well as 11 Arizona Republicans on felony charges related to their alleged efforts to subvert Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in the state, according to an announcement by the state attorney general. Those indicted include former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, John Eastman and Christina Bobb, top campaign adviser Boris Epshteyn and former campaign aide Mike Roman.
- Pema Levy @ Mother Jones: The GOP’s “Election Integrity” Lawyer Was Just Indicted for Election Subversion
Christina Bobb tried to overturn the 2020 election, and Arizona just charged her for it.
- Kate Briquelet @ The Daily Beast: Bogus Furry Panic Overtakes Utah School District
Group chats viewed by The Daily Beast reveal that parents were involved in planning students’ anti-furry protests—and securing right-wing media attention.
- Angry White Men: Heather Mac Donald: ‘The Great Replacement Theory Is Real’
On The Megyn Kelly Show, Heather Mac Donald endorsed the white supremacist “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory. Mac Donald, a fellow at the right-wing Manhattan Institute, declared that the “Great Replacement theory is real,” and that we’ve “decided to destroy our birthrate” and “flood our country with cultures” that are “not compatible.”
- Media Matters: Trump ally Laura Loomer: “You are an enemy to this country if you do not vote for Donald Trump”
Loomer: Jews who support Democrats “might as well just go put yourself in a gas chamber yourself if this is how you’re gonna behave.”
- Nikki McCann Ramirez @ Rolling Stone: Trump Lawyer Says Having Political Rival Killed Could Constitute ‘Official’ Presidential Act
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday on the former president’s bid to secure sweeping immunity from criminal prosecution.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
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- Sean Feucht says that “we are living in the last days”: “These are the end times … we’re living in the midst of it.”
- Mark Meckler of Convention of States and Rick Green of Patriot Academy and WallBuilders are teaming up for a series of events to explain the “pivotal role the Wild West can play in shaping America’s future.”
- Stephen Wolfe, author of “The Case for Christian Nationalism,” declares that “in places where Christians can assert their will in politics, then they should do that.” And if people don’t like it, well, “tough.”
- “Apostle” Dutch Sheets, a leading figure within the New Apostolic Reformation, asserts that Democrats who oppose former President Donald Trump are “fighting against the purpose of God for this nation.”
- Finally, self-proclaimed “prophet” Cindy Jacobs and “The Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders” held an emergency livestream last night so Jacobs could tearfully deliver a warning from God that the Gaza protests are an insurrection aimed at establishing an Islamic state in North America.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
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Last week, far-right pastor Doug Wilson was interviewed by Tucker Carlson, who billed Wilson as “the Christian nationalist they warned you about.”
Pastor Doug Wilson is the Christian nationalist they warned you about. pic.twitter.com/E92V7OMLTS
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 15, 2024
On Wednesday, Wilson posted a video answering various questions about his views, particularly as they relate to Christian nationalism.
Wilson summed up his position by paraphrasing Psalm 2 in declaring that the foundational principle of government must be that “there is a God and he commands earthly rulers to kiss the son.”
While Wilson said that he does not necessarily agree with the approach advocated by some Christian nationalists like Stephen Wolfe, author of “The Case for Christian Nationalism,” who believes that Christians are to use political power to impose their views on the nation because non-Christians “are not entitled to political equality,” Wilson admitted that if Wolfe and his ilk did manage to “take over,” it “would be way better than what we are dealing with now.”
Eventually, Wilson addressed just how the United States could go about officially declaring itself to be a Christian nation.
Among the options Wilson floated was having the president issue a proclamation acknowledging that “Jesus rose from the dead and Congress could authorize the funds to have that proclamation printed and bound, read in the all the schools, and posted in all the federal courthouses.”
Another option would be for the Supreme Court to take up a religious liberty case and use its decision to declare that this is “a Christian nation and [has] been such from the beginning.”
Or, Wilson suggested, “the Apostle’s Creed could be incorporated into the Constitution.”
The dangerous views espoused by Wilson and other Christian nationalists have been well-documented by Right Wing Watch and examined extensively in documentaries like “God & Country” and “Bad Faith.” Various members of Congress are unabashed Christian nationalists and right-wing activists are already hard at work mobilizing conservative Christians to run for office and doing all they can to put former President Donald Trump back in the White House. In turn, Trump has already promised to return the favor by giving them unprecedented power to use the levels of government to impose their Christian nationalist agenda on the nation.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
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As the aggressive Christian nationalism that infuses the MAGA movement and Republican Party intensifies, journalists and filmmakers are paying closer attention to the threat this political ideology and its adherents pose to freedom in America. A must-watch new documentary, “Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy,” will be available for streaming on AppleTV, Amazon Prime, and Google Play beginning Friday, April 26.
Directed by Stephen Ujlaki and Christopher Jacob Jones and narrated by Peter Coyote, “Bad Faith” makes masterful use of archival and current footage of Christian nationalist religious and political figures, infographics, and interviews with scholars, religious leaders, political analysts, and even a former Trump administration official.
The film draws a compelling through line from the scheming power-building of Paul Weyrich, the right-wing operative who recruited Jerry Falwell and other evangelical preachers to create the religious-right as a political movement in the late 1970s, to the institution-destroying antidemocratic ambitions of MAGA insiders like Steve Bannon, as well as Donald Trump’s dominionist “prophets” and “apostles” and the Jan. 6 insurrectionists they inspired.
As Owen Gleiberman noted in a review for Variety, “what sounded like crackpot raving” from Weyrich’s tear-it-all-down manifesto 15 years ago is “now the cutting edge of the mainstream Republican Party.”
“Bad Faith” explains how that transformation happened, documenting the role played by the Council for National Policy, a partnership between anti-regulation, economically libertarian oil barons and the religious-right leaders who intended to remake the Republican Party, take over the Supreme Court, and use their political power to enforce “traditional” views of family, sexuality, and gender on the rest of the nation.
The Koch brothers poured tens of millions of dollars into “a state-of-the-art political data platform” that Council for National Policy groups use to collect personal information—including personal mental health, behavioral health, and treatment data—and use that information to micro-target individuals. (In “God & Country,” another documentary released earlier this year, Ralph Reed is shown bragging that his organization tracked “147 different data points” on the conservative Christians they targeted for turnout operations.)
“Bad Faith” also connects the modern Christian nationalist movement to a longer history. As the Rev. William Barber points out in the film, the use of religion to justify “all kinds of evils” is not a new phenomenon. At its peak in 1924, the KKK claimed 8 million members, mostly white evangelicals. Linda Gordon, author of “The Second Coming of the KKK,” describes that movement’s belief that new immigrants were subverting the destiny of America to be a white Protestant country. Sound familiar?
Sociologist Samuel Perry notes in the film that Christian Nationalism emerges at times of cultural conflict when those in power—mostly White Christian men—think their power is threatened. Randall Balmer, author of a 2021 book that shares the “Bad Faith” title, describes how court rulings challenging the tax-exempt status of racially segregationist schools, not abortion, motivated evangelical leaders to seek political power in the 1970s. They settled on abortion as a more politically palatable motivator than the defense of racial segregation. As “Freedom Road” author Lisa Sharon Harper notes, religious-right activists targeting the Supreme Court waved the banner of abortion in order to advance white supremacy.
As “Bad Faith” makes clear, religious-right leaders viewed Trump as a powerful blunt weapon in a long-term political and spiritual war against the federal government and institutions dominated by progressive forces. “The Council’s gambit had paid off,” the film notes about Trump’s time in office. “Christian nationalists were firmly embedded at the highest levels of government. The Supreme Court had an absolute majority of justices poised to overturn landmark civil and women’s rights decisions. Paul Weyrich’s vision of a Christian nation was becoming a reality.”
That explains why Christian nationalist leaders were willing to dismantle democracy to keep Trump in power. Members of the Council for National Policy and its political action arm went into “full combat mode” to promote Trump’s big lie, and, as Right Wing Watch documented, they supported his efforts to keep power after the 2020 election, portraying it as a holy war between the forces of good and evil. As Samuel Perry notes in the film, viewing politics as spiritual warfare between the forces of God and Satan makes it easy for those who see themselves on God’s side to “justify just about anything.”
While Rev. William Barber offers “Bad Faith” viewers hope that a nationwide justice-seeking movement can reach some of the people who have embraced the Christian nationalist movement, the documentary also argues that our democracy is more fragile that most Americans understand. The Republican Party, says strategist Steve Schmidt, is “more extreme, more dangerous, more committed to the autocratic project of gaining power than it was on Jan. 6, 2021. And this has to be confronted. And there is no issue that supersedes it.”
The Christian nationalist movement is going all-out to put Trump back in power, and its Project 2025 is preparing to “take the reins of government” if he wins. But the political infrastructure built by the Christian right and its allies is far bigger than Trump himself. “Regardless of what happens to Donald Trump, it’s the machinery of the Council for National Policy that has the staying power,” says Anne Nelson, author of “Shadow Network.” “And it’s that machinery that presents the lasting threat to our democracy.”
“Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy” is a Panarea Production. Directed, Produced and Written by Stephen Ujlaki. Co-Director/Co-Producer: Chris Jones. Executive Producers: Peter D. Graves, John Ptak, Todd Stiefel, Mike Steed. Co-Producer: Doug Blush.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
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- Annie Grayer and Melanie Zanona @ CNN: How the House GOP’s Biden impeachment effort fell apart
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer was eager to take the reins of a high-stakes investigation into President Joe Biden and his family, seen as central to the House Republican agenda – a coveted perch that brought the added benefit of elevating his national profile. But after 15 months of coming up short in proving some of his biggest claims against the president, Comer recently approached one of his Republican colleagues and made a blunt admission: He was ready to be “done with” the impeachment inquiry into Biden, according to the lawmaker who relayed the conversation to CNN.
- Amanda Moore @ The Turtle Diaries: The Texas GOP Can’t Get Enough of Nick Fuentes
It seems there are groypers everywhere, from the far-right Young Republican spinoff group to powerful consulting firms.
- Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: Extreme internet misogynists love Donald Trump
Manosphere influencers — some of whom have embraced Nazism and antisemitism over the past year — have thrown their support behind Trump.
- Adam Wren @ Politico: Meet the Man MAGA America Wakes Up To
Between hosting Right Side Broadcasting Network and dating Marjorie Taylor Greene, Brian Glenn is the next big MAGA media star.
- Angry White Men: Elijah Schaffer: ‘I’ll Never Employ Females Again, Or Work With Them Or Anything Like That’
During a discussion with misogynistic, anti-LGBTQ pastor Jesse Lee Peterson, Elijah Schaffer claimed that he will never employ, work with, or befriend women again. Schaffer, who was fired from a right-wing media outlet over accusations of sexual harassment and assault, blamed the “subversive nature” of women for his decision.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: The Gateway Pundit, Infamous Conspiracy Blog, Declares Bankruptcy After Suit From Election Workers
The founder of the Gateway Pundit, the infamous conspiracy theory site, announced on Wednesday that the company had declared bankruptcy.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Misogynists For Trump appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Rep. Tracey Mann is the latest member of Congress to appear on Christian nationalist worship leader Sean Feucht’s podcast.
- Speaking of Feucht, TPUSA’s Alex Clark attacked him for criticizing the lyrics on Taylor Swift’s new album, accusing Feucht of being involved in “sketchy stuff” and blasphemy. This was pretty remarkable since TPUSA is a co-sponsor of Feucht’s “Kingdom To The Capitol Tour.”
- William Wolfe declares that “the Big Bang Theory and Darwinian Evolution are two of the most laughable concepts ever invented and advanced by modern man”: “If you believe in these, you are, quite literally, a fool in the biblical sense.”
- Eric Metaxas warns that “Joe Biden is a greater threat to democracy around the world than Vladimir Putin.”
- Finally, Kent Christmas demonstrates that being a “prophet” is the easiest job in the world because even when the thing you prophesied would happen doesn’t, you just insist that it did.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
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Right Wing Watch reported last month that Tim Barton, a national religious-right figure who follows in his father’s footsteps as a dispenser of false Christian nationalist history, had endorsed Dave Nissley, who was waging a challenge to a conservative leader of the state’s House Republicans in the state’s 100th legislative district. Nissley’s fell short in yesterday’s Pennsylvania primary. Incumbent Bryan Cutler, who has no Democratic challenger in the November election, won by a 54-46 margin.
Cutler had the backing of the county GOP committee, but Nissley was backed by the Citizens Alliance Pennsylvania, the state chapter of Gun Owners of America, and “far-right organizations from neighboring counties whose members detest the party establishment in Harrisburg,” including the Citizens Alliance Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Liberty Fund, the Berks County Patriots, and the PA Patriots Coalition. Rachel Wilson-Snyder, the county Moms for Liberty chair, attended the event at which Barton endorsed Nissley. Lancaster Online noted that right-wing groups, including FreePA, had also backed an unsuccessful primary challenger to Cutler in 2022.
LancasterOnline reported that Nissley’s challenge “benefited from a multi-year campaign” by MAGA activists unhappy that Cutler, who was speaker of the state house in 2020, had not used his position to flip the state’s electoral votes to Trump after Joe Biden won the state:
Three times in the weeks ahead of Jan. 6, dozens of pro-Trump protestors gathered outside Cutler’s home in Peach Bottom and his district office in Quarryville, demanding that he do more to help reverse the election results.
Cutler also received calls from Trump lawyers and was invited to the White House to meet with the president. He later told the House January 6 Committee that he had told the former president he did not have the power to stop Pennsylvania’s electoral votes from being awarded to Joe Biden.
Conservative discontent toward Cutler worsened when Trump blamed his loss in Pennsylvania on baseless claims of mass voter fraud, which the former president said was caused in part by the state’s newly enacted no-excuse mail-in ballot policy – established by Act 77 of 2019. Republican leaders, including Cutler, led the efforts to pass that law, which was widely thought to be a blow to Democrats because it did away with straight-ticket voting.
In a Facebook post this morning acknowledging his defeat, Nissley sounded a defiant note, quoting Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene: “We fight, get beat, and fight again.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
The post MAGA Challenger Backed by Christian Nationalist Tim Barton Fails to Unseat Leading Pennsylvania Republican appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Nate Schweber @ The New York Times: The Circus Trump Wanted Outside His Trial Hasn’t Arrived
With support from demonstrators in Lower Manhattan spotty so far, Donald Trump issued a call to “rally behind MAGA,” and suggested the poor turnout was a result of a plot against his supporters.
- Kevin Drum: National Enquirer publisher says Trump payments were to help his campaign
In the Trump hush money trial, David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, testified today about paying off informants to hush up sex scandals.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: ‘I’m Not Suicidal’: Kari Lake Pushes Hillary Clinton Murder Conspiracy Theory
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake is promoting a conspiracy theory suggesting Hillary Clinton wants to assassinate her.
- Alex Tabet @ NBC News: Kari Lake says ‘unfortunately’ Arizona isn’t enforcing 1864 abortion ban, flipping again
The Senate candidate supported the 19th-century ban in 2022, came out against it this month, and now appears to be backing it again in a new interview.
- Maya Henson Carey @ Hatewatch: Everything Is Not OK in Oklahoma Public Schools
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction, faces national backlash as he continues to inject his extremist ideology into public school classrooms.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
The post Right Wing Round-Up: All Alone In His Time Of Need appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: McCarthy lacks evidence, announces impeachment inquiry anyway. Philip Bump @ The Washington Post: Assessing the allegations that triggered McCarthy’s impeachment inquiry. Media Matters: Charlie Kirk: “The only reason to impeach Biden is just for the symbolism of it.” Ryan J. Reilly @ NBC News: InfoWars host Owen Shroyer sentenced […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Baseless, Symbolic Impeachment appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Todd Starnes interviewed Mike Huckabee on Monday but apparently didn’t think it was important to ask Huckabee about his recent comment threatening that if President Donald Trump fails to win the 2024 election because of the multiple indictments he is facing, “it is going to be the last American election that will be decided by […]
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Georgia state Sen. Colton Moore launched a crusade against Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis after her office indicted former President Donald Trump and more than a dozen others earlier this year for their roles in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Moore is demanding that a special legislative session be called […]
The post GA State Sen. Colton Moore Demands Fellow Republicans Help Him Fight the ‘Nazis in Atlanta’ by Impeaching Fani Willis appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Ryan Walters is a Christian nationalist culture warrior who is using his position as Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction to promote far-right propaganda throughout the state’s public school system. On Sunday, Walters appeared at a special service held at right-wing pastor Jackson Lahmeyer’s church in Tulsa, where he claimed that President Joe Biden wants to […]
The post Ryan Walters Says Biden Wants to Destroy Faith, Family, and the Nation appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Sophie Lawton, John Knefel, Jacina Hollins-Borges and Jack Wheatley @ Media Matters: Research file: We watched every PragerU Kids video. Here are the lowlights. Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: A preacher urged his church to donate $3 million. Then he changed his story. Joe Jervis: NOM Launches Money Beg For Former Chair Eastman. Allison Quinn […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: My Lumpy Pillow appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Wayne Allyn Root warns that if former President Donald Trump is not elected in 2024, it will mean “the end of America, American exceptionalism, the American dream, capitalism and Judeo-Christian values. Forever.” Don Feder declares that “in light of his abysmal record, the most fitting way for Mr. Biden to observe 9/11 is to resign […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Throbbing Middle Finger to God appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Pray Vote Stand, the Family Research Council’s annual conference for religious-right activists, convenes in Washington, D.C. this week. Formerly known as the Values Voter Summit, this year’s gathering features Christian nationalist speakers and Republican politicians and offers attendees an opportunity to get trained to run for their local school board, a major focus of right-wing […]
The post Family Research Council Conference Preview: Republican Politicians, Christian Nationalism, & School Board Takeovers appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Sara Murray, Jason Morris, Jeremy Herb and Marshall Cohen @ CNN: Fulton County special grand jury recommended charges against Lindsey Graham, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: DeSantis Pledges to Install His Surgeon General, Who Reportedly Said Anti-Vax Policies Are God’s Plan, at CDC.
- Jennifer Bowers Bahney @ Mediaite: Marsha Blackburn Claims Her Democratic Senate Opponents Are For Abortion ‘Up To The Minute Before And After Birth.’
- Julie Tsirkin, Kate Santaliz, Brennan Leach and Liz Brown-Kaiser @ NBC News: Republicans are trying to find a new term for ‘pro-life’ to stave off more electoral losses.
- Media Matters: Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles warns “the likelihood of civil war is much higher” if Trump is kept off ballots.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Unindicted Co-Conspirators appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Far-right preacher Joshua Feuerstein reports that he is launching a streaming network and has “signed Kari Lake to a show.” That seems like a fitting partnership.
- Elijah Schaffer claims that he is doing consulting for the GOP. That also seems like a fitting partnership.
- If you are a Christian nationalist pseudo-historian like David Barton, how do you explain away slavery? By insisting that while southern slave owners may have been “professing Christians,” they weren’t real Christians because “they weren’t biblical Christians.”
- If this is the best that Janet Porter can come up with to oppose a constitutional amendment protecting reproductive rights in Ohio, it should pass in a landslide.
- Finally, nothing quite encapsulates the fetid state of right-wing media like far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters interviewing the niece of Osama bin Laden for a 30-minute segment alleging that Barack Obama is gay and Michelle Obama is a man.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Professing Christians appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Nick Fuentes is a racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, homophobic Christian nationalist who openly hates this country and wants to see government taken over by a fascist dictatorship.
Fuentes’ unabashed racism and his love for murderous tyrants who use the power of the state to brutalize and imprison their perceived enemies was on full display during a recent livestream broadcast in which he longed to see China invade New York City, start killing Black people, and send them to concentration camps.
“What if China took over New York City?” Fuentes fantasized. “Wouldn’t that be awesome? Wouldn’t we support that?”
“What if we had Chinese soldiers on every corner and if Black person started spazzing out, they took a sword out and cut his hands off … and then they cut his head off,” he continued. “What if that happened? That would be awesome!”
“China would do a better job running our country than we do,” Fuentes stated. “What if they did to Harlem and the south side of Chicago what they’re doing to Xinjiang to the Uyghurs? Is that not ideal?”
China’s brutal treatment and imprisonment of the Uyghurs has been described as crimes against humanity and genocide, and that is apparently what Fuentes would like to see happen to Black people in America.
Despite openly and repeatedly making known his abhorrent views, Fuentes nevertheless managed to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago with former President Donald Trump in November of 2022 and has previously secured the support of elected leaders like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Paul Gosar, and Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers.
Some may be tempted to write off Fuentes’s over-the-top bigotry as a kind of performance art meant to entertain his young male followers, but multiple killings motivated by racial and ethnic hatred—including the recent racist mass murder in Jacksonville–make it clear that promoting racially motivated violence is no laughing matter. Fuentes uses his platform to normalize overt bigotry, celebrate violence, and promote a dangerous authoritarian, anti-democratic ideology within the MAGA movement’s right flank, while his followers have landed positions working for Republican members of Congress.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
The post ‘Is That Not Ideal?’ Nick Fuentes Wants China to Invade the US and Start Killing Black People appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Ex-Trump Official Peter Navarro Convicted of Contempt of Congress.
- Angry White Men: Tucker Carlson’s Interview With Larry Sinclair Was Tabloid-Style Sleaze.
- Christopher Burbach @ Omaha World-News: Omaha City Council finalists include social media manager for pro-Trump pastor’s church.
- Ian Millhiser @ Vox: The Republican Party’s plan to rule the state of Wisconsin forever, explained.
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: Inside the Fight to Forcibly Out Transgender Students in California.
- Peter Stone @ The Guardian: US ‘university’ spreads climate lies and receives millions from rightwing donors.
- Joe Jervis: PA School Board Okays Christian Nationalist Curriculum.
- Marita Vlachou @ HuffPost: Former Mar-A-Lago Worker To Testify Against Trump In Classified Documents Case.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Tabloid Sleaze appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Larry Tomczak says that “what’s being done to Donald Trump” is “pure evil”: “Using government agencies and White House power to silence political opposition is not only unconstitutional but extremely dangerous and will accelerate the judgment of God upon the United States.”
- Jarrin Jackson wishes that “the ADL would be destroyed for all the destruction it has done.”
- Dave Hayes claims that “all the rappers” love Trump’s mug shot and recommends that Trump “go hang out in the hood, hang out in the ghettos and bond with those people”: “If he does that, I think he would have a massive groundswell of support from minority communities.”
- Eric Trump asserts that the White House was waging a “war on religion” before his father came into office: “They were literally trying to take away the non-profit status of churches… You had the IRS targeting pastors.” Those things never happened.
- Finally, self-proclaimed “prophet” Charlie Shamp reports that he had a prophetic vision of a fire-breathing dragon unleashing a “demonic attack” on Hawaii one year before the recent wildfires. The reason for the attack? The legality of abortion, of course.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Hang Out In The Hood appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Clay Clark, the right-wing conspiracy theorist behind the far-right ReAwaken America tour, has openly bragged that the participation by members of the Trump family in his events is “legitimizing what we are doing in the minds of many people” and allowing him to get various dominionist “prophets” directly into “Trump’s inner circle.” One of the […]
The post ‘Prophet’ Julie Green Assures Eric Trump That His Father Is God’s ‘Anointed and Appointed One’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Analysis Former Arkansas governor and failed presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made a striking prediction on a recent episode of his Trinity Broadcasting Network show, warning that if former President Donald Trump fails to win the 2024 election because of his criminal indictments, “it is going to be the last American election that will be decided […]
The post Mike Huckabee and Other Right-Wing Leaders Escalate Threats of Electoral Violence appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Dan Friedman @ Mother Jones: Proud Boys Leader Sentenced to 22 Years for January 6 Terrorism. Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Sarah Palin On ‘Disheartening’ Jan. 6 Sentences: ‘Makes the Good Guy Think, What’s the Use in Being a Good Guy?’ Kate Briquelet and Decca Muldowney @ The Daily Beast: The California Megachurch Pushing Public Schools […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Good Guys? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jarrin Jackson asserts that “the Constitution was not written to mean non-Christian religions when it protects ‘freedom of religion'” and fumes over Christians who “equivocate and ‘tolerate’ other faith systems out of ignorance and/or cowardice.”
- Kent Christmas used his Sunday service to announce that Dog the Bounty Hunter “has become a son in the Lord to me.”
- Shane Vaughn says there is no need for Tucker Carlson to worry that former President Donald Trump might be assassinated because Trump is being protected by “the Super Secret Service: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, every one of the angels that have been assigned to protect God’s man.”
- Liberty Counsel declares that “the Jezebel spirit is alive and well in America”: “The altars are different now than in Jezebel’s day. Sacrifices once held in public now take place behind the closed doors of abortion clinics. Then, as now, the government protects the altars where the killing takes place. Soldiers who once guarded Baal’s and Molech’s priestesses have been replaced with law enforcement officers standing guard to ensure the endless line of children being led to the slaughter continues uninterrupted.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander says that when it comes to the issue of “Jewish power,” “we absolutely need to listen to the bigot” because what those antisemites say is “undeniably true.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Listen to the Bigot appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former Arkansas governor and failed presidential candidate Mike Huckabee opened the most recent episode of his “Huckabee” program on the Trinity Broadcasting Network by warning that if former President Donald Trump fails to win the 2024 election because of the multiple indictments he is facing, “it is going to be the last American election that will be decided by ballots rather than bullets.”
“Do you know how political opponents to those in power are dealt with in third-world dictatorships, banana republics, and communist regimes?” Huckabee asked during his opening monologue of Saturday night’s episode. “The people in power use their police agencies to arrest their opponents for made-up crimes in an attempt to discredit them, bankrupt them, imprison them, exile them, or all of the above.”
“If you are not paying attention, you may not realize that Joe Biden is using exactly those tactics to make sure that Donald Trump is not his opponent in 2024,” Huckabee claimed.
“Here’s the problem,” Huckabee warned. “If these tactics end up working to keep Trump from winning or even running in 2024, it is going to be the last American election that will be decided by ballots rather than bullets.”
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. | | |
The post Mike Huckabee Warns 2024 Will Be the Last Election ‘Decided by Ballots Rather Than Bullets’ if Trump Loses appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jared Holt @ The Daily Beast: Right-Wing Influencers Deny Reality by Claiming Neo-Nazis Are ‘Feds.’
- Joe Jervis: Loony Laura Loomer Accuses Anti-Defamation League Of Organizing Yesterday’s Neo-Nazi Rallies In Florida.
- Angry White Men: Nick Fuentes Boasts That Right-Wing Pundits Are Spreading His White Supremacist Message.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: ‘I’ve never been in debt like this’: Mike Lindell says he’s no longer wealthy due to election crusade.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: Conspiracy Theory Kingpin Calls for Hunter Biden’s Execution.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Bremerton’s praying football coach got what he wanted, so now he may quit for good.
- Caroline Kitchener @ The Washington Post: Highways are the next antiabortion target. One Texas town is resisting.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Denying Reality appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- White nationalist Lauren Witzke fumes over the fact that immigrants and children of immigrants make up 15% of Congress: “As America’s White demographic is rapidly replaced, our representation in Government is quickly replaced as well. … If you import the third world, you (and your government) will become the third world.”
- David Lane claims that “former President Barack Obama and his U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder were two-faced virtuosos at instigating this brand of Marxist-type violent group acts replete with riots, protests and uproar in order to undermine and subvert unity and stir up racial division and class warfare.”
- Tim Barton says the government’s response to the Hawaii wildfires is reminder that “the government can never be our savior”: “The government can never provide for us the things we should be looking to God to provide for us.”
- Andrew Torba asserts that “Jewish behavior is the number one cause of rising antisemitism” and is thrilled that Elon Musk seems to share his views: “In under five years we went from having every single one of our guys banned from the big tech platforms to the richest man in the world noticing, naming, and waging total war on our largest enemy while running one of those platforms. Let that sink in. Keep the faith. We are winning.”
- Finally, Charlie Kirk hopped on the far-right “Ban the ADL” hashtag bandwagon, declaring that “The ADL is a mass purveyor of anti-white hate,” but quickly deleted the post and replaced it with one calling the ADL “America’s number-one purveyor of hate speech.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Number One Cause of Antisemitism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Liberty Pastors is a Christian nationalist organization dedicated to training pastors to become more involved politically. Founded by religious-right activists Dan Fisher and Paul Blair, Liberty Pastors hosts multi-day retreats around the nation where local pastors and their spouses are instructed by right-wing speakers like Rick Scarborough, Mat Staver, Rick Green, E.W. Jackson, Alex McFarland, and others on how to become members of a modern-day “Black Robe Regiment.”
Last month, Blair appeared on a Truth & Liberty Coalition broadcast where he revealed that these gatherings are financed largely by religious-right activist Art Ally, founder of the Christian investment firm The Timothy Plan, and explained their purpose.
The gatherings are limited to 100 pastors so that attendees have an opportunity to interact with the speakers personally “and that really helps with this transformation of their ministry,” Blair said. “Over three days at a luxury hotel, we have 20 hours of their time where we literally teach them biblical principles of civil government.”
Liberty Pastors held an event in Texas in August that was dedicated entirely to the issue of economics, at which Blair asserted that according to the Bible, the government should have no role in creating a federal welfare system to provide for citizens in need.
“2 Thessalonians, chapter 2 said, ‘We commanded you that if any man is just lazy and refuses to work, then don’t let him eat,'” Blair said. “You know, there’s a proper place for charity, but if somebody is just a slug—as [Benjamin] Franklin said, ‘Hunger is a great motivator.'”
“Here’s God’s design,” Blair continued. “It wasn’t for a federal welfare system; the family is supposed to care for the family. Parents raise their children and provide for them as they’re young, and then as parents get older, their kids are to honor their parents, which means to provide for their needs as they get old. Throughout Scripture, slothfulness and laziness is condemned as sin. As I said a moment ago, [the Apostle] Paul agreed to Ben Franklin or Ben Franklin agreed with Paul: If a man doesn’t work, don’t feed him.”
Of course, a system in which parents provide for their children and children then, in turn, provide for their parents only works so long as the parents and the children are physically capable of working and are earning enough to provide what is needed. Unfortunately, for a lot of families, that is simply not the reality. But according to Blair’s interpretation of the Bible, the proper remedy in those situations is apparently to simply to let those families go hungry because that is the only thing that will motivate them to overcome their “slothfulness and laziness.”
While many Christians would reject Blair’s assertion that government aid to poor people and families is contrary to biblical teaching, many religious-right leaders promote similar versions of “biblical economics,” drawing on Christian Reconstructionist teachings about what constitutes a legitimate role for government. Comments like Blair’s can be read in David Barton’s “The Founder’s Bible” commentaries and heard in his claims about the Bible opposing minimum wages, unions, and capital gains taxes. They are taught to state legislators and conservative activists by the Institute on the Constitution, and they are cited by Republican lawmakers who quote the Bible to justify cuts in food assistance for poor families.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
The post Paul Blair Is Teaching Pastors That the Federal Welfare System Violates ‘God’s Design’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
With former President Donald Trump facing a variety of charges stemming from multiple indictments, MAGA pastor Shane Vaughn is growing increasingly desperate in his efforts to reassure his audience that Trump did nothing wrong and will be reelected to the White House in 2024.
Vaughn, a full-blown Trump cultist, did a livestream broadcast last week in which he boldly declared that “there will be no conviction of Donald John Trump before the elections,” insisting that Trump has complete immunity from prosecution because everything for which he has been charged was done in his official capacity as president.
Vaughn’s defense of Trump was based entirely on an opinion piece written by University of Baltimore law professor Kimberly Wehle in which she noted that the issue of presidential immunity is “a somewhat unsettled area of constitutional law” and examined some of the legal questions that are being raised by the various cases against Trump.
Vaughn, of course, did not present Wehle’s information in that manner, but rather simply used it to assert that the Constitution and Supreme Court precedents guarantee a president immunity over anything done within the boundaries of executive policy-making authority.
As such, Vaughn asserted that Trump cannot be prosecuted for orchestrating hush money payments to cover up an extra-marital affair he had with adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016.
“When they initiated the hush money payments over in New York for Stormy Daniels, was he operating in the outer boundaries of executive policy-making authority? I tell you he was,” Vaughn confidently declared. “Why? It was a distraction from his duties as president.”
Unfortunately for Vaughn, if he had bothered to actually read the indictment against Trump in the case, he would know that the payment to Daniels was made “12 days before the presidential general election.”
It is rather difficult to understand why Trump is entitled to presidential immunity for an illegal act that occurred before he became president.
| Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share. |
The post MAGA Pastor Shane Vaughn Baselessly Insists That Trump Is Immune From Prosecution appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Ryan J. Reilly and Daniel Barnes @ NBC News: Proud Boy Joe Biggs receives 17 years in Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case. Michael Kunzelman @ The Associated Press: Ex-Proud Boys leader sentenced to 15 years in prison in Jan. 6 Capitol attack case. Jennifer Bowers Bahney @ Mediaite: Gov. Kemp Soundly Rejects MAGA Legislator’s Push […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Political Theater appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing pastor Allen Mashburn is close friends with North Carolina’s Christian nationalist Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson and with Robinson now running for governor, Mashburn is running for lieutenant governor because Robinson is going to need someone to “stand with [him] and stand strong”: “We have to formulate a show of force.” Nick Fuentes reiterates his […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Show of Force appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this year, far-right anti-LGBTQ pastor Jack Hibbs announced that he was launching a campaign to pressure local school boards to adopt policies requiring schools to inform parents if their children identify at school in any way other than as the sex listed on their birth certificate. A bill imposing this requirement on all schools […]
The post Megachurch Pastor Jack Hibbs’ Campaign to Out LGBTQ Students Begins at Home appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jennifer Bowers Bahney @ Mediaite: ‘I Don’t Want To Have To Draw My Rifle’: MAGA Lawmaker Suggests Trump Prosecution Could Lead To Civil War. Molly Olmstead @ Slate: How Vivek Ramaswamy, a Hindu, Is Aligning Himself With Christian Nationalists. David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: News CPAC’s Matt and Mercedes Schlapp Attack ‘Satan’s […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Satan’s Publication appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Stew Peters defends his bloodthirsty desire to see his political enemies executed: “If you don’t want the rope, don’t commit treason.” Far-right conspiracy theorist Clay Clark is starting to wonder how GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy became so wealthy: “How is it possible that this man has lost $3 billion, yet deposited $950 million of […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Hate the Poor appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton played a key role in promoting his campaign to evangelicals, declaring that Christians had a biblical obligation to vote for Trump because he was “God’s guy.” Barton continued to praise Trump throughout his term in office, even predicting that Trump could go […]
The post David Barton Says Democrats Are Not ‘God-Fearing’ And Thus Have ‘Less Moral Restraints’ About Cheating in Elections appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Emma Brown and Peter Jamison @ The Washington Post: The Christian home-schooler who made ‘parental rights’ a GOP rallying cry. Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: Inside Matt Schlapp’s Offer to Settle the Sexual Battery Lawsuit Against Him. Lisa Mascaro @ The Associated Press: Conservative groups draw up plan to dismantle the US government and […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Take Down the Education System as We Know It appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Glenn Beck reveals that Sen. Mike Lee has repeatedly encouraged him to run for president because “somebody needs to articulate where we are and what we face and who we have always been.” Jarrin Jackson asserts that “the Founders didn’t mean ‘principled pluralism’ when they gave us the [Firest Amendment]”: “America is a Christian nation […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: We Need a Storyteller appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Stew Peters is a far-right virulently anti-LGBTQ bigot who regularly uses his nightly “The Stew Peters Show” program, speeches, and social media accounts to promote white nationalists and antisemites and to spread wild conspiracy theories, bigotry, and calls for violence. Lately, those calls for violence have become increasingly explicit, as just last week Peters used […]
The post ‘Extreme Accountability’: Stew Peters Delivers a Bloodthirsty Rant at the Latest ReAwaken America Event appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Natalie Allison @ Politico: CPAC vice chair resigns amid turmoil. Isaac Arnsdorf and Beth Reinhard @ The Washington Post: CPAC urged to probe more sexual misconduct claims against chair Matt Schlapp. Ian Millhiser @ Vox: The edgelord of the federal judiciary. Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: Marjorie Taylor Greene calls trans people a “cult” that’s […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: An Impeachment Without Evidence appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Charlie Kirk declares that “Trump 2.0 will be a retribution presidency.” Dalton Clodfelter asserts that “the country would be better off if President Trump was a monarch.” Neo-Nazi Ryan Sanchez, who posts under the name “Culture War Criminal,” praises “hero Kyle Rittenhouse” for having “liquidated two Jewish Antifa terrorists and wounded a third in Kenosha, […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Retribution Presidency appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this month, a group of right-wing activists held a simulated Article V convention in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, in anticipation that one day enough state legislatures will call for a dangerous Convention of States to propose constitutional amendments to radically alter American government and society by making much of what the federal government currently does […]
The post Rick Santorum’s Justification for an Article V Convention of States Is Fundamentally Wrong, Again appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right activist and legal gadfly Larry Klayman announced this month that a “citizen grand jury” had indicted President Joe Biden and members of his family, and that a “citizens’ judge” has handed down felony convictions after a “trial” in Boise, Idaho. “BREAKING: The Bidens Convicted!” was the subject line of an August 24 email sent […]
The post Larry Klayman Claims ‘Citizen Grand Jury’ Has Convicted Biden, Calls on Military and Law Enforcement to Enforce Sentence appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Igor Derysh @ Salon: “He literally just surrendered”: Trump declares “never surrender” in first tweet in years. Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Trump Capitalizes on Jail Photo With T-Shirts, Mugs, and Bumper Stickers. Alanna Vagianos @ HuffPost: Ohio Republicans Twist Ballot Language For Pro-Choice Provision In Likely Attempt To Confuse Voters. Media Matters: On Newsmax, Sarah […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Never Surrender appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In the wake of former President Donald Trump’s arrest, MAGA cultist Mark Burns likens Trump to Martin Luther King Jr.: “Trump is in good company persecuted for standing up for the people. Arrested a total of 29 times by democratic district attorneys, crooked judges, and law enforcement.” Milo Yiannopoulos declares that Trump is “a secular […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Secular Saint appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
John Fea @ Current: Jenna Ellis jumped on the Trump train. Now she has a mug shot. David Gilbert @ Vice News: Jan. 6 Rally Organizer Created Her Own Mugshot Because She Felt Left Out. Tyler Kingkade @ NBC News: How Oklahoma’s schools superintendent became the state’s top culture warrior. Justin Baragona @ The Daily […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Reign of Terror appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jim Garlow was at Wednesday night’s Republican debate where he took photos with Kari Lake, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and several others. Bunni Pounds of Christians Engaged was at the debate and has a question about Vivek Ramaswamy: “Does anybody think it’s weird that his tag line and his motto for […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Devil Went Down to Georgia appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Stew Peters is a far-right virulently anti-LGBTQ bigot who regularly uses his nightly “The Stew Peters Show” program, speeches, and social media accounts to promote white nationalists and antisemites and to spread wild conspiracy theories, bigotry, and calls for violence. Nevertheless, Peters regularly manages to get Republican leaders, elected officials, and candidates for office to […]
The post Stew Peters Urges Americans to Start Exploring ‘Extra-Legal Options’ for Removing ‘Enemy Combatants’ From Office appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Mar-a-Lago Tech Director Retracts Testimony, Reportedly Implicates Trump In Obstruction of Justice. Josephine Harvey @ HuffPost: John Eastman’s Lawyer Suggests Why His Client Won’t Flip On Trump. Amanda Moore @ The Nation: Undercover With the New Alt-Right. Heidi Przybyla @ Politico: D.C. Attorney General is probing Leonard Leo’s network. Manisha Sunil […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Too Legit To Flip appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
While the entire right-wing movement fumes about progressive adults supposedly using their positions of authority to “indoctrinate” children, Christian pollster George Barna continues to advocate for Christians to do precisely that. Ethan Ralph reports that Nick Fuentes is scheduled to appear on Tim Pool’s podcast next week. Rev. Merrie Turner, president of Presidential Inaugural Prayer, […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Hell Yeah We Want Fascism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In the wake of former president Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, the “Elijah Streams” program has become increasingly focused on promoting far-right conspiracy theorists and self-proclaimed “prophets” who resolutely insist that Trump is actually still president. The most vocal of these guests has been Johnny Enlow, a Trump cultist, QAnon conspiracy theorist, self-proclaimed […]
The post ‘Jesus Wasn’t a Pacifist’: Training Christian Minutemen to Remove ‘Domestic Enemies’ From Office appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jason Wilson @ The Guardian: US businessman is wannabe ‘warlord’ of secretive far-right men’s network. David Gilbert @ Vice News: Man Who Shot Store Owner for Flying Pride Flag Was a Far-Right Conspiracist. Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Spokane mayor condemned over prayer event with Christian Nationalist and domestic terrorist. Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting: […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Move to Russia appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Charlie Kirk knows that witches made him “super sick” once before, but this time around, he is better prepared. Dalton Clodfelter says that “we must ban black people.” Stew Peters insists that nobody has ever had COVID-19 because COVID is “fake.” Sam Rohrer asserts that our elected leaders must have a biblical worldview because, according […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Not Today, Witches appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Religious-right leaders who oppose legal equality for LGBTQ Americans have never accepted the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling as legitimate, and they immediately began planning to seek its reversal. Their hopes were given a huge boost when the Supreme Court’s Trump-fortified right wing overturned Roe v. Wade last year. This week, the anti-equality legal […]
The post Religious Right Legal Group Says SCOTUS Can Use Its Case to Overturn Marriage Equality appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kandiss Taylor, a flat-earth, election-denying conspiracy theorist who unsuccessfully ran for governor in Georgia in 2022, was among those who attended Mike Lindell’s wacky “Election Crime” summit last week. During the summit, Taylor was interviewed by broadcaster William Wallis and took the opportunity to warn that the indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 […]
The post Kandiss Taylor Says Trump’s Georgia Indictment Is ‘Treason’ That Could Lead to ‘Bloodshed’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jennifer Bendery @ HuffPost: The Unbelievably Bonkers Conspiracy Theorist Running For Governor Of North Carolina. Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Why Trump is skipping the first debate (and probably the others). John Knefel @ Media Matters: Kyle Rittenhouse’s new foundation is run by a Pizzagate conspiracy theorist and a gun extremist who appeared on […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Bonkers appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The fact that unhinged QAnon conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin is “literally in tears” over the fact that she is now able to make money on Twitter tells you all that you need to know about what Elon Musk has done to the platform. Nick Fuentes can’t understand why he is a pariah just because his […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Reset appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this year, Christian nationalist worship leader and right-wing political activist Sean Feucht appeared at On Fire Ministries in Spokane, Washington, where he was given a “defender of liberty” award by the church’s pastor, Matt Shea. Shea is a former Republican member of the Washington state House of Representatives who was stripped of his committee […]
The post Christian Nationalist Singer Sean Feucht Joins ‘Domestic Terrorist’ Matt Shea To Pray Over the Mayor of Spokane appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Gaetz Filing Resolution to ‘Censure and Condemn’ Judge Overseeing Trump Election Fraud Trial. J.D. Wolf @ Meidas Touch: Michael Flynn: I’m Willing To Serve as Trump’s VP. Liz Farkas and Matthew Phelan @ The Nation: James O’Keefe Is Now Under Investigation for Looting Project Veritas. Joe Jervis: […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Fighting Over the Holocaust appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Dozens of right-wing activists have signed a letter released by the Conservative Action Project declaring that “Joe Biden is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, warranting the opening of an impeachment inquiry, which must ultimately result in impeachment by the House and removal by the United States Senate.” White nationalist Andrew Torba asserts that “God […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Trump Whisperer appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former president Donald Trump was at the center of the criminal charges filed this week related to his attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, but he was not alone: 18 other people were indicted with Trump under racketeering charges brought by a grand jury convened by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney […]
The post Trump’s Team Indictment: Rudy Giuliani Edition appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former president Donald Trump was at the center of the criminal charges filed this week related to his attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, but he was not alone: 18 other people were indicted with Trump under racketeering charges brought by a grand jury convened by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney […]
The post Trump Indictment Troublemakers: John Eastman Edition appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Sarah K. Burris @ Raw Story: Mike Lindell’s ‘secret plan’ to fight fraud and ‘save elections.’ Joe Jervis: Video Shows Roger Stone Dictating Election Plot Memo. Amy Lombard @ The New Republic: Moms for Liberty Recruits a New Class of Aggrieved Mothers. Media Matters: Charlie Kirk demands Republican attorneys general put Democrats in “handcuffs and […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Brilliant Plan appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Stew Peters has no idea what caused the devastating wildfires in Hawaii but he’s confident that it was caused by a “direct energy weapon” and it’s up to everyone else to prove him wrong. Likewise, Anna Perez believes that the Hawaii fires were the result of “government-inflicted arson.” Tyler Russell insists that “being a social […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Oracle of America appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former president Donald Trump was at the center of the criminal charges filed this week related to his attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, but he was not alone: 18 other people were indicted with Trump under racketeering charges brought by a grand jury convened by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney […]
The post Trump’s Fellow Indictees: Sidney Powell Edition appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Justin Baragona @ The Daily Beast: Mike Lindell’s Big ‘Election Crime’ Summit Flops at the Start. Beth Harpaz and Jacob Kornbluh @ Forward: Former Trump adviser Michael Flynn blamed Jews for boarding trains to Auschwitz — here’s all the offensive comments he’s made about Jews. Media Matters: BlazeTV’s Steve Deace on vaccine proponents: “Start hanging […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Get Right to the Hangings appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mario Murillo continues his crusade against the “false prophets,” declaring that Robin Bullock is a “cult leader” and Kat Kerr is “delusional.” Steve Deace has endorsed Ron DeSantis for president because “we need a ruthless, consistent leader.” Paul Blair, co-founder of Liberty Pastors, is teaching pseudo-historical Christian nationalist nonsense during the seminars that his organization […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Pink Plague appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former president Donald Trump was at the center of the criminal charges filed this week related to his attempts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, but he was not alone: 18 other people were indicted with Trump under racketeering charges brought by a grand jury convened by Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney […]
The post Trump’s Merry Racketeers: Jenna Ellis Edition appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
For over a decade, right-wing activists and elected leaders have been pressing state legislators to call for a dangerous Convention of States that would consider constitutional amendments to radically alter American government and society by making much of what the federal government now does unconstitutional. Earlier this month, right-wing activists hoping to one day hold […]
The post Mike Farris Has a Plan to Get Even Blue States to Support a Convention of States appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Extremist broadcaster Stew Peters reacted to former President Donald Trump’s latest indictment—this one stemming from his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia—by demanding that all states controlled by Republicans rise up in defiance of the federal government and treat the Biden administration as “an occupying power.” The first order […]
The post Stew Peters Demands Red States Treat the Federal Government ‘As an Occupying Force’ In Response to Trump’s Latest Indictment appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Pema Levy @ Mother Jones: Trump and 18 Allies Slammed With 41 Charges in Sprawling Georgia Election Case. William Bredderman, Matt Young and Brett Bachman @ The Daily Beast: Everyone Indicted With Donald Trump in Georgia. Andrew Prokop @ Vox: The five conspiracies at the heart of the Georgia Trump indictment. David Badash @ The […]
The post Right Wing Round Up: Five Conspiracies appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kandiss Taylor fumes after former President Donald Trump was indicted yet again: “We have a literal witch-hunt going on in GA against innocent men and woman and the man we elected President … Vengeance is [the] Lord’s, and it will come.” QAnon conspiracy theorist Dave Hayes is confident that, thanks to Q, Trump is in […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Cracking Skulls and Making Arrests appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The school board in Hanover County, Virginia, changed its policies in June to give itself the power to remove any title from school libraries, and then used that power to pull 19 books from the shelves. Now the board is forcing librarians to use a book rating tool associated with the right-wing political group Moms […]
The post Virginia School Board Deploys Moms for Liberty-Associated Book Banning Tool appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Caleb Howe @ Mediaite: Matt Gaetz Shouts That ‘Only Through Force Do We Make Any Change’ While Standing Beside Trump in Iowa. Nicole Lafond @ Talking Points Memo: California Bar Says It’s Not Buying Eastman’s Rationale For Delay, Citing Recent Interviews. Rowaida Abdelaziz @ HuffPost: Donald Trump Calls Far-Right, Anti-Muslim Extremist Laura Loomer ‘Terrific’ In […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Only Through Force appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Joseph Farah declares that “we proved that by any reasonable assessment the 2020 election for president of the United States was rigged, stolen, robbed, filched, highjacked and misappropriated for the most immoral purposes imaginable.” Charlie Kirk proclaims that those who provide treatment to transgender youth are “medieval witch doctors” who “should be put in prison”: […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Medieval Witch Doctors appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last week, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan warned former President Donald Trump about making inflammatory remarks regarding the case stemming from his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. This warning did not sit well with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who used his show Friday night to attack Chutkan for being a “Black […]
The post White Nationalist Nick Fuentes Fumes That ‘King of America’ Trump Is Being Disrespected by a ‘Black Immigrant’ Judge appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last month, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on the Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint,” where he assured the audience that even though he is Hindu, he shares their “Judeo-Christian values.” Ramaswamy’s comments deeply impressed Christian nationalist Rick Green, founder of Patriot Academy and co-host of the radio program “WallBuilders Live” with religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton, […]
The post Christian Nationalist Rick Green Apologizes for Thinking a Hindu Like Vivek Ramaswamy Could Make a Good President appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: Right Wingers Furious That The FBI Killed A Man Threatening Biden. Trump’s Truth Social Tipped Agency Off. Joe Jervis: DeSantis Appoints Liberty Counsel Lawyer To FL Bench. Emily Singer @ The American Independent: Michigan Republican lawmaker predicts civil war in remarks at fundraiser for fake electors. David Badash @ […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Investigation Is A Cover-Up! appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Lauren Witzke claims that celebrities and politicians got “special batches” of the COVID-19 vaccine to make sure “they didn’t fall over dead” and that the whole thing was a “test run” for the Mark of the Beast. Janet Mefferd says that ideally “the best possible way to govern would be to have a solid Christian […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Trump Train appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Brett Murphy and Alex Mierjeski @ ProPublica: Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel. Glenn Kessler @ The Washington Post: Tommy Tuberville: Florida’s third senator? Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: GOP Candidate Plagiarized Massive Segments of His College Thesis. Katherine Stewart @ The New […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: 38 Vacations appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Sherri Tenpenny has had her medical license suspended by the State Medical Board of Ohio. Rep. Matt Gaetz is reportedly poised to introduce a “National Prayer in School Act.” Stew Peters claims that the wildfires in Hawaii were caused by “direct energy weapons.” David Lane gripes that the Christian “surrender of […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Not Going to Quit appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing pastor Hank Kunneman has been one of the most obstinate of the self-proclaimed “prophets” who repeatedly guaranteed that former President Donald Trump would win reelection in 2020. In the years that President Joe Biden has been in office, Kunneman has petulantly refused to apologize for his false prophecies or even admit that Biden is […]
The post Self-Proclaimed ‘Prophet’ Hank Kunneman Says Jesus Told Him Not to Apologize for His False 2020 Election Prophecies appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Ohio Republican leaders, anti-choice religious-right groups, and a right-wing billionaire were all pushing for passage of Issue 1, an Ohio ballot initiative that would make it harder for voters in the future to amend the state Constitution. Voters turned out in large numbers Tuesday and thwarted the scheme. Ohio voters rejected the initiative by a […]
The post Ohio Voters Reject Right-Wing Issue 1; Battle for Abortion Access Shifts to November appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Rachel M. Cohen @ Vox: What the Ohio special election results mean for abortion rights. Jason Campbell and Jack Wheatley @ Media Matters: Steven Crowder’s empire of hate collapses. Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: An Arkansas lawmaker’s wife is swapping pro-LGBTQ books with bibles in Little Free Libraries. Alex Kotch @ The New Republic: How […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Funding Hate appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jenna Ellis insists that “civil government has to reflect the nature and character of God.” Republican Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana is the latest lawmaker to sit down with Sean Feucht. Lucas Miles seems to be genuinely convinced that “wokeism robs us of our ability to suffer for Christ” is a reasonable and convincing argument: […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Own the School Board appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: Misogynistic manosphere influencers dive headfirst into antisemitism. Joe Jervis: PragerU Videos Compare Climate Activists To Nazis. Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Texas judge: Airline must get religious freedom training from Christian hate group. Greg Owen @ LGBTQ Nation: Moms for Liberty says “Marxist lesbian” librarian is a threat to kids. […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Trump’s Next Press Secretary? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Lauren Witzke declares that as a woman, she would “rather repeal the 19th Amendment than lose my constitutional rights because female voters are overwhelmingly voting my country away.” It appears as if Rachel Hamm has given up her plans to become a press secretary for former President Donald Trump and has shifted her focus to […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Lord Rebuke You appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
For over a decade, right-wing activists and elected leaders have been pressing state legislators to call for a dangerous Convention of States that would consider constitutional amendments to radically alter American government and society by making much of what the federal government now does unconstitutional. As stipulated by Article V of the Constitution, a convention […]
The post Rick Santorum’s Justification for an Article V Convention of States Is Fundamentally Wrong appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Heading into the 2012 election, right-wing pastor Jim Garlow warned that if then-President Barack Obama was reelected, the United States would be “unsalvageable.” We have about ten months left to save this nation. It’s not that the nation will cease to exist after November, it’s just that the die will have been cast in such […]
The post ‘The Last Election We Would Ever Have’: Jim Garlow (Again) Prophesies Doom if Voters Don’t Elect Candidates Dedicated to ‘Biblical Governance’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Fred Grimm @ The Orlando Sentinel: PragerU videos teach Florida students that slavery wasn’t so bad. Ed Mazza @ HuffPost: Evangelical Leader Rips Trump, Says Supporters Now ‘Looking For Another Candidate.’ Joanna L. Grossman @ The Daily Beast: Watch Out for Renewed GOP Assaults on No-Fault Divorce. Angry White Men: On His Rumble Show, Elijah […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Christian History Month appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jason Rapert warns that Democrats are waging a revolution by “overthrowing the rule of law in our nation, targeting opposition with endless attacks, lawsuits, false accusations, and even indictments to imprison them”: “They are going to cause another Civil War in our nation by doing all this.” Janet Porter sent out an email about the […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Thousand Black Millionaires appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The religious-right organization Christians Engaged will be holding a conference in Texas in November, at which various right-wing activists, as well as state and federal legislators, will be speaking, including Republican Rep. Michael Cloud. In anticipation of the upcoming event, Christians Engaged founder Bunni Pounds used her podcast today to play the remarks that Cloud […]
The post Rep. Michael Cloud Says Christians Are Called to Establish God’s Government on Earth appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Candice Ortiz @ Mediaite: Marjorie Taylor Greene Delivers Warning From Her Home Gym We’re ‘Post-Constitution’ With Third Trump Indictment: ‘Feels Like Communism!’ Karim Zidan @ Sports Politika: The evolution of fascist fight clubs. Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Tennessee Dems Expelled After Gun Protest Win Back Seats In Special Election. Joe Jervis: Anti-Abortion Extremist […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Feels Like Communism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Abby Johnson still can’t believe that Christians might support Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign: “The amount of Christian conservatives saying they will vote for a candidate who believes in and worships false Gods is truly astounding to me. The One, True God is a jealous God and He will not be mocked.“ A bunch of right-wing […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The News Cycle of Hell appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
On the day former President Donald Trump was appearing in court to face federal charges for his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election, an ally of Trump lawyer and unindicted co-conspirator John Eastman released the third segment of an interview that was clearly meant to allow Eastman to portray his actions on […]
The post Unindicted Co-Conspirator John Eastman is Unrepentant, Still Promoting Debunked Election Claims appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Ian Millhiser @ Vox: There is no First Amendment right to overturn an election. John Knefel and Jacina Hollins-Borges @ Media Matters: Right-wing media call for “revenge tour” in response to Trump’s indictment for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. Isaac Schorr @ Mediaite: Vivek Ramaswamy Hedges on Whether 9/11 Was an Inside Job: ‘I […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Slitting Throats appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
It is 2023 and Joseph Farah is still writing about former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate. Sen. Josh Hawley was pilloried when he posted a fake Christian nationalist quote from Patrick Henry last month, but that did not stop Christian nationalist worship leader Sean Feucht from posting the exact same fake quote himself. Shane Vaughn […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: No Age of Consent appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing commentator Anna Perez reacted to the latest indictment of former President Donald Trump—this time for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election—by suggesting that an armed uprising and revolution is the only proper response. Perez is a far-right commentator with a penchant for spreading QAnon and other conspiracy theories who hosts […]
The post ‘Why Else Would We Have a Second Amendment?’ Anna Perez Suggests Trump’s Indictment Calls for Armed Revolution appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Nicole Narea @ Vox: Trump was just indicted for trying to steal the 2020 election. Paul Blumenthal @ HuffPost: Who Are The Co-Conspirators In Trump’s Jan. 6 Indictment? Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: Jeff Clark’s Insurrection Act Remark Was Even Worse Than It Sounds. Colby Hall @ Mediaite: ‘561 YEARS in Prison’: Trump Fundraising […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: 561 Years appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Shortly before former President Donald Trump was indicted (for the third time) Tuesday, self-proclaimed “prophet” Nathan French declared that God told him that President Joe Biden is going to get “yanked out” of the White House and “Trump, the rightful president, is about to get reinserted.” Lauren Witzke says that the judge overseeing Trump’s latest […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Hebrew Republic appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last month, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on the Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint,” where he assured the audience that even though he is Hindu, he shares their “Judeo-Christian values.” Ramaswamy’s appearance apparently did not sit well with “FlashPoint’s” audience, prompting host Gene Bailey to reassure viewers that “neither I nor anyone else on this […]
The post God Will Not Be Mocked: Abby Johnson Warns Christians Not to Support Vivek Ramaswamy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Michelle Goldberg @ The New York Times: The Radicalization of the Young Right. Ali Breland @ Mother Jones: White Nationalists Are Big Fans of Elon’s “White Genocide” Tweets. Heather Greene @ Religion News Service: How Sean Feucht helped bring the devil’s music to Indiana’s state capitol. David Weigel and Shelby Talcott @ Semafor: ‘This belongs […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Devil’s Music appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mark Burns claims that former President Donald Trump is “literally the modern-day Julius Caesar.” Lauren Witzke declares that “we need leaders who will speak up for and on behalf of White issues.” Speaking of Witzke, Elijah Schaffer says that she is “a very good friend” and has “been one of the most helpful people in […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Take Over the Country appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last week, Right Wing Watch reported that right-wing pastor John Amanchukwu, who has built a reputation for himself and generated lots of media coverage by making appearances before North Carolina school boards to rant about the supposedly “perverted” books that are available in school libraries, was looking to take his show on the road. After […]
The post Anti-LGBTQ Pastor John Amanchukwu Is Launching ‘A National School Board Tour’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign fired a young staffer named Nate Hochman after Hochman created a pro-DeSantis video that featured Nazi imagery. In the wake of Hochman’s firing, commentators like the New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg have noted that Hochman’s views and presence on the DeSantis campaign “tell us quite a bit […]
The post One Reason For Extremism of Right-Wing Youth: Nick Fuentes Feeds Viewers Violent Racism and Antisemitism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kyle Cheney @ Politico: Georgia judge skewers Trump’s bid to derail potential charges. Marita Vlachou @ HuffPost: Trump Is ‘The Most Ethical American I Know,’ His Legal Spokesperson Gushes. Joe Jervis: Dennis Prager: Our “Indoctrination” Is The Good Kind. Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Dems slam Justice Alito’s latest claim as ‘stunningly wrong.’ Kelly […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Who’s The Trumpiest of Them All? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Christian nationalist worship leader Sean Feucht held a service outside the Idaho state capitol Sunday where he bragged about gathering with elected officials beforehand to declare that “this state belongs to Jesus.” America First activist Dalton Clodfelter insists that the Holocaust never happened. America First activist Jon Miller helpfully admits what has long been known: […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The State Belongs to Jesus appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
As Right Wing Watch reported last week, anti-choice Republican politicians in Ohio have put a democracy-limiting initiative on the ballot in August with the goal of stopping Ohio voters from passing a constitutional amendment protecting legal access to abortion. In a desperate attempt to thwart the will of Ohio voters, who support access to legal […]
The post Janet Porter Admits Ohio’s Democracy-Restricting ‘Issue 1’ Is All About Protecting Anti-Choice Legislation appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Dan Friedman and Abigail Weinberg @ Mother Jones: Another Indictment! Trump Told Aides to Delete Security Footage in Coverup Attempt. Philip Bump @ The Washington Post: The incredibly damaging timeline of the alleged Mar-a-Lago coverup. William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Hawley Shrugs Off Latest Mar-a-Lago Defendant as Just a ‘Random’ Person. John Knefel, Sophie […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Another Trump Indictment appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kansas state Rep. Ron Bryce appeared on “The Jim Bakker Show” today where it was revealed that Bryce is now basically in-laws with the televangelist because Bakker’s adopted son is married to Bryce’s daughter. Dalton Clodfelter says that “the United States Constitution clearly sucks and so does the Bill of Rights.” Tim Graham fumes that […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Nazi Story Time Hour appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In a desperate attempt to thwart the will of Ohio voters, who support access to legal abortion by a wide margin, anti-choice Republican politicians have put a democracy-limiting initiative on the ballot in August. Their goal is to stop Ohio voters from passing a constitutional amendment protecting legal access to abortion that will be on […]
The post Republican Politicians and Anti-Choice Activists Rallying Behind Democracy-Restricting Initiative in Ohio appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Alex Paterson and Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: Far-right figures and conspiracy theorists baselessly allege Obama was responsible for personal chef Tafari Campbell’s death. Joe Jervis: Moms For Liberty: Health Care Has No Place In Schools. Matt Ford @ The New Republic: Leonard Leo’s Slippery Trick for Dodging the Scrutiny of Congress. Charlie Nash @ […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: No Health Care in Schools appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
College Republicans United announced that Nick Fuentes has withdrawn from the organization’s convention this weekend due to “a significant security concern.” Johnny Enlow asserted that “if you want to know how you would do under a communist regime or under any totalitarian government then just grade yourself on the last 3 years. If you want […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Lot of Witchcraft appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When the National Association of Christian Lawmakers held its annual conference at Liberty University last month, the event featured a “para-legislative session” at which state legislators and religious-right activists proposed and discussed various resolutions and sample legislation. Among the speakers at the session was Allan Parker, president of religious-right organization The Justice Foundation, who urged […]
The post If States Start Designating ‘Christian History Month,’ You Can Thank the National Association of Christian Lawmakers appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing pastor Robin Bullock is among the group of self-proclaimed “prophets” who repeatedly prophesied that former President Donald Trump would win reelection in 2020 and who have steadfastly refused to acknowledge that they were wrong or admit that Joe Biden is president. During Tuesday’s episode of his weekly “The Eleventh Hour” program, Bullock once again […]
The post ‘Prophet’ Robin Bullock Insists That Prophets Could Not Possibly Have Been Wrong About the 2020 Election appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Melissa Gira Grant @ The New Republic: A Real Wedding Website in a Fake Gay Wedding Website Case. Joe Jervis: Bannon Crony Gets Five Years In Border Wall Scam. Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: For absurd reasons, MAGA cultists think FOX News supports The Satanic Temple. Josh Fiallo @ The Daily Beast: Mitch McConnell Whisked […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: False Statements appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Sean Feucht says that he is leading worship services in state capitols about the nation because “it’s time to reject the hopeless picture of America the Left continues to paint”: “I refuse to watch America continue down the path of Godlessness and hopelessness.” Christian nationalist activist Floyd Brown reports that he recently had dinner with […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Turning Them Into ‘The Lesbians’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing pastor John Amanchukwu has built a reputation for himself and generated lots of media coverage by making appearances before North Carolina school boards to rant about the supposedly “perverted” books that are available in school libraries. He’s so pleased with himself that he’s taking his bigotry-promoting show on the road. Amanchukwu is a pastor […]
The post Right-Wing Pastor John Amanchukwu Says Allowing Students Access to LGBTQ-Friendly Books Is ‘Mental Rape’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Justin Baragona @ The Daily Beast: Glenn Beck Demands Target, a Store He’s Actively Boycotting, Sell His Book. Media Matters: Charlie Kirk: Joe Biden should be “put in prison and/or given the death penalty for crimes against America.” Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: ‘Disgusting and Anti-American’: Dem Congressman Defends Vivek Ramaswamy From MAGA Pastor’s Hinduophobic Attack. […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Crimes Against America appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Shane Vaughn gripes that “the notion of the nuclear family with the man as the head of the household is no more”: “The godless idea of ‘Happy wife Happy Life’ has emasculated men into household boy toys —- rather than the rulers of the realm.” Pseudonymous right-wing commentator Peachy Keenan believes that the end goal […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: I Wanted Whimsy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2021, MAGA evangelist Lance Wallnau proudly proclaimed himself to be a Christian nationalist and began urging former President Donald Trump to hold political rallies infused with right-wing Christianity. Such rallies would serve a dual purpose, Wallnau argued, by mobilizing conservative voters while also converting those voters into right-wing Christians. As Wallnau sees it, a […]
The post Taking Christian Nationalist to the Next Level: Trump Supporters Merge Political Rallies With Spiritual Revivals appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kelcie Moseley-Morris @ Georgia Recorder: Male anti-abortion religious leaders mull murder charges for pregnant people at national event. Jacina Hollins-Borges & Sophie Lawton @ Media Matters: Right-wing antifeminist influencers are starting to get a little uncomfortable with all the woman hating. John Fea @ Current: Jack Hibbs is still talking about American history. And it’s […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Why I’m an Idiot appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
MAGA pastor Mark Burns complains that the Department of Justice is “a Gestapo-like weapon” that is being used against former President Donald Trump and flat-out says he doesn’t care what crimes Trump may have committed because “he’s God’s anointed.” Dalton Clodfelter admits that believes “in censoring our opposition.” Stew Peters’ conspiracy theorizing is becoming increasingly […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Red-Pilled By David Barton appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last week, the Florida Department of Education approved new social studies standards for public schools that have been widely criticized for their deficiencies and right-wing bias in teaching about African American history. As CNN reported, the standards were the result of “new legislation under Gov. Ron DeSantis that bars instruction in schools that suggests anyone […]
The post Meet Frances Rice, the Right-Wing Activist Shaping Florida’s African American History Standards appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on the Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint,” where he assured the audience that even though he is Hindu, he shares their “Judeo-Christian values.” “I’m not running for pastor-in-chief, I’m running for commander-in-chief,” Ramaswamy said. “But I share that same value set with Christians,” he added, adopting a religious-right […]
The post Christian Nationalist Hank Kunneman Attacks Hindu GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: These Christians took preacher Robin D. Bullock seriously. Now they’re screwed. Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: As campaign ‘reboot’ begins, DeSantis eyes case against Bud Light. Diana Falzone @ Mediaite: Steven Crowder Sent Photos of His Genitals and Exchanged Drugs in ‘Super Creepy’ Workplace, Ex-Staffers Say. Joe Jervis: MTG […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Super Creepy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this week, the Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint” interviewed GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who is Hindu. Last night, host Gene Bailey felt compelled to open the show by reassuring viewers that “this program is based 100% on the Christian Bible.” Nick Fuentes claims that he no longer supports Kanye West’s presidential campaign because of […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: You’re Just Weak appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing pastor Jack Hibbs has been posting a series of “moments in history” videos on his YouTube page in an attempt to demonstrate the role that God supposedly played in the founding of the United States. His videos have been rife with falsehoods and disinformation, prompting professor John Fea—chair of the history department at Messiah […]
The post Is Jack Hibbs Ignorant or Lying About U.S. Founders and Slavery? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Tori Otten @ The New Republic: Marjorie Taylor Greene May Have Sent Hunter Biden Nudes to a Bunch of Minors. Travis Gettys @ Raw Story: Trump-loving ex-CEO claims to have ‘naughty’ evidence against Jack Smith. David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Trump Promotes Threatening Video: ‘We Are Going to Do Things to You […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Benefits of Slavery appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Shane Vaughn declares that “Separation of CHURCH & STATE is a PHANTOM argument. The only SEPARATION is the STATE FROM THE CHURCH.” Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin loved Nick Fuentes’ violently antisemitic speech: “It’s important to remember that the Holocaust is a hoax and that Jews are going to get what is coming to them.” Pete Santilli […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Get What Is Coming to Them appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing evangelists and MAGA cultists Lance Wallnau and Mario Murillo held a “Fire and Glory Tour” event in Colorado earlier this week that was part political rally and part spiritual revival. The idea for this sort of event was birthed by Wallnau in 2021, when he urged former President Donald Trump to begin holding public […]
The post Christian Nationalist Pastor Bill Cook Seeks to ‘Institute the Government of God Throughout Every Square Inch of the Earth’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
As Right Wing Watch noted earlier this week, one of the inevitable consequences of the false history relentlessly promoted by pseudo-historian David Barton is that his lies and disinformation routinely get picked up by other Christian nationalists who then distort them even further. In the latest example, MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer delivered a special sermon […]
The post Jackson Lahmeyer Spreads False Christian Nationalist History appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Nick Visser @ HuffPost: Biden Shares New Campaign Ad With Marjorie Taylor Greene As Star Endorser. John Knefel & Jacina Hollins-Borges @ Media Matters: Charlie Kirk and TPUSA are fueled by far-right extremism. Tori Otten @ The New Republic: Republicans Have So Little Hunter Biden Evidence They Shared His Nudes Instead. Emine Yücel @ Talking […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Fool or a Patriot? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this year, Michele Bachmann announced that Regent University’s Robertson School of Government, where she serves as dean, would be launching an online PhD program with the goal of graduating 100 PhDs who will then serve in government. On Tuesday, right-wing activist Cynthia Dunbar announced that she has been hired as a professor in the […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Gusto Anointing appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Chad Connelly is a former faith outreach director for the Republican National Committee who now runs a Christian nationalist voter mobilization organization called Faith Wins. For the last few elections cycles, Connelly and his organization have been taking religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton across the nation delivering presentations in churches aimed at mobilizing conservative Christians to […]
The post Christian Nationalist Political Operative Chad Connelly Is Organizing Secret Meetings Between GOP Presidential Candidates and Right-Wing Pastors appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
MAGA pastor and self-proclaimed “prophet” Hank Kunneman held a special patriotic church service prior to Independence Day earlier this month, during which he read made-up a quote supposedly from Thomas Jefferson in an attempt to argue that America was founded as and must remain a Christian nation. During the service, Kunneman flagrantly misrepresented the famous […]
The post The Jefferson Lies: Hank Kunneman Is Spreading Laughably False Christian Nationalist History appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Commentary One of the defining characteristics of our political era is the degree to which authoritarian politicians shamelessly portray themselves as champions of freedom while using their power to undermine Americans’ freedoms. Ron DeSantis giving his book the title “The Courage to be Free” while bragging about using the power of his office to force […]
The post Authoritarian House Republicans Vote to Restrict Servicemembers’ Freedoms appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Katherine Faulders, John Santucci, Alexander Mallin, and Luke Barr @ ABC News: Special counsel informs Trump he is target in probe of efforts to overturn 2020 election. Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: ‘Absolute Bullsh*t!’ Marjorie Taylor Greene Fumes About Trump Letter Targeting Him for Indictment Over Jan. 6. Angry White Men: BlazeTV Host Appeared On Livestreams […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Another Trump Indictment Imminent? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kari Lake vows that she will never concede that she lost her 2022 race for governor of Arizona, nor will she support a recall effort against Gov. Katie Hobbs because “I already beat her once”: “I won this election and everybody involved knows it. This woman should be pulled out by her collar.” Cliff Kincaid […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Reexamine Your Theology appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
One of the inevitable consequences of the false history relentlessly promoted by pseudo-historian David Barton is that his lies and disinformation routinely get picked up by other Christian nationalists who then distort them even further. For example, on Independence Day, Christian nationalist MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau aired a special episode of his “Lance Wallnau Show” […]
The post Lance Wallnau Spreads False Christian Nationalist History appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing pastor Lucas Miles is the founder of the America Pastor Project, which seeks to get pastors to vow to “protect our nation from the deceptions of false teaching and anti-Christ agendas, including, Marxism, socialism, CRT (critical race theory), universalism, critical queer theory, the slaughter of children (both in and out of the womb), climate […]
The post Right-Wing Pastor Lucas Miles Says Critical Race Theory Robs God of the Glory of Christian Suffering appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing commentator and youth organizer Charlie Kirk has openly embraced the Christian nationalist worldview and political movement in recent years, and now he appears to have teamed up with self-proclaimed “Christocrat” Rick Scarborough. Their partnership is a reminder that the increasingly aggressive Christian nationalist movement is a threat to LGBTQ equality and to the rights […]
The post Charlie Kirk Teams Up With Self-Proclaimed ‘Christocrat’ Rick Scarborough appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jonathan Swan, Charlie Savage, and Maggie Haberman @ The New York Times: Trump and Allies Forge Plans to Increase Presidential Power in 2025. Joe Jervis: DeSantis Again Claims His Prayers Stopped Hurricane. Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Marjorie Taylor Greene Assumes the Throne as ‘MAGA’s MVP’ in an Unbelievably Cringe Rap Video You Have to See […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: MAGA MVP appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
James Dobson warns that “our great nation is being distorted by the radical Left into a morally broken land of division and despair. The end game could be the destruction of all that is good and noble. We, as Christians, are the greatest force standing between those who hate America and those who love it.” […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: When the Germans Bombed Pearl Harbor appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
It seems that every week another candidate announces that they are seeking the Republican presidential nomination. With more than a dozen candidates already declared, the field got even more crowded last week when right-wing pastor and radio host E.W. Jackson announced that he too is running for president. Jackson declared that he has decided to run […]
The post Far-Right Pastor E.W Jackson Becomes the Latest to Seek the GOP Presidential Nomination appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
A parade of MAGA-minded presidential candidates drew cheers at the recent Moms for Liberty national summit with conspiracy theories, anti-LGBTQ smears, and calls for authoritarian policies to purge “wokeness” from American schools, businesses, and government agencies. It was a heady moment for a group that was founded by a handful of Florida mothers in 2021 […]
The post What Moms for Liberty’s Summit Revealed About the MAGA Movement’s 2024 Strategy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Prem Thakker @ The New Republic: The Supreme Court Just Used a Fake Case to Make It Easier to Discriminate Against Gay People. Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: Supreme Court’s Right Wing Strikes Down Biden Student Debt Relief Plan. Media Matters: Following right-wing Supreme Court victories, Charlie Kirk boasts “we have to flood the […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Flood the Zone appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Antisemitic Christian nationalist Andrew Torba celebrates “our Christian Nationalist majority SCOTUS”: “June is now Christian Nationalist month.” Lauren Witzke is likewise thrilled with recent court rulings: “Imagine the future possibilities of what White men can accomplish without the burden of Affirmative Action holding them back.” Nick Fuentes now claims that he was exaggerating when he […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Our Christian Nationalist SCOTUS appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: Conservative Supreme Court Majority Rules Against Affirmative Action, Overturning Decades Of Precedent. Melissa Gira Grant @ The New Republic: The Mysterious Case of the Fake Gay Marriage Website, the Real Straight Man, and the Supreme Court. Ryan Bort @ Rolling Stone: DeSantis Influencers Rally Behind Unmasked Antisemite. Michael Scherer, […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The End of Affirmative Action appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Dave Daubenmire declares that “hate can be a good thing”: “America would be a better place if the American Church started to hate some things.” A deep thought from Ali Alexander: “If conspiracy theories were false, conspiracy theorists would be broke and alone and debunked.” Nick Fuentes mocks conservatives who think they can convince anybody […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Agenda of Hell appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jennifer Bendery @ HuffPost: Tommy Tuberville Celebrates Broadband Funding He Voted Against. Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck @ CNN: Ron DeSantis voted for the First Step Act and hailed its ‘successes.’ He now calls it ‘the jailbreak bill.’ Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Trump Reverses Course, Now Claims He Was Lying About Iran Battle Plans On […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Bravado appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Self-proclaimed “prophet” Manuel Johnson was at the event where an image of former President Donald Trump supposedly appeared in the clouds above Mount Rushmore. Johnson reports that Trump’s “face may not be carved there in stone, but it is carved there in the spirit.” Lance Wallnau declares that “the devil is going all out against […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Carved in the Spirit appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When the National Association of Christian Lawmakers held its annual conference at Liberty University earlier this month, members of the organization held a “para-legislative session” at which state legislators and religious-right activists proposed and discussed various resolutions and proposed pieces of sample legislation. Among those participating in this session was Arkansas state Sen. Dan Sullivan, […]
The post Arkansas Legislator Vows to ‘Eliminate All the Funding for Public Libraries’ Affiliated With the ALA appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jeremy Herb @ CNN: CNN obtains the tape of Trump’s 2021 conversation about classified documents. Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Trump Insists Recording of Him Showing Off ‘Secret’ Documents is ‘Actually an Exoneration.’ Ian Millhiser @ Vox: The Supreme Court decides not to destroy democracy in the United States. William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Jesse […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: That Evil Pride Flag appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Scott Lively declares that “the grooming of children is a long-term process, as was the murder of marriage. Obergefell wasn’t a knife stabbed through the heart in a back-alley surprise attack – it was a decades-long poisoning of God’s institution of marriage.” Steven Franssen thinks that “it’s stupid when women aren’t pregnant at age 18.” […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Murder of Marriage appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this month, Right Wing Watch reported that religious-right activists are seeking to take advantage of the far-right majority’s control of the Supreme Court to start enacting Christian nationalist policies all across the nation. Emboldened by recent Supreme Court decisions upholding prayer in schools, crosses erected on public lands, and flying Christian flags on public buildings, right-wing activists […]
The post Christian Nationalists Launch ‘Major Push’ to Take Advantage of the Far-Right Supreme Court appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former President Donald Trump received a rapturous hero’s welcome Saturday night as he delivered the closing keynote address to a room packed with religious-right activists in Washington, D.C. for the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference. Trump knew his audience. “We are warriors in a righteous crusade to stop the arsonists, atheists, […]
The post Religious Right Activists Cheer Trump, Calls for ‘Spiritual Civil War’ at ‘Road to Majority’ Conference appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Sarah Posner @ MSNBC: The big myth about the supposed ‘anti-trans’ backlash. Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Christian evangelist: I helped a woman grow an inch taller instantaneously! David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Liberty University VP Cites Hitler and Stalin in Plea for Conservatives to ‘Control Education.’ Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: ‘I’m […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: I Wish I Was A Little Bit Taller appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
If you missed the right-wing Road To Majority conference last week, we can pretty much sum it all up for you in just one word: Woke. Tim Barton says that critics have to use ad hominem attacks on him and his father, Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton, for not having any academic credentials as historians […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Woke to Majority appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this month, a group of QAnon conspiracy theorists and self-proclaimed “prophets” held an “Open The Heavens: Let God Arise” conference in Rapid City, South Dakota, where some attendees claimed to have seen an image of former President Donald Trump appear in the sky over Mount Rushmore. Among the participants was South Dakota state Rep. […]
The post South Dakota State Rep. Joe Donnell Claims Mount Rushmore Is a Demonic Portal Spreading Communism Across the Nation appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Mariana Alfaro @ The Washington Post: Kari Lake accused of defamation in suit filed by Arizona election official. Brad Reed @ Raw Story: ‘Boo all you want’: Chris Christie defiantly slams Trump in front of MAGA audience. Jennifer Bowers Bahney @ Mediaite: Infowars Host Owen Shroyer Pleads Guilty to Jan. 6 […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Titanic Conspiracy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Ralph Reed kicked off Road to Majority conference by telling right-wing activists that God told him to start Faith and Freedom Coalition because “Christians who love God and love their country” should be “the head and not the tail” of the U.S. government. An angry Elijah Schaffer says that if people would just “open their […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Head and Not the Tail appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Sen. Josh Hawley delivered a Christian nationalist rallying cry at the religious-right activist conference Road to Majority on Friday morning, saying the Christian faith had “formed the soul of this country” and denouncing “the new priests of wokery” who he claimed are trying to “impose on us a religion of woke.” “There is not one […]
The post Josh Hawley Delivers Christian Nationalist Rallying Cry Against ‘Woke’ at Road to Majority appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When we saw the full schedule for this week’s Road to Majority conference, the annual religious-right activist event organized by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, we were surprised that there were no breakout sessions focused on fighting “wokeness,” the catch-all term that right-wing politicians slap on everything MAGA activists dislike, from LGBTQ equality to programs […]
The post Rep. Jim Banks Wants to Bring His Obsession with ‘Wokeism’ to the U.S. Senate appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Zachary Petrizzo and Sam Brodey @ The Daily Beast: Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls Boebert a ‘Little Bitch’ on the House Floor. Josephine Harvey @ HuffPost: Marjorie Taylor Greene Escalates War With ‘Nasty Little B***h’ Lauren Boebert. Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: Kari Lake ‘Practically Lives’ At Mar-a-Lago As She Vies to Be Trump’s Running Mate, Says […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Very Sorry For Quoting Hitler appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Liz Crokin has issued a warning: “To everyone who has messed with me these past seven years let this be a warning to you. I don’t forget, and it may take years, but I NEVER lose. So you can spend the rest of your pathetic lives wondering when and ‘if’ I’m going to come back […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Satan’s Premeditated Assault appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2019, the Washington state House of Representatives released a 108-page report detailing how one of its own members, Rep. Matt Shea, had “participated in an act of domestic terrorism” and “planned, engaged in and promoted a total of three armed conflicts of political violence against the United States Government in three states outside the […]
The post Sean Feucht Honored by a Far-Right Pastor Once Accused of ‘Domestic Terrorism’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan, and Alex Mierjeski @ ProPublica: Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court. Colby Hall @ Mediaite: Justice Alito Writes Curious WSJ Rebuttal of ProPublica’s Deep Dive Into Alleged Ethics Violations. David Corn @ Mother Jones: John Durham Just Made False Statements […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Completely Hilarious appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Nick Fuentes will be holding a rally in West Palm Beach in July. As usual, he’s scheduled his event to coincide with a much larger conservative conference so he can piggyback off their audience. Isabella Riley Moody “celebrated” Juneteenth by giving a watermelon to a Black person. Stew Peters is racist and doesn’t understand how […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Directed and Led by God appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this year, right-wing evangelist Mario Murillo launched a crusade against various “false prophets” whom he claimed were repeatedly making outlandish statements and prophecies that “almost border on mental illness” and were, in the process, making the church look bad. In particular, Murillo singled out Kat Kerr, Robin Bullock, and Hank Kunneman; all three of […]
The post Mario Murillo Warns That ‘False Prophets’ Are Endangering Trump’s Reelection (Thanks to Right Wing Watch) appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Frederick Clarkson @ Salon: “Unfriending” America: The Christian right is coming for the enemies of God — like you and me. Adam Gabbat @ The Guardian: Well-funded Christian group behind US effort to roll back LGBTQ+ rights. John E. Finn @ Talking Points Memo: Conservatives Are Now Trying To Create ‘Constitutional Counties,’ Which Happen To […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Literal Mountain Mandate appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Nick Fuentes decided to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday by saying the “N-word” several times on his program. Patrick Howley and Lauren Witzke declare that things like “1776: The Musical” and “The Little Mermaid” are being “blackwashed”: “What is happening to my country? This is horrible. This is a mockery. It’s just a humiliation ritual. … […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Damned Party appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this month, the California state Senate passed a bill that would require health care plans to cover infertility treatments, stipulating that “coverage for the treatment of infertility and fertility services shall be provided without discrimination on the basis of age, ancestry, color, disability, domestic partner status, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, marital […]
The post Far-Right Broadcaster Stew Peters Unleashes an Astoundingly Anti-LGBTQ Rant appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right pastor Kent Christmas used the sermon he delivered at his Regeneration Nashville church last week to urge the members of his congregation to show the same sort of “passion” that drives radical Islamic terrorists to be willing to “die for their beliefs.” “I am at war with evil!” Christmas ranted during that sermon. “This […]
The post Kent Christmas Claims ‘Evil People’ Took His Shocking Sermon ‘Out of Context’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: What Trump doesn’t (but should) understand about the ‘Socks’ case. Daniel Villarreal @ LGBTQ Nation: Philly residents pressure Mariott and local museum not to host Moms For Liberty conference. Charlie Nash @ Mediaite: A Confused Charlie Kirk Asks Why Fox is ‘Subsidizing Glory Holes for Their Employees?’ Tori Otten […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Apostle Ron appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Shane Vaughn is now literally declaring that former President Donald Trump is “above the law,” absurdly insisting that Trump can’t be prosecuted for mishandling classified documents because the taking of those documents “took place while he was in office.” Lance Wallnau reports on what God is saying at this time: “Know that what is happening […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Blow Up The Outside World appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Analysis Former President Donald Trump was indicted and arraigned this week on multiple criminal charges arising from his obstruction of an FBI investigation into classified documents he took from the White House, kept in boxes in a bathroom and ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and showed to people without security clearances. Reactions from Trump and […]
The post MAGA GOP vs The Rule of Law: Trump Indictment Edition appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Moms for Liberty, a group that made its name opposing public health measures in schools and quickly moved on to censorship and school board takeovers, has embraced a hard-edged political role on the right wing of the Republican Party. Its national “Joyful Warriors” summit later this month features politicians, pundits, and political activists promoting authoritarian […]
The post The ABC’s of Moms for Liberty Summit Speakers: Authoritarianism, Bigotry, Censorship (Disinformation, Extremism…) appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When the National Association of Christian Lawmakers held its annual conference at Liberty University last week, one of the featured speakers was Jameson Taylor, the Director of Policy and Legislative Affairs for the American Family Association. Speaking to a gathering of right-wing Christian nationalists, Taylor used the opportunity to chastise Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for […]
The post AFA’s Jameson Taylor Chastises Sen. Cruz for Criticizing Uganda’s Draconian Anti-LGBTQ Law appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The National Association of Christian Lawmakers is a collection of right-wing state and federal legislators and religious-right activists dedicated to electing “godly leaders in our nation at every level” for the purpose of seeing its “biblical worldview spread across the nation.” The NACL was founded by unabashed Christian nationalist and former Arkansas state senator Jason […]
The post The National Association of Christian Lawmakers Is Dedicated to Putting a Christian Nationalist in the White House appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mark Joseph Stern @ Slate: The Next Republican President’s Supreme Court Picks Will Be Far Worse Than Trump’s. Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Utah Republicans are furious schools banned the Bible to comply with their book-banning law. Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Judge Imposes Sanctions On Michigan GOP Chair Karamo After Baseless Election Lawsuit. […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Wannabe Dictator appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Stew Peters declares that “It’s time the Feds categorize the Soros family as enemy combatants”: “Seize their assets. NOW.” Shane Vaughn urges President Donald Trump to do everything he can to drag out the legal proceedings stemming from his mishandling of classified documents until he is reelected in 2024, so that he can then just […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: God’s Plan to Save the Country appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kent Christmas, the radically right-wing pastor of Regeneration Nashville, used his sermon last Sunday to urge those in his congregation to show the same sort of “passion” that drives radical Islamic terrorists to be willing to “die for their beliefs.” Christmas, a Trump–loving MAGA pastor and conspiracy theorist who has repeatedly declared that God will […]
The post Born In Blood: MAGA Pastor Kent Christmas Delivers a Shocking Sermon appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Inae Oh @ Mother Jones: Donald Trump Arrested, Again. Kelly Weill, Zachary Petrizzo and Josh Fiallo @ The Daily Beast: Trump Wanted Courthouse Protests But Instead Got MAGA Misfits. Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: Kevin McCarthy Argues That Trump Hoarding Documents Next to the Toilet Was Sufficiently Secure Because ‘A Bathroom Door Locks.’ Hunter Walker @ […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Bathroom Door Locks appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The Family Research Council accuses the Biden administration of “ideological colonialism” because it has “systematically elevated the importance of LGBT ideology in American foreign policy.” A reminder that David Barton isn’t going to stop spreading Christian nationalist disinformation even after it has been debunked. David Lane believes that “throughout the 17th, 18th and much of […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Ideological Colonialism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2020, far-right activists Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl orchestrated a campaign of robocalls targeting thousands of Black Americans in an effort to dissuade them from voting, one of the duo’s many attention-seeking political dirty tricks. Some of their projects, like press conferences in which they trafficked in transparently false smears against political opponents, earned them mostly […]
The post Far-Right Activist Jack Burkman Announces Hunger Strike to Protest His Legal Woes appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Madeline Peltz and Jacina Hollins-Borges @ Media Matters: Career women in right-wing media tell young girls to give up their dreams at Young Women’s Leadership Summit. Jack Jenkins @ Religion News Service: With Turning Point Faith, pastors use politics as a church-growth strategy. Sarah Posner @ Talking Points Memo: How Pat Robertson Helped Create The […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Confusing Career Advice appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former President Donald Trump is reportedly set to endorse North Carolina’s far-right Christian nationalist Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson in his bid to become the GOP nominee for governor. In response to Trump’s latest indictment, MAGA cult pastor Shane Vaughn delivered a screaming two hour sermon this weekend: “This is war!” Ali Alexander declares that “If […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: This Is War! appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint” held a two-day “Truth and Freedom” event at Faith Life Church in New Albany, Ohio, last week. Airing on televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel network, FlashPoint was launched in support of former President Donald Trump’s reelection in 2020 and has been dedicated to spreading lies about the election, disinformation, and […]
The post Televangelist Kenneth Copeland Says This Nation ‘Should Be Completely, Totally Based on What George Washington Said to Jesus’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Moms for Liberty, the political group whose members demand that books be pulled from school libraries, harass teachers and school officials, push right-wing takeovers of school boards, and align themselves with authoritarian, anti-equality politicians, are holding their second annual summit in Philadelphia at the end of this month. The summit’s speakers list is clear evidence […]
The post Moms for Liberty: Authoritarianism in the Name of Parents’ Rights appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kelsey Ables, Adela Suliman, John Wagner, Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Amy B Wang and Mariana Alfaro @ The Washington Post: Trump criminal indictment is unsealed, shows he faces 37 charges. Evan Perez, Sara Murray, Tierney Sneed and Jeremy Herb @ CNN: Trump aide Walt Nauta indicted in classified documents case. John Fea @ Current: Court evangelical Robert […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: 37 Charges appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Charlie Kirk declares that every Republican presidential candidate “should suspend their campaign and go to Miami as a show of support” for former President Donald Trump in the wake of his latest indictment. Shane Vaughn says Christians must now unite to reelect Trump so that he can pardon himself: “If he has to take his […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Vote For The Pardon appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Greg Sargent @ The Washington Post: How Pat Robertson created today’s Christian nationalist GOP. Hemant Mehta @ The Friendly Atheist: What we can learn from the disgraceful life of Pat Robertson. Decca Muldowney @ The Daily Beast: How Far-Right Extremists Are Targeting Pro-LGBT Schools. Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Moms For Liberty Co-Founders Use […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Everything Is Woke appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mario Murillo declares that conservative Christians “must speak out against the direct persecution of the Christian faith and the wholesale upending of the Bill of Rights. I am talking about exposing the government plans to shut down the Church and ban the Gospel.” Stew Peters asserts that “being gay is the worst thing on the […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Worst Thing on the Planet appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Pat Robertson, who was a central player in religious-right broadcasting and politics for decades, died on Thursday. As People For the American Way President Svante Myrick noted, “Pat Robertson was a key figure in the rise of the authoritarian religious-right political movement. He helped build the movement’s massive media, legal, and political infrastructure, which today […]
The post Pat Robertson: Religious Right Icon Dies, Leaves Harmful Legacy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Televangelist Pat Robertson was a founder of the religious-right political movement and an icon of its media; as such, he was a staple of Right Wing Watch’s coverage for decades. Even after he was no longer a powerhouse in right-wing politics, Robertson continued to use his media platform to promote the kind of toxic rhetoric that has become standard among […]
The post Pat Robertson’s Toxic Legacy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
SPLC: The Year in Hate & Extremism 2022. Payton Armstrong @ Media Matters: Right-wing pastor Tom Ascol criticizes Ted Cruz for condemning Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ law and claims such laws are not “wrong” because God created them. Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Trump ups the ante, condemns ‘fascists’ in U.S. law enforcement. Nick Visser @ […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: God’s Moral Law appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jeanine Pirro was scheduled to appear at a Christian nationalist “FlashPoint” event this week, but Fox News has reportedly prohibited her from doing so. So now, FlashPoint is accusing Fox of engaging in “cancel culture.” Andrew Torba says that letting women vote “destroyed the country”: “Democracy is when mentally ill liberal women elect other mentally […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Survivor appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke at the America First Political Action Conference in 2022, she justified her decision to address the gathering of white nationalists by insisting that her mission was to give guidance to a group of “young conservatives who feel cast aside and marginalized by society.” If AFPAC attendees “feel cast aside […]
The post Fascism First: Nick Fuentes and The Spread of Authoritarian Political Ideology On MAGA’s Right Flank appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Katelyn Polantz, Jeremy Herb and Kaitlan Collins @ CNN: Mar-a-Lago pool flood raises suspicions among prosecutors in Trump classified documents case. Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Bannon Goes to War With House Republicans, Wants Primary Opponents for MTG, Jim Jordan, and Others Over Debt Vote. Kyndall Cunningham @ The Daily Beast: How Comedian Blaire Erskine Made […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Suspicious Flood appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right anti-Islam activist John Guandolo announced via email that his Understanding The Threat organization has shut down. Kandiss Taylor bragging that “the majority of the people that have been put into GOP chair positions, officer positions, delegate positions, [and] district positions are my supporters” ought to tell you all you need to know about the […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Not Rewritten, Just Adjusted appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In late May, Charlie Kirk’s Christian nationalist TPUSA Faith organization hosted a pastor’s summit in Nashville, Tennessee. Among the featured speakers was pseudo-historian David Barton, who delivered a presentation urging those in attendance to take advantage of the far-right majority’s control of the Supreme Court to start enacting Christian nationalist policies all across the nation. […]
The post Christian Nationalists Seek to ‘Go On Offense’ to Take Advantage of the Far-Right Supreme Court appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Liz Skalka @ HuffPost: Mike Pence Files Paperwork To Run For President Against Donald Trump.
- Cassandra Jaramillo @ ProPublica: True the Vote Leadership Accused of Using Donations for Personal Gain.
- Prem Thakker @ The New Republic: Ron DeSantis Says Woke Seven Times in 26 Seconds in Wildly Out of Touch Remarks.
- Zachary Petrizzo and Ursula Perano @ The Daily Beast: Far Right Turns on Marjorie Taylor Greene—and MTG Hits Back in Text to Matt Gaetz.
- R.G. Cravens @ Hatewatch: Documents Reveal ADF Requested Anti-Trans Research From American College of Pediatricians.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: ‘Untrue and Hateful’: Nikki Haley Slammed for ‘Damnable Lie’ of Blaming Teen Girls Contemplating Suicide on Trans Kids.
- Greg Owen @ LGBTQ Nation: Moms for Liberty goes ballistic over mention of LGBTQ+ students in yearbook.
- Jerod MacDonald-Evoy @ Arizona Mirror: AZ GOP senator proudly flies flag adopted by ‘fringe’ far-right extremists.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Run to Lose appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Outraged over passage of the bill raising the debt ceiling, Rep. Andy Biggs told radical extremist Stew Peters that the U.S. government “is the most corrupt organization in the world.”
- Kent Christmas is upset that the LGBTQ community has supposedly stolen the rainbow and the word “gay.”
- Robert George declares that June shouldn’t be Pride Month but rather “Fidelity Month”: “Fidelity Month is all about getting the institutions of religion, of marriage and of family – the little platoons of civil society – in our local communities and our country back into shape.”
- Steven Franssen says that if he was president, he would “use the U.S. military and seize all Target stores … [and then] have bomber planes go over the stores and demolish them.”
- James Lindsay warns that angry and desperate Christian conservatives are being provoked into carrying out anti-LGBTQ attacks so that the government can label them as Christian nationalist domestic terrorists and justify shutting down churches: “They will use the unbelievable provocations that they’re gonna put forth in the next month or two for Pride to trigger Christians into giving them the reaction that they need.”
- Finally, Kandiss Taylor now absurdly insists that she never claimed to believe in a flat Earth but was simply complaining about money being wasted by NASA: “I don’t know all the things about the solar system, and I don’t want to know!”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Most Corrupt Organization in the World appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Candice Ortiz @ Mediaite: ‘Cannot Be Hetero’: Far-Right Trump Booster Bashes Ex-Pres, Declares Him Gay For Obsessive Focus on DeSantis.
- Claire Goforth @ The Daily Dot: Leaked DMs reveal Truth Social’s close ties to Kiwi Farms successor.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Christians are furious over a tiny Pride flag on the set of a show about Jesus.
- Payton Armstrong @ Media Matters: Fox’s Jeanine Pirro appears on Christian nationalist program FlashPoint to warn of “takedown of religion” in America.
- Adam Klasfeld @ Law & Crime: Pro-Trump conspiracy theorist Lin Wood slapped with criminal contempt fines for ‘flagrant’ violation of ‘gag order.’
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Team Trump reportedly can’t find doc referenced in audio recording.
- Ed Mazza @ HuffPost: Right-Wing Comic Cracks ‘Overtly’ Racist Joke As Newsmax Bit Goes Off The Rails.
- Tori Otten @ The Soapbox: Is James Comer Lying About His Biden Probe Sources?
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Takedown of Religion appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Rachel Hamm is “super frustrated” that the “death angel” she had prophesied didn’t kill a bunch of people at the U.S Capitol in the month of May, but she’s still holding out hope: “We’re praying that it’s still gonna come. We’re praying that it’s soon. We’re sad that it didn’t already happen.”
- Lance Wallnau admits that Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis supporters “LOVE IT when they snap” at the media “because you’re so pretentious.”
- Jarrin Jackson agrees: “45 has ego, narcissism, and a vengeful wrath. And his biggest enemies aren’t the common people in America, but the deep state, bad actors, & color revolutionaries. He’s a rabid guard dog, fomenting at the mouth…. We the People need to unleash Trump.”
- Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin defended his friend Nick Fuentes’ desire to take a 16-year-old child bride, insisting that “we really need to shoot lower than that” and enact “forced child marriage”: “The idea that the girl is menstruating (i.e. , dropping eggs) but is somehow not ready for sex does not make any sense. That’s saying God made a mistake.”
- Laura Loomer is threatening to move to Georgia to launch a primary campaign against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
- Finally, this is a real piece published by Liberty University’s Standing For Freedom Center: “Some People Deserve to Starve: A Biblical View of Work and Welfare.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Forced Child Marriage appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Trump Ally Roger Stone Admits on Hot Mic He Makes Up Stories to Bend Trump to His Will.
- Warren Cole Smith @ Ministry Watch: 30 Largest Christian Advocacy Organizations.
- Adam Rawnsley and Asawin Suebsaeng @ Rolling Stone: DeSantis Is Scheming to Steal the Right-Wing Influencer Vote From Trump.
- Michael Daly @ The Daily Beast: Holy Hell: DeSantis’ Pastor Buddy Tweeted WHAT?
- Nick Vachon and Matt Cohen @ The American Independent: The dark money funding conservative anti-trans groups.
- Matthew Chapman @ Raw Story: Alaska governor’s ‘pro-family’ adviser resigns after pro-Hitler and pro-rape comments resurface.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Tell That to God appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- In April, Lance Wallnau prophesied that there would be a wave of “sudden deaths coming in May” as God started killing those who have been “standing in the path” of former President Donald Trump. Well, it’s now June and, shockingly, that never happened.
- Jack Hibbs declares that “if we do not submit ourselves to God, then there is really no America.”
- Jason Rapert readies himself for Pride Month: “As the LGBTQ Cult unleashes another month of unholiness, unrighteousness and immorality in our nation, I stand to say that God will not be mocked. I pray that the Holy Spirit will increase and sweep across this nation, convicting men and women of their sins, prompting repentance across the United States.”
- QAnon conspiracy theorist/self-proclaimed “prophet” Johnny Enlow asserts that “there is presently no real democracy on the planet” because more than 90 percent of governmental leaders around the world are being blackmailed due to their involvement in pedophilia.
- Shane Vaughn is confident that Target will cave to conservative Christians because they’re the only ones with money: “The little LBGTQSers and who all they are don’t have jobs. They smoke weed from the time they get up ’til the time they go to bed in their mother’s basement.”
- Isabella Riley Moody’s show on the Live From America network has ended and been replaced by a show hosted by Pete Santilli, who in April called for the execution of former President Barack Obama and others.
- Finally, Anna Perez claims that Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network is “not at all conservative” and is “barely even Christian.” She says she knows this because she “worked closely with people who work there.” Given that Perez used to be a producer for CBN’s David Brody when he had a show on the Real America’s Voice network, we have to wonder if she heard that from him.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Barely Even Christian appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2022, Rachel Hamm decided to run for secretary of state in California because, she claimed, “Jesus himself” appeared in a closet in her home and told her to do so. Perhaps not surprisingly, Hamm’s campaign was filled with wild tales and conspiracy theories, especially about the 2020 presidential election.
Certain that she had been anointed by God, Hamm repeatedly warned that nefarious forces were going to try to “steal” the election from her. When she did inevitably fail to make it beyond the primary, Hamm predictably insisted that the election had been stolen.
In the wake her loss, Hamm has since become convinced that she is destined to serve as press secretary for former President Donald Trump, whom she believes God has “anointed” to be president again. She has urged her viewers to pray daily for Trump and against the people she says are partnering with Satan to keep him from getting elected again.
Rachel Hamm is so confident that God “has anointed Donald Trump to be president” that she’s apparently considering moving from California to Florida solely because she thinks she would make a great press secretary: “I think being press secretary is an excellent role for me.” pic.twitter.com/ARQFD59FYI
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) April 14, 2023
As such, Hamm has begun regularly traveling to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where she has rubbed shoulders with the former president, as well as the likes of Rep. Ronny Jackson, Kari Lake, Roger Stone, and other MAGA “celebrities.”
While Hamm’s proximity to Trump and those in his circle is disconcerting, it becomes even more alarming in light of some recent videos that Hamm has posted.
In March, Hamm released a video in which she claimed to have learned that “globalists” plan to kill most of humanity, which prompted her to ask God how she should respond. She insisted that God had responded by ordering her to “decree” that he would send a “death angel” to the U.S. Capitol in May to kill a wide swath of elected leaders.
“[An angel] said, ‘I’m here to tell you your prayers and decrees have been heard and the date has been set. The death angel will visit the Capitol in the month of May,'” Hamm announced. “I’m here to tell you that an angel came to our house and told us that the death angel is visiting the Capitol in the month of May.”
When most of May passed without the prophesied deaths taking place, Hamm posted another video in which she literally prayed that God had not changed his mind and would, in fact, send the “death angel” to “kill these globalists” as he had promised.
“Lord, please don’t change your mind,” Hamm prayed. “Lord, even now we do agree in Jesus’ name, please send this death angel to kill these globalists who have told us they want to kill 85 percent of us. And so, Lord, we need you to intervene. We need you. We need you. We’re completely lost without you. We need you to step in and send the death angel, in Jesus’ name.”
Given that it is now the beginning of June and neither the U.S. nor any other world government has been wiped out, it appears as if Hamm’s prophecy did not come to pass. And while we can be grateful for that, the fact that someone like Hamm has managed to make her way into Trump’s orbit is certainly cause for concern.
The post Rachel Hamm Begged God to ‘Please Send This Death Angel to Kill These Globalists’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid and Kaitlan Collins @ CNN: Trump captured on tape talking about classified document he kept after leaving the White House.
- Matt Shuham @ HuffPost: The Fringe Figure Who Says He’s Advising Republicans On Their Hunter Biden Probe.
- Pilar Melendez @ The Daily Beast: Biden Accuser Tara Reade Claims She Fled to Russia Fearing for Her Life.
- Tess Owen @ Vice News: The Leader of the Gun Church That Worships With AR-15s Is Now a MAGA Rapper.
- Media Matters: Newsmax guest: “I’m willing to pick up arms. I can’t take it anymore.”
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: ‘Et Tu, Chick-Fil-A?’ Online Right Melts Down Over Chicken Chain Embracing Diversity.
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Rep. Paul Gosar Claims He Has Been ‘Smeared’ As A ‘Nazi.’
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Smeared as a Nazi appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- David Lane fumes that “God’s enemies—Big Business, Big Tech, Bud Light, Fortune 500, and Big Biden—venerate the golden calves of multiculturalism, political correctness and secularism as they incite instability in the culture, whip up division between races, and promote political upheaval. Deifying wokeism, Critical Race Theory, DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion], and radical environmentalism, the State’s sacrosanct sacraments include abortion, ‘anti-racism’ struggle sessions, vaccines, and obsessive recycling.”
- Charisma reports that Rick Joyner has been hospitalized following a series of strokes.
- Sen. Josh Hawley told Sean Feucht that “the left” believes that the institution of the family “is racist” and wants to destroy it.
- Tyler Russell very clearly lays out what the far-right white nationalist base really wants: “We don’t want freedom. We want a total Trumpian Reich. We want dictator Trump. … We want all these people who are traitors to this nation to go to jail.”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes’ streaming platform has been beset with infighting recently and so he issued new guidelines intended to create an “environment where creativity flourishes.” Interestingly, just last week, Fuentes admitted that he didn’t really care about this infighting as long as everyone supported him: “It is a cult, and so as long as you’re down with me, it’s okay … It’s a groyper cult.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Total Trumpian Reich appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Earlier this year, Christian nationalist MAGA cultist Lance Wallnau announced that he intended to launch a tour heading into the 2024 elections that he claimed will break the “demonic strongholds” in various states that are supposedly preventing Republicans from winning elections.
Through this tour, Wallnau intends to raise up thousands of “patriots,” “grassroots saints,” and “intercessors” in swing states to who will “see the Republican Party shaken to the core” by ensuring that former President Donald Trump is returned to the White House.
During a livestream on his Facebook page last week, Wallnau announced that he has “identified 17 [counties] where demonic strongholds have corrupt control over the voting” and it is these counties that he intends to target.
“We’re going to mobilize,” Wallnau declared. “Before we’re done, the states are going to be mobilized. The awakened saints aren’t just going to be running around doing Facebook posts and incantations and proclamations; we’re actually going to be mobilizing the churches, mobilizing the businesses, mobilizing the legislators, mobilizing the independent media—people just like you guys—we’re going to be mobilizing in the intercessory warriors.”
“Out of 3,143 counties in the United States, we’ve identified 17 where demonic strongholds have corrupt control over the voting and over the machinery,” he continued. “We’re actually going to focus our precinct strategy on those 17 counties. We’re going to go with the [revival] tent, we’re going to go with signs, wonders, miracles, deliverance, Holy Ghost anointing, and the fire of God into seven swing states, hitting 17 counties.”
Wallnau has not yet revealed precisely which counties he plans to target, but he did post a chart on his Twitter page recently laying out 14 counties that he claims “will determine the future of America in 2024.”
Wallnau is an avowed Christian nationalist who was treated as an insider by the Trump White House and who has used his potion of influence to relentlessly promote Seven Mountains Dominionism, a theology connected to right-wing political ideology that teaches that Christians are to “do whatever is necessary” to take control of the seven main “mountains” that shape our culture—education, government, media, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion—in order to implement the will of God throughout the nation and the world.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Christian Nationalist Lance Wallnau to Target 17 Counties ‘Where Demonic Strongholds Have Corrupt Control Over the Voting’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last week, the right-wing Media Research Center released a report featuring the provocative title, “How Biden’s DHS Is Weaponizing an Anti-Terror Program Against Christians, Conservatives & the GOP.” As the title suggested, the report claimed that the federal government is “being used to target the entire spectrum of the political right and Christians,” specifically groups like “The Heritage Foundation, Fox News, Christian Broadcasting Network, Turning Point USA, PragerU, the National Rifle Association (NRA), Breitbart News, the American Conservative Union Foundation and the Republican National Committee.”
The central claim of the report is false, but it has proved irresistible to the right-wing political and media machine that thrives on generating bogus narratives about the supposed political persecution of conservatives.
The report focused on a grant made by the Department of Homeland Security through its “Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program,” which provides funding to local governments, nonprofit organizations, and institutions of higher education “to establish or enhance capabilities to prevent targeted violence and terrorism.”
One of the recipients of a TVTP grant was the University of Dayton, which MRC alleged then used the funding to launch a program known as “PREVENTS-OH,” through which it allegedly held a seminar linking mainstream conservative organizations to neo-Nazi groups.
The University of Dayton used grants from TVTP to create the infamous PREVENTS-OH program, which in turn hosted a series of events that maliciously equated mainstream organizations with neo-nazis and other extremist hate groups.
One of the first PREVENTS-OH events was a seminar called “Extremism, Rhetoric, and Democratic Precarity.” The seminar featured analysis from several so-called extremism experts who recklessly tied conservatives, Christians and Republicans to genocide and terrorism. Among the speakers were DHS Agent Joseph “J.R.” Masztalics a Regional Prevention Coordinator at CP3—who appeared in his official capacity at the event—and University of Cincinnati researcher Michael Loadenthal, a self-proclaimed member of a radical, anti-American Antifa group.
During the seminar, Loadenthal shared an outrageous “Pyramid of Far-Right Radicalization” that he claimed depicts the “modern far-right” and extremism in America.
Among the organizations and movements displayed on the pyramid were the Republican Party (RNC), The Heritage Foundation, the American Conservative Union, Fox News, Breitbart News, the National Rifle Association (NRA), PragerUniversity, Tea Party Patriots, the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, the pro-police Blue Lives Matter movement and the Christian Broadcasting Network.
Also on the pyramid, as if somehow comparable to the aforementioned reputable organizations and movements, were rabidly hateful groups like the militant neo-Nazi gang The Base and pro-Nazi publication The Daily Stormer.
Right-wing media outlets immediately seized upon the “outrageous” Pyramid of Far-Right Radicalization to allege that the Biden administration is using the TVTP grant program to “target” conservatives.
MRC’s founder and president Brent Bozell appeared on TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk’s podcast last Friday to demand a “criminal investigation” into the grant.
“There has to be, I think, a criminal investigation into what the Department of Homeland Security is doing with federal funds, weaponizing the most radical left-wing government in the history of this nation to shut down anybody who doesn’t toe the narrative with them,” Bozell declared. “That includes the Republican Party, that includes the conservative movement, and that now includes Christians.”
Kirk readily agreed that “this is a smoking gun” and declaring that the supposed scandal is “worse than Watergate.”
Unfortunately for Kirk, Bozell, and the rest of the right-wing movement, the central component of MRC’s report is wrong.
As the links contained in MRC’s own report make clear, the seminar at which the Pyramid of Far-Right Radicalization was shown took place in December 2021. The University of Dayton did not receive the TVTP grant until September 2022.
The university then used the grant to launch its PREVENTS-OH program, meaning that MRC’s assertion that “the University of Dayton used grants from TVTP to create the infamous PREVENTS-OH program, which in turn hosted a series of events that maliciously equated mainstream organizations with neo-nazis and other extremist hate groups” could not possibly be true.
Even Fox News essentially debunked MRC’s allegations in an article that nevertheless blindly echoed those claims.
According to DHS, the University of Dayton was not a TVTP grantee at the time of the seminar and received a grant the following year — when the department was already aware of what was presented at the event. A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the award was unrelated to the seminar and rejected the notion that it supports any form of discrimination.
“This seminar was not funded, organized, or hosted by the Department of Homeland Security,” the spokesperson said. “Similarly, the presented chart was not developed, presented, or endorsed by the Department of Homeland Security, and was not part of any successful grant application to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS does not profile, target, or discriminate against any individual for exercising their constitutional rights protected by the First Amendment.”
The University of Dayton similarly described the seminar as being separate from the PREVENTS-OH program.
“The speakers at the programs referred to in the Media Research Center’s report are from the University of Dayton Human Rights Center’s Social Practice of Human Rights Conference in the fall of 2021, which had no affiliation with and predates PREVENTS-OH,” the university told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The University of Dayton Human Rights Center received its PREVENTS-OH grant in the fall of 2022 and, to date, its community awareness events and dialogues have focused on all forms of domestic terrorism, targeted violence, and extremism. As we stated when awarded the grant, ‘We look forward to partnering with Ohioans throughout the Miami Valley across all political and social affiliations and sectors of the community.'”
On top of that, the Pyramid of Far-Right Radicalization image has been around since at least 2019, and clearly states that the institutions listed on the lower tiers are mainstream conservative organizations. In fact, the researcher who used the image, Michael Loadenthal, said as much in his presentation, making clear that his focus was on the dangerous extremist groups “on the top tier.”
Loadenthal likewise explained this to Fox News:
According to Loadenthal, the MRC is “misinterpreting and misrepresenting” the diagram as well as his role with it. He sent Fox News Digital a full copy of the image, which included text underneath the pyramid describing the bottom tier with the GOP, the NRA, and the Heritage Foundation as “mainstream conservatism.”
“The chart is meant to show that what is termed ‘the right’ is not monolithic and that some individuals travel to a path of radicalization, beginning with more mainstream sources,” said Loadenthal. “This point is not controversial nor is it deterministic; it is NOT meant to imply that engaging with level 1 inherently leads to level 4. That would obviously be false.”
When the pyramid was presented at the seminar, the text at the bottom was not visible. However, Loadenthal’s notes visible on the screen of the slideshow to the right of the image provide an abbreviated version of the text.
“So today we’re talking about the modern far-right, which depending on who you ask, can include things as mundane as the Heritage Foundation, all the way up to underground cells of militants,” the on-screen text reads. “I like the use of this 4-part taxonomy, although I disagree with some of the groups’ placements.”
Loadenthal also noted that he did not create the pyramid, telling Fox News Digital that he believes it was authored around 2018 — the upper left corner attributes the image to two scholars, McCauley and Moslalenko. “I found it a helpful conceptual scaffolding and used it,” he said.
Despite the fact that MRC’s report was basically debunked right out of the gate, that hasn’t stopped right-wing activists from using it to spin wild conspiracy theories, During Friday’s episode of her “WrongThink” program, right-wing commentator Anna Perez baselessly alleged that the Biden administration is using the TVTP grant program to “radicalize the youth and turn them into a paramilitary organization” that will attack conservatives.
“You know what this program is really for?” Perez said. “It’s so that the Biden administration can radicalize the youth and turn them into a paramilitary organization. … He is literally creating more members of antifa by implementing this program, that is why it exists. This program is literally meant to fund antifa.”
This entire saga provides a case study in how the right-wing movement works to generate “controversy” out of thin air, first by misrepresenting basic facts in order to generate outrage, and then using that outrage to gin up wild conspiracy theories. And the fact that the central component of this entire “controversy” is false will not, in any way, stop right-wing activists from continually repeating it in order to generate ever more outrage.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post ‘Worse Than Watergate’: How the Right Uses Disinformation to Generate Outrage and Conspiracy Theories appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Haley Orion @ Talking Points Memo: How Paul Gosar Became An Icon To Those In The Modern Fascist Movement.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: Trump vows to unilaterally end natural-born citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Ron DeSantis Declares He’s Running For President to ‘Destroy Leftism.’
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: The QAnon Shaman Is Out of Prison and Selling Yoga Leggings Now.
- Linda K. Wertheimer @ The New Republic: Inside the Christian Legal Crusade to Revive School Prayer.
- Charles Homans and Ken Bensinger @ The New York Times: A Small Town’s Tragedy, Distorted by Trump’s Megaphone.
- Media Matters: Candace Owens: “Do not shop at Target or else you’re gay and you’re a pervert.”
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Pastor charged with four counts of child cruelty announces bid for Louisiana House.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: House Republicans Tied to J6 Admit Goals: Defeat Debt Ceiling Agreement, Kill Economy, Help Trump Win in 2024.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Fascists appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene celebrated Memorial Day by doing a patriotic Crossfit workout.
- For his part, Matt Evans (aka Beardson Beardly) celebrated Memorial Day by declaring “fuck the troops.”
- Lance Wallnau thinks that Memorial Day should also honor the “living martyrs” like those imprisoned for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection or those who lost their jobs for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
- Bruin Republicans, which bills itself as “UCLA’s premiere right-wing organization,” will be hosting a speech by raging antisemite and virulent misogynist Jon Miller on Wednesday.
- Kent Christmas proclaims that “you will never go to Heaven if you vote for anybody that stands for abortion.”
- Finally, it’s pretty telling that white nationalist Nick Fuentes claims that when he was growing up “everybody [on the internet] said the N-word, everybody loved Hitler”: “You’d log onto the Food Network website and say, ‘I’m gonna kill your entire family, you N-word. Hitler’s awesome.'”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Living Martyrs appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Matt Dixon and Jonathan Allen @ NBC News: Ron DeSantis administration officials solicit campaign cash from lobbyists.
- Sarah Posner @ MSNBC: Ron DeSantis already has something to hide.
- Sophie Lawton and Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: The viral and misogynistic Dating Talk podcast platforms right-wing media figures.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: House Republican Complains It’s ‘Almost Impossible for a White Guy Who’s Not Gay’ To Be Nominated by Biden to the Judiciary.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Why did a Florida county honor Christian conspiracy theorist Rodney Howard-Browne?
- Brian Fraga @ National Catholic Reporter: Right-wing Catholic outlet Church Militant downsizing after years of expansion.
- Jack Jenkins @ Religion News Service: Meet the activists who spearheaded the Texas chaplains bill.
- Tim Murphy @ Mother Jones: Ken Paxton, Who Tried to Overturn an Election, Says Impeaching Him Would Be Overturning an Election.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Almost Impossible appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- The Biden administration released a national strategy to counter antisemitism, and white nationalist Nick Fuentes bragged that it is primarily aimed at him: “I am singularly responsible for most of what they’re talking about.”
- Stew Peters declares that “June is the month we remember that the rainbow is God’s subtle way of reminding us he drowned the entire planet because it was gay.”
- Self-proclaimed “prophet” Nathan French says that God recently gave him a vision of President Joe Biden “hiding in a cave”: “I saw [the Lord] waving and he said, ‘Bye bye den.’ He was saying, ‘Bye bye’ to the den—the place of hiding—but also, ‘Bye Biden.’ He’s gonna be removed.”
- MAGA pastor Mark Burns claims that a witch “tried to curse” him while he was out to dinner: “A witch of a false goddess tried to rebuke me for teaching about the Living God in her restaurant. She said she was a witch of a goddess.”
- Finally, contrary to his assertion, Charlie Kirk does not have “smoking gun evidence” that his TPUSA organization is being “targeted by our own government.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Bye Bye Den appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Hannah Rabinowitz and Katelyn Polantz @ CNN: Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison for plot to keep Trump in power.
- Tommy Christopher @ Mediaite: Charlie Kirk Incites Viewers to Go After Target Using Financial ‘Force’ Over Pride Merchandise.
- Rebecca Crosby and Tesnim Zekeria @ Popular Info: Tennessee Speaker appoints conspiracy theorist to develop state social studies standards.
- Yonat Shimron @ Religion News Service: In fight against ‘tyranny,’ Michigan board declares itself ‘constitutional county.’
- Ben Jacobs @ Intelligencer: CPAC Is Rocked by a Resignation.
- Nicole Narea and Li Zhou @ Vox: A guide to Ron DeSantis’s most extreme policies in Florida.
- Decca Muldowney and Kelly Weill @ The Daily Beast: Florida Mom Behind Amanda Gorman Book Ban Has Proud Boy Links.
- Media Matters: Daily Wire host: “The Pride flag symbol, we need to make that toxic.”
The post Right Wing Round-Up: 18 Years appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Eric Metaxas attempts to explain how former President Donald Trump is a lot like Martin Luther.
- Anna Perez claims that the Black Robe Regiment was literally “a regiment of pastors that actually fought in the [American] Revolution and was on the forefront of founding this country.” Nope. The term “Black Robe Regiment” was made up, predictably, by Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton and referred simply to pastors who preached in favor of independence.
- Gene Bailey asserts that when Thomas Jefferson wrote of “building a wall of separation between Church & State,” he did not mean that “the church should infect the state.” Also, nope.
- When it was announced that Gov. Ron DeSantis would officially announce his campaign for president during a Twitter space with Elon Musk, Nick Fuentes hailed it as a “brilliant” and “genius” idea. After the stunt turned out to be a disaster, Fuentes bashed it as a terrible idea.
- Finally, speaking of Fuentes, two of his acolytes—Jared Nobel (aka “Woozuh”) and Aidan Duncan (aka “Smiley”)—thought it would be “funny” to prowl around outside Columbine High School Wednesday night carrying fake weapons. They quickly learned that it was not.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Infect the State appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Wednesday night’s World Prayer Network livestream was dedicated entirely to encouraging right-wing Christians to see serving in government as a “mission field” in order to ensure that God’s will shall “be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
An outgrowth of a prayer movement that began in the wake of the 2020 presidential election when religious-right activists began to gather together several times a week to pray for God to intervene and overturn former President Donald Trump’s loss, the World Prayer Network has since transformed into a bi-weekly livestream.
While WPN founders, right-wing activists Jim Garlow and Mario Bramnick, often use the program as a conduit for the promotion of wild conspiracy theories, Wednesday night’s program featuring a conservative Christian political strategist named Aamon Ross who runs a political consulting business called Kingdom In Politics, the purpose of which is to “prepare and inspire believers to take an active role in politics.”
Ross revealed that he got involved in politics in 2016 after literally hearing the voice of God instruct him to do, prompting him to team up with his good friend Kevin Stitt to run Stitt’s successful campaign for governor in Oklahoma.
“I was in the business world for 20 years,” Ross said. “On a half mission/half business trip to China back in 2016, [I] was walking along the Great Wall and heard the voice of God—literally—and it scared me to death. He said, ‘Aamon, you think too small. You don’t think generationally,’ I came back to the states, meeting with one of my really good friends and shared that. He said, ‘What do you think it means?’ I said, ‘For some reason, I feel like God wants you and me to put godly leaders in positions of authority in the political sphere.’ He said, ‘Don’t tell anybody, but I’m thinking God’s calling me to run for governor.’ So I ended up leaving the business world and ran his campaign for governor with zero political experience. … He won the general election, so he’s actually now in his second term as governor of Oklahoma, doing an incredible job bringing Kingdom ideals there.”
Ross’s reference to putting “godly leaders in positions of authority in the political sphere” seems to be a reference to Seven Mountains dominionism, which Garlow and Bramnick promote, and that movement’s intention to put right-wing Christians in authority over every “mountain” or “sphere” of cultural influence in society, including government.
Stitt is a Christian nationalist who last year dedicated “every square inch” of Oklahoma to Jesus.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who was reelected yesterday, recently dedicated “every square inch” of the state to Jesus: “[With] the authority that I have as governor, and the spiritual authority and the physical authority that you give me, I claim Oklahoma for you.” pic.twitter.com/JEdTsJuzAe
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 9, 2022
Ross then revealed that it is the goal of his organization to recruit “1,000 churches to commit to run one person for school board” and to “raise up 100,000 believers to run for office over the next 10 years.”
Ross declared that it is imperative that conservative Christians begin to see serving in government at all levels as a “mission field,” which means penetrating an area of society for the purpose of spreading Christianity and implementing its teaching.
“They are trying to cancel Jesus,” Ross declared. “We want to be leaders, and we want to set the tone and set the country on a path to kingdom [principles]. The Lord’s Prayer, right? Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. How does that happen if we’re not the ones bringing Heaven to Earth? … What if the world of politics is the next big mission field? What if we viewed this as we’re sending missionaries into city council, we’re sending missionaries into the state House or Senate, we’re sending them to Congress. If we started viewing the world of politics like the next big mission field, I think we could make a dramatic difference in just a couple of short years.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Kingdom In Politics Is Training Right-Wing Christians to Run for Office for the Purpose of ‘Bringing Heaven to Earth’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: A Follower Of Neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes Has Pleaded Guilty To Making Threats Against A Major Conservative Conference.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: Alex Jones Claims His Kanye West Interview Was a ‘Setup.’
- Media Matters: Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh: “Diversity is an anti-white conspiracy.”
- Joseph Zeballos-Roig @ Semafor: Matt Gaetz embraces role as hostage taker as House leaders brace for debt limit fallout.
- Erik Uebelacker @ The Daily Beast: Greg Gutfeld Lauds ‘Heroic’ Teacher Who Slept With 16-Year-Old Student.
- David Moye @ HuffPost: Lauren Boebert Bizarrely Claims Having A Kid Is Cheaper Than Birth Control.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Hostage appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton was at the Texas state capitol Tuesday night, where he delivered a presentation to “pastors and ministry leaders from around the state.“
- Stew Peters declares that “Michelle Obama will most likely be the democrat presidential nominee in 2024” even though “we all know she’s a fraud, mostly due to her masquerading as a woman while having a penis.”
- Ali Alexander says that “Blacks and gays are destroying the country through the Democrat party.”
- Kent Christmas continues to insist that “in the eyes of the court of Heaven, Donald J. Trump is still the President of the United States.”
- Finally, white nationalist Vincent James is thrilled to hear right-wing commentators like Matt Walsh spreading their message: “Five years ago when we were talking about stuff like this, we were considered total fringe and Nazis.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: From the Nazi Fringe appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2020, Republican voters in Delaware chose right-wing conspiracy theorist Lauren Witzke to be the party’s nominee in the election for a seat in the United States Senate. Witzke was a QAnon conspiracy theorist and white nationalist who then tapped an antisemitic monarchist to manage her campaign.
Witzke was summarily trounced by Democratic Sen. Chris Coons in the general election, though she continues to falsely insist that she actually won that race.
Following her loss, Witzke landed a job with antisemitic conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles as a co-host for his “TruNews” program, only to be summarily fired just a few months later.
Witzke then teamed up with bigoted racist Edward Szall, who had also recently been fired by Wiles, to launch a program called “CrossTalk News,” headquartered in Vero Beach, Florida, while also working as a producer for the far-right conspiracy theorist Stew Peters.
Witzke has used her various platforms to promote an endless stream of white nationalism, Christian nationalism, misogyny, bigotry, and wild conspiracy theories.
Earlier this week, Delaware’s other Democratic Senator Tom Carper announced that he will not be seeking reelection in 2024, prompting Witzke to declare that she is “seriously considering” returning to Delaware to make another run for the Senate.
“I’m a Delaware girl,” Witzke said during Monday night’s “CrossTalk News” broadcast. “So I’m seriously considering a look at that Senate seat.”
Claiming that she “would have won” the 2020 election had she not been cheated out of victory by an “unconstitutional” election, Witzke bragged that she nevertheless “ended up getting 50,000 more votes than any Delaware Senate Republican candidate in Delaware history.” As such, Witzke believes that she is well-positioned and well-qualified to run for the Senate once again.
“I am seriously praying about it,” she said. “I’m considering it. I woke up to a bunch of text messages and calls this morning. People are asking me to run, but we will see what happens.”
In the last few years, Witzke has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and castigated the United States, declaring that she identifies “more with Putin’s Christian values than I do with Joe Biden” and hoping that Putin will “liberate” the U.S.
Lauren Witzke, the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, has nothing but praise for Putin and “his Christian nationalist nation”: “I identify more with Putin’s Christian values than I do with Joe Biden.” pic.twitter.com/oQ2nhlVGCR
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 24, 2022
Lauren Witzke, the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, says the U.S. is “just drifting farther and farther away from God” and longs for the nation to be liberated by Vladimir Putin. pic.twitter.com/QXc6s3KS2s
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 22, 2023
Witzke has also relentless promoted conspiracy theorist about the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccine.
White nationalist Lauren Witzke, who was the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, declares that as far a she is concerned, “everybody who dies suddenly or has died suddenly, it’s a result of the [COVID-19] vaccine. It’s up to them to prove me wrong.” pic.twitter.com/2SwKoUD1TW
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 17, 2023
Lauren Witzke, the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, claims to have fallen deathly ill after being around someone who had received the COVID-19 vaccine, asserting that they had “shed” the “bioweapon” onto her: “I’m not crazy.” pic.twitter.com/OYXhcXsZjH
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 8, 2023
Witzke also believes that the U.S. government is using “weather manipulation technology” to target and punish its domestic political enemies.
Lauren Witzke, the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, believes that last weekend’s deadly tornado outbreak was due to “weather modification”: “I truly believe in weather modification. I believe that this was very evil.” pic.twitter.com/W2tVqPHFGQ
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) December 14, 2021
DeAnna Lorraine, who ran for Congress in 2020, and Lauren Witzke, who was the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, agree that Hurricane Ian is the deep state using “weather manipulation technology” to punish Gov. Ron DeSantis for not enacting a vaccine mandate in Florida. pic.twitter.com/uscJuROSqP
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) September 30, 2022
Given Witzke’s penchant for conspiracy theories, it should come as no surprise to learn that she also believes that the Earth is flat.
Lauren Witzke, the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, is now a flat Earther: “I haven’t seen [a round Earth]. I don’t trust anything I don’t see anymore. If I haven’t seen it myself, I don’t believe it.” pic.twitter.com/0MJfhsCKjm
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 16, 2023
On top of all that, if Witzke does decide to run for office, she’ll have to explain why she is doing so in light of the fact that she has openly declared that allowing women to vote “was the worst thing that ever happened to America.”
Letting women vote “was the worst thing that ever happened to America,” declares Lauren Witzke, which sort of seems like an odd thing for the Delaware Republican Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate in 2020 to say. https://t.co/2q2196V5Lx pic.twitter.com/bfq3rPIVtx
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 16, 2022
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Far-Right Conspiracy Theorist Lauren Witzke Is ‘Seriously Considering’ Running for Senate in Delaware Again appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When the far-right ReAwaken America Tour stopped at one of former President Donald Trump’s properties recently, Trump called in to the event and promised to bring former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn back into the White House if Trump is elected president. Let us count some of the many ways that pledge highlights the authoritarian threat represented by Trump and the MAGA movement:
- Flynn called for martial law. Flynn backed Trump’s efforts to stay in power after losing the 2020 presidential election. In December 2020, Flynn promoted a call for Trump to declare martial law and use the military to oversee a new election.
- Flynn told far-right activists not to accept Trump’s defeat. On the eve of the Jan 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Flynn spoke at a rally emceed by Stop the Steal organizer Ali Alexander, where speakers mingled Christian nationalism and threats of violence, where Flynn insisted, “We should not accept this.”
- Flynn took the Fifth on Jan. 6 violence. When asked by the House Committee investigating the attack on the Capitol whether he thought the violence that day was justified, Flynn refused to answer, citing the Fifth Amendment.
- Flynn partners with far-right figures. He has teamed up with far-right activist John Guandolo, who praised the Jan. 6 insurrectionists for “restraint” and said “ it is amazing to me that patriots haven’t strung up these traitors already with the amount of evidence on the table of what they’re doing.” Guandolo trains right-wing citizens “to take over their towns, arrest, their mayors, and destroy the lives of anyone who objects by publicly humiliating them, getting them fired from their jobs, and forcing them to move away,” Right Wing Watch reported in 2022.
- Flynn is a close ally of Sidney Powell: Powell is a lawyer who notoriously promoted wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen, undermining confidence in elections and helping to fuel the rage of Trump’s supporters. Powell, who filed lawsuits in an unsuccessful effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election, also represented Flynn in his effort to overturn his convictions. In a prayer call with religious-right dominionists in Dec. 2020, Flynn called Powell a “spiritual warrior” and his—and America’s—“guardian angel of justice.”
- Flynn stars in the far-right ReAwaken America Tour. He has partnered with right-wing conspiracy theorist and podcaster Clay Clark in this traveling roadshow of conspiracy theories, disinformation and Christian nationalism. ReAwaken America events have consistently been filled with radical right-wing activists peddling wild conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, the COVID-19 pandemic, child sex-trafficking, and much more. Flynn has been one of the most popular speakers on the tour since its early days; he has told crowds to get engaged in America’s “spiritual war” and “political war.”
- Flynn makes the Christian nationalist threat clear: “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God,” Flynn said at a ReAwaken America event in 2021.
- Flynn is a warrior in the right’s dishonest and damaging war on “wokeness.” Right-wing activists have turned “woke” into a catch-all slam against efforts to promote diversity, respect, inclusion, and teaching about racism. Flynn has campaigned for right-wing school board members and said that some of the “WOKE SOB’s” serving on school boards “just need to be arrested.”
- Flynn has promoted QAnon. Flynn posted an infamous video of he and his family taking an oath that was linked to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement, whose adherents believe that high-ranking Democratic officials, Hollywood elites, and business executives are part of a global, satanic child trafficking ring that takes part in ritual sexual abuse of children and cannibalization.
- Flynn wants to be FBI Director. “General Flynn on social media has made quite a bit of noise about being Trump’s next FBI director,” noted prominent QAnon adherent Dave Hayes (aka The Praying Medic) during an appearance on the QAnon-promoting “prophetic” network Elijah Streams. Hayes said Flynn’s recent attempt to distance himself from QAnon is simply part of a public relations strategy to smooth the path for him to become FBI director.
- Flynn owes Trump bigly. Flynn admitted to lying to FBI officials investigating contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, but was granted an extremely broad pardon by Trump after the 2020 election.
- The world Flynn wants the power to build: “Flynn’s movement envisions Christianity as the basis of American life and institutions; where the right to bear arms is paramount; where abortion is illegal; where concepts such as systemic racism and gay or transgender rights have no place in the schools; and where people who disagree are called ‘Marxists,’ or perverts, and are excluded from American civic life,” AP and Frontline reported last year.
Of course, Trump himself is a threat to democracy, having tried to subvert it to keep power after his defeat, and he has made it clear that in a future administration he would move to purge the civil service of those who do not demonstrate unquestioned loyalty. And Flynn is not the only unsavory character waiting to help Trump wield power against his enemies during a Trump 2.0 administration. Trump also has his eyes on Jeffrey Clark, who tried to get the Justice Department to assist in Trump’s overthrow attempt. Trump was prepared to make Clark acting Attorney General, and backed off only high-ranking DOJ officials warned there would be a mass resignation public relations disaster.
You can help People For the American Way protect your rights and freedoms from authoritarian MAGA Republicans like Trump and Flynn by pledging to vote against MAGA authoritarians in upcoming local, state, and national elections.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post 12 Reasons Donald Trump’s Pledge to Hire Michael Flynn is a Five-Alarm Threat to Democracy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Hannah Knowles @ The Washington Post: DeSantis envisions shaping ‘7-2 conservative majority’ on Supreme Court.
- Will Carless @ USA Today: She stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. Then Gov. Ron DeSantis made her a state regulator.
- Associated Press: Judge dismisses Kari Lake’s final claim in election loss for Arizona governor.
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Marjorie Taylor Greene Just Paid $100,000 For Kevin McCarthy’s Used Chapstick.
- Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: Texas GOP Moves To Commandeer Elections In Houston.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: Charlie Kirk’s ‘Turning Point’ Pivots to Christian Nationalism.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Party of Fiscal Responsibility appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Right-wing pastor Jack Hibbs is launching a streaming platform to “protect kids from woke propaganda.”
- Jesse Kelly declares that “this country needs a dictator.”
- Jon Miller is pretty sure that “95% of Karens are Jewish” because “it’s textbook Jewish behavior, nickling and diming every manager in sight, the obnoxious nasal complaining.”
- Steve Franssen asserts that “white men should look out for other white men instead of being gay liberals who give everything away out of race humiliation.”
- After Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke at Nick Fuentes’ APFAC event in 2022, Fuentes showered her with praise, but now Fuentes claims that he was just using her because “women do not belong in politics”: “I all along never accepted Marjorie Green as a congresswoman.”
- Finally, Jonathan Cahn warns that when President Joe Biden lit up the White House in rainbow colors in 2022, he handed the nation over to an “ancient goddess” and we’re now under “demonic possession.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: This Country Needs a Dictator appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Matthew Brown @ The Washington Post: Six months after midterm losses, election deniers mount new efforts.
- Aaron Rupar and Lisa Needham @ Public Notice: The Republican war on higher education.
- Ben Blanchet @ HuffPost: North Carolina Lt Gov Trashed ‘Spoiled’ School Shooting Survivors.
- Areeba Shah @ Salon: Rumble, a haven for QAnon supporters, gains traction among conservatives.
- Fabiola Cineas @ Vox: The rising Republican movement to defund public libraries.
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: Hitler-promoting antisemites will speak at Trump’s Miami hotel alongside Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and other Trump personalities.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: Oath Keepers Leader Wants Leniency for Public Service … of Creating the Oath Keepers.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Defund Public Libraries appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Sean Feucht penned an op-ed for Charisma News declaring “the righteous must seize cultural authority”: “It is not controversial for us to boldly declare that we want Christians to be writing the laws of the land according to the Word of God.”
- Eric Metaxas reports that he was recently running “through Central Park in Harlem” when he “saw four teenagers smoking weed,” so he decided to give them a little advice: “As I passed them I shouted in a firm but friendly voice: ‘Smells like failure!’ and kept going. I said it as an act of love, honestly. I hope that at some point one of them might think about it.”
- Jason Rapert has high hopes for the 2024 presidential election: “My hope is that the people of this nation will reelect Jesus to be on the throne here again in our country.”
- Mark Robinson and Tim Barton are scheduled to speak at an upcoming Moms For Liberty event in Pennsylvania.
- Finally, while Nick Fuentes hasn’t had his own account restored, he thinks that Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter has been a boon for white nationalists because Musk has reinstated a lot of them and personally shares their views: “Not only has he replatformed thousands of rw accounts, but he himself is using his platform to post content that is more based than almost anyone in the mainstream American Right on race and other issues.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Smells Like Failure appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Christian musician turned right-wing political activist Sean Feucht continues to travel across the country with his “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour, which is a joint project he launched with right-wing youth organization Turning Point USA to bring Feucht’s mix of worship and hard-right politics to every state capitol in the nation.
Feucht is a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and, as he has done in previous tour stops, used an event last Friday in Madison, Wisconsin, to lift up local politicians who share his far-right views.
Christian nationalists believe the U.S. and state governments should operate and legislate according to their interpretation of the Bible, and that only Christians who share their political and religious worldview should control the reins of power. While many right-wing activists seek to downplay or obfuscate their Christian nationalist agenda, Feucht has been very open about his intentions, reiterating his desire to see “God in control of the government” while standing outside the Wisconsin state capitol.
Christian worship leader/right-wing political activist Sean Feucht once again admits that he’s a Christian nationalist: “Yeah, we want God in control of government … We want God writing the laws of the land.” pic.twitter.com/kLid3UoUqp
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) May 8, 2023
Later in the worship service, Republican state Rep. Chuck Wichgers appeared on stage, where he praised those who had gathered to pray for helping him fight the “demons” at work within the capitol.
“When it comes to this building, there’s demons in those walls,” Wichgers told the crowd. “The only way they go away is by this [prayer]. That’s the only way. And when you’re not here, those demons are laughing at you for not being here. They’re saying, ‘Go away, we’ll give you the laws that you want, we’ll violate the 10 Commandments, we’ll do whatever it takes to make you guys think you’re happy.'”
“Mental disease is on the rise,” he continued. “It has proliferated this nation. It’s the number one issue in the state of Wisconsin and in this country. How did it get that bad that fast? Godless laws that Republicans and Democrats are giving you because that’s what you wanted as a society.”
Two days later, Feucht brought his tour directly into the state capitol of Indiana, thanks to the assistance of Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch., After Crouch spoke briefly to the crowd, she was prayed over by Feucht, who promised that she would be “filled with favor” for orchestrating the prayer gathering inside the capitol.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post WI State Rep. Chuck Wichgers Says ‘Demons’ Control the Wisconsin State Capitol appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski @ ProPublica: Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: A Texas Democrat dismantled the case for putting the Ten Commandments in schools.
- Media Matters: BlazeTV host Steve Deace: Democrats “got away with rigging” the 2020 election, and will “just do it again.”
- Rachel Schraer & Mike Wendling @ BBC: Is this anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist the next Alex Jones?
- Josh Israel @ The American Independent: Jim Marchant, election denier with ties to QAnon, launches bid for Nevada Senate seat.
- Robert Downen @ The Texas Tribune: Conservative Christians want more religion in public life. Texas lawmakers are listening.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Bartonization of Texas Education appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Hank Kunneman warns that any Christian who supports anyone other than former President Donald Trump in 2024 “is not hearing what God has been saying.”
- Ali Alexander is outraged by the conviction of multiple Proud Boys for their role in the Jan. 6 insurrection: “This is a political lynching that will impact all Americans’ rights.”
- Milo Yiannopoulos has reportedly seized control of Kanye West’s “Ye24” presidential campaign and ousted Nick Fuentes and Ali Alexander.
- On a related note, Laura Loomer has found some interesting connections between Yiannopoulos, Ye24, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
- Speaking of Yiannopoulos, he is urging men to “embrace your inner heterosexual misogynist who is wantonly violent and hauntingly emotionally abusive.”
- Finally, we’ve begun noticing a pattern and are starting to suspect that choosing to be a full-time racist antisemitic white nationalist might not lead to a particularly fulfilling life.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Embrace Your Inner Misogynist appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer declared herself “a full blown accelerationist” in a Monday night Twitter post.
Loomer is a twice failed congressional candidate, who in 2022 told white nationalist Jared Taylor that she thought her white nationalist views would get her elected to Congress. Despite being Jewish, she promised to champion Christian nationalists in Congress but failed to make it out of the 2022 GOP primary, narrowly losing to Rep. Daniel Webster in an election she falsely insisted was rigged. This April, former President Donald Trump instructed his staff to hire Loomer to a role in his 2024 presidential campaign, but his plan was stymied when news of her impending employment broke and Loomer was widely condemned, including by other far-right politicians like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
In her Monday night post, Loomer responded to a fan who admired her “patience” in responding to students protesting her appearance at a recent Uncensored America event at the University of South Carolina.
“I don’t have patience for anything or anyone anymore to be honest,” Loomer wrote. “I’m a full blown accelerationist now. I invite all of you to join me in admitting that our country is never going to ever again be what it used to be. We need a rapid & drastic change of scene in our country.”
Accelerationists believe that Western governments are irreparably corrupt and that they should be pushed to collapse by sowing chaos. As Zack Beauchamp wrote in Vox, “Accelerationists reject any effort to seize political power through the ballot box, dismissing the alt-right’s attempts to engage in mass politics as pointless.” If accelerationists vote, it’s for the most extreme candidate to foster political discord, Beauchamp writes. Their preferred tactic, however, is violence. Accelerationist ideas have been cited in numerous mass shooters’ manifestos, including that by the white supremacist who murdered more than 50 at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019. (Writing about that shooting, Loomer declared that she didn’t care; that followed previous statements in which she said that Islam is a “cancer.”)
This wasn’t the first time Loomer suggested she was an accelerationist. In a Jan. 6, 2023, Twitter post, Loomer joined the chorus of far-right voices calling for someone more extreme to replace Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House. If McCarthy won, she said, “Millions of Republicans will leave the party & some will never vote again.”
“I will personally lead the charge to make this happen in Florida if Kevin McCarthy is elected as Speaker of the House,” she continued. “I would rather be an accelerationist than be a part of a party that’s corrupt to its core & doesn’t even care to pretend to listen to the concerns of its base.”
On Jan. 21, 2023, Loomer again said in a Twitter post that she was an accelerationist.
“Elections in our country are an illusion,” she said. “Republicans screwed the pooch by advocating for diversity & amnesty. Open borders combined with voter fraud, and big tech election interference has ruined our country. I’m personally an accelerationist now. We live in hell.”
The post Far-Right Activist Laura Loomer Declares Herself ‘A Full Blown Accelerationist’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The Family Research Council has launched a new “Association of Churches and Ministries” dedicated to “impacting the culture with biblical truth.” According to FRC, “The Association of Churches and Ministries equip churches, pastors, ministries, and ministry leaders to be Ambassadors for the truth in a world that either hates the truth or denies it exists.”
In reality, FRC’s leaders have a dubious relationship with the truth. For example, they spread former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and participated in his illegitimate effort to stay in power after he lost to President Joe Biden. The group promotes false Christian nationalist history.
FRC is intensely opposed to legal abortion and legal equality for LGBTQ people and portrays LGBTQ equality as a dire threat to religious liberty.
At its 2021 Pray Vote Stand conference, George Barna told religious-right activists that it is parents’ responsibility to shape their children’s worldview. But since not enough people—and not enough Christians—meet FRC’s standards for holding a genuine “biblical worldview,” Barna said those who do have a responsibility to “look for opportunities” to indoctrinate other people’s children.
In an email promoting the benefits of paying to join FRC’s new association, FRC President Tony Perkins plays up the supposed threat posed by “cancel culture.” A promotional video on the association’s website features images of LGBTQ equality activists and Black Lives Matter protesters as exemplars of threats to churches. Among the services the video touts is candidate training to church members who feel called to run for public office.
The new church association joins other FRC projects, including Perkins’ “Washington Watch” radio show, news and commentary platform “The Washington Stand,” the Pray Vote Stand activist conference (formerly known as the Values Voter Summit), the Watchmen on the Wall gathering for pastors, the Center for Biblical Worldview, and “Stand Courageous,” FRC’s “manhood” project.
The post Family Research Council Launches New Church Network to ‘Impact the Culture’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jeremy W. Peters, Michael S. Schmidt and Jim Rutenberg @ The New York Times: Carlson’s Text That Alarmed Fox Leaders: ‘It’s Not How White Men Fight.”
- Media Matters: Charlie Kirk passionately defends Tucker Carlson’s racist text message.
- Devin Leonard @ Bloomberg: The Company Behind Ben Shapiro Is Trying to Build a Right-Wing Magic Kingdom.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Jesse Watters Says He ‘Can Tell’ What Illegal Immigrants Look Like.
- Daniel Villarreal @ LGBTQ Nation: Anti-LGBTQ+ pundit accused of abusing wife & exposing genitals to coworkers.
- Michael Edison Hayden @ Hatewatch: Congressmen To Mix With Leader of FPÖ, a Party Founded by Nazis.
- Isaac Schorr @ Mediaite: Vivek Ramaswamy Paid to Have His Soros Fellowship and Covid-Era Role Scrubbed from Wikipedia Page.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: How White Men Fight appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Radical right-wing broadcaster Pete Santilli has repeatedly called on the military to round up and execute Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and other Democratic officials, but that didn’t stop Trump campaign attorney Christina Bobb from appearing on Santilli’s show Tuesday.
- If Isabella Riley Moody had to rank herself on how racist she is on scale of 1 to 10, she confidently declares that “I’m a 10.”
- Milo Yiannopoulos laments that there is no movement today where “discerning racists” such as himself can find a home.
- Brenden Dilley declares that the reason the “most of the powerful leaders in America and around the world” want to stop Trump from assuming the presidency again is “because he cracked down on their ability to fuck and traffick children from 2016-2020.”
- Finally, Gene Bailey of “FlashPoint” got a chance to interview Trump recently and desperately tried to get Trump to talk about his personal faith but to no avail.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Discerning Racists appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Sen. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina is expected to officially announce that he is running for president later this month. As part of his nascent campaign, Scott traveled in April to Iowa, where Republicans are poised to hold their traditional first-in-the-nation presidential caucus in February 2024.
While traveling across the state, Scott reportedly participated in a “Faith Wins” event at Rising Sun Church of Christ in Pleasant Hill. Founded by former Republican National Committee faith outreach director Chad Connelly, the religious-right organization Faith Wins works to mobilize conservative Christian voters by bringing Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton to churches around the country where Barton regularly spreads disinformation about the founding of this nation.
While Right Wing Watch was unable to find any video of the Faith Wins event, we did find a video of Scott preaching at Rising Sun Church during its April 23 service. After Scott delivered a sermon, he was joined on stage by Rising Sun senior minister Steve Rowland, who read off various questions that had been submitted by the audience.
During the question-and-answer period, Scott declared that the Constitution dictates that the government should be “bowing the knee to the church.”
“As Christ is being shoved out in America through media and government and being replaced by evil, even evil gods, how do we change that?” Rowland asked.
“Number one, we have to recognize that the Constitution of the United States affords each and every one of you your First Amendment rights to exercise your faith wherever you go,” Scott replied. “We are supposed to have the government bowing the knee to the church, not the church bowing the knee to the government.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Sen. Tim Scott Says the Government Should Be ‘Bowing the Knee to the Church’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Florida is set to pass an election bill that would roll back voters’ rights, but not all Republicans are happy. Self-styled “dirty trickster” Roger Stone calls the legislation the beginning of the “Californication of Florida,” claiming the bill will make it easier to commit voter fraud. Stone’s real concern may be that the legislation changes Florida law to allow DeSantis to keep his job as governor while running for president.
The bill under question was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature Friday. It would limit the role of third-party voter registration organizations and impose steep fines on such organizations, restrict mail-in ballots, and shift responsibility for determining if a voter is eligible to vote to the individual. Voting rights advocates say the bill is a political boost for DeSantis and an effort to deter Black and brown voters. The legislation now heads to the desk of DeSantis, who is expected to jump into the presidential race in the coming weeks.
The legislation restricts access to voting in line with other Republican voter suppression legislation that flies under the banner of “election integrity”—a strategy that picked up steam after Trump’s 2020 defeat. But it’s coming under fire from Trump loyalists who aren’t all that keen on making running for president easier for DeSantis. But instead of harping on that point, they insist the bill doesn’t go far enough to roll back voting rights.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump claims he “couldn’t care less if Ron DeSanctus runs.” The problem, he says, is the bill “totally weakens Election Integrity in Florida.”
“Instead of getting tough, and doing what the people want (same day voting, Voter ID, proof of Citizenship, paper ballots, hand count, etc.) this Bill guts everything,” Trump claimed. “It will allow dirty Voter rolls to get dirtier, weakens transparency, and is a total mess. It’s simple, all we want is a Free and Fair Election, and an honest count.”
Of course, any election Trump doesn’t win isn’t free or fair in his book. Making voting as difficult as possible—and asking election officials to find more votes for him—is Trump’s version of a free and fair election.
Stone—a Trump confidant whose prison sentence for obstructing Congress’ investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election was commuted by Trump—echoed Trump’s claims in a Substack newsletter Tuesday attacking Florida Republicans.
“The special session of the Florida Legislature is considering ‘reforms’ to the state election law which indisputably would mandate the use of voting machines and Arizona-style vote tabulators, prohibit the hand-counting of paper ballots, lose the signature verification rules for mail-in ballots, and substantially expand the forms of identification required to register to vote—making the voter registration of non-U.S. Citizens far easier,” Stone claimed.
“Even more offensive are amendments which limit challenges to any election result to election board officials, entirely eliminating citizen standing, input, and oversight,” he continued. “If they move forward, Republicans may have seen their last statewide victory and the Californication of Florida will truly begin.”
It should go without saying that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election or any recent nationwide election. Republican efforts to move to same-day voting, voter ID, and paper ballots is part of Trump’s game plan to make it more difficult for historically disenfranchised voters, who are less likely to vote for him, to cast a ballot.
Stone and Trump might want even more voting restrictions, but DeSantis has already instilled fear in the public, with his election police arresting people who thought they had their voting rights restored and this bill putting the onus for any voter registration mistakes on the individual. The real crime of Florida’s election bill for Trump loyalists is that it’s not for Trump—it’s for DeSantis.
The post Trump and Roger Stone Slam DeSantis-Boosting Florida Bill, Demand More Restrictions on Voting appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Matt Shuham @ HuffPost: A Reality Star Sheriff Could Swing A Senate Race To The Far Right.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: Rachel Maddow connects Uganda’s “Kill the Gays” bill to Arizona Christians.
- Media Matters: Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles: “I would probably happily burn” many books.
- Joe Jervis: FL Rep: Terrorists Hate Homosexuals More Than We Do.
- Tessa Stuart @ Rolling Stone: The Next Front in the GOP’s War on Women: No-Fault Divorce.
- Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: Shocking 75% of Trump Supporters Say They’ll Vote For Him Because They Believe Fantasy That He Won the 2020 Election.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Greg Gutfeld Says Being Woke Is Just as Racist as White Nationalism.
- Heidi Przybyla @ Politico: Leonard Leo used Federalist Society contact to obtain $1.6B donation.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: They ‘Hate Homosexuals More Than We Do’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jonathan Cahn claims that Tucker Carlson’s firing from Fox News “wasn’t natural” but rather due to “demonic forces”: “It was about the spirits he’s exposing coming after him.”
- Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene vows to expose the “Biden crime family” and declares that “no amount of lawyers will be able to stop me from exposing the potential influence peddling, money laundering, and human trafficking done by the most corrupt family in American history at the expense of the American people.”
- Rachel Hamm’s quest to become former President Donald Trump’s next press secretary took a step forward, she claims, after God recently arranged for her to be introduced to Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
- Milo Yiannopoulos wants to see the Republican Party burned to the ground if it will pass anti-blasphemy laws.
- Finally, it appears that being a full-time “internet racist livestreamer” aligned with Nick Fuentes’ white nationalist America First movement was not, in fact, the best decision that Matt Evans (aka “Beardson Beardly”) ever made.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Loser, Weirdo, Incel Freak appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Christian nationalist megachurch pastor Jack Hibbs posted a video on his YouTube channel Friday in which he claimed that “Christians are completely fine with transgender people doing their transgenderism in their own home” but that “transgenderism is actually a sexually perverted cult.”
Hibbs, the right-wing pastor of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills church in California, is an ardent supporter and close ally of Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, who regularly uses Hibbs’ church to spread Christian nationalist pseudo-history via his TPUSA Faith organization. When Kirk recently faced protests over his attacks on transgender people, Hibbs rushed to Kirk’s defense, declaring that he was “ashamed” that he and other pastors are not facing similar protests. As if to make up for that, Hibbs has recently begun launching his own attacks on transgender individuals, as demonstrated in his latest video.
“The question is being asked by people, ‘Why are Christians making such a big deal about the transgender issue?'” Hibbs said. “It’s the transgender community that’s made it a big deal.”
“They’re the ones forcing it down people’s throats,” Hibbs insisted. “Christians are completely fine with transgender people doing their transgenderism in their own home, but when they include our kids, that’s what ignited the nation.”
“Parents will never surrender their kids to the transgender agenda,” he continued. “Transgenderism is a violation of the word and will of God. It’s a violation of humanity. It’s a violation of science. It’s a violation—if you’re an evolutionist—regarding evolution. It’s a violation on every front. It is perverted. It is debased. It is godless. It is insanity, and it is the propping up of a severe mental illness and/or the severe judgment of God.”
“Transgenderism is actually a sexually perverted cult,” Hibbs proclaimed. “The Christian is the only one with guts to stand up and say, ‘Hey, transgenders, you need Jesus. If you really want to transition, you need to transition over to Jesus Christ and be born again.'”
“Transgenderism is an anti-God, anti-Christ, plan of none other than Satan himself,” Hibbs concluded.
Given such views, it is no surprise that Hibbs recently announced that he was launching a nationwide campaign to require educators to out LGBTQ students all in the name of fighting the “demonic and dark satanic powers” that are supposedly “sexualizing” and “mentally abusing” them via the public school system.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Megachurch Pastor Jack Hibbs Says ‘The Transgender Agenda’ Is a ‘Plan of None Other Than Satan Himself’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Eder and Jo Becker @ The New York Times: How Scalia Law School Became a Key Friend of the Court.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: ‘Moral Rot’: Abbott’s ‘Illegal Immigrants’ Attack on Five Murder Victims Called ‘Dehumanizing’ – It Also May Be False.
- Tommy Christopher @ Mediaite: Donald Trump Posts Attack On Woman He’s Accused Of Raping In Email To Journalists.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Kansas lawmaker to non-Christian constituents: I’ll “try and convert you.”
- Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: In his first year of actively posting on Truth Social, Trump amplified QAnon-promoting accounts nearly 500 times.
- Peter Stone @ The Guardian: Pro-Trump pastors rebuked for ‘overt embrace of white Christian nationalism.’
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Friend of the Court appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Faith Wins recently hosted a pastor’s summit in Washington, D.C., where David Barton taught his brand of Christian nationalist disinformation to “members of Congress …. decorated military generals, media and government professionals, pastors, Congressional staffers and more.”
- Jim Garlow laments the firing of Tucker Carlson from Fox News: “Tucker spoke TRUTH. And he is gone. He was silenced. Censored. Muzzled. So much for an ‘independent’ news source. That is a staggering loss for America. This may be remembered as the day that TRUTH (as far as the media is concerned) died.“
- Stew Peters has shifted the airtime for this program to capitalize on Carlson’s absence: “We’re excited to announce that we’re moving the Stew Peters Show to 8:00 PM Eastern, and we welcome any and all the former Fox News viewers to join us.”
- Speaking of Peters, he asserts that “the biggest mistake our Founding Father’s made was not officially designating America as a Christian nation.”
- Finally, former Rep. Jody Hice suspects that more people are identifying as LGBTQ because there is an effort afoot to “create a minority sex class to then be oppressed and get special rights.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Day That Truth Died appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Late in 2022, religious-right pseudo-historian David Barton trotted out a new historical and biblical misrepresentation designed to support his Christian nationalist political agenda. While speaking at a Truth & Liberty Coalition conference in Colorado in September, Barton claimed that Patrick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech and a letter written by President George Washington to a synagogue in Rhode Island both contained multiple biblical quotations that are today largely unrecognized by modern audiences.
In making this assertion, Barton was bolstering his argument that Americans of the founding era were so deeply knowledgeable about the Bible that they referenced it continuously in their writings and speeches, thus supposedly proving that Founding Fathers intended to create an explicitly Christian nation.
“Today we’re often told, on no, the Constitution is a secular document, it’s a godless document,” Barton regularly insists. “When people tell me that, I know that they’re biblically illiterate, they don’t recognize Bible verses.”
As with so many of the claims made by Barton, he provided no sources or documentation in support of his claims about Henry’s speech or Washington’s letter, but we happened to stumble across similar arguments in “Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers” by American University law professor Daniel Dreisbach.
In his book, Dreisbach—who appeared on Barton’s “WallBuilders Live” radio program earlier this year, despite the hosts’ penchant for false history—explained how the Founding Fathers used the Bible in a variety of ways, among them “to enhance the power and weight of rhetoric.” While Dreisbach notes that the founders did occasionally directly cite the Bible, they also frequently used what he called “bible-like language, that is, words, phrases imagery, or cadences that resemble, imitate, or evoke the language” of the Bible.
In making this case, Dreisbach cited Henry’s speech and Washington’s letter, the same two sources used by Barton. When we attempted to verify Barton’s original claim that Henry and Washington had both “quoted” multiple Bible verses, we largely came up empty because the Bible passages that Barton listed seemed to appear nowhere in either Henry’s speech or Washington’s letter.
The reason for that is because many of the Bible verses listed by Barton were not “quoted” by Henry or Washington but rather merely sounded like biblical speech, according to Dreisbach.
In the case of Washington’s letter, nearly all of the Bible verses cited by Barton also appear in Dreisbach’s book, the difference being that Dreisbach notes that Washington’s language merely sometimes resembles that found in the Bible, whereas Barton falsely asserted that they are direct quotes from the Bible.
Here is the slide that Barton showed listing the Bible verses allegedly quoted by Washington.
And here is the paragraph from Dreisbach’s book in which he discussed Washington’s use of biblical-sounding language in his letter.
As we reported in September, there were verifiable Bible quotations in both Henry’s speech and Washington’s letter, but nowhere near the number that Barton claimed. We were unable to verify the majority of verses cited by Barton simply because they were never actually quoted by Henry in his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech or Washington in his letter to a Rhode Island synagogue. Rather, Barton seems to have taken the information from Dreisbach’s book and, as is so often the case, misrepresented it.
As we have noted several times before, Barton’s career has been built largely on exploiting the biblical and historical ignorance of his own audiences to feed them a false narrative regarding the founding of this nation that serves primarily to promote his own modern-day Christian nationalist political agenda.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Why the Christian Nationalist ‘History’ Peddled by David Barton Simply Cannot Be Trusted appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Ryan J. Reilly and Olympia Sonnier @ NBC News: Donald Trump embraces Jan. 6 defendant who wants Mike Pence executed.
- Joe Jervis: DeSantis: My Prayers Turned Away A Major Hurricane.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Mike Lindell Wildly Claims Fox News Was in on 2020 ‘Election Crime,’ Says ‘Fox’s Candidate Is Ron DeSantis.’
- Mattathias Schwartz @ Business Insider: Jane Roberts, who is married to Chief Justice John Roberts, made $10.3 million in commissions from elite law firms, whistleblower documents show.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Christian minister to Ohio lawmakers: Trans rights supporters are “possessed by demons.”
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Possessed by Demons appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- The results of an informal survey of supporters of D. James Kennedy Ministries, “a mere 1% trust President Biden” and “99% reject sex education that features transgender exploration and surgery.” Given that D. James Kennedy Ministries is a religious-right Christian nationalist organization, these findings are not particularly shocking.
- Stew Peters and Ella Maulding agree that “homosexuality should be a criminal offense.”
- Floyd Brown reports that he has been working with Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Lance Wallnau, and Mario Murillo to organize an event this fall that will be “the largest ecumenical prayer meeting for America in the history of our country.”
- To hear Patrick Howley tell it, the life of an antisemitic, white nationalist, far-right “journalist” is not quite as rewarding and glamorous as one would imagine.
- Finally, Jason Rapert declares that “the Democrat Party has been enlisted to further the Antichrist cult in our country.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Antichrist Cult appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The book-banning right-wing Moms for Liberty also promotes school board takeovers, which are often followed by the firing of school superintendents, even in school districts with high educational ratings. Now Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration is using a Moms for Liberty complaint as cover for a political attack on the career of another Florida school superintendent who has been critical of the governor, according to news reports this week and a statement released Thursday by the targeted superintendent.
Leon County Superintendent Rocky Hanna is an elected official; he cannot be fired by the school board, only rejected by voters. That’s where the governor comes in. Moms for Liberty activist Brandi Alexander, identifying herself as an executive board member of the local chapter, wrote to DeSantis last year urging him to remove Hanna, something DeSantis has done to other public officials who displeased him.
In the letter—stamped with “Let’s Go Brandon,” which is code for “F*** Joe Biden”—Alexander complained about a morale-boosting email Hanna sent to teachers in which he said, “I will always have your back!” and urged teachers “to continue to teach the standards just as you have always done” without worrying about the “naysayers.” He summarized that thought with the phrase, “You do You!”
DeSantis Education Commissioner Manny Diaz claimed in an early April letter to Hanna that the phrase “you do you” is probable cause to “justify sanction” against Hanna’s Florida educator certificate. Diaz also cited Hanna’s opposition to DeSantis’ ban on school mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Tallahassee Democrat reported that possible penalties DeSantis’ administration could levy against Hanna include “a reprimand, fine, probation, restriction of practice, suspension of no more than five years, revocation of no more than 10 years or a permanent revocation of his teaching license.”
Hanna was informed of the education department’s investigation on Christmas Eve last year. In a January statement, he said the investigation has “no merit” whatsoever, writing, “I have always tried my best to be a champion for our children and to do things the right way in accordance with the law.”
The attack on Hanna reflects DeSantis’ authoritarian approach to governing and his intolerance for criticism. Of the 12 school districts that defied DeSantis’s ban on COVID-19 mask requirements, only five are still led by the same superintendents, according to NPR-affiliate WUSF. As The Daily Beast noted:
Shocking dismissals haven’t been limited to local school boards. DeSantis has become infamous for targeting any official who speaks out against him—denouncing “cancel culture” while canceling any voice in Florida that opposes him.
Other officials ousted by DeSantis included Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, who was removed from his elected position for his stance on abortion; the entire board for Disney’s self-governing Reedy Creek Improvement District, which were replaced with Republican donors; and the trustees to the New College of Florida, who promptly fired the university’s president and hired a DeSantis ally to replace him—giving the position a massive raise in the process.
“It’s a sad day for democracy in Florida, and the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, when a state agency with unlimited power and resources, can target an elected official in such a biased fashion,” Hanna said Thursday in a press statement.
The threat to Hanna’s career is part of a multi-pronged effort by DeSantis and his allies to restrict the freedom to learn in Florida and indoctrinate students with right-wing ideology.
The post Moms for Liberty and DeSantis Expand Educator Purge appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Aymann Ismail @ Slate: Tucker Carlson’s Very Weird Post-Firing Speech Makes Sense if You Know Who He Was Trying to Reach.
- Candice Ortiz @ Mediaite: Former Fox Darling Kari Lake Implores ‘All’ Fox Hosts to Abandon Their Contracts And ‘Save The Country’ After Carlson Ouster.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: Nebraska Democratic lawmaker under investigation because she has a trans child.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Why Montana Republicans censured the state’s first transgender legislator.
- Joe Jervis: Second Firm Hired By Trump Found No Election Fraud.
- Payton Armstrong @ Media Matters: Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA is increasingly leaning into right-wing Christian fundamentalism.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Conflict of Interest appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Unlike many on the right, raging misogynist Jon Miller isn’t concerned about the issue of transgender athletes because “men beating the shit out of women in sports is actually so kek.” (“Kek” is internet slang used by the far-right roughly to mean “cool.”)
- Kathy Barnette, who recently ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Senate nomination in Pennsylvania, has aligned herself with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and begun appearing as a campaign surrogate on right-wing programs.
- Christian nationalist pseudo-historians David and Tim Barton “gave a private tour of the United States Capitol” to a group of right-wing pastors Wednesday night. Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Michael Cloud also spoke to the group.
- Speaking of David Barton, he continues to claim that “in 1816, in New Jersey public schools, every public school kid by the 2nd grade had memorized the Gospel of John,” even though that is a demonstrable and blatant lie.
- Finally, Barton’s son Tim is every bit the Christian nationalist his father is, declaring recently that there should be no secular institutions in the United States: “God never intended for education to be secular, for government to be secular, for business to be secular.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: No Secular Institutions appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
A group of Christian nationalists committed to “re-dedicating (re-marrying) the nation back to God” gathered Wednesday in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for an “Re-Covenanting Ceremony & Gala Dinner Reception” featuring the likes of Glenn Beck, former Rep. Michele Bachmann, pseudo-historian David Barton, and others.
Timed to coincide with the anniversary of the day in 1607 when English settlers landed at Cape Henry, Virginia, erected a cross, and “dedicated the new world to God,” organizers insisted that the event was not intended to “promote any political figure or party, but rather to bring the nation as a whole back to God through prayers, repentance and proclamation.”
Many speakers at the event, of course, had different objectives, judging by the fact that the first two speakers spent a good portion of their remarks attacking drag performers, transgender individuals and the Biden administration.
The very first speaker was Craig Johnson, a conservative commentator who bills himself as “The Hatchet Man” and railed against “demon-possessed people” who are reading “homosexual pornography” to school children.
“It took several generations for the universities to devolve culturally, to where many, not all, but most are today: dens of iniquity doing to our young people for evil what used to be done for our young people for good,” Johnson said. “In godly culture—America, the good—we used to read scripture to children in school and lead them in prayer. In today’s culture—America, the not-so-good—school prayer was abolished in most schools over 60 years ago—my whole lifetime—and replaced with a big, burly transvestite man in a dress, sitting in the seat where the word of God was once showered down upon our children. Now ungodliness infects our youth with evil, and they call it a woke culture. These demon-possessed people use cute little picture books for the kindergartners, but they read outright homosexual pornography to middle schoolers and high schoolers. Every teacher, every principal, every public leader that allows this is a yielded servant to what St. Paul calls the daemonium: demonic entities.”
Father James Altman, a radical right-wing priest who was removed from his ministry in 2021 after making a series of controversial statements, lived up to his reputation as he hurled viciously transphobic attacks on Biden administration officials and others.
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” Altman asked. “Certainly not some mentally ill tranny freak show of a four star admiral in Biden’s cabinet. Why don’t the bishops at this Catholic Church say that? That’s why they hate me, because I do and they don’t and they know it!”
“If God is for us who can be against us?” he continued. “Certainly not the mentally ill—and they are mentally ill!—not the mentally ill tranny freak show man in Biden’s Department of Energy, who stole women’s luggage at the airport. … Do not take offense when I call out the freaks in their freak show. It’s not my opinion. Almighty God said it, ‘A woman shall not wear a man’s garment nor shall a man put on a woman’s clothing, for anyone who does such a thing is an abomination to the Lord your God.’ So, we should crush like the vermin that they are—and they are—every filthy school board member or teacher who tries to shove their mentally ill tranny freak show down the throats of our precious children.”
Later in the program, right-wing activist Zoe Warren, who is currently running to be chair of the South Carolina GOP, sought to repent on behalf of “government,” declaring that this nation has become so wicked that “we deserve for our women to be raped and our children to be ripped apart.”
“Government is God’s idea,” Warren asserted. “The essence of repentance is just agreement with God.”
“What I want us to do right now is recognize that we deserve God’s judgment,” he added. “We deserve to be destroyed. We deserve for our children be to be taken captive. We deserve for our lands to be snatched from us. We deserve for our women to be raped and our children to be ripped apart.”
“Forgive us, Lord, because we have sinned,” Warren proclaimed. “Bless us, oh Lord. Raise up mighty warriors to govern in America. Raise up mighty warriors to judge in America. Who better than the the just, oh Lord? The heathen? Be it not so, Lord. Do not let the heathen rule over us.”
Among the sponsors of the event was the Virginia Christian Alliance, which managed to secure a “certificate of recognition” from Gov. Glenn Youngkin recognizing the “pastors, governmental leaders, and others from the Commonwealth and around the Nation” who had gathered for this event “to rededicate this land according to the 1607 Jamestown Covenant of Land Dedication.”
First Landing Day
WHEREAS, on April 26, 1607, settlers from England landed on the shores of Virginia and within days erected a wooden cross at Cape Henry to recognize the strength that their faith had provided them in their journey and would sustain them in their new endeavor; and
WHEREAS, on April 29, 1607, the colonists took communion, knelt, and dedicated this land to God; and
WHEREAS, the founders of our country were great men and women from many religious denominations, races, and cultures, who came here from all over the world to establish a country “with liberty and justice for all,” and the Christian faith is an integral part of this rich heritage in Virginia; and
WHEREAS, the Declaration of Independence conveys the profound belief of our founders that all men are created equal under a governance established upon the existence of the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – rights not derived from government, but from our Creator; and
WHEREAS, George Washington, in his first Inaugural Address, noted that, “the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected to remain on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained;” and
WHEREAS, on March 3, 1865, the United States Congress passed an act to place our historical, national motto, “In God We Trust,” on all gold and silver coins serving as a constant reminder that our nation’s political and economic fortunes were tied to its spiritual faith; and
WHEREAS, today, April 26, 2023, the Virginia Christian Alliance, along with pastors, governmental leaders, and others from the Commonwealth and around the Nation, gather to rededicate this land according to the 1607 Jamestown Covenant of Land Dedication;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Glenn Youngkin, do hereby recognize April 29, 2023, as FIRST LANDING DAY in the COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, and I call this observance to the attention of our citizens.
The post Gov. Youngkin Proclamation Praises Christian Nationalist ‘Re-Covenanting’ Featuring Viciously Anti-LGBTQ Speakers appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: A Far-Right Moms Group Is Terrorizing Schools in the Name of Protecting Kids.
- Matt Cohen @ The American Independent: How Leonard Leo became a conservative power broker in judicial elections.
- Prem Thakker @ The New Republic: MAGA’s New Culprit in Carlson’s Firing: RINO Globalist Paul Ryan!
- Matt Young @ The Daily Beast: New Audio Shows Ted Cruz Scheming to Steal 2020 Election.
- David McAfee @ Raw Story: Steve Bannon’s associate gets four years for Trump border wall fraud.
- Ian Millhiser @ Vox: The Supreme Court’s tone-deaf response to the Clarence Thomas corruption scandal.
- Keila Szpaller, Blair Miller and Nicole Girten @ The Daily Montanan: Montana House votes to discipline Rep. Zephyr, ban from floor, agenda.
The post Right Wing Round Up: Behind the Wall appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Stew Peters featured far-right activist Jon Miller on his program last night, proving once again that there is seemingly no extremist whom Peters will not platform.
- There have been a lot of theories floated about what prompted Fox News to abruptly fire Tucker Carlson this week, but MAGA pastor Shane Vaughn thinks he knows what really happened: “We know that Tucker Carlson was a victim of demonic power.”
- Lauren Witzke declares that “this government would love to just completely criminalize being white. Don’t be surprised if they do one day.”
- Rochelle Richardson (aka “Silk” of Diamond & Silk) says that former President Donald Trump “is a great human being.” What makes him so great? “He didn’t even play golf on the day” of her sister’s funeral, she says.
- Finally, Nick Fuentes is deeply pessimistic about 2024: “I feel like we are headed toward defeat. … There’s no momentum. There’s no enthusiasm. There’s no excitement. Everybody is absolutely demoralized. It feels like the left is unstoppable.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: No Momentum, Enthusiasm, or Excitement appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Christian musician turned right-wing political activist Sean Feucht made a stop at MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer’s church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last Thursday, where he proudly declared himself a Christian nationalist.
Christian nationalists believe the U.S. and state governments should operate and legislate according to their interpretation of the Bible, and that only Christians who share their political and religious worldview should control the reins of power. While many right-wing activists seek to downplay or obfuscate their Christian nationalist agenda, Feucht was very open about his intentions.
“We want God to be in control of everything,” he declared. “We want believers to be the ones writing the laws. Yes. Guilty as charged.”
Feucht was in Oklahoma last week because it was the latest stop on the “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour, a joint project he launched with right-wing youth organization Turning Point USA to bring Feucht’s mix of worship and hard-right politics to every state capitol in the nation.
Last Friday, Feucht and his “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour set up shop on the grounds of the Oklahoma capitol, where Feucht was welcomed by Gov. Kevin Stitt, who last year dedicated “every square inch” of the state to Jesus.
Following brief remarks from Stitt, Feucht laid hands upon the governor and led the audience in praying over him.
“This is so biblical, and it’s so appropriate for us to come as the people of God and release a blessing over this building, over this man, over the government,” Feucht proclaimed. “This is really Davidic what we’re doing here, it’s like David bringing an offering to the Lord at the most important governmental building in the state, and we’re just so honored to have the governor here with us.”
“Lord, we just thank you for this man of God,” Feucht continued. “We thank you for the state of Oklahoma. God, we thank you for what you’re doing here. We thank you, God, how you’re raising up this state to be a model state for America. God, we thank you that you’ve put a mantle of leadership on Gov. Kevin and you put a mantle of leadership on the legislature of this state. God, we need godly leaders in America, and we thank you that you have them in Oklahoma. Lord, we pray God that you would take the pattern of what you’re doing here and that you would duplicate it across the land.”
Two days later, Feucht and his tour stopped at the capitol in Topeka, Kansas, where multiple members of the state legislature, Rep. Tracey Mann, and far-right state Attorney General Kris Kobach all prayed and were then prayed over by Feucht in return.
“No longer can the church afford to vacate the political realm,” Feucht declared. “Lord, we thank you, God, that you have raised up men and women to stand as watchmen on the wall for the state of Kansas. Lord, we commit as the Church of Jesus Christ to pray for them. Lord, we thank you that you’ve put them in positions of authority. … We just declare over this capitol building: Nothing can stop the kingdom of God. Nothing can stop the plans of God.”
Among the Kansas legislators who appeared on stage with Feucht were state Reps. Doug Blex, Jason Goetz, and Ken Rahjes, and state Sens. Virgil Peck and Rick Kloos.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht Prayed Over Multiple Elected Officials: ‘Nothing Can Stop the Kingdom of God’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: On white nationalist program, Mark Lamb defends man who shot Ralph Yarl: “He was trying to protect his property … now he’s being persecuted.”
- Kelly Weill @ The Daily Beast: Ammon Bundy Sparks Standoff Scare After Court Loss.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: ‘Jesus Guns Babies’ candidate celebrates GOP district takeover: ‘The Lord wants to take Georgia back.’
- Colby Hall @ Mediaite: ‘NO!’ Trump Signals He Will Refuse to Partake in Republican Debates: I Don’t Want to Be ‘Libeled and Abused.’
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: Tucker Carlson Is Out at Fox News and QAnon Is Taking It Just Fine.
- Andrew Prokop @ Vox: Tucker Carlson was doing something different — and darker — than most Fox hosts.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Libeled and Abused appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Intercessors for America held an event in Pennsylvania Monday, and state Sen. Doug Mastriano was among those in attendance.
- Scott Lively claims that the term “woke” is “the Satanic equivalent of ‘Born Again,’ and ‘wokeness’ is the demonic equivalent of evangelical fervor.”
- The “ReAwaken America Tour” is a cavalcade of MAGA cultists mixed with COVID-19, election, and QAnon conspiracy theorists, so it’s actually surprising that it has taken as long as it has for organizers to schedule an event at one of former President Donald Trump’s properties.
- Speaking of QAnon conspiracy theorists, Dave Hayes says that Michael Flynn is only pretending to denounce QAnon because he wants to be FBI director if Trump is reelected: “Whatever Flynn is saying publicly, you should just ignore it because it’s part of a psychological operation.”
- Finally, an America First groyper who goes by the name “Smiley” was at the center of the scandal involving “Stop The Steal” organizer Ali Alexander soliciting sexually explicit images from underage males. Nick Fuentes was outraged about being tied to the scandal because of his connection to Alexander and so he repeatedly lashed out at Smiley. Predictably, Smiley has now apologized to Fuentes.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Satanic Equivalent of Born Again appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former President Donald Trump granted a one-on-one interview to the Christian nationalist “FlashPoint” program that will air this evening on The Victory Channel.
The Victory Channel launched its “FlashPoint” program ahead of the 2020 elections, to rally Christian conservatives to vote for Republican candidates and Trump in particular.
The Victory Channel is a television network founded by televangelist Kenneth Copeland, who had been an ardent Trump supporter throughout his term in office. Copeland mobilized his network to support Trump throughout the 2020 election, an effort that went into overdrive when Trump lost.
“FlashPoint” played a key role in spreading lies about the 2020 election and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, with host Gene Bailey regularly welcoming right-wing “prophets” and evangelists like Lance Wallnau, Hank Kunneman, and Mario Murillo on to the program, where they steadfastly refuse to accept the election results.
Murillo, for example, openly declared in November 2020 that he “will never accept” that Joe Biden is president and that Christians “cannot accept the results of this election.” He even went so far as to warn that any Christian who accepts Biden’s presidency will be judged by God.
“God is going to judge you,” Murillo proclaimed. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is a test.”
Not to be outdone, Kunneman used a “FlashPoint” program the following month to declare that admitting that Biden won the election is “grievous to God,” insisting that “in the eyes of God, [Biden’s presidency] doesn’t exist because God is not putting a man into an elected office as president in this nation based on crime and fraud.”
The adulation showered on Trump by the “FlashPoint” program has paid dividends in the past, with Trump having called in to the show on multiple occasions, and the program providing Trump with access to its ardent fan base. But that relationship appears to have gotten a lot closer lately, as Bailey was down at Mar-a-Lago Monday to conduct a one-on-one interview with Trump that will air during tonight’s episode.
Bailey has made no secret of the fact that it is his mission to mobilize conservative Christians to “take over the world.”
The Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint” is holding an event in Florida next month to train right-wing Christians how to take over local school boards: “That sounds like we’re trying to take over the world? Yes, we are. I fully admit that. That’s exactly what we’re doing.” pic.twitter.com/U4cc4bkCVw
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 18, 2023
The “FlashPoint” program has been intensely committed to Trump since it was launched to support his campaign in 2020 and has only grown more so in the years since. With Trump having announced that he is running for president again in 2024 and Gene Bailey now securing the opportunity to interview Trump in person, the ties between the GOP front-runner, the program, and its audience of right-wing Christian voters will likely only deepen.
The post Trump to Appear on Christian Nationalist ‘FlashPoint’ Program Tonight appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Hillsdale College is a right-wing conservative Christian college in Michigan hailed by the likes of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who views the school as a model for education nationwide and vows to bring Hillsdale’s values to Florida. In one Florida school district last week, he nearly saw his dream come true.
The Sarasota School Board had considered hiring the newly created Vermilion Education in a consulting capacity, but voted 3-2 against the proposal last Tuesday after critics lambasted the consulting group’s lack of experience, close ties to Hillsdale, and political agenda.
The plan—which was proposed in March by board chair Bridget Ziegler, a co-founder of the right-wing book-banning group Moms for Liberty and wife of the state GOP chair—would have cost the school district $28,000 and given Vermilion the job of reviewing and recommending teacher lesson plans, textbooks, and library books. The initial proposal would have also had the newfound consultancy agency sit in on teacher interviews and review district policies and procedures, costing the school district $4,820 a month.
The consultant who would have implemented Ziegler’s plan was Jordan Adams, a former civic education specialist at Hillsdale and founder of Vermilion. Adams was behind Hillsdale’s 1776 curriculum, which favored a “patriotic”—that is, whitewashed—teaching of U.S. history.
Hillsdale famously refuses any government funding to maintain its independence from government regulation. Its newsletter Imprimis, which is circulated to millions of Americans, gives a sense of Hillsdale’s politics: It has claimed the Jan. 6 insurrection was a hoax and that immigration is a plot to make whites a minority and to secure a welfare state. Investigative journalist Kathryn Joyce published a three-part series at Salon last year on Hillsdale’s leading role in the national right-wing war on public education.
Hillsdale and Moms for Liberty share a right-wing agenda to impose their conservative values on students. Moms for Liberty has been a part of the right-wing takeover of school boards across the country, the banning of books like a graphic novel adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary, and the ousting of superintendents and educators it sees as roadblocks to its conservative agenda. Like Hillsdale, the group has been praised by DeSantis.
With the board scheduled to vote on the proposed plan last Tuesday, local students and parents staged a protest against Vermilion. Some 80 people lined up to speak at the board meeting, the mass majority of whom urged the board to vote no, according to local news reports. Some community members criticized the agency as too new, noting that it was founded just four months prior. Others questioned the need for a consultant when Sarasota had an A-rated education system and questioned the agency’s political agenda.
In the face of such public pressure, the board voted 3-2 against the measure, but some school board members were open to reconsidering Vermilion’s contract. Sarasota County’s school board, which had a Democratic majority until school board elections last August, now has 4-1 Republican majority, with three members who were backed by both DeSantis and Moms for Liberty. The proposed plan to employ Vermilion was just one of the moves the board has taken to shake up the county’s public schools; in December 2022, it forced out the county’s highly rated superintendent.
While Sarasota schools may have avoided Hillsdale’s influence, other Florida schools have had no option but to engage with Hillsdale activists. After DeSantis took over the New College of Florida and appointed six new members to its board of trustees, his chief of staff said the governor wanted to turn the college into the “Hillsdale of the South.” Among those in charge of implementing those changes is Matthew Spalding, a dean and vice president at Hillsdale.
The post DeSantis’ Goal to Bring Hillsdale South Hits a Roadblock in Sarasota appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Aidan McLaughlin @ Mediaite: Tucker Carlson OUT at Fox News.
- Tori Otten @ The New Republic: The 10 Most Fascist Things Tucker Carlson Said on Air.
- Madeline Peltz and Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News. Here’s a brief look at his hatred and conspiracy theories.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: On multiple fronts, Republicans target church-state separation.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: Marjorie Taylor Greene calls Dylan Mulvaney “one of the biggest pedophiles.”
- Areeba Shah @ Salon: “QAnon sheriff” Mark Lamb goes deep into far-right fringe in Arizona Senate race.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Fascist Fired From Fox appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that right-wing conspiracy theorist Kandiss “Jesus, Guns, Babies” Taylor has been elected “to chair a key GOP district” for the Georgia Republican Party.
- John Guandolo warns that “violence will again be launched in the immediate future by the primary enemies of liberty in the United States,” most likely by Memorial Day: “The lead elements will likely be activated under the auspices of the transgender agenda, but will have the full force of the entire communist-jihadi cabal behind it.”
- Glenn Beck spent an hour talking with Johnathan Cahn and it was every bit as confusingly unhinged as you would expect.
- Standing in front of the Texas capitol, Sean Feucht doubled down on his Christian nationalism: “We want believers in this building writing the laws of this land. … This is a biblical belief that every Christian should believe.”
- Josiah David Moody predicts that he and his wife Isabella Riley Moody will “probably end up picking up our things and moving to Russia” to escape “the gay agenda”: “Eventually they’re going to start raping your children. … So, buy a gun.”
- Finally, right-wing pastor Kent Christmas rants that “the reason the United States of America is in the mess that it’s in is because we went back and amended the Constitution!” Does that mean he wants to go back to slavery and banning women from voting?
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Something Every Christian Should Believe appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mark Robinson, the current lieutenant governor of North Carolina, is an unabashed Christian nationalist and virulent anti-LGBTQ bigot who made no secret of his plans to run for governor of the state in 2024. Despite claiming that he does not want to be governor, Robinson official launched his bid for the office during a rally Saturday in Altamahaw, North Carolina.
Republican insiders are reportedly concerned that Robinson’s radical views and past statements could make him “a liability” should he win the GOP nomination. And they have good reason to be worried.
Robinson describes himself as “more preacher than politician,” and that is no exaggeration, as he has bragged that it is his mission “to literally make war on the devil” and see to it that this nation is “led by the people of God.” For years, Robinson has been working closely with Christian nationalist political operative David Lane to ensure that their Christian nationalist values “reign supreme” throughout North Carolina. To that end, Robinson has demanded that Christians get “warlike” if they are to defeat “the enemies of freedom” who are supposedly trying to destroy the nation.
In his speeches, he’s given a sense of whom he views as enemies of freedom.
Speaking at a religious-right Faith and Freedom Coalition event in 2021, Robinson asserted that “this will always be a Christian nation” and told those who disagree, “If you don’t like it, I’ll buy your plane, train, or automobile ticket right up out of here.”
“The Christian patriots of this nation will own this nation and rule this nation and help freedom survive for future generations,” Robinson proclaimed during another speech in October 2021.
Robinson also holds radical views regarding the Second Amendment, proclaiming that guns are a gift from God given to Americans to fight off a “tyrannical” government like the Biden administration.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson declares that the Biden administration is “tyrannical:” “This is the type of government the Second Amendment was made for.” pic.twitter.com/wsLcboXgiP
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 23, 2021
But those views pale in comparison to the attacks he levels on the LGBTQ community, whose issues and identities he has decried as “filth.”
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson says Christians must take control of public schools because children are being abused by being taught “filth”: “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.” pic.twitter.com/aXjCPFKTs0
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 6, 2021
“If there’s a movement in this country that is demonic and that is full of the spirit of Antichrist, it is the transgender movement,” Robinson proclaimed while preaching at a virulently anti-LGBTQ church in North Carolina in 2021.
While preaching at another North Carolina church that same year, Robinson asserted that those pushing to protect transgender rights do so because they want to molest children.
In fact, attacking LGBTQ issues is a hallmark of Robinson’s speeches, like when he preached that homosexuality is “ugly” and serves no purpose.
“I’m tired of this society trying to tell me it’s not so,” Robinson thundered. “Society has completely purged God from the building and from the equation, and because of it, we’re headed down into a rabbit hole that’s gonna lead us to something we can’t even imagine. God destroyed a society because of its morality. And let’s get this straight: In this country, we don’t have a homosexual issue—that’s just a tool of the devil to continue to divide us and lead us into immorality.”
Robinson is an extremist even by the traditional standards of Christian nationalists and anti-LGBTQ activists, and it is downright alarming that someone holding these views could potentially become a governor and use the reins of power to impose such views on an entire state.
The post Anti-LGBTQ Christian Nationalist Mark Robinson Launches Bid for Governor appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Claire Goforth @ The Daily Dot: Police confirm ‘active’ case after report filed against Ali Alexander, who has been accused of soliciting nudes from teen boys.
- Decca Muldowney @ The Daily Beast: Prez of Trumpy Zionist Org Hit With Lawsuit Over Racist, Sexist Behavior.
- David McAfee @ Raw Story: Infamous Ohio doctor who said vaccines make people magnetic could be suspended.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Mike Pence Fully Supports Taking ‘Abortion Pill Off the Market’: ‘I’m Pro-Life and I Don’t Apologize For It.’
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Texas Lt. Governor Brags Just-Passed Senate Bill Is Bringing ‘Prayer Back to Our Public Schools.’
- John Fea @ Current: Court evangelical Robert Jeffress is “now solidly behind Trump.”
- Media Matters: Ben Shapiro says local communities should be able to ban “men wearing traditional female clothing in public.”
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Putting Prayer Back in Schools appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- James Dobson warns that “it’s not an overstatement to say that our constitutional republic, as we’ve known it, is hanging perilously by a very thin thread.”
- The Media Research Center is attempting to mock progressive billionaire philanthropist George Soros for being a “cheapskate” for refusing to pay $8 a month to get a blue check mark on Twitter.
- Andrew Anglin tells his male followers that “a woman can’t love you back because she doesn’t have a soul.”
- Ali Alexander vows that he will be “suing over false claims made about me publicly” related to the allegations that he has a history of seeking sexually explicit material from underage boys.
- Finally, Edward Szall and Lauren Witzke defend Andrew Lester, the elderly white man who shot Black teenager Ralph Yarl, with Witzke predicting that she’ll soon have to flee the country because white people are under attack.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Satanist Attack on Christians appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
During an appearance Thursday at a church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Christian musician turned right-wing political activist Sean Feucht unequivocally declared himself a Christian nationalist.
Christian nationalists believe the U.S. government should run according to biblical principles and that Christians should be in power. Feucht embodied that desire, boldly proclaiming his intention to see our government overtaken and completely controlled by Christians.
Feucht is currently leading a “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour that is designed to bring Feucht’s mix of worship and hard-right politics to every state capitol in the nation. Following a performance at Sheridan Church—run by MAGA pastor Jackson Lahmeyer—Feucht preached to the congregation, urging them to embrace the Christian nationalist label and the right-wing political agenda that it promotes.
“Hell hates it that we’re worshipping at every capitol across America,” Feucht declared. “That’s why we get called, ‘Well, you’re Christian nationalists. You want the kingdom to be the government?’ Yes! ‘You want God to come and overtake the government?’ Yes! ‘You want Christians to be the only ones?’ Yes, we do.”
“We want God to be in control of everything,” he continued. “We want believers to be the ones writing the laws. Yes. Guilty as charged.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post ‘Guilty as Charged’: Sean Feucht Proudly Admits to Being a Christian Nationalist appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The Heritage Foundation, a massively funded right-wing “think tank” that currently functions as a marketing and political enforcement arm of the MAGA movement, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week. A line-up of Republican politicians addressed the group Thursday, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will speak Friday. The celebration will culminate in a Friday evening keynote address by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, which may tell you everything you need to know about the intellectual seriousness and integrity of Heritage as it turns 50.
Heritage was founded by right-wing corporate and foundation funders as one of the movement-building investments that followed future Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell’s 1971 memo calling for corporate America to fund a multifaceted response to what he described as an attack on the free enterprise system in education, the media, and the courts. Heritage made a big splash with its “Mandate for Leadership,” a right-wing policy wish list that became the governing agenda for the Ronald Reagan administration.
A pillar of the conservative wing of the Republican establishment for decades, Heritage has moved aggressively toward the far right over the past decade, shedding conservative scholars in favor of ideological warriors in its rush to align itself with the party’s Tea Party wing. During the Obama administration, and especially under the leadership of former Sen. Jim DeMint, Heritage favored obstructionism over governing, pressuring Republicans to shut down the government in an attempt to crush the Affordable Care Act.
During the Trump era, Heritage was all-in for the former reality star turned president, filling his transition team and administration with appointees and helping fill the courts with judges who could be counted on to advance the political agendas of the GOP’s hard right. Much of its updated “Mandate for Leadership”—including massive tax cuts heavily favoring the wealthiest Americans—became Trump policy.
Since Trump’s defeat, Heritage’s MAGAfication has continued. In 2022, Heritage’s president, Kay Cole James, left to work for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and was replaced by Kevin Roberts, “a Texas firebrand more determined to fight pandemic restrictions, critical race theory in schools, and ‘teaching transgenderism to kindergartners,’” in the words of the Washington Post. Roberts, now competing for right-wing funding with newer Trump-aligned organizations like the Center for Renewing America, can be heard on Fox denouncing “woke corporations.”
In his speech opening this week’s celebrations, Roberts said the 2024 election “may be our last, best chance to rescue this nation from a woke, socialist left bent on its destruction.” He portrayed the governmental response to the COVID-19 crisis as “tyranny” and mocked “non-vaccine vaccines” and “useless masks.” He declared that there must be no bargaining with the “woke left” and asserted that “dismantling the woke and weaponized Administrative State” is a matter of national survival.
Today, Heritage and Heritage Action are part of the dishonest and harmful right-wing campaign against public schools and school boards. A Heritage ebook about critical race theory suggests that systemic racism does not exist in the United States because racial discrimination is illegal, a ridiculous claim akin to suggesting that illicit drugs cannot be a problem in the U.S. due to their being illicit.
Heritage is also leading the “2025 Presidential Transition Project,” a coalition of Christian nationalist, voter suppressing, anti-LGBTQ, anti-government, Big Lie-promoting, and Trump-cheerleading groups to “position the movement to take the reins of government” after what they hope will be Trump’s return to power—or the election of another Republican in 2024. Under Heritage’s leadership, the coalition is pushing for mass firings of federal employees to “dismantle the deep state that undermined Trump.”
As Heritage celebrates its 50th anniversary, Right Wing Watch offers this brief and admittedly non-comprehensive look at some of the ways this powerful institution works to make the U.S. less democratic, free, and equal.
Making American Less Equal
Heritage has opposed virtually every advance toward legal equality for LGBTQ Americans and portrayed those advances as dire threats. Immediately after the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling in 2015, Heritage promoted a plan to overturn it. Heritage’s role in the far right’s current war on the rights of trans people includes model legislation that exposes the right’s hypocrisy in claiming to act on behalf of “parents’ rights” while undermining parents who affirm their trans kids.
Making America Less Welcoming
Heritage brags that it played a leading role to “crush” bipartisan immigration reform in 2007. Heritage founder Ed Fuelner backed Trump’s controversial claim that he could use an executive order to eliminate the birthright citizenship guarantee of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In a 2017 email, Fuelner called birthright citizenship “just another form of amnesty” and claimed (wrongly and contrary to Supreme Court precedent) that Congress could eliminate it simply by passing a resolution. Heritage infamously published a report making bogus claims about immigrants’ cost to society, written by a fellow who had argued in a previous paper that immigration policy should take into consideration that Hispanic people have lower IQs than white people.
Making America Less Free
Heritage backed the long right-wing campaign to overturn Roe v. Wade. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in Dobbs and Republicans taking a House majority that same year, Heritage called for anti-choice lawmakers to “go on offense,” calling on Congress to “restrict or prohibit” the availability of abortion medication by mail and telemedicine.
Making America Less Democratic
Heritage has aggressively promoted bogus election-fraud claims as justification for states to pass more restrictive voting laws. Heritage Fellow Hans von Spakovsky, a longtime promoter of debunked claims about voting fraud, was a member of Trump’s short-lived sham “election integrity” commission to which he urged that no Democrats or moderate Republicans be appointed. (The commission shut down a short time later after failing to find any instances of widespread fraud.) Von Spakvosky also denounced a 2021 federal voting rights bill—the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act—as “an invasion of state sovereignty.” In 2018, a federal judge slammed von Spakovsky for making “myriad misleading statements” about purported voting by noncitizens.
Making America Less Just
Heritage played a key role in the long right-wing campaign to take dominion over the Supreme Court and federal judiciary. Heritage Action helped identify and then promote Trump’s Supreme Court nominees; it called Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination “our chance to secure the Supreme Court for decades to come.” Kevin Roberts, Heritage’s current president, has said that the hard-right court majority cemented with Trump’s justices “could open new avenues of constitutional entrepreneurism.”
Making America Less Safe
Heritage has pushed to limit the ability of the federal government to regulate corporate behavior in ways that protect workers, consumers, communities, and the environment. In his address to Heritage on Thursday, Sen. Mike Lee argued that regulation by federal agencies is contrary to the Constitution and amounts to “tyranny.” Heritage aggressively opposed the Affordable Health Care Act and the expansion of Medicaid, both of which have granted millions of Americans access to health care. Heritage officials have also pushed climate change denialism, ignoring the plight of Americans facing extreme weather and climate change in favor of energy companies’ bottom line.
Deep Pockets
Heritage has plenty of resources to bring to its aggressive plans to steer America’s future course far to the right. In 2021, its revenue topped $100 million and its net assets $367 million. And that’s not counting the resources of the mini-Heritage Foundations that make up the State Policy Network and push similar agendas at the state level.
Such funding, partnered with red-state Republicans aggressively pushing Heritage’s agenda into law all around the country, helps explain Roberts’ optimism that Heritage will triumph in this “existential” struggle. “The left started this new culture war,” he declared at Thursday’s celebration. “We will finish it.”
The post 6 Ways the Heritage Foundation Makes America Less Free, Less Just, and Less Safe appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- David McAfee @ Raw Story: Judge who denied abortion to teen over bad grades may become next Florida Supreme Court justice.
- Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: Major Anti-Abortion Organization Attacks Trump For Wanting To Leave It To States.
- Josh Dawsey and Amy Gardner @ The Washington Post: Top GOP lawyer decries ease of campus voting in private pitch to RNC.
- Sara Murray @ CNN: My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell ordered to follow through with $5 million payment to expert who debunked his false election data.
- Nick Corasaniti @ The New York Times: A Super PAC Targets Greene, Gaetz, Boebert and Others on the Far Right.
- Justin Baragona @ The Daily Beast: Fox News Parts Ways With MAGA Blowhard Dan Bongino.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Canceled in the USA appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- America First activists Dalton Clodfelter, “Smiley,” and Jon Miller are celebrating Adolf Hitler’s birthday in despicable ways.
- Matt Evans (aka Beardson Beardly) is convinced that he could “have any woman” he wants, but he doesn’t want any because he’s an incel. Of course, since “incel” is short of “involuntarily celibate,” that makes no sense.
- Andrew Anglin is “begging China to nuke every city in America.”
- Today, we discovered that Isabella Riley Moody was a background performer in Project Veritas’ cringey “Oligarchy” music video.
- Finally, Anna Perez has a simple test for determining if someone is a “fake conservative”: She simply uses the word “f*ggot” a bunch, and if they don’t think it’s hilarious, she knows they’re a RINO.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Test for RINOS appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Trump Turns on His Old Lawyer for DeSantis Disloyalty.
- Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes appears on QAnon show and praises the host for “getting the truth out.”
- Joe Jervis: Fetterman Trolls QAnon “Body Double” Claims.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ News: Marjorie Taylor Greene calls student-athletes “trans terrorists” in unhinged rant.
- Tori Otten @ The New Republic: Florida Expands “Don’t Say Gay” Law Through High School.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Getting the Truth Out appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Milo Yiannopoulos claims that a police report has been filed by the young man who has accused Ali Alexander of soliciting sexually explicit images from him when he was only 15 years old.
- Nick Fuentes’ latest Twitter account has the handle “nerdemoji1488.” The choice of “1488” was no accident.
- Joseph Farah declares that Elon Musk likely “saved the nation” by purchasing Twitter: “He’s probably done as much, potentially, to save free speech as anyone in America.”
- Anti-vax conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy is running for president as a Democrat, but he seems to be winning fans among extremists on the far-right.
- Finally, Kari Lake took a selfie with QAnon conspiracy theorist and self-declared “American state national” Ann Vandersteel at Mar-a-Lago last night.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Kennedy Democrats? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In March, right-wing evangelists Mario Murillo and Lance Wallanu held a Christian nationalist “Fire and Glory Tour” event in Florida during which speakers called on churches across the nation to literally take control of their towns. At the event, Wallnau vowed to hold a series of “Fire and Glory” events in swing states leading into the 2024 elections in order to break the “demonic strongholds” that he believes are preventing Republicans from winning elections.
Wallnau—a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist who recently warned that God will start killing those who are supposedly “persecuting” former President Donald Trump—began laying out his vision for this nationwide “Fire and Glory Tour” in March. Wallnau reported that right-wing celebrities like Kari Lake, Michael Flynn, and Eric Trump will be participating and revealing that he intends to raise up thousands of “patriots,” “grassroots saints,” and “intercessors” in swing states to ensure that Trump is returned to the White House.
Earlier this month, Wallnau expanded on his vision, claiming that his army of “grassroot saints” would be such a force in swing states in 2024 that the Republican Party would have no choice but to listen to his followers’ agenda.
“Trump has a difficult path to the presidency because there are five swing states with five counties that are corruptly—as far as I’m concerned—locked up,” Wallnau said during a Facebook livestream on April 3. “You can’t get a Republican or conservative to the White House through Maricopa, [County, Arizona], Fulton County, [Georgia], Philadelphia, [Pennsylvania]. You could be winning the states by 5 percent, but it’s not enough. So, we’re going to have to go to each of those states.”
“We’re going to ask intercessors to help us target each of those states,” Wallnau continued. “We’re going to be working, looking for the legislators, looking for the [district attorneys], looking for the attorney generals; we’re going to be meeting with 5,000 to 10,000 patriots, we’re going to have 1,000 to 2,000 saved at each event. We’re going to be raising up 4,000 grassroots saints that are going to be in the war for schools and for election integrity. And they’re going to be such a swing vote force for the Republican Party that we can see the Republican Party shaken to the core.”
“We’re going to show up with thousands in each of these states,” Wallnau pledged. “Then they’ll respect you. Then they’ll listen to you.”
Wallnau, who has more than 1 million followers on Facebook, helped mobilize support for Donald Trump’s 2016 election among conservative Pentecostal Christians, and was treated as an insider by the Trump White House. He is an energetic proponent of Seven Mountains Dominionism, which calls on right-wing Christians to take over the seven “mountains” of American culture, and is associated with the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation movement.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Christian Nationalist Lance Wallnau and His Army of ‘Grassroots Saints’ Intend to Shake the GOP ‘to the Core’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: Fox News Settles With Dominion For $787.5 Million.
- Filip Timotija @ Mediaite: Rep. George Santos Announces He is Running for Reelection, Claims He’s Been a ‘Diligent Legislator.’
- Erik Maulbetsch @ The Colorado Times Recorder: New Colo GOP Official Believes QAnon Conspiracy Theory That Obama & Biden Are Pedophiles.
- David Moye @ HuffPost: Rep. Nancy Mace Destroys Far-Right Host Who Attacked Her Looks During Abortion Debate.
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: Rep. Paul Gosar promotes pro-Hitler and Holocaust-denying site after it praised him for attacking “Jewish warmongers.”
- David McAfee @ Raw Story: Marjorie Taylor Greene claims she saw 2,000 pages of evidence on ‘Biden crime family.’
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Diligent Legislator appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- “The Phantom of the Opera” ended its run on Broadway after 35 years, and MAGA pastor Shane Vaughn knows that President Joe Biden is to blame.
- David Lane declares that “to challenge the blight of secularism and the ruination of the culture, American Christendom will likely be God’s tool to respond to the secular defiance and blasphemy.”
- Scott Lively hates “the LGBT movement and its activist army for their willingness – and relentless work – to destroy the natural family infrastructure that once made America a shining city on a hill.”
- Fresh out of prison after serving a 60-day sentence for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, Tim Gionet (aka Baked Alaska) is coming to a realization: “i can’t believe i went to prison for an nft salesman.”
- Amid allegations that he has a long history of propositioning underage males, Ali Alexander asserts that he is “actually a prude.”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes has declared “war” on Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for retweeting The Daily Beast article about the Ali Alexander scandal and vowed to launch a campaign to ensure that “every voter in northwest Georgia [knows] this woman hired a pedophile Jew named Milo [Yiannopoulos].”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Actually a Prude appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Will Sommer @ The Daily Beast: ‘Stop the Steal’ Organizer Apologizes After Being Accused of Asking Teen Boys for D*ck Pics.
- Ariane de Vogue @ CNN: Clarence Thomas to amend financial disclosure forms to reflect sale to GOP megadonor.
- Joe Jervis: Ex-Gay” Extremist Milo Has Ghostwritten A Book For MTG Titled The Case For Christian Nationalism.
- Adam Nagourney and Jeremy W. Peters @ The New York Times: How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: ‘It’s End Times!’ Mike Lindell goes berserk fearing artificial intelligence in voting machines.
- Prem Thakker @ The New Republic: Ron DeSantis’s Director Is Literally Cheering on LGBTQ Parents Fleeing Florida.
- Mia Gingerich @ Media Matters: Right-wing media figures defending Uganda’s anti-gay law are connected to organizations that helped inspire it.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Case for Christian Nationalism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Mike Pompeo has announced that he will not run for president in 2024.
- Larry Tomczak says that “only God can stop this demonic ‘gay pride’ agenda”: “We cannot afford the luxury of neutrality, non-involvement and simply nice Sunday services with ominous storm clouds gathering for these final epic battles.”
- Janet Porter reports that she spoke with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis before he signed the radical anti-choice “heartbeat bill” last week.
- Arizona state Rep. Anthony Kern called into Josh Bernstein’s livestream program Friday night.
- Finally, Ali Alexander released a statement in response to allegations that he has a long history of propositioning underage males in which he admitted that he’s been “battling” same-sex attraction and sent “inappropriate messages” while insisting that “nothing unlawful has occurred.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Literal Honey Pots appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Will Sommer and Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Campaign in Chaos: Kanye West Just Wants to Be ‘Left Alone.’
- Colby Hall @ Mediaite: DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Abortions After 6 Weeks During Late Night Closed Door Ceremony.
- Prem Thakker @ The New Republic: GOP Candidates Put Guns Over Lives, Pledging to the NRA After Mass Shootings.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: GOP lawmaker who advocated 12-year-olds getting married blames backlash on Democrats.
- Media Matters: BlazeTV host Steve Deace calls Vice President Kamala Harris “one of Montel Williams’ hoes.”
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Nay ’24 appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Wayne Ally Root is calling for a national strike to shut down the entire nation in response to the arrest of former President Donald Trump.
- Attempting to defend his handling of the allegations that Ali Alexander has a history of propositioning underage males, Nick Fuentes admits that knew that “Ali was bisexual” and that “he flirted with me when I was, you know, 19 or 20.”
- Speaking of Fuentes, Anna Perez is now playing clips from his show on her own “WrongThink” program.
- Charlie Kirk declares that “the ‘T’ in ‘LGBT’ stands for ‘tyranny.'”
- Andrew Wommack warns that “homosexuality will kill you, transgenderism will kill you, liberalism will kill you.”
- Finally, Rachel Hamm is so confident that God “has anointed Donald Trump to be president” that she’s apparently considering moving from California to Florida solely because she thinks that she would make a great press secretary: “I think being press secretary is an excellent role for me.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Putting the ‘T’ in ‘Tyranny’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan and Alex Mierjeski @ ProPublica: Billionaire Harlan Crow Bought Property From Clarence Thomas. The Justice Didn’t Disclose the Deal.
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: Another Far Right Group Was Posting Conspiracy Theories About Voter Roll Program As Red States Cut Ties.
- Tommy Christopher @ Mediaite: ‘Shockingly Racist Even For Tucker Carlson’: Critics TORCH Fox News Host’s Rant About Expelled Black TN Rep. Justin Pearson.
- Kelly Weill and Kate Briquelet @ The Daily Beast: Moms for Liberty Leader Allegedly Hijacked Dead Woman’s Facebook Page to Harass Foes.
- Matt Shuham @ HuffPost: Arizona House Expels Far-Right Lawmaker After Wild Conspiracy-Laden Hearing.
- Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: White nationalist ally “Sneako” claims he will collaborate with Donald Trump Jr.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Nondisclosure appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Rep. Mary Miller says that the Biden administration is “wholly against Christian Americans.”
- Jason Rapert reports that Hunter Lundy, a candidate for governor in Louisiana, will be partially sponsoring the upcoming National Association of Christian Lawmakers conference.
- Johnny Enlow believes the fact that the winning teams in the recent men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championship games both won by 17 points is evidence that “God is working a plan of victory” though the QAnon movement.
- Isabella Riley Moody, a podcaster who has no children, has some advice for other women: “Talk Less. Have babies.”
- Finally, while Republican officials and right-wing activists relentlessly attack Democrats and LGBTQ people as pedophiles and “groomers,” Milo Yiannopoulos has been alleging that “Stop The Steal” organizer Ali Alexander has a long history of propositioning underage males.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Prophetic NCAA Championships appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Trump-appointed federal judge Matthew Kacsmaryk has become the go-to judge for right-wing groups seeking rulings that advance their political agenda. Kacsmaryk worked at religious-right First Liberty Institute before his judicial nomination; now Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has gone to that same well, appointing First Liberty Institute senior counsel Jordan Pratt to the state’s Fifth District Court of Appeal.
First Liberty Institute is hostile to reproductive choice and legal equality for LGBTQ Americans. For years, it has sounded false alarms about supposed anti-Christian persecution in the United States. After Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election, First Liberty Institute’s president signed a letter urging GOP senators to contest Electoral College votes from swing states won by President Joe Biden.
Pratt, a member of the Federalist Society, joined First Liberty in 2021. During the Trump administration, Pratt worked at the Justice Department to help Trump fill federal courts with likeminded judges. His nomination by DeSantis was praised by the Federalist Society’s Jacksonville chapter as well as by First Liberty President Kelly Shackelford.
Kacsmaryk’s record suggests what we might expect from a Judge Pratt. In 2019, People For the American Way strongly opposed Kacsmaryk’s confirmation, noting his “history of targeting those who do not live according to his particular social and religious beliefs” and warning—accurately—that his confirmation would “put reproductive freedom in danger.” Just last week, Kacsmaryk issued a ruling suspending the Federal Drug Administration’s decades-old approval of the abortion drug mifepristone. The lawsuit challenging FDA approval of mifepristone was filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a powerful religious-right legal group with a goal of banning abortion nationwide.
In his anti-mifepristone ruling, Kacsmaryk adopted advocacy language from the anti-choice movement, rejecting the medically accurate term “fetus” in favor of “unborn human.” Loyola Law School Professor Jessica Levison has described Kacsmaryk’s decision as “riddled with legal and factual errors,” and wrote that his use of an 1870s law, the Comstock Act, “essentially resurrects baseless arguments and once-dead law to wreak havoc on our settled legal principles.” Even the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board recognized that Kacsmaryk is “overstepping his authority” in the case.
Florida appeals court judges are appointed by the governor from a list prepared by a judicial nominating commission. After serving for at least a year, they face a yes-or-no retention vote on a general election ballot, potentially winning a six-year term.
The post DeSantis Appoints Judge From Religious-Right Group Known for Anti-Choice, Anti-LGBTQ Stances appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jane C. Timm and Amanda Terkel @ NBC News: Fox News sanctioned for withholding evidence in Dominion defamation case.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: ‘If We Lose This Suit, It’s F*cking Bad’: 5 Wild Revelations From New Report on Fox News and Murdoch.
- Arthur Delaney @ HuffPost: GOP Seeks To Shield Trump From All Future State Prosecutions.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: Anti-LGBTQ+ Trump lawyer whines as fellow MAGAs turn on her with misogynist insults.
- Clarissa-Jan Lim @ BuzzFeed: The Second Tennessee Democrat Who Was Expelled By His Republican Colleagues From The Statehouse Has Been Reinstated.
- Matthew Chapman @ Raw Story: Sarah Sanders asks state board applicants to name what they admire about her most while applying for job.
- Media Matters: The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh accuses TN Rep. Justin Pearson of “doing blackface.”
The post Right Wing Round-Up: What Do You Love Most About Me? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- David Lane declares that “every church in every hamlet, town, and city across America should require a pastor, elder, deacon or congregant to run for local public office in 2024, 2026, 2028 and thereafter.”
- North Carolina’s Christian nationalist Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson recently sat down for an interview with Alveda King.
- The radically anti-LGBTQ group MassResistance is bragging that it “has been doing a lot of work behind the scenes this year in state legislatures.”
- The “Elijah Streams” program has gone full QAnon because, says host Steve Shultz, “it’s come to a point where this subject can’t be avoided anymore because is so blatantly clear and obvious” that the QAnon conspiracy theory is true.
- Former President Barack Obama has been out of office for years, but Stew Peters is still out there promoting the “birther” conspiracy theory.
- Finally, Jonathan Cahn attempted to prove that the perpetrator of the recent mass shooting in Nashville was demon-possessed by noting that the three children killed were all 9 years old: “What happens if you turn it upside down? 666.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: So Blatantly Clear and Obvious appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
California Republicans recently introduced a bill that would require school districts to notify parents within three days of learning that a student is “identifying at school as a gender that does not align with the child’s sex on their birth certificate, other official records, or sex assigned at birth.” LGBTQ activists say that Assembly Bill 1314 would put transgender students at risk, but radical right-wing California pastor Jack Hibbs hopes to spread the requirement to school districts around the nation.
Hibbs—who just last month declared that he was “embarrassed” that he and other pastors are not being attacked for standing against “LBGTQ transgender lunacy” while “kids are being raped by the public school system”—posted an “urgent call to action” on social media Monday in which he announced that he’s launching a campaign to push back against the “demonic and dark satanic powers” that are supposedly “sexualizing” and “mentally abusing” public school students.
“We are launching right now a campaign to equip and mobilize every citizen to petition—every parent, every grandparent—to petition their local school board, no matter where they live … and demand that your school board adopt the language of AB-1314,” Hibbs said. “We are going to be instructing you shortly on how to do this in your town, requiring your school board to adopt AB-1314 verbiage. … I want parents to know that the school has to notify the parents before they do anything with your child that’s secretive regarding their health, their sexual questioning, whatever. Parents are to be notified.”
He went on to warn that the belief that this nation is a “democracy” is dangerous.
“A democracy steals your kids, kidnaps them, so to speak, at school and takes control,” he continued. “A constitutional republic says, ‘Wait a minute, we have a say.’ Here’s what we’re asking you guys to do: Get your pastors on board, your city council members on board, get your mayor on board, get the word out because we’re coming with this, and it’s going to be great.”
“We are fighting evil, and they don’t like it, and that means we’re doing the right thing,” Hibbs added. “We’re right over the target, and we’ve hit the spiritual dark forces that we’re really up against. … Behind that action of theirs and that worldview of theirs is demonic and dark satanic powers, and so it is absolutely thrilling to know that the enemy encampments of the wicked ones, of the dark world, is upset that we’re trying to rescue kids from a system that is sexualizing them, mentally abusing them, confusing them, and they come out of school questioning their gender, but they don’t even know how to do simple math.”
Hibbs is an influential megachurch pastor who is closely associated with Christian nationalist political operative David Lane and their mutual ally Rob McCoy, who is a pastor and mentor to Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk. In a “Freedom Night” appearance with Kirk last year, Hibbs declared, “There is no such thing as the separation of church and state.” In 2021, Hibbs asked God to forgive Californians for electing “politicians with anti-Christ worldviews to office,” like Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris. That same year, he called for President Joe Biden to be court martialed and removed from office.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
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- Sebastian Murdock @ HuffPost: Expelled Tennessee House Democrat Justin Jones Just Got His Job Back.
- Joe Jervis: Florida Rep: Trans People Are “Demons And Mutants.”
- Cameron Joseph @ Vice News: Anti-‘Groomer’ Republican Accused of ‘Inappropriate Relationship’ With Intern.
- Diana Falzone @ The Daily Beast: Trump’s ‘Hacked’ Prayer Call Was Actually Mike Flynn’s Fault.
- Candice Ortiz @ Mediaite: Matt Gaetz Goes on Unhinged Rant About Louisville Shooting, Declares Democrats and Big Pharma Are ‘Unleashing The Crazies’ as ‘Shock Troops’ to Kill Americans.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Demons and Mutants appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Scott Lively warns that “America’s ‘Ark’ is our Bible-based constitution, which was stolen by our own home-grown Philistines who also destroyed our ‘Shiloh’ in the election coup of 2020/21.” What comes next? “We will never again return to self-rule under law” and instead be doomed to suffer under “an Antichrist.”
- Stew Peters believes he knows which issues must first be “handled” before this nation can stop the epidemic of gun violence: “Transgenderism” and “LGBTQ.”
- Right-wing pastor Rob McCoy spoke in Michigan recently, where he lashed out at Christians who refuse to “contend with the Alphabet mafia” and made sure to remind the audience that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s name “rhymes with Hitler.”
- Jason Rapert declares that any educator who teaches about gender issues “should be fired.” But, he insists, “No, that’s not the cancel culture. That’s what the left does.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander hosted a Twitter Space the other day that lasted over six hours! Sorry, but even we are not masochists enough to torture ourselves with that.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Rhymes With Hitler appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mark Lamb, the sheriff of Arizona’s Pinal County and a right-wing activist, has officially launched his campaign for U.S. Senate.
Right Wing Watch reported in February that Lamb told activists at a pro-gun rally that he was seriously considering a run for the Arizona Senate seat that will be on the ballot in 2024. He filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission Monday, the Washington Post reported. Among Lamb’s potential Republican primary opponents for the seat now held by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema are last year’s failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and failed Senate candidate Blake Masters.
“We need leaders in this country that aren’t too politically correct to protect us,” Lamb says in a campaign video released Tuesday in which he vows to “stand up to the woke left.” The video focuses on border security, with Lamb saying, “It’s time to declare the drug cartels terrorist organizations and use military force to wipe them out just like we did to ISIS.”
Lamb built a fan base as a reality TV personality and has taken hard-right positions on immigration, COVID-19 vaccines, and public health measures, while promoting bogus stolen election claims and QAnon conspiracy theories. At a 2021 anti-vaccine rally, he told supporters, “We’re going to find out what kind of patriots you are. We’re going to find out who is willing to die for freedom.”
Lamb has also trafficked in far-right smears against drag performers, saying on a far-right streaming show in January that drag shows are “designed to break the moral compass that exists in each and every one of us” to make it easier “for them to really push that evil and corrupt agenda.” Media Matters noted this week that Lamb appeared on the viciously antisemitic TruNews network in 2021.
A month after supporters of former President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Lamb started a “law and order” group called Protect America Now, whose website claims, “We support Sheriffs and law enforcement members that believe in God, Family and Freedom.” The group asks for a monthly donation of $17.76 to “help us win this battle for the soul of America.”
That figure, of course, is not random. The date of the American colonists’ Declaration of Independence became a chant and veiled threat of “revolution” used by so-called “Stop the Steal” activists trying to keep Trump in power after his defeat. Lamb had kind words for the angry Trump supporters who descended on Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021. “I don’t know how loud we have to get before they have to listen to us and know we will no longer tolerate them stripping our freedoms away,” Lamb said, calling the insurrectionists “very loving, Christian people” who “just happen to support President Trump a lot.”
In 2022, Lamb and his group entered into a partnership with True the Vote, a so-called “election integrity” group that promotes false claims about election fraud and whose bogus claims provided the fuel for propagandist Dinesh D’Souza’s widely debunked “2000 Mules” film. “We’re gonna make sure that we have election integrity this year,” Lamb said at a Trump rally last July, “We will not let happen what happened in 2020.” Lamb has apparently toned down his stolen election rhetoric this year, telling a local Fox affiliate last month, “I’ve never been provided any evidence of significant material fraud.”
Lamb is also an admirer of so-called “constitutional sheriff” Richard Mack and his Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, which teaches sheriffs and other local law enforcement officials a far-right interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
Last year, Lamb appeared in a TV ad for Arizona Senate candidate Jim Lamon in which Lamon was portrayed as a lawman in an “old West”-style shootout with Sen. Mark Kelly, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and President Joe Biden. Lamon was defeated in the Republican primary.
Lamb and his sheriff department were highlighted in a 2021 American Civil Liberties Union report, which called on the U.S. Justice Department to end its 287(g) agreements with a number of sheriff departments, including Pinal County. These agreements allow the departments like Lamb’s to jail noncitizens with pending criminal charges and to serve and execute warrants on noncitizens held in jail. The report cited a history of racial profiling and other civil rights violations at the department, including some during Lamb’s tenure.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post MAGA Sheriff Mark Lamb Launches Bid for US Senate appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2022, right-wing cellphone company Patriot Mobile launched a political action committee through which it spent over $600,000 supporting school board candidates in Texas. All 11 of the candidates it backed won election, prompting Patriot Mobile President Glenn Story to brag that because of their efforts, Christian conservatives “took over four school boards.”
In March, Patriot Mobile, which bills itself as “America’s ONLY Christian conservative wireless provider,” organized an “Equip and Educate” event in Grapevine, Texas, that focused on “The State of Public Schools in America.” While Patriot Mobile claims that the event was organized “to equip citizens with the tools needed to preserve our union and educate them on all facets of important issues facing America,” the company’s choice to have Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton and his son Tim Barton serve as keynote speakers suggests that providing the audience with accurate information was not a primary concern.
Predictably, the Bartons teamed up to deliver a presentation on “The History of Public Schools in America” that was rife with the sort of disinformation and false history for which they are known.
Tim Barton, who shares his father’s penchant for blatantly misrepresenting history, did precisely that by repeating his father’s false claims about the public school curriculum in New Jersey in the 1800s.
As Right Wing Watch reported in 2022, David Barton routinely cites a document from 1816 that he claims shows that all public school students in New Jersey were required to memorize Bible passages, hymns, and sermons as part of the state’s public school curriculum. Barton’s claims are nonsense, as the document he cites was produced by the board of directors of the Free School Association of Elizabeth-Town, which was an organization that oversaw Sunday schools in the state, not public schools.
According to professor John Fea, chair of the History Department at Messiah University and author of “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?,” a search of American newspapers and periodicals published in the early 1800s “clearly show that this is a Sunday School.”
Despite the fact that this claim is blatantly and verifiably false, Tim Barton nevertheless repeated it during his presentation at the Patriot Mobile event, wrongly asserting that “this is a report from that district to the state of what their students were accomplishing.” It was nothing of the sort; the document is actually a report from the board on what students were expected to learn in the Sunday schools it was running.
To make matters worse, in an effort to bolster the idea that public school students were once routinely required to memorize large portions of the Bible in class, Tim Barton added another false claim. Tim Barton cited a document from 1892 which he claimed showed that every week, public school students in Pennsylvania were required to “memorize two things: a passage from the Bible and then something of significance in the literary world.”
Tim Barton claimed that this document was a report regarding what public school students in Pennsylvania were required to learn, but that is false. The document in question is actually an essay on the benefits of memorization written by educator J. P. McCaskey that was published in various journals in the late 1890s. Contrary to Barton’s assertions, this document is not “a report” on the curriculum in public schools in Pennsylvania, but simply an essay on the merits of memorization that contained various suggestions of what sorts of things would be beneficial to memorize.
In both cases, what Tim Barton claimed were documents attesting that Bible reading and memorization were central components of the American public education system turned out, upon examination, to be something completely different. But the truth about these documents, and American history in general, don’t really matter much to Tim Barton or his father as they are primarily interested in misusing history to mislead audiences about the supposed Christian founding of this nation—all in an effort to promote their modern-day right-wing political agenda.
In addition to promoting the Bartons, Patriot Mobile’s YouTube page also features dozens of videos of Rafael Cruz, the radical Christian nationalist father of Sen. Ted Cruz, leading prayers and Bible study. In a video posted Monday, Cruz ranted that schools accommodating transgender students is “an abomination before God,” declaring that “it is imperative that we as Christians” elect “committed believers that are going to govern according to the word of God to every position in government.” And that starts, Cruz said, with local school boards.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Patriot Mobile PAC Deploys Bartons’ False History to Inspire School Board Takeovers appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Brandy Zadrozny @ NBC News: Conspiracy theorists made Tiffany Dover into an anti-vaccine icon. She’s finally ready to talk about it.
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: Kari Lake Fancies Her Gubernatorial Loss A Political Litmus Test For 2024 Candidates.
- Paul Blest @ Vice News: Greg Abbott Says He’ll Pardon a Man Who Killed a BLM Protester, Before He’s Even Sentenced.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Grand jury won’t charge preacher Perry Stone in sexual misconduct case… yet.
- Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Urine-Drinking Anti-Vaxxer Is Denied His Dinner With Donald Trump Jr. and Dad at Mar-a-Lago.
- Timothy Denevi @ Salon: “Hyenas are communists”: Right-wing story hour, part 1 — the banality of celebrity.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Communist Hyenas appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Anti-trans activists have been demanding that authorities release the supposed “manifesto” penned by the perpetrator of the recent shooting in Nashville, but David Rausch, director of Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, says there never was any sort of “manifesto.”
- Mark Burns argues that God always raises up leaders and deliverers like Abraham, Moses, Esther, Samuel, David, Solomon, and former President Donald Trump: “I believe God has chosen Donald J. Trump for such a time as this to lead our nation out of the evil that we are going [through].”
- Andrew Anglin thinks that he should be the secretary of state: “I just want to go around the world and make up for the U.S. forcing all these people to have gay sex.”
- Nick Fuentes declares that “Jews commune with demons” and “a lot of them are Satanists.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander brags that he “started an insurrection” and warns that if he ever became president, he’d immediately start locking up journalists: “I think there are a ton of journalists that frankly need to be jailed.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: ‘I Started an Insurrection’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Lance Wallnau, a religious-right activist and self-proclaimed Christian nationalist, streamed a video on his Facebook page on Easter Sunday in which he warned that God will start killing American political leaders next month in response to the recent arrest of former President Donald Trump.
Broadcasting live from Israel, Wallnau blamed “the devil” for Trump’s arrest last week on charges of falsifying business records, which prosecutors say he did during the 2016 presidential election to cover up hush money payments made to women with whom he allegedly had extramarital affairs. Wallnau urged his viewers to start engaging in imprecatory prayers to bring a curse upon those are supposedly persecuting Trump, warning that those who “have been standing in the path” of what God intends to accomplish through Trump will soon pay with their lives.
“Why is the devil doing what the devil is doing?” Wallnau asked rhetorically. “Because he’s manifesting because he knows he only has a limited time. Satan’s whole anti-Christ activity is him trying to consolidate control because he knows he’s about to lose everything. So, you have to really reinterpret what’s going on in the news, watching what’s happening with Donald Trump.”
“This is the time for the imprecatory prayers that would be answered, which is going to be, ‘May they fall into the pit that they have dug,'” Wallnau continued. “What would that look like? Well, it could be that there’s such an outrageous backlash over the clear political persecution of an innocent political candidate that we’re really becoming like a Venezuela or a Soviet Union where we find a crime to lock up or assassinate our political rivals. The American people won’t put up with it.”
“The elites in Washington, well, they shrug their shoulders,” Wallnau warned. “They’re happy that this is happening, but I’ve been listening to prophecies lately about sudden deaths, and it looks to me like there could be some sudden deaths coming in May. In May, you’re going to see some of the disciplinary hand of God come down upon those people that have been standing in the path of what he wants to do.”
Such fervent defenses of Trump are what provided Wallnau insider access to the White House during the Trump administration. Before the 2016 election that Trump was “God’s Chaos Candidate” and that he was anointed by God. During the Trump administration he got insider treatment at the White House. After Trump’s defeat in 2020, Wallnau actively promoted Trump’s false claims about the election, speaking at the rally on the National Mall at which Oathkeepers founder Stewart Rhodes threatened bloody civil war if Trump didn’t stay in power. More recently, Wallnau has campaigned for failed Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and joined other MAGA figures on the ReAwaken America tour.
Wallnau is associated with the New Apostolic Reformation and promotes Seven Mountains Dominionism, a right-wing theology that teaches that far-right Christians are to “do whatever is necessary” to take control of the seven main “mountains” that shape our culture—education, government, media, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion—in order to bring every aspect of law and society into alignment with their right-wing “biblical worldview.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Lance Wallnau Warns That God Will Soon Start Killing Those Who Are ‘Persecuting’ Trump appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Former President Donald Trump told aides to hire far-right activist Laura Loomer in a campaign role, according to a report Friday from the New York Times. Loomer is an anti-Muslim, white nationalist and Christian nationalist-supporting activist and failed congressional candidate.
The New York Times reports that Trump recently met with Loomer, and that it “is unclear whether she would serve on his campaign or the main super PAC backing his presidential bid.”
So who is Laura Loomer? Right Wing Watch gathered a list of the bigoted and far-right extremist things Loomer has said or done:
1. Loomer said her white nationalist views would help get her elected to Congress.
During her 2022 congressional campaign, Loomer told white nationalist Jared Taylor that she thought her white nationalist views would get her elected to Congress. She switched districts, she said, because Florida’s 11th District has more white people and she could be more honest about her extremist views.
“Citrus County, which is in my district, is also the whitest district in the entire state of Florida,” Loomer said. “And so these issues of CRT and anti-white racism and anti-white hatred, and this anti-American, anti-white Christian mentality that the Democrats are pushing—they’re trying to persecute white people, they’re trying to persecute Christians, the most persecuted people in the world—that’s on the radar of my constituency, and I look forward to being their advocate when I win my race and get elected as their next congresswoman.”
2. Loomer promised to advance white nationalism and Christian nationalism if elected to Congress.
“I’m a really big supporter of the Christian nationalist movement,” Loomer told far-right podcaster Ethan Ralph. “I’m going to fight for Christians, I’m going to fight for white people, I’m going to fight for nationalist movements.”
“But there is clearly a war on white people, there is clearly a war on Christianity in this country,” Loomer said. “Now, even though I am Jewish, I am going to fight for Christian nationalists. And I find that most of my friends and most of my allies and most of the people I associate with these days are Christian nationalists.”
3. Loomer spoke at a white nationalist conference.
Loomer spoke at the American Renaissance conference in November 2022. Speakers included an array of Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and other white supremacists.
4. Loomer has described herself as a “#proudIslamophobe.”
After identifying herself as a proud Islamophobe, Loomer stated that “Islam is cancer” and that “we should never let another Muslim into the civilized world.”
5. Loomer says she doesn’t care about Muslims being murdered.
After a white supremacist murdered more than 50 people at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, Loomer said she didn’t care. “Nobody cares about [the] Christchurch [shooting]. I especially don’t. I care about my social media accounts and the fact that Americans are being silenced.” Likewise, in 2019, Loomer said she didn’t care about the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by the Saudi government because she claimed he was a Muslim Brotherhood operative and thus “an enemy of the state.”
6. Loomer has expressed her adoration for white nationalists, including Hitler-loving Nick Fuentes.
“I don’t care what anyone says,” Loomer wrote on Telegram. “I love Nick Fuentes.”
“I would like to reserve the title of #CongressionalGroyper,” she added. (The young white men who make up the white nationalist America First movement refer to themselves as “groypers.”)
7. Loomer advocates for the hostile takeover of the Republican Party.
At what she had hoped to be a “victory party” for her 2022 congressional campaign, Loomer clinked glasses with Fuentes. “Here’s to the hostile takeover of the Republican Party,” she cheered.
Nick Fuentes and Laura Loomer cheersing “to the hostile takeover of the Republican Party.” https://t.co/qN9yOFhvij pic.twitter.com/XhxabZewDK
— AMANDA TRAP HOUSE (@noturtlesoup17) April 7, 2023
8. Loomer predictably refused to concede her primary loss in 2022 and vowed to harass her Republican opponent.
“I actually am the Congresswoman in Florida’s 11th District, and everyone knows it,” Loomer said after her loss. She vowed to drive Rep. Dan Webster “into the ground every step of the way until he collapses in disgrace.”
Laura Loomer refuses to accept her primary loss and declares "I actually am the Congresswoman in Florida’s 11th District, and everyone knows it," vowing to harass Rep. Dan Webster and "drive him into the ground every step of the way until he collapses in disgrace." pic.twitter.com/HUtyRX18EY
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 25, 2022
9. Loomer spread conspiracy theories that the government was behind mass shootings.
Loomer says she believes it’s “obvious” that “the FBI works with the Democrat Party to carry out mass shooting false flags so that they can actually push for gun control.”
Laura Loomer believes it's "obvious" that "the FBI works with the Democrat Party to carry out mass shooting false flags so that they can actually push for gun control." pic.twitter.com/JfuKELVIQO
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) October 3, 2022
10. Loomer wants Big Tech executives and employees to be punished for treason… that is, killed.
Loomer has said that conservatives “should be investing all of their energy into destroying big tech and giving their executives and employees the worst fate possible for the treason they have committed against our country. And yes, they committed treason. And yes, our country has an appropriate punishment for treason.”
While Trump has hired white nationalist-supporting activists before (Stephen Miller), it is somewhat surprising he is hiring Loomer considering Trump doesn’t take criticism lightly and Loomer was not a fan of his 2024 presidential announcement. Loomer and far-right activist Ali Alexander trashed it in fact, saying that the speech “sucked” and the “the invite list looked like grifter central.”
Ali Alexander and Laura Loomer trash Trump's 2024 announcement, saying the speech "sucked" and that the "the invite list looked like grifter central." pic.twitter.com/gkesxhrHQZ
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 18, 2022
The post 10 Bigoted and Extremist Things Laura Loomer, Trump’s Expected Hire, Has Said appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Philip Andrew Hamilton, a Republican candidate for a seat in the Virginia Senate, appeared on “In The Trenches With Teddy Daniels” last week, where he accused the public education system of indoctrinating his own child into believing that they are nonbinary.
Hamilton, who has received the endorsement of radical Virginia legislator Amanda Chase in his bid to represent the voters of Virginia’s 11th District in the state Senate, appeared on “In The Trenches” to discuss the recent shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, and the reports that the perpetrator was transgender. Hamilton told guest host Frankie Stockes of The National File that transgender issues are “very personal” to him because of what public school teachers have supposedly done to his child.
“We have to provide for protections against these teachers that are indoctrinating our children,” Hamilton declared. “[My child] is 13 years old now, and we had some very frank conversations. But last year, she came out to me and said, ‘Well, Dad, I’m bisexual.’ And this is when she was 12 years old. I said, ‘You’re too young to be really going into whether or not you’re bisexual. You’re not a dating age.’ And she dismissed me, unfortunately.”
“I found out later on last year that the problem was much worse than just being bisexual,” he continued. “She came out and said, ‘Well, I’m no longer being identified as a she. I’m a they/them.'”
While Hamilton’s ex-wife and her family supported the child and called them by their preferred name, Hamilton did not.
“I said, ‘Just because your mother’s family is going along to get along and supporting this doesn’t mean that I, your father, am going to stand for this,'” Hamilton recounted. “I told her, ‘You need to go to the church. You need to realize that this is not the right path for you.’ I asked her, ‘What teachers indoctrinated you with this?’ and she refused to tell me. It infuriates me to this day that the public education system has poisoned the mind of my own daughter.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post GOP VA Senate Candidate Claims Public Schools ‘Poisoned the Mind’ of His Nonbinary Child appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kansas legislators passed sweeping anti-trans legislation this week that has a religious-right coalition’s fingerprints all over it.
On Tuesday, the Republican-led Kansas legislature passed Senate Bill 180—which would make it illegal for trans people to use the bathroom corresponding with their gender identity and illegal to change their name or gender identity on drivers’ licenses—sending it to Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s desk with a veto-proof majority.
SB 180, which opponents say attempts to erase trans people from society, was introduced by Kansas state Sen. Renee Erickson. Erickson is a graduate of the Family Policy Alliance’s Statesmen Academy, which promises to “equip [participants] with foundational Christian worldview training.” The Family Policy Alliance is also a leading partner in the anti-trans coalition that has dubbed itself “Promise to America’s Children.”
Formed in 2021, “Promise to America’s Children” vows to “protect” children who it says “are under attack” from “politicized ideas about sexual orientation and gender identity ideology.” The 23 groups that make up the coalition portray feminism and LGBTQ equality as threats to the Christian right’s narrow vision of “the natural family.” With behemoth partner organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom and the Heritage Foundation, the coalition drafts model legislation and works with aligned state lawmakers to introduce them in their state legislatures.
A day after passage of SB 180, the state’s Republican-controlled Senate also overrode Kelly’s veto of House Bill 2238, which bars trans kids from playing on sports teams according to their gender identity and which trans rights advocates worry could lead to state-mandated genital inspections of some athletes. That legislation includes identical language to a 2020 Idaho bill drafted by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a leading partner of the anti-trans coalition. It was also introduced by Rep. Barb Wasinger, a participant in Family Policy Alliance’s Statesman Academy who has signaled her support of the anti-trans coalition by signing its “promise.”
The anti-trans coalition’s website lists six signatories from Kansas in total—state Reps. Barb Wasinger, Steven Howe, Lisa Moser, Eric Smith, Mike Thompson, and Susan Humphries—all of whom voted to pass both both pieces of anti-trans legislation.
The anti-trans coalition also had some influence in testimony. The groups that testified in support of SB 180, which makes it illegal for trans people to use the bathroom corresponding to their gender identity, included Kansas Family Voice, a state chapter of the Family Policy Alliance and a state partner of the anti-trans coalition. The Family Policy Alliance has worked with at least one of the other groups that testified in support of the anti-trans legislation: Women’s Liberation Front, also known as WoLF, a self-described radical feminist organization that criticizes transgender people as a threat to cisgender women.
The pairing of self-proclaimed feminists and ardent anti-feminists is strategic. In 2017, Right Wing Watch reported on the anti-trans strategies and tactics being discussed at the religious-right Values Voters Summit. Among them was a suggestion that anti-trans activists avoid using religious language because secular arguments would be more successful at building alliances with anti-trans feminists.
Fomenting opposition to trans girls’ participation in sports has been used to build momentum for even more aggressive anti-trans legislation. A 2021 Right Wing Watch investigation found that “Promise to America’s Children” was focusing attention on trans athletes while working behind the scenes to draft and pass legislation that would not only keep trans girls and women from playing on sports teams, but also remove access to gender-affirming care for trans youth.
The post The Religious-Right Coalition Behind Kansas’ Slew of Anti-Trans Bills appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski @ ProPublica: Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire.
- Steve Benen @ The MaddowBlog: Pence will not appeal order to testify before Jan. 6 grand jury.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: MAGA TV host warns of ‘massive assassinations’ and ‘death camps’ after Trump arrest.
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: ‘You Can’t Have Peace’: Tucker Carlson Guest Goes on Deranged Rant Demanding ‘Secession’ in United States.
- Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: Some Of The People You Meet At The MAGA Carnival Outside Trump’s Arraignment.
- Alanna Vagianos @ HuffPost: Idaho Passes Law To Restrict Interstate Travel For Abortion Care For Minors.
- Media Matters: Charlie Kirk: “It’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment.”
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Price of the Second Amendment appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Charlie Kirk is upset: “What happened to white actors in commercials? They’ve completely disappeared unless they’re portraying ridiculous caricatures of whiteness or incompetence.”
- Laura Witzke is also upset: “99% of colleges are anti-white institutions who serve zero purpose other than to indoctrinate white students into hating themselves. We need to start our own universities to compete against these pathetic institutions.”
- Andrew Torba urges legislators in red states to govern “with an iron fist” and “make it unbearable for liberals to live there”: “Pass legislation they hate, promote values they hate, shun and shame things they like.”
- Ali Alexander asserts that “everyone must be radicalized in order for us to achieve civil society once again.”
- Dalton Clodfelter, who used to have a show on The Stew Peters Network, says that Peters “isn’t a serious person”: “His entire thing is a grift. He doesn’t care about anything or anyone.”
- Finally, Anna Perez is genuinely outraged that Princess Peach in the new “Super Mario Bros.” movie is not portrayed as “a helpless princess”: “Young women see stuff like this, and it just brainwashes them to be a feminist.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Brainwashed by Princess Peach appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The so-called “15-minute city” is a concept in urban planning that seeks to create urban areas in which the daily necessities of life—education, work, shopping, health care, leisure—are accessible via a 15-minute walk or bike ride from any point within the city. The 15-minute city concept is also a target for conspiracy theorists, so naturally former Rep. Michele Bachmann has gone all in on spreading baseless conspiracies about the idea.
On Wednesday night, Bachmann, who now serves as dean of the School of Government at Pat Robertson’s Regent University, appeared on a World Prayer Network livestream, where she baselessly claimed that 15-minute cities are really an “electronic leash” designed to prevent anyone from traveling more than 15 minutes away from their homes.
“The 15-minute city is a planned city, a planned community where people are allowed to travel by foot 15 minutes from their house,” Bachmann claimed. “So, it’s really a leash, an electronic leash. You see where this QR code comes in on our phones; this contains people to an area that is no more than 15 minutes from home.”
“These are so-called smart cities where individuals will be tracked and traced and surveilled, and we can move about freely within 15 minutes from home,” she continued. “In the former Soviet Union, their people were allowed to go 50 miles from home—any further, they had to get permission of the government—so this is a move of totalitarianism, where there’s a limitation on freedom of movement. In the United States government under our Constitution, every American has the right to travel, so this is clearly an unconstitutional move.”
The World Prayer Network is an outgrowth of a prayer movement that began in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, when religious-right activists began to gather together several times a week to pray for God to intervene and overturn the results. Founded by right-wing activists Jim Garlow and Mario Bramnick, the World Prayer Network livestreams have since become a conduit for the promotion of wild conspiracy theories, many of them spread by Bachmann, who is a regular participant.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Michele Bachmann Claims 15-Minute Cities Are Unconstitutional ‘Totalitarianism’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Andrew Prokop @ Vox: Donald Trump has been indicted. The hush money case against him, explained.
- Melissa Gira Grant @ The Soapbox: The Weird Religious Fervor of the Trump Faithful.
- Daniel Marans @ HuffPost: Liberals Take Control Of Wisconsin Supreme Court.
- Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: Dan Kelly Throws Emotional Tantrum After Losing Wisconsin Supreme Court Race.
- Candice Ortiz @ Mediaite: Ben Shapiro Rages at Build-A-Bear for Collaborating With RuPaul’s Drag Race: They’re ‘Coming After the Kids.’
- Joe Jervis: Catholic Site Fires Writer After DOJ Arrests Him For Anti-LGBTQ Death Threats To Human Rights Campaign.
- Betsy Reed @ The Guardian: Dark money groups push election denialism on US state officials.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: On, Wisconsin! appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Anna Perez declares that she’d be willing to take a bullet for former President Donald Trump “because President Trump would take a bullet for me”: “What he’s doing is actually Christlike.”
- Scott Lively says that Trump’s arrest “is above all else a Lefty Sieg Heil to the Rainbow Swastika.”
- Pete Santilli reacted to Trump’s arrest by calling Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg a “Black communist” who is intent on “taking down the White man”: “These Black Satanic communists have taken over.”
- Trump joined a group of religious-right leaders for an “emergency prayer call” Tuesday night where bragged that he has been a steadfast champion of “our beautiful Christianity.”
- Finally, since there is no conspiracy theorist that Eric Metaxas won’t promote, he’s now using his radio show to promote Rima Laibow, who claims that in 2002, she treated an unnamed “head of state” who openly told her of their plan to launch a “culling of the useless eaters” to eliminate “90% of the total population of the planet.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Our Beautiful Christianity appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
It is obvious that Nick Fuentes is a racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, homophobic Christian nationalist who hates this country, but what is sometimes less apparent is the fact that the foundation of all these positions is Fuentes’ fervent authoritarianism.
Fuentes, the founder of the white nationalist America First youth movement, has made no secret of his love for murderous dictators and his desire to see a dictatorship imposed on this nation, preferably with his one-time dinner companion, former President Donald Trump, at the helm.
As such, Fuentes was predictably outraged that Trump was arrested Tuesday on charges of falsifying business records, which prosecutors say he did to deceive the public ahead of the 2016 election and cover up hush money payments made to women with whom he allegedly had extramarital affairs. Fuentes used his livestream Tuesday to assert that as the once elected “sovereign of America,” Trump is entitled to permanent immunity from prosecution for nearly all crimes, including murder.
“On the question about charging Trump and him being above the law or something, actually, yes, there is a different consideration for a former head of state,” Fuentes said. “Absolutely.”
“The president acts in the stead of the entire nation on the world stage,” he continued. “The president acts on our behalf. The president, being delegated authority by the Constitution, is standing in as the sovereign of America. The idea that the sovereign of America would be put in jail or dragged before a court for a low-level misdemeanor or even a felony is a joke.”
“The only thing that a president should ever be charged for—ever—is things like corruption, treason, murder,” Fuentes declared. “And I would even say maybe not even murder. The only crimes a president should be charged for are crimes against the country because at that point you’ve ascended to a different level.”
“Once you become the president, you never unbecome president,” Fuentes insisted. “Once you capture 25 percent of the population voting for you—60 million, 75 million votes—and then you go out and represent the American nation to the world and domestically, you then are entitled to live in esteem for the rest of your life.”
Fuentes said the fact that Trump is being prosecuted while so many other crimes go unpunished is why this nation needs fascism.
“This is why you need fascism,” he said. “I don’t call myself a fascist, but that’s fundamentally what this is about.”
Of course, Fuentes’ belief that the “sovereign of America” is entitled to permanent immunity from prosecution only seems to apply to Trump, as just last month he was fuming that former President Barack Obama should have been dragged “by his nappy hair … through the courts.”
“It should have been Hillary Clinton and Obama in an orange jumpsuit and a paddy wagon,” Fuentes said then. “It should have been brutal and unforgiving and unrelenting and intense and unstoppable.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post White Nationalist Nick Fuentes Says Trump’s Arrest ‘Is Why You Need Fascism’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- S.V. Date @ HuffPost: Donald Trump Arrested And Charged In Stormy Daniels Hush Money Case.
- Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: Manhattan DA Releases Indictment Against Trump Alleging Hush Money Payments to Cover Up Three Scandals.
- Ian Millhiser and Andrew Prokop @ Vox: The 4 criminal investigations into Donald Trump, explained.
- Brian Kaylor @ A Public Witness: A Capitalizing Kingdom.
- Greg Sargent @ The Washington Post: How Marjorie Taylor Greene’s ‘pedophile’ slur made it to ‘60 Minutes.’
- Media Matters: Charlie Kirk: “I’m not a fan of democracy.”
- Michael Edison Hayden @ Hatewatch: Douglass Mackey Verdict Sinks ‘Shitposting’ Defense.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: 34 Counts appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- John Guandolo called on former President Donald Trump to refuse to turn himself in today to face charges in New York: “Mr. Trump stands in the doorway of history and must make the correct decision. If he is to be judged rightly by history, it behooves him to explain this to the American people, refuse to participate in this corrupt and tyrannical legal proceeding, and force the enemies of liberty to surrender or demonstrate to the world exactly who they are.”
- Stew Peters declares that “this indictment of Trump is the declaration of a race war against White Americans.”
- Self-proclaimed “prophet” Robin Bullock apparently received a special message from God this afternoon about Trump’s arrest in New York. Somewhat surprisingly, that message contained the word “turd.”
- Joseph Farah says that if Trump is reelected, he must “revoke George Soros’ fraudulent dual citizenship and deport him.”
- Eugene Delgaudio praised Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for calling Democrats a “party of pedophiles” during a recent “60 Minutes” interview: “Her strong statement for nearly 7 million viewers that the Democratic Party is filled with groomers who want to corrupt children. This abuse is a consequence of Democratic officials support transgender surgeries on children and forced hormone drug regimes on children. This is a major event in pro-family efforts to combat these assaults on children.”
- Finally, Anna Perez rants that Trump never incited an insurrection on Jan. 6, but even if he did, “so what?”: “We need an insurrection in this country!”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: We Need an Insurrection appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- AJ McDougall @ The Daily Beast: MTG Calls Dems a ‘Party of Pedophiles’ in Softball ‘60 Minutes’ Interview.
- Gideon Rubin @ Raw Story: Trump supporter convicted of election interference after 2016 plot to trick Hillary Clinton voters.
- Zack Beauchamp @ Vox: “Soros-backed”: The GOP’s favorite attack on the man prosecuting Trump, explained.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Trump’s fundraising hauls challenge the ‘crime doesn’t pay’ adage.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Before pivotal election, WI priest tells church, “do not vote” for Janet Protasiewicz.
- John Knefel @ Media Matters: Anti-civil rights activist Chris Rufo has extensive ties to Christian nationalist-led Center for Renewing America.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Crime Does Pay appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- In response to last week’s shooting in Nashville, Andrew Torba wrote an article titled “Christians Must Learn To Hate Again,” which he eventually updated to “Christians Must Learn To Hate Evil Again.”
- Andrew Anglin says that “it is impossible to imagine anything more evil than the United States. God destroyed Sodom for much less.”
- Tim Gionet (aka Baked Alaska) claims that authorities “threw me in the hole for 16 days” just because they didn’t like his politics when he was serving a 60-day sentence in federal prison for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- Hank Kunneman used his Sunday service to hold an extended prayer service calling on God to “silence those who wish to frame President Trump”: “Though they seek to arrest President Trump, we’re declaring now that you arrest the enemy.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander reveals that he almost ran out of gas recently because he’s “royalty” and doesn’t fill up his own car. Also, he’s pretty sure that gas is just a “psyop”: “I’m not totally convinced that vehicles actually need gas. It might be a mental energy thing.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: 16 Days in the Hole appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When news reports first broke that former President Donald Trump was likely to be indicted over the hush money payments he made o a pornographic actress with whom he had an alleged extramarital affair, radical right-wing broadcaster Pete Santilli reacted by calling on the military and law enforcement to round up former President Barack Obama and other members of a supposed“criminal cabal,” line them up against a wall, and execute them.
In the event that Donald Trump is arrested, radical right-wing broadcaster Pete Santilli calls on the military and law enforcement to round up Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Susan Rice, and other members of the “criminal cabal,” line them up against a wall and execute them. pic.twitter.com/ODg3NADztL
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 20, 2023
Santilli is a right-wing conspiracy theorist who was deeply involved in the 2014 Bundy standoff and who once declared that he wanted to shoot Hillary Clinton “right in the vagina.” Give that Santilli has used his radio program to encourage violence against his perceived political opponents in the past, it was no surprise when he reacted on Saturday to the news that Trump had in fact been indicted by doubling down on his call for the military to rise up and execute Obama and others.
Santilli used the Saturday program of his “The Pete Santilli Show” to lay out a plan that he said will result in Trump being restored to the White House by the end of the month. Santilli’s plan revolves around having 150 million United States citizens send $1 to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign as a pledge of their intention to vote for him. Once Trump raises $150 million in individual $1 donations, Santilli asserted that this would conclusively demonstrate that there is no need for a presidential election in 2024 at which point the military would immediately restore Trump to office and execute his political enemies.
Santilli said this would be a “constitutional restoration” that he likened to the execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu in 1989.
“Every single one of you that’s wearing a badge and a gun, be forewarned: We the people are rising. Serve us,” Santilli declared. “It’s not sooner or later; it’s now.”
“I’m escalating things because they’re escalating taking away my freedom,” he continued. “I wanted to wait till 2024, but no, they want to meddle in my election in 2023. Not sooner or later, now! I’m liighting the candle. Will you join me?”
“You in the military, you need to work for us and protect us,” Santilli said. “Ceaușescu was taken to the concrete wall and executed as a symbol of what I’m talking about. I want to set up a scenario where the military and the police have no choice but to execute Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton—through proper process. I’m not in charge of that. … I think I share a lot in common with 150 million other people that don’t want communism, and if we come together and we say that the military and police are to set up a law that requires when you get overthrown by we the people and a constitutional restoration happens, that you should be swiftly brought to a concrete wall and hold a little hearing and fire away.”
It is worth remembering that Santilli has hosted numerous Republican candidates for office on his show including Ohio Senate candidate Josh Mandel, Arizona congressional candidate Jerone Davison, and Kari Lake. Lake, the broadcaster-turned-MAGA-cultist who lost her bid for governor of Arizona last year, appeared on Santilli’s show in February, where she praised Santilli and agreed with his assertion that the nation has been overthrown by “a CIA coup.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Radical Right-Wing Broadcaster Pete Santilli Calls for Obama and Clinton to Be Executed in Response to Trump’s Indictment appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Nicole Narea and Ian Millhiser @ Vox: Your biggest questions about Trump’s indictment, answered.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Glenn Beck Hyperventilates About the End of America After Trump Indictment.
- Lee Moran @ HuffPost: Lindsey Graham Gets Super Emotional Begging Fox News Viewers To Donate To Trump.
- Zachary Leeman @ Mediaite: Mark Levin Calls Trump Indictment Declaration of ‘War’ on GOP: ‘Republicans Better Wake the Hell Up.’
- Joe Jervis: Boebert: Let’s Not “Nitpick What The Bible Says” About My Teenage Son Knocking Up His Underage Girlfriend.
- Media Matters: Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh: “All of us today would be in a worse spot if slavery never existed at all across the entire globe.”
- Ben Collins @ NBC News: Heather McDonald’s on-stage collapse became anti-vaccine fodder, but she’s alive and joking.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Not Dead Yet appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Glenn Beck says that the indictment of former President Donald Trump is a ploy to get conservatives to “riot” so that they’ll be blamed when society inevitably collapses.
- Mario Murillo explains that if Trump really is the “modern-day Cyrus” like so many evangelicals claim, then “you have to come to one conclusion: Cyrus only helped Israel for a very short period of time, then his influence just ended.”
- Edward Szall is calling for the passage of “red f*g laws” to prevent transgender people from owning guns.
- Andrew Anglin asserts that “on a long enough timeline, your wife will have sex with other men. There is no man on earth who is good enough for any woman, and women do not feel guilt. In a society without shame, you have no chance at all.”
- Finally, Tim Gionet (aka Baked Alaska) has been released early from prison, where he was serving a 60-day sentence for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Free Baked Alaska appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When news broke Thursday that a Manhattan grand jury had voted to indict former President Donald Trump, Trump and his supporters were quick to portray him as an innocent victim and to suggest that his prosecution spelled the end of democracy in America.
The charges follow an investigation into a hush money payment made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election. With the indictment under seal, the exact charges have not yet been made public, though some news reports suggest Trump faces about 30 charges and that he is expected to be charged with falsifying business records to cover up the payment.
Trump himself displayed his trademark narcissism Thursday, writing in one of many urgent emails, “We are living through the darkest chapter of American history.”
The always-blustery right-wing pundit Mark Levin ranted on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning, “We have crossed the Rubicon. This is a tyranny now.”
Right-wing youth leader Charlie Kirk, who heads Turning Point USA, claimed that the indictment of Trump is a “designed campaign” by the left to provoke right-wing violence “to justify the next phase of their takeover of the country.”
Ali Alexander, a leader of the “Stop the Steal” effort to keep Trump in power after his 2020 loss, wrote on his Telegram account, “TRUMP INDICTMENT refocuses some things. We’re approaching Luciferian-triggered civil war. We must fight Them. May God bless and forgive us where we fall short.”
Far-right broadcaster Pete Santilli—who last week said that if Trump were arrested, the military and law enforcement should round up and execute former President Barack Obama and other members of the “criminal cabal”—reacted to the news by telling his viewers that “these leftist, gun-grabbing Maoists, you will never have a peaceful resolution with. They’re going to come and kill you.”
Far-right broadcaster Pete Santilli reacted to the reports that Trump has been indicted by declaring that "these leftist, gun-grabbing Maoists, you will never have a peaceful resolution with. They're going to come and kill you." https://t.co/mXsUzHBMkz pic.twitter.com/BZjU8MFzRK
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 31, 2023
Amid reports that New York law enforcement officials are preparing for possible violence, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tweeted, “I’m going to New York on Tuesday. We MUST protest the unconstitutional WITCH HUNT!”
Although details of the indictment haven’t been made public, Sen. Ted Cruz used his “Verdict” podcast to denounce the indictment as “utter and complete garbage,” describing himself as angry and “heartbroken” over what he called a “devastating” blow to the rule of law. Cruz claimed that the Manhattan investigation was an effort by “radical Democrats” to “steal” the 2024 presidential election.
Cruz said the indictment would boost Trump’s election campaign, a sentiment echoed by other far-right followers of the twice-impeached former president. The Christian Broadcasting Network’s David Brody said the indictment had made Trump a “political martyr.”
On “FlashPoint,” a show that appears on evangelist Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel that was a steady source of misinformation about the 2020 election and Jan. 6 insurrection, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate and election denier Kari Lake denounced what she called “false, phony charges.” Trump’s supporters, she said, are “tried and true” and will stay with him “all the way.”
Trump’s religious-right backers also rallied around him, with Franklin Graham calling it a “shameful day for America.”
As noted by religion scholar Diana Butler Bass in her latest newsletter, Trump has been using increasingly messianic and apocalyptic language in reference to his legal troubles in an effort to maintain religious-right support. Trump followers who believe he is anointed by God and is being persecuted like Jesus by the legions of Satan is “a theo-political wild card we’ve got to pay attention to,” Bass writes. She points to the biblical story of Jesus’ arrest in which one of his disciples attacked one of the soldiers. While Jesus insisted, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword,” Bass warns, “Do not expect the same from Trump.”
The post MAGA Cries ‘Tyranny’ and Threatens Civil War After News of Trump Indictment appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Media Matters: Charlie Kirk compares trans people to “homeless encampments.”
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Notorious judge strikes down ACA’s preventive coverage benefits.
- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Utah Republicans Try To Accuse Romney Of Treason In Upcoming Censure Vote.
- Joe Jervis: QAnon Shaman Released From Prison 14 Months Early.
- Jennifer Bowers Bahney @ Mediaite: Trump Tells Hannity He Didn’t Know Anything About Ye’s Anti-Semitic Rants Before Dining with Him and Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago.
- Chris D’Angelo @ HuffPost: The Right’s War Against Offshore Wind Has Become Comically Absurd.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Release the Shaman appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Scott Lively declares that “it is past time for the normies to rise up and tear down the transgender normalization racket in our society. And if you don’t do that you’ll have no one to blame but yourself when this bloody atrocity becomes as common as Drag Queen Story Hour.”
- Charlie Kirk keeps repeating his nonsensical claim that God and the Founding Fathers hated cities and that the creation of this nation was guided by the story of the Tower of Babel contained in Genesis 11.
- Dalton Clodfelter blames “society” for the fact that he can’t have a “normal life” simply because he wants to make “edgy jokes” about loving Hitler, hating Jews, and saying the N-word.
- Isabella Riley Moody says “the 19th Amendment is a horrible thing” and that “one of the worst things to ever happen for America was women getting the right to vote.”
- Finally, Jim Garlow is considered to be a reasonable “mainstream” religious-right leader, but he is nothing of the sort.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Rise Up, Normies appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right broadcaster Edward Szall used Tuesday’s episode of his “Cross Talk News” program to declare that we must “limit the access of free thought ” in response to Monday’s mass shooting that killed three children and three adults at a Christian day school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Szall, a bigoted, racist Christian nationalist, founded “Cross Talk News” with white nationalist Christian fascist conspiracy theorist Lauren Witzke after the two were fired from their positions with the virulently antisemitic program “TruNews” in 2021. Their “Cross Talk News” program now airs on the network founded by virulently anti-LGBTQ bigot and right-wing conspiracy theorist Stew Peters.
Like so many other right-wing activists, Szall and Witzke reacted to the news that the perpetrator of the shooting in Nashville was transgender by declaring, in Witzke’s words, that “we’ve got to make it illegal for people to promote transgenderism, to participate in transgenderism; it needs to be a criminal offense.”
Szall agreed, but asserted that this was only a first step. What really must be done, he insisted, is for the United States to follow the models set by China, North Korea, and the Taliban by limiting people’s access to the internet so that they can’t even find information about transness.
“We’re gonna limit internet access,” Szall declared. “You know who taught me this lesson recently? The frickin’ Taliban.”
“We export a lot of things here in the West,” Szall continued. “We export our sin. The first thing we do [when] we go into a country, we try to make sure they have abortion legalized, and we try to make sure that they’re not able to criminalize homosexuality. Well, the third thing we do is we export the internet to them, internet access.”
“We make a lot of bones about China being tyrannical and terrible,” he added. “China limits the access of their citizens to the internet. … North Korea is actually a very conservative society. There’s no such thing as a homosexual, an open homosexual in North Korea, no such thing as abortion. The North Koreans are very conservative; they’re tyrannical but conservative.”
“What we’re exporting, what we’re making available to people is a gateway to sin,” Szall proclaimed. “We need to, in the wake of a mentally ill epidemic, limit the access to the drug. One of the drugs here is more information about where you can change your gender, change your identity, think about life differently. No, how about we limit the access of free thought in this respect and instead raise children up in the way they must go?”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Edward Szall: U.S. Should Limit Access to Internet and ‘Free Thought’ Like Taliban and China appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
As news broke that the 28-year-old perpetrator in Monday’s horrible mass shooting that killed three children and three adults at a Christian day school in Nashville, Tennessee, was transgender, right-wing media took advantage of the tragedy to boost their already aggressive campaign against LGBTQ people.
According to news reports, the shooter, who was killed by police, had purchased seven guns from five stores, and carried two assault-style weapons during the attack on the school. Tennessee, like other Republican-led states, has been making it easier for anyone to buy guns designed for military use.
Advocates of unregulated gun ownership often try to shut down questions about easy access to guns when a mass shooting occurs. They did the same Monday, but with a different angle. As details were still emerging about the Nashville shooting, right-wing politicians and pundits jumped on rumors about the shooter’s transgender identity to smear all trans people and the larger LGBTQ community.
“We’re still learning about the horrific shooting in Nashville,” Sen. J.D. Vance wrote on Twitter Monday. “But if early reports are accurate that a trans shooter targeted a Christian school, there needs to be a lot of soul searching on the extreme left. Giving in to these ideas isn’t compassion, it’s dangerous.”
“How much hormones like testosterone and medications for mental illness was the transgender Nashville school shooter taking? Everyone can stop blaming guns now,” Marjorie Taylor Greene declared hours after news broke of the shooting.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham spent seven minutes on a segment she titled “A Trans Killer” Monday in which she condemned Democrats’ objections to the passage of harmful GOP legislation to ban gender-affirming health care.
While police have not yet released the shooter’s manifesto, other far-right figures were quick to use the killings to advance far-right claims about a supposed “war on Christians” by “Trans Terrorists” (2020 GOP Senate nominee Lauren Witzke) and that the killings were “an LGBTQ inspired, anti-Christian terrorist attack” (failed congressional candidate Laura Loomer).
Witzke’s denunciation of trans people as “Satanic freaks” is, unfortunately, part of a relentless campaign of demonization being waged against trans people to justify attacks on their rights and access to health care. Earlier this month, Tennessee passed one such law, with Gov. Bill Lee signing legislation to ban gender-affirming care for trans youth in the state along with legislation to ban drag shows in public spaces.
It is worth being explicit here: Being transgender is not a mental health disorder, though trans people can, like everyone else, have mental health issues. The shooter’s parents reportedly did not believe he should have any guns based on his mental state, though in Tennessee, mental illness is not considered grounds for police to confiscate guns.
Charlie Kirk, the influential founder of the right-wing youth group Turning Point USA, was not to be outdone in the right’s commentary, taking to Twitter Tuesday to smear the LGBTQ community. “Unfortunately what happened yesterday fits a trend: The nastiest, most vile people in America are part of the Alphabet Mafia. They call for violence and want revenge against people who oppose their agenda,” he wrote.
The history of deadly mass shootings in this country tells a different story than the one the right is trying to paint. Mass shooters are overwhelmingly male and white. As Michael Signorile noted in his newsletter Tuesday, Fox has yet to use “white male shooter” in a headline when a white man perpetrates the crime or “white supremacist shooter” even when white supremacy drove the shooter to commit his crime.
Meanwhile, trans people are far more likely to be the victim of violent crimes than to perpetrate them. A 2021 study from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law found that trans people are four time more likely than cisgender people to experience violent crimes.
The post Far Right Exploits Nashville Shooting to Smear LGBTQ People appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Media Matters: Newsmax’s Greg Kelly says transgender people are “more of a threat” than white supremacists.
- Prem Thakker @ The New Republic: Josh Hawley, Only Senator to Vote Against Anti-Hate Crimes Bill, Wants to Call Nashville Shooting Hate Crime.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Tucker Turns Shooting Into Apocalyptic War Between Trans People and Christians.
- Tommy Christopher @ Mediaite: Trump Posts Supporter’s Idea For Revenge Over Arrest Threat: ‘They Want a War? Let’s Give It To Them.’
- Alanna Vagianos @ HuffPost: Idaho Is About To Become The First State To Restrict Interstate Travel For Abortion.
- Oliver Darcy and Marshall Cohen @ CNN: Fox News CEO said correspondent’s fact-check of Trump’s election lies was ‘bad for business,’ new emails show.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Bad for Business appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Lance Wallnau reports that Kari Lake, Michael Flynn, and Eric Trump will be participating in his “Holy Ghost Fire & Glory Tour” that aims to break the “demonic strongholds” that are supposedly preventing Republican candidates from winning elections in swing states.
- Speaking of Lake, she was photographed hanging out with radical right-wing preacher Joshua Feuerstein.
- WallBuilders has launched a Substack newsletter.
- Lara Trump is increasingly aligning herself with the right-wing “prophetic” movement and on Tuesday joined “prophet” Julie Green, who declared that God told her former President Donald Trump is a modern-day David and prayed that God will restore “what the enemy has stolen” from the Trump family.
- Finally, Dalton Clodfelter seems to be realizing that being an antisemitic white nationalist Christian fascist livestreamer might limit his future career opportunities: “I decided to say the N-word, I decided to say that I love Hitler and that I love everybody, I decided to say that I believe in an authoritarian right-wing government, and now I’m here.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: What the Enemy Has Stolen appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Gabriella Ferrigine @ Salon: House Republican summarizes party’s response to rampant school shootings: “We’re not gonna fix it.”
- Igor Bobic @ HuffPost: The Man Who Leads Senate Prayer Is Fed Up With ‘Thoughts And Prayers.’
- Media Matters: Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles says “guns have nothing to do with” Nashville shooting.
- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Trump Desperately Tries To Connect Manhattan DA’s Hush Money Probe To The Big Lie.
- John Fea @ Current: The 2016 and 2020 court evangelicals continue to line-up behind Trump. Today it’s Paula White’s turn.
- Greg Owen @ LGBTQ Nation: Conservative activist deleted from org’s site after raunchy video of him resurfaces.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: ‘We’re Not Gonna Fix It’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- The America First Policy Institute issued a document seeking to explain “Why Faith and Politics Do Mix in America.”
- Joseph Farah says that the rainbow “has been hijacked, stolen, misappropriated” by LGBTQ activists and “it’s time for us to reclaim it – or God will.”
- Lance Wallnau appeared on Jesse Lee Peterson’s show, where Peterson told him that “a man has no business listening to a woman”: “Every time you listen to a woman, you’re gonna suffer.”
- Milo Yiannopoulos declares that “blasphemy laws are necessary in an orderly and pious nation and 1A stands in the way. Has to go.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander proclaims that people like Donald Trump, Kanye West, and Vladimir Putin are “kings” so it’s perfectly fine for them to be personally corrupt while publicly professing to be Christian: “The private corruption of a king doesn’t remotely bother me.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Private Corruption of Kings appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Stew Peters—a far-right broadcaster who has built a media network featuring white nationalists and Christian nationalists, used his program Monday to declare that Uganda’s new extremely harsh anti-LGBTQ legislation is “100 percent awesome.” The Ugandan parliament recently passed a bill that, once confirmed by the president, will impose lengthy prison sentences on LGBTQ individuals and, in some cases, possibly the death penalty.
Peters—a virulently anti-LGBTQ bigot who regularly uses his nightly program, speeches, and social media accounts to spread wild conspiracy theories, bigotry, and calls for violence—heaped praise upon Uganda while directing a stream of derogatory language at LGBTQ people.
“There are a lot of Christians in the world,” Peters said, “but there’s only a handful of countries that actually still pass laws reflecting Christian teachings. One of those countries though is the central African nation of Uganda. Uganda’s legislature just approved a new law; that law criminalizes gay marriage and the homosexual lifestyle and imposes the death penalty for pedophiles. Yes, it’s now illegal, it’s a crime to be a depraved and demonic Hershey-highway-riding, pillow-biting butt-pirate and if you touch our kids, we’ll kill you. Perfect. Absolutely based. One hundred percent awesome.”
It is important to remember that despite Peters’ well-documented extremism, he regularly manages to get Republican leaders, elected officials, and candidates for office to appear on his program, and has been invited to campaign on behalf of GOP candidates.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Stew Peters Says Uganda’s Harsh Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Is ‘100 Percent Awesome’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Will Doran @ WRAL: ‘God formed me’ to fight LGBTQ issues, NC’s Mark Robinson says as 2024 governor’s race looms.
- Kelly McClure @ Salon: Ted Nugent calls Zelenskyy a “homosexual weirdo” during Trump’s Waco rally.
- Ray Hartman @ Raw Story: Trump indictment over Stormy Daniels will have ‘little impact’ on his evangelical Christian base: expert.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: ‘I Thought It Was Horrible’: Netanyahu Torches Trump For Dinner With Neo-Nazi Fuentes and Kanye West.
- Tim Miller @ The Bulwark: DeSantis Finds His Voice: A NatCon Culture Warrior Who Praised a Prominent White Nationalist.
- Henry Redman @ Wisconsin Examiner: Kelly campaign runs shot-for-shot remake of racist Willie Horton ad.
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: QAnon Spent the Weekend Spreading a John Fetterman Body Double Conspiracy Theory.
- Olivia Little @ Media Matters: Former SNL cast member and conspiracy theorist Victoria Jackson is teaming up with Moms for Liberty to ban books.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Homosexual Weirdo appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- David Lane declares that “much like Sodom, contemporary American education engages unreservedly in grooming the next generation for immorality and sexual perversion. Pursuing excessive indulgence of lust and animalism gets now the highest grades in public education.”
- Scott Lively proclaims that “homo-fascism is insidious and deadly and it must be fought first in the streets before honest judges can overturn it in the courts”: “Our people should be constantly ‘mis-gendering’ and ‘dead-naming’ and otherwise (non-violently) ‘breaking’ those unconstitutional laws for the purpose of creating martyrs with standing to sue the government and every woke institution that practices homo-fascism.”
- Ali Alexander asserts that “the Inquisition was cool” while “public schools are not cool.”
- Anti-feminist streamer Pearl Davis interviewed Nick Fuentes on her show and didn’t understand why she got so much criticism about it. Now, Davis has removed all the Fuentes shows from the channel and issued an apology: “In hindsight, that wasn’t smart.”
- Stella Immanuel warns that drag queen performances open “a portal” through which children are infected with “a spirit of perversion”: “It is a possession exercise.”
- Finally, the only one surprised to discover that Elijah Schaffer’s fans don’t believe that the “good guys” won World War II is Elijah Schaffer.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Perversion Portals appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Steve Turley, a religious-right media personality with more than a million YouTube subscribers, is celebrating the passage of extremely harsh new anti-LGBTQ legislation in Uganda that makes it a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison to simply identify as a gay or transgender person. The legislation is part of a broader crackdown on freedom and civil society in that country.
Like other right-wing political figures who posture as lovers of freedom while supporting freedom-crushing regimes around the world, Turley is a huge fan of Russia’s strongman Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, even celebrating the latter’s moves to consolidate power by “crushing” liberalism and threatening to jail journalists.
“Uganda BANS LGBT!!!” screamed the headline at Turley’s online newsletter Monday, celebrating the draconian law as evidence that “a new conservative age has already arrived!”
In the accompanying YouTube video, Turley mocked the United States’ condemnation of the Ugandan legislation and excitedly recounted anti-LGBTQ actions taken by governments around the world, including those in Russia, Hungary, China, and Kenya. Turley says these repressive measures are evidence of a “new geopolitical reality” in which the “liberal Western governing elite” is losing its power as “the world is entering into a new conservative age, a far more traditionalist, nationalist, civilizationist world!”
The rise of a new nationalist and “traditionalist” world order is a regular theme of Turley’s. In an address to the World Congress of Families in 2019, Turley celebrated that religious traditionalists were outbreeding secular people, ensuring that America’s future would be “evangelical, Mormon, and Amish.” That same year, in a podcast titled “WHITES Projected to Become Dominant SUPERMAJORITY in U.S.,” Turley said that multiculturalism is “slowly and surely dissipating.”
Turley is an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump; in 2021, he celebrated Trump’s “iron grip” on the Republican Party, claiming that “President Trump is in fact forming a de facto shadow government that is effectively directing the new Patriot-inspired GOP and the policies that they’re either advocating or enacting in their governments over the nation.”
The Ephrata, Pennsylvania-based Turley actively supported Christian nationalist Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano in last year’s gubernatorial race, producing and promoting a pro-Mastriano propaganda film titled “The Return of the American Patriot: The Rise of Pennsylvania.”
Turley is not the only religious-right figure taking note of the new legislation in Uganda. The international arm of the Alliance Defending Freedom, the religious-right legal behemoth that opposes LGBTQ equality in the U.S. and has supported laws criminalizing homosexuality oversees, linked without comment to a news article about the Uganda legislation under the “Marriage & Family” section of its March 22 daily digest.
U.S. religious-right groups have been partnering for years with their African counterparts to inflame anti-LGBTQ sentiment and promote anti-LGBTQ legislation.
The post Religious-Right Figure Steve Turley Celebrates Uganda Legislation Criminalizing Homosexuality appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last week, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation prohibiting transgender people from using public school facilities that match their gender identity. That legislation was crafted by the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, a right-wing organization that seeks to elect “godly leaders in our nation at every level” and then use them to “restore the Judeo-Christian foundation of our nation.”
Following the signing of this legislation into law, Jason Rapert, a longtime religious-right activist and ardent Christian nationalist who founded the NACL, took a victory lap, crediting his organization for the law and celebrating its success in pushing back “against the things of the devil in our country.”
As Rapert reported, this legislation had first been proposed by Arkansas school board member David Naylor during an annual NACL meeting and then brought to the Arkansas state legislature by state Rep. Mary Bentley, who serves on the board of the NACL.
On Friday, Rapert interviewed Bentley on his “Save The Nation” program, where she celebrated the NACL’s efforts “to get our biblical worldview spread across the nation.”
“Thank goodness we’ve got some common sense left here in Arkansas,” Bentley said. “[It was because of the NACL] that we were able to get that passed as model policy and bring it forth. I just love seeing grassroots come together and school board members coming to the capitol and going to the governor’s desk and just seeing it all work and flow just exactly how we want to. So, for the folks that are supporting NACL and what we’re doing, this is what we want to do across the country.”
“This is an example of the power of the NACL’s ability with model legislation,” Rapert replied. “This was brought by one of our members, and this policy actually could be immediately adopted by school boards in every school district across this country. If the school board wanted to adopt it, this is the model that they can utilize. And in addition to that, just like you did, go and pass it for the state so that this is going to apply to all the school boards in your state.”
Rapert and Bentley agreed that Arkansas has now blazed the trail on this issue, thereby making it easier for legislatures in other states to enact the same law.
“That’s what happens when you can be a leader,” Bentley asserted. “Once you make a trail, it’s a lot easier for people to follow once you get that trail made.”
“Thank you again for being a part of the NACL,” Bentley declared. “It’s just what we need in this nation right now to have it moving forward, to get our biblical worldview spread across the nation.”
The NACL has modeled itself after American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative lobbying group known for writing model legislation with major industries and partnering with state politicians to get them passed. The group’s advisory board includes politicians like Mike Huckabee and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as well as influential religious-right activists like Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel.
The post The National Association of Christian Lawmakers Seeks to Get Its ‘Biblical Worldview Spread Across the Nation’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- John Fea @ Current: Ron DeSantis is heading to Liberty University.
- Nick Visser @ HuffPost: Michigan GOP Refuses To Back Down After Comparing Gun Reform To The Holocaust.
- Joe Jervis: GOP Rep With Five Personal Bankruptcies Opposes Biden’s Student Loan Relief: “Debt Cannot Be Canceled.”
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Rudy Giuliani Claims George Soros Personally Chased Him and Tried to Stop His Plane From Taking Off During Ukraine Trip.
- Alex Henderson @ AlterNet: WI Supreme Court hopeful spoke at event with pastor who says killing abortion doctors is ‘justifiable homicide.’
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Justifiable Homicide appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Axios reports that Mark Robinson, the unabashed Christian nationalist and virulent anti-LGBTQ bigot who currently serves as lieutenant governor of North Carolina, is expected to officially announce that he’s running for governor next month.
- Ali Alexander hopes to have children one day, but doesn’t want to be burdened with having to actually raise them because he’s too busy being “a great man”: “I’m a man to be revered and written about.”
- Clay Clark is hosting a “Reverse Davos” conference in Oklahoma tonight, which looks to be a truncated version of his traveling “ReAwaken America” tour.
- Jason Rapert rants that banks are failing because they’re “giving money to the ungodly”: “They were giving money to the woke leftists in this country that were pushing this queer ideology in your schools!”
- Finally, Floyd Brown declares that right-wing Christians must “take back America” by having their church literally take over their town: “Every church should run their town.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Great Man’s Burden appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Under a logo proclaiming “Because No One is Above the Law!” a Judicial Watch email sent Wednesday evening promoted an interview in which the group’s president Tom Fitton complained about multiple legal investigations into potential criminal behavior by former President Donald Trump.
Fitton appeared on the American Family Radio show hosted by Jenna Ellis, a former Trump attorney who admitted in a Colorado disciplinary proceeding this month that she had made repeated “misrepresentations” about having evidence to prove that Trump won the 2020 election.
During her interview with Fitton, Ellis decried what she called the “insane persecution” of Trump, describing current investigations as “wholly political” prosecutions intended to drain Trump’s campaign warchest. Fitton agreed, denouncing the grand jury investigation in Georgia a “scam”—a particularly unconvincing claim to make as new evidence has emerged about the extent to which Trump pressured Georgia officials to “find” votes for him or otherwise act to overturn his 2020 loss in that state. Fitton has charged that Democrats want to make Trump a “political prisoner.”
Ellis gave out the phone number for the New York Governor’s office—getting it from a Fitton tweet—urging Trump supporters to demand that the governor take action against the Manhattan District Attorney investigating Trump for potential campaign finance law violations surrounding hush money paid to keep stripper Stormy Daniels quiet before the 2016 election.
In the disciplinary proceeding against her, Ellis admitted that her false comments made after the 2020 election were “reckless” and “undermined the American public’s confidence in the presidential election, violating her duty of candor to the public.” Among her statements she admitted were false was a claim she made on Fox host Jeannine Pirro’s show claiming that Trump’s legal team had found more than 500,000 votes “that were cast illegally” in Arizona.
Ellis accepted censure and agreed that she violated regulations that say it is “professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation.”
Judicial Watch, a massively funded group founded by right-wing activist Larry Klayman, has its own record of spreading false information—and a close relationship with Trump.
Before the 2020 election, Fitton addressed the Council for National Policy, urging members of the secretive right-wing network to find a way to stop mail-in ballots from being sent to voters. It tried to force Pennsylvania to purge hundreds of thousands of “inactive” voters from the rolls. Then, just before the election, Fitton prepared a statement for Trump to declare victory on Election Day before all the ballots were counted. More recently, Fitton, who is not a lawyer, urged Trump to resist returning documents to the National Archives.
Fitton also appeared on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal this week, where he dismissed the investigations, saying “Democratic politicians are trying to jail Trump” and claimed that Trump’s civil rights are being violated by the investigations. Trump, he asserted, is being targeted for “who he is,” not what he has done, an assertion that appeared to be unconvincing to many of the C-SPAN callers.
In February, Fitton was reportedly called to testify before the criminal grand jury by special counsel Jack Smith, who is looking into Trump’s efforts to overturn the election and his handling of classified documents.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Jenna Ellis and Tom Fitton Denounce Legal Investigations of Trump appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Thousands of conservative Christians gathered in Florida this week for a “Fire and Glory Tour,” organized by right-wing evangelists Mario Murillo and Lance Wallanu, who are associated with the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation.
Both Murillo and Wallnau are conspiracy theorists and unabashed Trump cultists who have declared that Christians must never accept the results of the 2020 election, warning that accepting that Joe Biden is president is a sign of disloyalty to God. Given such views, it was no surprise that the event was filled with right-wing rants, corporate prayers for Trump, and Christian nationalist rhetoric, such as when speaker Floyd Brown, founder of The Western Journal, urged the audience to “take back America” by having their church literally take over their hometowns.
“Every church should run their town,” Floyd proclaimed.
Floyd Brown, founder of The Western Journal, declares that right-wing Christians must “take back America” by having their church literally take over their town: “Every church should run their town.” pic.twitter.com/3TXXtxsPCL
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 23, 2023
Murillo and Wallnau are both ardent believers in the big lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and predictably talk of political issues and the 2024 election was prevalent during the event. At one point, Wallnau even floated the idea of organizing a traveling “Fire and Glory Tour” that would target swing states in order to break the “demonic strongholds” that are supposedly preventing Republicans from winning elections.
“There’s no Republican that can legally make it into the White House the way that the elections are set up right now,” Wallnau griped. “[The swing states] have counties that are so tightly wrapped up by the devil that it’s virtually impossible for you to see an election go through that gridwork and come out honest unless there’s a divine intervention. I just want you to know what we’re up against. But I suggested the Mario, if we do a ‘Fire and Glory Tour,’ I would want to go to every one of those swing states and I would make it a goal to break down the stronghold over each of those counties. It’s a demonic stronghold!”
In Wallnau’s view, the only “honest” elections are ones in which Republicans win, as any other result is due to a “demonic stronghold” that must be broken so that God’s preferred GOP candidates can win. And this is the message that he hopes to spread across the nation heading into the 2024 presidential election.
Wallnau and Murillo took part in a “Flashpoint Live” broadcast last year where they prayed over Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and in which participants were led in a Christian nationalist oath that asserted, “We the church are God’s governing body on the earth” and included, “We decree that we take back and permanently control positions of influence and leadership in each of the ‘Seven Mountains.’” Wallnau is a major promoter of Seven Mountains Dominionism, which holds that the right kind of Christians must take control of every sphere or “mountain” of influence in society, including government.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Lance Wallnau Seeks to Break the ‘Demonic Strongholds’ That Are Preventing GOP Candidates from Winning Elections appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Justin Baragona @ The Daily Beast: Tucker Carlson Desperately Tries to Walk Back Trump ‘Hate.’
- Joe Jervis: Log Cabin Spox Celebrates Anti-LGBTQ Uganda Law.
- Jack Wheatley @ Media Matters: Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon, and a QAnon conspiracy theorist are all boosting a far-right Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate.
- Tess Owen @ Vice News: Who Had It Worse, Trump or Jesus Christ?
- Lindsay Dodgson @ Business Insider: As Andrew Tate languishes in jail, a new celebrity anti-feminist creator is filling the gap. Unlike him, she’s a woman.
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: North Carolina’s Lt. Governor Is A Facebook Brawler Whose Posts Railed Against Gays, Blacks, And Jews.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Facebook Brawler appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Lauren Witzke warns that “America will soon become an ungovernable jungle” where white people “will be unwelcome.”
- “Prophetess” Kar Kerr reports that she “will not be making her weekly appearances on Elijah Streams with Steve until later in the year.” She says it is because she needs to “rest and heal,” but we suspect that it likely has something to do with her being called out as a false prophet by Mario Murillo and others.
- Steve Franssen is not a fan of Black people: “Go to grocery store. Get beat up by blacks. Go to cruise ship. Get beat up by blacks. Go to gas station. Get beat up by blacks. Go to NFL game. Get beat up by blacks. Go to Florida. Get beat up by blacks. Go to NYC. Get beat up by blacks.”
- Shane Vaughn reacts exactly as you’d expect to the reports that former President Donald Trump paid hush money to cover up the extramarital affair he had with an adult film actress: “I don’t know, and I don’t care.”
- Nick Fuentes wants to see Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “tried for treason” and executed for taking a swipe at Trump over his legal difficulties stemming from this affair: “I can’t wait for Trump to become president and for Ron DeSantis to be indicted for treason and then executed by the Trump Revolutionary Guard.”
- Finally, Lance Wallnau and thousands of right-wing Christians prayed in tongues to protect Trump from arrest, as well as from “every witchcraft curse, vex, spell that has been launched against him.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Trump Revolutionary Guard appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Turning Point USA has a “groyper” problem.
The right-wing get out the vote youth organization TPUSA, led by Charlie Kirk, has long had to fend off the followers of white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who call themselves groypers, from infiltrating their ranks. But they haven’t always been successful at keeping racists and groypers at arm’s length and have at times have even employed them.
A groyper appears to have slipped through the cracks most recently at the University of Alabama. Brandt Wiggins is a follower of Fuentes’ white nationalist America First movement, and this January, the TPUSA chapter at University of Alabama announced that Wiggins had assumed the role of vice president.
Wiggins has peddled the great replacement theory and urged white people to “HAVE WHITE BABIES!!!” He’s advocated for men to beat their wives if they try to obtain a divorce. And he has joined white nationalists as a guest on their show and used antisemitic language.
Right Wing Watch reached out to Wiggins, TPUSA, TPUSA chapter president Judson Christopher, and the chapter’s academic adviser Tuesday. A spokesman for TPUSA responded Tuesday that “Brandt Wiggins is no longer affiliated with TPUSA.”
The chapter’s academic adviser, politics professor George Hawley, replied that he “never personally met Brandt Wiggins and [knows] nothing more about him and his activities than what is available online.” In an email with the chapter’s TPUSA president on March 3, Hawley says he was informed “that they had already gone through the process of formally removing Mr. Wiggins from his position.”
Neither Wiggins nor the chapter president replied to our inquiry by publication. Right Wing Watch will update this story should either provide comment.
Wiggins streams on Cozy.tv, an explicitly “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” platform founded by Fuentes, under the name Based Brandt. While his videos cannot be seen on there—the platform automatically deletes livestreams after two days—in a livestream captured by an antifascist activist, Wiggins encouraged men to “always make women emotionally dependent on you” and advocated for domestic violence.
“Do whatever it takes, gaslight, all that. Make them dependent on you unironically. Be a little schemer if you have to,” Wiggins said.
Wiggins went on to discuss marriage, which he called “more of a necessity for the children,” and provided his take on what men should do if their wives want a divorce.
“People are like, ‘Oh if you don’t choose the right one, she might divorce you.’ She might divorce me? Are you kidding me?” Wiggins scoffed. “What if I just don’t let her? What if I gaslight her, what if I make her emotionally dependent? Stop letting your wives be so independent and they won’t divorce you or they can’t even attempt to divorce you. Any discussion of that, and you back hand her. You’re like, ‘No, no, you need me.’ Make her sign the prenup.”
Wiggins attended last year’s white nationalist America First Political Action Conference, where speakers like radical conspiracy theorist Stew Peters called for the hanging of their political enemies and the appearances of far-right politicians like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar emboldened the white nationalists in attendance. Wiggins took a photo with Fuentes, publishing it on Twitter with the caption “we can’t be stopped.” He wrote:
I had the absolute pleasure of meeting @realnickjfuentes at AFPAC! He was extremely cordial and even asked me about my content! The energy in the air was ecstatic last night and it goes to show that we can’t be stopped. We have now gone mainstream thanks to backing from politicians and other important political figures.
Fuentes—who made headlines last fall when he dined with former President Donald Trump and Ye—has compared himself to Hitler, said that “We need to go back to burning women alive more,” and called for Christian fascism. He’s also attempted to recruit incels and misogynists to his movement of young, mostly white men and has been accused of running his organization like a cult.
Earlier this month, Wiggins also attended the Conservative Political Action Conference with Fuentes and other groypers. Though Fuentes was kicked out of CPAC, he held an America First white nationalist rally following the conference’s conclusion at which Fuentes called for the eradication of “transgenderism,” feminism, liberalism, democracy, and “Talmudic Judaism” from public life. Wiggins was photographed waiting in line for Fuentes’ rally.
Nick Fuentes and Brandt Wiggins pose for a photo at AFPAC in 2022.In December 2022, Wiggins participated in a livestream with white nationalist America First influencers Tyler Russell and Dalton Clodfelter, who pronounced his love of Hitler during the stream. When Russell gleefully noted that “every two weeks, antisemitism is up, it’s up,” Wiggins put both thumbs up in response.
The trio also applauded Trump’s dinner with Fuentes and Ye, which followed the rappers’ antisemitic outbursts. After voicing his support for Ye’s campaign for president—which Fuentes was advising—Wiggins said that the older generation of Americans had been “totally zogged” into not believing trans people were a big deal. The term “zog” is an antisemitic term regularly used by white supremacists.
The following month, the “Ye Is Right” campaign came to the University of Alabama. Russell and Clodfelter had organized the “road trip” to hit different college campuses to lift Ye’s 2024 presidential campaign, defend the rapper turned presidential candidate’s antisemitic remarks, and spread Holocaust denial conspiracy theories.
They day before their official arrival on campus, on Jan. 26, someone drew graffiti on the sidewalk that read “YEisRight” and “America First,” alongside references to the date Jan. 27, Holocaust Remembrance Day. Student organizations, including University of Alabama’s TPUSA chapter, condemned the graffiti. In a post on Instagram, the TPUSA chapter claimed to “stand with the UA Jewish community.” The chapter was, however, following Russell on Instagram and had planned on hosting Russell and another America First activist Kai Schwemmer in October. (The event was later canceled, and the chapter’s Instagram account is now private.) Wiggins had not only appeared on Russell and Clodfelter’s show but also defended their “Ye Is Right” campaign earlier in the month, and he was in a celebratory mood when the campaign arrived at University of Alabama.
The campaign around Ye has always been about pushing the right further to the right, and white nationalists have used Ye as a meme for recruitment to do just that. As Daniel Schmidt, chairman of “Students For Ye,” told Russell in the beginning of January, one of the groups’ top priorities is “taking over” TPUSA chapters all over the country. “If it’s not pro-Ye, we’ll send our guys down there, and we’ll do whatever it takes to put leaders in, put pro-Ye people in,” he told Russell. It would come as no surprise then that Fuentes has aggressively pushed Schmidt and “Students For Ye,” according to Vice News.
Daniel Schmidt, chairman of "Students For Ye," says that one of their top priorities is "taking over" TPUSA chapters all over the country: "If it's not pro-Ye, we'll send our guys down there and we'll do whatever it takes to put leaders in, put pro-Ye people in." pic.twitter.com/a4hT6eTUj8
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) January 3, 2023
Ben Lorber, a researcher at Political Research Associates who was the first to identify Wiggins as a follower of Fuentes, describes Wiggins as “a minor player within the groyper movement, one of the many figures who have emerged from the depths of the Gen-Z far-right internet over the last year or so to hitch their wagon to Fuentes and the America First brand.”
But Wiggins’ ascent to vice president of Alabama’s TPUSA chapter is indicative of one strategy the white nationalist America First movement has taken in respect to TPUSA: using it as fertile recruiting ground.
“America First has long viewed TPUSA as symbolic of the out-of-touch, ineffectual, and politically compromised conservative establishment,” Lorber told Right Wing Watch. “At various points, Fuentes and the groypers have advocated pressuring TPUSA from the outside, infiltrating it from within, or ignoring it entirely and building parallel structures that, they hope, will grow in popularity and come to supplant their competitors.”
And TPUSA, along with the entire conservative movement, has moved further to the right—a shift that Fuentes and groypers have taken credit for. As Kirk and TPUSA have come to embrace Christian nationalists, election denialism, the racist great replacement theory, and fearmongering about Black Lives Matter and critical race theory, groypers have struggled to stay relevant, using ploys like “Ye Is Right” to position themselves as an edgy alternative.
Update: This article has been updated with a clarification from George Hawley about when he was informed Wiggins was removed from his position at the University of Alabama TPUSA chapter.
The post Turning Point USA Has a Groyper Problem appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation Tuesday prohibiting transgender people from using public school facilities that match their gender identity. Later that same day, Jason Rapert, a former Arkansas state senator and founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, posted a video crediting his organization for the legislation.
Rapert, a longtime religious-right activist and ardent Christian nationalist, bragged that this piece of legislation was first proposed by Arkansas school board member David Naylor during an annual NACL meeting, endorsed by the organization, and finally brought to the Arkansas state legislature by state Rep. Mary Bentley, who serves on the board of the NACL.
“The NACL has seven working committees,” Rapert said. “Those committees actually debate and discuss every major policy issue in this country, all from a biblical worldview.”
“We make model laws,” he continued. “Do you know that just recently Rep. Mary Bentley of Arkansas passed a model law that the NACL adopted at their last meeting in the state of Texas?”
“Rep. Mary Bentley, [who] is our chair of the National Legislative Council, she went to the Arkansas legislature, took that concept that came from Dr. David Naylor that was then adopted by the full body of the NACL, and guess what? It’s already been placed into law in the state of Arkansas,” Rapert crowed. “That’s the difference the NACL can make in your community.”
“This is what the NACL does every day all across this country,” Rapert bellowed later in the video. “We are fighting for the lives of little babies. We are fighting against the people that are putting the queer books into your school libraries and trying to groom these children into homosexuality. We’re standing up. We’re pursuing school board policies to save the nation. We are standing up and have our members running bills in the halls of the state legislatures to stand up against this woke ideology, to push back against the things of the devil in our country.”
In December, Rapert declared that right-wing Christians must rise up and “take authority” over everything from their local school boards to the federal government. The National Association for Christian Lawmakers seeks do just that, advancing legislation that fits their narrow conservative biblical worldview in statehouses throughout the country. The group’s advisory board includes politicians like Mike Huckabee and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as well as influential religious-right activists like Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
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- Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Pastors Blame Donald Trump’s Prayer Call Fail on Flood of Trolls.
- Anya Zoledziowski @ Vice News: ‘Under His Wings’: Leaked Emails Reveal an Anti-Trans ‘Holy War.’
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Dana Perino Says ‘Wokeism’ Can Be Whatever Republicans Want It to Be: ‘It Could Be a Feeling, It Could Be a Sense.’
- Elizabeth Williamson and Emily Steel @ The New York Times: Sandy Hook Families Are Fighting Alex Jones and the Bankruptcy System Itself.
- Jordan Green @ Raw Story: NYPD cops ‘will be dealt with,’ MAGA provocateur Ali Alexander threatens.
- McKay Coppins @ The Atlantic: Nobody Likes Mike Pence.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Under His Wings appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Trump lawyer Christina Bobb appeared on “Up Front In the Prophetic,” a show hosted by fervent QAnon conspiracy theorist Francine Fosdick, where the two had a totally normal conversation about whether President Joe Biden has been replaced by a clone.
- Christian nationalist Jason Rapert was on Capitol Hill last week, meeting with lawmakers, including Sen. Tom Cotton.
- Some deep insights from Steven Franssen: “Historically, witches often confessed (willingly and not under duress) to conjugal visits with Lucifer. Therefore, dating gurus manicure themselves perfectly to conform to female vanity, becoming a visage of Lucifer himself.”
- David Lane proclaims that “since politics is downstream from culture, every church in America should be prompting a pastor, deacon, elder or congregant to run for local office in 2024, 2026, 2028 and thereafter.”
- Finally, Lance Wallnau hopes to one day see Steve Bannon speak in tongues and the entire Trump family become Charismatic Pentecostals.
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In response to reports that former President Donald Trump may soon be indicted on criminal charges stemming from his efforts to conceal his extramarital affair with a pornographic actress, the leaders of the far-right America First movement put their fascist agenda on full display.
Last Friday, Nick Fuentes, the racist, misogynistic, America-hating, Christian fascist founder of the white nationalist America First movement, did a livestream in which he responded to Trump’s statement that he might soon be arrested. Fuentes used the program to fault Trump for not being sufficiently “brutal” during his term in office, declaring that if Trump gets back into office, he must refuse to leave.
“I’ll never forget when Trump was asked during the transition, ‘Are you really going to arrest Hillary Clinton?’ and he was like, ‘No, I don’t think I need to do that,'” Fuentes said. “You should have. You should have dragged Obama by his nappy hair—no, I’m kidding—but you should have dragged Obama by his basketball jersey through the courts. You should have dragged Hillary Clinton and the Podestas. It should have been Pizzagate on trial. It should have been ‘Fast and Furious,’ and [Burisma]. It should have been all those things playing out in court.”
“It should have been Hillary Clinton and Obama in an orange jumpsuit and a paddy wagon. That’s what it should have been,” Fuentes continued. “It should have been brutal and unforgiving and unrelenting and intense and unstoppable. That’s what it should have been. Deportations, depriving people of the vote, building a wall, disregarding the courts, disregarding Congress, arresting the opposition; it should have been that.”
“We’ve got to be willing to do what it takes,” Fuentes declared. “This is a man’s game. And that’s the lesson. Trump’s got to get back in—Trump or Ye—whoever, but they got to get back in, and this time, they can’t leave, OK? We’ve got to make America great again and not leave until it’s done.”
Vincent James, an unapologetic racist, antisemite, misogynist, conspiracy theorist, and fascist who currently serves as the treasurer of Fuentes’ white nationalist America First organization, echoed those remarks during his own livestream Monday afternoon.
“When we get power, there can be no mercy,” James proclaimed. “If Trump gets power again, there can be no mercy. When we say we’re going to arrest someone, arrest them. When you say you’re going to arrest Hillary Clinton, arrest her. And even much more than that. When you have power in, let’s say, individual states, you have to make sure that you keep that power. You have to do whatever it takes to keep that power and grow that power, to make sure that power is never subverted, is never taken away from you.”
“We must force younger generations to think the way that we do. That’s what needs to be done,” James continued. “Just remember that what we’re teaching and what we’re trying to make people believe and what we’re trying to convince people of is right and just, and what they’re trying to make people believe or convince people of is wrong and evil. This is a spiritual battle.”
“If Trump runs and wins after all of this, there can be no mercy,” James asserted. “Absolutely no mercy. You have to take the precautions that you need to take to make sure that none of this ever comes back in your face, that none of this can ever happen again after you leave office. You have to assure the people that you want to put around you—you have to make sure that they’re loyalists, you have to make sure that they’re true believers in the cause—and you have to assure them that this will never happen again, that you’re going to take the steps that need to be taken to make sure that this never happens again. There’s going to be no mercy from this point on, from this day forward.”
It is obvious, based on these statements and many others, that those involved in the America First movement have no interest in or intention of being part of our representative system of government because they are brazen authoritarians driven solely by a desire to seize control of the reins of power and then stop at nothing to permanently maintain that power.
Fuentes and James have made their agenda abundantly clear: They want to destroy our entire system of government so they can impose their Christian fascist agenda on the nation.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post ‘There Can Be No Mercy’: America First Leaders Put the Movement’s Fascism on Full Display appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Tess Owen @ Vice News: The Far-Right Is Scared Trump’s Call to Protest Is a Trap.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: ‘Not acceptable’: Steve Bannon attacks ‘weasel’ Ron DeSantis for refusing to stop Trump arrest.
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Trump Goes Scorched Earth on DeSantis, Raises Questions About His Sexuality and Peddles Groomer Smear.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Jim Jordan Waging ‘Purely Political Attack’: Demands Bragg Testify Before Congress Over Expected Trump Indictment.
- Joe Jervis: Anti-LGBTQ Extremist Ejected From Texas Hearing After Repeatedly Declaring Trans People To Be “Pedophiles.”
- John Russell @ LGBTQ News: Rightwing pundit who called for eradicating “transgenderism” played a gay twink in a movie.
- Jonathan Larsen @ Salon: Paul Gosar blames Jesus for sneaking Kari Lake into “new” National Prayer Breakfast.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Blame Jesus appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- MAGA cultist Shane Vaughn responded to the news that former President Donald Trump may soon be arrested by posting seven different videos on social media over the course of two days.
- Pete Santilli reacted to the news of Trump’s possible arrested by calling on the military and law enforcement to round up former President Barack Obama, Eric Holder, Susan Rice, and other members of the “criminal cabal,” line them up against a wall, and execute them.
- Ali Alexander said that Trump’s call for his supporters to protest his arrest makes Trump look “really pathetic.”
- While preaching during a “Fire & Glory” event, Mario Murillo ranted about “perversion” in public schools, demanded that pharmaceutical companies be criminally charged for giving us shots “that have poisoned us,” and then prayed that Trump becomes “on fire for Christ.”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes attempted to explain why he thinks that women are “intrigued” by him but have to pretend like they’re not: “A lot of women want to be raped. … A lot of women really want a guy to beat the shit out of them, but part of it is that they have to pretend that they don’t.”
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When right-wing youth organizer Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA spoke at University of California, Davis, last week, protests erupted that resulted in various acts of vandalism and arrests.
When right-wing pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills church, who is ardent supporter and close ally of Kirk’s, heard about the protests, he took to social media to post a video voicing his outrage that Kirk is generating these sorts of protests and pastors are not.
“I’m embarrassed that Charlie got attacked for speaking truth when it should have been us,” Hibbs said. “It should be the pastor that’s standing and exposing this absolute fallacy of transgenderism cult. It is a cult, now. It’s an official cult. It’s a religion. It’s LBGTQ transgender lunacy that is a direct violation of everything that is normal, right, scientific, and culturally sustainable.”
“Pastors, you and I should be embarrassed that Charlie Kirk stood in our place,” Hibbs continued. “He took the hit. He got eggs thrown at him, junk thrown at him, and he was mocked, ridiculed, and now on social media, he’s being scoured like a dirty pan.”
“I’m ashamed that I’m not being attacked,” Hibbs declared. “Pastor, you and I should be ashamed because we should be the clarions of truth. We’re the ones that should be standing up and saying, ‘Hey, everybody, your kids are being raped by the public school system, raped by woke politicians, absolutely maligned and destroyed, led to the point of suicide because your kids are being lied to.’ God help us pastors if we cave into peer pressure and woke pastor pressure that tries to tell us that we shouldn’t speak up.”
Hibbs is closely associated with Christian nationalist political operative David Lane and their mutual ally Rob McCoy, who is a pastor and mentor to Kirk. In a “Freedom Night” appearance with Charlie Kirk last year, Hibbs declared, “There is no such thing as the separation of church and state.” In 2021, Hibbs asked God to forgive Californians for electing “politicians with antichrist worldviews to office,” like Nancy Pelosi and Kamala Harris. That same year he called for President Joe Biden to be court martialed and removed from office.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
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Church musician turned political activist Sean Feucht has teamed up with the religious arm of right-wing youth organizing group Turning Point USA for a two-year, 50-state road trip designed to bring Feucht’s mix of worship and hard-right politics to every state capitol.
After a kickoff event attended by seven members of Congress in the U.S. Capitol rotunda March 9, the “Kingdom to the Capitol” tour headed south with a swing through Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Jackson, Mississippi, and Montgomery, Alabama this past weekend. In Alabama, Chief Justice Tom Parker, a longtime ally of the disgraced former Chief Justice Roy Moore, participated in the tour and invited Feucht to pray in the Supreme Court chamber.
Rep. Lauren Boebert was among the members of Congress who joined a small crowd in the U.S. Capitol March 9 to sing along with Feucht as he strummed his guitar. Afterwards, Feucht tweeted, “The Capitol became an Altar…There is ONE KING over America…”
Feucht, a missionary musician associated with controversial Northern California megachurch Bethel, ran for Congress in 2020 in what he said was obedience to a call from God. Despite playing up a Dec. 2019 visit to the Oval Office where he prayed over former President Donald Trump, Feucht did not make it through the primary. But the failed run hooked him on politics, and he formed a political group called Hold the Line in 2020 and ramped up his activism in opposition to public health restrictions on church gatherings that were designed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Since then, Feucht has held “Let Us Worship” rallies on the National Mall featuring appearances by Sen. Josh Hawley, New Apostolic Reformation leader Ché Ahn, and dominionist Lou Engle, as well as video remarks from Trump. He also started a podcast; when Boebert was a guest, Feucht praised her as a “gangster for Jesus.”
While Turning Point USA was founded in 2012 with a libertarian bent, founder Charlie Kirk has since teamed up with Christian nationalists, and endorsed Feucht’s congressional run in 2020. In 2021, Kirk launched TPUSA Faith as a political vehicle for “restoring traditional biblical values in our nation” by pushing conservative pastors to get more active politically. It held its first summit for pastors last year. Kirk regularly makes “Freedom Night” presentations in churches.
Since his failed run for office, Feucht has established a beachhead for spiritual warfare two blocks from the U.S. Capitol in a rowhouse he has dubbed “Camp Elah,” which he says is a biblical reference to the stream where David picked up the stones that he used to slay Goliath.
Feucht and Kirk have both been influenced by Rob McCoy, a California pastor-politician who is allied with Christian Nationalist political operative David Lane. McCoy serves as TPUSA Faith’s co-chair. In an interview on Feucht’s Hold the Line podcast, McCoy acknowledged that his Calvary Chapel church has theological differences with Bethel’s charismatic Pentecostalism, but he praised Feucht’s political activism and his collaboration with TPUSA Faith. “We have an agenda,” Feucht said. “We want the kingdom of God to take over. It’s a clear agenda from heaven.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
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- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: A guide to Stew Peters: Violent rhetoric, white nationalism, anti-LGBTQ bigotry, and conspiracy theories.
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: MyPillow CEO Says His Company Is Going Broke Defending The Big Lie…Then Takes It Back.
- Greg Owen @ LGBTQ Nation: MAGA’s resident drag queen will now be known as a “costume artist.”
- Asawin Suebsaeng and Adam Rawnsley @ Rolling Stone: A Pro-Trump Social Network Wants to Corner the Anti-Vax ‘Jizz Market.’
- Joe Jervis: Kirk Cameron Gets Tennessee Librarian Fired, Library Staff Deluged With Harassment, Bomb Threat.
- Jason Wilson @ Hatewatch: Idaho Lawmaker Tammy Nichols Pals With Extremists.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Lucrative Market appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- While Milo Yiannopoulos may now be “ex-gay,” that doesn’t mean he’ll be dating women any time soon: “Now I’ve had the chance to observe a range of women more thoroughly and systematically, I am certain I’d end up a sadistic serial-killing rapist if I had to live with one every day.”
- On a similar note, Steven Franssen assures his followers that it is perfectly OK for them to never date, talk to, look at, shake hands with, work for, learn from, or even speak to a woman.
- Stew Peters says that doctors who provide treatment to transgender children should be executed: “There were fake doctors who did fake medicine during the Holocaust too. And when we found those people … we hanged them, appropriately.”
- John Zmirak helpfully explains what right-wing Christians really mean when they say that they love their enemies and are praying for them: “I pray for my enemies’ deathbed conversions as soon as possible.”
- Finally, Lauren Witzke proudly declares her belief that the Earth is flat: “I haven’t seen [a round Earth]. I don’t trust anything I don’t see anymore. If I haven’t seen it myself, I don’t believe it.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Evidence of Things Not Seen appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing commentator and youth organizer Charlie Kirk continues to host TPUSA Faith’s monthly Freedom Night in America events at churches around the nation where he consistently spreads historically baseless claims about the Constitution and the founding of this country.
On Wednesday night, Kirk and right-wing radio host Dennis Prager of Prager U appeared at Dream City Church in Phoenix, Arizona, where the duo misrepresented American history in order to promote the Christian nationalist agenda. During his remarks, Prager assured the largely Christian audience that despite their theological differences, they were all on the same side because it is his calling as a Jew to bring Christians “to God, and to the Ten Commandments, and the Bible.”
“I have a love affair with America’s Christians,” Prager said. “It’s reciprocated. I feel very loved by America’s Christians.”
Kirk kicked things off by asking Prager, who is Jewish and who has produced several books and lectures on the Torah, to explain just how vital the Bible was to the founding of this nation.
“Can you just speak a little bit about America’s founding roots and how the American founders knew the Torah,” Kirk suggested. “Deuteronomy was the most quoted of any book—secular or religious—in the writing of the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Declaration of Independence. We teach our kids in government schools that America was a secular nation, but in reality, it was the Bible that founded the philosophical tradition of the greatest nation ever to exist in the history of the world.”
The assertion that the Bible, and Deuteronomy in particular, were “the most quoted” sources during the founding era is a claim that Christian nationalists love to make, despite the fact that it is false.
As we have explained before, this claim relies on misrepresenting a 1984 study that examined the writers and sources of ideas that were most often cited in “the political writings of Americans published between 1760 and 1805.” The study found that the Bible was the most frequently cited source solely because many of the pamphlets included in the research were sermons that had been reprinted for mass distribution (and these sermons, predictably, contained frequent references to Deuteronomy). When the sermon pamphlets were excluded, quotes from the Bible appeared no more frequently in the political writings of the era than citations of the classical or common law. In fact, when the study focused solely on the public political writings from 1787 to 1788, when the U.S. Constitution was written and ratified, “the Bible’s prominence disappears” almost completely, according to the study’s author.
So, contrary to Kirk’s confident assertion, Deuteronomy was not the most quoted of any book—secular or religious—in the writing of the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the Declaration of Independence.
Prager, of course, readily agreed with Kirk that “the founders quoted Deuteronomy more than any other biblical Book and any other secular book,” before adding an irrelevant bit of information designed to bolster Kirk’s false claims.
“The founders knew the Bible—the Torah, in particular—so well that [Thomas] Jefferson and [Benjamin] Franklin suggested that the Great Seal of the United States depict the Jews leaving Egypt,” Prager said. “These two were the least religious. They were not doctrinally Christian. They were God-centered—even Jefferson—but it just shows you how much the Torah meant to the founders of this country.”
While it is true that upon completion of the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Jefferson and Franklin recommended the creation of a Great Seal for the new nation that featured an image of Moses, that recommendation was rejected by the Continental Congress. It was not until 1782 that a design featuring an eagle clutching arrows and an olive branch was finally chosen for the Great Seal.
None of these facts, of course, are likely to matter to Kirk because his overriding goal isn’t to tell the truth or present an accurate view of history, but rather to convince Christian conservatives that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that they have a biblical obligation to ensure that it remains one. We’ve seen this same strategy used time and time again by pseudo-historian David Barton and other Christian nationalists.
The post Charlie Kirk Keeps Spreading Baseless Claims to Justify His Christian Nationalism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: Matt Gaetz’s New Staffer Identifies as a ‘Raging Misogynist.’
- Lydia O’Connor @ HuffPost: Death Penalty For Abortions Is On The Table In South Carolina.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Christian lawmaker cites Bible to defend hitting special needs students.
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: The Guys Behind The Pro-DeSantis Media Circuit In Florida Have Far-Right Resumes.
- Trone Dowd @ Vice News: GOP Lawmaker Says Hungry People Don’t Exist Because He’s Never Met One.
- Adam Kovac @ Forward: Even neo-Nazis don’t like each other.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Trump lawyer struggles to brush off his client’s hush money lie.
- Candice Ortiz @ Mediaite: Ousted Project Veritas Founder James O’Keefe Launches New Venture He Says is ‘Uber for Journalism’.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Hungry People Don’t Exist appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Trump Says Capitol Riot Was Pence’s Fault: ‘You Can Blame Him for Jan. 6.’
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: DeSantis Engages In ‘Complete Gaslighting’ Over Florida Book Bans.
- Media Matters: The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles calls trans people “demonic,” using a 19th century drawing of Baphomet as evidence.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Believe it or not, Santos files paperwork for possible 2024 race.
- Sam Brodey @ The Daily Beast: Sheriff David Clarke Dusts Off Cowboy Hat and Eyes Run for Senate.
- Zurie Pope @ The Nation: How Kanye West Helped to Embolden Anti-Semites on College Campuses.
The post Right Wing Round Up: The Blame Game appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Scott Lively declares that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election and therefore “America already owes him four more years in the White House, and, like any other robbery victim, he doesn’t legally or morally have to win another election to claim his ‘property.'”
- Neo-Nazi and toxic misogynist Andrew Anglin says that he doesn’t use Facebook much these days except for when he wants to “target women and stalk them for rape.”
- Nick Fuentes appears to be growing increasingly concerned about improving the “optics” of his fascist movement, trying to make it more about love, Jesus, and magnanimity, and less about his love of Hitler.
- Robin Bullock asserts that “true patriotism speaks the word of the living God,” but Democrats don’t: “They speak like Nazis.”
- Finally, Andrew Torba, the antisemitic founder of Gab, is building a right-wing AI that he and others can use to flood social media with “Christian Nationalist propaganda all day long.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Flood of Christian Nationalist Propaganda appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official and current adviser to the former president, is raising funds through his Fight With Kash Foundation to help “peaceful” Jan. 6 defendants “stand up against the Deep State.”
Patel’s March 13 email puts a Tucker Carlson-like spin on the Capitol insurrection, claiming that the “government and fake news media are lying” about Jan. 6, 2021 being a “deadly insurrection” when “most of the protestors were peaceful.” The email urges people to donate to Patel’s “new America First organization.”
Just last week, ABC News reported on questions that have been raised about Patel’s “charity” and highlighted some of its activities, including providing thousands of dollars to suspended and former FBI officials who are now working with House Republicans, promoting Patel’s books, and funding defamation lawsuits filed by Trump loyalists. Fight with Kash was also listed as a sponsor of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference.
Patel is so close to Trump insider and political dirty trickster Roger Stone that Stone reportedly named his dog Kash. In February, Patel joined a cavalcade of far-right figures, including Michael Flynn, Jack Posobiec, Laura Loomer, and Jackson Lahmeyer in a Stone-hosted event billed as an “America First Response” to President Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union Address.
Last year, Media Matters reported that Patel had promoted a strategy to grow Trump’s Truth Social social media platform by appealing to QAnon conspiracy theorists. Patel’s willingness to use such tactics are likely to be rewarded by Trump should he win reelection; ABC News noted that if Trump were to return to the White House, Patel could end up as U.S. Attorney General or CIA director.
The post Trump Adviser Kash Patel’s ‘Charity’ Raises Cash for Jan. 6 Defendants appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Stew Peters, a far-right broadcaster who has built a network featuring white nationalists and Christian nationalists, has long used his nightly program, speeches, and social media accounts to spread wild conspiracy theories, bigotry, and calls for violence.
Despite his well-documented extremism, Peters has regularly managed to get Republican leaders, elected officials, and candidates for office to appear on his program. On Monday night, Peters scored his latest interview with a Republican member of Congress when far-right Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona stopped by for a nearly 30-minute interview.
In 2022, Peters and Gosar both addressed the white nationalist America First Political Action Conference, organized by racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, America-hating, Christian fascist Nick Fuentes, whom Gosar has repeatedly promoted and defended.
During Monday’s interview, Peters praised Gosar for being one of the few Republicans in Congress who are willing to appear on his program to which Gosar responded that he “loves” being on Peters’ show “because people deserve to know” the truth.
“We hope that you will come back,” Peters later told Gosar. “We appreciate you being here.”
“We’re just trying to do our best to be the people’s bullhorn,” Peters said. “There’s not another platform out here that’s focused on trying to find a real remedy.”
Perhaps the only “remedy” for solving all the problems plaguing the nation, Peters finally suggested, is just doing away with the government entirely and naming Gosar as president and Peters as his vice president.
“Just get rid of the whole damn government,” Peters declared. “Start over from scratch. You and I, we’ll do it. How about that? You can be the president; I’ll be the vice president.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Rep. Paul Gosar Cozies Up to Far-Right Conspiracy Theorist Stew Peters appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Pence—Once Again—Critiques Trump In Public While Helping Him In Private.
- Will Sommer @ The Daily Beast: Meet the ‘Ghost’ Woman Fox Relied on for Voter Fraud Claims.
- Eleanor Klibanoff @ The Texas Tribune: Conservative radio host Glenn Beck buys Roe v. Wade attorney Linda Coffee’s archive to highlight “bloody legacy.”
- Cameron Joseph @ Vice News: Yet Another Conspiracy Theorist Just Won a GOP State Party Chairmanship.
- Michael Edison Hayden @ Hatewatch: ‘Alt-Right’ Disinformation King Faces Trial.
- Stephanie Mencimer @ Mother Jones: Kyle Rittenhouse, the MAGA Star That Wasn’t.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Quest for MAGA Success appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Lara Trump appeared on the “Elijah Streams” program last week where she said the outcome of the 2020 election was all part of God’s plan “to open people’s eyes to the true spiritual warfare that is taking place in our country”: “It is good versus evil.”
- Former Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield is now dedicating entire episodes of his show on the Salem Podcast Network to promoting QAnon.
- Lance Wallnau reported that he, Cindy Jacobs, Ché Ahn, Mario Bramnick, and other modern-day “prophets” were recently in Guatemala, meeting with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei.
- John Guandolo claims that Black Lives Matter “is a Chinese communist organization being run by Chinese Communist Party officials inside the consulate inside the United States.”
- Hank Kunneman used his Sunday sermon to insist that the Biden administration “doesn’t exist” and that President Joe Biden has been replaced by body doubles: “I ain’t buying it because I ain’t deceived.”
- Ali Alexander is thankful: “GOD has made me sooooo humble. And yet still better than 99% of others. Wow, amazing—thank You God!”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes concludes that he might have to “tone down the Hitler thing going forward” because he’s afraid all his proclamations of love for Hitler could attract the wrong kind of Nazis to his movement.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Be Not Deceived appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jason Rapert, a former Arkansas state senator and founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, appeared on the “Give Me Liberty” program late last year and laid out his vision for a nation in which every congressional seat is occupied by Christian conservatives.
“Give Me Liberty” is produced by Liberty University’s Standing for Freedom Center, which was originally named the Falkirk Center in honor of its founders, former Liberty president Jerry Falwell Jr. and right-wing youth activist Charlie Kirk. The organization changed its name in 2021 after Falwell resigned in disgrace and Liberty decided to part ways with Kirk.
Despite the departure of Kirk and Falwell, the center’s “Give Me Liberty” podcast appears to have kept its Christian nationalist bent.
A longtime religious-right activist and ardent Christian nationalist, Rapert declared on the December 17, 2022 episode of the “Give Me Liberty” show that right-wing Christians must rise up and “take authority” over everything from their local school boards to the federal government.
“When people quote the Bible and say, ‘Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord’—Psalm 33:12—how in the world do you expect to ever have that if you are not electing somebody that would adhere to that worldview?” Rapert asked. “You can’t have a nation whose God is the Lord when you’re electing people that are holding up Sodom and Gomorrah as a goal to be achieved rather than a sin to be shunned.”
“What we need is a revival of spirit that will change individual hearts, and then once that happens, then we need to have men and women that say, ‘We need to take authority so that in our school boards, our city councils, our state legislatures, and in Congress, that we’ve got people that love God and want to do what is right in the sight of God and man,'” Rapert added. “I’ll tell you, there’s over 330 million people in this nation in the last census; I think we could find 535 more people to serve in the Senate and in the House. Are you telling me that the evangelical community can’t muster 535 men and women qualified to run for office that would stand up for God and country? Oh, yeah, we can.”
“There’s only 7,383 state legislators,” Rapert continued, “You’ve got more students at Liberty than serve in our state capitals. What if one crop of the Liberty classes all went home and ran for office? You’d make a difference, you’d change the community, and you just might save the nation.”
Christian nationalists like Rapert believe that the country was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and that right-wing Christians must keep it that way. Via the National Association for Christian Lawmakers, Rapert is putting this talk into action, advancing so-called “biblical” legislation in statehouses throughout the country that would roll back abortion rights and the rights of LGBTQ Americans. As Rolling Stone reported last month, the group’s advisory board includes politicians like Mike Huckabee and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick as well as influential religious-right activists like Tony Perkins of Family Research Council and Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Christian Nationalist Jason Rapert Wants to See Right-Wing Christians ‘Take Authority’ Over Every Level of Government appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Andy Kroll & Andrea Bernstein @ ProPublica, and Nick Surgey @ Documented: Inside the “Private and Confidential” Conservative Group That Promises to “Crush Liberal Dominance.”
- Kyle Hopkins @ Anchorage Daily News: Alaska drops policy banning discrimination against LGBTQ individuals.
- Matthew Chapman @ Raw Story: MAGA hoaxer Jacob Wohl found to have violated the KKK Act by federal judge.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Former Trump Attorney Jenna Ellis Admits to Making Bogus Claims About the 2020 Election.
- Will Sommer @ The Daily Beast: Anti-Drag Tennessee Lt. Guv Really Loves This LGBTQ Man’s Thirst Traps.
- Zachary Pleat, Helena Hind, Jane Lee & Alicia Sadowski @ Media Matters: 50+ lies and conspiracy theories Fox News has spread about elections & January 6 in 2023.
The post Right Wing Round Up: Crush Liberal Dominance appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Nikki Haley’s campaign proudly declares that it has “zero reservations about standing beside” right-wing pastor John Hagee.
- Isabella Riley Moody wants to “make bigotry great again.”
- Carlton Huffman, the man who has accused Matt Schlapp of sexual assault, has apparently chosen to do his first on-camera interview with antisemitic racist right-wing “reporter” Patrick Howley for a segment that will be aired on right-wing conspiracy theorist Stew Peters‘ show.
- Speaking of Peters, he has staked out a bold new position: “I consider all conspiracies to be true until proven otherwise.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander, of all people, is mocking QAnon conspiracy theorists: “Have the Q people stopped talking about Durham? Like when they said the Lockdowns were a good thing and a child trafficking sting operation being executed for the world to finally know?”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Zero Reservations appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Marjorie Taylor Greene at CPAC 2023. (Screenshot/YouTube)“The left has told us something that should put fear into the heart of every parent,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene began her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference Friday morning. “They said they’re coming for our children.” Dressed in a light pink blazer and with straightened bleach blonde hair, Greene painted a gruesome (and fictional) picture: a multibillion dollar industry preying on kids and eager to subject them to life-altering surgery.
“I am going to be introducing my bill, the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, that will make it a felony to perform anything to do with gender care on children,” she said. The crowd roared in applause.
At CPAC, held this past weekend at the Gaylord National Resort and Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland, trans bashing—and talking about kids’ genitals—was a main theme. Panels were dedicated to it, speakers harped on so-called “transgender ideology,” and politicians threw out one-liners about trans people when they were short on applause. CPAC is a place where rhetoric and strategy are typically tested, where politicians get a sense of what lands with their base, and this past weekend, Republican politicians eagerly deployed transphobia for their gain. As they denied trans people’s existence, CPAC’s speakers paired their attacks with efforts to galvanize the conservative base ahead of 2024 and to take over public schools.
How Did We Get Here?
The panel following Greene’s provides some insight as to how we arrived at this place. Terry Schilling of the anti-LGBTQ American Principles Project took the stage with Chloe Cole, a woman in the process of reversing her transition, and Riley Gaines, a former Division 1 swimmer at the University of Kentucky who lost races last year to Lia Thomas, a trans woman. After describing the “transgender lobby” as “evil,” Schilling belabored the state of women’s sports.
Before “grooming” rhetoric was commonplace on the right, religious-right groups like Schilling’s began peddling stories about trans girls hurting girls’ sports. But this supposed concern was never about sports. In 2020, a Right Wing Watch investigation found that while much of the anti-trans messaging focused on sports, a coalition of religious-right groups was busy taking action, drafting legislation not only to prevent trans girls from playing on girls’ sports teams, but also to prevent trans kids from receiving gender-affirming care. Called “Promise to America’s Children,” the coalition included groups like Alliance Defending Freedom, Heritage Foundation, and Family Research Council—groups that have long been dedicated to rolling back rights for LGBTQ Americans. Thanks to these groups and allied state legislators, in 2023, some 400 anti-trans bills are actively being considered or have been passed in 41 states, according to a national trans legislation tracker.
Riley Gaines (left) at the Moms for America exhibit booth at CPAC 2023. (Photo by Kristen Doerer/Right Wing Watch)“The strategy is fearmongering and propaganda,” Schuyler Bailer, a trans rights activist, told Right Wing Watch. “There’s absolutely no data to support the idea that trans people are an inherent threat to children.” In fact, gender-affirming care is supported by major health institutions, Bailer noted, with the American Medical Association declaring it “medically-necessary, evidence-based care that improves the physical and mental health of transgender and gender-diverse people.” But the facts aren’t what these attacks are about.
“Republicans found that when they could paint trans people as deviant, nefarious, harmful people that are going to hurt you in the bathroom or groom your children as the narrative goes, they could drive votes,” Bailer said.
Religious-right groups like Family Research Council have been explicit that their attacks on trans people are part of what they see as an election-winning strategy. “Our goal: Make the SAFE Act THE ‘wedge issue’ of the 2022 midterm elections!” Family Research Council President Tony Perkins wrote in a 2021 fundraising letter for FRC Action.
The Right’s Strategy on Display
The right’s strategy was on display on CPAC’s mainstage.
Sebastian Gorka—a former Trump adviser and an alleged member of a Nazi-cooperating political group in Hungary—took the stage shortly before Marjorie Taylor Greene Friday to try to fire up the nearly empty room. He focused his sights on 2024.
“We have to win it so big that this radicalized party that thinks it’s OK to have open borders, to change the Constitution, to get rid of the Supreme Court, to,” he paused for effect, “mutilate young girls and boys as sacrifices on the altar of the transgender insanity. We have to so crush them at the next election that they collapse.”
Heron Greenesmith, a researcher at Political Research Associates, told Right Wing Watch Saturday that “CPAC is showcasing the truth of the right.” “Trans people have become, once again, the recruitment tactic and fundraiser of the right,” Greenesmith said. “Trans-supportive conservatives have ceded the floor to those who advocate openly for anti-trans violence.”
As these ideas about the need to “protect” kids and women snaked their way into right-wing media, the right has expanded its messaging. Now, right-wing activists say a shadowy “gender lobby” preys on kids to turn them trans. Politicians portray drag queens reading books to kids as “grooming” children. Gay teachers are “indoctrinating” children, they say, as are diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings.
Such fearmongering is effectively being deployed by groups like Moms for Liberty, which is trying to ban books about the LGBTQ experience, and Moms for America, a conservative group that urges right-wing candidates to run for school boards and claims to have more than 500,000 members across the country. Kimberly Fletcher, president and founder of Moms for America, made it clear to the CPAC audience that it’s not just trans people her group is organizing against, but the honest teaching of the history of our nation, sex education, and the tolerance and acceptance of the LGBTQ community writ large.
At a Thursday CPAC panel titled “One Tuff Mutha,” Fletcher claimed the left was coming after children, her voice quivering as she spoke. “They’re trying to erase us as moms,” she said. “And they know historically that’s what you do—that’s what Hitler did, that’s what Mao did, that’s what Stalin did. You take the children, you win the future.”
She listed a series of fears, her voice rising at each new alleged assault: “Everything that we’re facing: The CRT—the critical race theory is racism, that’s 101, that’s what it is. The comprehensive sex education, which is teaching kindergartners how to stimulate themselves. The gender confusion, where they’re having coming out parties since the first grade, and children are coming home terrified they’re suddenly going to turn into the opposite sex.”
She called on the audience to go on “the offensive,” asking kids to record their teachers. What we really need, she said, is “a new PPP”: “parents, pastors, and people of faith uniting together to save this country, protect our kids, and reclaim our culture, and restore the republic.”
The Right’s End Goal
Beneath the fearmongering about trans people as a tool to galvanize the base ahead of 2024 and to instigate a right-wing takeover of the schools is an even more dangerous ideology and agenda: a belief that trans people do not and should not exist.
On the third and final day of CPAC, The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles made that stance explicit: “The problem with transgenderism is not that it’s inappropriate for children under the age of 9,” Knowles said. “The problem with transgenderism is that it isn’t true.”
“There can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism,” Knowles said. “If it is false, then for the good of society… transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.” The crowd erupted in applause.
Michael Knowles tells CPAC that "there can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism. … Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely." https://t.co/57hJF4frgq pic.twitter.com/szvnC1qWrP
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) March 4, 2023
As controversy ensued, Knowles insisted that he never called for the eradication of trans people but merely the eradication of an ideology. But transness is not an ideology, and ‘transgenderism’ is simply a phony term used by anti-trans activists. Based on Knowles’ remarks at CPAC and elsewhere, the results of such a call to action is clear: eliminating so-called “transgenderism” in public life as he emphatically calls for would make it impossible for trans people to live as themselves.
“It is a call for the eradication of trans people because you can’t separate transness and trans people,” Bailer told Right Wing Watch. “You cannot take away ‘transgenderism’ and leave the person. That’s not how it works.”
Bailer said that Knowles’ comments came up in the trans support groups he guides. His clients were terrified by the statement—not so much for Knowles’ transphobia but for the reception his comments received. “The cheering of the crowd—that was really disheartening and striking to receive watching that video,” he said.
In 2020, Right Wing Watch spoke to LGBTQ activist and writer Charlotte Clymer as religious-right groups and far-right politicians were attacking trans girls in sports. When asked what their goal was with such attacks, she was blunt—and prescient.
“Their goal has been to wipe out trans people from the public square from day one,” she said.
The post At CPAC, Republicans Weaponize Transphobia in a Sign of What’s to Come appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Igor Derysh @ Salon: “I hate him passionately”: New lawsuit texts show Tucker Carlson admit Trump era was a “disaster.”
- Colby Hall @ Mediaite: Trump Calls for House Select Committee Members to be Tried for Treason Following Tucker Carlson Whitewash of Jan 6th.
- Matt Shuham @ HuffPost: Wild Bribery Allegations Are Tearing The Arizona GOP Apart.
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: Election Denier Mark Finchem Sanctioned By Judge For ‘Groundless’ Midterm Challenge.
- Megan Squire and Michael Edison Hayden @ Hatewatch: ‘Absolutely Bonkers’: Inside Infowars’ Money Machine.
- Bob Smietana @ Religion News Service: Old-school Christian nationalism’s avatar of racism, antisemitism and conspiracies.
- Tess Owen @ Vice News: The Boogaloo Bois Are Plotting a Bloody Comeback: ‘We Will Go to War.’
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Finding Common Ground With Tucker Carlson appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Pete Santilli, who recently interviewed Kari Lake on his program, asserts that “Big Data” is behind a “massive swarms of drones [that] are being used by AI … [and] dropping Zyklon B canisters.”
- A deep insight from Steven Franssen: “The more babies a woman has, the less Luciferian she is.”
- Lauren Witzke claims to have fallen deathly ill after being around someone who had received the COVID-19 vaccine, asserting that they had “shed” the “bioweapon” onto her: “I’m not crazy.”
- Jesse Kelly, who once boasted that he’d eagerly support an authoritarian “monster” who would terrify and round-up Democrats, now complains that “people call me a fascist” because they’re “trying to turn me into an enemy of the state so they can legally send the FBI to my door.”
- Finally, Isabella Riley Moody declares that “if you’re gay and flaunting it proudly, you’re recruiting.” Maybe it’s comments like this that convinced the Log Cabin Republicans to finally cut ties with her?
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: More Babies, Less Lucifer appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last month, the Log Cabin Republicans, an organization that claims to “[represent] LGBT conservatives and straight allies who support fairness, freedom, and equality,” announced that far-right commentator Isabella Riley Moody had been named to its 2023 class of Outspoken Ambassadors.
The choice of Moody to serve as an ambassador for a gay conservative organization was rather unconventional, given that Moody is a virulent homophobe who brags that the word “f*ggot” is part of her “everyday vocabulary” and wishes that the country was a more “homophobic society.”
While Moody openly proclaims herself to be a “homophobic bitch,” she also claims that she is “not really homophobic” and that all of her bigoted language and attacks on anything she deems “gay” are nothing but a “troll.”
The disconnect between Moody’s various stated positions was on full display when she appeared on “The Stew Peters Show” Tuesday night to try to explain how an avowedly anti-LGBTQ conservative Christian such as herself can serve as an ambassador for an organization that supposedly represents “LGBT conservatives and straight allies who support fairness, freedom, and equality.”
Moody’s efforts to explain this incongruence did not go well, as she eventually declared that the agenda promoted by Log Cabin Republicans “grosses me out and makes me want to vomit” and that her agreement to serve as an ambassador for the organization was nothing more than an attempt to “troll the left.”
Moody claimed that she was asked to serve an an Outspoken Ambassador by her friend, David Leatherwood, who “thought it would be really funny” because of “how homophobic I am online.”
“There’s nothing conservative about about being gay,” Moody said. “It’s anti-God, it’s anti-Christian, you can’t multiply, you can’t actually reproduce, so it’s going against God and nature.”
“To be an ambassador is kind of like a troll,” she continued. “I do think homosexuality is obviously a sin. I don’t condone it at all. I have a couple friends that are gay, and they know this. People can hate me for what I say, but I’m not going to change my tune depending on who I’m around. Honestly, I think it’s a funny headline. I’ll do it, but I’m never going to say that being gay is OK. Indulging in this sin and living in sin and marrying a guy—even though that should not even be a thing at all—or engaging in the sexual conduct with other men if you’re a guy and all this gay behavior, I don’t condone. However, I will kind of make a headline out of it, and I think it’s funny to troll the left in that sense.”
Later in the interview, Peters, who is himself a virulently anti-LGBTQ bigot, assured Moody that she was allowed to use the word “faggot” on his show because he uses it as well. Peters then demonstrated that point when he said that what the Lob Cabin Republicans are promoting is “fggotry.”
“I completely agree,” Moody replied. “The contradictions in all this pro-Log Cabin Republicans stuff, it really just grosses me out and makes me want to vomit.”
Evidently still confused about Moody’s role as an ambassador, Peters asked her to explain why she was serving as an ambassador for the Log Cabin Republicans’ “Outspoken” project. Moody’s answer was not particularly coherent or convincing.
“I actually don’t follow the organization,” Moody claimed. “I actually don’t even really know what they do. They asked me if I wanted to be an ambassador with all the crazy stuff I say about f*ggots, and I said, ‘Sure, [but] I’m not going to change what I say,’ and they said they loved it, and they would want me to make homophobic videos for them.”
Since neither Moody, the Log Cabin Republicans, or the organizers behind its Outspoken effort seem to realize this, allow us to assure them that hiring a proudly “homophobic bitch” to serve as an ambassador for an organization that claims to represent the interests of LGBTQ conservatives it not a “troll” of the left, but is actually just a pitiful self-own on the part of the Log Cabin Republicans.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Isabella Riley Moody, Ambassador for the Log Cabin Republicans, Says The Log Cabin Republicans Make Her ‘Want to Vomit’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Tucker Carlson Airs Jan 6. Footage to Rewrite the History of the Capitol Riot: ‘They Were Sightseers’.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: ‘A mistake’: Mitch McConnell tears into Tucker Carlson’s ‘depiction’ of the Capitol riot.
- Chris D’Angelo and Christopher Mathias @ HuffPost: GOP Congressman Matt Rosendale Poses With Neo-Nazis.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Anti-LGBTQ Bills Filed in States This Year Rapidly Approaching 400 – Already More Than in All of 2022: ACLU.
- Creede Newton @ Hatewatch: CPAC Hosted Convicted Sex Offender Amid Calls To Protect Children.
- Josh Israel @ The American Independent: Republican lawmakers show off their awards from anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Simple Sightseers appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Doug Mastriano tells Politico that he is “praying” over whether he should run for U.S. Senate in 2024.
- Scott Lively declares that Pride parades “are literally celebrations of martial power in the tradition of conquering armies flaunting plunder taken from defeated foes.”
- Teddy Daniels asserts that “toxic masculinity” is nothing more than a term “created by feminists to describe the type of men that they want but keep getting rejected by.”
- Josie Glabach (aka “The Redheaded Libertarian”) says that women shouldn’t be allowed to vote because they are “emotional trainwrecks”: “If only women voted [in 2016] there would have been 458 electoral votes for Hillary Clinton. That is insane. This shows that we cannot be trusted.”
- Outraged about an Arizona school district’s decision not to renew its contract to accept student teachers from an anti-LGBTQ Christian college, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins and right-wing pastor Steve Riggle call on Christians to take over local school boards: “God has dominion over everything.”
- Finally, Christian nationalist Jason Rapert reports that he is currently “meeting with legislators” in Florida and is “prayerful” that they will pass legislation outlawing abortion from the moment of conception: “When you do that, you will be doing exactly what the Bible instructs us to do.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Dominion Over Everything appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Promoting the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump has become a basic requirement for just about any right-wing commentator, activist, or candidate who hopes to gain prominence within the modern-day Republican Party. But there is a group for whom pushing the Big Lie is not just politically expedient but existentially necessary: the so-called “prophets” who guaranteed Trump’s reelection.
Admitting that they were wrong about Trump’s reelection would be a devastating blow to the professional careers of these modern-day “prophets,” which is why so many of them resolutely refuse to admit that Trump lost.
Among these self-proclaimed “prophets,” few have been as adamant in insisting that Trump is still the president than Johnny Enlow.
Enlow, a QAnon conspiracy theorist and ardent Trump cultist, has steadfastly refused to admit that Trump lost, asserting repeatedly that Trump has secretly been “ruling and reigning” as president since leaving the White House and that Trump is recognized in Heaven as the true president.
Enlow even went so far as to declare that Trump has actually been “president of the world” since leaving office.
Given that Enlow believes, despite all evidence, that Trump is the legitimate leader of this nation (and the entire world), it is no surprise that he has insisted that Trump is entitled to take drastic steps to protect his supposed position of authority.
Appearing on the “Elijah Steams” program Monday, Enlow asserted that Trump would be entirely “justified in calling for revolution” if he believes it necessary to save the country.
“[Trump] is the number one kingdom asset for government on planet Earth and has been,” Enlow said. “That has not changed. And just because there’s a stealing of an election, his influence is so powerful—I don’t think people understand that if he really was panicked about us losing [the country] … he would be justified in calling for a revolution and saying, ‘We have to fight for my kids and for my kids’ kids’ sake, we have to be willing [to fight].”
“If he made that call, they would find out he is the man power in this in this country, not only in the eyes of God, but in the eyes of men,” Enlow continued. “If he gave any hint or evidence that we have lost it completely … if ever he just put on the desperation thing [and said], ‘It’s time to take up arms, we have to be willing to go’—if he did that, they would find out how powerful he actually is.”
Enlow is a respected leader within the modern-day Charismatic movement and makes regular weekly appearances on “Elijah Streams,” which is produced by the extremely influential Elijah List website, where his programs rack up thousands of views.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post QAnon ‘Prophet’ Johnny Enlow Says Trump ‘Would Be Justified in Calling for a Revolution’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Kelly McClure @ Salon: “I am your retribution,” says Trump in his CPAC speech.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Trump’s Former ICE Director Tells CPAC He Doesn’t ‘Give a Shit’ if Families Are Separated at Border.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Marjorie Taylor Greene at CPAC Serves Up Hate in Anti-LGBTQ Religious Rant.
- Laura Jedeed @ The Soapbox: The Cult of the January 6 Martyrs.
- Mack Lamoureux @ Vice News: A Neo-Nazi Troll Network Is Making Money Abusing Jews
- Josephine Lee @ The Texas Observer: The New Children’s Crusade: Recruiting for America’s Culture War.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: ‘I Am Your Retribution’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Kari Lake believes that Steve Bannon is “a modern-day George Washington”: “I call him the patriotic stud muffin.”
- Dalton Clodfelter can’t believe that he and other white nationalists were kicked out of CPAC just because “we love Hitler.”
- Some typically terrible advice from virulent misogynist Jon Miller: “Women often say the opposite of what they mean. That’s why when a woman says ‘no’ you should try anyway.” Obviously, it should go without saying: No means no.
- David Lane declares that “every church in America would do well to have a pastor, deacon, elder or congregant run for local office in 2024, 2026, 2028 and thereafter.”
- Lance Wallnau asserts that “transgenderism” is “a psychological disorder that has demons that get attached to it”: “Satan has taken ’em over with crazy talk about them being in the wrong bodies.”
- Finally, Lauren Witzke doubles down on her support for Russian President Vladimir Putin: “My God is the same God that Putin has, and people that oppose him are opposing the same God, like serving Satan.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Patriotic Stud Muffin appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mark Robinson, the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, is an unabashed Christian nationalist and virulent anti-LGBTQ bigot who has made no secret of his plans to run for governor of the state in 2024.
Robinson was among the speakers at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, where he declared on Saturday that he doesn’t actually “want” to be governor of North Carolina but has been called by God to serve his country, just like the soldiers who fought in World War II.
“Back home in North Carolina, one of the most poorly kept secrets is that a guy named Mark Robinson may run for governor,” Robinson admitted. “God is in control, and what he has for me, no man can stop. I’m not saying that I’m ordained to be the governor, but if it’s his will for me to be, it will be and no one can stop it.”
“Why do I want to be governor?” Robinson continued. “I thought about it real deep, and I came to a conclusion: I don’t want to be the governor. … We have too many people who decide to run for office because they want to be something. They want to be a congressman. They want to be a senator. They want to be a governor. They want to be president. They want to be a big shot who pops his collar and looks down on the people, tells them what to do, and has doors opened for them. They have a title, they have armed guards, and they’ll have a legacy of their fantastic political career that will follow them for life. They want, they want, they want.”
Robinson then directly compared his plans to run for higher office to those who put their lives on the line during the D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, saying that if you asked the soldiers serving that day they why they “wanted” to fight this battle, they would have said they didn’t want to but had an obligation to do so.
Likewise, Robinson suggested that he also has an obligation to run for governor for the good of the nation.
“This is not about want, this is about service,” Robinson thundered. “My nation is in trouble. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and Hitler is murdering his way across Europe. I cannot sit at home and watch this world burn and have my nation in trouble. It’s time for me to stand up and serve, up-to-and-including giving my life if necessary. This is not about want, it’s about service!”
As lieutenant governor, Robinson has ranted that Christians must take control of public schools because children are being abused by being taught about the LGBTQ community. He came under fire after Right Wing Watch captured video of him declaring, “There’s no reason anybody anywhere in America should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Christian Nationalist Mark Robinson Plans NC Gubernatorial Run Even Though He Doesn’t ‘Want’ to Be Governor appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
National Harbor, Maryland — White nationalist Nick Fuentes may have been kicked out of the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, but other white nationalists and their sympathizers found their way in.
Fuentes, the leader of the America First white nationalist youth movement, briefly made it into CPAC at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center Thursday, even snagging a photo with Mike Lindell, the election conspiracy theorist and sugar daddy to right-wing causes. But, as in previous years, Fuentes, who was granted his first ban from CPAC in 2019, was removed from the premises and his rally permit was revoked.
Matt Schlapp, the president of the American Conservative Union, which hosts CPAC, confirmed Fuentes’ removal Friday. In a statement on Instagram, Schlapp claimed that Fuentes’ “hateful racist rhetoric and actions are not consistent with the mission of CPAC” and claimed to be concerned about antisemitism.
We removed Nick Fuentes from his attempt to attend our conference. His hateful racist rhetoric and actions are not consistent with the mission of CPAC. We are pleased that our conference welcomes a wide array of conservative perspectives from people of different backgrounds, but we are concerned about the rise in antisemitic rhetoric (or Jew hatred) in our country and around the globe, whether it be in the corridors of power and academia or through the online rantings of bigots like Fuentes.
But despite banning Fuentes, CPAC gladly welcomed politicians who cozied up to him or spread hate themselves. The main event of the MAGA carnival was, of course, President Donald Trump, who had dined with Fuentes and Kanye West this fall and failed to denounce the white nationalist after news broke of their dinner. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has a long history of antisemitic conspiracy theories and racist comments, took the stage Saturday to bash trans people; last year, she had spoken at Fuentes’ white nationalist AFPAC conference and failed to denounce Fuentes until it became politically expedient to do so. Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump adviser and alleged member of a Nazi-allied political group in Hungary, provided CPAC with a hateful transphobic tirade Saturday morning. And Stephen Miller, a former Trump adviser known for his affinity for white nationalism, called on House Republicans to defund the Department of Homeland Security unless every undocumented immigrant that crosses the border gets “shipped back to where they came from.” So much for standing against hateful or racist rhetoric.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene speaks at CPAC on March 3, 2023.Meanwhile, followers of Fuentes’ white nationalist movement, who refer to themselves as groypers, milled about in the conference entrance Saturday wearing their blue America First hats before security asked them to leave. As they exited the building, they began chanting “We want Nick!” and briefly set up their America First flags in front of the hotel. They were shooed off the premises.
But some groypers found their way back into the conference and past the Secret Service checkpoint, leaving their blue America First hats at home in favor of small AF pins, a Pepe the Frog sticker, and a “Ye is Right” hat. They chatted with Ryan Sanchez, a former member of the Rise Above Movement, a white nationalist street gang, and Greyson Arnold, a pro-Nazi blogger whose services were once employed by the Washington state GOP.
One groyper wearing an AF pin calmly explained to this reporter why he did not believe women should have the right to vote or hold elected office. “I don’t think a lot of people shouldn’t have the right to vote. I shouldn’t have the right to vote,” he added, explaining that he’s 21, doesn’t own property or have children and thus, in his opinion, shouldn’t have a say in the direction of this country.
He and another groyper identified themselves as “incels,” comparing their involuntary celibacy to a disability. They insisted that they do not hate women despite believing that women should not vote or hold political office. Of course, just minutes earlier, Sanchez, Arnold, and other groypers in their group had harassed Amanda Moore, an independent writer who had gone undercover in MAGA world in 2020 and 2021, gleefully calling her “a slut.”
Nick Fuentes (left) and Ryan Sanchez (right) pose for a photo. Sanchez posted this photo on his Telegram March, 5, 2023, with the caption, “Nick Fuentes’ rally last night was by far the most exciting event at CPAC. I am so glad to see so many factions of the Right put aside our differences and stand together.”Undeterred by his banishment from CPAC, Fuentes vowed to hold an event nearby following Trump’s speech Saturday at an undisclosed location—revealed first by the Southern Poverty Law Center to Fuentes’ disappointment. As a line of mostly young men waited to enter the conference room at The Residence Inn by Marriott across the street from CPAC, a CPAC Shabbat event came to a close down the hall, with Jewish CPAC attendees milling about the same entrance from which groypers were entering. While the America First event was free, it was not open to the press, and this reporter was turned away.
In a livestream of the event, Fuentes is seen addressing attendees wearing a large black puffer jacket and sunglasses despite the dark room while Christian, dystopian, and abstract images flickered on the screen behind him.
“Transgenderism has got to go because it’s not true,” Fuentes says, agreeing with The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles, who earlier that day had called for the eradication of “transgenderism.” “Well, in that case, feminism has got to go, too. Liberalism has got to be eradicated.”
“At the end of the day you know what else has got to go in a Christian society?” Fuentes asks the crowd.
“Democracy?” a woman yells out from the audience.
“Well that,” Fuentes says. “The other thing that has got to go from the public life at the highest levels is this Talmudic Judaism.”
His followers hollered their approval, erupting into chants of “Christ is King!”
The post The White Nationalists at CPAC appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Perhaps organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference haven’t liked the coverage of their event this year, or perhaps the event is in as much disarray as those news reports say, but whatever the case, CPAC appears eager to keep critical media out, relegating reporters to a corner of the ballroom from which they can’t see the stage and denying others credentials.
But that hasn’t stopped reporters in attendance from seeing what’s going on: CPAC is underwhelming this year.
Thursday saw no side panels, or activism boot camps. Likely GOP presidential candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence are skipping the event. Senate and House GOP leadership are noticeably absent, save Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Of course, CPAC still has a few big names in GOP politics who, in taking the stage Thursday, showed just how far to the right the party has gone. The day started with Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary committee, discussing how he’s going to use the power of the committee to possibly impeach Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Freedom Caucus Reps. Scott Perry and Ralph Norman bragged about their caucus’ ability to wreak havoc on Kevin McCarthy’s ascension to the speakership. Sens. Ted Cruz and J.D. Vance trashed Merrick Garland as the most “partisan” and “politicized” attorney general in United States history—a laughable claim that is par for the course here, along with the trans-bashing and Fauci booing. But what is most noticeable is what is missing.
Even with various prominent Republican politicians in attendance, the back half of the main ballroom is empty, and the front’s enthusiasm is muted. Gone are the hundreds of libertarian-inclined college students traditionally known for filling CPAC’s hallways. Ticket sales have lagged and premium package holders from past years remain unregistered, according to The Washington Post.
Like usual, Matt Schlapp, the president of the American Conservative Union, the group behind CPAC, is on stage at regular intervals, but the sexual assault allegation against him hangs in the air. In January, The Daily Beast reported that a staffer on Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign who was put in charge of chauffeuring the conservative activist says that Schlapp groped him while he was driving and invited him back to his room. Schlapp denies the allegations and blames “fake journalists… pushing this leftist agenda and lying.” But the allegations seem to be sticking around, as are questions about his influence waning, with even Fox News pulling out of the event.
But it’s not just Schlapp that’s causing CPAC problems. It’s Trump. Under Schlapp’s leadership, CPAC turned into Trump’s circus, and as Trump has lost some of his luster among Republicans, so too has the convention.
Across the river in Washington, D.C., a group of conservatives are holding an alternative to CPAC, called Principles First, with its organizer noting that “When CPAC convenes this weekend, you’ll sooner find a golden statue of Trump than a conservative principle.” And in Florida, both DeSantis and Pence are set to attend a closed-door donor retreat held by The Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax behemoth that spent $150 million the last two election cycles. Noticeably absent from their invite list of potential GOP presidential candidates is Trump.
Schlapp briefly acknowledged Thursday that elected officials were skipping out this year’s CPAC. He said that he’s heard from people that “It’s really hard that at CPAC you don’t have every elected official.” But he said it didn’t matter. “You’re going to solve the problems in this country,” he told the half empty ballroom.
The post An Underwhelming First Day at CPAC appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Beth Reinhard and Isaac Arnsdorf @ The Washington Post: As CPAC’s head faces sexual assault claim, other leadership concerns emerge.
- Lisa Lerer and Maggie Haberman @ The New York Times: For Republicans’ Rising Stars, CPAC Is Losing Its Pull.
- Jason Wilson @ Hatewatch: Constitutional Sheriffs Chief Runs Online Radio Station Featuring White Supremacists.
- Heidi Przybyla @ Politico: Dark money and special deals: How Leonard Leo and his friends benefited from his judicial activism.
- Tori Otten @ The New Republic: Rupert Murdoch Admits Under Oath That Fox News Hosts Were Lying About the Stolen Election.
- Tommy Christopher @ Mediaite: Fox VP Warned Election Lies ‘MIND BLOWINGLY NUTS…This Stuff Is So F*cking Insane’ — Then Did Nothing.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Daily Wire Host Says He Wasn’t Calling for ‘Genocide’ of Trans People – Claims They’re Not ‘Real.’
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: The ‘God Emperor’ Who Could Cost Trump the Election.
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: The GOP Is Weaponizing LibsOfTikTok’s Anti-‘Woke’ Hate.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: They Knew They Were Lying appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Peter LaBarbera announces that he has joined WND.com as a reporter and editor.
- Jason Rapert believes that “we ought to have prayer every day in every school.”
- Michele Bachmann says that Regent University’s Robertson School of Government is launching an online PhD program with the goal of graduating 100 PhDs who will then serve in government.
- Ali Alexander is accepting applications: “Learn to master mania and drive the world insane for virtue.”
- Nick Fuentes doesn’t believe that 6 million Jews died during the Holocaust and insists that the Nazis never used gas chambers: “That’s totally fake.”
- Finally, Jon Miller is growing up: “You know when you’re a little kid and you eat sushi for the first time and you think it’s weird? But then when you’re older you realize it’s really terrific? That’s how I feel about westboro baptist church.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Insane for Virtue appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The schedule and speakers list for this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference make it clear that the gathering will be dominated by the undemocratic and unprincipled power-seeking strategies for which former President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement are known.
Lying About Elections, Undermining Democracy
The choice of Kari Lake to keynote the event’s gala, the “Ronald Reagan Dinner,” makes it clear that CPAC will continue to promote damaging false claims about voter fraud. Trump’s refusal to admit that voters rejected him in 2020 fueled the violent attempt to stop Congress from affirming President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Following in Trump’s footsteps, Lake has refused to accept her defeat by Arizona voters in last year’s governor’s race. Instead, she inflames supporters with bogus claims of election fraud, filing lawsuit after rejected lawsuit seeking to overturn her loss. Right Wing Watch reported that this month Lake took her complaints to two programs hosted by far-right broadcasters who have called for violence against political opponents. On one, when the host claimed that conservative Christians are being provoked to unleash “violence or bloodshed,” Lake responded, “I don’t know how much longer the people can take it.” As we saw on Jan. 6, 2021, this strategy is dangerous for democracy.
In addition to Trump himself, other speakers include Trump family members, right-wing funder and promoter of debunked election conspiracies Mike Lindell, MAGA strategist Steve Bannon, and far-right “Pizzagate” promoter Jack Posobiec.
Previous CPAC gatherings have celebrated authoritarian strongmen leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Brazil’s former president, Jair Balsonaro, whose supporters attacked government buildings after his defeat. Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo, a right-wing legislator, will speak at CPAC this year.
‘Parents with Pitchforks’: Limiting the Freedom to Learn
Right-wing political leaders are aggressively restricting freedom in the name of attacking “wokeness,” which they have invoked to restrict honest teaching about racism, purge library books that feature Black and LGBTQ characters, and deny access to essential health care for transgender people. This is an expansion of the cynical right-wing strategy launched during the Trump administration to vilify “critical race theory” and then slap the label on anything right-wing activists didn’t like.
One strategy in the war on “wokeness” is stoking racial resentment and grievance among conservative white voters. Before last year’s election, a group run by former Trump adviser Stephen Miller ran digital ads denouncing “anti-white bigotry” and falsely claiming that the Biden administration “put white people last in line for COVID relief funds.” Miller, an architect of Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies with a documented affinity for white nationalism, is listed as a CPAC speaker.
One Thursday CPAC segment dubbed “Parents with Pitchforks” includes Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, whose boss Gov. Glenn Youngkin has just launched an investigation of the AP African American Studies class attacked by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Another segment on “Sacking the Woke Playbook” features Sen. Tommy Tuberville and former acting attorney general Matt Whitaker, who once insisted that all judicial nominees should share his “biblical view of justice.”
Christian Nationalism
Also likely to be promoted at CPAC is the increasingly aggressive Christian nationalism espoused by religious-right activists and promoted by far-right politicians like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and North Carolina’s vehemently anti-LGBTQ Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who exclaimed in 2021, “As for this not being a Christian nation, yes, it is! If you don’t like it, I’ll buy your plane, train, or automobile ticket right up out of here.” Both Greene and Robinson are listed as speakers at this year’s gathering. Scholars have documented that white evangelicals are the group most likely to strongly embrace Christian nationalism, and those who do are more likely to support authoritarianism and political violence.
A ‘Principled’ Alternative?
A group of non-Trumpist conservatives has organized an alternative to CPAC, which they call the Principles First Summit. In a Substack column promoting the summit, organizer Heath Mayo denounced the evolution of CPAC in the Trump era, saying “What once set a budding movement’s standards for principles and character is now a showcase of its worst ills.” CPAC, Mayo wrote, “actively applauds a conspiratorial fringe of our politics completely unmoored from ethical constraints and moral commitments.”
The post CPAC 2023 Preview: Pitchforks and Propaganada appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Brad Reed @ Raw Story: Dilbert cartoonist says he got canceled even though ‘everyone agreed’ with his racist tirade.
- Media Matters: Daily Wire host attacks Paris Hilton for using in-vitro fertilization.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Why the fight over Rep. Scott Perry’s phone is so important.
- Ryan Gabrielson and J. David McSwane, @ ProPublica: A Christian Health Nonprofit Saddled Thousands With Debt as It Built a Family Empire Including a Pot Farm, a Bank and an Airline.
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: The Far Right Wants You to Think Ukraine’s War Is Staged: ‘It Is Clearly a Psyop.’
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Staged appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Lauren Witzke says, “I don’t think that women should be president.”
- Jarrin Jackson declares that “feminism hates Christ.”
- Jon Miller asserts that “nobody believes women when they give their age…or body count…or say they weren’t flirting with another guy…or how much they spent on your card at Saks…or when they say they want you to choose the restaurant…so why on EARTH would we believe them when they claim to be raped???”
- Nick Fuentes is trying to be more magnanimous because “I am the leader for everyone even the haters. And altho some of them will have to be executed when I become President, I am their leader still.”
- Finally, Bryson Gray released a virulently anti-LGBTQ song last week, and Pete Santilli loved it: “Bryson Gray Was Right! We Should ALL Be Homophobic.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Rampant Misogyny appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Rick Scarborough—a self-described “Christocrat,” strident anti-LGBTQ activist, and longtime critic of public education—has his sights set on taking over public education in Texas this year. He intends to do so by taking over school boards and fearmongering about public school students “being groomed by homosexuals and the trans perverts [and] recruited into their evil lifestyles.”
Last week, Scarborough revealed another aspect of his strategy. Speaking about his intention to take over school boards at an event organized by the Texas Tea Party Republican Women, Scarborough admitted that he is trying to “take over America” for Jesus and is working to “expunge this entire state of every immoral book in the library.”
Scarborough began his remarks by recounting how, earlier in his career, he had been portrayed in the media a right-wing theocrat intent on forcing his far-right Christian views on the nation. That was an accurate assessment, Scarborough now admits.
“They went after me as trying to take over the town, trying to take over America,” Scarborough said. “And, in all honesty, I was, but I couldn’t say that. I mean, why not take it over for Jesus?”
“Sixty-eight percent of the teachers in Texas, by poll … now believe that the LGBTQ agenda should be taught and embraced,” Scarborough complained later in his speech. “We’re grooming our children for pedophiles. That’s what’s happening. Now, let me tell you what I’m going to spend the rest of my life doing—and by God’s grace, if I can raise the budget and get people behind me: In four years, I want to expunge this entire state of every immoral book in the library. Call me a Nazi, call me a book-burner, I’ve been called worse.”
Scarborough has plenty of company. Right-wing politicians and political groups are restricting the freedom to learn by demanding the removal of books they don’t like—often those featuring Black or LGBTQ characters—from schools and public libraries. In Texas, the author of the state’s anti-abortion bill is drafting local ordinances that would allow citizens to sue librarians over “immoral content.”
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The post ‘Christocrat’ Rick Scarborough Has a Plan to ‘Expunge’ Texas ‘Of Every Immoral Book in the Library’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- David Siders @ Politico Magazine: What It Looks Like When the Far Right Takes Control of Local Government.
- Jack Jenkins @ Religion News Service: How big Christian nationalism has come courting in North Idaho.
- Chuck Tanner @ IREHR: Far-right “Constitutional Sheriffs” Group Launches Effort to Infiltrate Illinois Law Enforcement.
- Jake Lahut @ The Daily Beast: The Real Reason Nick Fuentes Was Put on the No Fly List.
- Sam Van Pykeren @ Mother Jones: The Missionary Positions of Nikki Haley’s Idol: Pastor John Hagee.
- Andrew Kaczynski @ CNN: Nikki Haley defended right to secession, Confederate History Month and the Confederate flag in 2010 talk.
- Claire Goforth @ The Daily Dot: Dalton Clodfelter’s ‘Ye is Right’ college tour is the latest outgrowth of Zoomer antisemitism.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: When Christian Nationalists Take Control appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Nick Fuentes announced that he “will be hosting an America First rally at CPAC on Saturday, March 4th.”
- Isabella Riley Moody wants to “Make Hate Great Again.”
- Steven Franssen says that “a majority of black Americans don’t like white Americans. White people, stop trying to be liked. It’s not working.”
- David Daleiden and Milo Yiannopoulos is not a pairing we were expecting to see.
- Finally, on this day in 2021, “Prophetess” Kat Kerr claimed she had been “taken forward in time” where she was shown the media announcing that former President Donald Trump was once again president. She said it would happen within a couple of weeks or, at most, a couple of months. Well, it has now been two years.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Make Hate Great Again appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Right-wing commentator and youth organizer Charlie Kirk joined Pastor Jack Hibbs at his Calvary Chapel Chino Hills church Wednesday evening, where Kirk continued his practice of using church platforms to spread historically baseless claims about the Constitution and the founding of this country.
Kirk heads Turning Point USA, a $55 million right-wing youth turnout organization that has more recently begun organizing among right-wing churches. A libertarian-leaning conservative turned Christian nationalist, Kirk today offers a class on “Biblical Citizenship” long with “Patriot Academy” founder Rick Green through TPUSA Faith (Green is also the co-host of the “WallBuilders Live” radio program, along with Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton and Barton’s son, Tim.) Kirk’s speech at Calvary gives us insights into the type of faulty lessons that class likely teaches.
The title of the discussion between Kirk and Hibbs was “The New Tower of Babel,” with Kirk and Hibbs asserting that the United States has become a modern-day Tower of Babel that has “made a decision to deny and defy God.”
Kirk asserted that the story in Genesis 11 of an effort to construct “a tower that reaches to the heavens” is not “some sort of fable” but “really happened.” He went on to declare that the Founding Fathers relied on this story to design a system of government that would prevent political power from being consolidated in cities.
“The Torah—the first five books of the Bible—and Thomas Jefferson both hated big cities,” Kirk said. “The American founders read this text [Genesis 11], and they designed a system of government to say, ‘We do not want all this power in cosmopolitan, densely populated, urban areas.'”
“The Founding Fathers were so biblically literate; if you read the Federalist Papers—Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 47, Federalist 51, Federalist 58—they talk time and time again about the heated passions in cities where rancor, rumor, and half-truths reign supreme, where the mobs and the masses are able to get what they want, but reason goes to die,” Kirk continued. “God tried to warn us in Genesis 11, ‘Hey, if you guys build these cities, all of a sudden you’re not going to be governed by your reason, your rationality, or your logic, but it’s going to be the tyranny of the clamoring majority.’ My goodness, you look at federalism, states’ rights, you look at this idea of the local church, all of that is saying, ‘We learned the lesson from Genesis 11, and we’re not going to try to build something central or something big or something strong.'”
We have no idea what Kirk is talking about when he claims that the Torah hates big cities, but it’s probably safe to assume that it’s not true, given that just about everything else he said was false.
First of all, Thomas Jefferson was serving as Minister to France at the time the Constitution was written, so he played no direct role in designing our system of government and his supposed hatred of cities is totally irrelevant.
Kirk, of course, provided no evidence that the Founding Fathers relied on Genesis 11 when forming the government, presumably because there is no evidence to support that claim, which is why his assertions about Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers are nonsense.
Kirk rattled off the line about cities being full of “heated passions,” “rancor,” and “rumor” as if he were quoting from the Federalist Papers, but no such quotes appear in any of the 85 essays. In fact, his citations of Alexander Hamilton and Federalist 47, 51, 58 are completely meaningless since all of those essays were written by James Madison and said literally nothing about the supposed dangers of cities. (Essays 47 and 51 were about checks and balances and the separation of powers, and essay 58 was about the appointment of representatives in the House of Representatives.)
The creation of a strong central government was precisely what was intended by those who crafted, signed, and ratified the Constitution. Having struggled through the American Revolution and the first years of independence with essentially no federal government under the Articles of Confederation, many Founding Fathers agreed that what was needed was a convention to “render the constitution of the Federal Government adequate to the exigencies of the Union.” The Constitution that arose out of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 was designed to remedy the weakness and diffusion of powers that hampered the federal government under the Articles of Confederation.
On top of all of that, the Founding Fathers obviously weren’t particularly concerned about protecting the federal government from the supposed corrupting power of cities, since they placed the very first Congress in New York City, then, as now, the most populous city in country.
Of course, none of these facts matter to Kirk because his goal isn’t to tell the truth or present an accurate view of history, but rather to convince Christian conservatives that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and that they have a biblical obligation to ensure that it remains one. We’ve seen this same strategy used time and time again by David Barton and other Christian nationalists.
There’s a reason why Right Wing Watch has repeatedly debunked these lies about the founding of our nation. Kirk, Barton, and others have an explicit political goal when they tell them: They want to bolster their Christian nationalist agenda, undermine church-state separation, and reverse progress toward equality by insisting that our laws and policies must coincide with their interpretation of the Bible.
The post Charlie Kirk Is Still Spreading Historically and Biblically Baseless Claims to Justify His Christian Nationalism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: The Christian Nationalist Machine Turning Hate Into Law.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Alaska GOP Lawmaker Says It’s a ‘Benefit to Society’ When ‘Child Abuse Is Fatal’ Because There’s a ‘Cost Savings.’
- Justin Baragona @ The Daily Beast: Fully Unhinged ‘Dilbert’ Guy Tells White People to ‘Get the Fuck Away’ From Black People.
- Molly Olmstead @ Slate: The Right Has Found a New Narrative to Explain Project Veritas’ Implosion.
- Matt Dixon @ Politico: DeSantis wants to roll back press freedoms — with an eye toward overturning Supreme Court ruling.
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: White Supremacist Networks Gab and 8Kun Are Training Their Own AI Now.
- Donald Moynihan@ Talking Points Memo: The Most Important Election This Year Is Happening In Wisconsin.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Benefit to Society appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Shultz announced that Lara Trump will be appearing on his “Elijah Streams” program next month.
- Ali Alexander appreciates all those who are willing to make the sacrifice of putting up with his genius: “To love a genius is to know love that is not usually returned in the way most humans want it. It is to enlist. It is sacrificial.”
- Steven Franssen offered some advice to a viewer who was rejected for a date. The advice started off badly and got progressively worse: “You want to die in a FEMA camp?”
- Milo Yiannopoulos says that one of the only things left “to like about black Americans” is that they “murder a lot of trannies.”
- Finally, Teddy Daniels dedicated his entire show Wednesday to ranting about Sen. John Fetterman getting treated for depression at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center: “Grow a pair! Toughen up!”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Toughen Up appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Quinn Owen @ ABC News: Proud Boys saw surge in membership after Trump’s debate message, former member testifies.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Marjorie Taylor Greene: ‘Democrat’ Voters Should Be Banned from Voting If They Move to Red States.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: Charlie Kirk claims ‘witches’ made him ‘sick’ as he attacks Trump grand jury foreperson.
- Joe Jervis: Indicted QAnon Ex-Clerk Runs For Colorado GOP Chair.
- Kate Riga @ Talking Points Memo: With Primary Decided, Stage Is Set For Wisconsin Supreme Court Barnburner.
- Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Isaac Stanley-Becker @ The Washington Post: Arizona’s top prosecutor concealed records debunking election fraud claims.
- Anya Zoledziowski and David Gilbert @ Vice News: The Far Right Is Calling for the Execution of Teachers and Doctors.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Sickened by Witches appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- It seems that MAGA pastor Leon Benjamin will not be able to help right-wing Christians take over “the mountain of government” after he was trounced in Virginia’s special congressional election.
- Lauren Witzke says the United States is “just drifting farther and farther away from God” and longs for the nation to be liberated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- David Barton calls for Congress to investigate DirecTV’s decision to drop Newsmax from its lineup because he says these are the types of developments to could lead to a modern-day Inquisition.
- Nick Fuentes tells conservatives to stop talking about “black violence and trannies” and focus more on “calling out women and Jews.”
- Finally, Vincent James and Steven Franssen used their “White Boy Wednesday” show to complain about the fact that two Indian-American candidates—Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy—are running for Republican nomination for president: “Why don’t you leave running for president to Christian white people, Indians, and you guys just keep your frickin’ 7-Elevens?”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Mountain of Defeat appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kristina Karamo, the Republican Party’s 2022 nominee for Michigan Secretary of State, was trounced in that election by 14 percentage points, but that didn’t stop GOP activists from selecting her as chair of the state party at a Feb. 18 convention.
Although Karamo defeated the Trump-backed candidate Matt DePerno, who lost his election for state attorney general last year and is currently being investigated for his role in accessing voting machines in 2020, Trump congratulated her as “a powerful and fearless Election Denier” and a sign of “the Party’s takeover by Trump loyalists.”
After Karamo’s selection as state party chair, she appeared on Steve Bannon’s War Room show where she called Michigan “ground zero for the globalist takeover of the United States of America” and denounced President Joe Biden as a “traitor” and “illegitimate president” who “needs to be impeached.”
Karamo made a name for herself among MAGA activists by pushing Trump’s false stolen-election claims after the 2020 election. In an August 2022 roundup of far-right candidates in that month’s primaries, Right Wing Watch summarized Karamo this way: “Beyond her stolen-election conspiracy theories, Karamo has also baselessly claimed that anti-fascist activists are to blame for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, said that evolution should not be taught in schools, and said that the LGBTQ movement is part of ‘Satan’s war against humans.’”
Karamo’s secretary of state bid was supported by Transformation Michigan, which is associated with the dominionist Oak Initiative and New Apostolic Reformation. On Sunday, the pro-Trump prayer warriors at Intercessors for America shared a Gateway Pundit column celebrating Karamo’s election as state GOP chair and calling her a “conservative rock star.”
Trump-supporting pastor Shane Vaughn also congratulated Karamo on his livestream Tuesday night, saying that God had raised her up after “they took the election from her.” Vaughn has called for statewide versions of the electoral college to give rural Republican voters the power to block the election of Democratic candidates statewide even if those candidates get the most votes.
Before the 2022 election, Karamo filed a lawsuit unsuccessfully trying to get tens of thousands of mail-in ballots in Detroit disqualified and demanding changes in election administration. Her lawsuit cited Dinesh D’Souza’s propaganda film “2000 Mules,” whose claims about election fraud have been widely debunked. After the 2022 secretary of state election in which she lost by more than 615,000 votes, Karamo refused to concede and made multiple unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. Her bid for party chair was endorsed by another defeated Trumpist secretary of state candidate, Arizona’s Mark Finchem.
In a blunt assessment of the impact of Karamo’s election on the future prospects for the Michigan Republican Party, The Bulwark’s senior editor Jim Swift noted Tuesday that Michigan voters have rejected the state GOP’s swing “toward extreme MAGA.” Democrats flipped both chambers of the state legislature last year while decisively reelecting Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, which Swift sees as evidence that the selection of Karamo as party chair is doubling down on a losing strategy.
The post Michigan GOP Elects Trumpist Conspiracy Theorist Kristina Karamo Party Chair appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mark Lamb, a right-wing sheriff from Arizona and a pro-Trump activist, told attendees at an Arizona pro-gun rally Saturday that he is “seriously considering making a run at the U.S. Senate.”
“Do not give an inch on your Second Amendment rights,” he told rallygoers.
Lamb, who built a fan base as a reality TV personality, created Protect America Now, which describes itself as a “law and order” group, in the month following Trump supporters’ attack on the U.S. Capitol. “I don’t know how loud we have to get before they have to listen to us and know we will no longer tolerate them stripping our freedoms away,” Lamb said, calling the insurrectionists “very loving, Christian people” who “just happen to support President Trump a lot.”
“We support Sheriffs and law enforcement members that believe in God, Family and Freedom,” says Protect America Now’s website, which asks for a monthly donation of $17.76 to “help us win this battle for the soul of America.”
Along with many other right-wing sheriffs, Lamb opposed public health restrictions designed to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus. At a 2021 anti-vaccine rally, he told supporters, “We’re going to find out what kind of patriots you are. We’re going to find out who is willing to die for freedom.” Lamb has also trafficked in QAnon conspiracy theories.
Like his ally, so-called “constitutional sheriff” Richard Mack, Lamb embraced Trump supporters’ false claims about the 2020 presidential election and promoted Dinesh D’Souza’s widely debunked propaganda film “2000 Mules.” Last year, Lamb entered into a partnership with True the Vote, a right-wing elections group with a track record of promoting unsubstantiated voter fraud claims, and he pledged to get more deeply involved in monitoring elections. Reporting for Bolts magazine, Jessica Pishko called Lamb’s rhetoric “part of an escalating campaign to police the vote,” noting that it could “encourage extremist vigilante violence be perpetuating baseless rumors of fraud, often against Black and Latinx communities.”
Earlier this month, Media Matters noted that Lamb was building his right-wing brand in preparation for a possible Senate run, citing his affiliation with the far-right Claremont Institute, where he is a fellow, and connections to the anti-immigration group FAIR.
Lamb has also published a children’s book, which he is promoting with now-familiar attacks on “woke” books that deal with race and sexuality. Lamb’s publisher, BRAVE Books, warns that “a war is being waged for the hearts and minds of the next generation” and says its books are meant to provide “an alternative to the current progressive agenda dominating children’s literature.”
The post MAGA Sheriff Mark Lamb Contemplates Senate Run appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Isaac Stanley-Becker @ The Washington Post: James O’Keefe is out at Project Veritas after internal power struggle.
- Jeremy W. Peters and Katie Robertson @ The New York Times: Fox Stars Privately Expressed Disbelief About Election Fraud Claims. ‘Crazy Stuff.’
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: ‘We Need a National Divorce’: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Calls for Republican States to Secede From the Union.
- Matt Cohen @ The American Independence: Meet the groups backing right-wing Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates.
- Tom Boggioni @ Raw Story: Gay GOP group called out for hiring ‘influencer’ who wishes ‘we were a homophobic society.’
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: Eric Trump is touring with another antisemite who shares pro-Hitler propaganda.
- Cameron Joseph @ Vice News: GOP Elects QAnon Conspiracist Who Thinks Yoga Is Satanic as Party Chair in Michigan.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A National Divorce appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Ali Alexander is confident that “everything I know and believe will become popular. Everything my opponents says now will be extinct.”
- Jon Miller wants to “make it a crime to be trans”: “You’d be amazed at how many suddenly shed themselves of this ‘I was born in the wrong body!’ hysteria once they realize it’d require jail time.”
- After Sen. John Fetterman checked himself into a hospital to receive treatment for depression, Shane Vaughn declared that Satan used Fetterman to help the Democrats keep control of the Senate “and now that Satan’s done with him, now we send him to the mental nuthouse. He just checked himself in for being crazy.”
- Alex Jones claims that everyone who is offered a television show or a record deal is first required to “reject Jesus Christ and pledge yourself to Lucifer.”
- Tyler Russell says “we’re in 2023 now, we’ve got to stop dissing the Nazis. We got to look back at our boys like Oswald [Mosley], like Francisco [Franco], like Benito [Mussolini]. We gotta be like, ‘Yo, we’re ganged up out here.'”
- Isabella Riley Moody discovers the perils of being a bigoted troll, insisting that she is “not really homophobic” after asserting last week that she wishes “we were a homophobic society” and bragging that the word “f*ggot” is “in my everyday vocabulary.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Stop Dissing the Nazis appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2022, MAGA pastor Leon Benjamin was the Republican nominee in the race for Virginia’s 4th Congressional District, where he challenged Democratic incumbent Rep. Donald McEachin. Benjamin made Christian nationalism and Seven Mountains Dominionism central components of his campaign, declaring that “the role of the church is to anoint the politicians” and proclaiming that “God’s about to send people like me” to Congress.
Despite the fact that Benjamin was positive that he had been chosen by God to fill that seat, he was thoroughly routed by McEachin. But only weeks after the election, McEachin suddenly passed away, setting the stage for a special election on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 to fill the vacant seat in Congress. In response, Benjamin relaunched his campaign and again was chosen as the Republican nominee.
And once again, Benjamin is making Christian nationalism and Seven Mountains Dominionism central components of his campaign.
Seven Mountains Dominionism is a right-wing theology that teaches that far-right Christians are to “do whatever is necessary” to take control of the seven main “mountains” that shape our culture—education, government, media, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion—in order to bring every aspect of law and society into alignment with their right-wing “biblical worldview.”
On Saturday, Benjamin appeared on “The Lance Wallnau Show,” where he was interviewed by fellow Christian nationalist and Seven Mountain Dominionist Lance Wallnau.
During his appearance on Wallnau’s program, Benjamin asserted that he has been called by God to do his part to ensure that right-wing Christians take control of “the mountain of government.”
“Lance, we’ve had these private conversations about the seven mountains,” Benjamin said. “I was diving in to where do we fit in the mountains—and my wife could probably testify about this, ‘Why is he talking about the seven mountains back in 2013, 2014, 2015? Why is he talking about the mountain of government, the mountain of education, the mountain of family, the mountain of media, sports and entertainment, the mountain of religion? What is he talking about?'”
“And then, boom,” Benjamin continued. “In 2019, I’m in a statesman course in Washington, D.C., for three months, learning about the Constitution, and even though I’m a pastor—God, I don’t know if he sucked me in, tricked me, or pulled me in—I started to understand and ascertain that my calling is not just in the pulpit, per se, in the four walls of the church, but in the marketplace, and in specifically the area of government. I understood it on the spiritual end, the mountain of government.”
Benjamin faces Democratic Virginia state Sen. Jennifer L. McClellan in Tuesday’s election.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Leon Benjamin Wants to Bring Seven Mountains Dominionism to Congress appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Georgia grand jury found evidence of perjury, not systemic fraud.
- Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: Dan Bongino praises and promotes QAnon influencer.
- Luke Winkie @ Slate: MAGA Twitter Has Fully Lost It.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: ‘Go Back to Your Own Country’: Ann Coulter Trashes South Carolina-Born Nikki Haley.
- Rachel Weiner, Spencer S. Hsu and Peter Hermann @ The Washington Post: U.S.: Proud Boys leader learned of upcoming arrest from D.C. police officer.
- Nathalie Baptiste @ HuffPost: This Rural Virginia County Is A ‘Testing Ground’ For Book Banning.
- Emily Singer @ The American Independent: Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates attended right-wing Christian law school.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Perjury, Not Fraud appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Ali Alexander says that “living under Christian rule and norms, otherwise known as Christendom, is more useful than Capitalism”: “We have a duty to legislate and tame.”
- Nick Fuentes declares that “one [white] woman going to college is worse than the Holocaust, when you think about it.”
- Robin Bullock prophesies that soon the glory of God “will invade the halls of Congress” and “demon-possessed congressmen are going to manifest right there in front of everybody.”
- Isabella Riley Moody, recently named one of the Log Cabin Republicans’ 2023 “Outspoken Ambassadors” admits that “fa**ot is a word that I literally can’t not say. It’s in my everyday vocabulary.”
- Finally, Pastor Leon Benjamin, the Republican nominee in Virginia’s upcoming special election, proclaims that he is running for Congress because Democrats have been hypnotized by witchcraft while he is all about “bringing a nation back to God.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Duty to Legislate and Tame appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Donald Moynihan @ Slate: The Disturbing Origins of Republicans’ New House ‘‘Weaponization Committee.”
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Marjorie Taylor Greene Complains Not Enough Money Went Toward Rail Safety in Bill She Voted Against: ‘This Is a Failure.’
- Ruby Seavey & Payton Armstrong @ Media Matters: Right-wing media weaponize the East Palestine train derailment to claim white conservatives are being persecuted.
- Lynda Edwards @ Raw Story: At CPAC, ‘illness’ and ‘death’ from COVID-19 are risks conservative attendees must assume: waiver.
- Michael Kaplan & Kathryn Watson @ CBS News: Justice Department declines to charge Rep. Matt Gaetz in sex trafficking probe.
- Andrew Prokop @ Vox: The rise of the Trump-Russia revisionists.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Rise of the Revisionists appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Nikki Haley kicked off her presidential campaign by having right-wing pastor John Hagee deliver the opening prayer at her first campaign rally.
- Jarrin Jackson says that “empathy is evil”: “Reject empathy. New Age Marxism flanking the truth of Christ through subjective feelings and emotional tropes – usually leveraged by personal appeals, heart-wrenching images, and calls for abandoning truth in preference of experience.”
- Ali Alexander declares that “shrieks of ‘misogyny’ only exist where men are physically present enough to be bullied and spiritually absent enough not to provide women with the gifts of the patriarchy.”
- Robin Bullock claims that the Vietnam War was started by Satan in order to stop the Jesus People movement.
- Stew Peters insists that “the black national anthem is anti-White racism.”
- Finally, Brigitte Gabriel doesn’t understand why Democrats “are always so upset and outraged over everything.” Um, excuse us?
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Gifts of the Patriarchy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The Log Cabin Republicans, an organization that claims to “[represent] LGBT conservatives and straight allies who support fairness, freedom, and equality,” announced its 2023 class of Outspoken Ambassadors today.
Outspoken Ambassadors, the organization explained, are social media “influences” who will offer “charismatic and thoughtful perspectives at a time when so many people feel bullied into silence” by “radical gender and alphabet nonsense.”
Among those tapped to serve as an Outspoken Ambassador in 2023 is far-right commentator Isabella Riley Moody.
Moody is a fan of white nationalist Nick Fascist and his fascist America First movement. She recently hosted America First activist Dalton Clodfelter on her “Moody With Isabella” program, where she attempted to downplay Clodfelter’s virulent antisemitism by joking about it and even ended the interview by declaring “Heil Hitler.”
Isabella Riley Moody conducted a friendly interview with white nationalist Dalton Clodfelter and attempted to use jokes to downplay Clodfelter’s virulent antisemitism, even ending the interview by declaring “Heil Hitler.” pic.twitter.com/HY2eAaVLlW
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 9, 2023
Moody’s Twitter account is a fetid cesspool of bigotry where everything she doesn’t like is pejoratively derided as “gay.”
Moody put her unapologetic hatred for anything “gay” on full display during her Tuesday livestream, when she lashed out at the author of an essay about his bisexual, nonbinary wife and transgender daughter.
“Hey faot, are you being serious right now?” Moody fumed. “You’re going to say that our society is a homophobic dumpster fire? Our society literally puts faots on a pedestal and worships them as God. The rainbow flag is everywhere. We love it. It’s such B.S. to say that we’re a homophobic society. I wish we were a homophobic society, and that’s the goddamn truth!”
Selecting Moody as an Outspoken Ambassador seems like an odd choice for an effort that supposedly exists “to reach out to mainstream gays and lesbians looking for a common-sense community ready to support one another, not pit one faction against another.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Log Cabin Republicans Name Homophobic Bigot Isabella Riley Moody as an ‘Outspoken Ambassador’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Josh Dawsey @ The Washington Post: Trump campaign paid researchers to prove 2020 fraud but kept findings secret.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: The problem with the GOP’s new Covid committee is its members.
- Anya Zoledziowski @ Vice News: South Dakota Is Going to Force Trans Kids to Detransition.
- James Barragán @ The Texas Tribune: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s priority bills signal another swing at pushing Texas to the right.
- Asawin Suebsaeng and Patrick Reis @ Rolling Stone: Trump Plans to Bring Back Firing Squads, Group Executions if He Retakes White House.
- Media Matters: Charlie Kirk says the Ohio train derailment is part of a “war on white people.”
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Bury That Report appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Laura Loomer will presumably not be supporting Nikki Haley’s presidential bid: “I only want a male President and I am not afraid to say it. I don’t want a female President.”
- Milo Yiannopoulos says that “the thing that really turned [him] off Hitler” was learning that Hitler poisoned his own dog. That is what soured him on Hitler?
- Isabella Riley Moody demonstrates that there is no easier job than being a right-wing commentator because all it requires is being outraged about something you don’t understand and didn’t watch (in this case, the Black national anthem) and then making it about former President Donald Trump.
- Stew Peters claims to have “a list of 22 attorneys general” that want to talk with him about establishing “Nuremberg 2.0” to prosecute, try, and then execute those responsible for the COVID-19 vaccines.
- Finally, Dalton Clodfelter used his Valentine’s Day livestream to offer some helpful relationship advice: Women “need to be a blank slate” with no opinions so that they can “be molded by the man” to accept “that Jews control the world.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Souring on Hitler appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
It has been well-documented that Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton routinely misuses and misrepresents both American history and the Bible in order to promote his right-wing political agenda.
For decades, Barton has worked diligently to convince conservative Christian activists that the Founding Fathers intended for the United States to be an explicitly Christian nation that operates according to biblical precepts. He has doggedly worked to “prove” these claims by incessantly (and falsely) insisting that multiple passages of the Constitution were taken directly out of the Bible and that our laws and branches of government were crafted based on biblical principles.
These false claims have a political purpose. In 2022, Barton traveled around the country on behalf of an organization called Faith Wins, working to mobilize Christian voters heading into the midterm elections by telling them that, according to the Bible, they were responsible for choosing our elected leaders.
An example of the sort of disinformation Barton peddled was on display when he spoke at Radiant Church in Colorado last September. During his presentation, Barton falsely asserted that jurist James Kent set up federal circuit courts and that the concept of circuit courts was rooted in 1 Samuel 7:15-16. That passages reads, “Samuel continued as Israel’s leader all the days of his life. From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel.”
“James Kent, he’s known as the father of American jurisprudence,” Barton said. “He’s one of the two guys who helped set up the American judicial system. And when he set it up, he set it up with circuit courts. … Back at the beginning, when we had the original Supreme Court justices, they got on their horse, and they rode from town to town and from state to state to have court meetings.”
“And so we have this concept of circuit judges set up, and the guy who set it up said, ‘Well, we got it out of 1 Samuel 7:15-16,'” Barton continued. “It says that Samuel judged Israel, and Samuel rode the circuit. [Kent] said that if that’s the way the Bible does judges, then that’s a good way for us to do judges too.”
We had heard Barton make this claim multiple times before, but didn’t realize how wrong Barton was until we recently read the book, “John Jay: Founding Father,” by Walter Stahr. Jay served as the very first chief justice of the Supreme Court, a position to which he was nominated by President George Washington in 1789 on the same day that Washington signed the Judiciary Act of 1789, which created the federal court system.
As explicitly laid out in the Judiciary Act of 1789, Jay and his colleagues were required to travel among the 13 circuit courts established throughout the nation and hear cases in conjunction with local district judges.
While Kent was an acclaimed jurist in the Founding Era, he played no role in crafting this legislation, establishing circuit courts, or in helping to “set up the American judicial system.” In fact, Kent never even served in Congress, and the Judiciary Act of 1789, which laid out the concept of circuit courts, was drafted by Sen. Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut.
Barton, of course, provided no evidence to support his claim regarding Kent’s supposed biblical inspiration for creating circuit courts during his presentation. But when Barton made this same false claim in his 2012 book, “The Founder’s Bible,” he cited “The Memoirs and Letters of James Kent.” Predictably, if one actually checks Kent’s memoirs, all that is found is an undated passage in Kent’s diary noting that “the Jewish judges rode the circuits” along with the quote from 1 Samuel.
This is, once again, an example of Barton exploiting the biblical and historical ignorance of his own audiences to feed them a false narrative regarding the founding of this nation that serves primarily to promote his own modern-day right-wing political agenda.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Debunking David Barton’s Favorite Falsehood About the Bible and Circuit Courts appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Will Sommer @ The Daily Beast: Glenn Beck’s Media Empire Sued for Ignoring Star Host’s Sexual Harassment.
- Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Kari Lake Declares If Elections ‘Were Really Fair,’ GOP Would Control the House, Senate, White House, and ALL State Governorships.
- Anti-Defamation League: “Ye is Right” Antisemitic Campaign Continues.
- Paul Blest @ Vice News: Florida Straight Up Lied About AP African-American Studies Course, College Board Says.
- Mia Gingerich @ Media Matters: Right-wing media divided as Trump and DeSantis supporters lob “grooming” accusations against both candidates.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Scamvangelist Andrew Wommack: God pays me $11,000/hour. Now give me more cash.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Price of ‘Ye is Right’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Andrew Anglin says that “allowing women to make their own decisions is the greatest imaginable crime against humanity.”
- Right-wing pastor David Scarlett told Alex Jones that former President Donald Trump was recently briefed on the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccine—possibly by Michael Flynn—and also claimed that Trump “is taking Bible prophecy very, very serious right now.”
- Dave Daubenmire held a two-hour prayer call Sunday night “against the Satanic halftime show” at the Super Bowl.
- Steve Franssen has five keys to success. Step 1: “Never give up [your] strength to women or Jews.”
- Finally, two local GOP politicians have been killed in New Jersey in recent weeks. One was shot by a co-worker, and the motive for the other is currently unknown, but Lance Wallnau suspects that they were targeted by “underground, Satanist, left-wing, antifa hit squads.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Underground, Satanist, Left-Wing, Antifa Hit Squads appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jacqueline Alemany and Alice Crites @ The Washington Post: The making of Anna Paulina Luna.
- Allan Smith and Vaughn Hillyard @ NBC News: Trump frustrated with a powerful conservative group after its outreach to Ron DeSantis.
- Joe Jervis: Newsmax CEO: Dropping Us Is An Attack On Jesus.
- Christopher Mathias @ HuffPost: Doug Mastriano Makes Dan Cox, QAnon-Sympathizing Insurrectionist, Chief Of Staff.
- Media Matters: Steve Bannon says the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings “should have gone further” and “were extremely, extremely helpful.”
- Josh Kovensky @ Talking Points Memo: How The Fake Electors Scheme Explains Everything About Trump’s Attempt To Steal The 2020 Election.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: In Praise of HUAC appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Dave Daubenmire is going to wage “spiritual warfare” against Rihanna’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl on Sunday: “Instead of offering our time and attention to the Halftime Orgy we invite you and those you are watching the game with to join us for 30 minutes of prayer and intercession as their Satanic ritual is streaming.”
- David Brody’s “The Water Cooler” program on the Real America’s Voice network has come to an end.
- It looks like the self-proclaimed “prophets” are starting to gravitate toward Ron DeSantis, with Charlie Shamp claiming that he received a vision several years ago revealing that DeSantis’ “ultimate future is to have a position in the United States as the president.”
- Stew Peters is outraged that “Luke Skywalker is now a f*g.”
- Finally, Glenn Beck’s The Blaze network gave right-wing “comedian” Alex Stein a show, and things got off to a great start when guest Gavin McInnes began screaming at the audience to put their phones away.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Super Bowl Spiritual Warfare appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Will Sommer @ The Daily Beast: James O’Keefe ‘Outright Cruel’ to Project Veritas Employees, Internal Memo Alleges.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Bannon Trashes ‘Terrible’ Sarah Huckabee Sanders SOTU Rebuttal: ‘She’s Not Intellectually Capable.’
- Stuart A. Thompson @ The New York Times: Steve Bannon’s Podcast Is Top Misinformation Spreader, Study Says.
- Miles Klee @ Rolling Stone: Who Is @Catturd2, the Sh-tposting King of MAGA Twitter?
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Charge from DeSantis’ elections office leads to partial acquittal.
- John Knefel and Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: Arizona Sheriff Mark Lamb builds his right-wing media brand as he considers a Senate run.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: King of MAGA Twitter appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- The Blaze has given right-wing “comedian” Alex Stine a new show, which raises the question of why Glenn Beck keeps giving shows to people who are big fans of Nick Fuentes?
- Speaking of Fuentes, he claims to have heard rumors that Tucker Carlson is planning some sort of attack on him and issues a warning: “Tucker, don’t make me your op, [you] Chinese shill. OK? Big mistake. I’ve heard some not-good things about Tucker. Tucker’s up to some not-good things.”
- Ali Alexander is looking to build an army: “Looking for 300 culture jammers. We will move as a unit. You don’t need fame or fortune to work alongside me. And I won’t promise you that either. I can only assure you that I’ll co-lead you into meaningful battles that will reshape the world and you will have truly lived.“
- A simple point from Jackson Lahmeyer: “Wokeism = Satanism.”
- “Lady” Brigitte Gabriel is willing to tackle the tough issues: “What would the Founding Fathers say about the price of eggs today?”
- Finally, Isabella Riley Moody conducted a friendly interview with white nationalist Dalton Clodfelter and attempted to use jokes to downplay Clodfelter’s virulent antisemitism, even ending the interview by declaring “Heil Hitler.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: You Will Have Truly Lived appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In 2021, Rick Scarborough, a self-described “Christocrat,” strident anti-LGBTQ activist, and longtime critic of public education, set his sites on taking over school boards in three Houston-area school districts. Scarborough was optimistic about his chances of having conservative Christians take over the school board because, he said, “most people don’t vote.”
“We’re gonna win this Houston school board if the church shows up,” Scarborough bragged, and indeed candidates he backed were ultimately able to defeat two board members.
Inspired by this showing, Scarborough announced in late 2022 that he had begun preparing to target school boards all across the state in 2023.
“We are already preparing for our next big project: the school board elections that take place in May,” Scarborough declared. “We’re laying the ground [work] now for that election. We need to move the church so that our children can be saved from the indoctrination and oversexualization that is taking place.”
On Wednesday, Scarborough’s Recover America Action organization released a video promoting his campaign to defeat the “godless educrats” and rescue the children of Texas who are “being groomed by homosexuals and the trans perverts to be recruited into their evil lifestyles.”
“This is an SOS call to all Christian patriots,” Scarborough proclaimed. “Join our campaign to save our schools and save our children.”
“For over 30 years, I’ve been trying to awaken pastors to the growing threat that teachers and others in education who reject God and his word pose to our children,” he continued. “Just look around. Perverted teachers have infiltrated our public schools and are brainwashing our children with critical race theory lies about America, filling their young minds with hatred for their country. These teachers are also normalizing immoral and abnormal sex acts, sexualizing our children with pornographic materials.”
“These godless educrats who rule the Texas education system are teaching our children that what God has told us about morality and gender is all wrong,” Scarborough warned. “Our children are being groomed by homosexuals and the trans perverts to be recruited into their evil lifestyles. These children, starting in pre-K, are being taught that evil is good and good is evil, but they’re not being taught how to read, write, or learn math proficiently. Now, wicked drag queens are being given access to perform for our children in public schools and libraries, grooming them for pedophilia.”
“It is time to stop this madness,” he added. “I’m pledging to you that with God’s help, I will end this demonic assault on our school children in Texas.”
Scarborough said that “thousands of elections for school boards will be held on May 6” and therefore “capable Christian leaders” and “Christian patriots” must mobilize to run for those positions: “Stand up and say, ‘Enough is enough!'”
Of course, while Scarborough fearmongers about indoctrination, he is eager to impose his right-wing version of Christianity on students by creating an education system that others the LGBTQ community and does away with Black history.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post ‘Christocrat’ Rick Scarborough Aims to Take Over Texas School Boards From the ‘Godless Educrats’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Brett Bachman @ The Daily Beast: MTG Screams ‘Liar’ at Joe Biden as Republicans Derail SOTU.
- Igor Bobic @ HuffPost: Sarah Huckabee Sanders Goes Heavy On Far-Right Grievances In State Of The Union Response.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: ‘I’m a Victim’: Trump Gives ‘The Real State of the Union’ After Biden Addresses Congress.
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: Trump Kicks Off His 2024 Battle Against DeSantis With A Grooming Allegation.
- Mia Gingerich and Jason Campbell @ Media Matters: Grifter Gays: How conspiracy theorists and right-wing operatives created Gays Against Groomers.
- Isaac Stanley-Becker @ The Washington Post: Charlie Kirk’s right-wing empire loses a key asset: Students for Trump.
- Andrew Rice @ Intelligencer: James O’Keefe Is on Paid Leave From Project Veritas.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Liars, Victims, and Grifters appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Ali Alexander is certainly not lacking in confidence: “I am God’s solider. He has commanded enemies to give me everything I want.”
- Nick Fuentes is very open about his preferred form of government: “I want a supreme leader totalitarian Christian dictator to put all these people in jail.”
- Dalton Clodfelter shares Fuentes’ affection for authoritarian government: “I would love something like China, but like a Christian state. … We need to take inspiration from China and from Russia.”
- Andrew Torba continues to make the case that Christian nationalists must create their own artificial intelligence.
- Finally, Owen Benjamin is thankful that he’s able to afford a nice home paid for by “ni**er jokes.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Totalitarian Christian Dictator appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
It has been three months since broadcaster-turned-MAGA-cultist Kari Lake lost her bid for governor of Arizona, but Lake steadfastly refuses to accept the results of the election. Rather, Lake has endlessly insisted to anyone who will listen that she is the “duly elected governor,” despite the fact that the actual duly elected governor Katie Hobbs was sworn-in over a month ago.
On Tuesday, Lake took her complaints to two programs hosted by extreme right-wing broadcasters who have openly called for violence against their perceived political opponents in the past.
Earlier in the day, Lake appeared on “The Pete Santilli Show,” a program hosted by radical Ohio-based broadcaster Pete Santilli who was deeply involved in the 2014 Bundy standoff and who once declared that he wanted to shoot Hillary Clinton “right in the vagina.”
The day before her appearance on his show, Santilli raged against Pfizer’s sponsorship of Sunday night’s Grammy Awards and openly urged his listeners to literally attack Pfizer’s production facilities.
“Destroy Pfizer now!” Santilli bellowed. “Do it now. Go over the wall. Get into their frickin’ buildings. Unplug all their frickin’ equipment. Let’s go. It’s time to storm the Bastille.”
During her appearance on his show, Lake praised Santilli and declared that “our government is corrupt as Hell” while Santilli spent most of the interview fuming that the nation has been overthrown by “a CIA coup.”
Lake, for her part, was inclined to agree.
“What you’re saying, I’m sure is absolutely true,” Lake said. “I haven’t looked at all that evidence, but nothing would shock me anymore.”
The day after Pete Santilli urged his listeners to literally attack Pfizer plants, Kari Lake appeared on his show and agreed with Santilli’s assertion that her election loss was part of a “CIA coup.” https://t.co/PCpI5Cb0DA pic.twitter.com/MmAO2N4psD
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 8, 2023
On Tuesday evening, Lake made an appearance on “The Stew Peters Show,” hosted by white nationalist Stew Peters, who has used his nightly program, speeches, and social media accounts to spread wild conspiracy theories, bigotry, and calls for violence.
After heaping praise on Peters, Lake railed against the “bastards” who supposedly stole her election, before agreeing with Peters’ assertion that “conservative Christians” are being relentlessly oppressed and provoked into unleashing “violence or bloodshed.”
“I don’t know how much longer the people can take it,” Lake warned.
Kari Lake appeared on radical right-wing conspiracy theorist Stew Peters’ program last night, where she agreed that “conservative Christians” are being provoked into unleashing “violence or bloodshed”: “I don’t know how much longer the people can take it.” pic.twitter.com/F9XOqhFRnL
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 8, 2023
With Lake reportedly contemplating making a run for the U.S. Senate in 2024, her willingness to associate with radical right-wing figures like Santilli and Peters should be cause for alarm.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Kari Lake Makes the Round of Radical Right-Wing Programs appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jordan Green @ Raw Story: ‘I started a riot for the sitting president’: Why Ali Alexander won’t go to jail for his role in Jan. 6.
- Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: DeSantis Couldn’t Net Any Election Fraud Prosecutions, So Florida GOPers Want to Change the Law.
- Media Matters: Alex Jones says “a gang of racist, foaming at the mouth Black people” are coming for your family, advises audience to “kill every person you need to.”
- Josephine Harvey @ HuffPost: Lauren Boebert Appears To Pray For Joe Biden’s Death In Texas Sermon.
- Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern @ Slate: Dobbs Was Always Just the Beginning.
- Joe Jervis: Creationist House Committee Chair Hands Out Dozens Of Bibles, Calls On Members To Read It In Full This Year.
- Michael Luciano@ Mediaite: Tucker Carlson Complains Biden Is Appointing Too Many Non-Whites to Federal Courts: ‘Race-Based Hiring.’
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Started a Riot appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins delivered a “State of Faith, Family & Freedom” address Monday night, proclaiming that “we the people, under the authority and direction of God, will determine the future of this nation. We will not wait for Washington any longer.”
- Scott Lively warns that “America lost God’s protection against the tide of evil in the 1947 case of Everson v. Board of Education, which dethroned God in our judicial system by suddenly mandating government neutrality toward all religions after centuries of affirming His authority over us.”
- Jason Rapert is sick of all “the idiots in the country that want to make you think that a man’s gotta be able to go up and slobber all over another man and hug and kiss him and pretend like they’re married.”
- David Lane declares that “America’s backsliding and abandonment of faith will continue unless American Christendom comes alive and becomes conversant in the prime denominations of political currency.”
- Shane Vaughn fumes about conservative Christian voters who would consider supporting anyone other than former President Donald Trump in 2024: “When you do not support the man that God has ordained for the job, you are a Judas.”
- Finally, few can match Ali Alexander in terms of narcissism: “John the Baptist, Aristotle, Napoleon, Ali Alexander. Exile only makes us stronger. After 2 years, I’m back and organizing the people.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: You Are a Judas appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Kiera Butler @ Mother Jones: The Far-Right Bounty Hunter Behind the Explosive Popularity of “Died Suddenly.”
- John Fea @ Current: Charles Koch and his network will oppose Trump in the 2024 GOP primaries.
- Kelly Weill @ The Daily Beast: Preacher Accused of Enabling Pedophile at Creationist ‘Dino’ Theme Park.
- Brandon Gage @ Salon: “I don’t enjoy it”: MTG complains that being in Congress has “made my life miserable.”
- Erik Maulbetsch @ Colorado Times Recorder: Colorado Election Fraud Conspiracist Appears to Have Committed Voter Fraud, Court Docs Show.
- Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: Democrats just passed a resolution condemning “white religious nationalism.”
- Tess Owen @ Vice News: The Christian Right Is Having a Meltdown Over the ‘Satanic’ Grammys.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Satanic Panic appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Outraged about Sam Smith’s performance at the Grammys, Ali Alexander declares that blasphemy and Satan worship “should warrant prison time.”
- Pete Santilli was so enraged by Pfizer’s sponsorship of the Grammys that he encouraged listeners to literally attack Pfizer’s production facilities: “Destroy Pfizer now! Do it now. Go over the wall. Get into their frickin’ buildings. Unplug all their frickin’ equipment.”
- Vincent James gripes that “from ‘To kill a mockingbird’ and the Scottsboro Boys, to the Diary of Anne Frank, all curriculum & reading lists are designed to make whites feel guilty, and shut them up while their countries get taken over.”
- Right-wing conspiracy theorists Greg Locke and Lin Wood are fighting.
- Rick Joyner asserts that increases in fires, floods, and natural disasters are not the results of climate change but are actually “the judgments of God.”
- Finally, Tim Gionet (aka Baked Alaska) reported to federal prison today to begin serving a 60-day sentence for his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, claiming that he’s “being politically persecuted because of my politics.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Destroy Pfizer Now appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
A spiritual battle is breaking out among former President Donald Trump’s closest evangelical allies as self-declared “prophets” have begun pointing the finger at each other, declaring the other a “false prophet.”
The drama began unfolding on the televangelist political program “FlashPoint.”
“FlashPoint” was launched heading into the 2020 election for the purpose of mobilizing right-wing Christians to support Trump and Republican candidates running for office. Airing on Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel network, the program from the beginning regularly featured host Gene Bailey with Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau, pastor Hank Kunneman, and evangelist Mario Murillo serving as commentators. Wallnau, Kunneman, and Murillo are all active within the modern-day Charismatic prophetic movement and used their positions as spiritual leaders to support Trump.
In the wake of Trump’s loss, “FlashPoint” relentlessly pushed the big lie that the election had been stolen from Trump and Kunneman and Murillo regularly used their appearances on the program to insist that Christians would never accept the result, declaring that accepting Joe Biden as president was a sign of disloyalty to God.
Once Trump left office, “FlashPoint” became a regular part of the Victory Channel’s lineup, airing twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, frequently with Kunneman and Murillo as guests. But earlier this year, Murillo announced that he would no longer appear on the program with Kunneman because of Kunneman’s ties to “false prophets” Kat Kerr and Robin Bullock.
Kerr and Bullock, like Murillo and Kunneman, are self-proclaimed “prophets” who ardently supported Trump in the 2020 election and refused to accept that he lost. But Murillo has lately grown alarmed by some of the wild things preached by Kerr and Bullock, particularly their insistence that they have been to Heaven on multiple occasions and witnessed everything from dinosaurs to parks made of Jell-O.
While Murillo does not have any ties to Kerr and Bullock, Kunneman has a very close relationship with both of them and has had them preach at his church in Omaha, Nebraska, on several occasions. Murillo claims that he personally reached out to Kunneman multiple times, urging him to disassociate himself from Kerr and Bullock, which Kunneman has refused to do. As such, Murillo now insists that he has no choice but to stop appearing on “FlashPoint” with Kunneman because Kunneman’s association with Kerr and Bullock is dangerous and damaging to the church.
But it hasn’t stopped there.
In recent weeks, Murillo has made multiple appearances on conservative Christian platforms, spreading his warnings about Kerr and Bullock on programs aimed at the sorts of Charismatic Pentecostal viewers who might be taken in by the likes of Kerr and Bullock.
On Friday, Murillo appeared on “The Strang Report,” a podcast hosted by Stephen Strang, the founder of Charisma Media, a Charismatic Pentecostal multimedia publishing company that produces books, podcasts, and the flagship “Charisma” magazine. Strang, like Murillo, Kerr, Bullock, and so many others in the modern-day prophetic movement, was deeply committed to Trump and heavily invested in his reelection.
During their discussion, Murillo and Strang agreed that Kerr and Bullock are preaching heresy and represent a serious threat to the body of Christ, with Strang going so far as to say that the claims made by Kerr and Bullock “almost borders on mental illness.”
“This is ridiculous,” Strang said. “In fact, it almost borders on mental illness as far as I’m concerned. And some of these things, by themselves, disqualify, by themselves. I mean, why discuss it? And the fact is that they use superstition—you know, to say that God is going to judge if you don’t believe them, that is some kind of superstition. They’re trying to make people afraid God’s gonna zap them. They should be afraid that God’s gonna zap them. When you say, ‘Thus saith the Lord’ and you’re speaking as a false prophet, they’re gonna have to stand in front of God. And I believe actually, long before then, these ministries are going to tumble. People need to be warned. People need to avoid these people. People need to quit giving them money, watching them on YouTube unless you’re wanting a few laughs. The body of Christ, as we call it—the church, which has many forms—needs to get a life and to see what’s going on.”
This attack by Strang represents a serious escalation in what has so far been a largely one-sided battle waged by Murillo and those aligned with him against Kerr and Bullock, who have largely remained silent in the face of these criticisms. Amid the growing controversy, Kerr and Bullock have continued to make their regular appearances on the “Elijah Streams” program, produced by the Elijah List, which, like Charisma, targets those in the modern-day prophetic and Charismatic Pentecostal movement.
Interestingly, Lance Wallnau, who joined Murillo and Kunneman as one of the original “FlashPoint” commentators, continues to appear on the program with Kunneman while also maintaining close ties to Murillo, with whom he’ll be hosting a “Fire and Glory” event in Florida next month. Last week, Wallnau even featured Murillo on his own podcast for two episodes, providing Murillo with another platform to express his concerns about Kerr and Bullock and Kunneman’s association with them.
With Trump struggling to recapture the support of evangelical voters as he bids to return to the White House, the prospect of a spiritual and theological fight breaking out between those who were previously among his most ardently devoted followers cannot be a good sign for the former president. More broadly, what started out as an attack by one leader—Murillo—on other leaders—Kunneman, Kerr, and Bullock—has already shown signs of widening as other prominent figures in the movement weigh in and begin to choose sides. If this smoldering controversy continues to spread, it could burst into a significant conflagration within the larger Charismatic spiritual and political communities.
The post Spiritual Warfare Breaks Out Among the Trump-Loving Prophetic Community appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Tommy Christopher @ Mediaite: Trump Campaign Plots To ‘Fan Flames’ of Big Lie in Leaked Strategy Session — TWO DAYS After Election.
- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Why On Earth Are Some MAGA Republicans Wearing AR-15 Pins?
- Erik Maulbetsch @ Colorado Times Recorder: Indicted CO Clerk Peters Falsely Implies DA Murdered Witnesses’ Brothers.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Trump Spent 2020 Attacking Ballot Drop Boxes – but Now He’s Demanding They Be Deployed in Churches.
- David Weigel @ Semafor: ‘At any age’: Donald Trump pushes the GOP towards targeting transgender adults.
- Media Matters: Daily Wire host: Doctors who provide gender-affirming care should be executed.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Fan the Flames appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Christian nationalist Jason Rapert, a former Arkansas state senator and the founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, brags about meeting Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts last evening: “I just met Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court after a dinner meeting this evening. I shook his hand and briefly discussed the National Association of Christian Lawmakers. Told him we have been praying for them and we will continue to do so. … I sincerely pray God will speak into his life and through his decisions every day that he serves.”
- Steve Franssen asserts that “‘patriarchy’ is a made-up word, invented by feminists so that unhappy women could have something to be mad at.”
- Outraged that DirecTV has dropped Newsmax from its lineup, Troy Miller, president of the National Religious Broadcasters, declares that “it’s time for Christians to step up and take back this media landscape.”
- Texas state Sen. Bob Hall has introduced legislation that will deny licenses and insurance to any doctor that provides gender-affirming care to individuals under the age of 18 because, he says, providing such care is satanic.
- Finally, Ali Alexander wants to make something clear: “I’m the Karen, the Kraken, the monster under the bed, Gabriel protecting Eden with a flaming sword, Michael kicking Satan in the face. Father, forgive me for my warrior’s lust. Ali Alexander is dat nigga.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Warrior’s Lust appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Li Zhou @ Vox: Republicans kicked Ilhan Omar off the Foreign Affairs Committee to get revenge on Democrats.
- Amy Littlefield and Heron Greenesmith @ The Nation: Fresh Off Victory Against Roe, the Religious Right Is Pushing a Record Number of Anti-Trans Bills.
- Andrew L. Seidel @ Religion Dispatches: Christian Nationalist Legislator Introduces Anti-Trans ‘Millstone Act’ Suggesting Biblical Retribution.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: ‘We Need to Get Our Numbers Up’: Boebert Complains Americans Own a Mere 46% of All Guns in the World.
- John Fea @ Current: It was only a matter of time: Jair Bolsonaro and Charlie Kirk join forces.
- Molly Olmstead @ Slate: Schism! At the Prayer Breakfast.
- Zachary Petrizzo@ The Daily Beast: Silk Suggests New Theory on Diamond’s Death During Bizarre Return to Show.
- Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: Trump attorney Christina Bobb goes on QAnon show tour to promote her book while pushing election fraud claims.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A QAnon Book Tour appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Rep. Mary Miller hopes that the recent “National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance” will become an annual event.
- Josh Bernstein declares that all Democrats should be declared to be communists and then arrested under the Communist Control Act of 1954.
- Ali Alexander has had his Twitter account restored, again.
- Jason Rapert declares that right-wing Christians “must take authority” over government: “Do you think that America is gonna be free with a bunch of drag queens running this place?”
- Finally, Vincent James and Lauren Witzke agree that Jews “are not the chosen people” and should therefore be prohibited from serving in government: “We shouldn’t allow anyone that doesn’t believe in Christ in positions of power in this country.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Who Put the Drag Queens in Charge? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Michael Edison Hayden and Megan Squire @ Hatewatch: Infowars’ Alex Jones Says He Lives ‘in Hell,’ Texts Show.
- Travis Gettys @ Raw Story: Proud Boys plotted ‘firing squads’ ahead of Jan. 6 riot: ‘War if they steal this.’
- Mack Lamoureux @ Vice News: Incels Are Using Their Wiki to Clean Their Abhorrent Reputation and Recruit ‘Normies.
- Joe Jervis: Man Running For Third Senate Term Files Constitutional Amendment Limiting Future US Senators To Two Terms.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: GOP Rep. Eric Burlison, Mad Over Dropped Newsmax, Invokes Holocaust.
- Ali Breland @ Mother Jones: The Website That Wants You to Kill Yourself—and Won’t Die.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Life in Hell appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- With Nikki Haley reportedly set to announce that she is running for president against former President Donald Trump, Lauren Witzke wants Haley deported (Haley was born South Carolina).
- Now that he is boycotting the “FlashPoint” television program over Hank Kunneman’s ties to “false prophets” Kat Kerr and Robin Bullock, Mario Murillo announced that he and right-wing pastor Todd Coconato will be launching their own television program called “Fire Power.”
- Charlie Kirk has been announced as the keynote speaker at the Zelenko Freedom Foundation’s inaugural gala in March. The organization is named after Vladimi Zelenko, a right-wing COVID-19 skeptic, and is run by QAnon conspiracy theorist Ann Vandersteel.
- Nick Fuentes says that cops and priests will be the cornerstone of his hoped for police state in which people who don’t convert to Catholicism are sent to jail.
- Finally, Andrew Torba continues his quest to tout the supposed benefits of building a Christian nationalist AI: “In fact, AI will replace most of the jobs women entered the workforce to do. Which will leave them no choice but to take the job that AI can never replace: being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen as a loving wife and mother.”
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Fire Power appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Dozens of members of Congress joined an audience of religious-right activists and Christian nationalists at the Museum of the Bible this morning for a “National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance.”
Sponsored by various anti-LGBTQ religious-right groups such as the American Family Association, Liberty Counsel, Alliance Defending Freedom, and Pacific Justice Institute, the prayer gathering was emceed by right-wing activists Jim Garlow of Well Versed, who is associated with the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation, and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. Both Garlow and Perkins were active promoters of former President Donald Trump’s stolen election lies, with Perkins and FRC actively working to overturn the election results via pressure on state legislators, members of Congress, and former Vice President Mike Pence.
The two-and-a-half-hour event consisted of a steady stream of penitents offering prayers on behalf of this nation covering everything from reproductive choice and marriage equality to foreign policy and the media.
The tenor of the prayer service was well encapsulated by Pastor Andrew Brunson, who became a right-wing celebrity after he was freed from detention in Turkey during the Trump administration. Brunson used his prayer to warn that the United States will soon face the judgment of God for having become “the primary corrupter of the world” by supporting LGBTQ rights.
“The Bible draws a picture of Babylon as the wealthiest, most powerful city-empire of its time; a nation that sets itself against God and uses its power and wealth to lead other peoples into immorality,” Brunson said. “This is us. We are Babylon. The United States is the Babylon of this generation.”
Right-wing pastor Andrew Brunson blasted the United States as “the primary corrupter of the world” during today’s National Gathering for Prayer & Repentance, griping that “our government and corporations increasingly march under the rainbow flag.” pic.twitter.com/Wbu8LGv8f7
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 1, 2023
Brunson was followed by a panel featuring “ex-gay” activists who begged God to cleanse the nation of “the sins of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, and sex confusion.” They were then followed by multiple members of Congress, including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and dozens of members of Congress joined hundreds of Christian nationalists and religious-right activists at the Museum of the Bible this morning for a “National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance” this morning. pic.twitter.com/S9wwqKwErs
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 1, 2023
Rep. Diana Harshbarger was among the members of Congress who participated in the event, praying that God will “put godly people in places of authority” and “remove people that are ungodly from places of authority. Put them out to pasture.”
“We are the remnant, the people who stand in the place at such a time as this, God, to do your will,” Harshbarger declared. “We’re the only thing that stands between prosperity and destruction.”
Rep. Diana Harshbarger prayed during this morning’s “National Gathering for Prayer & Repentance” that God will “put godly people in places of authority” and “remove people that are ungodly from places of authority. Put them out to pasture.” pic.twitter.com/WVTK50axRU
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 1, 2023
Rep. Randy Weber wept over marriage equality and reproductive choice during his prayer.
“Father, we think we’re so smart, but please forgive us,” he lamented. “Please, please put America back on the right path to worshiping you.”
Rep. Randy Weber wept over marriage equality and reproductive choice during today’s National Gathering for Prayer & Repentance: “Father, we think we’re so smart, but please forgive us. Please, please put America back on the right path to worshiping you.” pic.twitter.com/22CSE3pjSA
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 1, 2023
Rep. Mary Miller asserted that this nation has “lost our way because we have rejected you as Creator, Lord, and Savior.”
“We are adrift and foolish, calling evil good and good evil,” she proclaimed. “And we are bankrupt, morally and financially.”
Rep. Mary Miller lamented during today’s National Gathering for Prayer & Repentance that “we have lost our way because we have rejected you as Creator, Lord, and Savior. Now we are adrift and foolish, calling evil good and good evil. And we are bankrupt, morally and financially.” pic.twitter.com/E8ODdOrojx
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 1, 2023
In all, more than a dozen members of Congress prayed during the event, including Reps. Steve Scalise, Rick Allen, Brian Babin, Michael Cloud, Robert Aderholt, Tracey Mann, Burgess Owens, Gary Palmer, Michelle Steel, Warren Davidson, Brandon Williams, Dan Bishop, Nathaniel Moran, and Mike Johnson.
Following their prayers, the members of Congress gathered around the stage where they were collectively prayed over by Tony Perkins and the audience.
“I speak a blessing upon these, your leaders, and I ask you to strengthen them and encourage them and to increase their number,” Perkins said. “And Father, I pray that we might be at a turning point in this nation of once again embracing you.”
Several members of Congress gathered during today’s National Gathering for Prayer & Repentance so that they could be prayed over by Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council. pic.twitter.com/CRUYsZv5nz
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 1, 2023
The Family Research Council, American Family Association, Liberty Counsel, and Alliance Defending Freedom have long attacked LGBTQ and abortion rights in the name of religious freedom. Alliance Defending Freedom was central to the overturning of Roe and represented Mississippi in the Supreme Court case; its lawyers have previously bragged that they helped write the Mississippi law as part of their strategy to ban all abortions in the country. More recently, these groups have focused their efforts in attacking trans people.
In spite of their claims, the participants in this prayer gathering do not speak for all American Christians, as majorities of Christian groups other than white evangelicals support marriage equality, and believe abortion should be legal in most or all cases, and many Christians oppose the claims and goals of Christian nationalists.
The post ‘We Are Babylon’: Dozens of Congress Members Participate in Anti-LGBTQ Prayer Service appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Tess Owen @ Vice News: Kanye Is Now a White Nationalist Meme to Recruit College Kids.
- Roger Sollenberger and Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Kanye’s ‘Campaign’ Has Been More of a Disaster Than We Knew.
- Matt Gertz @ Media Matters: The Paul Pelosi attack video shows that the right’s conspiracy theory machine is out of control.
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Meet The Man Behind George Santos.
- Greg Owen @ LGBTQ News: Hare-brained scheme in Michigan seeks to erase LGBTQ+ identity in schools.
- Josephine Lee @ The Texas Tribune: Meet the Latest Wingnuts to Join the State Board of Ed.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Out of Control appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Scott Lively declares that “aside from the Bible itself, there is no greater purveyor of ‘heterosexism’ in all its refreshingly regenerative forms than the canon of American classic movies, thanks be to God and to the Jews and Catholics who dominated Hollywood during the golden age of film-making.”
- Andrew Torba has become obsessed with creating a right-wing Christian artificial intelligence, and he has high hopes for it: “AI is going to free our women from the bondage of OnlyFans because they won’t be able to compete with AI women. AI is going to free our men from the bondage of p*rn because we can use it to automatically detect and censor it on all of their devices so they are not tempted.”
- Jarrin Jackson offers some advice to fathers of daughters: “Give them the affection they need so they don’t do OnlyFans. Love them now so they don’t become internet whores.”
- Kandiss Taylor wants to “buy CNN and turn it into Christian News Network.”
- David Lane fumes that “due to the removal of Scripture and the biblically based culture established by the American Founders, homosexuality is extolled and glorified in today’s America and on social media platforms instead of being depicted as a transgression.”
- Jon Miller is a virulent misogynist: “I don’t really subscribe to the notion that rape is always indefensible. … The idea of rape in a marriage is just asinine to me because she consented when she married you.”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes lays out his vision for saving the United States by turning the nation into a literal police state where citizens are summarily executed in the streets by security forces: “It’s gotta just be like the Wild West.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Like the Wild West appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
On Saturday, Jan. 28, the Idaho Young Republicans held its 2023 convention during which members would elect a “new executive team leadership.”
Among those who ran for a leadership position was white nationalist Vincent James, who sought to become the chairman by launching a surprise coup to take over the organization with a slate of far-right candidates.
James is an unapologetic racist, antisemite, misogynist, conspiracy theorist, and fascist who currently serves as the treasurer of white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ America First organization. He has used his livestream program, broadcast on Fuentes’ “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” Cozy.TV platform, to promote bullying, openly advocate for throwing gay people off of buildings, and call for women to be stripped of their rights.
James has repeatedly stated that he wants to see this nation ruled by a Christian Taliban that will impose “straight up fascism” and “dominate without mercy.”
James used his speech at the Idaho Young Republicans (IYR) convention to rail against abortion, LGBTQ issues, pornography, and drugs, declaring that far-right activists must “take absolute control of the government” and then engage in the “regulation of morality” for the state. James’ strategy for gaining “absolute control” involved promising to “quadruple the membership of the IYR” and then “funnel hundreds [of activists] into precinct positions across the state,” which could then be used “as springboards” to taking over the government.
Vincent James IYR Chairman nomination speech #idpol #idleg pic.twitter.com/EMLaETfTcL
— Right-Wing Media (@rightwingmedia4) January 30, 2023
Infiltrating the Republican Party at the precinct level in order to shift the GOP to the extreme right is a strategy advocated by the likes of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon and one that is currently being implemented by activists in the far-right America First movement.
On his Monday livestream, James revealed details of his attempted coup, explaining that he and a group of like-minded Idaho activists intended to register for the event at the last minute and then show up en masse to overwhelm the vote and elect James and his entire slate of far-right candidates to leadership positions.
Unfortunately for James, IYR organizers got wind of the plan and were able to thwart his coup by denying credentials to dozens of James’ supporters, thereby preventing him and his far-right slate of candidates from seizing control of the organization.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post White Nationalist Vincent James Launches Failed Coup to Take Over Idaho GOP Organization appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Peter Stone @ The Guardian: Far-right project that pushed election lies expands mission as Trump ramps up 2024 campaign.
- Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: The election denial movement — and Trump — have become increasingly intertwined with QAnon.
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: Mike Lindell reveals RNC will let him run new ‘election crime unit’ for 2024.
- Sarah Leach @ The Holland Sentinel: Christian nationalism is gripping the nation — has it arrived in Ottawa County?
- Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: ‘You’re the Frickin’ Governor of Arizona!’ Steve Bannon Takes Election Denialism to Bonkers New Level in Wild Interview With Kari Lake.
- Christopher Mathias @ HuffPost: Inside The Online Community Where Home-Schoolers Learn How To Turn Their Kids Into ‘Wonderful Nazis.’
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Nazi Homeschool Movement appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Tony Perkins warns that the Republican Party cannot afford to ignore “SAGE Cons” voters (as in Spiritually Active, Governance Engaged Conservatives): “You can’t win a nationwide election with just SAGE Cons, but you can’t win without them.”
- Nick Fuentes attempts to clarify something: “We love Hitler in a Christian way, you freak. Not in a gay way. In, like, an awesome way, OK? In like a we love Trump way, you fucking liberal.”
- Mario Murillo continues to issues warnings about false prophet Robin Bullock, even going so far as to liken Bullock to Jim Jones.
- Patrick Howley declares that “we the unvaccinated should make all decisions.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander announces that he intends to “raise 1 to 10 million dollars to retell the Jan. 6 story”: “I’m not going to let that day go down in history as a day of bastards. It should be day of celebration.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Day of Celebration appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
During a recent podcast, neo-Nazi and admitted “rape promoter” Andrew Anglin declared that Christian men must dominate women and force them to submit because that is the only way that women can be genuinely happy.
Anglin, who was booted off of Twitter in 2013 only to be reinstated late last year, is the publisher of “The Daily Stormer,” a neo-Nazi website named after a Nazi propaganda newspaper. He maintains close ties to white nationalist Nick Fuentes and others within Fuentes’ far-right America First movement, including multiple streamers on Fuentes’ “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” Cozy.TV platform. Those streamers are fully aware of Anglin’s toxicity and thus make halfhearted attempts to disguise his identity behind the less-than-clever pseudonym “Wang Lin” whenever he appears on their programs.
It is via his “Wang Lin” persona that Anglin recently teamed up Cozy.TV streamer “Paul Town,” whose real name is reportedly Evan Zenker.
On a recent episode of their “Wangtown” podcast, Anglin declared that the founders of Christianity and early church leaders were basically “incels” who taught that the only way for women to be happy is for them to be forcibly subjugated by men. While the term “incel” is defined as an involuntary celibate individual, it has become associated with a misogynist movement of men who blame women for their problems and believe women owe them sex. Fuentes and others on the far-right have adopted the term to justify their contempt for women.
“Anyone who tries to say that Christianity supports women and women’s dominance and that Christianity says women are not obsessed with sex and don’t base their entire existence around sex, go read the letters of Paul, go read any of the church fathers,” Anglin said. “It sounds like an incel forum if you read what the first Christians were writing.”
Anglin complained that “the basic problem with all of Western civilization was that the church sold out the people” by encouraging women to be educated, which he claimed only “fuels women’s egos, which is not even healthy for women.”
“When women are liberated, they have higher expectations,” Anglin argued. “So, because their expectations are not met, they become unhappy because they have new expectations from feminism. And it’s like, well, Occam’s Razor: the most obvious thing is that women don’t actually get any happiness from this liberation. What gives women happiness is marriage and being submissive to a man, which obviously, they don’t do that voluntarily. You’re not going to have a woman voluntarily submit to you; you have to force her. That’s the reality. You have to dominate the woman, and even if you do think you have dominance, she’s gonna keep pushing you. I mean, there’s women who get divorced in their 60s and 70s. So it’s a lifelong thing to try and wrangle this bitch like a wild horse, but a horse [eventually] breaks.”
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The post Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin Claims Religious Mandate for Men to ‘Force’ Women to Submit appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Prem Thakker @ The Ticker: The Right Is Somehow Already Using Video of the Attack on Paul Pelosi To Push Conspiracy Theories.
- Summer Concepcion and Marc Caputo @ NBC News: Trump hosts conservative influencers behind Libs of TikTok and Babylon Bee for dinner.
- Andrew Prokop @ Vox: The stunning hypocrisy of Bill Barr’s probe into the Russia-Trump investigation.
- Jake Lahut and Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Mike Lindell Swore He’d Win the RNC Chair Race. He Got Smothered.
- Sarah Posner @ MSNBC: The rocky marriage between Trump and evangelicals won’t lead to a separation.
- Jack Jenkins and Adelle M. Banks @ Religion News Service: National Prayer Breakfast breaks from ‘The Family’ with new organization.
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: Trump lawyer Christina Bobb tells Nick Fuentes ally that she’d like to see treason trials over 2020 election.
- Laurie Roberts @ The Arizona Republic: Kari Lake’s campaign may be over, but the grift goes on.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Election Denial Grift appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Mercedes Sparks suspects that the deep state knew about the classified documents stored in President Joe Biden’s residence long ago and carried out the raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence last year in order to give Biden cover.
- Lauren Witzek wants to see draconian anti-LGBTQ laws enacted in the United States.
- Jon Miller and Joel Davis are quite explicit about their love of dictators: “If you’re the dictator, you’re like, ‘Fuck you, bitch, I’m in charge. If you don’t like it, I’ll kill you.’ It’s just like so much more based.”
- The Republican National Committee approved a resolution condemning antisemitism that specifically mentioned Kanye West and Nick Fuentes.
- Finally, speaking of Fuentes, he is very bitter about getting banned from Twitter only 24 hours after his account was restored: “I’m somebody who, in a functioning society, would be rewarded for being a genius. … I am awesome and my Twitter was funny and I want my account back now.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Based Dictators appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Though racism may serve as the calling card for the white nationalist America First movement led by Nick Fuentes, you might say misogyny is its cornerstone.
During his campaign for county clerk in Macomb County, Michigan, a woman claimed that Alex Roncelli—a “groyper” in the white nationalist America First movement and current St. Clair County precinct delegate—had stalked her. Right Wing Watch spoke to the woman, 24-year-old Sarah Menig, who said Roncelli had also threatened to send revenge porn to her family members and boyfriend and called her racist names. She provided screenshots, with Roncelli’s phone number visible, to Right Wing Watch. That phone number corresponds with the official 2022 candidate list provided by the St. Clair County Clerk’s office.
Right Wing Watch reached out to Roncelli by email and phone. He did not respond to questions about allegations that he had stalked and harassed a woman.
Menig says she had an on-and-off friends-with-benefits relationship with Roncelli after they met on Tinder in 2018, and that she briefly helped out with his county clerk campaign in 2020. She claims that, in May 2020, when she told Roncelli that she no longer wanted to have a physical relationship with him, Roncelli harassed her via Facebook Messenger, text, and Snapchat, and showed up at her mother’s and aunt’s homes.
One of the reasons she ended their arrangement, Menig said, was because of his attitude towards Black women. “He only dates mixed girls,” says Menig. “He doesn’t think that Black girls are good enough for him. He told me multiple times that he was glad that I wasn’t fully Black because otherwise he wouldn’t be able to date me.” In texts, he called her a “bitch n*gga.”
In text messages shown to Right Wing Watch by Menig, Roncelli threatened to send an intimate video of the two of them to her boyfriend. Menig says she eventually called the Davison, Michigan, police and state police; only after the state police told Roncelli to leave her alone or he would be charged with harassment did he finally stop, she says.
One of the screenshots provided to Right Wing Watch.When Menig took her accusations public on social media in 2020, Roncelli, according to the screenshots provided to Right Wing Watch, texted Menig and asked if he could pay her to make a statement that “puts this to bed.” Publicly, he called her his “anti trump democratic ex girlfriend”—Menig describes herself as “hardcore libertarian” and says she was never his girlfriend. Roncelli did not however dispute the text messages’ veracity but claimed in a Facebook post that she was posting screenshots of their conversations out of context.
“He even said, ‘If I wasn’t running, I would sit here and stalk you,’” Menig said.
Roncelli then seemed to have second thoughts about the digital record he had left. In a text to Menig dated Aug. 5, 2020, Roncelli wrote, “I never meant to stalk u so.” He quickly followed it up with a text that read, “I don’t stalk people.”
Although Roncelli ultimately lost his race for county clerk, he recently became a St. Clair County GOP precinct delegate—a low-level position that is not without some power. According to the website of the Muskegon County, Michigan, Republican Party, “The office of Precinct Delegate is a partisan position that helps to elect local party chairs and officers as well as delegates to the state and national party conventions. The precinct delegate is the backbone of the partisan political parties.”
Fuentes—the white nationalist, misogynist leader of the America First movement—has urged his followers to infiltrate the GOP and run in state and national elections. The election of a groyper to become a local GOP official reveals that this strategy applies to the local level, too—even in worker-bee positions.
The post Stalked by a Groyper: Nick Fuentes Follower Elected GOP Precinct Delegate Despite Credible Allegations appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
On a livestream one night in early November, a man donated $10 to Nick Fuentes, the white nationalist who would in a few short weeks dine with Donald Trump.
This particular $10 donation entitled the donor, who identified himself as Alex Roncelli, to post a message in the superchat so that his message would play during Fuentes’ show. “nick i wanted to say thanks… i ran for GOP chair and won. in the reddest of red counties in michigan i won. i promise progress. thanks for your inspiration, thanks for everything.”
Fuentes was utterly dumbfounded. “Dude!” Fuentes said after the message played. He looked up at the ceiling and paused. “I’m just not going to make a big deal of that.”
Why a local GOP official would publicly out himself as a follower of Fuentes was apparently beyond Fuentes’ grasp. Fuentes leads the America First youth movement, a white nationalist, Christian nationalist movement of mostly young white men who refer to themselves as “groypers.” Fuentes has promised to build an army of groypers to infiltrate Capitol Hill and the Trump administration and encouraged his followers to embed themselves within their local GOP infrastructure. Fuentes’ promotion of this strategy, like choosing a rhetorical theme from Trump’s campaign for his movement’s name, reflects his stated goal of infiltrating the broader conservative movement and dragging it further to the far right.
Right Wing Watch was able to identify a 28-year-old Alex Roncelli living in deep red St. Clair County, Michigan, and active in local GOP politics.
In 2018, Roncelli won an election to represent Bruce Township’s 4th precinct as a delegate for the GOP county convention. In 2020, he ran to become Macomb County clerk and lost. According to the Macomb Daily, he also aided the Macomb County Republican youth outreach program in the 2016 and 2018 elections. And just last year, he ran to represent Kimball Township in St. Clair County as a delegate to the county convention and won; it is scheduled to meet in Kimball, Michigan, today, Jan. 26.
Right Wing Watch reached out to Roncelli by email and phone. He did not respond to questions about this donation to Fuentes, the jurisdiction of the GOP chair position he claimed to have won, or allegations that he had stalked and harassed a woman.
Right Wing Watch also reached out to the local St. Clair County Republican Party and county clerk’s office. Both the former county chair and clerk’s office clarified that Roncelli was just a precinct delegate and not the county chair. A message to the current St. Clair County GOP chair went unanswered.
A follower of white nationalist Nick Fuentes named Alex Roncelli sent Fuentes a superchat last night so that he could brag about becoming a GOP chairman in Michigan and Fuentes was utterly dumbfounded that Roncelli would be foolish enough to publicly out himself as a groyper. pic.twitter.com/IhaMf8fneh
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) November 4, 2022
Online, Roncelli appears to flaunt his America First connection. A Twitter user claiming to be Alex Roncelli features a photo of Roncelli, a bio that reads, “America First,” and locates himself in Michigan. The account, which was created in 2015, has tweeted about Nick Fuentes multiple times in the past year, including this past November with an image of Trump, Ye, and Fuentes dining together shortly after news broke of their dinner. After Right Wing Watch tweeted a clip of Fuentes receiving the $10 donation in November and Twitter users began tagging Roncelli’s account in the replies, the account handle appears to have been changed from @asroncelli to @JebrahBush. The account follows a number of accounts of figures in the America First movement; his own followers include self-proclaimed groypers. Meanwhile, a Facebook page belonging to Alex Roncelli states that he’s a precinct delegate and features an image of Pepe the Frog—the unofficial mascot of the America First groypers.
Precinct delegates, who are elected in the August primary election and serve two-year terms, act as the worker bees of the party infrastructure. In 2021, Donald Trump’s former White House adviser Steve Bannon popularized the “precinct strategy,” explaining on his “War Room” podcast, “We’re going to take this back village by village … precinct by precinct.” Today, a site called Michigan Precinct First launched by Arizona Tea Party activist Daniel Schultz—whom Bannon has given an audience—urges “America First” Republicans to become precinct delegates. Precinct delegates, like Roncelli, the site says, “have the power to elect party leadership, nominate major state office candidates, and increase voter turnout.”
“It is ultra-important that America First Precinct Delegates attend, participate in and vote at conventions…this is our opportunity to replace ‘do-nothing’ incumbents with America First patriots!” the site states.
Two men (second from left and far right) pose for a photo at the St. Clair County Convention wearing white nationalist America First gear. (Source: Facebook)It appears this plan is also being utilized by those in Nick Fuentes’ America First movement. Roncelli was busy at the latest St. Clair County Convention held last month—and it appears there’s at least a few other groypers who have found their way into the St. Clair County Republican Party. The county GOP Facebook page includes photos of two other attendees wearing Fuentes’ America First gear.
Fuentes’ America First movement stepped into the limelight with its participation in the so-called “Stop the Steal” campaign—which spread disinformation about the 2020 election in an effort to keep former President Donald Trump in the White House—and at least five men associated with America First stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. At “Stop the Steal” rallies, Fuentes called “for Groypers to embed themselves in local GOP infrastructure and run candidates in state and federal primary elections in 2022,” according to Ben Lorber at Political Research Associates. It was time to “destroy the GOP” and “replace it from the inside with people who are America First,” Fuentes said.
Roncelli also participated in the so-called “Stop the Steal” campaign. Ahead of Jan. 6, Roncelli traveled to Washington, D.C., and provided a video to Detroit Free Press of him and his companions on the bus ride chanting “Stop the steal!” On Jan. 6, Roncelli and his friends were among the Trump fanatics breaching the U.S. Capitol grounds, though he has said he did not go inside the Capitol. In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, he described the day as a “Revolution” and claimed that the violence was a set-up—a claim many on the far-right have made to try to shift blame toward “antifa,” the FBI, or anyone other than Trump supporters.
Roncelli (second from left) poses for a photo in front of the U.S. Capitol ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection. (Source: Facebook)In trying to track down Roncelli, Right Wing Watch discovered a stalking allegation and other misogynist and racist behavior.
During his campaign for county clerk, a woman claimed that Roncelli had stalked her. Right Wing Watch spoke to the woman, 24-year-old Sarah Menig, who said Roncelli had also threatened to send revenge porn to her family members and boyfriend and called her racist names. She provided screenshots, with Roncelli’s phone number visible, to Right Wing Watch. [Read Sarah’s story here.]
This type of behavior is a regular feature of the America First movement, whose followers are known for their racism and frequently use the N-word in online chats, just as Roncelli did in his texts to Menig. And while Nick Fuentes might be best known for his racist and antisemitic white nationalism, he has also made misogyny a cornerstone of the America First movement, welcoming to the movement incels, men accused of sexual assault, and men who have promoted rape.
The election of a groyper to become a local GOP official reveals the larger goal of the far-right: to infiltrate the Republican Party at the local level—even in worker-bee positions—to ultimately put themselves in positions of power and move the party further to the extreme right.
The post Racist, Misogynist Nick Fuentes Follower Perseveres in Precinct Strategy to Infiltrate GOP From Bottom Up appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jonathan Allen @ NBC News: Marjorie Taylor Greene aims to be Trump’s VP pick in 2024.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Christian Nationalist Mastriano Promises Bill to Ban Public Drag Shows After High School’s ‘Queer Prom.’
- Meaghan Ellis @ Salon: Republican demands “stronger laws” to stop women from leaving state to get abortions.
- Cameron Joseph @ Vice News: The MyPillow Guy’s Fake Campaign For RNC Chair Is a Real Disaster.
- Jake Lahut @ The Daily Beast: Ron DeSantis’ Secret Twitter Army of Far-Right Influencers.
- Francis Wilkinson @ Talking Points Memo: The Sacred Lies of Virginia Thomas.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: Texts Reveal the Jan. 6 Spiral of Ali Alexander, Kanye’s Election-Denying Confidant.
- Matthew Chapman @ Raw Story: ‘These signatures are from 2020’: Elections analyst makes quick work of Kari Lake’s new ‘bombshell’ evidence.
- Ali Breland @ Mother Jones: It Came From the Basement: How Nick Fuentes groomed a new generation of racist hate.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: From the Basement appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- It took Nick Fuentes all of 24 hours to get banned from Twitter after his account was restored.
- Stew Peters and Lauren Witzke suspect that Damar Hamlin’s appearance at a recent Buffalo Bills game was faked.
- Speaking of Wtizke, she is bragging that she won her GOP primary in 2020 by focusing her campaign exclusively on “my white constituents”: “It is so much easier to flip a union worker than it is an inner city Black person. … I didn’t try to placate a constituency that would never vote for me.”
- Patrick Howley declares that “everyone knows that White people are getting replaced and genocided, but the normies on both sides want to censor you if you talk about it because they support the White genocide.”
- Laura Loomer has launched a Substack newsletter.
- Finally, Vincent James calls on his fellow fascists to take control of state legislatures and impose public school curricula to “make it mandatory to believe the things that we do”: “What we have to do is we have to go backwards.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: We Have to Go Backwards appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jamie Gangel, Jeremy Herb and Evan Perez @ CNN: Classified documents found at Pence’s Indiana home.
- Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Did Silk Use Diamond’s Funeral for a Secret Message to Trump?
- Joe Jervis: Death Certificate Says Diamond Died Of Heart Disease.
- Camden Carter and Spencer Silva @ Media Matters: Instagram is allowing a network of white nationalist “groypers” to promote Nick Fuentes’ racist ideology on its platform.
- Natalie Allison @ Politico: RNC to consider resolution condemning Kanye West, Fuentes and antisemitism writ large.
- Francesca D’Annunzio @ The Arizona Mirror: Joe Arpaio lost four elections and his coveted county sheriff job — but not his lasting influence.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Will the RNC Condemn Nick Fuentes? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- David Lane says that the Founding Fathers refused to turn civil government “over to Satan and those who serve him. They would neither surrender the ministry of civil government nor give in to those who live in rebellion against God.”
- Nick Fuentes has had his Twitter account restored.
- Mario Murillo continues his crusade against false prophets Kat Kerr and Robin Bullock.
- Steve Deace has a new book coming out next month: “Rise of the Fourth Reich: Confronting COVID Fascism with a New Nuremberg Trial, So This Never Happens Again.”
- Finally, right-wing pastor Brandon Holthaus declares that the “woke movement” is “the Whore of Babylon.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Rise of the Fourth Reich appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
In a bright pink, purple, and red-lit ballroom in downtown Washington, D.C., last Thursday, anti-choice activists gathered to listen to prominent activists in the anti-choice movement.
“For 49 years, our role has been to influence five people on the court,” said Maureen Ferguson, a senior fellow for The Catholic Association. “Now, we have to persuade 330 million.”
The comment marked a shift in focus for the anti-choice movement. With the dismantlement of Roe v. Wade last summer, the anti-choice movement’s focus has shifted from the Supreme Court to a bevy of other places: state legislatures, Congress, and the court of public opinion.
Of course, the movement has already been hard at work in all those arenas. Trigger laws were set in place to ban abortion in scores of states after Roe was overturned, the new Republican Congress immediately set about trying to pass national anti-abortion legislation, and the March for Life has always targeted young Catholic kids in their messaging about abortion to change public opinion for the future. But their biggest goal—getting five sympathetic justices to the high court to dismantle the right to abortion—had been completed.
The panel, dubbed “Capitol Hill 101,” was a kickoff to the March for Life being held the following day and started, of course, with celebration.
“All the justices deserve our praise,” said Robert P. George, a Princeton University professor, contributor to the Federalist Society, and the author of an amicus brief in support of anti-choice petitioners in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe.
But there were limitations, George said: Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion “only went part of the way to vindicate the Constitution. … The Supreme Court did not declare the right of the unborn, but it did declare that Roe took away the right to legislate.” He pointed to the fifth section of the 14th Amendment, arguing that that “the equal protection of the laws” applies to “any person,” including the “unborn.” In an amicus brief George had submitted in Dobbs, he argued that states should be required to treat abortion as homicide.
The next panelist, Maureen Ferguson, tackled what she called “disinformation” from abortion-rights activists. “The abortion moment has flooded the national debate with disinformation,” she said, focusing on 10 talking points.
“No. 1: Women will die,” Ferguson said. “False. Every pro-life law contains a life for the mother exception.”
This goes against what medical professionals say. Jen Villavicencio, a physician with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told Forbes that “as the forced pregnancies now continue to term”—including those with life-threatening complications—“we will see more people die.” The New York Times recently reported that exceptions to abortion bans are rarely granted, even to women who qualify under state law.
And there are plenty in the pro-life movement—including representatives of organizations sitting in that ballroom—who are seeking to do away with the life of the mother exception. As The Atlantic’s Mary Zeigler reports:
Anti-abortion-rights groups, like Pro-Life Wisconsin, have described the “life of the mother” exception as unnecessary and wrong. The Idaho GOP just approved a platform with no lifesaving exception. Republican candidates like Matthew DePerno, the Republican running to be Michigan’s attorney general, oppose all exceptions to abortion bans, and that includes to save a mother’s life. Conservative states are rushing to eliminate or narrow existing exceptions to their laws. Powerful groups like Students for Life, Feminists for Life, and the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) argue that “abortion is never medically necessary” and that doctors should always be punished for intentionally taking a fetal life.
Despite numerous outlets reporting that some women are being denied miscarriage treatment because hospitals are worried of running amok of new anti-abortion laws, Ferguson claimed that nothing of the sort was happening and that “every doctor knows the difference between miscarriage and abortion.”
She also said that women would not be thrown in jail with the end of Roe. But there are male lawmakers who are seeking to do just that. Throughout the country, a faction of self-proclaimed “abolitionists” are eager to punish women who receive an abortion with prison time. In Louisiana, one piece of legislation that would land women who have abortions “with the same criminal consequences as one who drowns her baby” made it one step closer to becoming a law, CNN reported.
Ferguson also claimed in vitro fertilization was not a target of the anti-choice movement, arguing that Roe’s decision was very narrow and only applied to abortion. But the following minute, she went on to claim that we know exactly when life begins—“at the fusion of sperm and egg.” Of course, by that definition, in vitro fertilization would be a target for the anti-choice movement, as it fuses sperms and eggs in a petri dish, picks the best embryo to implant and often discards the others.
Other panelists representing the Susan B. Anthony List and the Senate Pro-Life Caucus spoke about the need to pass federal legislation to limit abortion and encouraged attendees to pester their lawmakers to pass anti-choice legislation.
As the panel wound down, George urged attendees to “keep the baby in view. And we’ll win.”
Ferguson followed his lead by encouraging attendees to download the sound of an embryo at six weeks, so they could play the sound to anyone they speak to who favors abortion rights. “Well, here’s what a baby’s heartbeat sounds like at six weeks,” she said, playing the audio for the ballroom from her phone.
As the panel closed, attendees, which included hundreds of high school students, funneled out of the ballroom to the March for Life Expo. At the entrance was a booth for Alliance Defending Freedom, a multimillion-dollar anti-choice, anti-LGBTQ litigation shop, handing out free swag to excited students. ADF was central to the overturning of Roe and represented Mississippi in the Supreme Court case; its lawyers have previously bragged that they helped write the Mississippi law as part of their strategy to ban all abortions in the country.
Across from them was the Heritage Foundation, which handed out a packet of flyers and advertised a raffle for a prize of $500. Concerned Women for America advertised their Young Women for America program. Focus on The Family—a platinum sponsor of the March for Life and whose activists worked behind the scenes to get right-wing judges nominated to the federal court—had another stand, while GiveSendGo, the Christian fundraising site, also had a booth featuring a cash grab, a handwritten prize wheel, and a timeline of its company that featured its decision to offer a crowdfunding platform for Kyle Rittenhouse.
The post Overturning Roe Is Just the Beginning: Anti-Choice Activists Look to Abolish Abortion Rights Nationwide appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Rachel Weiner @ The Washington Post: Four Oath Keepers found guilty of Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy.
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Trump Eulogizes Diamond By Saying He Hardly Knew Silk, Ranting About the 2020 Election, and Complaining About the Length of the Funeral.
- Aaron Navarro and Cristina Corujo @ CBS News: Evangelical leaders who supported Trump’s presidency are waiting for other candidates in 2024.
- Lizzie O’Leary @ Slate: “Died Suddenly” Is Anti-Vaxxers’ New Favorite Phrase.
- Cassandra Jaramillo, Lauren McGaughy and Allie Morris @ ProPublica/The Dallas Morning News: Promoters of Election Lies Also Hyped a Hospital for Ukraine. That Never Happened Either.
- Katherine Stewart @ The New Republic: The Rise of Spirit Warriors on the Christian Right.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Spirit Warriors appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Trump cultist DeAnna Lorraine is starting to wonder how former President Donald Trump can supposedly be a brilliant 5D chess tactician while simultaneously surrounding himself with nefarious actors who somehow keep duping him into supporting things like COVID-19 vaccines: “You can’t have it both ways. Which one is it?”
- Speaking of COVID-19 vaccines, right-wing anti-vaccine “expert” Sherri Tenpenny warned that we’ll see a “tsunami of deaths” in 2023 and that by the end of the year, everyone will have “a minimum of 5—probably 10 or more—close friends and family members that have died” from the vaccine.
- QAnon conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin spoke at the same conference as Tenpenny and dedicated her entire speech to accusing Hillary Clinton of being involved in child sex trafficking: “Lock her up!”
- Mario Murillo is working to expose Robin Bullock as a false prophet.
- Finally, “constitutional sheriff” Richard Mack revealed that he was radicalized after attending a two-day seminar called “The Constitution for Law Enforcement Officers” put on far-right conspiracy theorist by W. Cleon Skousen.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Tsunami of Deaths appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Radical religious-right activist Mat Staver appeared on an episode of the “Liberty Pastors” program last week and urged administrators at Christian schools to implement policies denying children of same-sex couples the right to attend.
Preventing children of same-sex couples from attending Christian schools is vital, Staver explained, because it is important to prevent students from potentially having “personal experiences” with such families that might weaken their commitment to the “biblical doctrine” opposing marriage equality.
Staver is the chairman of Liberty Counsel, a religious-right legal group that advocates anti-LGBTQ discrimination under the guise of protecting religious liberty, and gained national notoriety in 2015 when he defended local Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in the wake of the Supreme Court’s landmark marriage equality decision. During his appearance on “Liberty Pastors,” Staver took a question from a viewer who runs a K-8 Christian school and was seeking advice about what sort of language they should include in the school policies that will protect their right to discriminate against same-sex couples who might wish to enroll their children.
Staver promised the viewer that he would provide “draft language” that they could use, explaining that Christian schools must be committed to maintaining a “proper Biblical environment” that “protects” students from encountering same-sex families.
“If I were running the school, I would not allow that student to come into the school that is from a same-sex household, and I would not allow a student to stay there,” Staver said. “You and I might be able to engage in this cultural war and battle and be biblically grounded, but these kids are not prepared for that. It is a real disservice to put these kids in the situation—particularly in a Christian school that ought to be a safe environment for them—where they can become very confused, and what they experience at that level can be life changing for the rest of their lives.”
“That’s like putting kids in a viper pit,” Staver declared. “They’re not ready for that. So, I would not do anything that jeopardizes the care and the responsibility that you have to protect those kids, with their parents, and put them in a proper biblical environment that is free of undue influences.”
Staver warned that “what often happens with Christians” is that they have “personal experiences” with those who live their life differently and that results in Christians changing their own understanding of “biblical doctrine.” As an example, Staver pointed to several Republicans who recently voted for the Respect for Marriage Act, which provides federal recognition of same-sex marriages.
“Among Christians, not being grounded in doctrine no matter how the winds blow, but being changed by personal experiences is a problem,” Staver complained. “That is the reason why this Respect for Marriage Act passed in the United States Senate. All of those people that voted for it, they were on record that they were in favor of marriage as a union of a man and woman. All of them. Why did they change? We know from some of their staffers, they changed because either someone in their family or people that they know, they found out are homosexual or in same-sex relationships. So, they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for the right thing. They knew what they were supposed to do, but they didn’t do it because of personal experiences.”
“So, be very cautious in protecting those children, and do what you need to do to protect them,” Staver stated.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post Mat Staver Tells Christian Schools to Bar Children of Same-Sex Families appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Will Sommer @ The Daily Beast: Trump Resort to Host Pro-QAnon Speaking Tour.
- Liam Adams @ The Tennessean: ReAwaken America Nashville: How locals are reacting to major right-wing event.
- Joe Jervis: Trump To Preside Over Memorial Service For Diamond.
- David Gilbert @ Vice News: Some Of Trump’s Biggest Supporters Are Ditching Him Over These Vaccine Comments.
- Jennifer Bendery @ HuffPost: Kevin McCarthy Has Packed The House Oversight Committee With Election Deniers.
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Alleged Shooting Mastermind Emerges As Central Figure In New ‘False Flag’ Theories.
- Matthew Chapman @ Raw Story: GOP operative thanks God for killing Georgia House Speaker because he was an ‘obstacle’ to abortion bans.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Conspiracy Cycle appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Stew Peters lays out his ideal political platform: “We need a candidate for president to run on a simple platform: round up Big Pharma, Big Tech and any politicians and/or global elites under American jurisdiction. Then Indict, Try, and Fry them at Nuremberg 2.0.”
- Paul Blair says that Christians “need to go on the attack” and start pressuring local governments to declare June to be “Biblical Sexuality Month” rather than LGBTQ Pride Month: “It’s not by accident they stole the rainbow.”
- Lauren Witzke claims that whites are “the most persecuted people in America”: “I have never been so scared to have white children in the future because I’m like this is only going to get worse.”
- Eric Metaxas appeared on the “Generations” radio show, which is a program hosted by far-right broadcaster Kevin Swanson.
- Finally, Tyler Russell wants to see “a real America First Christian government” take power and “make devil-worshiping illegal”: “How about if you worship Satan, you go to jail?”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Nuremberg 2.0 appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
While cheering on the dozens of Illinois sheriffs who are publicly refusing to enforce the state’s new assault weapons ban, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association is preparing to incorporate even more far-right ideology into the trainings it offers local law enforcement officers.
CSPOA is led by Richard Mack, a former Oath Keepers board member who supported the Bundy family’s armed standoff with federal officials. CSPOA teaches sheriffs that they are the highest law enforcement authority in their counties and that they have a duty to resist state and federal “tyranny”—which in CSPOA’s definition includes gun regulations and public health measures adopted during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Last year, CSPOA partnered with the voter-suppression group True the Vote to promote its false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Mack told listeners of the right-wing Liberty Monks podcast that they “must vote for any Republican that we possibly can” to “punish the Democratic Party” and “stand against the destruction of America.” At a press conference Mack organized during the right-wing “Freedom Fest” held in Las Vegas last July, he urged sheriffs to “join us in this holy cause.”
In a webinar for CSPOA members this week, Mack was excited about the Illinois sheriffs’ mass resistance, declaring, “We are so into this thing.” His co-host Jack Mullen called the resistance “a revolutionary event.” Mack praised sheriffs for being “warriors” in defense of the Second Amendment, and reported that CSPOA is organizing a press conference in Illinois as well as planning a meeting with the state’s sheriffs on March 4.
CSPOA regularly holds training sessions across the country and, in some states, is state-sanctioned. The Texas Tribune recently reported that in 2020 and 2021, CSPOA held about a dozen training sessions in the state, where law enforcement officers can get continuing training credit for participating.
One instructor at CSPOA trainings has been Michael Peroutka, a member of the group’s advisory board and failed GOP candidate for Maryland attorney general. Peroutka, a Confederate sympathizer who served on the board of the pro-secessionist League of the South, has been a member of the Council for National Policy, a secretive and influential network of right-wing and far-right leaders. He was the featured guest on the Jan. 3 episode of “The Sheriff Mack Show.”
On the show, which was hosted by Mack’s sidekick Sam Bushman, Peroutka denounced gun regulation as unconstitutional and as a tool of tyranny: “They wish to control you, and they can control you a whole lot better if you’re not armed.” Peroutka said it is “critically important” that sheriffs and their deputies are trained to reject laws like Illinois’ new gun regulation and that they are trained to articulate to the public why they refuse to enforce such laws. Americans, he said, have been “brainwashed” into wrong thinking about the proper role of government.
Peroutka’s far right ideas about “the proper role of government” are reflected in the teachings of the Institute on the Constitution, which he founded. In a commentary that is no longer available on the IOTC site, Peroutka wrote that “the function of civil government is to obey God and enforce God’s law – PERIOD,” claiming, “It is not the role of civil government to house, feed, clothe, educate or give health care to … ANYBODY!”
The Maryland-based Institute on the Constitution offers online and in-person trainings about the Constitution, which incorporate Christian Reconstructionist ideology and limited government extremism. The group supports restricting public office to people who hold certain religious beliefs. The IOTC promotes its teachings to likeminded state legislators and activists.
Bushman said that CSPOA will be embedding more of the IOTC’s teachings into CSPOA’s training. “As we work on the training for the CSPOA, we will be working on implementing more and more of Michael’s training as an extension of the in-person training that we start with,” Bushman said. “So, we’ll be embedding some of Michael’s trainings in our trainings. We will be then working with and making available that extra training that you can do.”
The two also talked about abortion. Peroutka said it was wrong to accept the idea that the overturning of Roe v. Wade has left it up to the states to decide the legality of abortion. “Abortion never was, is not, and never will be legal by anybody,” he declared, citing “God’s word, which is law and truth at all times and all places and applies to all people.” States, he insisted, do not have the authority to make abortion legal but have an obligation to stop it. “Those who commit these murders need to be brought to justice,” he added.
When the conversation turned to the 2024 presidential election, Bushman allowed his imagination to run wild, imagining a President Donald Trump who was wiser about the people with whom he surrounded himself. Bushman dreamed of an administration in which Mack was in charge of the FBI, Peroutka was U.S. attorney general, and government officials were required to take CSPOA and IOTC trainings: “Maybe the Lord said you can’t be attorney general of Maryland, sir, because you’re supposed to be with Donald Trump, attorney general of the U.S. in a couple of years. That’s what I’m voting for, Michael.”
Peroutka responded with a smile, “From your lips to God’s ears.”
Peroutka was the Republican Party nominee for Maryland Attorney General in 2022, even though he declared that the state’s legislature was an illegitimate body and the laws it passed were not “legally valid” after legislators had, in his view, violated God’s law by embracing marriage equality for same-sex couples. He lost by 30 percentage points. Peroutka previously ran for U.S. president as the candidate of the Constitution Party in 2004, and he served as a Republican member of the Anne Arundel County Council from 2014 to 2018.
The post ‘Constitutional Sheriffs’ Mobilize Resistance to Illinois Gun Law, Expand Far-Right Teaching on Constitution appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Maggie Haberman and Michael C. Bender @ The New York Times: Can Trump Count on Evangelicals in 2024? Some Leaders Are Wavering.
- Justin Baragona @ The Daily Beast: This Right-Wing Media Feud Just Took an Ugly Turn.
- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: MAGA-Loving, Conspiracy Theorist MTG Picking Fights With Far-Right Allies To Try And Appear Legit.
- John Knefel @ Media Matters: Tucker Carlson embraces fringe Convention of States movement.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Ex-NOM Spokesperson Carrie Prejean Lashes Out Over Miss Universe Being Owned by Trans Woman.
- S.V. Date @ HuffPost: Trump Giving ‘Political Speech’ To Judicial Watch, Which Is Not Supposed To Do Politics.
- Philip Bump @ The Washington Post: Ron DeSantis is pushing education in Florida much farther right.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Craving Legitimacy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- John Eastman appeared on a World Prayer Network call Wednesday night, complaining that he’s being “keelhauled” by “evil players” for his legal efforts to help former President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election: “What they’re doing here is about as un-American as one can get.”
- Alex Stein announced that he is running for a seat on the school board in Highland Park, Texas.
- Dalton Clodfelter declared that he doesn’t have “any hate in [his] heart for Nazis” and proclaimed that burning “sexually degenerate” books is an example of something “positive that the Nazis brought to the table in Germany in the 30s and 40s.”
- Mario Murillo revealed that he will no longer appear on the “FlashPoint” program because he does not want “to be on at the same time as a certain other guest” who has an “association with two false preachers.” From the details Murillo provided, it appears that he is talking about regular “FlashPoint” guest Hank Kunneman.
- Finally, Nick Fuentes is fed up with seeing women’s bare arms: “I’m so sick of seeing these women everywhere. They should be wearing burkas.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Keelhauled appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Amanda Moore @ Talking Points Memo: Why The Ongoing Nick Fuentes-Ye Alliance Is So Dangerous.
- Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: Trump is Reportedly Plotting His Return to Twitter and Facebook — With a Team Already Crafting His First Tweet.
- Carter Sherman @ Vice News: Republican Wants to Fix the Completely Made-Up Issue of Aborted Fetal Tissue in Food.
- Hemant Mehta @ OnlySky: If Iowa passes a voucher bill, this guy says he’ll open up a Satanic school.
- William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Tucker Laments ‘What Happened’ in Post-Apartheid South Africa.
- Jason Wilson @ Hatewatch: Idaho Republican Club Hosts Speech by Antisemite, Jan. 6 Attendee.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Satanic Schools appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- The Victory Channel’s “FlashPoint” program is holding a “Truth and Freedom” event in Florida next month. “FlashPoint” host Gene Bailey announced that they will use the event to train right-wing Christians how to take over local school boards: “That sounds like we’re trying to take over the world? Yes, we are. I fully admit that. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
- Vincent James declares that teaching about LGBTQ issues is part of a “satanic ritual” and the only way to stop it is to impose “straight up fascism.”
- Milo Yiannopoulos, who just spent months interning for Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, says those who work for the likes of newly elected Rep. George Santos are “frightening and dangerous” psychopaths.
- Shane Vaughn told his audience that they “are the 12 disciples that God has called to stand behind Donald Trump” and wage spiritual warfare on his behalf.
- Finally, Hank Kunneman is pretty sure that President Joe Biden has been replaced by a demon.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Trying to Take Over the World appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right commentator John Zmirak appeared on “The Eric Metaxas Show” last Friday, where he likened those who stormed the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection to the Founding Fathers and equated the Democrats to the Nazis for supposedly persecuting these heroes.
Zmirak appeared on Eric Metaxas’ program to promote his recent column, “Will January 6 Be the New July 4 for Our Descendants?” Zmirak and Metaxas were particularly outraged about the 4-year prison sentence handed down to Nicholas Ochs, a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys that was instrumental in fomenting the insurrection and whose leaders are now on trial for seditious conspiracy.
During the discussion, Zmirak urged “the next Republican president” to pardon all those convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection and then urge them to run for Congress.
“The folks who are in prison right now, when they get out, they’re going to get activated,” Metaxas predicted.
“The next Republican president needs to first pardon the Jan. 6 dissidents and then endorse them as candidates for Congress,” Zmirak replied. “I want to see a Republican Congress who’s the majority of Jan. 6 people. That is what we need in America: people who have first-hand experienced the jackboot of our elites and our new public health dictatorship on their faces, who still have the tread marks of the jackboots on their faces.”
Zmirak compared the Jan. 6 insurrections to “the American patriots who survived the crackdown in 1773” and “went on to lead their new free country,” comparing the treatment of the insurrectionists to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.
“This is precisely what the Nazis did to take power in the 1930s,” Zmirak asserted. “They had their street thugs—the Brown Shirts, the SA—beating people up over politics. If those people fought back—like the Social Democrats or the Catholics or the communists—if they fought back, everyone will be arrested. The pro-Nazi judges would let the Nazis go and prosecute the communists and the socialists and the Catholics who had defended themselves against the Nazis, and this is how the Nazis took power in Germany, and it is what the Democrats are doing in the United States today, and we should simply call them what they are: Neo-Nazis.”
Of course, this argument was readily accepted by Metaxas, who has in the past compared Black Lives Matter, liberals, and intelligence agencies to the Nazis. An influential evangelical radio host, Metaxas became one of the most prominent Big Lie promoters after former President Donald Trump’s loss in 2020.
Metaxas emceed the pro-Trump rally on the National Mall at which Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes threatened bloody civil war if Trump did not use the military to stay in power; Metaxas responded with a “God bless you” and told the crowd that Rhodes was “keepin’ it real.”
Zmirak and Metaxas have long made their stance on the Democratic Party clear, agreeing earlier this year that “the Democratic Party is possessed by preternatural evil.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post John Zmirak Wants to See the Next Congress Filled With Jan. 6 Insurrectionists appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Ed Mazza @ HuffPost: Trump Turns On Evangelical Leaders For ‘Disloyalty’ In Angry New Rant.
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: GOP nominee for House special election runs “ministry” falsely claiming to cure people from “homosexual and lesbian living.”
- Ursula Perano and Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: The Bathroom Fight Fueling Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert’s Break-Up.
- Sarah K. Burris @ Raw Story: Marjorie Taylor Greene scores prime spot on Homeland Security Committee despite 9/11 conspiracy theories.
- Kipp Jones @ Mediaite: Matt Schlapp Sued for $9.4 Million by Herschel Walker Aide Who Accused Him of Sexual Assault.
- Cyd Zeigler @ OutSports: NFL broadcasters Tony Dungy and James Brown are featured speakers at outspoken anti-gay preacher’s event.
- Elise Kaplan, Ryan Boetel, and Jessica Dyer @ Albuquerque Journal: Failed Republican candidate arrested in shootings targeting Democratic politicians’ homes.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Disloyalty appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- John Derbyshire honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day by defending the three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery.
- Jon Miller had his own way of celebrating the holiday: “Today, I will be raping in honor of MLK.”
- Andrew Torba has deleted his Telegram post declaring that “within 50 years, I want Appalachia to secede and become a Christian monarchy with a pureblood unvaxxed Christian king.”
- Milo Yiannopoulos explains how to save this nation: “Forbid your wives from working, and your daughters from marrying men who won’t support them. Dissuade your female friends from seeking positions of leadership or authority. Burn lesbians. Leave organizations with female leadership and tell them why you’ve done it.”
- Dalton Clodfelter says that “we need to protect this country from demonic forces, from Jewish influence and control” by putting “white Christian men back into positions of power.”
- Lauren Witzke asserts that as far as she is concerned, “everybody who dies suddenly or has died suddenly, it’s a result of the [COVID-19] vaccine. It’s up to them to prove me wrong.”
- Vincent James is angry that he can’t bully people while playing video games online: “You used to be able to bully people for being gay. … Bring back bullying.”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes is not even bothering to hide his adoration of Adolf Hitler these days: “‘Hitler was a pedophile and kind of a pagan.’ It’s like, well, he was also really fucking cool. … This guy’s awesome, this guy’s cool.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Bring Back Bullying appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jessica Pishko @ The Texas Tribune: The fringe ideology of “constitutional sheriffs” is attracting believers within Texas law enforcement
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: ‘Stop the Steal’ Founder Tipped Off Paul Gosar to Brewing Violence on Jan. 6
- Alex Shephard @ The New Republic: How Right-Wing Gasbags Cooked Up a Fantastically Dumb Culture War
- Brendan Fischer and Ed Pilkington @ The Guardian: Rightwing group pours millions in ‘dark money’ into US voter suppression bid
- Craig Johnson @ Jacobin: Lula Is Giving a Lesson in How to Respond to Right-Wing Attacks on Democracy
- Tess Owens @ Vice News: FBI Informants Who Marched With Proud Boys on Jan. 6 Will Testify for Their Defense
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Gas-Stoveghazi appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Sebastian Murdock @ HuffPost: Exclusive: Alex Jones Phone Dump Reveals Text Convos With Tucker Carlson
- Tess Owen @ Vice: The Proud Boys’ Group Chat Is Haunting Their Jan. 6 Trial
- Tori Otten @ The New Republic: House Republicans Pass Abortion Bill That Would Criminalize Doctors for Doing Their Job
- Alexandra Berzon & Grace Ashford @ NYT: The Mysterious, Unregistered Fund That Raised Big Money for Santos
- Amanda Marcotte @ Salon: It’s not just Trump: A sobering new report chronicles the extensive GOP war on democracy
- Aaron Katersky @ ABC: Ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon seeks to change attorneys in fundraising fraud case
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Ghosting His Defense Team appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Molly Jong-Fast @ Vanity Fair: Keeping Up With The Congressional Kardashians
- Nina Burleigh @ The New Republic: Is Campus Free Speech Really Dead?
- Makena Kelly @ The Verge: Parler’s parent company has laid off a majority of its staff
- Jared Holt @ Posting Through It: They worked on the Capitol riot investigation
- Nikki McCann Ramirez @ Rolling Stone: Madison Cawthorn Is Out of Congress But Still Screwing Over Constituents
- Igor Bobic & Alanna Vagianos @ HuffPost: Republicans Still Pushing Abortion Bills After 2022 Midterm Flop
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Congressional Kardashians appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Sara Boboltz & Andy Campbell @ HuffPost: Internet Troll ‘Baked Alaska’ Sentenced To 60 Days In Prison For Jan. 6 Role
- Will Sommer @ The Daily Beast: ‘Totally Unexpected’: Diamond of MAGA Duo ‘Diamond & Silk’ Dies
- Jeet Heer @ The Nation: From a Clown Coup to a Clown Speakership
- Areeba Shah @ Salon: “I think it’s fantastic”: George Santos is very happy the GOP just voted to gut ethics office
- Jonathan Chait @ Intelligencer: Ron DeSantis Is Imposing Political Control on Schools
- Jennifer Bendery @ HuffPost: Republicans Who Voted To Overturn The 2020 Election Get Top Committee Posts
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Clown Coup appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Ali Alexander—the far-right leader of the so-called “Stop the Steal” campaign—had his Twitter account restored Monday.
Alexander’s account had been banned just days after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. A spokesperson for Twitter told Newsweek that his account was permanently suspended for violating rules on banning evasion.
But under Elon Musk’s leadership, Twitter has restored Alexander’s account. Many of the tweets including disinformation regarding the 2020 election remain on his account’s timeline at the time of writing.
Alexander and other “Stop the Steal” activists largely organized their campaign to keep then President Trump in power on the social media platform. They spread disinformation, claiming that voter fraud had stolen the election from Trump, and increasingly called for physical—and sometimes violent—action. That culminated on Jan. 6.
On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump loyalists stormed the U.S. Capitol. As they broke down police barriers, battled police, and stormed up the Capitol steps, Alexander surveyed the scene from a terrace overlooking the Capitol.
“I don’t disavow this. I do not denounce this,” he said, pointing to the insurrectionists, in a video posted to Twitter and first reported by Right Wing Watch.
Claiming that the attack was “completely peaceful” and that he did not endorse the “couple of agitators,” Alexander went on to call for rebellion. “Stop the Steal,” he said, “is going to be the home of the rebellion against an illegitimate government.”
This is Ali Alexander, leader of the so-called Stop the Steal campaign, saying: “I don’t disavow this. I do not denounce this.” pic.twitter.com/0mP0xThAYP
— Kristen Doerer (@k2doe) January 6, 2021
The day before, Alexander had organized a “Stop the Steal” rally outside of the White House. Alexander led chants of “Victory or death!” while other speakers called for civil war and revolution.
And according to the Daily Beast, on Dec. 30, 2020, he took to Twitter and said that if Congress certified the 2020 election, “everyone can guess what me and 500,000 others will do to that building. … 1776 is always an option.”
After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Alexander was banned from a host of platforms. He moved his incessant Twitter posts and disinformation campaign to Telegram, where he’s been unable to recreate the sizeable following he had on Twitter. But he hasn’t let up on the extremism.
In just the past few months, Alexander has called for Republicans to “jail Democrats,” telling Jan. 6 insurrectionist Tim Gionet, “We’ve got to make them hurt.”
He also made his stance on democratic elections very clear, stating in a video, “Any election I don’t like is stolen. … If I don’t like it, it’s stolen. If I like it, it’s not stolen. If you win, it’s stolen.”
And when the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack shut down without Alexander facing any charges stemming from the insurrection, Alexander bragged that he had “raped the January 6 Select Committee.” In a rant, he claimed to have beaten the Jan. 6 committee by being a time traveler, and compared himself to Jesus.
In a voice message to his supporters on Telegram Monday, he said that he’d eventually tweet today. He later posted that his account “will be dedicated to Jesus Christ, Love, @J6Families, YE, and beating up naughty Republicans.”
The post Far-Right ‘Stop the Steal’ Activist Ali Alexander Is Back on Twitter appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: Herschel Walker Staffer: Matt Schlapp ‘Groped’ My Crotch.
- Joe Jervis: FRC: Walgreens And CVS To Become “Centers Of Death.”
- Jenny Leonard and Akayla Gardner @ Bloomberg: You Held the Line’: Biden Honors Police, Poll Workers on Jan. 6.
- Bob Smietana @ Religion News Service: Who are the Christian nationalists? A taxonomy for the post-Jan. 6 world.
- Annie Gowen @ Washington Post: Supporters raise millions to rebrand Jan. 6 rioters as ‘patriots’.
- Molly Sprayregen @ LGBTQ Nation: GOP lawmaker wants to force young trans adults to de-transition.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Millstone Act appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- “Stop The Steal” organizer Ali Alexander, clad in body armor, released a video on the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol portraying himself and the insurrectionists as the real victims.
- Andrew Torba declares that “any future political solution that doesn’t involve repealing [the 19th Amendment] is futile. Prepare for pain like this country has never seen before.
- Andrew Anglin asserts that “the entire structure of the Western world is based around a compulsive desire of men to please women. The Taliban is a good model for healthy masculinity that Western men should emulate.”
- Matt Evans (aka Beardson Beardly) is sick of viewers urging him to stop chain smoking: “I like smoking because I like smoking. It’s good for you and you’re a faggot if you wanna lecture me about ‘bad habits.’ I’m an artist, you’re a viewer. Shut the fuck up and let me be a genius.”
- Finally, Lance Wallnau passionately prays that God will raise up “one more bad boy billionaire” to join Elon Musk and Donald Trump in saving America, then asks God to have Trump experience “a Pentecostal encounter” that’ll make him “supernaturally sanctified.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Emulate the Taliban appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Near the end of 2022, far-right streamers Vincent James and Steven Franssen hosted an episode of their “White Boy Wednesday” livestream during which James said that he would be more than happy to live in a society where “they throw gays off buildings.”
James is an unapologetic racist, antisemite, misogynist, conspiracy theorist, and fascist who currently serves as the treasurer of white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ America First organization. He has used his livestream program, broadcast on Fuentes’ “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” platform, to openly advocate for throwing gay people off of buildings before, as well as calling for women to be stripped of their rights and the establishment of a Christian Taliban in this country that will “dominate without mercy.”
During the “White Boy Wednesday” broadcast, James grew exasperated by those who criticized FIFA for holding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a nation that harshly oppresses and persecutes LGBTQ people.
“Who cares how they treat homosexuals?” James said. “Why do we have to measure things based on how they treat homosexuals? Can’t we measure things based on everything else? Why does that always have to be the most important thing? Oh, they throw gays off buildings? So? How does their train system work? Is my train going to be 12 hours late? Oh, no? Oh, OK. Well, I’ll look the other way while they’re throwing some gay dude off a roof.”
“Which one would you rather have: trains to be on time [and] society to function or … society to be completely dysfunctional and totally homosexual and they’re turning your kids gay?” James asked. “I’d say I choose the functional society where they throw gays off roofs and make women wear wear [hijabs].”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post White Nationalist Vincent James Would Happily Live in a ‘Society Where They Throw Gays Off Roofs’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Near the end of 2022, far-right streamers Vincent James and Steven Franssen hosted an episode of their “White Boy Wednesday” livestream during which James said that he would be more than happy to live in a society where “they throw gays off buildings.”
James is an unapologetic racist, antisemite, misogynist, conspiracy theorist, and fascist who currently serves as the treasurer of white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ America First organization. He has used his livestream program, broadcast on Fuentes’ “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” platform, to openly advocate for throwing gay people off of buildings before, as well as calling for women to be stripped of their rights and the establishment of a Christian Taliban in this country that will “dominate without mercy.”
During the “White Boy Wednesday” broadcast, James grew exasperated by those who criticized FIFA for holding the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a nation that harshly oppresses and persecutes LGBTQ people.
“Who cares how they treat homosexuals?” James said. “Why do we have to measure things based on how they treat homosexuals? Can’t we measure things based on everything else? Why does that always have to be the most important thing? Oh, they throw gays off buildings? So? How does their train system work? Is my train going to be 12 hours late? Oh, no? Oh, OK. Well, I’ll look the other way while they’re throwing some gay dude off a roof.”
“Which one would you rather have: trains to be on time [and] society to function or … society to be completely dysfunctional and totally homosexual and they’re turning your kids gay?” James asked. “I’d say I choose the functional society where they throw gays off roofs and make women wear wear [hijabs].”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post White Nationalist Vincent James Would Happily Live in a ‘Society Where They Throw Gays Off Roofs’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: The Republicans’ speaker fight reflects a post-policy party.
- John Knefel @ Media Matters: A Trump-aligned think tank has a plan to unleash the FBI on its political enemies.
- Natalia Antonova @ The Bulwark: Why Incels Love Putin.
- Candice Ortiz @ Mediaite: Kari Lake, Months After Losing Her Election, Is Now Calling Herself ‘The Duly Elected Governor’ of Arizona.
- Prem Thakker@ The New Republic: George Santos Caught Lying About Voting on Something He Wasn’t in Congress For?
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Incels Love Putin appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: The Republicans’ speaker fight reflects a post-policy party.
- John Knefel @ Media Matters: A Trump-aligned think tank has a plan to unleash the FBI on its political enemies.
- Natalia Antonova @ The Bulwark: Why Incels Love Putin.
- Candice Ortiz @ Mediaite: Kari Lake, Months After Losing Her Election, Is Now Calling Herself ‘The Duly Elected Governor’ of Arizona.
- Prem Thakker@ The New Republic: George Santos Caught Lying About Voting on Something He Wasn’t in Congress For?
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Incels Love Putin appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Last month, Michael Flynn dismissed the QAnon conspiracy theory as “sheer nonsense,” so naturally QAnon conspiracy theorists Dave Hayes and Mary Grace insist that Flynn’s comments are all part of the plan: “Anything that Flynn tells you, you have to realize is part of a psyop.”
- Michele Bachmann says that liberals are trying to impose a “woke” theocracy on America: “That’s the theocracy that’s rising today. It isn’t Christianity; it’s this woke cult.”
- Andrew Torba announces that he is “bored with politics”: “I’m not wasting my time, energy, and focus on a rigged Talmudic system with a bunch of blackmailed degenerates who ‘represent us.’ The country is going to balkanize and the Judeo-American empire will fall. … I’m working towards building a parallel and largely digital Christian nation that operates inside of the Talmudic one until it inevitably falls and we can fill the power vacuum.”
- Jon Miller asserts that “rape is, broadly speaking, anything a woman does that she regrets.”
- Tyler Russell thinks that “the Taliban banning women from university [is] a step in the right direction” since women only go to college because “they’re all being tricked by Jews.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander is threatening to release evidence that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene “committed a crime” that he hopes will get her expelled from Congress: “I will not suffer this harlot. I will not be taught vows and loyalty, commitment from a whore!”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Woke Theocracy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Last month, Michael Flynn dismissed the QAnon conspiracy theory as “sheer nonsense,” so naturally QAnon conspiracy theorists Dave Hayes and Mary Grace insist that Flynn’s comments are all part of the plan: “Anything that Flynn tells you, you have to realize is part of a psyop.”
- Michele Bachmann says that liberals are trying to impose a “woke” theocracy on America: “That’s the theocracy that’s rising today. It isn’t Christianity; it’s this woke cult.”
- Andrew Torba announces that he is “bored with politics”: “I’m not wasting my time, energy, and focus on a rigged Talmudic system with a bunch of blackmailed degenerates who ‘represent us.’ The country is going to balkanize and the Judeo-American empire will fall. … I’m working towards building a parallel and largely digital Christian nation that operates inside of the Talmudic one until it inevitably falls and we can fill the power vacuum.”
- Jon Miller asserts that “rape is, broadly speaking, anything a woman does that she regrets.”
- Tyler Russell thinks that “the Taliban banning women from university [is] a step in the right direction” since women only go to college because “they’re all being tricked by Jews.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander is threatening to release evidence that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene “committed a crime” that he hopes will get her expelled from Congress: “I will not suffer this harlot. I will not be taught vows and loyalty, commitment from a whore!”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Woke Theocracy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
While former President Donald Trump reiterated his support for would-be Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday, former Trump official Russ Vought rallied right-wing activists to “keep fighting” against McCarthy, and a group of religious-right leaders who supported Trump’s efforts to stay in office released a statement slamming McCarthy and praising the “courageous” far-right representatives who prevented him from getting a majority in six votes on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“McCarthy must go,” Vought wrote in a Wednesday evening email to supporters of Citizens for Renewing America, a group he started after Trump was dumped by voters. The group has actively promoted MAGA movement culture wars over “cultural Marxism” and “critical race theory.”
Vought wrote that his team was in “close contact” with many of the roughly 20 House Republicans who denied McCarthy victory in six votes on Tuesday and Wednesday—a group Vought described as “a band of America First patriots.” Vought also went on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” this week to portray the fight against McCarthy as a chance to “dismantle the establishment.”
Dozens of right-wing movement leaders, including Vought and Ginni Thomas, signed the anti-McCarthy statement released by the Conservative Action Project, which is affiliated with the secretive and influential Council for National Policy. The first signer, Conservative Action Project chair Kenneth Blackwell, was revealed by the Jan. 6 committee to have been involved in the effort to pressure Mike Pence to act unconstitutionally and illegally to prevent congressional affirmation of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. In December 2020, members of the Conservative Action Project falsely claimed that Trump had won, urged state legislators in swing states won by Biden to name pro-Trump electors anyway, and called on congressional Republicans to contest electoral votes from those states.
Also on Wednesday, Trump’s fellow Floridian Rep. Matt Gaetz sent his own fundraising email disparaging the GOP’s House leader as “Cavin’ McCarthy” and “Kiev Kevin” and calling him a “California liberal” and “spineless RINO.”
The post MAGA Movement Leaders Split From Trump Over McCarthy Bid for House Speaker appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Rep. Steve Scalise, whose name has been floated as a possible alternative to Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, is raising money from right-wing activists based on a phony threat that Trump-nominated Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is at risk of being replaced “with a Liberal activist appointed by Joe Biden!”
An “urgent” fundraising email sent Tuesday evening warned that “the Liberal Mob is rushing to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures to remove our beloved Conservative Supreme Court justice and REPLACE her with a Liberal activist appointed by Joe Biden!” The Scalise email goes on to say, “But it gets even worse: Big Democrat names are now calling her nomination ‘illegitimate’ laying the groundwork for EXPELLING her!”
In reality, there is absolutely no threat that Amy Coney Barrett will be “expelled,” especially with Republicans controlling the House of Representatives. Only one Supreme Court justice has ever been impeached by the House—in 1804—and in that case the Senate failed to convict and remove the justice, which would require a two-thirds vote by the Senate.
The supposedly “urgent” threat that Team Scalise is hyping to get right-wing activists to send him money is a petition listed on change.org that has yet to reach 15,000 signatures even though it was posted two years ago. But according to Scalise, “This story is developing in real time”:
Democrats were FURIOUS when Republicans appointed Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. They knew she would stand up for our Pro-Life values, 2nd Amendment Rights, and religious freedoms.
Now, Democrats are trying any desperate attempt to force Amy Coney Barrett off the court and replace her with a Far-Left Radical!
“If Democrats take control of the Supreme Court, they’ll destroy our Conservative legacy in the blink of an eye,” Scalise wrote, urging activists to sign a pro-Barrett petition “before the Radical Left impeaches her.”
The email exhorts readers to send money to help Scalise “save” Barrett; fine print explains that the money to supposedly save Barrett from impeachment would actually go to Scalise for Congress, with funds over the legal limit being distributed to Scalise’s Eye of the Tiger PAC, which gave over $2 million to Republican candidates in the 2022 election cycle. “The single most important thing you can do to save America is by making your donation recurring,” the text at the donation link reads.
Scalise, the No. 2 in House Republican leadership, reportedly once described his politics as “David Duke without the baggage.”
The post Rep. Steve Scalise Raises Money on Phony Threat by Liberals to ‘Expel’ Justice Amy Coney Barrett appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Kristen Doerer @ Mother Jones: Hate Leader Nick Fuentes Is Recruiting Incels.
- Tim Dickinson @ Rolling Stone: ‘Alex Jones Did Nothing Wrong’: Meet the Christian Nationalist Behind ‘Pastors For Trump’.
- Michael Daly @ The Daily Beast: MAGA Pastor’s Unholy Racket Is Driving Neighbors Nuts.
- Laura Jedeed @ The New Republic: My Week Inside a Right-Wing “Constitutional Defense” Training Camp.
- Rio Yamat @ The Associated Press: GOP firebrand Michele Fiore appointed to Nevada judgeship.
- Igor Derysh @ Salon: Meet the new MAGA generation: These newly-elected Republicans set to join Team MTG.
- Nicholas Confessore @ The New York Times: The Invention of Elise Stefanik.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Recruiting Incels appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Former Rep. Jody Hice has joined the Family Research Council to serve as an adviser to FRC President Tony Perkins.
- Mario Murillo warns that the government of California is waging “war on Christian organizations, businesses, leaders, and families”: “Satan is using this onslaught to try to put crippling fear, discouragement, and confusion upon pastors and Christian leaders.”
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was sworn in for a second term on a historic Bible loaned to him by Glenn Beck.
- Milo Yiannopoulos declares that “Ben Shapiro single-handedly turned me into an anti-semite. He is the greatest PR disaster for Jews in history.”
- Shane Vaughn fumes at Christians who dare to support anyone other than former President Donald Trump: “You must never give up the faith! … Shame on you!”
- Ali Alexander asserts that “working 3 months with me is more valuable than your college degree.”
- Finally, Luke Hogan, vice chairman of “Students For Ye,” explains why people should support Kanye West for president: “He is the next Napoleon. He is America’s Caesar.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: America’s Caesar appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
With the Republican Party in disarray as it struggles to select a speaker of the House after gaining control of the House of Representatives in the 2022 elections, the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins hosted an episode of his “Pray, Vote, Stand” program Tuesday night during which he prayed for the GOP’s success and misrepresented American history in the process.
Following an interview with Republican Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas about the debacle facing the GOP on its very first day in power, Perkins and Cloud prayed that the Republican Party would soon settle on a suitable candidate, asserting that prayer has often “really made the difference” at “critical times like this” throughout history.
Perkins likened the prayer he was about to deliver to the time Benjamin Franklin called for prayer during the Constitutional Convention, falsely claiming that the Founding Fathers then had Pastor Jacob Duché lead them in prayer.
“Can I pray for you and your colleagues?” Perkins asked.
“Yes, please do,” Rep. Cloud replied. “We will take all the prayer we can get. You can look back in our country at so many critical times like this where prayer really made the difference.”
“You’re absolutely right,” Perkins responded. “In fact, Ben Franklin called for prayer when the Constitutional Convention could not come to an agreement, and Pastor Duché came in and led in prayer and actually did a teaching to them.”
While this claim about Franklin calling for prayer during the Constitutional Convention is popular with Christian nationalists and religious-right activists, it is inevitably misrepresented, as nothing ever came of it. As Right Wing Watch explained in September:
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention chose not to heed Franklin’s call to prayer and adjourned without taking any action on his suggestion. As historian Richard Beeman recounts in his book, “Plain, Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution”: “At the conclusion of the day’s session in which the delegates rejected his suggestion, [Franklin] scrawled a note on the bottom of the speech he had written expressing his incredulity: ‘The convention, except three or four persons, thought prayer unnecessary!'”
In Perkins’ case, he conflated Franklin’s unsuccessful call to prayer during the Constitutional Convention in 1787 with a prayer delivered by Pastor Duché to open the First Continental Congress in 1774.
Interestingly, not only was Perkins wrong about the history he cited, but the pastor he named, Duché, turned out to actually be a loyalist who opposed independence from England.
Of course, these sorts of facts don’t really matter much to Perkins and the other Christian nationalist activists who cite them, as they are perfectly content to misrepresent American history so long as doing so promotes their right-wing political agenda.
The post Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins Cites False History While Praying for the GOP appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
As 2022 came to an end, the House select committee shut down its investigation into the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, that violently sought to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. In addition to recommending that criminal charges be filed against former President Donald Trump for his role in fomenting the insurrection, the select committee released a score of transcripts from interviews it had conducted with various government officials and right-wing activists about what had transpired that day.
Among the transcripts released was an interview with far-right activist Ali Alexander, who played a central role in organizing the so-called “Stop The Steal” movement that eventually gave rise to the insurrection. Alexander, who was on hand as far-right activists fought with police and forced their way inside the Capitol that day, refused to denounce the insurrection and then spent the next two years battling the select committee set up to investigate it.
When the select committee shut down without Alexander facing any charges stemming from the insurrection, he unleashed a wildly egotistical rant during a Telegram livestream, bragging that he had “raped the January 6 Select Committee.”
“You cannot kill me and separate me from my movement,” Ali bragged on the livestream, which was simulcast by the “Cancel Proof” channel on white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ Cozy.TV platform. “I am the father of dragons. The father of dragons! I red-pill celebrities. I create nationwide movements. I make members of Congress shake.”
“Now, I just want everyone in the world to dare me,” he continued. “Just dare me. Because for the first time in a 15-year career, I owe no one nothing. Nothing. And I have access to everything. They thought that they could contain my power level. I am playing dumb. I am playing crazy, a lot like Jesus did. People will come to learn the truth. And guess what? Frankly, that’s what I need to crucify me. That’s why you’re gonna see both sides try to come together to crucify me. Here’s the difference: Jesus was a carpenter, and I’ve got motherfucking machine gun.”
Alexander then claimed that he was able to best the select committee during his interview because he is a time traveler.
“These motherfuckers thought I would talk to them,” Alexander said. “I was talking to the future because I’m a fucking time traveler! I wasn’t talking to the fucking committee; they’re dead. They’re like, whoosh. These people died a while ago. I came back in time to talk to dead people. So, here I am talking to the future, and they didn’t even realize I knew how to talk into the transcript. I knew how to talk into the transcript. I knew when to talk over them. I knew when it would frustrate the court reporter. I knew when not to talk over them. I knew when to wait. I knew when to say something they thought that they can lick their lips on, and then finish the sentence with, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘that’s the best of my recollection,’ or start a sentence, ‘I don’t know.’ But thinking about it, if I had to form an opinion today it would be: brrrraattta ta ta ta ta ta ta ba boom!”
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The post ‘Stop The Steal’ Activist Ali Alexander Says He’s a Time Traveler, ‘The Father of Dragons,’ and ‘A Lot Like Jesus’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection released a 150-page summary of its findings and voted Monday to send the Justice Department criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump and others who assisted his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Right-wing political groups and leaders generally responded either by ignoring the historic action altogether or by dismissing it as a partisan move without engaging substantively with the committee’s extensively documented findings.
Far-right activist Ali Alexander, who was a leader of the so-called “Stop the Steal” effort to overturn the 2020 election and keep Trump in power, called the committee’s criminal referrals “a coup against the voters.” Alexander, who participated in the recent disastrous Kanye West and Nick Fuentes appearance on Alex Jones’ show that turned into a festival of praise for Adolph Hitler, also released a statement purportedly on behalf of “Team Ye,” accusing Democrats and the “Republican Establishment” of working together “to rig our GOP primary or choose which candidates can be in the ballot before the American Voter.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton took to Twitter to charge that “’January 6’ is all about Biden/Left seeking to suppress/jail political opponents who blow the whistle on their election misconduct — and suppressing political opponents in 2024…” Fitton shared a video of himself claiming that “The left has decided that if you are challenging results they like in elections, you’re breaking the law and you should be jailed and prosecuted.”
Fitton also retweeted Claremont Institute Senior Fellow Jeremy Carl’s suggestion that the threat to democracy was somehow not Trump’s effort to overthrow the election or the violent effort to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, but the committee’s investigation: “A completely partisan House panel is trying to work hand-in-glove with a completely partisan DOJ to bring criminal charges against the previous U.S. President. If you still think we live in a functional democracy you need to wake up and realize what time it is.”
Former Trump attorney and self-styled “America’s lawyer” Jenna Ellis claimed, “It’s all a political pretext with zero basis in fact or law”—a ridiculous statement given the committee’s meticulous gathering of evidence, including testimony from many Trump administration officials.
Not to be outdone, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dismissed the House committee as “communist.”
Writing in his daily email newsletter, longtime religious-right activist Gary Bauer called the committee a “kangaroo court” and referred to the criminal referrals as outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi “seeking to extract one last act of revenge against Donald Trump.” Bauer was similarly grumpy about the committee referring four Republican congressmen to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with committee subpoenas. Bauer didn’t defend their defiance of the law but railed against what he called a “despicable precedent established by petulant progressives.”
Pizzagate promoter Jack Posobiec greeted the conclusion of the committee’s final public meeting with a message on Telegram: “Bring it, demons.” Posobiec didn’t pass up the chance to raise money, urging his readers Monday night to buy Christmas presents from MyPillow using a code that would presumably give Posobiec a cut: “Jan 6 wasn’t an insurrection to overthrow the govt but promocode Poso is an insurrection to overthrow prices this Christmas!”
The committee is reportedly set to release a massive amount of additional documentation Wednesday.
The post MAGA Die-Hards Trash Jan. 6 Committee for Referring Trump for Criminal Prosecution appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection released a 150-page summary of its findings and voted Monday to send the Justice Department criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump and others who assisted his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Right-wing political groups and leaders generally responded either by ignoring the historic action altogether or by dismissing it as a partisan move without engaging substantively with the committee’s extensively documented findings.
Far-right activist Ali Alexander, who was a leader of the so-called “Stop the Steal” effort to overturn the 2020 election and keep Trump in power, called the committee’s criminal referrals “a coup against the voters.” Alexander, who participated in the recent disastrous Kanye West and Nick Fuentes appearance on Alex Jones’ show that turned into a festival of praise for Adolph Hitler, also released a statement purportedly on behalf of “Team Ye,” accusing Democrats and the “Republican Establishment” of working together “to rig our GOP primary or choose which candidates can be in the ballot before the American Voter.”
Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton took to Twitter to charge that “’January 6’ is all about Biden/Left seeking to suppress/jail political opponents who blow the whistle on their election misconduct — and suppressing political opponents in 2024…” Fitton shared a video of himself claiming that “The left has decided that if you are challenging results they like in elections, you’re breaking the law and you should be jailed and prosecuted.”
Fitton also retweeted Claremont Institute Senior Fellow Jeremy Carl’s suggestion that the threat to democracy was somehow not Trump’s effort to overthrow the election or the violent effort to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, but the committee’s investigation: “A completely partisan House panel is trying to work hand-in-glove with a completely partisan DOJ to bring criminal charges against the previous U.S. President. If you still think we live in a functional democracy you need to wake up and realize what time it is.”
Former Trump attorney and self-styled “America’s lawyer” Jenna Ellis claimed, “It’s all a political pretext with zero basis in fact or law”—a ridiculous statement given the committee’s meticulous gathering of evidence, including testimony from many Trump administration officials.
Not to be outdone, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dismissed the House committee as “communist.”
Writing in his daily email newsletter, longtime religious-right activist Gary Bauer called the committee a “kangaroo court” and referred to the criminal referrals as outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi “seeking to extract one last act of revenge against Donald Trump.” Bauer was similarly grumpy about the committee referring four Republican congressmen to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with committee subpoenas. Bauer didn’t defend their defiance of the law but railed against what he called a “despicable precedent established by petulant progressives.”
Pizzagate promoter Jack Posobiec greeted the conclusion of the committee’s final public meeting with a message on Telegram: “Bring it, demons.” Posobiec didn’t pass up the chance to raise money, urging his readers Monday night to buy Christmas presents from MyPillow using a code that would presumably give Posobiec a cut: “Jan 6 wasn’t an insurrection to overthrow the govt but promocode Poso is an insurrection to overthrow prices this Christmas!”
The committee is reportedly set to release a massive amount of additional documentation Wednesday.
The post MAGA Die-Hards Trash Jan. 6 Committee for Referring Trump for Criminal Prosecution appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animal
Everyone knows that there really is no point in celebrating the birth of Christ if you can’t be a jerk about it to liberals while doing so. Presumably, that is why Turning Point USA is offering this delightful crewneck sweatshirt bearing the festive holiday greeting, “Merry Christmas, You Fragile Snowflakes!”
Tickled Pink
Joe Arpaio spent 24 years serving as the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, where he billed himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.” Arpiao delighted in meting out harsh treatment to inmates, targeting immigrants, feuding with reporters, harassing political opponents, and spreading conspiracy theories. Arpiao’s antics cost county taxpayers over $100 million in legal fees over the course of his two decades in office before he was finally voted out of office in 2016.
These days, Arpaio is raising money by selling pairs of the infamous pink underwear he required inmates to wear for a mere $20 a pair. So, what better way to celebrate the holiday than gifting your friends or loved ones the same undergarments prisoners wore while sweltering in 145 °F temperatures inside of Arpaio’s tent city “concentration camps”?
Your Racist Baby
Does your baby hate Black people, women, gays, and Jews? Well, what better way to let the world know than by dressing your infant in a Cozy.TV onesie?
Founded by Nick Fuentes—the racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, America-hating, Christian fascist leader of the white nationalist America First movement—Cozy.TV was built to be a streaming platform for far-right activists who had been banned from all other mainstream social media platforms. “We are anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic,” Fuentes bragged of his platform.
If your baby is also a virulent bigot, then they’ll surely love to be dressed in one of these Cozy.TV onesies “that’s bound to get the baby all happy and giggling.”
Macho MAGA Digital ‘Art’
When Donald Trump’s pre-hyped “major announcement” turned out to be his Dec. 15 launch of a set of cartoony images of himself—as a race car driver, astronaut, pheasant hunter, superhero—we and many others—including some Trump loyalists—saw it as a laughable new low in Trump’s penchant for grifting money from his supporters. But maybe the joke was on us: the $99 NFTs—you couldn’t pick a specific one, they were assigned to purchasers at random—reportedly sold out in less than a day and are now being marketed by resellers for more than $1,000. That’s probably more than you want to pay to earn some good will from your favorite MAGA-minded relative, but if you have some crypto that survived this year’s crash, maybe you’re in the mood to splurge.
Are You Feeling Lucky?
If $1,200 bucks for a crappy photoshopped image of Trump is more than you want to spend, how about a “personalized Christmas and New Years’ video message from President Trump” for the low price of “ANY AMOUNT” you want to send Trump’s way? Of course, the contribution only buys you an opportunity to “win” a personalized message—that is, if you can come up with any reason to believe Trump has any intention of actually following through.
Talking Flag-Groping Trump Figurine
One of Trump’s unique contributions to our political culture has been his penchant for molesting the American flag to demonstrate that he loves it more than anyone else. Lance Wallnau, one of Trump’s Christian dominionist “prophets,” is hoping that there are other plenty of other Trump lovers like him who want to keep a Trump-hugging-the-flag action figure on their desk. BONUS: this multitasking Trump figure can “speak” a number of recorded snippets of Trump’s own voice. $29.95.
Worst ‘Best Holiday Deal’ Ever?
Former Rep. Mike Pompeo, who served as head of the CIA and then Secretary of State under Donald Trump, really, really, really wants to be president. So, he’s hawking a self-promotional book with the Trumpish title “Never Give an Inch.” But that’s not what his Champion American Values PAC in a recent fundraiser called Pompeo’s “best Holiday Deal YET!” That honor went to the entirely uninspired drink coozie featuring CAVPAC’s logo and Pompeo’s signature and an equally unimaginative American flag sticker, which are on sale for $18. Hard to believe they will actually sell out—and even harder to believe that anyone would have bought them for the original price of $30.
Santa’s Elves Look Different This Year
Can’t get enough of The Daily Wire family? Don’t worry, you can be reminded of Ben Shapiro’s ignorance of the female body, Candace Owen’s Hitler ambition comments, and Matt Walsh’s hatred of trans people when you hang these Daily Wire’s ornaments on your Christmas tree. Featuring the trio plus Andrew Klavan, Michael Knowles, and Jeremy Boreing, “Santa’s effervescent elves” will no doubt bring about the liberal tears Santa promised. On sale for $32.99.
The post ‘Merry Christmas, You Fragile Snowflakes!’: The 2022 Right Wing Watch Holiday Gift Guide appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Zachary Petrizzo and AJ McDougall @ The Daily Beast: Onetime Friends Lauren Boebert and MTG Go to War Against Each Other.
- Media Matters: Turning Point panelist claims drag queens are provoking extremists into murdering them “to create summer 2020 again.”
- David Edwards @ Raw Story: Judge strips Alex Jones of bankruptcy protections for $1.5 billion Sandy Hook debt.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Accused of dramatic lying, George Santos’ defense doesn’t help.
- Heidi Przybyla @ Politico: While advising Trump on judges, Conway sold her business to a firm with ties to judicial activist Leonard Leo.
- Josh Israel @ The American Independent: Virginia Republicans nominate Christian nationalist for vacant House seat.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Let Them Fight appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Dalton Clodfelter declares that the phrase “‘Happy Holidays’ is satanic Jewish bull shit.”
- Self-proclaimed “prophet” and QAnon conspiracy theorist Mark Taylor is now targeting Kenneth Copeland and his Victory Channel network with conspiracy theories.
- David Lane celebrates that “three of the 13 freshmen elected to the NC State House on Nov. 8 are pastors. Three pastors in Iowa were elected to the legislature on Election Day as well. If we are to make it through, every church in America should have a pastor, elder, deacon or congregant running for local office in 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 and thereafter.”
- Republican Representative-Elect Anna Paulina Luna claims that “George Washington was visited by an angel” who revealed the future and warned him of communism.
- Ali Alexander gripes that he “lost everything” for helping to organize the so-called “Stop The Steal” rallies in 2020 and that former President Donald Trump never even called to thank him after Jan. 6, 2021. Undaunted, Alexander vows to bring “the hurricane to our shores in 2023, and you will all know my ideas because I said so, because God said so.”
- Finally, Jim Bakker asserts that “this global warming business is anti-God” and claims that God told him that “a lot of people are not going to accept the signs of the Second Coming [and] that the Rapture is near because they’re gonna call it global warming problems.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Happy Holidays appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Jan. 6 panel refers Trump, allies to DOJ for criminal prosecution.
- Grace Ashford and Michael Gold @ The New York Times: Who Is Rep.-Elect George Santos? His Résumé May Be Largely Fiction.
- Hemant Mehta @ OnlySky: The Catholic Church waited too long to kick Frank Pavone out of the priesthood.
- Kipp Jones @ Mediaite: ‘They Messed with the Wrong B*tch’: Kari Lake Vows Retaliation Against ‘Evil Bastards’ She Claims Stole Her Election.
- Daniel Villarreal @ The New Civil Rights Movement: Texas GOP Rep. Hires Christian Nationalist Who Wants to Execute Drag Show Attendees.
- Matt Gertz @ Media Matters: Misinformer of the Year: Tucker Carlson.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Referred for Criminal Prosecution appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- MAGA pastor Shane Vaugn is very happy about funding former President Donald Trump’s latest grift: “For those who thought the TRUMP CARDS were stupid — -think again – He made 4.5 MILLION in 10 hours only a genius could do that — HE MADE THE MONEY to FIGHT BACK !!!!! and yes $100 of that came from ME !!!!!“
- Ali Alexander makes a promise: “The Luciferians, Masons, Deep State, Establishment, and Media stole everything from me two years ago. We are going to break them. All.”
- Dalton Clodfelter thinks he should be able to run for president at the age of 22 because “most of the people who signed the Constitution were of the ages between 18 and 26.” Of course, he’s totally wrong.
- Steve Franssen declares that “Christianity is the only actual religion. Islam and Judaism are government takeover schemes.”
- Far-right activist Jon Miller is certainly not shy about expressing his virulent misogyny: “Beating women is about as American as apple pie.”
- Finally, Nick Fuentes is fed up with all the cowards who keep whining that they don’t like Hitler: “Well, I do, and I’m tired of pretending I don’t.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: As American as Apple Pie appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: What Was Trump’s ‘Major Announcement’? His Own Digital Trading Cards…Yes, Really.
- Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Donald Trump’s ‘Major Announcement’ Is Grifty NFT Project.
- Greg Walters @ Vice News: The Special Counsel Investigation Into Trump Is Moving Fast.
- Hemant Mehta @ OnlySky: GOP lawmaker praises pastor whose church ignored child sex abuse.
- Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein @ Politico: D.C. bar panel finds Giuliani violated attorney rules in bid to overturn 2020 election.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Quite the Major Announcement appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Lance Wallnau was having technical problems Wednesday night while trying to do a livestream on Facebook, and he’s convinced that Facebook is intentionally disrupting his ability to broadcast.
- Eric Metaxas says the “classical Greeks” were promoting a biblical worldview, even though the Bible didn’t exist at that time.
- Vincent James and Steve Franssen have begun co-hosting a new “White Boy Wednesday” livestream. The inaugural program was so successful that they are thinking of renaming it “WANGHAF Wednesday.”
- Gavin McInnes doesn’t know “what Rosa Parks was bitching about. The back of the bus is where all the cool kids sit.”
- Finally, all Tim Gionet (aka “Baked Alaska”) ever wanted was to get his Twitter account back. It was recently restored, but then he got a 12-hour suspension for tweeting about Jews. So, naturally, he did a freestyle rap about it.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Biblical Worldview appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When news broke over the Thanksgiving weekend that former President Donald Trump had just had dinner with Kanye West—under fire for his increasingly vocal antisemitism—and lesser-known white nationalist Nick Fuentes, national media outlets seeking credible information on Fuentes turned to Right Wing Watch. Right Wing Watch had broken the news that Fuentes was traveling with Ye on the day he was scheduled to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Over that weekend, Right Wing Watch, which began covering Fuentes five years ago, released videos from our archives documenting Fuentes’s far-right extremism. Right Wing Watch also covered the now-notorious appearance by Ye and Fuentes on Alex Jones’ “InfoWars” show, where Ye and Fuentes expressed their admiration for Adolf Hitler.
MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow recognized the importance of Right Wing Watch’s reporting on her Nov. 28 broadcast, calling Right Wing Watch “a fire alarm system for the whole country” and praising People For the American Way for this “great public service.”
In less than a week, more than 100 media stories cited Right Wing Watch as a source of information on Fuentes and his racism, antisemitism, misogyny, Christian nationalism, and hostility to democracy itself. Many media outlets criticized national Republican leaders’ reluctance to criticize Trump’s dinner. That media coverage put pressure on far-right politicians who have aligned themselves with Fuentes, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene; when she announced that “of course” she denounced Fuentes and his bigotry, Right Wing Watch reminded the world that she had enthusiastically spoken at Fuentes’s white nationalist America First Political Action conference earlier this year and had been unapologetic in her support of Fuentes.
The Fuentes episode demonstrated the ways that Right Wing Watch’s ongoing research, documentation and analysis of far-right figures and organizations helps journalists, scholars, anti-extremism researchers, and our own readers understand and disrupt far-right ideologies and power-building strategies.
Documenting the Assault on American Democracy
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol performed an essential truth-telling service this year by documenting the breadth and depth of the attempts to overturn the election. Those efforts culminated in a failed attempt to prevent congressional affirmation of Joe Biden’s victory via a violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the failed attempt by some Republican lawmakers to reject the Electoral College votes of battleground states that Trump falsely claimed to have won. Right Wing Watch research and reporting on these same efforts—including threats of bloody civil war from Oath Keepers’ founder Stewart Rhodes—provided the committee with valuable primary source material that was cited in at least one committee subpoena and shown during the committee’s public hearings.
The Jan. 6 committee just shared a video captured by Right Wing Watch in December 2020 in which Stewart Rhodes of the Oath Keepers threatened a "bloody war" if Trump was removed from office. #Jan6thHearings https://t.co/SVL1WmhFRr pic.twitter.com/F7vAlUrm5L
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 12, 2022
Even before the 2020 presidential election, Right Wing Watch had warned about increasing threats of violence from Trump’s political supporters. When Trump and his allies responded to his defeat by launching an all-out effort to overturn the election, Right Wing Watch extensively covered so-called “Stop the Steal” rallies and the Trump team’s legal and political efforts to defy the Constitution, overturn the results, and keep Trump in power. Right Wing Watch documented calls for violence at a Washington, D.C., rally the day before the insurrection.
Right Wing Watch researchers also documented the extent to which Trump’s dominionist religious-right allies participated in spreading his lies about the election and promoted his efforts to hold onto power unconstitutionally. Our work was cited a dozen times in “Christian Nationalism and the January 6, 2021 Insurrection,” a major report released earlier this year by Christians Against Christian Nationalism and allied groups.
As the Jan. 6 committee’s public hearings focused attention on the criminal conspiracy theory to overturn the election, Right Wing Watch released video explainers about some key players like the Oath Keepers—whose leader Stewart Rhodes has been convicted on seditious conspiracy charges—and reminded Americans about the role played by Christian nationalist ideology in fomenting the insurrection. Right Wing Watch also followed up many of the public hearings by publishing analyses of the day’s revelations.
Right Wing Watch also added to the committee’s work by providing additional context and analysis. For example, committee Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney cited an email sent by a Republican lawyer to document the extent of the campaign to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to abandon his constitutional duty to oversee a smooth transfer of power during congressional affirmation of the Electoral College results. Right Wing Watch recognized the author of the email and explained that the email was further evidence of the extent to which officials associated with the religious-right Family Research Council were involved in the plot to keep Trump in power.
In addition, Right Wing Watch researchers briefed progressive activists in a series of online sessions hosted by coalition organizations to promote grassroots activism designed to urge local public officials to demand accountability for those responsible for attacks on American democracy.
Early Warning System on Extremist Candidates
Right Wing Watch provided an early warning system on some of the most far-right candidates running for state and national office this year, educating journalists and ensuring that campaign coverage helped voters understand that dangerous extremism was on the ballot.
Right Wing Watch began covering Christian nationalist Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano well before he became the Republican nominee for governor—even before he entered the race. Mastriano was a major promoter of Trump’s false stolen-election claims in Pennsylvania and used campaign funds to bus supporters to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
This April, Right Wing Watch broke the story about Mastriano’s appearance at a “Patriots Arise” conference organized by QAnon conspiracy theorists Alan and Francine Fosdick, who awarded Mastriano a “sword of David.” Mastriano told the crowd that he would be elected governor because “my God will make it so.” Right Wing Watch also documented Mastriano’s ties to antisemitism promoter Andrew Torba of Gab, dominionist Lance Wallnau, and a conspiracy-promoting road show led by businessman Clay Clark and former Trump adviser Michael Flynn.
Right Wing Watch’s reporting on Mastriano was cited or used by hundreds of editorials and news stories, including those in national outlets like the New York Times and major Pennsylvania outlets like the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Another candidate whose extremism had long been documented by Right Wing Watch was Michael Peroutka, a neo-Confederate and Christian nationalist with far-right views about the U.S. Constitution, who was chosen by Maryland Republicans as their candidate for state attorney general. As Right Wing Watch noted at the time, it was outrageous to imagine Peroutka as the state’s chief law enforcement officer given that “Peroutka declared in 2014 that the Maryland General Assembly was no longer a legitimate governing body because its support for marriage equality violated God’s law, and that therefore none of the laws it passed were ‘legally valid and legally enforceable.’”
When Peroutka won the GOP nomination, news outlets from Vice to the Washington Post turned to Right Wing Watch and its years of covering Peroutka’s extremism. The Washington Post linked to our coverage of Peroutka leading the crowd in Dixie.
Shaping Coverage of Crucial Threats to Democracy
Right Wing Watch is an essential and trusted source for national media covering threats to pluralism and democracy, including Trumpism, Christian nationalism, white nationalism, antisemitism, anti-LGBTQ bigotry, election denialism, QAnon, and other conspiracy theories. In addition, Right Wing Watch is frequently cited by other right-wing researchers and scholars whose work focuses on far-right extremism, Christian nationalism, and more. Our work reaches reporters, progressive activists, and the general public through media coverage, interview with print and broadcast journalists, and through our social media channels. Right Wing Watch videos logged more than 1.1 million views on YouTube in 2022, and about 200 million impressions on Twitter, where Right Wing Watch has more than 362,000 followers.
In previous years, Right Wing Watch coverage has resulted in extremists like Alex Jones being exposed and deplatformed. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Right Wing Watch coverage of evangelist Jim Bakker selling snake oil resulted in several state attorneys general taking legal action against him.
Support Right Wing Watch’s Actionable Intelligence
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post ‘A Fire Alarm System for the Whole Country’: Highlights of Right Wing Watch Impact in 2022 appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Sarah Posner @ MSNBC: The major role of Christian nationalism on Jan. 6.
- Josh Kovensky and Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Texts Show How Members Of Congress Advanced ‘Antifa’ Conspiracy Theories In The Wake Of Jan. 6.
- David Moye @ HuffPost: Marjorie Taylor Greene Schools The World On What Makes A ‘Real Insurrection.’
- Drew Harwell @ The Washington Post: QAnon, adrift after Trump’s defeat, finds new life in Elon Musk’s Twitter.
- Tess Owen @ Vice News: Proud Boys Abruptly Shifted Focus to Anti-LGBTQ Action in 2022.
- Andy Kroll, Andrew Perez and Aditi Ramaswami, @ ProPublica: Conservative Activist Poured Millions Into Groups Seeking to Influence Supreme Court on Elections and Discrimination.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Real Insurrection appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Tony Perkins mourns the signing of the Respect For Marriage Act: “Today is a dark day for religious freedom. President Biden has now unleashed one of the greatest assaults on religious freedom in modern history.”
- Jackson Lahmeyer declares that in order “To Make America Great Again we must FIRST Make America Godly Again.”
- Andrew Torba proclaims that “Christians must support and uplift explicitly Christian leadership in: tech, media, news, entertainment, culture, and politics. No Pagans. No Atheists. No Jews. They can still enjoy the fruits of Christian leadership, rules, nations, and morality; but they can not lead us. No more. Never again.”
- Stew Peters is thankful that “Monkeypox was a disease that was hard to spread and basically only effected degenerate faggots.”
- Ali Alexander believes that he has prophetic abilities: “I think one of my spiritual gifts is that I am a seer. I do think that is one of my spiritual gifts. I have an uncanny ability to either flirt with prophecy or be endowed with prophecy.”
- Finally, Shane Vaughn remains outraged that Democrats are being elected to the U.S. Senate and is now demanding that the 17th Amendment be repealed:
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: No Pagans, Atheists, or Jews appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Hunter Walker, Josh Kovensky and Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Mark Meadows Exchanged Texts With 34 Members Of Congress About Plans To Overturn The 2020 Election.
- Ian Millhiser @ Vox: A notorious Trump judge just fired the first shot against birth control.
- Bill Browning @ LGBTQ Nation: Biden signs Respect for Marriage Act on White House lawn.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Despite failures, Texas Republicans eye new voter fraud unit.
- S.V. Date @ HuffPost: DeSantis, Who Once Praised Vaccines, Now Wants To Prosecute Those Who Pushed Them.
- Eric Hananoki and Payton Armstrong @ Media Matters: 100-plus examples of Republican politicians embracing antisemitic media since 2021.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Marshall Law appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Laura Loomer announces that she has “joined the SuperPAC American Liberty Fund (ALF) as their Creative Director.”
- David Barton falsely claims that “every single right in the Due Process clauses came directly out of the Bible”: “They quoted the Bible in the Constitution. … They were Bible scholars.”
- Nick Fuentes suspects that the Biden administration rushed to secure the release of Brittney Griner because Ye was scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to try to free her.
- Patrick Howley fumes that “This country has a fetish with imprisoning people. They send White dudes in there to get raped by black criminals and they think it’s funny.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander declares that others have no right to question him because he’s “the most successful right-wing organizer in American history”: “How are the Pharisees and the Sadducees going to question Jesus? … How are those Luddites going to question Socrates?”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Jesus, Socrates, and Ali Alexander appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
With Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeating Herschel Walker in Georgia’s recent run-off election to give Democrats a 51-49 majority in the U.S. Senate, MAGA pastor Shane Vaughn is demanding that states implement Electoral College-style systems to ensure that Republicans don’t keep losing elections just because more people vote for the Democrats.
“The only way we ever have a Republican president is the Electoral College,” Vaughn said during a livestream last Thursday. “We cannot defeat the population centers without the Electoral College.”
“The entire state [of Georgia] is conservatives, all rushing to the polls,” Vaughn added. “They came to the polls that day and blew the numbers out of the water. They were winning their state, they were turning their state in the right direction until they hit that blue area called Atlanta, Georgia.”
“Good try, all you great citizens of Georgia,” he continued. “But you have a problem: Your voice doesn’t matter because you don’t have the majority of the population. So therefore, you really shouldn’t have even shown up to vote because we’re going to stop you in the population centers. And I looked across that state, and I said, ‘You know what? Everyone in that state is a conservative except for those two blue dots.’ And that’s when it hit me like a stroke of genius: That’s what the Founding Fathers feared for the nation, but what they feared for the nation is happening in the states. The office of a senator is just like the office of the president; it is a statewide campaign. It is statewide! Therefore, I am of the opinion that the only way to save the Senate in the United States of America is that the Senate elections should also be done by the Electoral College of a state.”
It is rather remarkable that Vaughn openly admits that the Republican candidate in Georgia lost because Republicans “don’t have the majority of the population” and thinks that the proper solution is not for the GOP to field a candidate who can win more votes, but rather to fundamentally change the rules so that his preferred candidate can win despite receiving tens of thousands fewer votes.
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post MAGA Pastor Shane Vaugh Wants Election Rules Changed Because Republicans Keep Losing appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Hannah Gais and Michael Edison Hayden @ Hatewatch: White Nationalists, Other Republicans Brace for ‘Total War.’
- Josephine Harvey @ HuffPost: Marjorie Taylor Greene Says ‘We Would’ve Won’ If She Organized The Jan. 6 Attack.
- Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Herschel Walker’s Son Threatens to Dish on Fired Blaze TV Host Who Blamed Him For His Dad’s Defeat: ‘I Don’t Like Cheaters.’
- Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby @ Popular Information: How to ban 3600 books from school libraries.
- Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: A Plot To Overturn An American Election.
- Nick Schwellenbach @ The Project On Government Oversight: Hundreds of Oath Keepers Have Worked for DHS, Leaked List Shows.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Total War appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Eric Metaxas and Jenna Ellis attempt to explain away former President Donald Trump’s call to terminate the Constitution in order to put him back in office, with Ellis insisting “without a shadow of a doubt that Donald Trump loves and respects the Constitution more than almost anyone that I know.”
- Kanye West has now joined Telegram, the social media platform that is a haven for far-right activists who’ve been banned from more mainstream platforms.
- Stew Peters wants to clarify something: “I don’t hate the faggots, I hate their faggotry.”
- Jon Miller asserts that “the vast majority of ‘rape’ cases are because the woman wanted it at the time but then decides she regrets it the next morning and decides to comes up with some ludicrous technicality as to why she didn’t ‘fully consent’ and then destroys the guys life.”
- Finally, Ali Alexander claims that he didn’t enter the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 because the government had “pre-cleared kill squads” in place ready to shoot him, Alex Jones, and Roger Stone: “They were literally going to kill us.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Shadow of a Doubt appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Liz Crokin marvels at just how far she has come. Last week, the once ostracized QAnon conspiracy theorist spoke at an event held at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and at which Trump himself appeared, and she is amazed at just how far she has come.
Crokin was one of the earliest promoters of the QAnon conspiracy theory and has spent the last several years spreading increasingly wild conspiracy theories, primarily about “Pizzagate,” a convoluted conspiracy theory alleging that thousands of highly influential politicians, entertainers, and business leaders are part of a global satanic pedophile ring. In 2016, one man radicalized by the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory entered a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., and fired his weapon, believing that children were held captive in the basement. The QAnon conspiracy theory, which appeared on fringe message boards in 2017, is seen as the successor to “Pizzagate.”
Despite the fact that literally none of the predictions that Crokin made over the years ever came true, she never followed through on her threat to “bow out” of the QAnon movement if she didn’t see mass arrests of leaders of the supposed global satanic pedophile ring by the end of 2019. Instead, Crokin has doggedly continued to spread the conspiracy theory, at one point even expressing her gratitude “for everything that Q has done for humanity.”
While QAnon was once a fringe far-right conspiracy theory, it was systematically mainstreamed by Trump and those in his orbit, so much so that now someone like Crokin can be invited to speak at Mar-a-Lago.
Last Tuesday, Crokin spoke at a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago for America’s Future, an organization affiliated with former national security adviser and QAnon conspiracy theorist Michael Flynn. At the event, it was announced that America’s Future was launching a program called “Project Defend & Protect Our Children” that will be overseen by a board featuring Crokin, discredited journalist Lara Logan, and others. To Crokin’s delight, Trump made a surprise appearance at the event later that evening.
The day after the event at Mar-a-Lago, Crokin appeared on the “Liberty and Justus” program, where she marveled at how she has gone from “ostracized” for spreading “Pizzagate” conspiracy theories to talking about it openly as a featured speaker at an event at which the former president appeared.
“We had this wonderful fundraiser to raise money for this cause at Mar-a-Lago last night, and I got the privilege and the honor to speak at Mar-a-Lago about ‘Pizzagate,'” Crokin boasted. “Six years ago, I was a lone soldier fighting this; no one wanted to even say the word ‘Pizzgate’ because the media had so successfully redefined what it is, and it was so taboo. I can’t even tell you how badly I was ostracized for talking about ‘Pizzagate,’ exposing ‘Pizzagate,’ and how many friends I lost and what a lonely journey it was. So, to go from that to being at Mar-a-Lago and being able to freely talk about ‘Pizzagate’ there and say, ‘This is real, and there’s no more tiptoeing around it anymore,’ was just an incredible experience.”
We need your help. Every day, Right Wing Watch exposes extremism to help the public, activists, and journalists understand the strategies and tactics of anti-democratic forces—and respond to an increasingly aggressive and authoritarian far-right movement. The threat is growing, but our resources are not. Any size contribution—or a small monthly donation—will help us continue our work and become more effective at disrupting the ideologies, people, and organizations that threaten our freedom and democracy. Please make an investment in Right Wing Watch’s defense of the values we share.
The post From Ostracized to Mar-a-Lago: QAnon Conspiracy Theorist Liz Crokin Marvels at How Far She’s Come appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: Respect for Marriage Act passes House & heads to Joe Biden’s desk.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: ‘Biblical Conservative’ Republican Likens Bestiality and Polygamy to Same-Sex Marriage in Angry Speech Against Bill.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Republican Congresswoman Cries While Urging Colleagues to Vote Against Same-Sex Marriage Protections.
- Joe Jervis: “Don’t Say Gay” Author Indicted On Six Felony Charges.
- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Gosar Tweets – And Quickly Deletes – Support For Trump Call To Terminate Parts Of Constitution.
- Hemant Mehta @ OnlySky: Public libraries aren’t censoring Kirk Cameron. He just wants attention.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Respect for Marriage appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: Respect for Marriage Act passes House & heads to Joe Biden’s desk.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: ‘Biblical Conservative’ Republican Likens Bestiality and Polygamy to Same-Sex Marriage in Angry Speech Against Bill.
- Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Republican Congresswoman Cries While Urging Colleagues to Vote Against Same-Sex Marriage Protections.
- Joe Jervis: “Don’t Say Gay” Author Indicted On Six Felony Charges.
- Emine Yücel @ Talking Points Memo: Gosar Tweets – And Quickly Deletes – Support For Trump Call To Terminate Parts Of Constitution.
- Hemant Mehta @ OnlySky: Public libraries aren’t censoring Kirk Cameron. He just wants attention.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Respect for Marriage appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Laura Loomer, whose main purpose in life appeared to be getting her Twitter account restored, has finally achieved her goal.
- Shane Vaughn wants to see Electoral College-like election systems implemented in individual states because Republican candidates keep losing the popular vote.
- Right-wing pastor Mario Murillo seems to be calling out Kat Kerr for being a false prophet.
- Ali Alexander says that Rep. Paul Gosar is “a good, good friend” and declares that he “would take a bullet for Gosar.” Alexander added that he has considered moving to Gosar’s congressional district so that he can run for Congress when Gosar retires.
- Jackson Lahmeyer has added Mark Burns to his “Pastors For Trump” organization.
- Finally, Kent Christmas blames the Democratic “morons” in power for COVID-19, small businesses folding, people getting money from the government and the like, insisting that, “None of that happened when Trump was president!” Actually, all of that happened when Trump was president.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Mission Accomplished appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Laura Loomer, whose main purpose in life appeared to be getting her Twitter account restored, has finally achieved her goal.
- Shane Vaughn wants to see Electoral College-like election systems implemented in individual states because Republican candidates keep losing the popular vote.
- Right-wing pastor Mario Murillo seems to be calling out Kat Kerr for being a false prophet.
- Ali Alexander says that Rep. Paul Gosar is “a good, good friend” and declares that he “would take a bullet for Gosar.” Alexander added that he has considered moving to Gosar’s congressional district so that he can run for Congress when Gosar retires.
- Jackson Lahmeyer has added Mark Burns to his “Pastors For Trump” organization.
- Finally, Kent Christmas blames the Democratic “morons” in power for COVID-19, small businesses folding, people getting money from the government and the like, insisting that, “None of that happened when Trump was president!” Actually, all of that happened when Trump was president.
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Mission Accomplished appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Kevin Robillard @ HuffPost: Sen. Raphael Warnock Wins Georgia Runoff, Handing Democrats A 51-Seat Majority.
- Justin Baragona @ The Daily Beast: Laura Ingraham Lashes Out Over Warnock Victory: ‘I’m Pissed Tonight!’
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Search leads to more classified materials at Trump storage unit.
- Media Matters: Charlie Kirk: “The MAGA movement is committing suicide in front of our very eyes.”
- Tess Owen @ Vice News: The Far Right Is Dumping Marjorie Taylor Greene.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: MAGA Suicide appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Jenna Ellis interviewed unhinged right-wing conspiracy theorist Stew Peters on the Tuesday edition of “The Jenna Ellis Show.”
- Speaking of Peters, he had a message for those disappointed by the results of the run-off election in Georgia: “Pay NO ATTENTION to the GA rigged runoff ‘election’, where the black satanic ‘preacher’ has been re-selected. None of it will matter soon. The American Christians WILL take this country back, and these evil, demonic servants of satan will be judged.”
- QAnon conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin spoke at an event at Mar-a-Lago Tuesday night and was followed by former President Donald Trump, who made a surprise appearance.
- Jackson Lahmeyer has launched “Pastors For Trump” in an effort to “continue to build the relationship between Christian leaders and President Trump during his bid for the Presidency.”
- Diamond & Silk think there’s something suspicious about Kanye West’s recent antisemitic rants: “Is somebody being paid here to push an agenda to make conservatives look a certain way?”
- Finally, Kari Lake refuses to accept that she lost the race for governor in Arizona because she knows that God put her here for just this fight: “God put us here, in overtime, for this battle, for this moment.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: For This Moment appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Jury finds Trump Organization guilty of tax fraud.
- Charisma Madarang @ Rolling Stone: Kanye West to Proud Boys Founder: ‘Jewish People, Forgive Hitler.’
- Joe Jervis: Homocon Milo Bills Kanye West For $116,000.
- Justin Baragona and Diana Falzone @ The Daily Beast: This Obscure Right-Wing Christian Channel Is Staffing Up With Fox News, Newsmax Alums.
- Ari Berman @ Mother Jones: How Right-Wing Groups Set the Stage for the Supreme Court to Rig Future Elections.
- Elaina Plott Calabro @ The Atlantic: Why Is Marjorie Taylor Greene Like This?
- Shelby Talcott @ Semafor: Top evangelicals are backing away from Donald Trump.
- Sara Murray, Annie Grayer and Zachary Cohen @ CNN: House January 6 committee has decided to make criminal referrals, chairman says.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Forgive Hitler appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- It is easy to see how Nick Fuentes is influencing Kanye West, now known as Ye, with Ye repeating Fuentes’ position that non-Christians “should not be in control or [have] any influence to anything that America produces.”
- Ye also floated the possibility of naming Candace Owens as his running mate in 2024.
- Speaking of Fuentes, it’s hard to imagine him making a more telling statement than “when I was a kid, kids loved Hitler.”
- Alex Jones reacted to Ye’s recent antisemitic meltdown on “The Alex Jones Show” by essentially blaming Fuentes: “I didn’t know that Nick Fuentes was really a Nazi lover. … There’s a real creepy factor with this Hitler stuff.”
- Finally, Laura Loomer declares that she “will be filing an official complaint with ICE and will be leading the charge to get the foreign British national, and homosexual sociopath Milo Yiannopoulos deported from the United States.”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Kids Love Hitler appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
A holiday drag story time event was canceled in Columbus, Ohio, after the Proud Boys and other right-wing extremist groups showed up in force.
Red Oak Community School and the First Unitarian Universalist Church had advertised its “Holi-Drag” story time charity event for kids last month. Shortly after, members of the Proud Boys announced plans to disrupt the event, Right Wing Watch first reported.
On Saturday, scores of Proud Boys dressed in the signature black and yellow uniforms and members of Patriot Front, some of whom were armed, rallied outside of the First Unitarian Universalist Church, which was hosting the event. Alleging that the story time event amounts to “grooming”—the rhetoric at the heart of recent political attacks on LGBTQ people—the Proud Boys held signs with messages like, “Groomers make Santa sad” and “Groomers go home.” Another read “Proud Boys Story Hour Today’s Book Death of the West Chapter 9,” in an apparent reference to a book authored by far-right activist Pat Buchanan, who fearmongers about immigrants replacing “America’s white majority.”
Other videos show Proud Boys members dancing to the “YMCA,” the unofficial LGBTQ anthem, and a police officer acknowledging that he high-fived a Proud Boy because he had complimented his mustache.
On Dec. 3, the day of planned event, Cheryl Ryan, the school’s manager, announced its cancellation. Taking the church’s stage decorated by kids who had planned on listening to stories that afternoon, she said the school had canceled the event after an internal debate over “how this community could be best protected.” Ryan said she called the Columbus Police and was initially told they could hire a special duty officer “who may or may not show up because they’re understaffed,” while a “community defense team” they hired felt uncomfortable with a police presence. Ultimately, the event was canceled when the performers said they were uncomfortable performing without a police presence.
“The world is getting more and more unsafe for the LGBTQ community; the attacks are constant and getting worse,” Ryan said. “The fact that we not able to successfully host this simple event shows the extent of the damage. We have to do better.”
“I implore this community’s leaders to consider how this could’ve gone differently,” she said at another point in her speech. “How will they do better for next drag story time the Proud Boys threaten to show up at again, which they will.”
“You’re damn right we will. That’s a promise,” the Official Cape Fear Proud Boys responded in a post on Telegram, painting her speech as “unconditional surrender.” “Not once did she acknowledge the groomers who are truly responsible for the Proud Boys showing up. If you don’t want Proud Boys outside your drag event, don’t invite children.”
“We will be watching, and We. Are. Everywhere,” read another Telegram post by the Proud Boys Ohio.
In another post, The Columbus Proud Boys gloated over a video of a woman who said that her little sister is a drag queen and called her for fear of her safety after the Proud Boys came to Columbus. She also said that the Proud Boys were harassing businesses that had hosted drag shows. The Columbus Proud Boys shared the video with the caption, “She forgot to say ‘and everyone clapped!’”
One commentator responded to the video with a meme that stated, “KILL IT WITH FIRE.”
For its part, the Columbus Police disputed the school’s account that they were absent and said they tried to work with the school and the church. On Monday, the police chief issued a message to the community after an officer was seen high-fiving a Proud Boys member, claiming that the dialogue team member’s action “was not done to show solidarity but to diffuse a tense situation.”
“I along with the officers in the department stand fully with the LGBTQ+ community. No one should be intimidated, harassed, or threatened just because of who they are or whom they love. As a division historically, we know there has been a disconnect between members of this community and our department. We have worked and will continue to work hard to strengthen those relationships,” Police Chief Elaine Bryant said. “We will not stand for extremist groups to come into this city and cause violence.”
Department of Homeland Security issued a new bulletin last week that added the LGBTQ community to groups under threat of potential domestic terror attacks. That followed the shooting at a LGBTQ night club in Colorado in which five people were killed and 25 others were injured.
The cancelation of the Columbus drag story time stands in stark contrast to others that have proceeded with police support amid right-wing extremists’ vows to disrupt them. In Lakeland, Florida, right-wing extremists rallied outside a drag charity event, holding Nazi flags, shouting profanities, and recording attendees. Police were called in, and the show went on. DeShazo, the host and a performer of that event, told local news station WFLA that he was satisfied with how Lakeland Police responded to the incident.
“I think they did well at being neutral but also making sure we were safe and they came in several times to check on me and check on our people. So I’m happy with the way they responded,” said DeShazo.
The post Proud Boys Promise to Disrupt More Drag Story Time Events appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Caitlin Dickson @ Yahoo News: ‘Dangerous,’ ‘Unprecedented’: Why extremism experts are alarmed by Trump’s dinner with Fuentes, Ye.
- David Mack @ BuzzFeed: Supreme Court Justices Warned About The Potential Ramifications In A Major Case On Religious Freedom And Same-Sex Marriage.
- Will Sommer and Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Milo Yiannopoulos Is Out at Kanye West Campaign After Infighting.
- Kevin Drum: Here’s the story of Twitter, Elon Musk, Matt Taibbi, and the Hunter Biden laptop.
- Brad Reed @ Raw Story: Trump demands ‘termination’ of Constitution so he can return to power.
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Terminate the Constitution appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
- Andrew Anglin, who often appears on livestreams hosted by far-right America First activists, objects to being called a Neo-Nazi but admits that if you call him a “rape promoter,” he can’t really complain: “You do have me there.”
- Nick Fuentes complains about the coverage of Kanye West’s appearance on Alex Jones: “The media, of course, is only focusing on the part where he said he loved Hitler. So what’s that all about? He said other things too.”
- Jarrin Jackson praised a new Russian law that “significantly expands restrictions on activities seen as promoting LGBT rights in the country”: “This is the kind of things America needs to return to.”
- In a now deleted post, Andrew Torba fumed that “Elon [Musk] is not a Christian. He has no business running an American media company unless he repents and calls Jesus Christ Lord. 90% of our problems are caused by Zionists and their lapdogs controlling the media.”
- Finally, Vincent James comes to the defense of Adolf Hitler: “What’s worse? One person slaughtering millions of people or a group of people slaughtering Jesus Christ?”
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: What’s Worse? appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
White nationalist Richard Spencer appeared on far-right streamer Ethan Ralph’s “Killstream” program Saturday, where he explained that former President Donald Trump won’t denounce Nick Fuentes—the racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, America-hating, Christian fascist leader of the white nationalist America First movement—because Trump “doesn’t disavow his own people.”
Spencer coined the term “alt-right,” which encompasses the movement of white racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic far-right activists who swarmed to support Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 and played a key role in organizing the deadly white nationalist “Unite The Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Fuentes, who was also involved in the “Unite The Right” rally, had dinner last month with Trump and rap mogul Kanye West at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, which set off a firestorm of controversy. Since then, Fuentes and West, who now goes by the name Ye, appeared on “The Alex Jones Show,” where West heaped praise on Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
Despite the fact that the dinner and its aftermath have been an unmitigated disaster for Trump, he has steadfastly refused to denounce Fuentes, and Spencer thinks that he knows why.
“What do you think about Trump not disavowing Fuentes this whole time?” Ralph asked.
“He can’t,” Spencer replied. “Look, he never really disavowed me, he never disavowed the alt-right, he never disavowed Charlottesville. He doesn’t disavow his own people.”
“He won’t disavow his own people,” Spencer continued. “He does know who butters his bread, and so he’s not gonna do it. … I don’t think he’s going to do it and I think if he’s forced to do it, it would ultimately be a weakness. I think any Republican that’s denouncing this stuff is going to lose. Any Republican that denounces Ye is going to lose because they’re ultimately denouncing their own people.”
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The post ‘He Won’t Disavow His Own People’: White Nationalist Richard Spencer Explains Why Trump Won’t Disavow the Movement appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Matt Shuham @ HuffPost: The Mysterious Fourth Man At The Trump-Ye Dinner Tells His Story. Kathryn Joyce @ Salon: Christian nationalism’s white supremacy crisis: Bitter battle on the far right. Jack Jenkins @ Religion News Service: Ye’s Trump dinner is a high point for Catholic nationalists’ influence campaign. Aidan McLaughlin @ Mediaite: Kanye West’s Biggest […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The Fourth Man appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spoke at white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ AFPAC conference earlier this year, is now ripping Fuentes as a racist and “very immature young man saying hateful things about people”: “He knows nothing. What has he ever done in his life?” In response, Fuentes alleges that Greene was texting with her former […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Very Immature appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Analysis At the beginning of 2022, white nationalist youth leader Nick Fuentes declared that he had no time for intimate relationships because he had chosen to be “an historical figure” leading “an historical right-wing movement.” It seemed like a ridiculous level of hubris coming from a then-23-year-old who had been kicked off both mainstream and conservative social […]
The post Beyond the Trump Dinner: Dangers of the Ye-Fuentes Partnership appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Tess Owen @ Vice News: From Charlottesville to Mar-a-Lago: Nick Fuentes’ White Nationalist Journey. Ali Breland @ Mother Jones: Trump’s Dinner Fiasco Was a Win for Fascists Playing the Long Game. Jeff Sharlet @ Vanity Fair: “Fuck Biden,” “Don’t Tread on Me,” and a Wisconsin Death Trip for Our Times. Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Republicans […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Finally appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
During his appearance on “The Alex Jones Show” today, Kanye West handed his phone over to Jones, Nick Fuentes, and Ali Alexander so they could each post a message on his Twitter account. Andrew Torba was positively giddy about West’s Nazi-praising appearance on Jones’ program: “Overton Window: shattered. Obliterated. Never going back.” Rick Scarborough says […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Inside Intel appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kanye West, the rap mogul who now goes by the name Ye, recently teamed up with Nick Fuentes, the racist, misogynistic, America-hating, Christian fascist leader of the white nationalist America First movement. Brought together by their mutual virulent antisemitism, the two recently had dinner with former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, and Fuentes […]
The post ‘I Love Nazis’: Kanye West Repeatedly Praises Nazis and ‘Especially Hitler’ in Wild Interview With Alex Jones appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jill Colvin @ Associated Press: Trump’s dinner disaster sparks new rules for his campaign. Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Trump Insults ‘Loser For Our Nation’ McConnell After GOP Senate Leader Condemned Former President’s Neo-Nazi Dinner. David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: RNC Taps Right Wing Extremists to Head Group Designed to Expand GOP Appeal […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: The QAnon Groomer appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Antisemitic Christian nationalist Andrew Torba says that former President Donald Trump must “never apologize” for dining with Nick Fuentes and praises Kanye West for being willing to “name the enemy” [i.e. Jews]: “A lion does not concern himself with the opinion of sheep.” Torba also posted various antisemitic messages on Gab and Telegram, stating that […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Opinion of Sheep appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Vincent James, the unapologetic racist, antisemite, misogynist, conspiracy theorist, and fascist who currently serves as the treasurer of white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ America First organization, has a helpful habit of clearly laying out the radical intentions of the far-right America First movement. From “kidnapping the children away from gay people” and throwing gay people off of buildings to stripping women of […]
The post After Trump’s Dinner With Fuentes, White Nationalist Says They’ve ‘Infiltrated the Mainstream Flank of GOP Politics’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Rachel Maddow: Republican leader Trump’s dinner with racist forces reckoning for normal Americans. Marc Caputo @ NBC News: The inside story of Trump’s explosive dinner with Ye and Nick Fuentes. Kathryn Joyce @ Salon: Look who came to dinner: Nick Fuentes (and Ye) want to push GOP toward full-on Nazism. Jonathan Weisman @ The New […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Dinner Disaster appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kanye West revealed that a producer for Alex Jones connected him to Milo Yiannopoulos, and Yiannopoulos admits that he was the one who then introduced West to Nick Fuentes. West also says that he invited Fuentes to go to Mar-a-Lago with him last week and that former President Donald Trump “had no idea who Nick […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Of Course appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Josh Wingrove @ Bloomberg: Key Trump 2024 Rivals Silent After His White Supremacist Meeting. Eric Kleefeld and Rob Savillo @ Media Matters: Fox News buries Donald Trump’s meeting with Ye and white supremacist troll Nick Fuentes. Jackson Richman @ Mediaite: Jewish Advocacy Group That JUST Honored Trump ‘Deplores’ Him for Dining With ‘Vile Antisemites’ Kanye […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: God Willing appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Andrew Torba declares that “we will destroy the GOP before we allow another Zionist bootlicker in office to ‘represent us.'” Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin (cleverly “hiding” behind the pseudonym “Wang Lin”) tells Matt Evans (aka “Beardson Beardly”) why he’s backing Kanye West’s presidential bid: “It’s the right thing to do to support the guy who is […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Start Taking Away Rights appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Nick Fuentes—the racist, misogynistic, antisemitic, America-hating, Christian fascist leader of the white nationalist America First movement—is usually a prolific poster on social media (at least on the far-right platforms from which he has not already been banned). Given that Fuentes is fully aware that his radical views and relentless bigotry have largely rendered him politically […]
The post Extremism on the Menu: Trump’s Dinner With Ye, Milo, and Nick Fuentes appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Businessman Mike Lindell—aka the MyPillow Guy—poured tens of millions of dollars into spectacularly failed efforts to prove that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump by fraudulent election machines, while portraying his efforts as a spiritual crusade. The election conspiracy theorist is still at it. A fundraising email sent Tuesday for the Lindell Legal Offense […]
The post Mike Lindell Wants More Money to Make Bogus Claims About Voting Machines appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
A local chapter of the far-right Proud Boys plans to disrupt a Dec. 3 drag story event in Columbus, Ohio, just two weeks after the killings at a LGBTQ night club in Colorado Springs. The Columbus Proud Boys announced their plans to disrupt the kids story time event held at the First Unitarian Universalist Church […]
The post Proud Boys Plan to Disrupt Drag Story Event in Columbus, Ohio appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
While some religious-right politicians, preachers, and pundits are embracing the term “Christian nationalism,” former Rep. Michele Bachmann told a group of pro-Trump prayer warriors earlier this month that they should reject the term. On Nov. 4, Bachmann appeared on a monthly prayer call hosted by Intercessors for America, a group that was closely aligned with […]
The post Michele Bachmann Calls Christian Nationalism a ‘National Smear Campaign’ Against Christians appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
David Mack @ BuzzFeed: A Special Counsel Will Decide Whether To Charge Trump With Crimes. Caroline Kitchener, Amy B Wang and Michelle Boorstein @ The Washington Post: Trump would act ‘like a little elementary schoolchild,’ former spiritual adviser says. Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Jesse Watters Tells Americans to Procreate So We Don’t Need ‘Foreigners to […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Special Counsel appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
James Robison now says that former President Donald Trump acts “like a little elementary schoolchild.” That is not what Robison was saying publicly when he was a sycophantic spiritual adviser to Trump in office. Ali Alexander declares that “Abortion is for SATANIC SKANKS!” Speaking of Alexander, he and Laura Loomer trashed Trump’s 2024 announcement, saying that […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Grifter Central appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Wendy Rogers—a far-right Arizona state senator who rose to prominence denying the 2020 election results—announced on Twitter Friday that she has been appointed chair of the Arizona Senate’s election committee. Her appointment for the upcoming legislative session was confirmed Tuesday by Arizona Senate President-elect Warren Peterson, according to a local NBC News affiliate. Petersen supported […]
The post Wendy Rogers, Far-Right Lawmaker Who Denied 2020 Election Results, to Chair Arizona Election Committee appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Following a legendary run, Nancy Pelosi agrees to pass the torch. Hunter Walker @ Talking Points Memo: Pelosi’s Departure Sets Up Generational Shift In House Dem Caucus: ‘This Is Hakeem’s Time.’ Matthew Impelli @ Newsweek: Robert Jeffress, Trump’s Key Evangelical Ally, Won’t Endorse Him Yet. Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Passing the Torch appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Shane Vaughn rages against those “dishonorable people” who dare to support anyone other than former President Donald Trump, “the anointed man of God”: “Have you not seen the touch of God on his life, beloved friend? How DARE you go crawl in the bed with his opponents!” Ali Alexander declares that “multiculturalism is a ticking […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Anointed Man of God appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Commentary A bipartisan majority cleared the way this week for the U.S. Senate to consider legislation that would protect legal recognition for same-sex couples’ marriages even if the far-right Supreme Court majority overturns the court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling. And like clockwork, anti-LGBTQ activists put their fearmongering about the Respect for Marriage Act into high gear. Before we dig into […]
The post Old Habits Are Hard to Break: Anti-Equality Leaders’ Dishonest and Alarmist Attacks on the Respect for Marriage Act appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
On election night in 2020, former congresswoman Michele Bachmann boldly declared that conservative Christians had no reason to worry about the outcome because God had “sealed this election in the heavenlies,” ensuring that former President Donald Trump would be easily reelected. When Trump lost, Bachmann, like so many others in the MAGA movement, refused to […]
The post Michele Bachmann Claims a ‘Fog of Delusion’ Is Preventing Americans From Realizing the 2022 Elections Were Rigged appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: Scandal-plagued suspected criminal launches presidential campaign. Andrew Prokop @ Vox: Why a second Trump term would be even more dangerous than his first. William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: Even Sean Hannity Cut Away From Donald Trump’s 2024 Announcement Speech. David Gilbert @ Vice News: QAnon Is Not Very […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Nation of Degeneracy appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Shane Vaughn rejoiced over former President Trump’s announcement that he is running for president again in 2024: “God’s anointed servant is rising up from the ashes.” Eric Metaxas was on hand for Trump’s announcement and declared that “when I think how this country has suffered these two years I get choked up thinking how good […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Mussolini Mode appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When the “red wave” that many thought would sweep Republicans into power across the nation in the midterm elections failed to materialize, right-wing activists immediately began looking for someone to blame. One target of right-wing outrage has been young women, who voted overwhelmingly for Democrats in the recent elections. These results prompted Lauren Witzke—a Russia-loving […]
The post Lauren Witzke Says Giving Women the Right to Vote ‘Was the Worst Thing That Ever Happened to America’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
After right-wing predictions of a “red wave” or “red tsunami” were defeated by voters, some right-wing leaders are predictably calling for new restrictions on early voting and mail-in ballots, both of which have increased access to the ballot and expanded as safe ways for people to vote during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those calling for […]
The post After Voters Prevent Red Wave, FRC Pushes Restrictions on Voting appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Kristen Doerer @ DAME Magazine: The Polarization of Freedom: How the Right co-opted America’s most sacred value. Tim Murphy @ Mother Jones: Katie Hobbs Defeats MAGA Star Kari Lake in Arizona. David Edwards @ Raw Story: Mike Lindell: Trump’s Tuesday announcement is ‘divine intervention’ in Kari Lake’s election. Alexandra Berzon, Charles Homans and Ken Bensinger […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Divine Intervention appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Laura Loomer is retroactively withdrawing her endorsement of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after Green supported Rep. Kevin McCarthy to be the GOP’s nominee for Speaker of the House. David Lane declares that “as Gideon’s and Rahab’s begin entering the public square with a handful of pastors from North Carolina and Iowa winning their campaigns for […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Once This Train Gets Going appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Akbar Shahid Ahmed @ HuffPost: Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto Reelected, Preserving Democrats’ Control Of Senate. Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: Echoing his pre-January 6 rhetoric, Steve Bannon now demands Arizona refuse to certify midterm election results. Daniel Villarreal @ LGBTQ Nation: 4 Supreme Court justices attended celebration of powerful anti-LGBTQ legal group. Hemant Mehta […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Weaponizing the IRS appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Wayne Allyn Root insists that the 2022 elections were “stolen”: “If you disagree, you’re delusional, or terribly naive, or brain-dead. Or you’re in on the fix. It’s time to admit we’re all part of a massive experiment in fraud, theft, brainwashing and gaslighting to a degree never seen in world history.” Everett Piper declares that […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Do What Must Be Done appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
On Election Day, Democrats braced for a red wave that could put the GOP’s most extreme candidates into office. But nearly a week later, that wave looks more like a trickle. Americans generally rejected the party’s far-right candidates, though many of these far-right candidates have yet to accept the will of the people. In Michigan, […]
The post How the GOP’s Far-Right Candidates Fared appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Steve Benen @ The Maddow Blog: After earning a third term, Ron Johnson can’t even win gracefully. Joe Jervis: Alex Jones Ordered To Pay Additional $473 Million In Punitive Damages, State Court Freezes All His Assets. Kathryn Joyce @ Salon: Did Christian nationalism lose in the midterms? Sort of — but it’s not going away. […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Violence Is Always an Option appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
When the returns on election night showed there would be no “red wave,” Michele Bachmann immediately started casting doubt on the elections: “I think there’s something seriously wrong happening here tonight.” By the next day, Bachmann was openly declaring that “what we saw was a steal. The question is we don’t know how.” Glenn Beck […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Stolen, But We Don’t Know How appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Last month, GOP nominee for governor of Arizona Kari Lake suggested it would be impossible for her to lose without Democrats cheating. Today, with 70 percent of the vote counted, Lake trails in the polls by less than a percentage point, but she points to printer errors in Maricopa County that delayed the tabulating of […]
The post Arizona Election Deniers See ‘Cheaters and Crooks’ in Delayed Results appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Kari Lake Says If She Were Governor, Arizona Police Would Arrest FBI Agents Enforcing a Policy That Doesn’t Even Exist. Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Right-Wing Activists Stage Laughable Protest Outside Biden’s ‘Democracy’ Speech. Ben Goggin @ NBC News: Ye paid a settlement to former employee who alleged he praised […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Prepping for Combat appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Michael Luciano @ Mediaite: Kari Lake Says If She Were Governor, Arizona Police Would Arrest FBI Agents Enforcing a Policy That Doesn’t Even Exist. Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Right-Wing Activists Stage Laughable Protest Outside Biden’s ‘Democracy’ Speech. Ben Goggin @ NBC News: Ye paid a settlement to former employee who alleged he praised […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Prepping for Combat appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
John Zmirak urges Christians to appropriate the term “Christian nationalist” because doing so “makes a fine example of defiance, of taking some bully’s effort to silence and intimidate you, and stuffing it back down his throat.” Terri Copeland Pearsons closed out her Wednesday night church service by leading the congregation in an impassioned prayer for […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: ‘Any Election I Don’t Like Is Stolen’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
John Zmirak urges Christians to appropriate the term “Christian nationalist” because doing so “makes a fine example of defiance, of taking some bully’s effort to silence and intimidate you, and stuffing it back down his throat.” Terri Copeland Pearsons closed out her Wednesday night church service by leading the congregation in an impassioned prayer for […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: ‘Any Election I Don’t Like Is Stolen’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Andrew Torba is a militant Christian nationalist and the founder of the far-right social media platform Gab, which has been a repository of bigotry and antisemitism since its founding in 2016. Some of the antisemitism on Gab originates with Torba himself, as he frequently makes virulently antisemitic posts on the platform, which he frequently subsequently […]
The post Gab Founder Andrew Torba Posts, Then Deletes Antisemitic Attacks Across Multiple Platforms appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Andrew Torba is a militant Christian nationalist and the founder of the far-right social media platform Gab, which has been a repository of bigotry and antisemitism since its founding in 2016. Some of the antisemitism on Gab originates with Torba himself, as he frequently makes virulently antisemitic posts on the platform, which he frequently subsequently […]
The post Gab Founder Andrew Torba Posts, Then Deletes Antisemitic Attacks Across Multiple Platforms appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: Jim Marchant and Steve Bannon agree that Democrats “can’t win” if Marchant’s secretary of state coalition is elected. Joe Jervis: Wisconsin Gov Nominee: After I’m Elected, Republicans Will “Never Lose Another Election” In This State. Jackson Richman @ Mediaite: GOP Senator Accuses Democrats of ‘Trying to Wipe Christianity Out in […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Permanent Republican Majority appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: Jim Marchant and Steve Bannon agree that Democrats “can’t win” if Marchant’s secretary of state coalition is elected. Joe Jervis: Wisconsin Gov Nominee: After I’m Elected, Republicans Will “Never Lose Another Election” In This State. Jackson Richman @ Mediaite: GOP Senator Accuses Democrats of ‘Trying to Wipe Christianity Out in […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Permanent Republican Majority appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jerry Newcombe declares that “if Christians show up in great numbers, we can overcome the potential for cheating because the Christian conservative voting bloc is huge.” Rep. Dan Bishop prays that this nation will receive “deliverance from the errors of the left” when Christians “turn out to the polls to elect godly people” in the […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: How to Treat a Blasphemer appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Jerry Newcombe declares that “if Christians show up in great numbers, we can overcome the potential for cheating because the Christian conservative voting bloc is huge.” Rep. Dan Bishop prays that this nation will receive “deliverance from the errors of the left” when Christians “turn out to the polls to elect godly people” in the […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: How to Treat a Blasphemer appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: PA Guv Candidate Doug Mastriano’s Secret Meme Page Is a Far-Right Rats’ Nest. David Gilbert @ Vice News: GOP Candidate Said Elites Drink Blood, Sell ‘Baby Body Parts’ After Abortion. Creede Newton @ Hatewatch: Liberty Counsel Used Documents From Gab, ADF for Its Anti-COVID Vaccine Campaign. Candice Ortiz @ […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Warrior for God appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: PA Guv Candidate Doug Mastriano’s Secret Meme Page Is a Far-Right Rats’ Nest. David Gilbert @ Vice News: GOP Candidate Said Elites Drink Blood, Sell ‘Baby Body Parts’ After Abortion. Creede Newton @ Hatewatch: Liberty Counsel Used Documents From Gab, ADF for Its Anti-COVID Vaccine Campaign. Candice Ortiz @ […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: A Warrior for God appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
David Lane warns that if Christians “stay home on election day, then those in active rebellion against God will get the chance to elect their representatives, who will create and pass legislation representing their values, and so pass into law their system of beliefs.” Kristina Karamo, the Republican secretary of state candidate in Michigan, says […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A King and a Pope appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
David Lane warns that if Christians “stay home on election day, then those in active rebellion against God will get the chance to elect their representatives, who will create and pass legislation representing their values, and so pass into law their system of beliefs.” Kristina Karamo, the Republican secretary of state candidate in Michigan, says […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A King and a Pope appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Matt Gertz @ Media Matters: The right-wing ecosystem that created the Paul Pelosi conspiracy theory. Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: San Francisco Police Chief Smacks Down Pelosi Attack Theories: ‘Absolutely No Evidence That Mr. Pelosi Knew This Man’. Tess Owen @ Vice News: Paul Pelosi Attacker Wanted to Break Nancy’s Kneecaps, Police Say. Asawin Suebsaeng and […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Absolutely No Evidence appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Matt Gertz @ Media Matters: The right-wing ecosystem that created the Paul Pelosi conspiracy theory. Sarah Rumpf @ Mediaite: San Francisco Police Chief Smacks Down Pelosi Attack Theories: ‘Absolutely No Evidence That Mr. Pelosi Knew This Man’. Tess Owen @ Vice News: Paul Pelosi Attacker Wanted to Break Nancy’s Kneecaps, Police Say. Asawin Suebsaeng and […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Absolutely No Evidence appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Everett Piper declares that “there is no longer any such thing as a ‘Christian Democrat’: “No matter what your political stripes, if you have an ounce of honesty left in your soul, you have to admit that today’s Democratic Party is no longer a party that any thoughtful Christian, whether they be Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Real Nazism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Everett Piper declares that “there is no longer any such thing as a ‘Christian Democrat’: “No matter what your political stripes, if you have an ounce of honesty left in your soul, you have to admit that today’s Democratic Party is no longer a party that any thoughtful Christian, whether they be Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Real Nazism appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, suffered a stroke earlier this year. While doctors say that Fetterman is recovering well and has “no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office,” the Senate hopeful still struggles with auditory processing, especially when it comes to interpreting spoken words, […]
The post Steve Bannon Says That John Fetterman’s Use of Closed Captioning Makes Him ‘A Cyborg’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, suffered a stroke earlier this year. While doctors say that Fetterman is recovering well and has “no work restrictions and can work full duty in public office,” the Senate hopeful still struggles with auditory processing, especially when it comes to interpreting spoken words, […]
The post Steve Bannon Says That John Fetterman’s Use of Closed Captioning Makes Him ‘A Cyborg’ appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Casey Tolan, Curt Devine, Daniel A. Medina, and Majlie de Puy Kamp @ CNN: Alleged Paul Pelosi attacker posted multiple conspiracy theories. Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: A QAnon supporter is leading an effort to harass people at ballot drop boxes — and using QAnon influencers to help her. AJ McDougall @ The Daily Beast: […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Raise the Challenge appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Casey Tolan, Curt Devine, Daniel A. Medina, and Majlie de Puy Kamp @ CNN: Alleged Paul Pelosi attacker posted multiple conspiracy theories. Alex Kaplan @ Media Matters: A QAnon supporter is leading an effort to harass people at ballot drop boxes — and using QAnon influencers to help her. AJ McDougall @ The Daily Beast: […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Raise the Challenge appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Laura Loomer declares that “the world will be a much better place when I’m no longer banned [from Twitter]. My Twitter was one of the most entertaining and politically informative accounts in the history of Twitter, along with the protests that ensued in the months shortly after the ban. Let’s be honest. The people have […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Net Positive appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Laura Loomer declares that “the world will be a much better place when I’m no longer banned [from Twitter]. My Twitter was one of the most entertaining and politically informative accounts in the history of Twitter, along with the protests that ensued in the months shortly after the ban. Let’s be honest. The people have […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Net Positive appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Media Matters: Steve Bannon calls on Infowars listeners to become poll workers. Ryan Teague Beckwith and Margaret Newkirk @ Bloomberg: Masked Poll Watchers Are Showing Up at Voting Sites With Handguns and Kevlar Vests. Kelly Weill @ The Daily Beast: MAGA Conspiracy Tours Plagued With ‘Grifter’ Allegations. Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Katie Hobbs Blasts Kari […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Plagued With Grifters appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Media Matters: Steve Bannon calls on Infowars listeners to become poll workers. Ryan Teague Beckwith and Margaret Newkirk @ Bloomberg: Masked Poll Watchers Are Showing Up at Voting Sites With Handguns and Kevlar Vests. Kelly Weill @ The Daily Beast: MAGA Conspiracy Tours Plagued With ‘Grifter’ Allegations. Ken Meyer @ Mediaite: Katie Hobbs Blasts Kari […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Plagued With Grifters appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s Surgeon General, appeared on Sherri Tenpenny’s program today, where he heaped praise on the far-right anti-vax conspiracy theorist for having the “courage” to oppose COVID-19 vaccines: “There’s something very inspiring about that.” Ali Alexander warns that “political Conservatives are silent on the anti-Black, anti-American, anti-Christian cancellation of Ye. They’ll be silent when […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Something Very Inspiring appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Joseph Ladapo, Florida’s Surgeon General, appeared on Sherri Tenpenny’s program today, where he heaped praise on the far-right anti-vax conspiracy theorist for having the “courage” to oppose COVID-19 vaccines: “There’s something very inspiring about that.” Ali Alexander warns that “political Conservatives are silent on the anti-Black, anti-American, anti-Christian cancellation of Ye. They’ll be silent when […]
The post Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Something Very Inspiring appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer appeared on Ethan Ralph’s “Killstream” program Wednesday, where she accused her one-time friend and ally Milo Yiannopoulos of sabotaging her most recent run for Congress. Loomer was ostensibly on Ralph’s program to discuss her new channel on Cozy TV, an explicitly “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” streaming platform created by white nationalist […]
The post Laura Loomer Accuses Milo Yiannopoulos of Sabotaging Her Recent Congressional Campaign appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer appeared on Ethan Ralph’s “Killstream” program Wednesday, where she accused her one-time friend and ally Milo Yiannopoulos of sabotaging her most recent run for Congress. Loomer was ostensibly on Ralph’s program to discuss her new channel on Cozy TV, an explicitly “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” streaming platform created by white nationalist […]
The post Laura Loomer Accuses Milo Yiannopoulos of Sabotaging Her Recent Congressional Campaign appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Mariana Alfaro @ The Washington Post: Trump vows pardons, government apology to Capitol rioters if he’s elected. AJ McDougall @ The Daily Beast: Sarah Palin Loses Special Election for U.S. House Seat to Democrat Mary Peltola Hemant Mehta @ OnlySky: White nationalist: After School Satan clubs are an ‘act of terrorism’ Jonathon Cohn @ HuffPost: […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Pardons and an Apology appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
After interviewing Stella Immanuel, Stephen Strang wants to see “Anthony Fauci and the CDC apologize for the havoc they created [for] the Frontline Doctors and others they canceled and demonized for views that now they admit were correct all along.” That is probably not going to happen. Ethan Ralph declares that neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin is […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Decertified in Heaven appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Ben Jacobs @ Vox: The DOJ’s latest filing has even more damning claims against Trump. Alex Griffing @ Mediaite: Trump Lawyer Complains DOJ is Seeking to Charge Ex-President Under ‘Mundane Statutes: Espionage and Two Others.’ Areeba Shah @ Salon: Republicans react to damming DOJ filing of found Mar-a-Lago docs with cries of “staged” evidence. Charles […]
The post Right Wing Round-Up: Mundane Espionage appeared first on Right Wing Watch.
Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, defends appearing in a photo wearing a Confederate uniform: “All the leaders of the Confederacy were Democrats. … The founders of the KKK were the Democrats.” Patrick Howley declares that “Joe Biden is a tyrant war pig pedophile!” Vincent James calls on the Border Patrol to […]
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Laurie Cardoza-Moore, founder of the Christian Zionist group Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, is a Trump–loving, anti–Islam, religious-right activist who has recently begun to focus her efforts on ensuring that public school textbooks eliminate what she claims is “anti-Semitic, anti-Judeo/Christian, Anti-American, pro-Islamic indoctrination of students.” Last year, Cardoza-Moore was appointed to a seat on Tennessee’s […]
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Alex Kaplan, Olivia Little, and Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: “Groypers” are using TikTok to promote white nationalist content, evading the platform’s ban. Kaila Philo @ Talking Points Memo: Top Secret Service Official Leaves Agency—Two Days Before A Jan. 6 Committee Interview. William Vaillancourt @ The Daily Beast: GOP Senator: ‘Radical’ Fetterman ‘Wants to Commit’ […]
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Andrew Torbra declares that what Christians want to hear “more than anything” from the pulpits “is that the people who are castrating, sexualizing, abusing, and indoctrinating our children while gutting our nations are going to face judgement for what they have done.” Eric Metaxas is promoting 2nd Vote, an effort “to stop companies and organizations […]
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Earlier this month, former Rep. Michele Bachmann spoke at an “Understanding The Times” conference in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, where she declared that “it isn’t even debatable” that the United States was founded to be a Christian nation. As “evidence” of this claim, Bachmann asserted that “you can find scripture” throughout both the Declaration of Independence […]
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Hemant Mehta @ OnlySky: MI GOP nominates Satan-obsessed homophobe for Secretary of State. John Fea @ Current: Pennsylvania Doug Mastriano posed in a Confederate uniform. Mary Papenfuss @ HuffPost: Lindsey Graham Warns Of ‘Riots In Streets’ If Trump Is Charged Over Classified Docs. Brandon Gage @ Salon: Trump’s lawyer believes Mar-a-Lago raid happened because Liz […]
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Todd Coconato warns that God will punish those responsible for the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago and the “persecution” of former President Donald Trump: “Their crimes have reached the courts of heaven and a guilty verdict is coming down soon! Listen to this oh wicked and unruly people: Anything you do against the people of God […]
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