am priority conf

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see main?</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">aha 920 influencer&nbsp; renta-todd this is just the latest wave of ideol entre, driven by soc med, no longer trying to move up into party GOP hierarchy?</font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">9/20 billed as alt to cpac for the hep kids? "AMPfest"</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/how-the-plot-to-kidnap-whitmer-fits-into-right-wing-extremists-violent-rhetoric-around-the-2020-election/">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/how-the-plot-to-kidnap-whitmer-fits-into-right-wing-extremists-violent-rhetoric-around-the-2020-election/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">analysis</font></span></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Adam Fox was worried about a rat. In the</span><a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/10/whitmer-kidnap-scheme-planned-vacuum-shop-grand-rapids/5939827002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">dark and cluttered basement</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">, Fox gathered the men’s phones in a bin and took them upstairs to the main floor of the nondescript vacuum store in Grand Rapids, Michigan—a measure meant to avoid surveillance. After he returned through the trap door normally hidden by a rug, the group of men began discussing how they would storm the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan, counter law enforcement who arrived on the scene, and throw&nbsp;<b>Molotov cocktails</b>&nbsp;at their vehicles. It was June 20.&nbsp;<b>Six days earlier, Fox had explained in a call that they’d need “200 men” to storm the capitol and take hostages, including the governor. They would try her for “treason,” he said—and they would carry out their plan before the November presidential election.&nbsp;</b></span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The FBI arrested six men on Oct. 8—including Fox—for conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and overtake the state government. Through FBI informants and FBI agents, we know how those meetings went, spelled out in detail in an</span><a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/08/fbi-affidavit-conspirators-kidnap-gov-remote-wisconsin-location/5923989002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">FBI affidavit</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">. The men, in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, belonged to Wolverine Watchmen, an anti-government, anti-law enforcement militia group. Prior to the arrests, the group had surveilled Whitmer’s summer home, discussed bombing a bridge to block law enforcement response, and at another point, considered simply shooting Whitmer. On Tuesday, the FBI revealed the group had also considered kidnapping Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Whitmer has been the</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trump-sides-with-armed-protesters-in-michigan-a-very-fine-people-sequel/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">target of extremists</span></a></b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>&nbsp;since she implemented a series of public health measures, including a stay-at-home order, in March, acting swiftly to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Michigan.</b>&nbsp;In May, protesters and anti-government groups, some heavily armed, protested the restrictions at the state capitol, where they demanded to be let in and compared Whitmer to Hitler. Among the protesters were members of the Wolverine Watchmen.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">In addressing the conspiracy to kidnap her, Whitmer was quick to</span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/10/08/michigan-governor-gretchen-whitmer-press-conference-alleged-kidnapping-plot-response-sot-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">point out</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;President Donald Trump’s recent rhetoric at the first presidential debate: how he tried to skirt condemning white supremacists and then told the Proud Boys hate group to “stand back and stand by.”</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight,” Whitmer said.</font></span></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right Wing Watch has seen an increase of violent rhetoric across different right-wing subgroups—from conspiracy theorists and religious-right activists to white nationalists and anti-government groups. In some instances, extremists call for civil war, the use of force against Black Lives Matter protesters, and for government leaders to be tried for treason and executed.</font></span></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Trump has no doubt ushered in more radical proclamations from extremists—this is the man, after all, who</span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54274115" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">won’t commit</span></a></span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the election. But the right-wing media ecosystem is a two-way street, where fringe figures influence the president, and the president influences the boldness of fringe figures and their prominence in the conservative mainstream</span>.</span></font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 400; hyphens: none; line-height: 1.1; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Conspiracy Theorists and Radical Right-Wing Commentators: Fear-Mongering, Violent Language, and Anti-Government Sentiment</font></span></h3><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">
</p><figure id="attachment_513607" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-513607" class="wp-caption alignnone" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-weight="font-weight" max-width="max-width" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" width="width" px="px" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">[pix&nbsp;&nbsp;</font><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Radical right-wing conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles blamed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for the plot to kidnap and potentially murder her.]</span></figure><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">On the day the arrests of the Wolverine Watchmen members were announced, Rick Wiles, a conspiracy theorist whose TruNews conspiracy outlet claims to offer news and analysis from a conservative, Christian worldview,</span><a href="https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1314566282340163586" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">took to his program</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;to put the blame on Whitmer for the plot to kidnap and potentially murder her.&nbsp;</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Did you at all stop and think, what are you doing that drives middle class, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens to think about kidnapping you?” Wiles said. “What are you doing? Are your policies so extreme, so radical that you’re pushing people over the line to say&nbsp;<b>we have to get that woman out of the governor’s office?”</b></font></span></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">While the claim is shocking, especially for an outlet that has been granted White House press credentials as recently as</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/virulent-anti-semite-rick-wiles-has-once-again-received-white-house-press-credentials/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">January</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">, it’s in keeping with Wiles</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-liberals-intend-to-put-conservatives-in-concentration-camps/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">fear-mongering</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;about government overreach—much of it anti-Semitic—which includes claiming that liberals</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-christians-in-america-will-soon-be-arrested-or-possibly-killed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">intend</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;to</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-government-will-unleash-ebola-to-round-up-patriots/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">use the power</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;of government to</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-military-is-preparing-a-round-up-of-patriotic-men/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">round up</span></a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-democrats-intend-to-hunt-down-and-shoot-conservatives/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">conservative Christians</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">, place them in</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-hillary-clinton-intended-to-put-conservatives-in-concentration-camps/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">concentration camps,</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;and</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-warns-that-if-democrats-gain-power-they-will-slaughter-christians-by-the-thousands/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">kill them</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And it’s not surprising for the ranks of conspiracy theorists and radical right-wing commentators who distrust news reports and the government—save for Trump—and imagine a “deep state” or globalist “New World Order” that wants to take away constitutional rights, get Trump out of office, and impose their will on the people.&nbsp;</font></span></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Wiles’ penchant for violent rhetoric is well documented by Right Wing Watch: In the past year alone, Wiles has</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-rejoices-in-trumps-staged-bible-photo-op/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">rejoiced</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;in Trump’s use of the military to forcefully clear protesters from a church to take a photo op with a Bible, vocalized his hope that Trump will round up liberal activists and</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-hopes-trump-will-round-up-liberal-activists-and-torture-them/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">torture them</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">, and gleefully claimed that special op forces were going to</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-thanks-god-that-special-forces-will-hunt-down-and-kill-right-wing-watch-commies/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">hunt down and shoot commies</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">—which&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">to Wiles&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">apparently includes Black Lives Matter, antifa, and Right Wing Watch. During the impeachment of Trump in December 2019, he claimed to have been stockpiling ammunition to prepare for a “violent civil war” between the “pagan left” and “religious right.”</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>While the enemies in the minds of right-wing conspiracy theorists are many, the hate directed at government officials who oppose Trump, particularly those who are women or people of color, in right-wing networks is particularly noteworthy.</b></font></span></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>Josh Bernstein,</b>&nbsp;a radical right-wing commentator with a penchant for calling for people to be executed, took to his YouTube channel earlier this month to call for Rep. Ilhan Omar to be charged with treason and executed. Omar has faced racist, xenophobic attacks from right-wing activists and the president himself as recently as</span><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/23/politics/ilhan-omar-trump-attacks-pennsylvania-rally/index.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">September</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">. Bernstein, who has</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/josh-bernstein-ilhan-omar-and-rashida-tlaib-have-earned-every-death-threat-theyve-received/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">said</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;that Omar has earned every death threat she’s received, followed up on Trump’s attacks just days later.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">“I believe that the FBI and the Department of Justice should charge Ilhan [Omar] with sedition, treason, marriage fraud, voter fraud, illegal campaign contributions, immigration fraud, and aiding and abetting our enemies,” Bernstein said,</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/josh-bernstein-on-rep-ilhan-omar-this-btch-should-be-executed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">adding</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">, “this bitch should be executed.”</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Last year, Bernstein</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/josh-bernstein-urges-trump-to-become-a-dictator-for-patriotism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">urged</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;Trump to become a “dictator for patriotism” and</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-bonus-tracks-trump-the-lionheart/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">claimed</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;that members of the Trump administration watch his broadcasts.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">He’s not the only one talking about killing opponents to his extreme right-wing world view or calling for civil war. Claiming his warnings about a globalist “New World Order” takeover were coming true,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;radical conspiracy theorist&nbsp;<b><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/alex-jones/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Alex Jones</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/alex-jones-tells-his-listeners-to-get-ready-to-die-in-fight-against-new-world-order/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">told</a>&nbsp;his listeners of his “Infowars” conspiracy show in August to wage war against academics and “the establishment perverts and pedophiles that run it,”</b>&nbsp;</span>adding that “t<b>he best thing to do in a defensive way is kill as many of them as quickly as possible.</b>”&nbsp;In February, radical right-wing conspiracy theorist Chris McDonald</span><a href="https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1227276455219953664" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">declared</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;that government officials who testified in the impeachment hearing against President Donald Trump are traitors and are “lucky they’re not hanging from nooses,” and in June during the protests against racism, McDonald and<b>&nbsp;fellow QAnon conspiracy theorist Mark Taylor</b></span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/chris-mcdonald-and-mark-taylor-say-coverage-of-ahmaud-arberys-killing-is-a-farce-and-false-flag-designed-to-harm-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;"><b>&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">claimed</span></b></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>&nbsp;Black men were hanging themselves to start a civil war. “</b>They’re trying to start a civil war in this country, a race war,” Taylor said.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Among those fear-mongering and calling for violence against Black Lives Matter and antifa—shorthand for anti-fascist activists—is John Guandolo, a</span><a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/the-strange-case-of-the-philandering-muslim-threat-hyping-fbi-agent" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">disgraced</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;former FBI agent turned right-wing</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/john-guandolo-cia-nominee-john-brennan-converted-to-islam/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">conspiracy theorist.</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;In June<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, Guandolo, who has made a new career out of</span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/jihadi-circuses-the-anti-muslim-police-training-in-san-angelo-was-worse-than-we-thought/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">peddling</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;anti-Muslim law enforcement trainings,</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/john-guandolo-wants-black-lives-matter-and-antifa-leaders-rounded-up-and-executed/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">said</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">, “we should round up the leaders and execute them for trying to revolt and overthrow the government. And if this doesn’t happen soon, we will lose this.”</span></span></font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 400; hyphens: none; line-height: 1.1; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Religious Right Calls for Civil War&nbsp;</font></span></h3><figure id="attachment_513810" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-513810" class="wp-caption alignnone" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-weight="font-weight" max-width="max-width" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" width="width" px="px" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font><figcaption id="caption-attachment-513810" class="wp-caption-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.2;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">[ pix Robert Jeffress speaking at Values Voters Summit in 2017. In 2019, he claimed on Fox News that “removing the president” would “cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.”]</font></figcaption></figure><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Like right-wing conspiracy theorists, some religious-right activists and pastors</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/some-religious-right-figures-see-apocalyptic-dreams-of-violence-and-civil-war-as-warning-about-2020-election/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">see the 2020 election as a civil war</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;coming to America and warn that Christians need to wake up. They paint the current political climate as a spiritual battle, and Trump’s opponents are frequently depicted as “demonic.” Such messages have been promoted through “The Jim Bakker Show,” influential pro-Trump Pentecostal-oriented media outfit Charisma, and</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/evangelicals-for-trump-host-says-god-raised-up-trump-as-part-of-plan-for-end-times-second-coming/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">networks</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;of prominent</span><a href="https://www.texasobserver.org/dominion-theology/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">dominionist</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;“apostles” and “prophets.”</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>Rick Joyner</b>&nbsp;has been</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-joyner-martial-law-must-be-declared-if-trump-is-forced-from-office/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">warning</span></a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-joyner-speculates-the-scalia-was-murdered-and-warns-that-america-is-heading-for-civil-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">for years</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;that civil war is coming to the</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/joyner-gun-control-is-pushing-nation-toward-a-second-american-revolution/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">United States</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;and that the country is headed toward</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-joyner-jade-helm-15-could-lead-to-martial-law-which-might-be-a-good-thing/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">martial law</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">. In September, the right-wing pastor spoke to televangelist Jim Bakker on “The Jim Bakker Show,” where he</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-joyner-says-god-seeded-our-country-with-military-veterans-to-head-up-christians-militias-in-looming-civil-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">told</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;viewers that God had seeded the country with military veterans experienced in urban warfare, citing a “prophetic” dream.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’re in time for war. We need to recognize that. We need to mobilize. We need to get ready. I’m talking to law enforcement, talking to people. One of the things I saw in a dream I had related to our civil war was that militias would pop up like mushrooms. And it was God. These were good militias.” Joyner, who heads up Morningstar Ministries, said. “If God’s people don’t become a part of the militia movements, the good militias, the bad people will take them over.”</font></span></p><figure id="attachment_478775" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-478775" class="wp-caption alignright" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-weight="font-weight" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" width="width" px="px" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px -150px 1em 1em; max-width: 100%; float: right;">
</figure><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Who are “the bad people”? In September, Joyner pointed to Black Lives Matter,</span><a href="https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1304470429109833730" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">declaring</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;that Christians must take a stand against the organization because it’s “the KKK of this time.” And during the impeachment inquiry, Bakker and Joyner</span><a href="https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1187797929421148160" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">agreed</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;that efforts to impeach Trump were satanic and treasonous.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>Bakker,</b>&nbsp;himself,</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/jim-bakker-warns-that-were-gonna-have-a-revolution-if-trump-is-not-reelected/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">warned</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;in August that if Trump is not reelected, “we’re gonna have a revolution” with right-wing Christians taking to the streets.&nbsp;</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">At the 2019 American Priority Festival and Conference, an annual pro-Trump conference held at Trump National Doral Miami resort held in October,</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-american-priority-conference-speakers-sowed-distrust-peddled-conspiracy-theories-and-called-for-civil-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">calls for civil war</span></a></b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><b style="">&nbsp;were loud and clear.</b>&nbsp;“I need you to know that 2020 is a civil war that will change the face of America forever</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">,”</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;Joshua Feuerstein,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;a former pastor turned evangelical internet personality, said on the same stage Don Trump Jr. would later speak&nbsp;</span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">on</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">. “And it’s God, ladies and gentlemen, it’s God that calls the qualified, that qualifies those that are called, that are willing to step up in the moment that matters, that&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">has greatness thrust upon them. And tonight, together here in this place to say that we are willing to fight, we may think ourselves insignificant, but that we will stand together in 2020, and we will win the war that will change the face of America.”</span></span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Earlier in the evening at the conference (known colloquially as AMPfest), televangelist</span><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-listen-to-conference-goers-at-trump-resort-chant-for-war" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Mark Burns called for war</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">. “We’ve come to declare war!” he yelled, with attendees in the back of the <b>ballroom echoing his call, shouting “War! War!” in response.</b></span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">This summer,</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/frank-pavone/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">F<b>rank Pavone</b></span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>, a Catholic priest&nbsp;</b>who runs an advocacy group committed to abolishing access to abortion in the U.S.,</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/2020-%E2%80%8Belection-no-less-than-a-civil-war-claims-%E2%80%8Bpro-%E2%80%8Btrump-anti-abortion-%E2%80%8Bextremist-frank-pavone/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">declared</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;that the 2020 election “is a spiritual battle and no less than a civil war.” Pavone held advisory positions in Trump’s&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">2020</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;reelection campaign, only resigning in July&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">a​t the</span><a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/priests-for-life-fr-frank-pavone-resigns-from-trump-campaign-roles-35946" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">direction of ​Roman Catholic Church authorities</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">.</span></font></p><p helvetica="Helvetica" light="light" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" line-height="line-height" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">These messages from Trump’s religious-right boosters have reached the president. Days after Congress launched its formal impeachment inquiry last September, megachurch pastor and ardent Trump supporter Robert Jeffress claimed on Fox News that “</span><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/robert-jeffress/fox-news-contributor-robert-jeffress-if-trump-successfully-impeached-it-will-cause" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">removing the president</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">” would “cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.” Apparently viewing the segment was Trump, who</span><a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-civil-war-impeachment-violence-removed-from-office_n_5d916a88e4b0019647aaa42d" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">tweeted</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;Jeffress’ quote.&nbsp;</span></font></p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; line-height: 1.1; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Far-Right Militant Groups: ‘Awaiting the Green Light’</font></span></h3></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix]</font></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition-duration="transition-duration" s="s" transition-property="transition-property" border-color="border-color" box-shadow="box-shadow" color="color" opacity="opacity" text-shadow="text-shadow" transform="transform" transition-timing-function="transition-timing-function" linear="linear">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 0);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition-duration="transition-duration" s="s" transition-property="transition-property" background-color="background-color" border-color="border-color" box-shadow="box-shadow" color="color" opacity="opacity" text-shadow="text-shadow" transform="transform" transition-timing-function="transition-timing-function" linear="linear">when the militant group the&nbsp;<b>Oath Keepers</b>&nbsp;saw Trump’s tweet of Jeffress’ comments on Fox, they responded in turn. “This is the truth,” read a</span><a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/civil-war-oath-keepers-trump/" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition-duration="transition-duration" s="s" transition-property="transition-property" background-color="background-color" border-color="border-color" box-shadow="box-shadow" color="color" opacity="opacity" text-shadow="text-shadow" transform="transform" transition-timing-function="transition-timing-function" linear="linear" outline-offset="outline-offset" em="em" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">post from the group’s Twitter account</span></a><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition-duration="transition-duration" s="s" transition-property="transition-property" background-color="background-color" border-color="border-color" box-shadow="box-shadow" color="color" opacity="opacity" text-shadow="text-shadow" transform="transform" transition-timing-function="transition-timing-function" linear="linear">. “We ARE on the verge of a HOT civil war. Like in 1859.”</span></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" box-sizing="box-sizing" border-box="border-box" transition-duration="transition-duration" s="s" transition-property="transition-property" border-color="border-color" box-shadow="box-shadow" color="color" opacity="opacity" text-shadow="text-shadow" transform="transform" transition-timing-function="transition-timing-function" linear="linear">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font></font><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>The Oath Keepers, conceived as a group of “patriots,” law enforcement officers, and former military members who would defy orders they didn’t like in opposition to a deep state members saw as conspiring to declare martial law, have now sided with Trump and see their role as ensuring law and order</b>.&nbsp;</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Other militia groups have done the same.&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this sentiment; by forgoing a federal response, Trump has continued to receive the support of anti-government groups, while state and local governments have been left to issue piecemeal restrictions and face the ire of such groups.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">It’s amid this violent rhetoric, fear-mongering about government overreach, and calls for civil war that militia groups and white supremacist organizations are feeling emboldened—and Trump’s language has given these groups tacit, if not explicit, approval.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">In April, Trump sent off a series of tweets calling for&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">states led by three Democratic governors, including Whitmer and Northam, to be liberated from supposedly draconian public health measures. “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” he</span><a href="https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2020/04/17/trump-tweets-liberate-michigan-other-states-democratic-governors/5152037002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">tweeted</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">, followed by “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and “<b>LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!</b>”</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Michael German, a former FBI agent who infiltrated neo-Nazis in the 1990s, is not surprised the Michigan governor was targeted by these groups following Trump’s message.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“These are groups that are used to listening for dog whistle affirmation among the powerful, and so when they get that affirmation spoken out loud, indirectly, it takes on a completely different meaning,</span>” said German, a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program. “You know, something like</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;‘</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">liberate Virginia</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">‘</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;and&nbsp;</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">‘</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">liberate Michigan</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">‘</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;would be taken as ‘OK, this is a green light from the highest levels of our government. We should start planning.’”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">In August, German published a</span><a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/hidden-plain-sight-racism-white-supremacy-and-far-right-militancy-law" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">report</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;with the Brennan Center detailing the militia groups that have law enforcement and former military members, though “only a tiny percentage of law enforcement officials are likely to be active members of white supremacist groups.” An investigation in</span><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/right-wing-militias-civil-war/616473/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The Atlantic</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;details these connections in the Oath Keepers, which recruited thousands of police, soldiers, and veterans.</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">As protests erupted in the days following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, members of extreme r<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ight-wing movements followed Trump’s lead in identifying common enemies among police and far-right militants, demonizing Black Lives Matter, anarchists, and antifa.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">“We’ve been through a lot of these protests, and [police] seem to have a less antagonistic and violent response when it’s far-right militants who are engaging in protest violence,” German said. “And I think that’s because the messaging that they’re receiving about who is the enemy of state, as the president is identifying these groups as the enemy of state and suggesting that there are friendlies among the far-right, white supremacist groups. That sends a pretty clear message both to the groups and to the police about who should be the target of their violence.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">“So when these groups feel like they have the authority granted by the state to engage in this kind of behavior, they’re more likely to do it,” German said. “These groups operate on margin where their violence is reinforcing state action and state violence often, right—that the groups that the far-right militant and white supremacist groups target are the same groups that law enforcement targets disproportionately.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">In August, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who considers himself a militia member, fatally shot two demonstrators and injured a third at a protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Much has been said about how, minutes prior to the shooting,</span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/08/29/fact-check-video-police-thanked-kyle-rittenhouse-gave-him-water/5661804002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">police thanked the group</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;for their presence and offered Rittenhouse water.</span></p><h3 style="font-weight: 400; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; line-height: 1.1; position: relative; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Creating the Justification for Right-Wing Violence</span></h3><div><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">
</span></div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">After Trump’s Proud Boy comments at the presidential debate, the hate group took to the social media platform Telegram where they took the president’s words</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/what-you-need-to-know-about-the-proud-boys-the-hate-group-trump-told-to-stand-back-and-stand-by/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">as a command</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">. “Standing by sir,” Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio wrote.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Two days later, Tarrio</span><a href="https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1311724895441768448" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">told</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;conspiracy theorist and failed congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine—who in June had urged conservatives to form militias</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/deanna-lorraine-urges-conservatives-to-form-militias-while-awaiting-the-green-light-to-take-back-the-streets/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">while awaiting the “green light”</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;to take back the streets—that his group had gained 2,000 to 3,000 new followers.</span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Violent rhetoric and civil war chatter among extremists is nothing new. But as we’ve approached the 2020 elections, the confluence of violent rhetoric among the extremists Right Wing Watch covers seems to have taken a frenzied pace, with different subgroups of the right-wing acting as an echo chamber, radicalizing each other and the president and vice versa. Trump, himself, has cultivated that echo chamber, creating a megaphone for his messaging.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Trump has refused to say whether he will step down peacefully should he lose the election. And since 2016, Trump and his team has pushed the narrative that Democrats and the deep state worked tirelessly to prevent him from becoming president in 2016 and, when they failed, conspired against him to prevent his reelection. By fear-mongering about voter fraud through mail-in voting and engaging with far-right conspiracy theories, Trump has insisted that any election he loses will have been fraudulent—creating justification for right-wing violence should he lose.</span></p><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/how-the-plot-to-kidnap-whitmer-fits-into-right-wing-extremists-violent-rhetoric-around-the-2020-election/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;"><div class="tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags:</span>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/chris-mcdonald/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Chris McDonald</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/donald-trump/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Donald Trump</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/frank-pavone/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Frank Pavone</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/jim-bakker/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Jim Bakker</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/john-guandolo/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">John Guandolo</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/josh-bernstein/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Josh Bernstein</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/joshua-feuerstein/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Joshua Feuerstein</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/mark-burns/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Burns</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/mark-taylor/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Taylor</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/rick-joyner/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Rick Joyner</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/rick-wiles/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Rick Wiles</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/robert-jeffress/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Robert Jeffress</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/antifa/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Antifa</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/civil-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Civil War</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/conspiracy-theories/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">conspiracy theories</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/oath-keepers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Oath Keepers</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/trunews/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Trunews</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/wolverine-watchmen/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Wolverine Watchmen</a></p></div></div></div></div></div><div style="font-weight: 700;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></span></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/bizarre-benghazi-conspiracy-theory-traveled-through-right-wing-echo-chamber">https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-conspiracy-theory/bizarre-benghazi-conspiracy-theory-traveled-through-right-wing-echo-chamber</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden fielditem" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>Over the last several days, a fringe right-wing narrative has been circulating alleging a secret plot among Obama administration officials and the CIA to protect Osama bin Laden and assassinate members of SEAL Team 6</b>. The claims appear to have originated at a conservative conference last weekend and quickly spread across the internet, reaching President Donald Trump by Tuesday evening when he retweeted an unverified account affiliated with QAnon. This conspiracy theory is not the first time that the president has amplified fringe, far-right accounts,&nbsp;but it shows the speed that such false and baseless claims can spread on social media through the web of far-right outlets and fringe conspiracy theorists.</p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">A conservative conference legitimizes a wild, Benghazi-related conspiracy theory</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The claim seems to have originated from&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/AMPFEST_USA" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">AmpFest 2020</a>, a conservative conference hosted by&nbsp;<a href="https://americanpriority.com/about/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">American Priority</a>&nbsp;and held in Miami during October 8-11</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Charles Woods, the father of a victim of the 2014 Benghazi attacks, and Nick Noe, a conservative activist who has repeatedly pushed&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_VQ0CP2S5U" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Benghazi</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;conspiracy theories, gave a presentation featuring an<b> interview with “whistleblower” Alan Howell Parrot, who claims to have worked for U.S. intelligence. Parrot&nbsp;alleges that the Obama administration made a $152 billion payout to Iran to cover up the truth about hiding bin Laden and the killing of SEAL Team 6 members.</b> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Similar conspiracy theories have circulated regarding the attacks and the Iran nuclear deal, and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/mar/17/donald-trump/no-donald-trump-we-are-not-giving-iran-150-billion/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Trump</a>&nbsp;even referenced some during the 2016 campaign. But all have been&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-biden-navy-seal/false-claim-biden-revealed-identities-of-navy-seal-team-six-idUSKBN22W2AI" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">debunked</a>.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">As The Daily Beast’s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-touts-falconers-benghazi-blood-sacrifice-conspiracy-theory" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Will Sommer</a>&nbsp;explained:</p></div></div><blockquote class="block-quote block-quote--collapsable" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="block-quotequote" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 1.5rem;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Parrot claims that Biden cut a deal with Iran to set up Bin Laden’s 2011 death in Pakistan. But when Iran double-crossed the United States and switched in a Bin Laden body double, in Parrot’s telling, Biden and Clinton arranged for a Navy SEAL helicopter to be shot down to keep the truth about the raid from getting out— a reference to a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Afghanistan_Boeing_Chinook_shootdown" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;">real-world helicopter attack</a>&nbsp;in Afghanistan that killed 38 people, including 25 Navy SEALs.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>“Vice President Biden paid with the blood of Seal Team 6,” Parrot said in the video. “He spent their blood like currency.”</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247);">Later in the video, Noe claims that the Benghazi compound was attacked to cover up the fact that, supposedly, the missile used in the helicopter attack came from the United States.[</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">false flag?]</span></b></p><p style="background-color: rgb(239, 243, 247); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px;">“It’s just so wicked,” Parrot said in the video, adding that he has “terabytes” of evidence to prove the conspiracy theory to Trump.</p></div></blockquote><div class="paragraph paragraph--type--stories-text paragraph--view-mode--editorial" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="fancy-elems-wrapper field field--name-field-stories-text-formatted field--type-text-long field--label-hidden field__item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The video clip containing the conspiracy theory appeared online</h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On October 11, conservative personality&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905631" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Anna Khait</a>&nbsp;tweeted about the presentation alongside a video clip of Parrot’s claims, which went viral and currently has 1.2 million views. The next day, Khait&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905636" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a>&nbsp;a YouTube interview with Noe, including the hashtags “#BenghaziAintGoingAway #BenghaziBombshell.” Khait also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905646" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a>&nbsp;out a YouTube video of a panel interview with Woods and Noe at AmpFest. Both videos received hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube.&nbsp;</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On October 12, YouTube&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/google/youtube-made-money-videos-pushing-false-antifa-wildfires-claim" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">conspiracy</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/youtube-videos-falsely-claiming-masks-are-harmful-have-gotten-hundreds" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">theory</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/google/joe-biden-debate-conspiracy-theory-has-well-over-million-views-youtube-and-platform" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">channel</a>&nbsp;The Next News Network also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/google/youtube-keeps-allowing-verified-conspiracy-theory-channel-next-news-network-monetize" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">published</a>&nbsp;an interview with Khait on the new findings, which currently has nearly 2.9 million YouTube views. The story was further pushed by right-wing blog DJHJ Media’s&nbsp;<a href="https://djhjmedia.com/kari/explosive-cia-whistleblower-exposes-bidens-alleged-role-with-the-deaths-of-seal-team-claims-to-have-documented-proof/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook&fbclid=IwAR09pmbmRIVmJonsEhmTCOM0kjRZU9wnATasz7D4oxKFcXvoSKRb1QmPCQs" rel="”nofollow”" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Kari Donovan</a>, QAnon-adjacent YouTube channel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905671" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">RedPill789</a>, and dubious Iranian blogger&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905681" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Heshmat Alavi</a>, who was&nbsp;<a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/06/09/heshmat-alavi-fake-iran-mek/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">recently reported</a>&nbsp;by The Intercept as being a seemingly fake persona created by an Iranian opposition group.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">The story circulated on right-wing YouTube, Twitter, and fringe blogs until Trump shared the post&nbsp;</h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">On October 13, Donavan’s blog post was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackbrewster/2020/10/14/trump-promotes-baseless-qanon-endorsed-conspiracy-theory-alleging-obama-staged-bin-ladens-killing/#22e57cf55b16" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">tweeted</a>&nbsp;by user @The171111 alongside the&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.fo/2jpDx#selection-3087.0-3087.53" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">claim</a>&nbsp;that “Hiden Biden and Obama may have had Seal Team 6 killed,” which was then retweeted by Trump. The account, which also reportedly pushed QAnon content, has since been suspended by Twitter.&nbsp;<a href="https://djhjmedia.com/kari/document-dump-cia-whistleblower-parrot-makes-good-on-promise-story-of-seal-team-6-and-bidens-alleged-involvement/" rel="”nofollow”" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Donovan</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905701" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Khait</a>&nbsp;both posted that Noe is releasing documents on Twitter that prove the conspiracy theory.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905706" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Noe</a>, on his part, sent out a series of disjointed tweets which supposedly contain audio transcripts from Parrot.</p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Message boards and QAnon supporters picked up on the wild claims</h3><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Throughout Tuesday, the story continued to spread in the fringe far-right ecosystem; it was pushed by QAnon influencer&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905711" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Praying Medic</a>&nbsp;on Twitter, and&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282417104/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">multiple</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282413714/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">large</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282421956/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">4chan</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282417223/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">threads</a>&nbsp;on the far-right “politically incorrect” message board known as “/pol/.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”&nbsp;</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Former Navy SEAL&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905721" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Craig Sawyer</a>&nbsp;and Project Veritas “<a href="https://www.projectveritas.com/news/another-facebook-whistleblower-interference-on-a-global-level-in-elections/" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">whistleblower</a>”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905726" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Ryan Hartwig</a>&nbsp;both tweeted about the story.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905731" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney</a>&nbsp;tweeted a link to the Next News Network interview, and QAnon account “<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905736" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">Greg Rubini</a>” </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-- who is&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/greg-rubini-twitter-account-palusa-revealed" style="background: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">actually</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;“Gregorio Palusa, a 61-year-old Italian sound engineer and marketer with no national security or intelligence credentials” <b>-- tweeted that he can “now officially confirm that Trump KNOWS: he has been informed of the whole thing, and given documents & files”; Rubini’s tweet got over 12,000 retweets and 26,000 likes.</b>&nbsp;</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><b>On October 14, Khait published two more&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905796" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">YouTube</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905801" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">videos</a></b>&nbsp;claiming to have 2011 audio recordings from Parrot discussing the conspiracy with others. Far-right&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905746" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">accounts</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="http://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/282481950" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">message boards</a>&nbsp;continued to push the story on Wednesday along with Trump’s amplification, which some took as&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3905751" style="box-sizing: border-box; background: transparent; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">proof</a>&nbsp;of the story.&nbsp;</p><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1; margin: 0px 0px 1rem;">Hashtags helped the conspiracy theory spread between platforms&nbsp;</h3><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;">In addition to individual accounts pushing the story, the following hashtags flooded social media with claims about the conspiracy theory: #BenghaziAintGoingAway, #SEALTeam6, #OsamaBinLaden, #BenghaziBombshell, #Benghazi, #SealTeamSix.</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This debacle is yet another example of the president of the United States promoting fringe conspiracy theories; Media Matters’ Alex Kaplan has found that Trump has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/fbi-calls-qanon-domestic-terror-threat-trump-has-amplified-qanon-supporters-twitter-more-20" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; transition: box-shadow 0.15s ease-in-out 0s; text-decoration-line: none; box-shadow: rgba(25, 118, 210, 0.5) 0px -1px 0px inset;">promoted QAnon accounts</a>&nbsp;on Twitter over 200 times throughout his presidency.</span></p></div></div></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">-----</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/its-back-after-2019-outrage-american-priority-festival-and-conference-2020-promises-golf-tournament-and-a-whos-who-of-far-right-speakers/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/its-back-after-2019-outrage-american-priority-festival-and-conference-2020-promises-golf-tournament-and-a-whos-who-of-far-right-speakers/</a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">doral</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>It’s Back: After 2019 Outrage, American Priority Festival and Conference 2020 Promises Golf Tournament—and a Who’s Who of Far-Right Speakers</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By Kristen Doerer | September 15, 2020&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Simona Papadopoulos (left) poses with her husband George Papadopoulos (center) and another model after her bathing suit fashion show at the American Priority Festival and Conference. Screenshot of Simona Papadopoulos' since deleted tweet.]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At last year’s American Priority Festival and Conference, a macabre video that superimposed President Donald Trump’s face on a figure shooting the president’s perceived political opponents in a mass killing spree, reported on by The New York Times, caused outrage. This year, the AMP festival, unhindered by the global coronavirus pandemic, will feature a who’s who of right-wing and far-right speakers, all gathered together at the Trump National Doral Miami Oct. 8-11.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The “YUGE lineup”—their words, not ours—includes returning speakers, such as far-right Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, convicted felon Roger Stone, whose sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump, and far-right activist and One America News Network figure Jack Posobiec, who pushed the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, according to an organizer’s email Monday.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Anti-Muslim activist and right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer will also return to the stage. After winning the GOP nomination to represent Florida’s 21st Congressional District in the U.S. House in August, Loomer received Trump’s congratulations as she rubbed shoulders with a series of far-right figures at her victory party. Failed congressional candidate and QAnon conspiracy theorist DeAnna Lorraine, who recently accused Trump of “taking his base for granted” by wearing a mask, is another featured speaker. (We’ll see how many COVID-19 cases come out of this year’s festival.)&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>George Papadopoulos—</b>who went to federal prison for making false statements to FBI agents about the timing of his contact with Russian intermediaries in 2016—will return to Trump Doral as well. Last year, Papadopolous spoke on an “Unmasking the Russian Hoax” panel, while his wife Simona Papadopolous held a swimsuit fashion show during the pool party portion of the festival.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Described as “Four days of God, country, and MAGA at the spectacular Trump National Doral resort in Miami, FL,” the conference promises “everything you could want in a patriot event.” And in case that description doesn’t excite you, the email promotes a golf tournament for an additional cost, a “MAGA pool party”—which no doubt means more patriotic swimsuits—and even spa deals:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>AMP is also hosting a celebrity golf tournament&nbsp;</b>on the world-famous Blue Monster course with net proceeds benefiting the American Priority Foundation! Come play golf with some of the most patriotic names in sports, TV, and politics. Tournament entry is $500 and available as an option when you register. This makes a great gift for those golf fans!</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">AMP is also hosting a screening of Dinesh D’Souza’s blockbuster new film ‘Trump Card’,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> shooting a music video for a brand new patriot anthem by Alex Jordan, kicking off with a MAGA pool party, and hosting many surprise special guests.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The festival and conference was conceived as a pro-Trump, millennial-focused alternative to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference held in Washington, D.C., by<b>&nbsp;Ali Alexander, a right-wing political operative, and Alex Phillips, a conservative donor who owns a small telecom company in Virginia. Alexander—who previously went by Ali Akbar</b>&nbsp;and who has ties to far-right figures such as Unite the Right white supremacist attendee Matt Colligan—has recently floated the idea of revamping a 2018 effort discredit mail-in voting ahead of the 2020 presidential election, dispatching Trump supporters to places where ballots are being counted?. Posobiec, who helped announce the first AMP festival in 2018, also promoted Alexander’s latest ploy to discredit mail-in voting.&nbsp;</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The first AMP festival, held in 2018 in Washington, D.C., was effectively a flop, with one speaker even canceling after seeing the dismal turnout. Last year’s event, held in Doral, managed to attract more attendees but&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">not quite the millennial and Gen Z crowd that was intended.</span>&nbsp;Though younger conservatives were in attendance, the event attracted plenty of Generation X and baby boomer attendees, featuring such groups as the graying “Bikers for Trump.” Millennial MAGA stars were featured, including the Deplorable Choir, Ricky Rebel, a singer-songwriter known for being unapologetically both pro-Trump and gay, and right-wing activist Scott Presler.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">It also ironically prevented reporters from covering its events—centered around the concept of free speech and the First Amendment—by allowing only “invited” media, barring Right Wing Watch’s Jared Holt from entry.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> In 2018, Alexander had explained the “invite only” policy this way: “Frankly, any press reporter who writes a hit piece on us is not getting a press credential.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">An Aug. 7 email promises panels with “<b>leading experts on Medical Tyranny, Tech Censorship, Educational Freedom, The China Threat, Pandemic Response</b>, and much more!” Last year, speakers peddled conspiracy theories and called for civil war. After coverage of the events and the crude video by the New York Times, ProPublica, and other outlets, AMP temporarily took down its page.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As Right Wing Watch reported last year, “The conference could have been dismissed as a meeting of the fringe, but big-ticket speakers like Don Trump Jr. and Sarah Huckabee Sanders lent legitimacy to the conference, as did more respectable Republican groups like the&nbsp;<b>Leadership Institute, which held a series of trainings in side rooms.</b></span><b>”</b>&nbsp;While AMP 2020 has yet to secure high-profile Trump administration or Trump family speakers, its location at the Trump Doral and the degree of coziness Trump has gotten with such formerly fringe figures say enough.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</div></div></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><h1 class="hed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">W<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-american-priority-conference-trump-national-doral-miami" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-color: rgba(38, 142, 217, 0.8); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">ho Makes Money When a Bunch of Conspiracy Theorists Throw a Party at Trump’s Hotel?</a></font></h1><h2 class="dek" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.375rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American Priority Conference at the Trump National Doral Miami last month was filled with pro-Trump conspiracies. The “Trump, Inc.” podcast was there for it.</font></h2></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This month, about a thousand supporters of President Donald Trump gathered at his resort in Florida to discuss a variety of unsupported theories. There were panels on the “Russia Hoax” and “Voter Fraud in the USA.” One speaker endorsed the theory that former President Barack Obama had planned to “turn over” North Africa to al-Qaida</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></div><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="1.1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The American Priority Conference and Festival at the Trump National Doral Miami drew national attention for a video shown that depicted a fake Trump&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/us/politics/trump-video.html?module=inline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">shooting and stabbing</a>&nbsp;members of the media. And as ProPublica and WNYC detailed, speakers also told conference-goers to prepare for “war” and invoked other&nbsp;<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-listen-to-conference-goers-at-trump-resort-chant-for-war" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">violent imagery</a>. (The conference organizers said they oppose all political violence.)</font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="3.0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alice Wilder of “Trump, Inc.” was there during it all. (<a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/trumpinc/episodes/trump-inc-all-presidents-memes" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Listen to the episode</a>.) And we explored who profited from the three-day event.</font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="3.1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here is what we know about who got paid.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.125rem 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Trump: The President Won’t Say How Much He Made</font></h3><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="3.2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Neither conference organizers nor the Trump Organization would say how much the festival paid to rent the Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom and adjacent event rooms over the three days. Disclosures by the Republican National Committee and Republican Governors Association&nbsp;<a href="https://www.citizensforethics.org/republican-governors-event-trump-golf-club-netted-presidents-business-400000/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">show</a>&nbsp;they each spent about $400,000 for multi-day events at the resort.</font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="3.3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also, many of the thousand attendees stayed at the Trump Doral. Neither the conference organizers nor the Trump Organization would say how many. Those who did stay there paid $199 per night.</font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="3.3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Donald Trump Jr.: He Won’t Say if He Got Paid, but He Made $50,000 for Speaking the Night Before</font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="5.0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump Jr. was the conference’s headline speaker. During his speech, he alleged that Instagram suppressed the prominence of his profile. “I typed in my handle. Like my full handle, ‘Donald J. Trump Jr.’ I came up on Page 6,” he said. “It’s not an error.” (We searched his name. It’s the first result.)</font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="5.1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump Jr. did not answer our questions about any pay he received for speaking. The night before, he addressed an audience at the University of Florida with his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle. They were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/state/florida/article235721717.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">paid $50,000</a>.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.125rem 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Corey Lewandowski, Pizzagate and QAnon:</font></h3><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="5.2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another speaker was former Trump campaign manager and possible Senate candidate Corey Lewandowski. It was Lewandowski who endorsed the idea that Obama planned to hand over North Africa to al-Qaida. Lewandowski did not respond to our questions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><aside data-pp-id="6" data-pp-blocktype="promo" class="promo small right" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 8.29688px 0px 33.2344px 33.2344px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; float: right; clear: right; width: 327.328px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0.625rem 0px 0px; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; border-top-style: solid; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(216, 214, 211); border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: initial; border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read More</font></h3><div class="story-entry section-articles" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1rem 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="lead-art" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div class="description" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.5rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><h3 class="hed" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: inherit; text-transform: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit;"><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-never-before-seen-trump-tax-documents-show-major-inconsistencies" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: transparent; border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Never-Before-Seen Trump Tax Documents Show Major Inconsistencies</font></a></h3><h4 class="dek" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 400; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-indent: inherit; text-transform: inherit; letter-spacing: inherit;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The president’s businesses made themselves appear more profitable to lenders and less profitable to tax officials. One expert calls the differing numbers “versions of fraud.”</font></h4></div></div></aside><p /><p /><p /><p /><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="7.0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other speakers included a leading proponent of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/maga-trolls/mike-cernovichs-far-right-conspiracy-theories-bigotry-and-association-white#1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Pizzagate conspiracy theory</a>, which falsely alleged that top Democrats are involved with child sex trafficking, and one who helped spread the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/red-pill-rally-in-dc-unites-far-right-conspiracy-theories-and-apocalyptic-religion/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">QAnon conspiracy theory</a>, which posits that a ring of pedophiles controls the deep state and Hollywood and the media and that only Trump can stop it. Other conference speakers told us they were given free attendance and rooms at the Doral.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.125rem 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. The Conference Organizers, Who Said It Was a “Half-Million Dollar Event”…</font></h3><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="7.1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The conference was organized by&nbsp;<a href="https://americanpriority.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">American Priority</a>, a for-profit company that describes itself as supporting free speech and free association. The company charged $250 for general admission and said about 1,000 people registered. The conference also sold entry to VIP events, such as photo ops with Trump Jr.</font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="7.2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The head of American Priority, Alex Phillips, declined to say exactly what the company took in. But he did give an estimate of how much the conference cost. “This is pretty much a half a million-dollar event,” Phillips said. “Our next one probably will be a million-dollar event.”</font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="7.3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Phillips also said he would have the conference at the president’s hotel again: “The only thing that would keep us from coming here again is if our attendance projections got higher than they can handle.”</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.125rem 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">5. The Nonprofits</font></h3><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="7.4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The conference hosted golfing and poker events for two charities: The WalkAway Campaign and the American King Foundation. The WalkAway Campaign&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2018/07/02/the-walkaway-meme-is-what-happens-when-everything-is-viral-and-nothing-matters/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">aims</a>&nbsp;to convert Democrats to the Republican Party. The American King Foundation is a pro-Trump nonprofit that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theakf.org/akf-news" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">supports</a>&nbsp;job training for former inmates. Phillips said that the conference will announce the amount raised for charity “in the next several weeks.”</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.125rem 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And then a new (profitable) meme was born…</font></h3><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="7.5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During Trump Jr.’s speech, he repeatedly raised the idea that Hunter Biden — former Vice President Joe Biden’s son — is missing. “Where’s Hunter? Where’s Hunter?” people in the audience yelled. That phrase later took off outside the conference, amplified by the president himself, who tweeted it.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;" /><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="9.0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Where’s Hunter?” T-shirts are now available on Trump’s reelection site. They are $25 each.</font></p><h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.125rem 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And don’t forget the Private Prison Company That&nbsp;<em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Gave</em>&nbsp;Money…</font></h3><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="9.1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One of the event’s sponsors was the GEO Group</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, a private prison company that the government&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/04/private-prison-firm-ramps-up-lobbying-amid-trump-immigration-crackdown.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">uses</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;to house immigrant detainees. A GEO Group spokesman said the company sponsored the conference by donating $25,000 to the American King Foundation.</span></font></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="9.2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It’s not the first time at the Doral for the GEO Group. The company also&nbsp;<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-business-booming-under-trump-private-prison-giant-gathers-at-presidents-resort/2017/10/25/b281d32c-adee-11e7-a908-a3470754bbb9_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 2px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">held</a>&nbsp;its annual leadership conference there in 2017.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.625; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div class="bottom-notes" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: solid; border-left-style: initial; border-top-color: initial; border-right-color: initial; border-bottom-color: rgb(38, 142, 217); border-left-color: initial; border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump Administration</a></li></ul></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/how-pro-trump-memes-mirror-the-frightening-ways-nazi-propagandists-got-their-message-to-the-people/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/how-pro-trump-memes-mirror-the-frightening-ways-nazi-propagandists-got-their-message-to-the-people/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How pro-Trump memes mirror the frightening ways Nazi propagandists got their message to the people</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Christopher Brauchli / Common Dreams October 27, 2019</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">150</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[A]fter the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny, they hope to see established a peace. . . which will afford assurance that all the men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom from fear and want.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">—Atlantic Charter issued August 14, 1941</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was all in good fun&nbsp; It took place for Trump supporters the weekend of October 14, 2019, at the Trump National Doral Miami.&nbsp; That was the Trump-owned resort that was to be the site of the G-7 meeting in 2020, until it wasn’t. It had been selected by Trump for the meeting of the G7 because, as Mick Mulvaney, Acting Chief of Staff explained: “Trump still considers himself to be in the hospitality business.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The event was organized by American Priority, a group that pretends to promote free speech.&nbsp; It was attended by, among others, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Donald Trump Jr.&nbsp; In a room adjacent to the main ballroom at the hotel, a video that was produced by an anonymous person operating under the name of: “The GeekzTeam” was shown on a revolving loop. The video includes the logo for the trump 2020 campaign.&nbsp; According to the New York Times‘s description of the video,&nbsp; Mr. Trump’s head is superimposed on the body of a man entering the “<b>Church of Fake News. ” As he walks down the aisle he stops, pulls out a gun, and opens fire on parishioners who have the faces of his critics, or the logos of media organizations superimposed on their bodies. Among his victims are “Black Lives Matter”, and “Vice News.</b>” He continues walking down the aisle and as he approaches the alter, he is shown striking John McCain in the back of the neck, hitting Rosie O’Donnell in the face, and then stabbing&nbsp; her in the head. He sets fire to Bernie Sanders’ hair. The video ends with Trump standing on the church altar and admiring the victims of his violent behavior.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reports suggest that there are many similar memes, as they are known, available on the internet, all depicting violent acts against critics of trump.&nbsp; The Trump himself tweeted a video in which he participates in a wrestling match and body slams and beats up the CNN logo.&nbsp; That tweet went viral among his supporters.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although lacking internet, the Nazis knew the value of film in order to get their message to the people<b>.&nbsp; In 1930 the party established a film department. In Mein Kampf&nbsp; Hitler wrote that: “The picture, in all its forms, including the film, has better prospects.&nbsp; In a much shorter time, at one stroke I might say, people will understand a pictorial presentation of something which it would take them a long and laborious effort of reading to understand.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1932, Hans Traub, a Nazi propagandist,&nbsp; said that film is a “formidable means of propaganda.” Explaining its importance he said that: “Achieving propagandistic influence has always demanded a ‘language’ which forms a memorable and passionate plot with a simple narrative. . . . the most effective is the moving picture. . . . it has&nbsp; an unimaginable richness of rhythm for intensifying or dispelling emotions.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Discussing films made in Nazi Germany, “Facing History and Ourselves” observes that although many films were made to glorify the Nazis, others were made to “dehumanize, criminalize, and demonize vulnerable minorities-particularly Jews.” The Trump and his supporters know how that works.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Noel King of NPR conducted an interview of Taika Waititi, the director of the movie, “Jojo Rabbit” on October 18, 2019, the date the movie was released.&nbsp; The movie is a satire of Nazi Germany,&nbsp; and is about a 10-year old boy named Jojo&nbsp; Rabbit. Jojo is in the Hitler Youth Movement and he wants to be the best Nazi he can be. In the film Jojo says&nbsp; “I swear to devote all my energies and my strength to the&nbsp;<b>savior of our country, Adolf Hitler.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The NPR interview concludes with a lengthy commentary from Mr. Waititi, that is especially timely in today’s world.&nbsp; “So we think we live in the safety of 2019?&nbsp; Yes, we don’t have to worry about Hitler and his retribution on us for making jokes about him.&nbsp; [But} I mean, this film shouldn’t really need to be made.&nbsp; In 2019 do I really need to make a film with the heart of the message being, you shouldn’t be a Nazi.&nbsp; At the end of&nbsp; World War II, there was a very clear and simple law.&nbsp; If you’re a Nazi, you go to jail because there’s no room in this world for you and those ideas. Now, sadly, in America and other places, the law now is, if you’re a Nazi feel free to go down to the town square and have a little rally because we’ve got this thing called freedom of speech. And you can sort of say what you want, and you’re protected by that.&nbsp; It’s become very twisted. And if anyone says [about this movie] “oh, well, another World War II film-we get it.&nbsp; That was 80 years ago.” Well, we obviously don’t get it-because we’re getting dangerously close to this sort of thing happening again.&nbsp; And we’re living in a world where there are world leaders who are very happy to promote hate and intolerance and ideas that were prevalent in the ’30s.'”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Waititi got that right.&nbsp; Think Orban, Assad, Duterte, Putin, Xi, el Sisi, Erdogan, and, Trump, the spoiled, petulant, mendacious occupant of the White House, to name just a few. It’s frightening.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-american-priority-conference-speakers-sowed-distrust-peddled-conspiracy-theories-and-called-for-civil-war"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-american-priority-conference-speakers-sowed-distrust-peddled-conspiracy-theories-and-called-for-civil-war</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><section style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Joshua Feuerstein took the main stage at the American Priorities Festival and Conference at the Trump Doral National Miami resort to deliver a message: the Civil War was here.</b></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Feuerstein, a former evangelical pastor, used his sermon voice to recall the original Civil War, which he called the “turning point of America,” the battle of Gettysburg, which he deemed the “turning point of the war,” and the men who fought in Pickett’s Charge, which he labeled “the turning point of Gettysburg.” He paced the stage in his navy blue suit, passing by the large red “AMP” letters on the screen behind him, and painted a picture of heroic men and hand-to-hand combat during Pickett’s Charge. “Those men did not think it anything special,” he said.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“I need you to know that 2020 is a civil war that will change the face of America forever,” Feurestein said, his voice rising, as the crowd began to applaud. “And it’s God, ladies and gentlemen, it’s God that calls the qualified, that qualifies those that are called, that are willing to step up in the moment that matters, that has greatness thrust upon them. And tonight, together here in this place to say that we are willing to fight, we may think ourselves insignificant, but that we will stand together in 2020, and we will win the war that will change the face of America.”</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Feurestein’s declaration of war wasn’t the only one at the conference. Earlier in the evening,&nbsp;<b>evangelical</b></span><b><a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-listen-to-conference-goers-at-trump-resort-chant-for-war" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;Pastor Mark Burns had called for war</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">; “We’ve come to declare war!” he said, and attendees in the back of the ballroom replied with “War! War!”&nbsp;</span></b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Over three days, speakers at the pro-Trump conference sowed seeds of distrust in nearly every American institution imaginable and cited conspiracy theories to bolster their case for the use of such civil war rhetoric, as they perpetuated sentiments of victimization and loathing. The conference could have been dismissed as a meeting of the fringe<b>, but big-ticket speakers like Don Trump Jr. and Sarah Huckabee Sanders lent legitimacy to the conference,&nbsp;</b>as did more respectable Republican groups like the Leadership Institute, which held a series of trainings in side rooms. By the time Don Trump Jr. took the stage on Friday evening, he simply invoked themes hammered into the audience throughout the day using subtler language, and it worked the crowd into a frenzy.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In this Trumpian, upside-down world, it’s hard to understand where one has landed until you take one&nbsp;<b>conspiracy at face value: the “deep state.”</b>&nbsp;The so-called deep state is supposedly comprised of supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in high-rank positions in different government agencies who aim to sabotage Trump at every opportunity and eventually overthrow him. Originating on the fringe, the conspiracy theory has now entered the mainstream GOP and has become a staple of right-wing media messaging. At the American Priority Conference, the speakers legitimized the deep state, and layered more conspiracy theories on top.&nbsp;</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Perhaps most telling was the “Unmasking the Russian Hoax” panel with Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, a right-wing “investigative” organization, conservative activist Ned Ryun, George Papadopolous, who went to federal prison for making false statements to FBI agents about the timing of his contact with Russian intermediaries in 2016, and Corey Lewandowski,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;former Trump campaign manager and author of</span></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1546076220/reasonfoundation-20/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;Trump’s Enemies: How the Deep State Is Undermining the Presidency</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">. Tracy Beanz, a</span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/red-pill-rally-in-dc-unites-far-right-conspiracy-theories-and-apocalyptic-religion/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;booster</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;of the QAnon conspiracy theory, moderated the panel.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In Fitton’s world, bad actors had been planning a coup before Trump was even elected.</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“Anytime you heard the word impeachment, you can substitute the word coup</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, because that’s what’s going on here,” Fitton said. “It began during the campaign, when they weaponized intelligence agency against Trump, people like George [Papadopoulos], and who knows who else, to protect Hillary Clinton</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, to protect Barack Obama, and as Mr. Strzok said, to have an insurance policy if Mr. Trump won.”</span></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">The “insurance policy” Fitton references is</span><a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/trump-seized-conspiracy-theory-called-insurance-policy-now-it-s-n1062096" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;a conspiracy theory</a></b><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>&nbsp;birthed on 4chan message boards that Democrats had a ready-to-go scheme to impeach Trump if he won.&nbsp;</b>Amplified by right-wing media, the conspiracy theory has reached the White House and influenced the president’s policy making.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“They [Congress] weren’t getting the traction they needed, so the intelligence agencies, it looks like, that were targeting him to begin with, came up with another smear operation,” Fitton continued. “They had a leak they wanted to get out on this Ukrainian conversation, but they recognized doing it would be illegal, so they gussied it up in a whistleblower complaint and illegally communicated classified information, it looks like, with Adam Schiff and lied about it. And now it’s led to the coup operation of President Trump.“</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Papadopoulos floated the deep state theory as well. “Some of the same spies that went after Michael Flynn in 2015 were after me in 2016,”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;he said. As for the whistleblower report, Papadopoulos noted that it came out when WIlliam Barr was, he said, trying to investigate the previous administration. “This was a preemptive strike by the deep state,” Papadopoulos said, suggesting that it was an effort by deep state actors to protect themselves.</span></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Lewandowski focused on the FBI.&nbsp;</b>“I look at the fact that they spied on American citizens who were participating in the political process, because they didn’t like our politics,” Lewandowski said.&nbsp; “What we know see over the course of the last three and a half years is that Jim Comey, and Andy McCabe, and the lovers, Dr. Page, which Trump talked about last night, James Baker who is the general counsel at the FBI, they use their badges and guns to go after American citizens because they don’t like our politics.”&nbsp;</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The bad actors need to punished, the panelists agreed. “People have to go to jail,” Ryun said, to which an audience member yelled: “Barack Obama!”&nbsp;</font></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">According to the panelists, the media was among the bad actors, conspiring with Democrats. “The media intentionally wanted to brainwash all of you. They wanted to create chaos and division, and attempt a silent coup,” Papadopoulos said.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>Later that evening, Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA&nbsp; warmed up the stage for Don Trump Jr.&nbsp;</b>He zoomed in on the Jussie Smollett story, an actor who apparently</span><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-47317701" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;staged</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;a hate crime against himself, claiming it was indicative of the Democratic situation and&nbsp;<b>“Democratic privilege,</b>” where Democrats, like Smollett, are never prosecuted for wrongdoings. Kirk used the Smollett story to sow doubt—if Smollett fabricated a hate crime, what else could they lie to you about?—and bolster another debunked conspiracy theory that Adam Schiff changed the whistleblower laws just before the whistleblower filed his complaint.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“Guess what happens when we don’t hold them accountable? What happens is Congressman Adam Schiff then flies his staffer up to Ukraine, changes the whistleblower laws, uses a friend that he has in the CIA, and then do it all over again, just with a different country,” Kirk said.&nbsp;</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Kirk then moved on to other supposed deep state actors. “If [Trump] would’ve won and did the typical Republican thing … maybe the deep state actors would’ve just stayed at bay. But the fact that they’re relentlessly going after him should give you renewal and confidence that this president actually doing what he said he was going to do,” Kirk said.</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>When Don Trump Jr. walked out onto the stage Friday night following Kirk, he wasted no time in getting to the Smollett story and attacking Schiff and the media.&nbsp;</b>“Adam Schiff is the Jussie Smollett of Congress on steroids,” he said as his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, stared at him adoringly from her chair on stage. “And he gets away with it because people in the media protect him.”</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“On paper, 2020 should be over, but it’s not, because we’re not in a fair fight,” Trump Jr. said, claiming that “the mainstream media has made a conscious decision to be the marketing team of the opposing party.”</font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><b>While Trump Jr. didn’t go as far as to call for civil war or double down on the deep state, he didn’t need to. His presence lent legitimacy the conspiracy theories floated all day.</b>&nbsp; It’s this very type of environment that civil war rhetoric on the right has grown. In early October, it appeared to reach Trump himself, who went as far as to</span><a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1178477539653771264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1178489464504619013&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thedailybeast.com%2Fdonald-trump-cites-pastor-robert-jeffress-threat-of-civil-war-like-fracture-if-hes-removed-in-impeachment" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">&nbsp;quote Fox News contributor Pastor Robert Jeffress on Twitter</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">&nbsp;saying, “If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.”&nbsp;</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In an upside-down world, where a deep state is conniving to imprison administration officials just doing their jobs, continues to get away with spying and crimes, and stages a coup against a democratically elected president, calling for a civil war doesn’t seem like that big of a leap.</font></span></p></div></div></section></div></div>