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rww Tags: Ali Alexander Gary Bauer Jack Posobiec Jenna Ellis Marjorie Taylor Greene **Tom Fitton** Capitol Insurrection House select committee on Jan. 6 Jan. 6 **Judicial Watch**

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rww

04/13/2026

by

Peter Montgomery

Religious-right leaders have been spent decades trying to get more Christians engaged in politics. So are they excited about a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate who is a Christian and a seminarian who speaks fluently about how his faith informs his politics? Hell no.

From the moment that Texas state legislator and former public school teacher James Talarico won the March 3 Democratic primary—and even before—right-wing Christian nationalists have been attacking Talarico. It’s not hard to understand why. Talarico is an effective speaker who is comfortable talking about his faith while promoting LGBTQ equality and reproductive choice and challenging his Republican colleagues. When Talarico appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast last summer, the host who endorsed Trump in 2024 encouraged him to run for president.

Polls show that Talarico is currently running neck-and-neck with either of the two Republicans who are battling each other in a runoff that will be held in May. That means he is drawing support from millions of Christian Democrats and Independents.

That is unacceptable to Christian-right leaders who have tried to make supporting Donald Trump and voting for Republicans an article of faith. To undermine Talarico’s appeal, they are attacking his faith as well as his politics.

In other words, the same people who are quick to cry “religious persecution” when their political goals or tactics are criticized have no problem denouncing the faith of a fellow Christian who disagrees with their political positions.

Indeed, they take it on themselves to decide who counts as a “real Christian” based on whether a person is aligned with their religious and political worldview. And they viciously smear anyone who isn’t part of the conservative wing of the Republican Party.

The attacks on Talarico are adding to the evidence that Christian nationalists’ religious bigotry and intolerance does not only extend to non-Christians.

Here are just some of the examples we’ve seen in the past month:

Brooks Potteiger, pastor of the church that Christian nationalist Doug Wilson planted in DC to take advantage of his relationship with Pete Hegseth and boost his influence among Christians in the Trump administration, and Joshua Haymes made news in March when they called Talarico’s theology demonic and deceitful. They said they hoped that God would “crucify him” in Christ—a metaphor for a spiritual overhaul. But Haynes added that if that wasn’t part of the plan God should “stop him by any means necessary.”

Wilson, whose vision for a Christian republic includes legal discrimination against non-Christians and liberal Christians, denounced Talarico as “a death angel from Texas,” explaining that “A death cult is any manner of life conducted outside Jesus Christ.”

One of the most Talarico-obsessed Christian-right figures is Gary Bauer, who has been pushing toxic right-wing politics since the days when he urged Ronald Reagan not to let any gay people serve on the first AIDS commission because it would insult conservative Christians. Bauer publishes a daily email newsletter that he has used to repeatedly go after Talarico.

In one of his diatribes, Bauer called Talarico the “poster boy” for “the concerted effort by the Democrat Party to steal the Gospel of Jesus to sell Marxism and moral depravity.” Bauer has called Talarico “far-left” and flat-out lied about Talarico’s position on border security, falsely claiming that he wants “open borders.” Bearing false witness, anyone?

There’s more.

Dominionist James Garlow’s Well Versed newsletter urged people to “beware” of the “heretical” Talarico. The Blaze’s far-right Steve Deace declared “James Talarico is going to be Legion” and called him “an object and a vessel of malevolence.” Anti-Islam author Michael Youssef denounced Talarico and progressive Christianity as “false gospels.”

Texas pastor Daniel Hayworth used the platform of the right-wing Human Events to call Talarico a wicked wolf in sheep’s clothing. Heyworth is married to the daughter of the notoriously corrupt GOP attorney general and is promoting his Senate candidacy.

Even Trump himself couldn’t resist getting in on the Talarico-bashing, charging on social media that Talarico was insulting Jesus. Talarico responded, “You want to know what insults Jesus? Kicking the sick off their healthcare while cutting taxes for billionaires. You know what insults Jesus? Deporting the stranger and separating babies from their mothers. You know what insults Jesus? Bombing innocent schoolchildren in Iran and sending our brave men and women off to die in another forever war.”

MAGA podcaster Eric Metaxas declared Talarico “diabolical” and a “fake Christian” during a conversation with right-wing author Megan Basham. Basham declared that Talarico is “not a Christian,” claiming that it wasn’t enough that Talarico affirms the historic Nicene Creed, saying “Satan could affirm the Nicene creed.” She claimed that Talarico is a “rank heretic” who has “antichrist views” and that “scripture commands us” not to treat him as a Christian brother. Metaxas and Masham bashed Christian journalists and publications that have treated Talarico and his Christian witness respectfully, going so far as to question their Christianity. “Any true Christian,” she claimed would denounce Talarico as a non-Christian heretic.

It is surely a disappointment to Metaxas and Basham that they don’t actually speak for all Christians. As polling suggests, Talarico’s message is resonating with plenty of Christians in Texas and elsewhere, including many who are tired of seeing their faith used to prop up Donald Trump and welcome a strong Christian critique of right-wing Christian nationalism.

David French, for example, wrote a New York Times op ed on Talarico’s appeal. Here’s an excerpt:

This miserable political moment won’t end when the left takes back the government from the right or if the right continues to beat the left. It will end when our politicians — especially Christian politicians — forsake cruelty for compassion and realize that we shall know Christians in politics not by their stridency and ideology, but by their integrity and love, including their love for, as Talarico put it, “all of our neighbors.”

That’s the significance of the Talarico moment — not the old news that a Christian can be progressive, but rather that Christian politicians can actually act like Christians. Kindness still has a place in the public square, even if it doesn’t always seem that way.

Among the Christian journalists whose openness to Talarico engrages Metaxas and Basham is Mike Cosper, a writer and producer who said on a Christianity Today podcast, “As evangelicals, there’s something good about seeing certain aspects of Christianity represented in the public square in the way that I think Talarico is doing it. I’m more encouraged by Talarico’s expression of Christianity in the public square than by a lot of what we’ve seen in MAGA world.”

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11/26/2025

When six Democratic senators with military and intelligence community experience posted a video last week calling on people now serving to refuse to carry out illegal orders, President Trump and many of his supporters lost it – even though the video was simply reminding servicemembers of their obligation under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The White House has walked back Trump’s initial outbursts calling for execution of the senators, but he said Sunday he still wants to see “the traitors that told the military to disobey my orders” in jail. He reposted a Truth social post calling the senators “traitorous sons of bitches” and “pompous traitorous communists” who “should be impeached and prosecuted.”

The senators have reported receiving death threats, and Trump allies are fanning MAGA outrage with false characterizations of the senators’ video.

Many MAGA attacks ignored the essential point of the senators’ video, which was to urge servicemembers not to obey illegal orders.

Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who has overseen official brutality against immigrants and their defenders, falsely claimed, “Democrat lawmakers are now openly calling for insurrection” and told Fox News viewers that it was “a general call for rebellion.”

Last week Libs of TikTok posteda claim that “Elected Democrats just released a video encouraging members of the military to commit treason and DEFY orders from Trump and Hegseth.”

On Sunday, the Republican National Committee sent an email claiming “Democrats want to stage a military coup” and falsely claiming that the video “called for an all-out coup against President Trump and Pete Hegseth” by “directly asking troops to disobey their orders.”

The RNC called the senators “disgusting socialists” and claimed they were “urging INSUBORDINATION.”

On Monday, the Washington Examiner’s Elizabeth Stauffer wrote that “Democrats are openly calling for a military mutiny.” She said the senators’ video had “all the hallmarks of a psychological operation lifted straight from the CIA’s playbook.”

Political dirty trickster Roger Stone claimed Monday that the video “is a call to arms for a revolt” and complained that “congressional seditionists” were emboldened by the fact that the Justice Department has not moved quickly enough to prosecute former “Deep State” officials.

Gary Bauer—yes, he’s still at it—used his daily newsletter to attack the senators for “stoking division and fueling mistrust in our government, which is the goal of our enemies”—and, let’s be honest, is the hallmark of Trump and the MAGA movement.

The Pentagon announced that Sen. Mark Kelly, a retired Navy Captain, would be investigated and could be recalled to active duty to face a court martial over what Hegseth claimed was a “seditious” video.

Kelly and the other senators made it clear that they were not cowed by Trump’s bluster, and many of their congressional colleagues came to their defense. Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado called it “a decisive moment.” Crow wrote on X, “Trump is trying to incite violence, intimidate, and punish those who speak up to hold him accountable. But the only thing we fear is not rising to this moment and defending the country we love.”

Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger said in a videothat military officers are told on “day one” of their training that they are obligated to not follow unlawful or illegal orders. Kinzinger called the Defense Department’s threat “chilling” and said it was designed to strike the fear of God into former officers who are publicly critical of Trump.

A rare critical voice from a sitting Republican came from Rep. Don Bacon who wrote that he thought the senators’ video was a bad idea, but that talk of sedition and threats of court martial were “crazy.”

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rww

6 23

analysis

Former President Donald Trump was indicted and arraigned this week on multiple criminal charges arising from his obstruction of an FBI investigation into classified documents he took from the White House, kept in boxes in a bathroom and ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and showed to people without security clearances. Reactions from Trump and his allies included smears against the prosecutor, claims that Trump is the victim of political persecution, and threats of violence and civil war.

Demonstrating both his narcissism and lack of historical knowledge, Trump called his indictment “the most evil and heinous abuse of power in the history of our country” in a Tuesday email. “We are living through the darkest hours of American history,” he declared in another email the same day.

The indictment reveals damning evidence that Trump knew he was in the wrong. He even hinted that his lawyers should simply make some of the documents disappear before the FBI searched his home. But in spite of that evidence, Trump’s rhetoric was echoed by his loyalists inside and outside the government, including Speaker of the HouseKevin McCarthy, who called it “unconscionable” and a “dark day for the United States of America.”

Trump’s claims that he is the victim of political persecution are as familiar as his lies about the 2020 election being stolen, which incited some of his supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. It is clear that his rhetoric can still incite followers to threaten violence. “We need to start killing those traitorous fuckstains,” read a post on the pro-Trump message board The Donald.

Warfare rhetoric was not confined to anonymous online posts. Rep. Andy Biggs, an Arizona Republican, tweeted, “We have now reached a war phase. Eye for an eye.” Rep. Clay Higgins tweeted, “President Trump said he has ‘been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM.’” Deploying language of military combat, Higgins added, “This is a perimeter probe from the oppressors. Hold. rPOTUS has this. Buckle up. 1/50K know your bridges. Rock steady calm. That is all.”

“The republic has fallen,” wrote the Rutherford Institute’s John Whitehead in an online commentary. “The Deep State’s plot to take over America has succeeded.” Whitehead warned that “we are being pushed and prodded towards a civil war.”

As Vice noted, extremism researcher Caroline Orr cautioned about the potential for violent rhetoric to lead to actual violence, writing, “The involvement of members of Congress, prominent political figures, and Trump himself in promoting, inciting, and even hinting at violence is a risk factor for acts of political violence.”

Right-wing pundits also amplified Trump’s claims that the criminal indictment is “election interference” designed to stop his election in 2024, with Tucker Carlson telling his followers that “they’re trying to take out Trump before you can vote for him.” Pundit Mark Levin was on message, saying “they want to take control of this country, they want one-party rule.”

Religious-right activist Gary Bauer told readers of his email newsletter that Trump’s arraignment is “an obvious effort by the neo-Marxist left to put him in jail for life or force him to drop out of the presidential race in exchange for a deal to stop the persecution,” which Bauer said signals “the end of the constitutional Republic we love.”

Bauer also used Trump’s indictment as an opportunity to stoke the grievance of religious-right activists at what the movement’s leaders have portrayed asanti-Christian persecution: “As we have repeatedly noted, the intolerant neo-Marxist left, which despises free speech and religious liberty, is increasingly criminalizing normal values and punishing faith.” And Bauer wasn’t done:

If the prosecution goes forward by the Justice Department run by the incumbent president, many Americans will conclude that our constitutional Republic is over, and that their suspicions of rigged elections were correct. The left and its Deep State allies will have plunged America into Third World status.

Trump-adoring pastor Shane Vaughnrailed against the indictment of Trump in a screaming two-hour sermon this week, declaring that Trump had been “anointed” and “appointed” by God. Vaughn has since told his followers, “The presidency is above the law.”

Trump claimed in a Thursday email that he had raised $7 million since the indictment. He isn’t the only one raising money on his legal troubles. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise asked right-wing activists to sign a petition “demanding Trump’s freedom from the corrupt Witch Hunt” and asked for money to help House Republicans stand up to “the Radical Left’s corrupt Trump investigation.” House GOP Caucus Chair Elise Stafanik is also raising money, supposedly for an official Trump defense fund, but  HuffPo’s Jennifer Bendery read the fine print and noted that most of the money will go to Stefanik’s campaign.

Republican officials’ objections to Trump’s indictment reveal a dangerous unwillingness to hold Trump accountable, which undermines the principle that no person is above the law. We saw that same unwillingness in the overwhelming GOP vote against impeachment after Jan. 6. Trump and his MAGA allies are now demanding that all GOP presidential candidates pledge to pardon him, which would signal a surrender to his demands that personal loyalty trump adherence to the Constitution and rule of law, a hallmark of authoritarian leaders.

Tags: Clay Higgins Donald Trump Elise Stefanik Gary Bauer John Whitehead Kevin McCarthy Mark Levin Shane Vaughn Tucker Carlson Authoritarianism Civil War Election 2024 Rule of Law Trump Indictment Republican Party

rww 12 22

House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection released a 150-page summary of its findings and voted Monday to send the Justice Department criminal referrals for former President Donald Trump and others who assisted his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Right-wing political groups and leaders generally responded either by ignoring the historic action altogether or by dismissing it as a partisan move without engaging substantively with the committee’s extensively documented findings.

Far-right activist Ali Alexander, who was a leader of the so-called “Stop the Steal” effort to overturn the 2020 election and keep Trump in power, called the committee’s criminal referrals “a coup against the voters.” Alexander, who participated in the recent disastrous Kanye West and Nick Fuentes appearance on Alex Jones’ show that turned into a festival of praise for Adolph Hitler, also released a statement purportedly on behalf of “Team Ye,” accusing Democrats and the “Republican Establishment” of working together “to rig our GOP primary or choose which candidates can be in the ballot before the American Voter.”

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton took to Twitter to charge that “’January 6’ is all about Biden/Left seeking to suppress/jail political opponents who blow the whistle on their election misconduct — and suppressing political opponents in 2024…” Fitton shared a video of himself claiming that “The left has decided that if you are challenging results they like in elections, you’re breaking the law and you should be jailed and prosecuted.”

Fitton also retweeted Claremont Institute Senior Fellow Jeremy Carl’s suggestion that the threat to democracy was somehow not Trump’s effort to overthrow the election or the violent effort to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power, but the committee’s investigation: “A completely partisan House panel is trying to work hand-in-glove with a completely partisan DOJ to bring criminal charges against the previous U.S. President. If you still think we live in a functional democracy you need to wake up and realize what time it is.”

Former Trump attorney and self-styled “America’s lawyer” Jenna Ellis claimed, “It’s all a political pretext with zero basis in fact or law”—a ridiculous statement given the committee’s meticulous gathering of evidence, including testimony from many Trump administration officials.

Not to be outdone, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene dismissed the House committee as “communist.”

Writing in his daily email newsletter, longtime religious-right activist Gary Bauercalled the committee a “kangaroo court” and referred to the criminal referrals as outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi “seeking to extract one last act of revenge against Donald Trump.” Bauer was similarly grumpy about the committee referring four Republican congressmen to the House ethics committee for refusing to comply with committee subpoenas. Bauer didn’t defend their defiance of the law but railed against what he called a “despicable precedent established by petulant progressives.”

Pizzagate promoter Jack Posobiec greeted the conclusion of the committee’s final public meeting with a message on Telegram: “Bring it, demons.” Posobiec didn’t pass up the chance to raise money, urging his readers Monday night to buy Christmas presents from MyPillow using a code that would presumably give Posobiec a cut: “Jan 6 wasn’t an insurrection to overthrow the govt but promocode Poso is an insurrection to overthrow prices this Christmas!”

The committee is reportedly set to release a massive amount of additional documentation Wednesday.

Tags: Ali Alexander Gary Bauer Jack Posobiec Jenna Ellis Marjorie Taylor Greene Tom Fitton Capitol Insurrection House select committee on Jan. 6 Jan. 6 Judicial Watch

BW bk:

1988 g bauer and dobson (foc on fam) start Family res council (evangelical, voucher, stem cell); erick early intern

==

Gary Bauer makes a compelling argument: “2 viruses are threatening US. One is Corinavirus. I predict a vaccine will be developed to stop it in next few months. The other virus is deadly too. It is called socialism and victims throughout history number in millions. Only cure: vote @realDonaldTrump.”

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6.16

I am writing this report from the Marriott Marquis in New York City, where I have been in meetings with Donald Trump and more than 1,000 religious leaders. There were household names like Franklin Graham, who opened the meeting with an incredibly moving prayer. Others present included Dr. James Dobson, Tony Perkins, Dr. Ben Carson, Penny Nance and Jerry Falwell, Jr.

There was a smaller, private meeting before the main event, which I attended. Here are a few key points that stood out to me:

Campaign Update

It is an understatement to say this campaign has been like no other in recent memory. It continues to be and will likely remain so until Election Day. With that in mind, here’s a brief update on some recent headlines.

On a related note, an illegal immigrant from England was arrested Saturday in Las Vegas. Michael Steven Sandford drove four hours to attend a Trump rally. While there, he attempted to grab a police officer’s gun. Thankfully, he was tackled and escorted out of the room.

Sandford has reportedly confessed to the Secret Service that he “had been planning to attempt to kill Trump for about a year,” even going to a gun range for target practice.

Will anyone on the left justifying hateful violence against Trump’s supporters accept any responsibility for Sandford’s actions?

Meanwhile, polling in key battleground states finds Clinton leading in Florida, while the candidates are tied in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The Senate & The Second Amendment

In response to the terrorist attack in Orlando, liberal senators hijacked the Senate floor last week and demanded a series of votes on gun control measures. [Monday] night they got their votes. I won’t bother going into the substance of the four debated measures as none received the required threshold of 60 votes to pass.

The left’s insistence on treating Orlando as an issue of “gun violence” is a total distraction. We should be attacking the terrorists, not the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans.

But so long as the left continues to assault your rights, let me arm you with some facts:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/gary-bauer-trump-administration-will-give-key-positions-to-religious-right/

==

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/

CUFI

Gary Bauer is a Christian Zionist leader and a former GOP presidential candidate who has helped lead several far-right “pro-Israel” groups, including American Values, CUFI Action Fund, and Keep Israel Safe.[[1]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn1) Also a longtime supporter of neoconservative advocacy campaigns, Bauer has a track record advocating militarist U.S. foreign policies in the Middle East as well as right-wing domestic programs and social policies. Among his other notable affiliations, Bauer was a supporter of the Project for the New American Century, president of the Family Research Council, advisor to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracy, and a member of the Council for National Policy.

Bauer’s is notorious for promoting suspicion and fear of Muslims and Islamic organizations in the United States. In July 2012, for example, Bauer joined a group of more than a dozen conservative religious leaders and public officials in signing a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) in support of then-Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) controversial call to investigate the alleged “penetration” of the U.S. government by the Muslim Brotherhood. Citing allegations first leveled by Frank Gaffney and the hard-line neoconservative Center for Security Policy, the authors demanded that the agencies investigate whether various government agencies had been infiltrated by the Brotherhood and the intelligence community made “susceptib[le] to subversion.”[[2]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn2)

While observers on the left and the right roundly ridiculed the allegations, especially their focus on Huma Abedin, a Muslim American aide to Secretary State Hilary Clinton—Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), for example, declared that Bachmann’s “attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis, and no merit”[[3]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn3)—Bauer and his fellow signatories argued that the call for an investigation was justified. They wrote: “Members of Congress take an oath to a Constitution that has its viability contingent on the security of the nation whose government it informs. Rep. Bachmann and her colleagues have asked well documented, specific, and serious questions about issues and personnel whose relationships with senior federal officials or branches of the federal government could be animated or influenced by groups affiliated with, or a philosophy grounded in, radical Islam. This is not only within their right as Members of Congress but is necessitated by the risk these groups and individuals might impose to our country.”[[4]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn4)

During the 2012 presidential campaign, Bauer was an enthusiastic supporter of GOP nominee Mitt Romney, particularly after the announcement of his choice of Paul Ryan as a running mate. In a statement posted on the website of Campaign for Working Families, Bauer wrote: “Ryan is a strong conservative. He is pro-life and believes in traditional marriage. Of course, what he is most known for is entitlement reform and stopping the growth of government. He's 42 with a young family. So this will be a youthful, forward-looking ticket, reminding us that with the right choices America's best days are still ahead of us. It will be a stark contrast to Obama's failed tax and spend policies that are taking us down the dead-end road of European-style socialism.”[[5]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn5)

Bauer's dossier of political activities dates back to the Reagan administration, where he served in a number of posts under Secretary of Education William Bennett. From this perch he lambasted purported moral decay in public schools and advocated controversial policies like school prayer. According to a 1986 Washington Post article, Bauer blamed "the public schools for what he called the decay in the nation's morals," criticized textbook publishers as "soft on the Soviet Union for saying that Russians enjoy some freedoms," and criticized teacher unions for promoting "leftist indoctrination aimed at turning today's students into tomorrow's campus radicals.”[[6]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn6)

On foreign policy, Bauer has repeatedly teamed up with neoconservative figures like Weekly Standardeditor William Kristol, who is a personal friend, to advocate hawkish U.S. overseas agendas. In particular, as a Christian Zionist, Bauer has promoted a decidedly Israel-centric view of Middle East peace, lambasting President Barack Obama for allegedly not being supportive enough of Israel. He told the New York Times in March 2012, “I’ll be brutally honest: I don’t trust the president on Israel. I think his record on Israel is abysmal.”[[7]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn7) Bauer’s views, however, stand in stark contrast to those of Israeli President Shimon Peres, who said during a February 2012 interview with Barbara Walters: “The most important issue for Israel is our security. I think under President Obama we have the best relationship on the issue of security. Never were the security … needs better met than today under President Obama. This is a fact.”[[8]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn8)

Militarist Advocacy

Since the 9/11 attacks, Bauer has been a vociferous advocate of an aggressive “war on terror,” supporting neoconservative-led advocacy campaigns like the Project for the New American Century and using outlets like the Weekly Standard and Human Events to attack war critics and press for expanding the anti-terror campaign.

Bauer has helped launch two “astroturf” groups since the election of President Barack Obama that have worked to push the administration to adopt hawkish Mideast policies, including taking a hard line on Iran and accepting the right-wing policies of Israel’s Likud-led government. One group, Keep Israel Safe, launched anad campaign in April 2010 that accused the Obama administration of “coddling” Iran, appeasing terrorists, and not being a friend of Israel. The group, which as of early 2012 appeared to be defunct, was ajoint project of Bauer and Tom Rose, the former publisher of the Jerusalem Post and a contributing editor at the Weekly Standard.[[9]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn9)

Bauer joined Kristol and other right-wing figures to found the Emergency Committee for Israel(ECI) in mid-2010. ECI is a Washington-based advocacy group that claims “to provide citizens with the facts they need to be sure that their public officials are supporting a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.” ECI’s first act was to run a controversial attack ad in Pennsylvania in July 2010 targeting the track record of Senate candidate Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), which insinuated that he supported Mideast terrorists.[[10]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn10) The group has also campaigned vigorously to get the United States to support military action to stop Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. The group’s board members and advisers have included Bauer and Kristol, as well as Rachel Abrams, wife of notorious Iran-Contra veteran Elliott Abrams; Noah Pollak, a neoconservative pundit who has worked for Commentary; and Michael Goldfarb, a former writer for the Weekly Standard who has worked as vice president of Randy Scheunemann’s lobbying firm Orion Strategies.

Bauer justified his militarist advocacy efforts in a March 2005 interview with the Providence Journal, making the alarmist claim that "Islamofascism" was threatening western civilization. He said, "There is a need for Western civilization to confront this evil. The things they demand of us would require us to change who we are. … No politician is going to be able to ignore it. And no one is going to be able to say I will react to it as long as I can get France to go along."[[11]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn11)

In an April 2007 article for the Weekly Standard, Bauer compared today's "anti-war left" to that of the 1960s, arguing that in both cases the "ugly aggression by the so-called peace movement" fell far outside the U.S. mainstream. He wrote: “Clearly, while the country may be suffering a loss of confidence in how the war is being managed, that concern is not translating into an alignment with the activist anti-war crowd, for whom victory is never an option. In the weeks and months ahead, as the anti-war Left continues to step up public protests of the war (CODEPINK has planned dozens more protests and 'occupations'), they may find that the only sparks they create are in the hearts of Americans who long to see dynamic defenders of the home of the brave and the land of the free.”[[12]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn12)

In 1997, Bauer joined a passel of neoconservative figures in Washington to create the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), an influential pressure group founded by Kristol and Robert Kagan, whose various sign-on letters and statements uncannily forecast—or influenced—the foreign policy course adopted by George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11. PNAC's founding statement of principles, issued in June 1997 with the signatures of a stellar cast of hardline Republicans and neoconservatives, argued that although a "Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today … it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next."

Bauer also serves on the Board of Advisers of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a neoconservative outfit founded by former New York Times correspondent Clifford May shortly after 9/11 that claims to be "dedicated exclusively to promoting pluralism, defending democratic values, and fighting the ideologies that drive terrorism."

Christian Zionism

An important advocate of Christian Zionism in the United States, Bauer is on the executive board of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), a right-wing advocacy organization led by evangelical pastor Johh Hagee that promotes the idea that Christians “have a biblical obligation to defend Israel.”

In July 2015, CUFI announced at its annual national summit in Washington, D.C., the launching of a lobbying arm, CUFI Action Fund, to be directed by Bauer. "You can't just bomb Washington, D.C. three days per year. You have got to actually occupy territory,” said Bauer at the launch.[[13]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn13)

Bauer claims that one aspect of CUFI Action’s mission is to defend “Judeo-Christian civilization,” in part because President Obama supposedly prefers to praise “Islamic civilization” instead. "I seldom hear anybody talk about Judeo-Christian civilization. The president gives us lectures all the time about the wonders of Islamic civilization … but I am not sure he has ever used the phrase 'Judeo-Christian civilization.' We believe that it exists. We believe that it has brought more liberty to more people than any other culture or government idea. CUFI Action will be very vocal in defending that civilization and the two pillars of it and we are going to be working on the increasing persecution of Christians and Jews taking place in Europe and anywhere where radical Islam is growing."[[14]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn14)

A key early goal of CUFI Action was to lobby members of Congress to derail the Iran nuclear deal, which Bauer described as "biggest capitulation in the history of Western diplomacy."[[15]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn15)

Bauer stated at the time: “One of the arguments that we are going to make is that anybody in either party who votes for this deal is putting their career in public life, is turning that career over to the not-so-tender mercy of the mullahs of Iran.”[[16]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn16)

Previously, in 2002, Bauer teamed up with Rabbi Daniel Lapin of the conservative Jewish organization Toward Tradition to create the American Alliance of Jews and Christians (AAJC), the aim of which was "to unite Christians in support of Israel and work with American Jews and Christians on behalf of traditional values," according to the organization’s website. Said a July 10, 2002 press release announcing the group: “A unique synthesis of Jewish authenticity and Christian grassroots muscle, the group will draw on Mr. Bauer's Washington experience and influence in the Christian community, including the 100,000 conservative Christians who receive his daily e-mail. The AAJC's Board of Advisers included Dr. James Dobson, Charles Colson, Rev. Jerry Falwell, Rev. Pat Robertson, Pastor Rick Scarborough, as well as Rabbi Barry Freundel, Rabbi David Novak, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, Michael Medved, John Uhlmann.”[[17]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn17)

Bauer has also served on the board of the Jerusalem Summit, an Israel-based advocacy outfit that brings together evangelicals, neoconservatives, and hardline pro-Israel figures from across the globe in an effort to promote Likud Party-aligned views on Israeli security.

Discussing his reasons for supporting Israel during a July 2013 speech, Bauer said: “You may as well ask me why I choose good over evil.” He added: “It may be a tough call for the U.N. and State Department bureaucrats, for Jimmy Carter and the religious left, the man in the oval office and the legions of the confused, but it is not a tough call for me—I choose Israel, yesterday, today and tomorrow.”[[18]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn18)

Bauer has also claimed that President Obama is the “most anti-Israel president in the history of Israel,” adding: “We know from former [Israeli] Ambassador [Michael] Oren that this administration set out to pick a fight with Israel while sending ‘love notes’ to Iran. It is beyond outrageous.”[[19]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn19)

Domestic Policy

Bauer has also led a number of right-wing organizations that focus on domestic politics and issues of supposed moral decay. He is the former head of the Family Research Council (FRC) and in 1981 helped foundthe Council for National Policy along with a group of former members of the John Birch Society.

Bauer now heads American Values, an organization that says it is "deeply committed to defending life, traditional marriage, and equipping our children with the values necessary to stand against liberal education and cultural forces." According to its website: “The culture of death continues to be promoted in our media, courts, and legislatures. Millions of unborn children have been killed over the last 30 years as a result of our country's selfishness justified under the euphemisms of choice and privacy. Advances in science have brought about new challenges for those working to protect life. Embryonic stem cell research and cloning advocates borrow from the pro-abortion playbook by trying to confuse the public about the supposed benefits and dangerous realities of their research.”

A statement on the American Values website adds that the group “[b]elieves America's relationship with Israel needs to be the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy. Achieving peace in the Middle East starts with ensuring the security of the Israeli state. While American Values is deeply committed to the achievement of a peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors, including the Palestinian Authority, peace cannot be achieved as long as terrorism persists against the Israeli people. Israel has attempted to appease the Palestinians, by moving out of the Gaza Strip, but the result has been more violence against Israel. The withdrawal from Gaza as well as the recent war in Lebanon prove that only a strong and viable Israel in concert with a powerful and resolute United States will achieve the peace this region wants and needs.”

Scandals

Despite his espousal of conservative Christian crusades, Bauer's personal behavior has been the subject of sharp criticism from his employees and political allies. He was accused of adultery by his 2000 presidential campaign staff, who "charged Bauer with ill-advised private meetings with a 27-year-old female campaign aide. In October, campaign manager Charles Jarvis and almost half the campaign staff left Bauer over the charges of impropriety.”[[20]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn20)

When Bauer called his own press conference to combat the rumors of adultery, he refused to answer questions about which campaign he thought was spreading the rumors (although he had claimed a rival campaign was doing it), and whether or not any of his former colleagues had approached him about his seemingly inappropriate behavior with the female aide.[[21]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn21)

According to the liberal People for the American Way, after Bauer dropped out of the 2000 presidential race, the board of the Family Research Council "quickly confirmed that [Bauer] would not be back—no surprise, as FRC had previously given Bauer a thinly veiled notice of expulsion when it released the results of a poll conducted among their staffers. … In addition, Bauer had reportedly angered James Dobson, founder and head of Focus on the Family, mentor to Bauer, and underwriter of much of the FRC, when he decided to run for president.”[[22]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn22)

When Bauer dropped out of the presidential race, he endorsed the campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), which drew criticism from conservative leaders. Reported People for the American Way, "On his 700 Club television show, Pat Robertson, who himself sought the GOP's presidential nomination in 1988, said, 'I don't think the Bauer thing makes one hill of difference. He didn't do anything anywhere all over the country. … I would think, frankly, that his political activity is pretty much over.'"[[23]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn23)

Despite his attempts to become a leading member of the religious right, and despite his strongly right-wing views, Bauer has been known for "scaring the hell out of the Republican establishment,"as William Saletan put it in a 1998 Mother Jones article. "Bauer is leading his flock toward a moralist economic philosophy that often seems more Democratic than Republican. The China debate drew Bauer into an open alliance with liberals. He coordinated strategy with House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-MO), attended a Kennedy family dinner, staged a press conference with the AFL-CIO, and dined with Richard Gere after they shared the same stage at a rally.”[[24]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn24)

A September 2013 ThinkProgress alleged that while Bauer’s “myriad political organizations and tax-exempt groups claim to support conservative values … he uses them primarily to funnel money into his own pockets.” The piece detailed how Bauer has “augmented” his wealth by “hiring himself as a ‘consultant’ for the various political committees he controlled.”[[25]](http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary/#_edn25)

==

http://www.rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Bauer_Gary

Gary L. Bauer founded the Campaign for Working Families CWF) in 1996 to "represent the interests and values of America's traditional families in the political arena. CWF is a "non-partisan political action committee (PAC) dedicated to electing pro-family, pro-life and pro-free enterprise candidates to federal and state offices."[1][2]

In 2000, Bauer was a presidential candidate. He served as President of the Family Research Council. "Prior to joining FRC, Bauer served in President Ronald Reagan's Administration for eight years, during the last two years as President Reagan's Chief Domestic Policy Advisor."[3]

"In the final days of the 2000 campaign, CWF spent tens of thousands of dollars on a massive 12-state Get-Out-The-Vote drive on behalf of George Walker Bush and Republican candidates down the ballot."[1]

"Previously, Bauer was under Secretary of Education beginning in July 1985, when he was confirmed by unanimous vote in the U.S. Senate. While serving at the Education Department, Bauer was named Chairman of President Reagan's Special Working Group on the Family. His report, "The Family: Preserving America's Future," was presented to the President in December 1986."[3]

Bauer is currently also president of another organization named American Values.[4] In 1973, Bauer received his law degree from Georgetown University Law School in Washington D.C.

He is married to Carol Bauer.[5]

Contents[hide]

Affiliations

According to RightWeb[6] and NNDB.com,[7] the following are affiliations for Gary Bauer.

Organizations

Government posts/panels/commissions

Corporate connections/business interests

Articles by Gary Bauer

Resources

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Mission, CWFPAC.com.
  2. ↑ Gary Bauer, Who2.com.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Gary Bauer, OurAmericanValues.org.
  4. ↑ OurAmericanValues.org website.
  5. ↑ Bio: Gary Bauer, CWFPAC.org.
  6. ↑ Gary Bauer, Right Web.
  7. ↑ Gary Bauer, NNDB.com.
  8. ↑ Who's Involved, Save Iraqi Christians, accessed August 10, 2008.
  9. ↑ Board, Emergency Committee for Israel, accessed July 17, 2010.

External articles

Archived articles
1999
2000
2003
2004
2005
2007

External resources

Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Gary_Bauer"

Categories: Religion | PNAC | Right wing | Politics (U.S.) | Chickenhawks

The Family Research Council (FRC) is an organization in Washington, D.C. that grew out of Ronald Reagan's neoconservative "pro-family" domestic agenda.

Contents[hide]

History

According to the organization's website, "the Family Research Council (FRC) champions marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society. FRC shapes public debate and formulate public policy that values human life and upholds the institutions of marriage and the family. Believing that God is the author of life, liberty, and the family, FRC promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society."

"The idea of the Family Research Council originated at the 1980 White House Conference on Families. Among the conferees, James Dobson stood out because of his rare combination of Christian social values and academic and professional credentials. A practicing clinical psychologist and noted author, Dobson had recently transitioned into radio broadcasting and also launched a nonprofit, family service organization. He felt that the time was ripe to establish an organization that would drive the national debate on family issues. In 1983, the Family Research Council incorporated as a nonprofit educational institution in the District of Columbia; its founding board included Dobson and two noted psychiatrists, Armand Nicholoi. Jr. of Harvard University and George Rekers of the University of South Carolina," it states.

"Under the leadership of Gerry Regier, a former Reagan Administration official at the Department of Health and Human Services, FRC began to link policy makers with researchers and professionals from a variety of disciplines. Gary Bauer, a domestic policy advisor to President Reagan, succeeded Regier in 1988 and by the mid-1990s the organization had grown into a $10 million operation with a nationwide network of support...", it states.[1]^(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Research_Council#cite_note-0)

The FRC is associated with James Dobson's Focus on the Family and William J. Bennett.

Gay escort controversy

In May, 2010, the Miami New Times reported that on April 13, FRC co-founder George Rekers was photographed arriving at the Miami International Airport with a male escort after having taken a ten day trip to Europe. The services of Rekers' companion, identified only by the name Lucien, were found to have been advertised solely on the Web site RentBoy.com, a gay escort/masseur Web site. Lucien's profile on the site was only accessible after the viewer acknowledged he is over age 18 and clicks a button saying he is aware that the site contains "content and materials that are of a graphic and/or sexual nature."[2]^(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Research_Council#cite_note-1) Rekers claimed that the man was there to help him carry his luggage, since he had recently had surgery and was unable to carry it himself. Rekers was pushing his own luggage cart when he and Lucien were spotted at the airport. Rekers denied knowing Lucien's line of work, to which Lucien expressed his surprise. [3]^(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Research_Council#cite_note-2)[4]^(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Research_Council#cite_note-3)[5]^(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Research_Council#cite_note-4)

Following the April, 2010 scandal regarding Rekers being caught with a young professional male escort in Miami, the Family Research Council eliminated Rekers from the organization's history and their website at http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?c=HISTORY_ABOUT.

Personnel

Opposition to health care reform

On December 16, 2009, FRC held a one-hour "prayercast" to oppose health care reform. The press release promoting the event announced it would be attended by a number of Republican elected representatives who have been among the most vocal opponents of health care reform including Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kansas), Senator Jim DeMint, (R-South Carolina) Rep. Randy Forbes, (R-Virginia) and Rep. Michele Bachmann, (R-Minnesota).[7]^(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Research_Council#cite_note-6)

James Dobson of Focus on the Family, speaking at the prayercast, referred to President Obama as the “Evil One,“ saying "I just pray that you will frustrate the plans of the Evil One and revive us again with conviction and forgiveness,” said Dobson. Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church in San Diego, California made the case that the proposed health care reform bill violated nearly all Ten Commandments. [8]^(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Research_Council#cite_note-7) Bachmann led the group in a prayer asking for forgiveness of governmental leaders who have not looked to God in crafting healthcare reform legislation.[9]^(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Family_Research_Council#cite_note-8)

Contact information

http://www.frc.org/

SourceWatch Resources

External resources

References

  1. ↑ History/Mission, Family Research Council, accessed March 17, 2008.
  2. ↑ RentBoy.com RentBoy.com home page, accessed May 5, 2010
  3. ↑ Penn Bullock, Brandon K. Thorpe Christian right leader George Rekers takes vacation with "rent boy", Miami New Times, May 6, 2010
  4. ↑ Ria Viente Anti-gay activist George Rekers hired a gay escort, 24World News, May 5, 2010
  5. ↑ Alvin McEwen Anti-gay organization founder travels with a 'rentboy' Huffington Post, May 4, 2010
  6. ↑ The FRC Team, Family Research Council, accessed March 17, 2008.
  7. ↑ J.P. Duffy, Family Research Council FRC Action to Host Live PrayerCast Tonight on Health Care Reform, Press release. 1 page. December 16, 2009
  8. ↑ Sue, Chattahbox Bachmann at Anti-Health Care Bill Prayercast: Leaders Deserve God’s Wrath, News blog, December 17, 2009
  9. ↑ Kyle, Right Wing Watch Prayercast: Bachmann and Engle Blog. Video. December 17, 2009

External links