fournier, ryan
see students for trump, bannon wall scam
sold franchise to krk but also partner j5-6
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/ryan-fournier/
tag
j6 cnp:
rww https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/how-ginni-thomas-and-the-shadowy-council-of-national-policy-advanced-a-disinformation-campaign/
,...Two days before the Jan. 6 rally, CNP member Charlie Kirk, who leads the youth-oriented group Turning Point USA, shared a video from Women for America First’s Kylie Jane Kremeradvertising the rally and told his followers that his organizations, TPUSA and Students for Trump, had funded more than80 buses to attend the rally. “The historic event will likely be one of the largest and most consequential in American history,” Kirk wrote. “The team at @TrumpStudents & Turning Point Action are honored to help make this happen, sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president,” he said in the since deleted tweet,uncovered by Daily Dot. Kirk’s Students for Trump co-chair is Ryan Fournier, a Stop the Steal organizer who spoke at the Jan. 5 rally on the same stage where speakers advocatedrebellion.
While a viral claim that Ginni Thomas funded the buses herself appearsto be false, Ginni Thomas has been linked to the group in the recent past, serving on Turning Point USA’s advisory council in 2019, along with fellowCNP members Foster Friess, Adam Brandon, and former Ohio congressman Bob McEwen.
On Jan. 5, speakers took to Freedom Plaza for a Stop the Steal rally designed to prime attendees for the big day. Among the speakers wasPeter Navarro, a fringe right-wing economist whospoke at the May 2019 CNP meeting. and who serves as an assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. On the stage at Freedom Plaza, Navarro peddled voter fraud conspiracy theories and urged activists to stay angry,declaring to the assembled crowd, “We will take this back.”
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BULWARK 9 25
Yet ANOTHER Right-Wing Payola Media Scandal!
This time, the allegations involve paying influencers to post positively about India, a country increasingly in MAGA’s crosshairs.
Sep 08, 2025
*Welcome back to False Flag! A few years ago, heterodox conservative professor Jordan Peterson vowed to launch Peterson Academy, an online, accredited college that would offer “a high-level, university-quality equivalent” degree for just $2,000.
*Last week, a YouTube investigation into the Peterson Academy was
. It revealed price increases, nonexistent exams, and disappointed students starting to suspect that they had paid the annual $399 fee just to watch a couple videotaped lectures.
*With Peterson’s daughter now in charge of the “school” and Peterson himself taking a break from public life, I think traditional academia can rest safely—well, however safe they can feel in the Trump 2.0 era.
*This week, we’re taking a look at the machinations inside a different institution than academia—this one more right-leaning. We’re looking at the MAGA movement’s X power users and whether they’re for sale. Also on tap: Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire and the Stalinesque disappearance of its once highly visible CEO. Let’s go.
C’mon. Not Again!
RIGHT-WING MEDIA HAS BEEN ROCKED—yet again—by allegations of a payola scheme on X.
This time, the posts alleged to have been part of a pay-for-play operation were meant to improve how Trump supporters view India. They came as Donald Trump and his supporters started to take an increasingly hostile turn towards the country.
The scandal broke into public view last week when a popular, anonymous right-wing account called “Aesthetica” noted that a number of right-wing influencers—including pundit Chuck Callesto and right-wing meme account “Defiant L’s”—had posted suspiciously similar messages on X defending India and warning that MAGA criticism of the country would only push it closer to China.
“India isn’t the problem,” read one from the account @iAnonPatriot. “Pushing them toward China’s alliance is!”
The “Aesthetica” post highlighting these tweets raised suspicions that the MAGA influencers posting them were on the take. That’s because, while India is traditionally viewed as an American ally, the country has lately become incredibly unpopular among the very online right. In fact, anti-Indian racism has been surging on X, fueled by anger over the belief that H-1B tech visas are fueling unemployment for Americans, as well as Trump’s increasingly hostile tone toward the country over its government’s refusal to nominate him for a Nobel Peace Prize.
While the “Aesthetica” post merely raised the prospect of the screenshotted accounts being part of a “paid propaganda” campaign, it didn’t actually deliver the literal receipts. Yet at least one of the influencers called out ended up apologizing, albeit in vague terms.
“The L is on me this time,” said the anonymous operator of “Defiant L’s,” a meme account that scours X for liberals they feel should admit defeat, adding that they had made “an honest mistake.”
Others, however, denied wrongdoing. Rogan O’Handley, an influencer who uses the handle “DC_Draino” and regularly visits the Trump White House, said he was eager for Trump to deal harshly with India.
“I fully support Trump bringing the hammer down on India,” O’Handley wrote in a follow-up post on X. “For the record, I have never and would never take a dime from the Indian government or anyone connected to them or any other government.”
Curiously, others who were accused of participating in the payola scheme phrased their denials very specifically. Similarly to DC_Draino, David Freeman, the operator of the popular MAGA meme account “Gunther Eagleman,” wrote that he “never took a penny from India or any other foreign entity.” That leaves open the possibility that a third-party entity working on an issue related to India may have been involved.
When I asked Freeman via DM whether I could send him questions about the controversy, he replied: “hit me up with any questions.” When I asked him who was involved in the alleged pay-for campaign and whether he was paid, though, he never responded. Days later, I’m now asking: Gunther, where are you?
Join
This isn’t the first time MAGA accounts have found themselves in a payola scandal. Back in March, several popular pro-Trump X users were involved in a scheme to oppose Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s effort to stop people from using food stamps to buy soda and other junk food.
Influenceable, the social media startup allegedly involved in the soda campaign, didn’t respond to a request for comment about whether it organized the pro-India posts. But Aesthetica claimed to have the goods on who did: Students for Trump founder Ryan Fournier.
Fournier, who is an avid social media poster, didn’t respond to my requests for comment. And there’s no clear proof that he’s behind the posts—or, if he was, who he was working for.
However, he has recently gone public about his desire to see improved India relations.
“India has always had President Trump’s back,” he wrote in one post.
And there is also some anecdotal evidence to suggest Fournier is not above trying to pay people to post a certain way. QAnon account “MJTruthUltra” recently posted a direct-message exchange that purported to show Fournier offering him $250 to participate in another social media campaign.
How widespread the recent slate of pro-India posting has been is difficult to comprehensively know. But several of the posters did use language similar to an August 26 post on the Gateway Pundit by far-right personality Elijah Schaffer, which ran right around when the first posts on X began. Entitled “Exposed: The Shocking Truth About Who’s Really Cashing In on Russian Oil!,” the piece positions Schaffer as, somehow, an expert on Indian oil economics:
Russia’s share of India’s oil imports rose dramatically—from under 2% in 2021 to about 33% in 2024. But Gross Refining Margins (GRMs) for Indian refiners between FY22 and FY25 actually fell. By FY25, GRMs were lower than when the conflict began—hardly proof of windfall profits.
Do I believe that Schaffer—best known outside of the right for getting ousted from the Blaze after allegedly sexually assaulting a coworker—really cares that much about Indian oil refining? Absolutely not!
I’ve written before about the trend of right-wing influencers who suspiciously get very into niche policy issues in ways that are suspiciously beneficial to big businesses, as with Laura Loomer’s sudden embrace of the intricacies of Venezuelan oil sanctions policy. But Schaffer’s is on another level.
For starters, he could certainly use some cash. On August 24, Schaffer claimed that he had been carjacked at gunpoint in the driveway of his Florida home, with the robbers making off with his high-end BMW. Disastrously for the far-right pundit, Schaffer said he hadn’t noticed that his insurance company had canceled his auto insurance a month before, and he later said he was now out $104,000.
Gateway Pundit owner Jim Hoft didn’t respond to my questions about whether Schaffer’s blog post about the Indian oil industry was a paid promotion.
The Daily Wire’s CEO mystery deepens*
Remember Jeremy Boreing? For years, the Daily Wire’s trash-talking CEO was almost as big of a presence for the conservative media outlet as his cofounder, pundit Ben Shapiro.
Boreing, the company’s self-proclaimed “god king,” enjoyed a reputation as a sort of budding Rupert Murdoch of the Trumpian digital age. He even launched his VID]
after Harry’s Razors dropped its ads at the outlet.
But then, in March of this year, Boreing was abruptly demoted and essentially vanished from public view. Even as Boreing’s rivals on the right went wild with speculation about what went wrong, the Daily Wire insisted that all was well, and Boreing merely stepped down “to focus on creative projects for the company.” (Several of those projects, like a children’s show about a family of chinchillas, were soon obliterated through layoffs.)
As if to signal that Boreing was still in good standing with the company he once ran, the Daily Wire also said Boreing would continue to host Daily WireBackstage, a macho video series where Boreing moderated a panel of Daily Wire stars—Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles, and Andrew Klavan—as they talked politics, smoked stogies, and munched on
.
Mysteriously, Backstagenever aired another episode after Boreing’s ouster. But late last month, the Daily Wire announced that it was effectively bringing back Backstageunder a new name, 
*. The cast is the same, except now Boreing has vanished.
The ad promoting the new show appears to take some jabs at Boreing’s old position asBackstage’s moderator, declaring the show will have “no safe words, no moderator!” At one point in the ad, Walsh jokes that, perhaps, “we do need a moderator.”
The references to the Daily Wire’s vanished CEO don’t end there. In a promotional spot for Friendly Fire, Walsh said that the Daily Wire would mark its tenth anniversary “not by looking back, but by launching what’s next.”
The Friendly Fireannouncement comes amid another Daily Wire campaign to get an immediate payout from its biggest fans. Late last month, the company debuted a $1,500 “lifetime membership” that offers “unlimited access” to its premium content—which works out to roughly six years of all-access Daily Wire subscriptions at the normal price.
That premium content will apparently include access to Boreing’s passion project: a long-delayed streaming TV show called the Pendragon Cycle—a fantasy adaptation of the King Arthur story.
I say that because the lifetime membership page contains a single image teasing a new show, now dubbed Rise of The Merlin: The Pendragon Cycle. As I wrote earlier this year, production videos of the show’s Game of Thrones–style medieval battles made the show look comically expensive, so I’m sure the Daily Wire wants to sell those lifetime memberships as quickly as possible.
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an 10 22
Ryan Fournier, the 27-year-old co-founder of Students for Trump, hasn’t been shy about attacking political opponents — some of them Democrats, some of them fellow Republicans he considers insufficiently MAGA — over drunken driving. The opponents weren’t necessarily facing DUI charges themselves; one of them was Republican congressional candidate and defense lawyer Kevin Hayslett, who Fournier attacked for representing people charged with DUI.But DUI has been a frequent line of attack for Fournier — despite the fact that Fournier, according to the Daily Beast’s Roger Sollenberger, has faced DWI charges himself.
When Fournier attacked Hayslett in a June 10 post on Twitter, he wrote, “DUI defender @KevinHayslettFL's clients give him a 5-star rating. Many victims are no longer with us to give their ratings.” And on June 21, Fournier tweeted, “DUI defender @KevinHayslettFL: 70% of his time spent as a lawyer was defending those caught driving drunk or high. Is this someone we want in Congress?”
But Sollenberger, in an article published by the Beast on October 26, reports, “That didn’t stop Fournier from turning to a DUI lawyer four months later, when he was arraigned on an array of charges — including driving while impaired, to which he pleaded guilty. Last week, Fournier, 27, appeared in a Guilford County, North Carolina courtroom in connection to a slate of serious traffic offenses, including driving while impaired, aggressive driving, driving to endanger, and fleeing/eluding arrest with a motor vehicle, court records show.”
READ MORE: ‘Cold-blooded fraudster’: Judge sentences Students for Trump founder to 13 months in prison
Those charges, according to Sollenberger, “came from a February 2021 traffic stop and arrest where Fournier — who had been charged with a DWI in the same county four months prior — was booked after driving 101 miles an hour in a 45 MPH zone, according to county records obtained by The Daily Beast.”
Sollenberger adds that Fournier’s attorney Chad Garrett “got most of the charges dismissed.” The reporter stresses that although Fournier attacked Hayslett for defending people accused of DUI, he didn’t hesitate to hire a “top area DUI defense attorney” when he needed one.
Fournier, according to Sollenberger, “walked away with a total 48 hours of community service along with a year of unsupervised probation, a $100 fine, and another $593 in additional costs — all for the DWI, per court documents.”
“Fournier, a self-styled MAGA influencer whose Twitter account lays claim to 950,000 followers, helped jump-start the pro-Trump youth movement,” Sollenberger observes. “After launching Students for Trump, he co-founded Turning Point Action, the political arm of the Turning Point USA organization headed up by conservative media personality Charlie Kirk. Turning Point Action was one of the groups that booked buses and lodging for the January 6 riot.”
Sollenberger adds, “But a TPUSA official told The Daily Beast that Fournier’s involvement with the organization had dropped off dramatically, pegging the slide to the weeks before the 2020 election — around the time of his first DWI charge, October 3, 2020…. This year, Fournier has used DUIs four times as a tool to attack political opponents on Twitter.”
READ MORE: 'Students for Trump' founder charged with fraud and faking his identity
Another person Fournier attacked on Twitter was Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty to a DUI charge in August.
Fournier isn’t the only past or present member of Students For Trump who has had legal problems. In May 2021, John Lambert — who co-founded Students For Trump with Fournier in 2016 — was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud conspiracy.
10 24 mma
===
Right-wing media falsely suggest Donald Trump chartered a plane for Nelson Mandela out of the goodness of his heart
Trump’s airline was already up for sale due to financial troubles, and he charged Mandela $130,000 to use one of his jets
Written by Courtney Hagle
Published 10/18/24 mma
In an October 18 interview with Donald Trump, Fox host George “Tyrus” Murdoch praised the former president for chartering a plane for the late South Africa President Nelson Mandela in the 1990s, adding that it’s “hard” for Trump to “talk about the good things you’ve done.” Some others in conservative media joined in, suggesting that Trump assisted Mandela for the sake of generosity and goodwill.
In reality, as Washington Post columnist Glenn Kessler explained, the plane chartered for Mandela was not Trump’s personal private jet but a Boeing 727 from Trump Shuttle, “an airline that Trump briefly owned before it was essentially seized by the banks because he failed to make payments on his loans.” Kessler noted that Mandela was charged $130,000 to use the plane by Trump Shuttle, which was already in financial trouble and was preparing to be sold.
Speaking to Trump in an OutKick vid]
titled “Manhood is under ATTACK!” Tyrus said Mandela “was trying to come to the United States. The United States government wasn’t helping him, no one was helping him. You chartered a 727 plane for the entire trip. … Why is it hard for you to talk about the things you've done?”
Trump responded humbly: “I love doing it. I don't need praise for it.”
“I just like helping people,” he added. “I help a lot of people, and I enjoy doing it, and I never talk about it. … It's not a narrative the press likes to talk about.”
Some right-wing media joined in, lauding Trump’s generosity after the Trump campaign pushed the clip.
Turning Point USA co-founder and podcaster Charlie Kirk claimed that Trump helped Mandela “when the US Government wouldn’t,” adding, “He doesn’t go around bragging about his good deeds, but there are endless such stories.”
Students for Trump Chair Ryan Fournier wrote: “I had no idea Trump chartered a plane for Nelson Mandela to come to the United States when our own government wouldn't even help him. Trump is a good man.”
===
https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/ryan-fournier/
tag
Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Give Me Liberty or Give You Death
Right Wing Round-Up: Smacked Down
Right-Wing Activists Attack Conviction of Derek Chauvin, Engage in Whataboutism
How Ginni Thomas and the Shadowy Council of National Policy Advanced the Election Disinformation Campaign
Trump Fans Cheer President’s Ability to Drink Water, Demand Four More Years
Pro-Trump Media Figures Hype ‘Philanthropic’ Marketing Operation
MAGA Folks are Absolutely Crushing Some In-N-Out Burgers
Campbell University is a private Baptist university in Buies Creek, North Carolina. It was founded in 1887 by Baptist minister J.A. Campbell. It is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
no lnx twt
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-weaponized-vice-president-kamala-harris-climate-equity-comments-push
Right-wing media weaponized Vice President Kamala Harris' climate equity comments to push a white grievance narrative
Special PROGRAMS
CLIMATE & ENERGY
WRITTEN BY EVLONDO COOPER
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALLISON FISHER, ALICIA SADOWSKI & KATHERINE ABUGHAZALEH
PUBLISHED 10/03/22
Update (10/4/22): This piece has been updated with additional segments from Fox News’ evening and prime-time programming.
On September 30, as public officials assessed the catastrophic devastation Hurricane Ian caused to large swaths of southwest Florida, Vice President Kamala Harris was asked to discuss global socioeconomic disparities in climate change impact during theDemocratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum. As part of her response, Harris remarked: “It is our lowest income communities and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions and impacted by issues that are not of their own making.”
Since then, right-wing politicians and media figures have been lying about the context of her remarks to falsely imply that the Biden administration planned to deny disaster relief to white victims of Hurricane Ian.
This white grievance narrative is inherently divisive and denies the reality that low-income communities and communities of color are on the frontlines of the climate crisis and have far fewer resources to adapt, evacuate, and rebuild before and after devastating disasters. These inequities are often compounded by discriminatory practices in receiving federal aid.
This narrative also denies the reality that a large number of poor, white Americans stand to benefit from an equity-focused approach to disaster relief. As NewsOne succinctly stated:
In the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, communities across Florida were slammed by the fierce storm. And without the express commitment to equity in the recovery process, flooded communities like an Orange County low-income housing complex that flooded or a North Fort Meyers trailer park might not actually get the support they need.
Everyone who suffered losses due to Hurricane Ian must be provided with the resources they need to rebuild and recover. Although Harris’ remarks were not specifically about the federal response to Hurricane Ian, her response cuts to the core of what equity is designed to achieve: Equity is not about exclusion; it's about ensuring that the most vulnerable populations are fully included in disaster relief and future climate adaptation and mitigation planning.
:{
}:
But the right doesn’t do nuance. And weaponizing the vice president’s anodyne comments about climate equity allows right-wing media to downplay or deny the role global warming is playing in extreme weather events, while running interference on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, the primary driver of the climate crisis. It also allows the network and its media allies to further rile up their viewership with culture war narratives ahead of the upcoming midterm election.
And both of those moves fit into Fox News' larger playbook. For much of 2022, the network has led the right-wing mediasphere in pushing a series of unrelenting narratives that sought to undermine the Biden administration’s climate actions, while absolving the fossil fuel industry from any wrongdoing.
Below is a non-exhaustive catalog of Fox News personalities and guests and other right-wing media figures advancing this false and cynical narrative:
Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt: “It's pretty disgusting.” Appearing on The Ingraham Angle, Fox News contributor Charlie Hurt attacked Harris’ equity comments, asserting, “I think it's completely transparent and people see right through it. And when you have Democrats trying to politicize a natural disaster like this, whether it's by trying to justify their crazy power scam that they want global warming to provide them, or in their effort to try to trash their political opponents, using a tragedy like this, it's pretty disgusting.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 10/3/22]
Fox host Tucker Carlson:“She has a new plan to distribute relief, of course, on the basis of race. … So this is immoral.” Fox host Tucker Carlson claimed that Harris planned to “distribute relief, of course, on the basis of race,” before continuing, “So this is immoral. Not one thing ever in American life should be distributed on the basis of race. Ever. However, as long as we’re becoming a two-tiered society with a privileged class and an underclass, how about rewarding good behavior? Why not give priority to Americans who pay their taxes? Follow the law? Raise decent children who don’t join gangs or sell drugs or spray paint things or shoot people?” [Fox News, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 10/3/22]
Fox host Bret Baier:“President Biden and his team are trying to clean up – at least rhetorically – from a self-inflicted wound by Vice President Kamala Harris.” Fox host Bret Baier accused the White House of trying to spin the vice president’s “self-inflicted wound” before adding, “She made a comment that most interpreted as her saying that federal aid to hurricane victims should be distributed through the prism of race and equity to make up for injustices in years past.” [Fox News, Special Report, 10/3/22]
Fox host Jesse Watters:“Kamala Harris picking the wrong time to go woke after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on Florida. … Is the vice president saying white Floridians should get their hurricane relief last?” During October 3, 2022, episode of The Five, co-host Jesse Watters accused the vice president of “using this tragedy to push her radical ideology'' and later claimed that “the White House is trying to clean up her mess.” The discourse further devolved into a panel discussion that featured co-host Greg Gutfeld waxing philosophical about equity. [Fox News, The Five, 10/3/22]
Fox host Kayleigh McEnany: “At a time when America came together — perhaps one of the most unifying times in our country is after a natural disaster, when the whole country comes together — she chooses to invoke such hateful, divisive, race-based rhetoric.” During the intro to Outnumbered, host McEnany attacked Harris for her comments on equity and falsely claimed she “invok[ed] such hateful, divisive, race-based rhetoric.” Later, during a panel discussion, co-host Harris Faulkner added, “Because what she’s doing is she is following Biden's footsteps in terms of dividing us along a racial line for votes.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 10/3/22]
Fox host Harris Faulkner: “Vice president Kamala Harris willing to do the unthinkable, divide Hurricane Ian victims by race. Was she trying to say she would prefer to help the ones she chooses first?” Before running down the damage Hurricane Ian did to Florida, Faulkner falsely claimed that Harris “was willing to do the unthinkable, divide Hurricane Ian victims by race.” This led to a longer segment that collected right-wing reaction to Harris’ statement about equity, which correspondent Peter Doocy described as “race-based relief.” [Fox News, The Faulkner Focus, 10/3/22]
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC): “It is incredibly racist. Can you imagine someone saying the exact opposite, that only whites and men should get hurricane resources first? I mean, that’s crazy town.” Appearing on Sunday Night in America, Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace responded to a loaded question about Harris’ equity comments by calling her statement, “incredibly racist” and added, “The fact that the vice president of the United States is making those kinds of comments shows a lack of leadership. … We shouldn’t see it through the lens of color like the vice president does.” [Fox News, Sunday Night in America, 10/2/22]
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL): “Now is not the time to be talking about who gets what based upon where you started. It's about helping people, making sure they get the resources they need to them as quickly as possible, helping them recover as quickly as possible. That's what matters. That other stuff can wait for another day.” In response to a question about Harris’ equity comments from Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo, Republican Florida Rep. Byron Donalds claimed that now was the wrong time to discuss who has access to disaster recovery. “That other stuff can wait for another day. Obviously, we're going to have elections about that stuff in about a month or so,” he said. [Fox News, Sunday Morning Futures, 10/2/22]
Fox host Will Cain: “Unfortunately, for many of those in power, relief isn’t going to be something equally distributed, because of course now our focus is not on equality but is on equity. In other words: racism.” During the October 1 episode of Fox & Friends Saturday, host Will Cain claimed that “equity” is another word for “racism.” Later he expounded upon his understanding of equity: “What she went on to say is we want to distribute funds essentially according to — I don’t know exactly how she defined equity, underprivileged communities. In essence, what she would say — what she is saying — is Brown and Black. What she is saying is hurricane relief needs to be distributed according to the color of your skin.” [Fox News, Fox & Friends Saturday, 10/1/22]
:{
}:
Daily Caller: “Kamala Harris Says Disaster Relief Should Be ‘Based On Equity.’”
The Daily Wire: “Kamala Harris Blasted For Pushing ‘Racist’ Policy In Response To Hurricane Damage.”
FoxNews.com: “VP Kamala Harris says hurricane recovery should take 'equity' into account.”
The New York Post:“VP Harris slammed for saying Hurricane Ian aid will be ‘based on equity.’”
Newsmax.com: “VP Harris: Hurricane Ian Aid 'Based on Equity' and Race.”
One America News’ Caitlin Sinclair:
Conservative media figure Sadanand Dhume:
Right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong:
Right-wing personality Ryan Fournier:
Entrepreneur Elon Musk: reply to f:Should be according to greatest need, not race or anything else
ref below
https://www.mediamatters.org/blog/2018/12/20/guy-behind-gofundme-account-trump-s-border-wall-used-facebook-page-network-connected-fake-news-sites/222374
Brian Kolfage, the man behind a campaign to crowdsource donations for a wall at the U.S. southern border, has been using a network of Facebook pages tied to fake news sites to boost his funding efforts.
On December 17, Kolfage launched a GoFundMe campaign seeking $5 billion to fund President Donald Trump’s proposed border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. The campaign has so far raised $7 million and has been promoted by right-wing media and figures. Before the campaign took off, Kolfage appears to have amplified it on Facebook using a network of pages connected to the fake news sites Conservative Post and, as of late, Right Wing News.
Kolfage has been involved in Facebook networks linking to fake news sites before. In October, the social media company banned a network of other Facebook pages connected to his fake news site Right Wing News for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.”
Since then, Kolfage appears to have coordinated with two blue badge-verified Facebook pages -- Conservative Postand American Joe -- and is using them in place of the removed pages to promote Right Wing News and now to promote his wall fundraising campaign.
About four days after Facebook removed the network of pages that funneled traffic to Right Wing News, the Conservative Post Facebook page (which has over 1.6 million page likes) began sporadically sharing links to Right Wing News’ website, at the time found at rwnofficial.com. Before that, Conservative Post almost exclusively shared links to conservativepost.com.
Toward the end of November, Conservative Post and American Joe (which has over 916,000 page likes) began frequently linking to the domain rightwing.news, a website also titled Right Wing News, which shares a Google Analytics code with Kolfage’s website rwnofficial.com. (Website administrators use Google Analytics codes to track analyzable data and metrics for their sites; sites that share this code are associated with the same web administrator.)
Since then, rightwing.news has become the domain most frequently linked to by Facebook pages American Joe and Conservative Post. Since American Joe began posting links to rightwing.news, Kolfage has used his official Facebook page to promote American Joe as well. He has shared posts from American Joe multiple times, including in one post from December 19, in which Kolfage asked his followers to like American Joe’s page.
[twit]
Thus, even though Facebook removed his old pages, Kolfage has been able to re-create the amplification network with Conservative Post’s pages. On December 17 (the day Kolfage launched his campaign on GoFundMe) and December 18, Kolfage’s Facebook page and Twitter handle, Conservative Post, and American Joe all shared links to a petition that redirected users to Kolfage’s GoFundMe campaign. The petition used ClickFunnels, a marketing tool used to promote products, events, and build contact lists, and the link (under the url americanjoe.clickfunnels.com) earned over 63,000 interactions on Facebook.
The following day, right-wing media figures and far-right trolls including Milo Yiannopoulos, Raheem Kassam, Jim Hoft and Ryan Fournier picked up Kolfage’s campaign and began promoting the GoFundMe link, which has thus far earned over 1.3 million interactions on Facebook. And right-wing news outlets Fox News and Daily Mail have earned tens to hundreds of thousands of Facebook interactions by posting content about the campaign -- as have far-right clickbait sites Chicks on the Right, Update America, and Kolfage’s Right Wing News. These statistics demonstrate that amplification networks of Facebook pages continue to be a staple in helping make right-wing content go viral.
==
mma 210 22
p1 of 7 plus?
right-wing media weaponized Vice President Kamala Harris' climate equity comments to push a white grievance narrative
10/03/22 5:05 PM EDT
Right-wing media have a meltdown over “demagogic” and “satanic” background during Biden’s prime-time address
09/02/22 4:39 PM EDT
A mix of right-wing messaging about the January 6 committee, calling it a "sham committee," a "theatrically produced sham hearing," and "boring remarks" with a sketch of the Capitol building in the blue-green background
Right-wing media have been dismissing, downplaying, and attacking the January 6 hearings
07/27/22 12:38 PM EDT
Facebook_RWM
Facebook profited from ads promoting white supremacist “great replacement” theory
05/20/22 10:00 AM EDT
Facebook_Florida_anti-LGBTQ
On Facebook, right-leaning pages are dominating discussion of Florida’s new anti-LGBTQ legislation
04/06/22 4:00 PM EDT
cutout image of Elon Musk with a background of Twitter logos
Right-wing media ask Elon Musk to end Twitter's nonexistent censorship and bring Trump back to platform
04/06/22 12:15 PM EDT
U.S._Trucker_convoy
Organizers of the upcoming US trucker convoy to protest vaccine mandates are using social media to plan and promote it
02/10/22 5:51 PM EST
Image of Black Lives Matters Protesters
Right-wing media lash out after murder conviction in George Floyd case
04/20/21 7:47 PM EDT
Screencap of Hannity, Chaffetz, Gaetz
Right-wing figures have decided that the person to blame for January 6 is Nancy Pelosi
02/19/21 3:30 PM EST
out# panel on AOC's livestream
Right-wing media escalate attacks on Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, suggesting she is lying or exaggerating being in danger at the Capitol
02/05/21 11:19 AM EST
steve-bannon-myth.png
These right-wing outlets and personalities promoted Steve Bannon and Brian Kolfage's allegedly fraudulent We Build the Wall
08/20/20 2:44 PM EDT
Ryan Fournier and Roger Stone
Students for Trump’s Ryan Fournier to Roger Stone: “You got more worse treatment than Osama bin Laden did”
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ryan Fournier (born December 8, 1995) is an American conservative activist and political commentator best known as the co-founder and acting national chairman of the American youth group Students for Trump.
Early life and education[
Fournier was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, on December 8, 1995 and spent his formative years in Clayton, North Carolina.[1]
Fournier graduated Magma Cum Laude from the Campbell University in North Carolina, United States with a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Government.
Career[
Fournier became politically active following his volunteer work for the Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign.[2] Prior to launching Students for Trump, Fournier was involved in various local and state political campaigns within North Carolina. Along with being the Co-Chairman of Students for Trump, Fournier also serves as the President of OpenPoll and xStrategies.[3]
In July 2018, Fournier launched a boycott against Walmart for selling shirts labeled "Impeach 45," which resulted in the hashtag #BoycottWalmart trending on Twitter.[4] Walmart pulled the items from its online store, issuing the following statement: "These items were sold by third-party sellers on our open marketplace, and were not offered directly by Walmart. We're removing these types of items pending review of our marketplace policies."[5]
Students for Trump[
In 2015, Fournier and John Lambert launched Students for Trump as a Twitter account while they were studying at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC. Within a year, the group had nearly 300 campus chapters and a considerable social media following.[6] On July 2, 2019, Students for Trump was acquired by founder and CEO of Turning Point USA and Turning Point Action Charlie Kirk.
Controversy[
In a since-deleted Facebook post on June 11, 2020, Fournier claimed that donations to Black Lives Matter were being funneled to Democratic campaigns through ActBlue, a Democrat Super PAC.[7] Similar allegations were made by other conservative commentators, such as Candace Owens and the Hodgetwins.[8]Fact-checking website PolitiFact and AP News rated the claim to be false.[9][10]
In a tweet dated January 31, 2021, Fournier claimed that the 'Biden administration lost 20 million COVID vaccines...".[11] According to PolitiFact, the Biden administration wasn't responsible for losing the vaccines and that the distribution infrastructure under which thesevaccines went missing were set up during the Trump administration. PolitiFact rated Fournier's allegations on the missing vaccines as false.[12]
On April 20, Fournier shared a Facebook post with an image reading "Derek Chauvin did not a get a fair trial". The statement was later retracted as an opinion. USA Today fact-checkedFournier's statement and considered it as missing context and ignoring the steps taken to ensure the trial was held in a due and fair manner.[13]
On May 11, 2021, the Daily Beast reported that Fournier testified against long-time friend and co-founder of Students for Trump, John Lambert, in a case where the latter was accused of setting up a fictional New York law firm to pose as experienced attorneys and scam clients.[14] Lambert was sentenced to 13 months in jail for multiple counts of wire fraud.[15]Lambert's defense attorney has named Fournier as the co-conspirator in the case, suggesting that Lambert and Fournier used various gig sites to market themselves as licensed attorneys.[16][17]
References[
- ^ "National 'Students for Trump' effort has NC roots".
- ^ "Meet the 20-Year-Old Mastermind Behind Students For Trump". www.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
- ^ Fournier, Ryan (2019-10-15). "Ryan Fournier - Official Website". Ryan Fournier. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
- ^ "Walmart removes 'Impeach 45' apparel after online outrage, calls for boycott". TODAY.com. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
- ^ "Walmart removes 'Impeach 45' apparel after online outrage, calls for boycott". TODAY.com. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
- ^ Markay, Lachlan (2018-02-27). "Pro-Trump College Group Won't Tell the Feds What the Hell It's Doing". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ Jacobson, Louis. "Fact-check: Do donations to Black Lives Matter go to a 'Democrat Super PAC'?". Austin American-Statesman. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ Washington, District of Columbia 1100 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 1300B; Dc 20036. "PolitiFact - Conservative pundits share false claim about Black Lives Matter, ActBlue". @politifact. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ Washington, District of Columbia 1100 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 1300B; Dc 20036. "PolitiFact - Conservative pundits share false claim about Black Lives Matter, ActBlue". @politifact. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ "Link on Black Lives Matter website does not donate directly to DNC". AP NEWS. 2020-06-12. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ Washington, District of Columbia 1100 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 1300B; Dc 20036. "PolitiFact - Biden administration didn't lose 20 million COVID-19 vaccines". @politifact. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ Washington, District of Columbia 1100 Connecticut Ave NW Suite 1300B; Dc 20036. "PolitiFact - Biden administration didn't lose 20 million COVID-19 vaccines". @politifact. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
- ^ Rouan, Rick. "Fact check: Missing context in claim questioning whether Derek Chauvin received fair trial". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
- ^ Sommer, Will (2021-05-11). "Students for Trump Founder Ryan Fournier Ratted Out Friend To Feds". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
- ^ Schreckinger, Ben. "He Founded 'Students for Trump.' Now He Could Face Jail Time for Impersonating a Lawyer". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
- ^ "Students for Trump Founder Ryan Fournier Ratted Out Friend To Feds". uk.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
- ^ Brown, Stephen Rex. "Students for Trump founder John Lambert sentenced to 13 months for posing as lawyer". nydailynews.com. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
- Political activists
- 1993 births
- Living people
- Conservatism in the United States
- American Christians
- American men podcasters
- American podcasters
- American evangelicals
- 1995 births
- North Carolina Republicans
- Activists from North Carolina
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Ryan Fournier (born December 8, 1995) is an American conservative activist and political commentator best known as the co-founder and acting national chairman of the American youth group Students for Trump . Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Students for Trump 4 Controversy 5 References Early life and education [ edit]
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Ryan Fournier is an American political commentator and Republican strategist who is best known for the creation of Students for Trump during the 2016 Presidential Election. Since then, Ryan has worked with numerous campaigns and coalitions to amplify President Trump's message and empower young Americans in the process.
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Washington, DC instagram.com/ryanafournier Born December 8, 1995 Joined July 2010 274.6K Following 946.4K Followers Tweets Tweets & replies Media Likes Ryan Fournier Retweeted Lance Gooden @Lancegooden · The number of illegals who entered the US under Biden will cost American taxpayers $20.4 billion per year.
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Ryan Fournier. 455,842 likes · 843,264 talking about this. Founder of Students for Trump - Political Commentator
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Born in Long Branch, New Jersey in 1995, Ryan Fournier is a first-generation college graduate. At Campbell University, Fournier earned a degree in Political Science with high honors, served as chapter president of his fraternity, while also launching the Students for Trump initiative as a freshman.
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Feb 19, 2021Ryan Fournier has always been involved in politics since a young age and is active in giving students a voice on campuses. Personal Life : Parents, Family and Education Ryan was born in Long Branch, New Jersey. He attended Corinth Holders High School and was involved in the Jr. ROTC and Student Government.
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May 11, 2021Students for Trump co-founder and pugnacious MAGA Twitter star Ryan Fournier allegedly helped his friend create a fake law firm to bilk innocent clients, only to turn against his one-time partner...
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May 11, 2021Students for Trump co-founder and pugnacious MAGA Twitter star Ryan Fournier allegedly helped his friend create a fake law firm to bilk innocent clients, only to turn against his one-time partner...
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Biography. 2016 (Junior): Played in all 18 games as the Greyhounds' top long-stick midfielder…. Picked up 49 ground balls and caused 16 turnovers while scoring seven goals to go with two assists…. Scored a goal in the season-opener at Vriginia (2/13)…. Posted a goal, three ground balls and caused two turnovers against Lafayette (3/27)….