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The president himself called into the ceremony to thank the religious leader and guests in attendance.

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A towering gold statue of Donald Trump was unveiled at the president’s golf course in Doral, Florida, during an emotionally charged ceremony presided over by an Evangelical pastor.

Placed on a pedestal in a clearing of palm trees, the 22‑foot colossus depicts the president thrusting his fist into the air, echoing his defiant gesture after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania.

At Wednesday’s dedication ceremony, the sculpture was draped in white and blue fabric, resembling a Greek toga. It was encircled by a few dozen guests seated in chairs, as Pastor Mark Burns — a member of Pastors for Trump — spoke at a podium.

“Today at Trump National Doral Miami, we witnessed an unforgettable moment,” Burns wrote on social media before emphasizing that the gilded effigy was not a false idol.

“Let me be clear: this is not a golden calf,” he said. “This statue is a celebration of life. It is a symbol of resilience, freedom, patriotism, strength, and the will power to keep fighting for the future of America.”

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A pastor dedicated a 22-foot golden statue of Donald Trump at his golf course in Florida on Wednesday, saying it 'stands as a reminder of the hand of God and His protection over President Trump’s life' (Getty Images)

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The massive statue was commissioned by a collective of crypto investors and created by sculptor Alan Cottrill (Getty Images)

Burns, who previously described the president as divinely appointed, added that the sculpture stands as a reminder that God is protecting Trump’s life — in a nod to the multiple assassination attempts he has survived.

At one point during the proceedings, Burns held his cell phone up to the microphone, and the president’s voice rang out.

“I want to thank Mark Burns, a pastor, he’s a good pastor, he's a good man,” Trump said. “I’ve known him a long time, he’s been with me from the beginning, right from the beginning, maybe about two days later.”

“I want to thank everybody there,” he added. “I know it was done from love.”

The statue — which rises 15 feet atop a 7-foot base — was commissioned and bankrolled by a collective of crypto investors seeking to boost visibility for their memecoin, $PATRIOT, according to The Daily Beast.

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Pastor Mark Burns has been a longtime supporter of the president and served as his informal spiritual adviser. Here, he is pictured speaking at a Trump rally in 2016 (AFP via Getty Images)

Sculptor Alan Cottrill told The Times in February that he agreed to create the bronze figure for $300,000 but complained that the investors were slow in paying. In November he proposed coating it in gold leaf.

His suggestion went down like an offering of water “to a person dying of thirst,” he said. “Immediately everybody jumped on board.”

Cottrill, who has molded the likeness of 16 presidents, said he was holding the statue hostage in a warehouse until he was paid the total agreed upon sum.

In a statement to the outlet, the crypto investors said that “the statue was paid in full a year ago,” adding, “He’s an amazing artist and despite his comments we greatly appreciate the work he completed on this historic statue.”

It’s far from the first sculpture of the Republican president to be erected in the U.S. — though it may be the most flattering.

Several statues depicting Trump have recently appeared in front of the Capitol building. One, titled “Best Friends Forever,” portrays the billionaire president alongside the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Another, called “King of the World,” shows the pair posing like Jack and Rose at the prow of the Titanic.

Both installations — commissioned by protest group Secret Handshake — were quickly removed.

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02/06/2025

by

Kyle Mantyla

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MAGA Pastor Mark Burns Goes All Out In Last Minute Campaign Ad

June 24, 2024 12:21 pm

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An Incoherent History Lesson From MAGA Pastor Mark Burns

By Kyle Mantyla | May 30, 2024

Mark Burns, a right-wing pastor, conspiracy theorist, and unabashed Trump cultist, made an appearance on “TNT Radio” on Wednesday, where he provided an incoherently ahistorical explanation of how former President Donald Trump was integral in transforming him from a Democrat into a Republican.

Burns, who is currently running for Congress with Trump’s endorsement, claimed that he had long been a Democrat because he was “not politically astute,” but all of that changed once he met Trump and learned the true history of the Democratic Party.

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“I was one of the early evangelical leaders that was invited to Trump Towers to discuss with him—there was about 20 or so leaders that were there—and it was in that meeting that I began to discover the difference between Republicans and Democrats,” Burns said. “As a Black man in America, the majority of us are Democrat Party supporters because of the civil rights movement and the things that happened prior [with] Dr. Martin Luther King and how the civil rights movement worked hand-in-hand with the Democratic Party of Lyndon Baines Johnson and John Kennedy, before his assassination, [on] the voting rights bill, the civil rights bill.”

“This is how all of this came out to be,” Burns continued. “And the Southern Strategy of the Democratic Party, which is not so much because they were pushing for Black advancement—it was the Republican Party that pushed for Black advancement—but the Democratic Party took advantage of Dr. King’s name and they took advantage of the Southern Strategy, the large population of Black people in the southern states who were never really allowed to vote. And that’s how they were able to push these initiatives through. In some of the southern states like Georgia, like Alabama, and Mississippi that have large Black populations, they were able to communicate with that audience, and that’s how Black people in general become Democrat because of the civil rights movement.”

“Now, let’s be clear,” Burns added. “The Democratic Party of Dr. King is not the Democratic Party of today, of Joe Biden. It is not. It is the not the Democratic Party of Barack Obama. These are two separate entities and they do not go hand-in-hand. The Democratic Party today is evil. I can call them evil. Their policies are evil and they come from the gates of hell.”

It’s difficult to even know where to start in explaining everything that is wrong with Burns’ statement, since it’s hard to understand even what he is trying to say, especially since he seems to think that the “Southern Strategy” was some Democratic ploy to win over Black voters.

In reality, the “Southern Strategy” was developed by Republican activists to win over traditional southern Democrats who were angry by the party’s emerging pro-civil rights positions and get them to vote for Richard Nixon. As Nixon strategist Kevin Phillips explained it:

The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That’s where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.

Ronald Regan’s strategist Lee Atwater was even more blunt about the reasoning behind the strategy:

“You start out in 1954 by saying, ‘Ni**er, ni**er, ni**er,’ ” said Atwater. “By 1968, you can’t say ‘ni**er’ — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights, and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things, and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites.”

Burns’ explanation of history became even more convoluted just a few moments later when he basically contradicted everything he had previously said, beginning with falsely insisting that Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican.

“[Black people] don’t know that even Dr. Martin Luther King was a Republican,” Burns declared. “Most Black people during that time period were Republican. They were friends with Richard Nixon, the vice president at the time who was running for president. They were not friends with John F. Kennedy. They were friends with Richard Nixon because of the advancement of Black people through the outreach of the Republican Party. And hence, that’s why the Republican Party fought to free slaves. Hence, that’s where the 13th Amendment come from. People gotta go back and read the history. Rep. Alexander Stevenson, who led that charge, was considered part of the radical Republicans who was wanting to free slaves. It was the Democrats, the Dixiecrats, who fought it tooth and nail to keep Black people in chains.”

To recap: Having first asserted that Black voters support the Democrats because it is the party of MLK and the civil rights movement, Burns subsequently asserted that Black voters were actually Republicans who supported Richard Nixon … despite the fact that it was the Nixon campaign that actually used the “Southern Strategy” to appeal to racist white southern voters.

Furthermore, there is no “Rep. Alexander Stevenson.” Presumably, Burn was referring to ardent abolitionist Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, whom he seems to have confused with Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy.

On top of that, the “Dixiecrats” did not form until 1948, more than 80 years after the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 13th Amendment.

Ironically, we are inclined to agree with Burns that “people gotta go back and read the history.” Maybe he should take his own advice instead of allowing himself to “become educated” by someone like Trump.

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MAGA Cultist Pastor Mark Burns Makes A Third Run For Congress

Trump Cultist Mark Burns Proves There Is Nothing MAGA Can’t Turn Into A Conspiracy Theory

[Kyle Mantyla | January 23, 2024 rww

In 2022, Alex Soros, son of progressive billionaire philanthropist George Soros, took over control of his father’s empire. As a result, the younger Soros has now become the focus of the same sorts of baseless conspiracy theories that right-wing activists have been spreading about his father for decades.

Over the weekend, Alex Soros tweeted out a link to an article in The Atlantic about how experts had expected to see rising crime and inflation rates in 2023, but those predications failed to manifest and “the twin crises largely evaporated, and no one is totally sure why.”

The featured image for the article consisted of two stock photos: one of a piece of glass shattered by a bullet and the other of a hand holding cash. When links to articles are posted on Twitter, the platform automatically imports the article’s featured image, which is exactly what happened with Soros shared this article and its tagline with his followers.

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Soros’ post was entirely innocuous, but the far-right conspiracy theorists on the Christian nationalist “FlashPoint” program are demanding an FBI investigation into Soros for supposedly issuing an assassination threat against former President Donald Trump.

During last night’s broadcast, “FlashPoint” host Gene Bailey showed Soros’ tweet and suggested that it represented some sort of threat.

“This is not a good thing,” Bailey said, before asking Christian nationalist Trump cultist MAGA pastor Mark Burns to weigh in.

“I think that’s very dangerous dog whistle messaging that Alex Soros was sending,” Burns said. “We already know that the Soros family, based off of the acts that they’ve been doing, are evil people. To put this dog whistle [that] many are interpreting as an assassination attempt of President Donald Trump; this is very a dangerous time. And I really hope that the FBI would really take a look at this, because to me, it’s clear messaging.”

Burns said that the amount of cash being held in the second photo totaled $47 and was therefore an obvious reference to “the next President of the United States of America,” whom Burns, predictably, expects will be Trump.

“So, for [Soros] to put this type of messaging out there knowing who they support, knowing the millions of dollars that they have donated to principals that are unbiblical, to laws that are against the word of God, and to continuously funding these evil policies, it’s clear to me that it is a message that many are interpreting as an assassination attempt of Donald J. Trump,” Burns asserted.

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Serving as a platform for spreading baseless conspiracy theories is par for the course for “Flashpoint,” but it is pretty wild to see someone like Burns, of all people, have the gall to level this sort of allegation, given that when he unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2022, he openly declared that he wanted to see LGBTQ-supporting parents and teachers executed for treason and then tried to pretend that he never said such a thing.

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 Burns promises that if former President Donald Trump is reelected, he’ll create “one thousand black millionaires.  r ww 8 23

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https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-doral-reawaken-america-pastors-mermaids-1234735924/

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tRUMP PROPHESIES. “DEMONIC” Democrats. Totalitarian threats. And predictions of combat with mermaids(?!). The Trump Doral was a hive of far-right and religious extremism this past weekend. And whatever doesn’t weird you out, should freak you out.

Trump’s Miami property played host to a one-two punch of reunions for Pastors For Trump — the charismatic evangelical body hyping up the Trump ‘24 campaign as a gift from the Lord — and the Re-Awaken America tour, the traveling MAGA circus that platforms retired Gen. Mike Flynn and an unhinged band of shofar-bleaters, conspiracy theorists, and zealots who relate their visions of the spirit world.

Both of these groups have previously operated with tacit support from Donald Trump, but this was the first time that either group had staged their hijinks at a property owned by the former president, or appeared jointly. Trump himself called into the ReAwaken proceedings to laud Flynn and give his well wishes to the throngs of his admirers at Doral.

Pastors for Trump kicked off the proceedings in a Doral ballroom on Friday night. The group’s Tulsa-based leader, Jackson Lahmeyer, painted the nation’s politics in dark, biblical terms, asserting the devil has seized control of one-half our two-party system. “This is one of the worst points our nation has ever faced,” Lahmeyer said, condemning what he called “gender confusion” and “moral confusion.”

“Satan, right now has an entire political party in this nation doing his bidding — for free,” Lahmeyer told the crowd, referring to the Democratic party, whose president, in truth, is an observant Catholic. “The battle that we are in is one that is between good and evil,” Lahemeyer added before leading the assembly in a prayer. “Our nation knows a God who rescues his people, when we find ourselves in trouble. We lift up President Donald Trump, and we ask that You would give him divine wisdom.”

When pastor Craig Hagin, another Oklahoma preacher, took the podium, he felt he needed to “dispel a few rumors” that he blamed on the “mainstream media” in light of the group’s over-the-top devotion to the 45th president. “I want to go on the record that at Pastors for Trump, we do not worship Donald Trump,” he said. “We only worship Jesus Christ.”

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Soon a “prophetic” voice took the stage. Stacy Whited is Christian nationalist media personality whose podcast is called “The Prophetic Report.” Whited delivered hope to the Trumpy insisting that 45 is fated to return to the White House: “President Trump will be back for a second term,” Whited insisted. She also told the audience to prepare to get rich — because there is a great “transference of wealth from the wicked to the righteous” coming.She added: “imagine when we partner with God, the Creator of the universe, what we’re going to do with this money.”

In his own remarks to the Pastors for Trump crowd, Flynn echoed Lahmeyer’s declarations about good and evil. But he added a totalitarian twist: “If you haven’t figured this out yet, the evil that we are facing will not give in until we take over,” he said.

The weekend ReAwaken America convention built seamlessly on the Friday-night zaniness of Pastors for Trump. (The two groups are, themselves, linked; Clay Clark — the organizer of the ReAwaken tour — is a member of the Tulsa church of Pastors for Trump leader Lahmeyer. Both men revere Flynn as “America’s general.”)

In his appearance on the main stage, Flynn took a call on his iPhone from Donald Trump, who directed him “to stay healthy because we’re bringing you back.” This seemed to be a pledge to give the disgraced general a place in any new Trump administration. (Rolling Stone reported last week that Trump has been privately planning to appoint Flynn to a top post if he’s reelected.)

The presidentially pardoned Flynn appeared anything but chastened from his first, criminal stint as a Trump adviser. Appearing on stage with fellow-former Trump aide Peter Navarro, and invoking the nation’s founding, Flynn declared of himself and Navarro: “We’re probably going to go to the firing squad someday.” (Flynn backpedaled only somewhat adding: “I say that a bit tongue-in-cheek, but that’s what we’re up against.”)

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Pastor Mark Burns,a Black preacher who is making a name for himself in MAGAworld, gave a strange speech in which he suggested that Christians should not turn the other cheek, when confronted by wicked forces, rather prepare to “

Julie Green, another leading MAGA “prophet,” renowned for falsely predicting that Prince Charles would murder his mother to seize the British Royal crown, told the ReAwaken crowd that God had revealed to her the imminent downfall of the current president. “The removal of The Biden is coming,” Green insisted. “That’s what the Lord is saying.” Picking up on the theme of violence, Green also described the nation as in the midst of another “Revolutionary War.”

In by far the strangest performance of the whacked out weekend at Doral, yet another prophet, Amanda Grace, suggested that the warfare will be both spiritual and physical — and that the enemy will be unfamiliar, involving strange, “seducing spirits.”

“I have never seen more images of more mermaids and water people in my life,” Grace told the crowd, elaborating that these aquatic forces are “a division in the kingdom of darkness.” Underscoring the danger, Grace insisted that that these mer-people are “highly technologically advanced.”  WOKe-anda forever!]

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On Monday, August 15, People For the American Way’s Right Wing Watch tweeted a fiery sermon by Mark Burns — a far-right evangelical pastor, conspiracy theorist and Christian nationalist — with the message, “It’s not a cult.” But Right Wing Watch obviously meant to be ironic, as the video shows how cult-like some Donald Trump admirers can be in their thinking.

In the video, Burns, who is Black, is seen shouting to a predominantly White audience of evangelicals, “You mean to tell me, New York, that you don’t believe Joe Biden is the president of the United States of America?” And after the crowd responds, “No!” Burns continues, “You mean to tell me that you don’t want Donald J. Trump to come back later, you want him to come back right now? Now! Now!”

Burns then goes on to lead the crowd in a chant of, “Now! Now! Now! Now! Now!”

READ MORE: [Watch: Congressional candidate pledges to ‘start executing’ Americans promoting ‘LGBTQ indoctrination’ for ‘treason’

Promoting the Big Lie and the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump, Burns continues, “We need to hold Joe Biden for treason right now. Now! Now! Now! Help me, Holy Ghost! Now!”

The video is receiving a great deal of attention on Twitter, much of it negative. Twitter user @Catacrux commented, “The most disturbing part of all this, is that they’ve unknowingly put an idol, a mortal being at the head of their congregation. This is no longer about GOD, but a cursed infatuation with a man. It’s quite appalling to watch such disturbing developments.”

Another Twitter user, Robert Webb, @rldwebb, who describes himself as an “anti-fascist servant of Jesus Christ,” slammed Burns as a “fake pastor” who is also a “real grifter” and “wannabe politician” who lacks “real Christian values.” And Twitter user @TooSickenTired sarcastically posted, “We're not racist! We let that black man talk on stage!”

Burns preaches at the Harvest Praise & Worship Center in South Carolina and is the co-founder of the far-right NOW Television Network. In South Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, the pastor unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the U.S House of Representatives in 2018 and 2022.

READ MORE:Right-wing pastor calls for 'civil disobedience' to protest critical race theory

After the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building, Burns promoted the bogus conspiracy theory that Antifa was behind the attack. Burns has repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump through widespread voter fraud, and he has even called for right-wing Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina — an NRA supporter — to face treason charges for being sympathetic to gun control.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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America is in a spiritual war against 'Satan liberal evil communist socialist' Democrats: GOP House candidate

David Badash and The New Civil Rights Movement October 13, 2021

A GOP candidate for a U.S. House of Representatives seat from South Carolina is attacking Democrats as being a "Satan liberal evil communist socialist" party, and proclaiming America is "absolutely" in a spiritual war.

Pastor Mark Burns is a "fanatical Christian nationalist," according to Right Wing Watch (tweet below) and a televangelist who was dubbed "Donald Trump's Top Pastor." Like the former President he is wielding his Twitter account like a sword.

He announced his run one week ago Wednesday:

Days later he was calling himself a fighter "bold enough to deal with the radical Marxist policies that's destroying our country!"

We have to have fighters in Congress bold enough to deal with the radical Marxist policies that’s destroying our co… https://t.co/xqxMmzudmW

— Pastor Mark Burns (@Pastor Mark Burns) 1633788782.0

There are no radical Marxist policies in the U.S.

After attacking "RINOs," Burns told anti-vaxx conspiracy theorist and streaming talk show host Stew Peters Republicans have to stop letting the "Satan liberal evil communist socialist government called the Democrat Party overtake this amazing country we call the United States of America."

In 2017 Burns was one of Roy Moore's defenders, insisting the nine allegations of sexual assault, child sexual assault, attempted rape, and inappropriate behavior with teenaged girls were false.

"We're letting these communists run our country by simply letting it happen," Burns told Peters.

"We've been too quiet," Burns claimed, falsely insisting that Democrats are a "weak minority of people."

He also falsely insisted America "is a God nation. This is a Christian nation. This nation belongs to the great I Am, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. This nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles."

In 2016, as NCRM reported, Burns admitted to "overstating" significant details of his biography, including that he serves in the Army Reserve, holds a bachelor's degree and is working toward a master's.

Watch, via Right Wing Watch:

Trump-loving MAGA pastor Mark Burns is running for Congress in South Carolina and to say that he's a fanatical Chri… https://t.co/tEMrQyn8yf

— Right Wing Watch (@Right Wing Watch) 1634136124.0

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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/how-the-plot-to-kidnap-whitmer-fits-into-right-wing-extremists-violent-rhetoric-around-the-2020-election/

analysis

Adam Fox was worried about a rat. In thedark and cluttered basement, Fox gathered the men’s phones in a bin and took them upstairs to the main floor of the nondescript vacuum store in Grand Rapids, Michigan—a measure meant to avoid surveillance. After he returned through the trap door normally hidden by a rug, the group of men began discussing how they would storm the state capitol in Lansing, Michigan, counter law enforcement who arrived on the scene, and throw Molotov cocktails at their vehicles. It was June 20. Six days earlier, Fox had explained in a call that they’d need “200 men” to storm the capitol and take hostages, including the governor. They would try her for “treason,” he said—and they would carry out their plan before the November presidential election.

The FBI arrested six men on Oct. 8—including Fox—for conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and overtake the state government. Through FBI informants and FBI agents, we know how those meetings went, spelled out in detail in anFBI affidavit. The men, in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, belonged to Wolverine Watchmen, an anti-government, anti-law enforcement militia group. Prior to the arrests, the group had surveilled Whitmer’s summer home, discussed bombing a bridge to block law enforcement response, and at another point, considered simply shooting Whitmer. On Tuesday, the FBI revealed the group had also considered kidnapping Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia.

Whitmer has been thetarget of extremistssince she implemented a series of public health measures, including a stay-at-home order, in March, acting swiftly to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Michigan. In May, protesters and anti-government groups, some heavily armed, protested the restrictions at the state capitol, where they demanded to be let in and compared Whitmer to Hitler. Among the protesters were members of the Wolverine Watchmen.

In addressing the conspiracy to kidnap her, Whitmer was quick topoint out President Donald Trump’s recent rhetoric at the first presidential debate: how he tried to skirt condemning white supremacists and then told the Proud Boys hate group to “stand back and stand by.”

“Hate groups heard the president’s words not as a rebuke but as a rallying cry, as a call to action. When our leaders speak, their words matter. They carry weight,” Whitmer said.

Right Wing Watch has seen an increase of violent rhetoric across different right-wing subgroups—from conspiracy theorists and religious-right activists to white nationalists and anti-government groups. In some instances, extremists call for civil war, the use of force against Black Lives Matter protesters, and for government leaders to be tried for treason and executed.

Trump has no doubt ushered in more radical proclamations from extremists—this is the man, after all, whowon’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the election. But the right-wing media ecosystem is a two-way street, where fringe figures influence the president, and the president influences the boldness of fringe figures and their prominence in the conservative mainstream.

Conspiracy Theorists and Radical Right-Wing Commentators: Fear-Mongering, Violent Language, and Anti-Government Sentiment

[pix  Radical right-wing conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles blamed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for the plot to kidnap and potentially murder her.]

On the day the arrests of the Wolverine Watchmen members were announced, Rick Wiles, a conspiracy theorist whose TruNews conspiracy outlet claims to offer news and analysis from a conservative, Christian worldview,took to his program to put the blame on Whitmer for the plot to kidnap and potentially murder her. 

“Did you at all stop and think, what are you doing that drives middle class, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens to think about kidnapping you?” Wiles said. “What are you doing? Are your policies so extreme, so radical that you’re pushing people over the line to say we have to get that woman out of the governor’s office?”

While the claim is shocking, especially for an outlet that has been granted White House press credentials as recently asJanuary, it’s in keeping with Wilesfear-mongering about government overreach—much of it anti-Semitic—which includes claiming that liberalsintend touse the power of government toround upconservative Christians, place them inconcentration camps, andkill them.

And it’s not surprising for the ranks of conspiracy theorists and radical right-wing commentators who distrust news reports and the government—save for Trump—and imagine a “deep state” or globalist “New World Order” that wants to take away constitutional rights, get Trump out of office, and impose their will on the people. 

Wiles’ penchant for violent rhetoric is well documented by Right Wing Watch: In the past year alone, Wiles hasrejoiced in Trump’s use of the military to forcefully clear protesters from a church to take a photo op with a Bible, vocalized his hope that Trump will round up liberal activists andtorture them, and gleefully claimed that special op forces were going tohunt down and shoot commies—which to Wiles apparently includes Black Lives Matter, antifa, and Right Wing Watch. During the impeachment of Trump in December 2019, he claimed to have been stockpiling ammunition to prepare for a “violent civil war” between the “pagan left” and “religious right.”

While the enemies in the minds of right-wing conspiracy theorists are many, the hate directed at government officials who oppose Trump, particularly those who are women or people of color, in right-wing networks is particularly noteworthy.

Josh Bernstein, a radical right-wing commentator with a penchant for calling for people to be executed, took to his YouTube channel earlier this month to call for Rep. Ilhan Omar to be charged with treason and executed. Omar has faced racist, xenophobic attacks from right-wing activists and the president himself as recently asSeptember. Bernstein, who hassaid that Omar has earned every death threat she’s received, followed up on Trump’s attacks just days later.

“I believe that the FBI and the Department of Justice should charge Ilhan [Omar] with sedition, treason, marriage fraud, voter fraud, illegal campaign contributions, immigration fraud, and aiding and abetting our enemies,” Bernstein said,adding, “this bitch should be executed.”

Last year, Bernsteinurged Trump to become a “dictator for patriotism” andclaimed that members of the Trump administration watch his broadcasts.

He’s not the only one talking about killing opponents to his extreme right-wing world view or calling for civil war. Claiming his warnings about a globalist “New World Order” takeover were coming true, radical conspiracy theorist Alex Jones told his listeners of his “Infowars” conspiracy show in August to wage war against academics and “the establishment perverts and pedophiles that run it,” adding that “the best thing to do in a defensive way is kill as many of them as quickly as possible.” In February, radical right-wing conspiracy theorist Chris McDonalddeclared that government officials who testified in the impeachment hearing against President Donald Trump are traitors and are “lucky they’re not hanging from nooses,” and in June during the protests against racism, McDonald andfellow QAnon conspiracy theorist Mark TaylorclaimedBlack men were hanging themselves to start a civil war. “They’re trying to start a civil war in this country, a race war,” Taylor said.

Among those fear-mongering and calling for violence against Black Lives Matter and antifa—shorthand for anti-fascist activists—is John Guandolo, adisgraced former FBI agent turned right-wingconspiracy theorist. In June, Guandolo, who has made a new career out ofpeddling anti-Muslim law enforcement trainings,said, “we should round up the leaders and execute them for trying to revolt and overthrow the government. And if this doesn’t happen soon, we will lose this.”

Religious Right Calls for Civil War 

[ pix Robert Jeffress speaking at Values Voters Summit in 2017. In 2019, he claimed on Fox News that “removing the president” would “cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.”]

Like right-wing conspiracy theorists, some religious-right activists and pastorssee the 2020 election as a civil war coming to America and warn that Christians need to wake up. They paint the current political climate as a spiritual battle, and Trump’s opponents are frequently depicted as “demonic.” Such messages have been promoted through “The Jim Bakker Show,” influential pro-Trump Pentecostal-oriented media outfit Charisma, andnetworks of prominentdominionist “apostles” and “prophets.”

Rick Joyner has beenwarningfor years that civil war is coming to theUnited States and that the country is headed towardmartial law. In September, the right-wing pastor spoke to televangelist Jim Bakker on “The Jim Bakker Show,” where hetold viewers that God had seeded the country with military veterans experienced in urban warfare, citing a “prophetic” dream.

“We’re in time for war. We need to recognize that. We need to mobilize. We need to get ready. I’m talking to law enforcement, talking to people. One of the things I saw in a dream I had related to our civil war was that militias would pop up like mushrooms. And it was God. These were good militias.” Joyner, who heads up Morningstar Ministries, said. “If God’s people don’t become a part of the militia movements, the good militias, the bad people will take them over.”

Who are “the bad people”? In September, Joyner pointed to Black Lives Matter,declaring that Christians must take a stand against the organization because it’s “the KKK of this time.” And during the impeachment inquiry, Bakker and Joyneragreed that efforts to impeach Trump were satanic and treasonous.

Bakker, himself,warned in August that if Trump is not reelected, “we’re gonna have a revolution” with right-wing Christians taking to the streets. 

At the 2019 American Priority Festival and Conference, an annual pro-Trump conference held at Trump National Doral Miami resort held in October,calls for civil warwere loud and clear. “I need you to know that 2020 is a civil war that will change the face of America forever,”Joshua Feuerstein, a former pastor turned evangelical internet personality, said on the same stage Don Trump Jr. would later speak on. “And it’s God, ladies and gentlemen, it’s God that calls the qualified, that qualifies those that are called, that are willing to step up in the moment that matters, that has greatness thrust upon them. And tonight, together here in this place to say that we are willing to fight, we may think ourselves insignificant, but that we will stand together in 2020, and we will win the war that will change the face of America.”

Earlier in the evening at the conference (known colloquially as AMPfest), televangelistMark Burns called for war. “We’ve come to declare war!” he yelled, with attendees in the back of the ballroom echoing his call, shouting “War! War!” in response.

This summer,Frank Pavone, a Catholic priestwho runs an advocacy group committed to abolishing access to abortion in the U.S.,declared that the 2020 election “is a spiritual battle and no less than a civil war.” Pavone held advisory positions in Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, only resigning in July a​t thedirection of ​Roman Catholic Church authorities.

These messages from Trump’s religious-right boosters have reached the president. Days after Congress launched its formal impeachment inquiry last September, megachurch pastor and ardent Trump supporter Robert Jeffress claimed on Fox News that “removing the president” would “cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.” Apparently viewing the segment was Trump, whotweeted Jeffress’ quote. 

Far-Right Militant Groups: ‘Awaiting the Green Light’

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when the militant group the Oath Keepers saw Trump’s tweet of Jeffress’ comments on Fox, they responded in turn. “This is the truth,” read apost from the group’s Twitter account. “We ARE on the verge of a HOT civil war. Like in 1859.”

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The Oath Keepers, conceived as a group of “patriots,” law enforcement officers, and former military members who would defy orders they didn’t like in opposition to a deep state members saw as conspiring to declare martial law, have now sided with Trump and see their role as ensuring law and order. 

Other militia groups have done the same. Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this sentiment; by forgoing a federal response, Trump has continued to receive the support of anti-government groups, while state and local governments have been left to issue piecemeal restrictions and face the ire of such groups.

It’s amid this violent rhetoric, fear-mongering about government overreach, and calls for civil war that militia groups and white supremacist organizations are feeling emboldened—and Trump’s language has given these groups tacit, if not explicit, approval.

In April, Trump sent off a series of tweets calling for states led by three Democratic governors, including Whitmer and Northam, to be liberated from supposedly draconian public health measures. “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” hetweeted, followed by “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” and “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”

Michael German, a former FBI agent who infiltrated neo-Nazis in the 1990s, is not surprised the Michigan governor was targeted by these groups following Trump’s message.

“These are groups that are used to listening for dog whistle affirmation among the powerful, and so when they get that affirmation spoken out loud, indirectly, it takes on a completely different meaning,” said German, a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty & National Security Program. “You know, something like ‘liberate Virginia‘ and ‘liberate Michigan‘ would be taken as ‘OK, this is a green light from the highest levels of our government. We should start planning.’”

In August, German published areport with the Brennan Center detailing the militia groups that have law enforcement and former military members, though “only a tiny percentage of law enforcement officials are likely to be active members of white supremacist groups.” An investigation inThe Atlantic details these connections in the Oath Keepers, which recruited thousands of police, soldiers, and veterans. 

As protests erupted in the days following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, members of extreme right-wing movements followed Trump’s lead in identifying common enemies among police and far-right militants, demonizing Black Lives Matter, anarchists, and antifa.

“We’ve been through a lot of these protests, and [police] seem to have a less antagonistic and violent response when it’s far-right militants who are engaging in protest violence,” German said. “And I think that’s because the messaging that they’re receiving about who is the enemy of state, as the president is identifying these groups as the enemy of state and suggesting that there are friendlies among the far-right, white supremacist groups. That sends a pretty clear message both to the groups and to the police about who should be the target of their violence.”

“So when these groups feel like they have the authority granted by the state to engage in this kind of behavior, they’re more likely to do it,” German said. “These groups operate on margin where their violence is reinforcing state action and state violence often, right—that the groups that the far-right militant and white supremacist groups target are the same groups that law enforcement targets disproportionately.”

In August, 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, who considers himself a militia member, fatally shot two demonstrators and injured a third at a protest against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Much has been said about how, minutes prior to the shooting,police thanked the group for their presence and offered Rittenhouse water.

Creating the Justification for Right-Wing Violence

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After Trump’s Proud Boy comments at the presidential debate, the hate group took to the social media platform Telegram where they took the president’s wordsas a command. “Standing by sir,” Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio wrote.

Two days later, Tarriotold conspiracy theorist and failed congressional candidate DeAnna Lorraine—who in June had urged conservatives to form militiaswhile awaiting the “green light” to take back the streets—that his group had gained 2,000 to 3,000 new followers.

Violent rhetoric and civil war chatter among extremists is nothing new. But as we’ve approached the 2020 elections, the confluence of violent rhetoric among the extremists Right Wing Watch covers seems to have taken a frenzied pace, with different subgroups of the right-wing acting as an echo chamber, radicalizing each other and the president and vice versa. Trump, himself, has cultivated that echo chamber, creating a megaphone for his messaging. 

Trump has refused to say whether he will step down peacefully should he lose the election. And since 2016, Trump and his team has pushed the narrative that Democrats and the deep state worked tirelessly to prevent him from becoming president in 2016 and, when they failed, conspired against him to prevent his reelection. By fear-mongering about voter fraud through mail-in voting and engaging with far-right conspiracy theories, Trump has insisted that any election he loses will have been fraudulent—creating justification for right-wing violence should he lose.

Tags: Chris McDonald Donald Trump Frank Pavone Jim Bakker John Guandolo Josh Bernstein Joshua Feuerstein Mark Burns Mark Taylor Rick Joyner Rick Wiles Robert Jeffress Antifa Civil War conspiracy theories Oath Keepers Trunews Wolverine Watchmen

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https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-american-priority-conference-speakers-sowed-distrust-peddled-conspiracy-theories-and-called-for-civil-war

Joshua Feuerstein took the main stage at the American Priorities Festival and Conference at the Trump Doral National Miami resort to deliver a message: the Civil War was here.

Feuerstein, a former evangelical pastor, used his sermon voice to recall the original Civil War, which he called the “turning point of America,” the battle of Gettysburg, which he deemed the “turning point of the war,” and the men who fought in Pickett’s Charge, which he labeled “the turning point of Gettysburg.” He paced the stage in his navy blue suit, passing by the large red “AMP” letters on the screen behind him, and painted a picture of heroic men and hand-to-hand combat during Pickett’s Charge. “Those men did not think it anything special,” he said.

“I need you to know that 2020 is a civil war that will change the face of America forever,” Feurestein said, his voice rising, as the crowd began to applaud. “And it’s God, ladies and gentlemen, it’s God that calls the qualified, that qualifies those that are called, that are willing to step up in the moment that matters, that has greatness thrust upon them. And tonight, together here in this place to say that we are willing to fight, we may think ourselves insignificant, but that we will stand together in 2020, and we will win the war that will change the face of America.”

Feurestein’s declaration of war wasn’t the only one at the conference. Earlier in the evening, evangelicalPastor Mark Burns had called for war; “We’ve come to declare war!” he said, and attendees in the back of the ballroom replied with “War! War!” 

Over three days, speakers at the pro-Trump conference sowed seeds of distrust in nearly every American institution imaginable and cited conspiracy theories to bolster their case for the use of such civil war rhetoric, as they perpetuated sentiments of victimization and loathing. The conference could have been dismissed as a meeting of the fringe, but big-ticket speakers like Don Trump Jr. and Sarah Huckabee Sanders lent legitimacy to the conference,as did more respectable Republican groups like the Leadership Institute, which held a series of trainings in side rooms. By the time Don Trump Jr. took the stage on Friday evening, he simply invoked themes hammered into the audience throughout the day using subtler language, and it worked the crowd into a frenzy.

In this Trumpian, upside-down world, it’s hard to understand where one has landed until you take one conspiracy at face value: the “deep state.” The so-called deep state is supposedly comprised of supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in high-rank positions in different government agencies who aim to sabotage Trump at every opportunity and eventually overthrow him. Originating on the fringe, the conspiracy theory has now entered the mainstream GOP and has become a staple of right-wing media messaging. At the American Priority Conference, the speakers legitimized the deep state, and layered more conspiracy theories on top. 

Perhaps most telling was the “Unmasking the Russian Hoax” panel with Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch, a right-wing “investigative” organization, conservative activist Ned Ryun, George Papadopolous, who went to federal prison for making false statements to FBI agents about the timing of his contact with Russian intermediaries in 2016, and Corey Lewandowski, former Trump campaign manager and author ofTrump’s Enemies: How the Deep State Is Undermining the Presidency. Tracy Beanz, abooster of the QAnon conspiracy theory, moderated the panel.

In Fitton’s world, bad actors had been planning a coup before Trump was even elected.

“Anytime you heard the word impeachment, you can substitute the word coup, because that’s what’s going on here,” Fitton said. “It began during the campaign, when they weaponized intelligence agency against Trump, people like George [Papadopoulos], and who knows who else, to protect Hillary Clinton, to protect Barack Obama, and as Mr. Strzok said, to have an insurance policy if Mr. Trump won.”

The “insurance policy” Fitton references isa conspiracy theorybirthed on 4chan message boards that Democrats had a ready-to-go scheme to impeach Trump if he won.Amplified by right-wing media, the conspiracy theory has reached the White House and influenced the president’s policy making.

“They [Congress] weren’t getting the traction they needed, so the intelligence agencies, it looks like, that were targeting him to begin with, came up with another smear operation,” Fitton continued. “They had a leak they wanted to get out on this Ukrainian conversation, but they recognized doing it would be illegal, so they gussied it up in a whistleblower complaint and illegally communicated classified information, it looks like, with Adam Schiff and lied about it. And now it’s led to the coup operation of President Trump.“

Papadopoulos floated the deep state theory as well. “Some of the same spies that went after Michael Flynn in 2015 were after me in 2016,” he said. As for the whistleblower report, Papadopoulos noted that it came out when WIlliam Barr was, he said, trying to investigate the previous administration. “This was a preemptive strike by the deep state,” Papadopoulos said, suggesting that it was an effort by deep state actors to protect themselves.

Lewandowski focused on the FBI.“I look at the fact that they spied on American citizens who were participating in the political process, because they didn’t like our politics,” Lewandowski said.  “What we know see over the course of the last three and a half years is that Jim Comey, and Andy McCabe, and the lovers, Dr. Page, which Trump talked about last night, James Baker who is the general counsel at the FBI, they use their badges and guns to go after American citizens because they don’t like our politics.” 

The bad actors need to punished, the panelists agreed. “People have to go to jail,” Ryun said, to which an audience member yelled: “Barack Obama!” 

According to the panelists, the media was among the bad actors, conspiring with Democrats. “The media intentionally wanted to brainwash all of you. They wanted to create chaos and division, and attempt a silent coup,” Papadopoulos said.

Later that evening, Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA  warmed up the stage for Don Trump Jr.He zoomed in on the Jussie Smollett story, an actor who apparentlystaged a hate crime against himself, claiming it was indicative of the Democratic situation and “Democratic privilege,” where Democrats, like Smollett, are never prosecuted for wrongdoings. Kirk used the Smollett story to sow doubt—if Smollett fabricated a hate crime, what else could they lie to you about?—and bolster another debunked conspiracy theory that Adam Schiff changed the whistleblower laws just before the whistleblower filed his complaint.

“Guess what happens when we don’t hold them accountable? What happens is Congressman Adam Schiff then flies his staffer up to Ukraine, changes the whistleblower laws, uses a friend that he has in the CIA, and then do it all over again, just with a different country,” Kirk said. 

Kirk then moved on to other supposed deep state actors. “If [Trump] would’ve won and did the typical Republican thing … maybe the deep state actors would’ve just stayed at bay. But the fact that they’re relentlessly going after him should give you renewal and confidence that this president actually doing what he said he was going to do,” Kirk said.

When Don Trump Jr. walked out onto the stage Friday night following Kirk, he wasted no time in getting to the Smollett story and attacking Schiff and the media.“Adam Schiff is the Jussie Smollett of Congress on steroids,” he said as his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, stared at him adoringly from her chair on stage. “And he gets away with it because people in the media protect him.”

“On paper, 2020 should be over, but it’s not, because we’re not in a fair fight,” Trump Jr. said, claiming that “the mainstream media has made a conscious decision to be the marketing team of the opposing party.”

While Trump Jr. didn’t go as far as to call for civil war or double down on the deep state, he didn’t need to. His presence lent legitimacy the conspiracy theories floated all day.  It’s this very type of environment that civil war rhetoric on the right has grown. In early October, it appeared to reach Trump himself, who went as far as toquote Fox News contributor Pastor Robert Jeffress on Twitter saying, “If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” 

In an upside-down world, where a deep state is conniving to imprison administration officials just doing their jobs, continues to get away with spying and crimes, and stages a coup against a democratically elected president, calling for a civil war doesn’t seem like that big of a leap.

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