epoch times

<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">primary 1021 on fbk bridge/radicalization</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">livestream so basically a TV station?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see Morano</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> SEE 2: New Tang Dynasty TV</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> NY</span></b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 8 23 no lnx</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">BUSTED: ‘Right-wing misinformation’ newspaper gave a GOP presidential candidate up to $5 million in salary</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Mark Alesia,Alexandria Jacobsonand Raw StoryAugust 23, 2023</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Larry Elder made between $1 million and $5 million from The Epoch Times, according to a new financial disclosure submitted three months past a federal deadline.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Epoch Times — accused by the New York Times of being “a leading purveyor of right-wing misinformation” — spent heavily on Facebook ads for Donald Trump in 2020 and was later banned from the platform for violating political transparency rules. The Epoch Times is associated with the Chinese religious movement Falun Gong.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Elder’s filing, covering the past year and first reported by Raw Story on Monday<b>, characterized his earnings from The Epoch Times as “salary.”</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">As Politico reporter Kimberly Leonard observed, Elder failed to report the exact amount of the money as required by federal regulators.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">“Despite facing numerous challenges and setbacks, we have never lost hope in our mission to report the truth. Our commitment to journalistic integrity has not wavered, even in the face of adversity,” The Epoch Times states on its “about us” page.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Its stated vision: “To be recognized as the ‘paper of record,’ the world’s most trusted and admired media company, and the organization that will restore, by its example, the best practices and highest principles of journalism.”</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Neither Elder nor The Epoch Times responded immediately to requests for comment.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
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</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">ALSO READ: Trump earned $250,000 from gay Republican event: disclosure</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><b>Before he announced his run for president in April, Elder had a talk show on EpochTV that promoted far-right political views</b>.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Raw Story reported in July that Elder, a tough-on-crime conservative, missed a May 20 deadline to file the financial disclosure. Elder then asked federal regulators for an extension, saying he didn’t know about the requirement.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">The FEC granted an extension to Aug. 18.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Elder revealed multiple additional sources of income on the federal financial disclosure, including salaries each in the $100,001 to $1 million range from Relief Factor, a pain relief <b>supplement, </b>and Old Glory Bank, where he serves as a director alongside 2016 presidential candidate Ben Carson, who later became Trump’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Elder also reported salaries from a machining company, CNC Broach Tools, educational consultancy Yrefy and media companies Creators Syndicate, Breaking Battlegrounds and<b> Salem Radio Network.</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">His consulting for Elder for America and Baric and Associates earned him up to $1.5 million collectively, according to the disclosure.</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">ALSO READ:Trump maintains trademarks with Russia, China and numerous other U.S. enemies and frenemies</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Elder, who has been a vocal opponent of abortion rights, earned up to $370,000 additional income from honorariums<b>, including from anti-abortion centers like the Crisis Pregnancy Clinic of Southern California and Avenues Pregnancy Clinics.</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Elder is not slated to appear in the Republican Party’s first presidential candidate debate on Wednesday in Milwaukee, with the Republican National Committee ruling he didn’t meet pre-set fundraising and polling thresholds.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Elder has disputed the ruling, and on Tuesday, asked his supporters to contribute to a lawsuit against the RNC, accusing it of unfairly sidelining him.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">“The RNC told us they would be fair in their qualification for the August debate happening tomorrow night,” an email solicitation said. “They lied. And to prove their lies, we’re going to take them on in court.”</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Elder contends he met the RNC’s criteria for participation.</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">FROM YOUR SITE ARTICLES</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Burning Man: Paradise for Hipster Guests -- And a Nightmare for Some Workers ›</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Atlantic Salmon Is Basically Extinct: You’re Eating a Genetically Eroded Version ›</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Harvard astrophysics professor claims he found ET tech inside a meteor: report ›</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Trump crams multiple debunked conspiracy theories into two Truth Social fits ›</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Radioactive debris from first hydrogen bomb tests mark start of Anthropocene epoch: report ›</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Team Trump has a new conspiracy theorist with close ties to far-right newspaper 'the Epoch Times' ›</div><div>
</div></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gmail alert</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Marc Morano</font></font></font></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Weekly update <b>⋅ March 18, 2022</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">NEWS<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">'Green Energy Movement Empowers China,' Says Marc Morano - NTD News</span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">NTD News</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">I talk with Marc Morano from Climate Depot to find out. Follow David on Twitter: @DavidZhangEET. Sign up for NTD Daily. What you need to know, ...</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">Facebook<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Twitter<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Flag as irrelevant</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">'Green Energy Movement Empowers China,' Says Marc Morano - The Epoch Times</div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><b>The Epoch Times</b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">'Green Energy Movement Empowers China,' Says Marc Morano; US-China 7-Hour Meeting Reaches No Results. March 15, 2022 China Insider.</div></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/russias-invasion-ukraine/right-wing-personalities-promote-kremlin-conspiracy-theory-about">https://www.mediamatters.org/russias-invasion-ukraine/right-wing-personalities-promote-kremlin-conspiracy-theory-about</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx twt</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing personalities promote Kremlin conspiracy theory about biological research facilities in Ukraine</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conspiracy theorists spin an intelligence hearing about Russian disinformation strategy to help excuse Putin's unprovoked invasion</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WRITTEN BY CYDNEY HARGIS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM ALEX KAPLAN</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">PUBLISHED 03/09/22 </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After the State Department reconfirmed the existence of <b>biological research laboratories in Ukraine and expressed concern Russia may seize them</b>, far-right media accused the United States of both controlling the labs for nefarious purposes and orchestrating a false flag operation against Russia. In reality, the idea that these facilities are controversial, much less a threat to Russia, is a <b>Kremlin-backed conspiracy theory.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During a March 8 hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) asked Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland if Ukraine has “chemical or biological weapons.” Nuland responded that Ukraine has “biological research facilities,” adding that the U.S. government was “quite concerned” about the facilities falling into Russian hands. When Rubio noted the existence of a Russian disinformation campaign already in-effect to blame Ukraine for a future release of biological weapons, Nuland replied that “it is classic Russian technique to blame on the other guy what they're planning to do themselves.”</font></div><div>
</div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Citation From March 8, 2022, C-SPAN coverage of a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Russia isn’t the only state actor helping spread this conspiracy theory, which was also promoted by a spokesperson from the Chinese government — following a pattern of Chinese disinformation established during the pandemic.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The conspiracy theory that there are U.S.-funded bioweapons labs in Ukraine, and that they have been directed to destroy whatever pathogens are inside, has been floating around fringe and far-right media for several days since the conflict began. This burgeoning conspiracy theory has followed closely behind what the<b> British Ministry of Defense described as “a notable intensification of Russian accusations that Ukraine is developing nuclear or biological weapons,” which the Kremlin hopes could provide “a retrospective justification” for its unprovoked war.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ukraine does have biological research labs that were modernized as a result of a pact between its Ministry of Health and the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. and Ukraine entered into the<b> agreement in 2005 — brokered, in part, by then-Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) – to jointly-prevent the spread of deadly pathogens developed as part of the former Soviet Union’s expansive biological weapons program.</b> As part of the agreement, the U.S. provided funding for security upgrades to the Soviet-era facilities to support the “peaceful research” of infectious diseases.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The DOD’s Biological Threat Reduction Program was designed as part of an arms control program to secure “pathogen strains and sensitive biological knowledge within Ukraine," specifically to prevent those resources from being released or weaponized.</b> In fact, the agreement governing these facilities evolved from the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which assisted Ukraine with the removal and decommissioning of Soviet nuclear weapons.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Some variations of the conspiracy theory go even further to claim that the labs are being run by the U.S. In reality, the labs are funded and operated by the Ukrainian government. But claims to the contrary have existed for years and are part of a Russian disinformation campaign to discredit the U.S. in the eyes of former Soviet republics. Indeed, FactCheck.org produced a full article debunking a previous iteration of this conspiracy theory on March 2, nearly a week before Nuland’s testimony</span>.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Despite the abundance of evidence showing that these are not weapons facilities, far-right media personalities pounced on Nuland’s testimony about “research facilities” in Ukraine to hype Russia’s narrative justifying the invasion and to falsely claim she “confirmed every conspiracy theory about the existence of those labs”:</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>During the March 9 edition of Real America Voice’s War Room: Pandemic, host Steve Bannon claimed that Nuland was let “off the hook” and told all Florida residents to contact Rubio and ask him if the CIA, Defense Department, or DIA gave him the questions to ask</b>. Bannon went on to play a clip of the hearing and said Rubio should have asked, “Is that a lab? What are they creating? Are we involved in any way? Have we financed it? Are we partners? Do we actually know what’s going on?” <b>Bannon later said that “no Republican should vote for any money on Ukraine, zero dollars,” until we know exactly what is going on with the labs.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">On March 9, the Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft shared a video that he said was of the “Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation” telling the U.S. that Russia has “found your biological weapons” after Nuland’s testimony.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a March 8 Gateway Pundit article, Hoft repeated China’s claim that there are “26 US biological labs in Ukraine alone” before running through the conspiracy theory that there was “biological testing in Ukraine near the Russian border.” Hoft went on to call Nuland’s comments an “explosive development.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In a March 8 Telegram post, former Trump national security adviser Mike Flynn shared a post claiming, “I was told that biolabs in Ukraine was a conspiracy theory yet here we are. They are now admitting it openly</b>.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Former 8kun administrator, QAnon influencer, and GOP congressional candidate Ron Watkins shared an Epoch Times article in a March 9 Telegram post that questioned whether Vice President Kamala Harris will “negotiate the cover up of the US Biolabs in Ukraine.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A March 8 post on the<b> far-right forum TheDonald</b> shared a video of Nuland’s comments and added, “<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Another win for conspiracy theorists: the biolabs in Ukraine exist! CONFIRMED!”</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A March 8 post on the<b> QAnon forum The Great Awakening</b> shared a video of Nuland from the<b> Russian state media outlet RT </b>and called her comments “Narrative Spin 101.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a March 8 <b>Gab post, QAnon influencer Anonymous Patriot</b> shared a post about Nuland’s comments and wrote, “And there it is. PANIC.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Human Events’ Ian Miles Cheong:</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Human Events’ Jack Posobiec:</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Far-right conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Epoch Times’ Hans Mahncke:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Big League Politics:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Far-right commentator Chuck Callesto:</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">gmail 3/22</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Townhall</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>... we were the largest producer of oil and gas," explained Marc Morano, author of Green Fraud and executive editor of Climate Depot.</div><div>
</div><div>Beijing's Energy Policies Benefit Chinese Industry, While US Sacrifices Its Own ... - The Epoch Times</div><div>The Epoch Times</div><div>That's according to Marc Morano, executive director of ClimateDepot.com, a project of the Washington-based think tank Committee for a Constructive ...</div><div>Natural Gas Prices Continue Climbing After Ukraine Invasion, Nord Stream 2 Cancellation</div><div>The Epoch Times</div><div>Marc Morano, the proprietor of Climate Depot, told The Epoch Times that the G7 statement was “laughable,” given that up to 40 percent of European ...</div><div>Fossil fuel apologists blame everyone but Putin. Because of course they do. | Red, Green, and Blue</div><div>Red, Green, and Blue</div><div>... Carlson (who's been defending Putin) had Marc Morano on his show to –what else – blame Biden and climate concern for the Russian invasion.</div><div>
</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1021 mma</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...<b style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">The top 10 pages that earned the most interactions between January 1 and September 21 were:</b></font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Ben Shapiro, a right-leaning page which earned nearly 392 million interactions on nearly 25,000 posts.</font></b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Occupy Democrats,</b> a left-leaning page which earned over 280 million interactions on over 10,000 posts.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">Fox News</span>, a right-leaning page which earned nearly 275 million interactions on over 12,000 posts.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Dan Bongino</span>, a right-leaning page which earned nearly 208 million interactions on over 6,000 posts.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Daily Mail</b>, a right-leaning page which earned over 166 million interactions on nearly 35,000 posts.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">UNICEF, an ideologically nonaligned page which earned over 156 million interactions on over 1,000 posts. (UNICEF has partnered with Facebook for public health education, and Facebook’s info panel has been boosting the page’s posts.)</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Breitbart,</b> a right-leaning page with over 150 million interactions on over 13,000 posts.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Newsmax</span>, a right-leaning page with over 130 million interactions on over 15,000 posts.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>CNN, an ideologically nonaligned page </b>with nearly 130 million interactions on over 14,000 posts.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> 10  T<b>rending World by The Epoch Times</b>, a right-leaning page with more than 117 million interactions on nearly 9,000 posts.</font></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In comparison to 2020, there are two new right-leaning pages in this year’s top 10 list: Newsmax and Trending World by The Epoch Times. Newsmax’s newfound popularity on Facebook seems to follow a similar trend as its viewership, which increased as former President Donald Trump simultaneously promoted the right-wing outlet and criticized Fox News during his final months in office, while Trending World by The Epoch Times appears to have found success by promoting video-based content in accordance with Facebook’s tweaked algorithm.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-leaning pages earned nearly three times more average interactions for video content than posts containing links -- and far more than other political and news-related pages</font></b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Facebook often focuses on how posts with links are used to spread misinformation, but photos and videos posted by right-leaning pages also spread sensational, false, and divisive content. </font></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Between January 1 and September 21, right-leaning pages earned nearly 2.3 billion interactions on roughly 1 million posts with links -- or roughly 2,300 average interactions per post. </font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the same time frame, right-leaning pages earned nearly three times more average interactions per post with video than per post with links. Roughly 188,000 posts with videos from right-leaning pages -- including native videos, live videos, and YouTube videos -- earned over 1.2 billion interactions, or nearly 6,500 average interactions per post.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fact, of the top 100 posts from right-leaning Facebook pages in 2021, 82 were posts with native video, earning roughly 120 million interactions, including posts from Donald Trump Jr., Fox News host Sean Hannity, and other conservative voices that featured sensational content: [VIDS]</font></b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sean Hannity_facebook post_20210530</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Benny Johnson</b>facebook post_20210511</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don Jr_facebook post_20210120</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Don Jr_facebook post_20210119</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While ideologically nonaligned pages posted the most links and videos during the studied time period, it was right-leaning pages that earned the most interactions for each of these post types. Most notably, right-leaning pages accounted for roughly 30% of all posts with videos from political and news-related pages, but they earned nearly 60% of the interactions.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Proportion of posts with links and proportion of interactions for these posts:</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ideological breakdown of posts with links (and interactions earned) on Facebook pages posting about politics_updated</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Proportion of posts with videos and proportion of interactions for these posts:</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ideological breakdown of posts with videos (and interactions earned) on Facebook pages posting about politics_update</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Average interactions earned per video post by right-leaning pages increased from 2020 to 2021. The same for ideologically nonaligned and left-leaning pages decreased.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-leaning pages earned more average interactions per post with video than other political and news-related pages in both 2020 and 2021. In fact, right-leaning pages earned nearly 6,500 interactions per post with video in 2021, which is more than the average 5,600 interactions per post with video in 2020. </font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Comparatively, nonaligned pages and left-leaning pages both earned less average interactions per post with video in 2021 than the previous year. Left-leaning pages earned roughly 2,000 interactions per post with video, less than half of the 4,200 interactions per post with video earned in 2020. Ideologically nonaligned pages earned roughly 1,800 interactions per post with video in 2021, slightly less than the 2,000 interactions per post with video in 2020.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing media outlet The Epoch Times earned significant engagement on seemingly innocuous videos, which can be a bridge to more extreme content</font></b></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of the top 100 posts from right-leaning Facebook pages this year, 53 were native videos from two Facebook pages affiliated with right-wing media outlet The Epoch Times, which has often spread pro-Trump conspiracy theories alongside its affiliate New Tang Dynasty (NTD). Its Facebook pages The Epoch Times and Trending World by The Epoch Times have roughly 15 million combined followers, and these 53 videos earned over 82 million interactions.</font></span></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Between January 1 and September 21, the two pages posted nearly 20,000 times, and 62% of those posts featured links. Links to articles from the right-wing media outlet included pro-Trump talking points, misleading and false COVID-19 and vaccine information, election misinformation, misleading information about the January 6 insurrection, and anti-Biden talking points.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Notable posts with sensational and false content from The Epoch Times include:</font></b></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Epoch Times_facebook post_20210923</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Epoch Times_facebook post_20210107_2</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Epoch Times_facebook post_20210107_3</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Epoch Times_facebook post_20210918</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Epoch Times_facebook post_20210502</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the majority of posts from these two Facebook pages included links, nearly all of their interactions -- over 195 million, or more than 95% of total engagement -- were earned on posts with videos (<b>native videos,</b> live videos, and YouTube videos). In fact, seven of the top 20 posts from all political and news-related pages during the same time frame were seemingly innocuous videos from The Epoch Times’ two pages. These videos earned hundreds of millions of views. However, these videos can easily lead users to more extreme content from The Epoch Times, including misinformation, if they follow links in other posts on the pages.</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trending World by The Epoch Times_facebook video_20210615</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over 3.7 million interactions and 39 million views</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trending World by The Epoch Times_facebook video_20210720</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over 3.5 million interactions and 78 million views</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Epoch Times_facebook video_20210629</font></div><div times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" style="font-family: "><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over 3.4 million interactions and 93 million views</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ggl alert 621</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><span style="white-space:pre"> </span></div><div>FDA Warns People With Seafood Allergies Not to Eat Cicadas</div><div>The Epoch Times</div><div>Marc Morano, author of the book “Green Fraud: Why the Green New Deal is Even Worse Than You Think,” said in a March interview with Epoch TV's ...</div><div>Twitter<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>Flag as irrelevant</div><div>Green Obsession: NYT Tells Home-Buyers to Add 'Climate Hazards' to Checklist</div><div>NewsBusters</div><div>It's too bad that Climate Depot Founder Marc Morano already laid this claim to rest in a recent statement. He said, “Global temperatures have been ...</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">falun gong</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.ntd.com/climate-agenda-trojan-horse-for-socialism-marc-morano_695815.html">https://www.ntd.com/climate-agenda-trojan-horse-for-socialism-marc-morano_695815.html</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ntd?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">medieval warming babble</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> // lockdown punishment for not obeying wearing mask, paul ehrlich pop scare</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">sov limit treaty; nothing cop26 wd help; ~ greta monbiot overthrow capitalism degrowth movement, GND decimate carbon energy, higher electric rates, make ppl pooer, come up w/ liberal programs, subsidies, gov't give out regular cheecks, so those ppl will vote for liberal gov't, increased reg, regulate all you do, only wealthy can fly and go to beach; fr bans short flights;, control all aspects of life</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Marc Morano, a former congressional staffer and publisher of Climate Depot, told NTD that the new <a href="https://www.ntd.com/climate.htm" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 1; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; max-width: 100%;">climate</a> change policies are are an effort to sell <a href="https://www.ntd.com/socialism.htm" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 1; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; max-width: 100%;">socialism</a> under the guise of saving the planet.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">more dep on china slave labor minerals; env impact of rare eaerth?; force enrgy in dirty poor country; cold kills more than heat...china makes solor that us gov't reg to buy, coal pant/wk, energy dominant tno more wars; begging opec and russia, virtue signaling;  UK use power only when avail, want more chaos --> more control; fauci, gates/soros $; consp theory > consp reality</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px calc(24px);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NTD stands for New Tang Dynasty. The name is inspired by the legacy of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.), which is considered the golden age of Chinese civilization.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px calc(24px);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Where is NTD headquartered?</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px calc(24px);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NTD is an international television network that is headquartered in New York City.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.2; margin: 0px 0px calc(24px);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What is NTD’s history?</font></h2><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px calc(24px);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NTD was founded in 2001 by Chinese-born Americans who fled communist repression in their homeland. They saw how the media there was used as a weapon against the people, and conversely how crucial independent media was to a free society. They created NTD as an antidote to that censorship, as well as to be an independent voice in a media landscape controlled by corporate interests.</font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">[ali Alexander and other "Stop the Steal" activists at Dec. 15, 2020 press conference (Image from </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">NTD livestream p</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">osted on </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Epoch Times YouTube channel</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: 700;">.)</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-weight: 700;">
</span></font></div><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="at-above-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/stop-the-steal-activists-demand-congressional-republicans-give-election-to-trump-threaten-retaliation-if-they-dont/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Right-wing activists who falsely insist that President Donald Trump won reelection held a press conference Tuesday to talk about their path forward after Electoral College votes cast in every state Monday formally affirmed Joe Biden’s presidential win. The activists threatened to unseat congressional Republicans who do not go along with their demands to object to certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“Stop the Steal” organizers <b>Ali Alexander and Ed Martin </b>were joined by Arizona state Sen. Anthony Kern, political strategist Alexander Bruesewitz (who is also working with the Stop the Steal campaign), and two Republican electors from Michigan who unsuccessfully attempted to crash the official count at their state capitol on Monday.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“Trump did win this election,” said Kern, claiming that it is being “stolen from the American people.” He said that if Republican members of Congress do their jobs, Trump will serve for another four years.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“We are being gaslit,” Alexander said. “This is a<b> psychological operation on the American people, and patriots are standing up</b> to say, ‘Enough of this.’”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>“The constitutional process has not been exhausted,” </b>said Alexander, who had previously announced that Rep. Mo Brooks, R-AL, would object to House certification of the Electoral College vote in January. On Tuesday, he said six other members of the House had agreed to join Brooks and that Stop the Steal activists are pressuring the 126 House Republicans who supported the Texas attorney general’s failed lawsuit to join the effort to disrupt the certification.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Alexander has previously threatened that pro-Trump activists would <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/ali-alexander-vows-to-burn-down-the-gop-if-it-doesnt-stop-the-steal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">“burn it all down”</a> if the Republican Party fails to stand with Trump in his effort to stay in power. That threat was a major theme of Tuesday’s press conference. Speakers slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for referring to Joe Biden as the president-elect and for reportedly urging Republican senators not to support the effort to challenge the election outcome.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Brusewitz, identified as CEO of X Strategies, </b>called McConnell’s remarks a “disgrace” and was blunt about plans to go after Senate Republicans who fail to stand with Trump until the bitter end. He claimed to have spoken with “many billionaires” who he said are willing to fund primary challenges in 2022. He warned McConnell—who Republican incumbents will be relying on for campaign cash—that the 2022 primary season would be “very expensive.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We are going to primary everyone who has said anything awful about exercising our constitutional options,” </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Alexander said. And he said</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> grassroots pro-Trump activists will “take on” the Republican National Committee by seeking to replace party officials, beginning with upcoming state conventions.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Martin, who also heads the Phyllis Schlafly Eagles</b>, warned that the GOP would ignore the grassroots at its own peril, a remark seconded by one of the Michigan activists, who declared, “This is Trump’s party.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In response to a reporter’s question about whether Trump had been undermined by members of his own team, Alexander said that one day a book will be written about the betrayals of Trump from within the White House and the RNC.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alexander, who <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/ecumenical-pro-trump-cult-of-personality-brings-extremism-to-national-mall/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">combined forces with right-wing religious leaders and activists</a> to host last Saturday’s pro-Trump “prayer rally” on the National Mall, declared that Stop the Steal is “a spiritual movement.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“Our hope is in Christ. Our hope is in God. And our hope is in the founding documents, the Constitution that we must continue to exhaust,” he said.</font></p><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/stop-the-steal-activists-demand-congressional-republicans-give-election-to-trump-threaten-retaliation-if-they-dont/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags:</span> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/alex-bruesewitz/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Alex Bruesewitz</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/ali-alexander/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Ali Alexander</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/anthony-kern/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Anthony Kern</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/ed-martin/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Ed Martin</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/christian-nation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Christian Nation</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/disinformation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Disinformation</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/election-2020/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Election 2020</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/republican-party/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Republican Party</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/stop-the-steal/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Stop the Steal</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/phyllis-schlafly-eagles/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Phyllis Schlafly Eagles</a></font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/stop-the-steal-activists-demand-congressional-republicans-give-election-to-trump-threaten-retaliation-if-they-dont/">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/stop-the-steal-activists-demand-congressional-republicans-give-election-to-trump-threaten-retaliation-if-they-dont/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-epoch-times-urges-trump-to-take-decisive-emergency-actions-to-deter-attack-on-election/">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-epoch-times-urges-trump-to-take-decisive-emergency-actions-to-deter-attack-on-election/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The influential right-wing Epoch Times and its “sister” media outlet NTD released a “<a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/2020-election-investigation-who-is-stealing-america_3617562.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">documentary</a>” this week that urges President Donald Trump to take “decisive emergency actions” to resist the outcome of the 2020 elections. “Who’s Stealing America?” claims that the election is being stolen from Trump by an “<b>extensive attack” from the Chinese government and its allies in the U.S.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“President Trump has the authority to exercise the powers granted by the Constitution,” says Joshua Phillip, an Epoch Times reporter and the film’s narrator. “Decisive emergency actions are necessary to deter this extensive attack.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Then, in an apparent effort to goad Trump into action, the film cuts to a clip of Trump remarking, “We will not be tyrannized. We will not be demeaned. And we will not be intimidated by bad, evil people. It will not happen.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Following that clip, Philipp declares, “Defending the Constitution, defending the foundation of democracy that defines America is the duty of the American president, of very government official, and of every American citizen, no matter whether destructive attacks are foreign or domestic.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The film was released just as Electoral College votes cast Monday formally affirmed Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. It echoes the calls of former national security adviser <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/pro-trump-attorney-lin-wood-and-pardoned-michael-flynn-call-for-trump-to-declare-martial-law/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Michael Flynn</a>, Oath Keepers’ leader <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/oath-keepers-stewart-rhodes-repeats-demand-that-trump-declare-martial-law-to-avoid-militia-led-civil-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Stewart Rhodes</a>, and pro-Trump attorney <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/pro-trump-attorney-lin-wood-and-pardoned-michael-flynn-call-for-trump-to-declare-martial-law/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Lin Wood</a> for Trump to declare martial law rather than concede.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The movie unquestioningly promotes right-wing mythologies around a “stolen election” that have grown up around anecdotes and false claims that have been repeatedly rejected in court.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Epoch Times, a newspaper created by supporters of the Falun Gong religious movement that has been persecuted by the Chinese government, has become “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/technology/epoch-times-influence-falun-gong.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">a giant influence machine</a>,” in the words of the New York Times, by aggressively promoting right-wing misinformation.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As the Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/24/technology/epoch-times-influence-falun-gong.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> in October, “Today, The Epoch Times and its affiliates are a force in right-wing media, with tens of millions of social media followers spread across dozens of pages and an online audience that rivals those of The Daily Caller and Breitbart News, and with a similar willingness to feed the online fever swamps of the far right.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The rise of Epoch Times and its call for Trump to take “emergency actions” rather than admit defeat help explain why so many Republicans believe Trump’s claims about “rigged” and “stolen” elections despite those claims being rejected time and time again by judges—including Trump’s own Supreme Court justices.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">In the film, Philipp refers to other moments in U.S. history when presidents took extraordinary actions, notably mentioning George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and appeals to Trump’s self-image by noting that those actions “are still remembered today.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b style="">The so-called documentary </b>builds up to its call for “decisive emergency action” by repeating a range of already-debunked allegations and conspiracy theories about how the election was supposedly stolen from Trump by software algorithms, voter fraud, and corrupt poll workers and government officials.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The film shows security footage from a vote counting center in Georgia that right-wing conspiracy theorists have portrayed as a “smoking-gun” video. But <a href="https://www.gpb.org/news/2020/12/04/fact-checking-rudy-giulianis-grandiose-georgia-election-fraud-claim" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">numerous</a> <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/joewalsh/2020/12/04/no-atlanta-didnt-count-ballots-in-secret-or-in-suitcases/?sh=6a90ae9ee5a4" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">media</a> and <a href="https://factcheck.afp.com/georgia-video-ballots-suitcases-does-not-show-election-fraud" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">fact-checking</a> sites have long since <a href="https://www.factcheck.org/2020/12/video-doesnt-show-suitcases-of-illegal-ballots-in-georgia/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">debunked</a>  <a href="https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/dec/04/facebook-posts/no-georgia-election-workers-didnt-kick-out-observe/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">claims</a> that the video shows election workers engaging in fraud.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One of Philipp’s star witnesses is “data analyst” Matt Braynard, who makes quite a few claims about illegal votes he supposedly identified. Earlier this month, Braynard was <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/heres-what-happened-when-a-georgia-lawmaker-scrutinized-the-trump-campaigns-list-of-allegedly-illegal-votes/2020/12/10/1400d628-3b06-11eb-bc68-96af0daae728_story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">publicly humiliated</a> by Georgia state Rep. Bee Nguyen, who calmly eviscerated his claims about Georgia voters.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Amazingly, another of Philipp’s interviewees is Melissa Carone, whose allegations were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/03/melissa-carone-michigan-trump-giuliani-election/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">rejected by a judge</a> in November as “not credible.” Carone’s appearance at a Dec. 2 hearing held by Michigan legislators was so off-the-rails that it was <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF3WtrPDmHU" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">immortalized</a> by Saturday Night Live’s Cecily Strong.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>The Epoch Times video delves into the ownership of Dominion Voting Systems. George Soros is mentioned, of course. And there’s also a reference to a mysterious deal Joe Biden supposedly made with Serbian hackers.</b></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The film also gives a shout-out to the Jericho March and Stop the Steal rallies that have been mobilized to support Trump’s stolen-election claims. Philipp calls on viewers to take a stand.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The 2020 U.S. election is no longer a contest between two parties, nor a contest between Trump and Biden,” Philipp says. “It is a <b>battle between traditional values and communism</b>, a battle <b>between good and evil.</b> We are not bystanders. We all play a role.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">As the film ends, this text appears on the screen: “At this critical moment, Americans need to come together to take a stand against fraud and in favor of truth, to<b> choose freedom over communism, and good over evil. Share this video with everyone you know.”</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Who’s Stealing America?” had been shared from the Epoch Times website more than 50,000 times as of Thursday afternoon.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Update</span>: Oath Keepers, whose leader has <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/oath-keepers-stewart-rhodes-repeats-demand-that-trump-declare-martial-law-to-avoid-militia-led-civil-war/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">warned</a> of right-wing militias leading a bloody civil war if Trump doesn’t assert his powers as commander-in-chief to overturn the election results, is <a href="https://oathkeepers.org/2020/12/2020-election-investigative-documentary-whos-stealing-america/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">promoting</a> “Who’s Stealing America” on its website.</font></p><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-epoch-times-urges-trump-to-take-decisive-emergency-actions-to-deter-attack-on-election/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;"><div class="tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags:</span> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/joshua-philipp/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Joshua Philipp</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/disinformation/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Disinformation</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/election-2020/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Election 2020</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/epoch-times/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Epoch Times</a></font></p></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-qanon-general-tracing-the-rise-fall-and-rebirth-of-michael-flynn/">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-qanon-general-tracing-the-rise-fall-and-rebirth-of-michael-flynn/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx vid twt</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>The QAnon General: Tracing the Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of Michael Flynn</b></div><div>By Karim Zidan | December 18, 2020 </div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>RETIRED ARMY GEN. Michael Flynn was speaking to a crowd of unmasked Trump loyalists on the steps of the Supreme Court when Marine One flew overhead, soliciting cheers from the delighted audience. Flynn—a special guest speaker at the Dec. 12 rally—stopped mid-sentence and stood in awe of the helicopter while the crowd attempted to sing the national anthem.</div><div>
</div><div>“That’s pretty cool,” said Flynn, who served as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser for 22 days before resigning and eventually pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador. “Imagine just being able to jump in a helicopter and just go for a joy ride around Washington.”</div><div>
</div><div>The retired Army lieutenant general continued where he left off, echoing unfounded allegations that Trump lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden because of widespread voter fraud. He called for “fair, transparent counts,” demanded that Americans get the “truth,” and called out the “media” for its supposed censorship of that truth.</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>“We’re waging a battle,” Flynn told the raucous crowd.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Flynn’s remarks came a day after the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit from Texas that sought to overturn Biden’s wins in Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. Despite the judicial decision, Flynn encouraged the crowd to have faith in their president and to seek out “avenues” to challenge the results of the election, insisting that the “courts aren’t going to decide who the next president of the United States is going to be. We the people decide.”</div><div>
</div><div>“In this crucible moment of our time, we have to pray that truth triumphs over lies, justice triumphs over abuse and fraud, honesty triumphs over corruption,” Flynn said. “Our sacred honor triumphs over infamy.”</div><div>
</div><div><b>After concluding his speech, the disgraced general, who has since been pardoned by Trump, stopped to enjoy his growing fandom among Trump loyalists. He smiled as the crowd chanted “Fight like Flynn” and was even chased by ravenous fans who screamed “We love you, general!” before being stopped by his bodyguards.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Despite Flynn’s unceremonious exit from Trump’s administration in 2017, the retired general remained popular with fringe corners of Trump’s loyal fanbase, including adherents of the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory<b>. For years, Flynn has been an important component of the QAnon community, a portion of whom believe he holds pivotal secrets about the so-called “deep state.</b>” His recent presidential pardon reinvigorated their conspiracy theories and validated his status as a hero to their cause—a cause that the general appears to have embraced himself.</div><div>
</div><div>“Flynn Facts”</div><div> </div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">IN JULY 2016, Michael Flynn delivered a fiery speech at the Republican National Convention targeting Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over her handling of top secret information. After calling Clinton “weak,” “spineless,” and “reckless,” Flynn led chants of “Lock her up” with the crowd in attendance.</span></div><div>
</div><div>“Yeah, that’s right; lock her up,” Flynn said while clapping into the microphone.</div><div>
</div><div>Less than seven months later, Flynn was dismissed from his post as Trump’s national security adviser shortly after The Washington Post revealed that the general had spoken to the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, about sanctions between the two nations, and had later lied to the FBI about the conversation with Kislyak. Flynn continued to deny the accusations in the days leading up to his firing on Feb. 13, 2017.</div><div>
</div><div>Two months later, acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified to a Senate Judiciary panel that she believed “Gen. Flynn was compromised with respect to the Russians.”</div><div>
</div><div>“To state the obvious, you don’t want your national security adviser compromised by the Russians,” Yates, who was later fired for refusing to defend Trump’s travel ban, added.</div><div>
</div><div><b>By Nov. 30, 2017, Flynn had signed a plea agreement with special counsel and former FBI Director Robert Mueller, in which he acknowledged lying to the FBI about his sanctions conversation with Kislyak. Then, on Dec. 1, Flynn pleaded guilty and began cooperating with the special counsel’s investigation into the Kremlin’s interference in the 2016 election.</b></div><div>
</div><div><b>“I recognize that the actions I acknowledged in court today were wrong, and, through my faith in God, I am working to set things right,”</b> Flynn said in a statement that day. “My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions.”</div><div>
</div><div>Flynn’s plea agreement was a significant development in the Russia probe at the time. The retired lieutenant general was one of Trump’s top advisers during the 2016 presidential campaign. <b>Though a registered Democrat, Flynn campaigned for Trump and attacked Clinton, even going so far as to accuse her and her aides of child-sex trafficking. Ironically, his son, Michael Flynn Jr., lost his job as one of Trump’s aides after posting similar tweets involving the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Flynn’s political tenure began long before Trump was campaigning for the U.S. presidency. In 2012, President Barack Obama promoted Flynn to director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, elevating him to one of the most powerful positions in U.S. military intelligence. <b>During his time as head of the DIA, U.S. intelligence officials became concerned by Flynn’s contacts in Moscow. According to the New York Times, Flynn also made baseless assertions about Islam—he once incorrectly claimed that Islamic law, known as Shariah, is spreading in the United States—which his subordinates have labeled “Flynn Facts.” He was dismissed by Obama in 2014 and retired from the U.S. Army after 33 years of service later that year.</b></div><div>
</div><div>Michael Flynn seated two seats down from Vladimir Putin at RT gala in Moscow, Russia (Credit: Wikicommons)]</div><div>
</div><div>Following his retirement, Flynn founded the Flynn Intel Group Inc, a consulting agency that provided intelligence services for governments. In 2015, he attended a gala for the Russian state-owned RT media company in Moscow, Russia, where he was seated two seats down from Russian President Vladimir Putin and was paid $45,000 to give a talk during the event. <b>Then, during the 2016 presidential campaign, it was revealed that Flynn was paid more than $500,000 to represent the interests of the Turkish government</b>. While he did not work directly for the Turkish government, the firm that hired him is owned by a Turkish-American businessman with ties to Erdogan’s government. <b>Flynn also failed to file paperwork registering as a foreign agent</b>.</div><div>
</div><div>Despite his past role as a foreign agent and lobbyist for foreign interest in the U.S., when QAnon—a far-right, pro-Trump conspiracy theory that claims a cabal of elite pedophiles consisting of Hollywood actors, Democrats, and high-ranking officials are behind a global child sex-trafficking ring—was born was internet message boards in 2017, the retired general was seen as an ally to the cause. When he was being investigated by the FBI, many QAnon adherents expected him to be exonerated of all alleged crimes in the Russia probe. His delayed sentencing on several occasions only helped fuel the conspiracy theories regarding his innocence.</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>By July 2019, Flynn fired the attorneys who helped negotiate his plea agreement and hired Sidney Powell, a QAnon supporter</b> who would later become known for filing the infamous “Kraken” lawsuit alleging widespread election fraud in the 2020 election. (Read Right Wing Watch’s in-depth reporting on Sidney Powell here). At Powell’s urging, Flynn moved to withdraw his guilty plea, citing a breach in the plea agreement, and further proclaiming his innocence. Then, following pressure from Trump who called for the charges against Flynn to be dropped, the Department of Justice filed motions to dismiss the case. The motion was then put on hold by the federal judge overseeing the case as he reviewed the request.</div><div>
</div><div>Despite the snag, Flynn would soon be a free man, ready to assume his figurative role as the QAnon general.</div><div>
</div><div>The Digital Soldiers [interesting grafix]</div><div>
</div><div><b>“IT IS MY Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,” Trump tweeted on Nov. 25, 2020. “I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!”</b></div><div>
</div><div>The move had been expected. Trump had hinted back in March that he was “strongly considering” pardoning Flynn, despite the fact that the retired general had not yet been sentenced. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The pardon was met with criticism from Democrats—Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it “an act of grave corruption and a brazen abuse of power” in her official statement—while Trump loyalists celebrated the decision to save a man they viewed as a political casualty. Even the White House described Flynn as an “innocent man” and the “victim of partisan government officials engaged in a coordinated attempt to subvert the election of 2016.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the weeks that followed, <b>Flynn underwent a strategic public relations campaign, which included appearances on Fox News and the right-wing Epoch Times,</b>public speeches (as seen at the Jericho March on Dec. 12), and even a few radio hits on “The Dan Bongino Show,” among others. His aim was not only to rehabilitate his own public image, but to stand in vehement opposition to Biden’s imminent presidency.</span></div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During media appearances, Flynn repeated baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud and Dominion Voting Systems, citing his lawyer Sidney Powell’s “Kraken” lawsuits. He alleged that “thousands” of Americans have come forward with grievances and proof regarding voter fraud and that transparency is required to ensure the sanctity of the election process. During a recent appearance on Fox News (his third since being pardoned), Flynn suggested that Americans will “not allow” Biden’s inauguration to go ahead in January 2021</span>.</div><div>
</div><div>Flynn also encouraged Americans to boycott the upcoming Georgia Senate runoffs, despite the fact that the winners will help determine which party will control the Senate. “We have to get the last election right before we start talking about any other runoff election like they are down in Georgia. That’s a falsehood that people shouldn’t even be considering right now,” he said.</div><div>
</div><div>While much of Flynn’s arguments are rooted in references to QAnon-linked conspiracy theories, the former three-star general has also pandered to the group by appearing on podcasts hosted by QAnon influencers. During a Dec. 4 appearance on “<b>The Matrixxx Groove Show,” a podcast that claims to have the “most red-pilled audience” and is popular within the QAnon community,</b>  Flynn revealed that the show’s “listeners have inspired us and allowed us to fight the deep, deep corruption that we face in our government.”</div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>“The digital army that we have is unstoppable,” Flynn continued. “The digital soldiers that we have are committed, dedicated servants of our country.”</b></div><div>
</div><div>This is not the first time that Flynn has referenced the term “digital soldiers.” The general first used the term during a <b>November 2016 speech to the Young America’s Foundation,</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">where he bragged about being the general of an “army of digital soldiers” that waged an “insurgency” to “take over” information and the media. The term has since been adopted by QAnon adherents, many of whom view themselves as digital soldiers fighting against the forces of the so-called deep state.</span></div><div>
</div><div>Flynn has continued to reference digital soldiers during media appearances and on social media—it is one of the main hashtags on his Twitter bio, along with <b>#TakeTheOath, which is also a reference to QAnon.</b> During his interview with “<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Matrixxx Groove Show,” he referred to digital soldiers as the “largest law firm in the world” because they would “enlighten the people of this country and also the tactical legal team that we have, eventually led by America’s guardian angel of justice, Sidney Powell.”</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>To close out his appearance on the show, Flynn hinted that he is on the run from the deep state, “I’m on the move. I gotta make sure I’m a moving target because these son-of-a-guns, they’re after me, in a literal and a figurative sense at some time.</b>”</div><div>
</div><div>The general’s deepening ties to QAnon have been apparent for several months now, well before he was pardoned in November. On Independence Day, Flynn posted a video of himself alongside members of his family reciting the QAnon slogan “<b>Where we go one we go all,” making Flynn the most prominent former U.S. official to publicly stoke QAnon.</b></div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Michael Flynn taking QAnon oath with family members (Credit: screenshot)]</div><div>
</div><div>Flynn’s overt show of support to the QAnon movement has only helped energize a community that has been struggling to stay on message in the wake of Trump’s election loss and Q’s limited drops. While QAnon adherents would have preferred to see Flynn exonerated instead of pardoned, as the latter suggests guilt, they have used the pardon as a sign that thing are going according to plan.</div><div>
</div><div>“Any anons apart from myself getting goosebumps now that Flynn is free?” an admin of a QAnon channel with thousands of subscribers asked on Nov. 28. (Anon refers to anonymous users.)“My whole body is in goosebumps.”</div><div>
</div><div>“I am anxious to see Gen. Flynn in action,” another replied.</div><div>
</div><div><b>The lionization of Flynn within the QAnon movement emphasizes his importance to the movement. For QAnon adherents, the idea that a three-star lieutenant general and former high-ranking U.S. official supporting their community validates their efforts and proves that the deep state exists</b>. When he refers to them as digital soldiers, he is exciting the countless QAnon followers who feel compelled to take matters into their own hands and legitimizing their undertaking.</div><div>
</div><div>QAnon meme referencing digital soldiers (Credit: Telegram) band of bros]</div><div>
</div><div><b>The QAnon community was further electrified on Dec. 1 when Flynn retweeted a call for Trump to temporarily suspend constitutional order and declare martial law to have the U.S. military oversee a new presidential election—a topic that had been popular within QAnon circles in the weeks following the Nov. 3 election</b>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One QAnon follower in a private QAnon channel called for martial law after stating that Americans have “no Supreme Court, no DOJ, no FBI to protect us from the Government,” while another suggested that worldwide martial law would “fix” the “fucking fake Media.”</span></div><div>
</div><div>Not only is Flynn an important figure within the QAnon conspiracy theory, he is also a key proponent of the movement. His willingness to pander to the dangerous far-right conspiracy theory, encourage its adherents to continue tumbling down their rabbit holes, and promote totalitarian militaristic policies such as martial law raises concerns about his potential to further radicalize Trump loyalists ahead of Biden’s inauguration.</div><div>
</div><div>After spending 33 years as a decorated combat veteran who retired from the military with three stars, Flynn has now assumed the role he seems to have long dreamed of: the star general leading a digital army in service to Q.</div><div>
</div><div>Tags: Barack Obama Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Lin Wood Michael Flynn Robert Muller Sidney Powell conspiracy theories Deep State Pizzagate QAnon</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/nbc-executive-chris-kitze-became-a-boss-at-epoch-times-pro-trump-outlet"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.thedailybeast.com/nbc-executive-chris-kitze-became-a-boss-at-epoch-times-pro-trump-outlet</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">This article was co-published with <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://responsiblestatecraft.org/" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">Responsible Statecraft</a>.</font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A former NBC executive who founded one of the earliest—and more successful—fake news websites quietly assumed a leadership role at <em style=""><a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hedge-fund-man-behind-pro-trump-medias-new-war-on-china" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">The Epoch Times</a></em> as the news outlet ramped up its pro-Trump messaging after the 2016 election.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Epoch’s influential role as a Trump-friendly media outlet coincided with access to Trump allies seeking friendly interviews, uncritical coverage of the administration’s policies, and a venue to advance the <a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-claims-he-has-evidence-coronavirus-started-in-chinese-lab-but-you-cant-see-it" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">White House’s militant anti-Beijing</a> and hyper-nationalist messages.</font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That change in direction—which included a flood of omnipresent YouTube ads costing at <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/technology/epoch-times-youtube.html" data-ml-dynamic="true" data-ml-dynamic-type="vg" data-orig-url="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/technology/epoch-times-youtube.html" data-ml-id="0" data-ml="true" data-xid="fr1591721388478bhf" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">least $1 million</a>, and a ban from Facebook for violating the platform’s rules about political advertising—appears to have occurred alongside the 2017 arrival of a new vice president at <em style="">The Epoch Times</em>, Chris Kitze, and huge jumps in the paper’s revenue from $3.8 million in 2016 to $8.1 million in 2017 and $12.4 million in 2018. </font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Kitze, who now manages a</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> cryptocurrency hedge fund, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">was listed as a member of the six-person board of the The Epoch Times Association, the nonprofit that operates </span><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Epoch Times</em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">as a vice president in 2017 and 2018 tax documents. But Kitze’s ties to </span><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Epoch Times </em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">go back much further than 2017 and point to a mutually beneficial relationship. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Since 2010, Kitze’s company, BeforeItsNews.com, an early fake news site that promoted <a class="TrackingLink LinkWrapper" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-is-still-a-birther" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">conspiracy theories about then-president Barack Obama</a> and offered extensive coverage of Trump’s insurgent candidacy in 2016, promoted Falun Gong—a spiritual movement that is persecuted by the Chinese government and has the stated goal of destroying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—and <b><em style="">The Epoch Times</em>; meanwhile, Falun Gong-linked media properties quietly promoted Kitze’s other business ventures, <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/social-messaging-system-promises-ultra-secure-privacy_179470.html" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">including Unseen</a>, an encrypted messaging platform.</b></span></font></p><section class="Fancylinks" data-nosnippet="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/molly-jong-fast" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/molly-jong-fast" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/molly-jong-fast" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/molly-jong-fast" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/molly-jong-fast" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/molly-jong-fast" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;">Molly Jong-Fast</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h4></div></div></div></div></div></li></ul></section><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Chris Kitze’s career spans countless internet ventures and well-timed exits from companies across two tech bubbles</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. His</span><a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriskitze" data-ml-dynamic="true" data-ml-dynamic-type="vg" data-orig-url="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriskitze" data-ml-id="1" data-ml="true" data-xid="fr1591721388479bfb" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> LinkedIn profile</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> shows an impressive career starting in 1991 with the founding of Acris Media, a company selling clipart on CD-ROMs, a stint as the VP of Marketing at the early search engine Lycos from 1995 to 1996 (“I led the Lycos marketing team through one of the first internet IPOs,” says Kitze on LinkedIn) and founding and serving as chairman of free-website company Xoom.com, leading to a merger with NBC Internet (NBCi).</span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kitze served as CEO of NBCi, NBC’s initiative to create an NBC controlled internet portal and landing page, from 1999 to 2000. Kitze’s post-NBC activities include serving as CEO of Yaga, a filesharing network, serving as chairman of Wine.com before pivoting his attention to a number of blockchain- and cryptocurrency-related companies five years ago.</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kitze’s public resume contains at least two noticeable omissions: the 2008 formation of BeforeItsNews.com and Kitze’s appointment as a VP at <em style="">The Epoch Times </em>and membership on the paper’s board starting in 2017.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">beforeItsNews.com</span><a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090126033449/http:/beforeitsnews.com/" style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" transparent="transparent" transition="transition" color="color" s="s" ease="ease"> appears</a><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"> </span><span style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">to have begun operations in early 2009, shortly after Obama’s inauguration and, at launch, directly attacked the news media’s treatment of Obama, referencing then-MSNBC-pundit Chris Matthew’s March 2008 comment about how “I felt this thrill going up my leg” when Obama spoke.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">BeforeItsNews.com’s “about” page<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090129082352/http:/www.beforeitsnews.com/node/1" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> read</a>:</font></font></font></p><div class="BlockQuote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left: 1px solid rgb(240, 6, 6); box-sizing: border-box; left: calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2); margin: 40px 0px; padding-left: 32px; position: relative; width: calc(112px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 8);"><div class="BlockQuotequote" style="line-height: 29.5px;"><div class="Mobiledoc"><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Something strange happened during the 2008 U.S. election. The news media came down with a bad case of amnesia — they forgot exactly what it was they were supposed to be doing. Instead of asking critical questions of those running for office, they went out of their way to "get a tingle up their leg" for some candidates, or to ignore the constitutional requirements of the political office.</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We wanted to present a point of view that didn't seem to exist in the mainstream media. One that is hopeful, yet realistic, based on the natural law of truth, compassion and tolerance.</font></font></font></p></div></div></div><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">What that meant in practice was the rapid production of enormous quantities of user contributed news articles, wide dissemination on social media, and no editorial oversight or fact-checking.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The website encourages anyone to contribute articles, advertising itself as a “news utility—an internet platform that enables the hosting and distribution of any kind of news, worldwide.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It will get out through all the major search engines,” says the current “<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/about/" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">about</a>” page.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Conspiracy theories about Obama’s birth certificate, UFOs, the New World Order, and imminent economic and societal collapse all made the front page of BeforeItsNews.com.</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A 2017<em> Guardian</em> <span style="transition-duration: 0.15s; transition-property: color;">article</span> guk ]on Facebook’s failures to address the dissemination of fake news on its platform specifically mentioned Kitze and BeforeItsNews.com:</font></font></font></p><div class="BlockQuote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left: 1px solid rgb(240, 6, 6); box-sizing: border-box; left: calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2); margin: 40px 0px; padding-left: 32px; position: relative; width: calc(112px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 8);"><div class="BlockQuotequote" style="line-height: 29.5px;"><div class="Mobiledoc"><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chris Kitze, who runs BeforeItsNews.com, said that although he allows users to post any content without fact-checking, he hasn’t noticed Facebook tagging any of his site’s articles as fake news. That includes a recent piece <a href="https://www.snopes.com/obama-white-house-muslim/" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">debunked by Snopes</a> claiming to include <a href="https://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2017/05/jaw-dropping-shame-to-america-leaked-pictures-of-obamas-white-house-residence-will-make-you-sick-video-3509034.html" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">leaked photos</a> showing how Obama practiced Islam in the White House.</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“A lot of people think Obama is Muslim. That’s what it plays on. Is it real? I don’t know,” he said. “The fact is a lot of people thought it was real or it reflects their sentiment.”</font></font></font></p></div></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alongside publishing a steady flow of factually questionable content, Kitze, BeforeItsNews.com, and Epoch appear to have enjoyed a thriving relationship with <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/contributor/stories/?uid=172" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">over 20,000</a> <em>Epoch Times</em> articles appearing on the site between 2010 and 2012.</font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kitze’s involvement with Falun Gong was detailed in an <em style="">Epoch Times </em>article published<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/an-american-business-owners-journey-with-falun-dafa_1484012.html" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> in June 2012</a>, in which he described coming across Falun Gong practitioners in New York’s Times Square in 2005 and, remembering that encounter, educating himself in the movement and practicing its meditation techniques two years later.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group’s persecution in China—the Chinese government banned Falun Gong and prohibits practice of the movement’s exercises in public and the dissemination of its written material—and freedom of participating in an activity defying the Chinese government clearly resonated with Kitze.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/an-american-business-owners-journey-with-falun-dafa_1484012.html" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"><em>The Epoch Times </em>explained</a> that Kitze was drawn to Falun Gong’s openness and participants’ voluntary decision to practice and study the movement. </font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Kitze said this may be why the Chinese communist regime was so afraid of Falun Gong that it launched a brutal campaign of hate and persecution against some 100 million practitioners, starting a decade ago in the country where the practice originated” said The Epoch Times. “Because it’s in your heart and mind—that’s something no government could ever control, that’s one reason why a totalitarian regime would oppose it,” Kitze told the paper.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Matthew Tullar, who served as director of circulation at <em>The Epoch Times</em> from 2012 to 2014 and director of sales and marketing from 2015 to 2016, recalled Kitze speaking to Epoch advertising salespeople at a 2012 San Francisco seminar. </font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“While I was already familiar with the fact that the Chinese Communist Party was officially persecuting Some [sic] 100 million Falun Gong practitioners in China and that the leftist media [...] was strangely ignoring this story, even to this day, that included over 75 Communist government hospitals busy murdering thousands of these people every year since the early two thousands, to harvest and sell their body parts to U.S. and other world customers,” wrote Tullar in an email. </font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Mr. Kitze was the first business guy I had ever met that was dedicating a significant part of his business profits and effort to exposing these facts. He struck me as a kind and genuine person who cared about his fellow man,” said Tullar. “While my understanding of and experience with him was limited, I was nonetheless inspired by his effort and compassion. And his presentation turned out to be useful as well.”</font></font></font></p><section class="Fancylinks" data-nosnippet="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><ul class="Fancylinkslist" style="list-style: none; margin: 40px auto; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; transform: translateX(-16px); width: calc(32px + 100%); box-shadow: rgba(2, 20, 32, 0.17) 0px 0px 4px;"><li class="FancylinksItem" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(2, 20, 31, 0.2); padding: 16px 16px 16px 24px;"><div class="FancylinksItemcontainer" style="display: flex; flex-direction: row;"><div class="FancylinksItemleft" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; justify-content: center; width: calc(64px + ((100% - 112px) / 8) * 5);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hedge-fund-man-behind-pro-trump-medias-new-war-on-china" style="background-color: transparent; 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transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hedge-fund-man-behind-pro-trump-medias-new-war-on-china" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hedge-fund-man-behind-pro-trump-medias-new-war-on-china" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-hedge-fund-man-behind-pro-trump-medias-new-war-on-china" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">The Hedge Fund Man Behind Pro-Trump Media’s New War on China</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h3><div class="Rubric Rubric--tilted" style="position: relative; text-transform: uppercase;"><div class="Rubriccontent" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-stretch: normal; border-left: 1px solid rgb(240, 6, 6); border-right: 1px solid rgb(240, 6, 6); display: inline-block; line-height: 18px; padding: 0px 6px; position: relative; z-index: 1; transform: rotate(-3deg);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">CASH IN</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div></div><div class="FancylinksItembottom-left" style="display: flex; flex-direction: column;"><div class="FancylinksItemauthor" style="font-weight: 700; line-height: 20px; margin-top: 12px;"><div class="DEPRECATEDByline DEPRECATEDByline--horizontal DEPRECATEDByline--small" style="display: inline-flex; flex-flow: row wrap; white-space: pre;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><h4 class="DEPRECATEDBylineauthor-name" style="letter-spacing: initial; margin: 0px; line-height: 16px; text-transform: capitalize; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></font></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000" /></font></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/eli-clifton" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;">Eli Clifton</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h4></div></div></div></div><div class="FancylinksItemright" style="align-items: center; display: flex; justify-content: flex-end; margin-left: 16px; width: calc(32px + ((100% - 112px) / 8) * 3);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div></li></ul></section><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><em style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Epoch Times </em><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">has always maintained a hawkish editorial tone towards China but that line took on a more overtly partisan and focused U.S. political message over the course of the Trump presidency, pushing a steady onslaught of articles and videos labeling </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the novel coronavirus “CCP Virus” and advancing <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.abc10.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/verify-unsolicited-paper-spreads-outlandish-covid-claims/103-9290495e-a501-44fa-b7df-0bb0e385328b" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">a series</a> of thinly reported or unsubstantiated theories about vast Chinese government cover-ups to hide the origins of COVID-19.</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><section class="Fancylinks" data-nosnippet="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractors-report-on-wuhan-lab-origins-of-coronavirus-is-bogus" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractors-report-on-wuhan-lab-origins-of-coronavirus-is-bogus" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractors-report-on-wuhan-lab-origins-of-coronavirus-is-bogus" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractors-report-on-wuhan-lab-origins-of-coronavirus-is-bogus" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractors-report-on-wuhan-lab-origins-of-coronavirus-is-bogus" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractors-report-on-wuhan-lab-origins-of-coronavirus-is-bogus" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractors-report-on-wuhan-lab-origins-of-coronavirus-is-bogus" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;" /><a class="TrackingLink FancylinksItemlink" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/pentagon-contractors-report-on-wuhan-lab-origins-of-coronavirus-is-bogus" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">Busted: Report on ‘Wuhan Lab’ Origins of Virus Is Bogus</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h3><div class="Rubric Rubric--tilted" style="position: relative; 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display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-cartwright" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;">Lachlan Cartwright</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h4></div></div></div></div><div class="FancylinksItemright" style="align-items: center; display: flex; justify-content: flex-end; margin-left: 16px; width: calc(32px + ((100% - 112px) / 8) * 3);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div></li></ul></section><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The paper’s<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://epochtimes.today/editorial-there-is-a-cure-for-the-chinese-communist-party-pneumonia-say-no-to-the-ccp-2/" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> editorial board</a> even went so far as to claim, “If someone is unfortunately infected with the CCP virus, we suggest that he or she sincerely says ‘down with the CCP.’ Maybe a miracle will happen.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Staying away from the CCP and condemning the CCP can help any individual, organization, or country alleviate or even avoid attacks of the CCP virus,” the ed board added. “They may then embrace a wonderful future.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over the course of the Trump presidency, Epoch emerged as a prolific pro-Trump media outlet.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When Facebook banned the Epoch Media Group from buying ads in August 2019, it later said the news outlet spent <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-says-pro-trump-media-outlet-used-artificial-intelligence-create-n1105951" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">over $9 million</a> on ads, including approximately 11,000 pro-Trump Facebook advertisements, more than any other organization other than the Trump campaign.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Epoch denied the ads were purchased by <em>The Epoch Times </em>but Facebook said Epoch evaded the company’s transparency rules for political advertising <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://about.fb.com/news/2019/12/removing-coordinated-inauthentic-behavior-from-georgia-vietnam-and-the-us/" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">and</a> “repeatedly violated a number of our policies, including our policies against coordinated inauthentic behavior, spam and misrepresentation, to name just a few.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Epoch’s pivot toward Trump appears to have coincided with the ramp up of BeforeItsNews.com’s drumbeat of pro-Trump articles, and Kitze’s conspiracy theories.</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“[BeforeItsNews] was one of the first news websites to really cover Donald Trump and his candidacy in a serious manner and, you know, we took him seriously,” Kitze told a conspiracy oriented podcast, The Common Sense Show, in <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPy6Fk_XY3U&feature=youtu.be&t=1599" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">July 2016</a>. “We didn’t think he was just some flash in the pan.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2017, the alliance between Kitze and Epoch became official, when Kitze joined Epoch’s board as a vice president in 2017—an association that is listed nowhere on Epoch’s website, Kitze’s online social media profiles, or in a<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://epochtimes.today/a-positive-cycletech-entrepreneur-chris-kitze-builds-his-businesses-on-a-spiritual-foundation-his-latest-being-the-fast-growing-cryptocurrency-flash-coin/" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> 2018 profile</a> on him in the newspaper. His continued promotion of disproven or baseless conspiracy theories is seemingly in contradiction with<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/about-us" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> Epoch’s</a> “dedicat[ion] to truthful reporting.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Meanwhile, Kitze kept elevating the strangest of right-wing conspiracy theories. In a 2018</span><a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://youtu.be/9vHTA9sF2eE?t=1617" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> appearance</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> on the Common Sense Show, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kitze referenced the alleged “<b>organ harvesting” of Falun Gong practitioners in China, explaining that he believed they were also being used for “satanic” ritual purposes “as we’ve just seen in the U.S. with all the Pizzagate things.”</b></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kitze’s reference to Pizzagate is particularly jarring as it came a year and a half after a man with an assault rifle was arrested outside a pizza restaurant in Washington D.C. attempting to investigate online conspiracy claims that a pedophile ring was operating in the restaurant’s basement with the help of Bill and Hillary Clinton.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kitze went on to echo<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/immigration-border-crisis/experts-cast-doubt-dhs-claim-traffickers-are-posing-families-border-n885241" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> a largely debunked</a> assertion made by the Trump administration about child trafficking on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying:</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><div class="BlockQuote" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-left: 1px solid rgb(240, 6, 6); box-sizing: border-box; left: calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2); margin: 40px 0px; padding-left: 32px; position: relative; width: calc(112px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 8);"><div class="BlockQuotequote" style="line-height: 29.5px;"><div class="Mobiledoc"><p style="line-height: 29.5px; margin: 0px;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All these kids coming across the border, these ones all the Democrats were up in arms about, you know, ‘how can you separate the families?’. Fifty-percent of them aren’t even with their family. They’re being trafficked and God knows where these poor kids are going to end up.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div></div></div><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2019, Kitze appeared on the same show to discuss, among other topics, a conspiracy theory involving the Clintons selling “all of the U.S. secrets” to China. “The Clintons had asked for $1 trillion but [the Chinese] got a deal and only had to pay the Clintons $900 billion,” <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A50_dKoQtvA&feature=youtu.be&t=2310" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">said Kitze</a>, referencing reporting in <em style="">The Epoch Times</em> Chinese language edition.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since forming BeforeItsNews, Kitze focused heavily on privacy-related products, including Unseen, a now shuttered secure messaging platform, and founding the cryptocurrency Flashcoin, <b>both of which were featured in a<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://epochtimes.today/a-positive-cycletech-entrepreneur-chris-kitze-builds-his-businesses-on-a-spiritual-foundation-his-latest-being-the-fast-growing-cryptocurrency-flash-coin/" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> glowing 2018 profile</a> in <em>The Epoch Times</em> that made no reference to his role as an officer in the organization.</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kitze also serves as chairman of the Alphabit Fund, a <b>Dubai and Cayman Islands </b>based cryptocurrency fund aiming to<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-alphabit-funds-digital-currencies/new-global-fund-to-raise-300-million-for-digital-currency-investments-idUSKBN17N276" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> raise $300 million</a> that<a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cryptocurrency-at-t-lawsuit/us-investor-sues-att-for-224-million-over-loss-of-cryptocurrency-idUSKBN1L01AA" style="transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;"> Reuters described</a> in 2018 as “one of the world’s largest digital currency funds</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.”</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><section class="Fancylinks" data-nosnippet="" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); 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flex-flow: row wrap; white-space: pre;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><h4 class="DEPRECATEDBylineauthor-name" style="letter-spacing: initial; margin: 0px; line-height: 16px; text-transform: capitalize; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font color="#000000" /></a><font color="#000000"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></font></font></font></font></font></a><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;" /><a class="TrackingLink DEPRECATEDBylineauthor" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/lachlan-markay" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lachlan Markay</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></h4></div></div></div></div></div></li></ul></section><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alphabit’s co-founder and managing director, <a class="LinkWrapper LinkWrapper--external" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/saeed-hareb-al-darmaki-193b82158/" data-ml-dynamic="true" data-ml-dynamic-type="vg" data-orig-url="https://www.linkedin.com/in/saeed-hareb-al-darmaki-193b82158/" data-ml-id="2" data-ml="true" data-xid="fr1591721388480ajc" style="background-color: transparent; transition: color 0.15s ease 0s;">Saeed Al Darmaki</a>, worked for over eight years at <b>Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, </b>Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, raising questions about whether Alphabit has state backing. Kitze did not respond to a request for comment about the investors in Alphabit, his responsibilities as a vice president at Epoch or his current relationship with BeforeItsNews.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Epoch, for its part, offered incomplete and contradictory answers about Kitze’s role at the news organization.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px 0px 16px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Dana Cheng, a spokesperson for <em>The Epoch Times</em>, responded to questions about Kitze’s involvement, saying, “Mr. Kitze had limited involvement with The Epoch Times more than 7 years ago,” adding,  “There is no relationship between The Epoch Times and any of Mr. Kitze’s endeavors, including beforeitsnews."</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 31px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px calc(32px + ((100% - 176px) / 12) * 2);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cheng appeared to contradict her statement about Kitze’s involvement with Epoch more than seven years ago when questioned about his appearance on tax filings in the 2017 and 2018 tax years. “Yes, he was a board member in 2017 and 2018, with minimal involvement,” said Cheng, adding, “He is not a board member nor a VP now.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-cpac-everything-is-socialism-and-the-only-solution-is-more-trump/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-cpac-everything-is-socialism-and-the-only-solution-is-more-trump/</font></a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Interviewing EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler</b> at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland, Fox News contributor Lawrence Jones mused, “This is an anti-socialism conference, but there has to be an alternative, administrator, to the people that want socialism.” At this year’s CPAC, it seemed the only prescription put forward was voting for four more years of President Donald Trump in the White House.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div class="mce-content-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Last year, CPAC was <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/03/02/cpac-democratic-socialism/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">explicitly committed</a> to formulating effective ways to combat what American Conservative Union chair Matt Schlapp dubbed “creeping socialism.</b>” This year’s conference was <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156718/cpac-2020-donald-trump-socialism" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">similarly committed</a> to sounding the alarm against a socialist resurgence supposedly inching closer to the heart of power in Washington, exemplified in Democratic presidential frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders’ victories in early Democratic primary states. Attendee badges bore the tagline “America vs. Socialism,” and numerous main stage panels were devoted to the topic.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sanders has <a title="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/12/18661708/bernie-sanders-definition-democratic-socialism-explained" href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/12/18661708/bernie-sanders-definition-democratic-socialism-explained" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">called himself</a> a democratic socialist for years while advocating for increases to the federal minimum wage, the expansion of social welfare programs, and the nationalization of healthcare. The organization Democratic Socialists of America <a title="https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/" href="https://www.dsausa.org/about-us/what-is-democratic-socialism/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">describes</a> its agenda as one that believes “both the economy and society should be run democratically.” The United States already has <a title="https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/big-bad-socialism-america-already-has-wildly-popular-socialist-programs-and-even-trump-worshiping-right-wingers-love-them/" href="https://www.rawstory.com/2020/02/big-bad-socialism-america-already-has-wildly-popular-socialist-programs-and-even-trump-worshiping-right-wingers-love-them/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">several</a> popular socialist programs, including Social Security and Medicare, and public attitudes about socialism have <a title="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/25/stark-partisan-divisions-in-americans-views-of-socialism-capitalism/" href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/25/stark-partisan-divisions-in-americans-views-of-socialism-capitalism/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">been shifting</a>. </font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Socialism, we believe, gets to the very core of violating the dignity of the individual human being that has God-given rights,” Schlapp <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/156718/cpac-2020-donald-trump-socialism" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> Thursday.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">On CPAC’s main stage this year, every Democrat was a socialist, and socialism was a threat to the very essence of America. To save it, conservatives need to ensure that Trump is reelected president.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Vice President Mike Pence <a href="https://twitter.com/jaredlholt/status/1233092471523086336?s=20" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">told</a> CPAC attendees that “there are no moderates in this Democratic field” of presidential candidates that every Democratic candidate running—despite any stated policies—embraces Sanders’ “socialist agenda.”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> It was important, Pence said, for conservatives to renew Trump’s 2019 State of the Union </span><a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/02/05/trump_america_will_never_be_a_socialist_country_we_were_born_free_and_we_shall_stay_free.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">declaration</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">: “America will never be a socialist country.” Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee abided Pence’s demand, declaring on a panel Thursday that conservatives were “going to help stamp out socialism forever.”</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">During a </span><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-cpac-ivanka-trump-and-larry-kudlow-paint-democrats-as-economic-threat/?fbclid=IwAR2GtvP7MmI2BJ5YkE0GmZ-fdJCJvH5x9VfLIQ_W9u7Ehf7l0gfnexJEbaI" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">conversation</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> with </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Schlapp Friday, Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said that socialism was a far bigger threat to the American economy than even the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/world/coronavirus-news.html" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">coronavirus</a>, which had just sent the stock market into its <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets/wall-street-rout-continues-seventh-day-dow-falls-800-points-n1144791" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">worst week</a> since 2008</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“The virus is not going to sink the American economy. What is or could sink the American economy is the socialism coming from our friends on the other side of the aisle,” Kudlow said.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">[twet]</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>kudlow was joined in his warning by other Trump administration officials, including Department of Veterans Affairs Sec. Robert Wilkie, who warned that socialism would leave veterans neglected.</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Socialism in America will kill the promise that Abraham Lincoln made … that we would take care for those who have bore the battle and for the widows and the orphans. If socialism ever comes to America, that sacred promise will be destroyed, and our warriors will go to the back of the lines,” Wilkie told CPAC, echoing growing <a title="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/sandy-rios-backs-trumps-civil-war-warning-its-reality/" href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/sandy-rios-backs-trumps-civil-war-warning-its-reality/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">civil war rhetoric</a> on the right. </font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Charlie Kirk, founder and president of the youth conservative organization Turning Point USA, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/get-deathly-serious-charlie-kirk-warns-cpac-that-bernie-sanders-has-real-chance-to-win-presidency" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">warned</a> conservatives that communism was spreading across college campuses across the United States and that via Sanders, socialism has a real chance to succeed in America.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“I want every conservative activist to get your laughs out of the way and your mockery out of the way and get deathly serious,” Kirk said. “Because we should not do what the left did in 2016 and dismiss an outsider populist candidate.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Former White House Deputy Assistant Sebastian Gorka agreed with Kirk.</b> “America needs to wake up. America needs to understand the reality of the threat that this November could come to fruition,” he said in his speech Saturday. He went on to attack Sanders’ advocacy for implementing universal healthcare in America.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“Didn’t Bernie have a heart attack? Did he go to Venezuela to get treatment? Did he go to Cuba or Canada? Did he go to Canada? Of course he didn’t! He got treated here. Why? Because he wanted to live, that’s why,” Gorka said.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Dale Bellis, President Emeritus of Liberty HealthShare, vowed to do what he could to never allow America to experience the “ravages of socialism in healthcare.” People who advocate Medicare for All plans don’t actively seek to replicate the Soviet Union, he said, but “however you slice it, the end result is still the same.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Bellis said that socialism is “immoral” and “strips human dignity and the value of the individual,” that it “assaults the very foundation of our individual freedom as creators created by God,” and that it is “antithetical” to fundamental human rights.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Right-wing news commentator Mark Levin criticized the <a href="https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/394679-democratic-socialists-of-america-see-membership-spike-after" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">increasingly</a> popular democratic socialism movement, rhetorically asking, “how do you have democratic socialism when socialists hate democracy? You get one vote, they get in power, then they destroy everything.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Levin stressed the need for conservatives to “crush” Sanders and “his little Marxist army” in 2020. Echoing Pence’s statements, Levin said that of the Democratic field of candidates, there was “not a moderate among them."</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">twt]</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Right-wing conspiracy theorist Glenn Beck opened the stage Saturday by claiming that Sanders and his supporters were leading a revolution that “will result in death and misery</b>,” as <a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/glenn-beck/cpac-glenn-beck-says-bernie-sanders-revolution-will-lead-another-holocaust" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Media Matters</a> documented.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Another Holodomor. Or another Holocaust. Or whatever we call the next great socialist atrocity,” Beck said. He later added, “They’re armed with pipe bombs, Molotov cocktails, and guns. They are here for revolution.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Joshua Philipp of the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/trump-qanon-impending-judgment-day-behind-facebook-fueled-rise-epoch-n1044121" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">reportedly</a> Falun Gong-tied outlet Epoch Times was hosted on stage, where he warned that socialism was designed to destroy peoples’ religion, morals, and culture while on the path to implementing communism.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“It is about attacking and destroying your values, your culture, your ideas, and the foundations of your society,” Philipp said.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><b>Rick Harrison of “Pawn Stars” fame took a brief round of questions from the audience and put the threat of socialism simplistically.</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“It’s not a bad thing having a lot of money,” Harrison said. “All your leftist friends would love to have a lot of money; they just don’t want anyone else to have it.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">But Republican U.S. Senate candidate John James, who is running to unseat Democratic Sen. Gary Peters in Michigan, contrasted many speakers at CPAC by cautioning that it would not simply be enough for Republicans to run on the message “socialism sucks.” The 2020 election, James said, is not about “beating Bernie,” and he wanted to be “crystal clear” that the audience should not underestimate the appeal of socialism “for those whom the status quo has failed.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">“For us to defeat socialism, for us to save a generation, we can’t just say ‘socialism sucks’ and assume that people will follow us. Stuck Americans don’t want socialism, they just want the pain to stop.” James said. “It’s up to us to offer a remedy that works.”</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some conversations about socialism were also less serious. Conservative pundit Jesse Kelly took to the stage for a skit styled after ”The Daily Show” called “Socialist News Network,” with a CNN-inspired logo, that bore little resemblance to socialist thought in the United States. Kelly parodied praise of figures like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Joe Biden, both of whom socialists broadly hold critical views of. In the CPAC exhibition hall, a booth played a <b>socialism versus capitalism <a href="https://youtu.be/QwqnRYPcrl0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">rap battle video</a>.</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/at-cpac-everything-is-socialism-and-the-only-solution-is-more-trump/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags:</span> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/charlie-kirk/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Charlie Kirk</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/dale-bellis/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Dale Bellis</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/gary-peters/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Gary Peters</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/glenn-beck/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Glenn Beck</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/jesse-kelly/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Jesse Kelly</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/larry-kudlow/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">larry Kudlow</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/mark-levin/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Levin</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/marsha-blackburn/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Marsha Blackburn</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/matt-schlapp/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Matt Schlapp</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/mike-pence/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Mike Pence</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/rick-harrison/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Rick Harrison</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/robert-wilkie/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Robert Wilkie</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/sebastian-gorka/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Sebastian Gorka</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/cpac-2020/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">CPAC 2020</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/election-2020/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Election 2020</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/socialism/" style="box-sizing: border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">socialism</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>