rightwingwatch--2020-09-10--Trump Rallies His Base With List of Right-Wing Ideologues He Will Consider for Supreme Court

President Donald Trump released a list of potential nominees for future Supreme Court vacancies Wednesday , returning to a 2016 campaign strategy that proved popular with right-wing leaders .
In 2016 , religious-right leaders used Trump ’ s pledge to give them an anti-choice Supreme Court as justification for telling conservative Christians who may have had qualms about supporting the amoral Trump that they needed to vote for him anyway .
This year ’ s list is also heavy with judges who are right-wing ideologues , but it includes a new feature designed to excite right-wing activists : the inclusion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wing of the GOP , Ted Cruz , Tom Cotton , and Josh Hawley .
The three senators—more familiar to right-wing activists than any judge or law professor—were highlighted in a Trump campaign email  Wednesday and in a tweet from Trump campaign lawyer and Liberty University Falkirk Center fellow Jenna Ellis : Anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ leaders jumped in to praise Trump ’ s list .
The Family Research Council ’ s Tony Perkins celebrated the “ generational impact ” of Trump ’ s court picks .
The Christian Broadcasting Network rounded up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s latest Supreme Court list is filled with all-stars , ” stated Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser .
“ The list reflects the president ’ s firm and proven commitment to only nominating Supreme Court justices who will respect the Constitution and the inalienable right to life.
” Alliance Defending Freedom President Michael Farris stated , “ Any judge or justice should interpret the Constitution faithfully , which means protecting the right to life and the right to peacefully speak , live , and work consistent with one ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to appoint justices committed to doing just that.
” While Hawley responded to the announcement by saying he wasn ’ t interested in serving on the court , Cotton tweeted , “ It ’ s time for Roe v. Wade to go , ” earning cheers from the Heritage Foundation ’ s anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice Ryan Anderson : Meanwhile , Ted Cruz took the opportunity to plug his new book about the Supreme Court .
In announcing his list , Trump unconvincingly cloaked his catalog of anti-healthcare , anti-equality , anti-choice potential nominees @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Every one of these individuals will ensure equal justice , equal treatment , and equal rights for citizens of every race , color , religion , and creed , ” he said at the White House Wednesday .
“ Together , we will defend our righteous heritage and preserve our magnificent American way of life.
” Trump also returned to the fearmongering rhetoric that is increasingly marking his campaign : If this extreme movement is granted a majority on the Supreme Court , it will fundamentally transform America without a single @ @ @ @ @ @ @ erase the Second Amendment , silence political speech and require taxpayers to fund extreme , late-term abortion .
They will give unelected bureaucrats the power to destroy millions of American jobs .
They will remove the words ‘ under God ’ from the Pledge of Allegiance .
They will unilaterally declare the death penalty unconstitutional , even for the most depraved mass murderers .
They will erase national borders , cripple police departments , and grant new protections to anarchists , rioters , violent criminals , and terrorists .

President Donald Trump released a list of potential nominees for future Supreme Court vacancies Wednesday, returning to a 2016 campaign strategy that proved popular with right-wing leaders.
In 2016, religious-right leaders used Trump’s pledge to give them an anti-choice Supreme Court as justification for telling conservative Christians who may have had qualms about supporting the amoral Trump that they needed to vote for him anyway.
This year’s list is also heavy with judges who are right-wing ideologues, but it includes a new feature designed to excite right-wing activists: the inclusion of three U.S. senators from the far-right wing of the GOP, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Josh Hawley.
The three senators—more familiar to right-wing activists than any judge or law professor—were highlighted in a Trump campaign email  Wednesday and in a tweet from Trump campaign lawyer and Liberty University Falkirk Center fellow Jenna Ellis:
If anyone doubts President @realDonaldTrump’s commitment to pro-life and defending the right to life for every child made in God’s image and religious freedom, his list of Supreme Court nominees including @HawleyMO, @SenTomCotton, and @tedcruz should make it CRYSTAL CLEAR!! ❤ — Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) September 9, 2020
Anti-choice and anti-LGBTQ leaders jumped in to praise Trump’s list. The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins celebrated the “generational impact” of Trump’s court picks.
The Court, because of its generational impact, will be a major part of @realDonaldTrump’s legacy. This list has some stellar options for the next 4 years. No doubt another point of contrast with Biden/Harris, if they dare release a list. List: https://t.co/FnuTfYQbUh https://t.co/66OZSFdzSz — Tony Perkins (@tperkins) September 10, 2020
The Christian Broadcasting Network rounded up some right-wing reaction:
“President Trump’s latest Supreme Court list is filled with all-stars,” stated Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “The list reflects the president’s firm and proven commitment to only nominating Supreme Court justices who will respect the Constitution and the inalienable right to life.” Alliance Defending Freedom President Michael Farris stated, “Any judge or justice should interpret the Constitution faithfully, which means protecting the right to life and the right to peacefully speak, live, and work consistent with one’s religious beliefs. The president has promised to appoint justices committed to doing just that.”
While Hawley responded to the announcement by saying he wasn’t interested in serving on the court, Cotton tweeted, “It’s time for Roe v. Wade to go,” earning cheers from the Heritage Foundation’s anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice Ryan Anderson:
The Court, because of its generational impact, will be a major part of @realDonaldTrump’s legacy. This list has some stellar options for the next 4 years. No doubt another point of contrast with Biden/Harris, if they dare release a list. List: https://t.co/FnuTfYQbUh https://t.co/66OZSFdzSz — Tony Perkins (@tperkins) September 10, 2020
Meanwhile, Ted Cruz took the opportunity to plug his new book about the Supreme Court.
Am humbled & deeply honored to be on President Trump’s SCOTUS list, released today. I spent this Summer writing a book on the Supreme Court, telling the inside story of how our constitutional liberties hang in the balance, One Vote Away. PRE-ORDER here: https://t.co/CspAgcr7yO — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 9, 2020
In announcing his list, Trump unconvincingly cloaked his catalog of anti-healthcare, anti-equality, anti-choice potential nominees in the rhetoric of justice and equality. “Every one of these individuals will ensure equal justice, equal treatment, and equal rights for citizens of every race, color, religion, and creed,” he said at the White House Wednesday. “Together, we will defend our righteous heritage and preserve our magnificent American way of life.”
Trump also returned to the fearmongering rhetoric that is increasingly marking his campaign:


rightwingwatch--2020-09-10--Josh Bernstein Says 90 Percent of Professional Athletes ‘Are Absolutely Criminal Thugs’

Radical right–wing commentator Josh Bernstein appeared on the “ Ringside Politics ” radio program last Thursday , where he declared that 90 percent of professional athletes are “ absolute criminal thugs ” who would be in prison if they weren ’ t good at sports .
Host Jeff Crouere was outraged that New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees had the name of Jacob Blake on his helmet during a recent practice .
Blake is a Black man left partially paralyzed after being shot by police in Kenosha , Wisconsin , an incident that set off nationwide protests .
Crouere was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sports leagues are supporting Black Lives Matter , and Bernstein thought he knew why that is happening .
“ Let ’ s say the truth , ” Bernstein said .
“ Most people in professional sports , at least 85 to 90 percent of them , are absolute criminal thugs , OK ?
That ’ s why they call it the National Felons League , OK ?
And the bottom line is they cater to felons .
They believe in the felon lifestyle , in the thug lifestyle .
So , basically you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know , basically the types of folks that get into crime and drugs , and if they couldn ’ t bounce a ball , if they couldn ’ t shoot a ball , if they couldn ’ t throw a ball , catch a ball , block , run , pass , or kick , they ’ d be in prison , OK ?
That ’ s the reality of the situation .
”

Radical right–wing commentator Josh Bernstein appeared on the “Ringside Politics” radio program last Thursday, where he declared that 90 percent of professional athletes are “absolute criminal thugs” who would be in prison if they weren’t good at sports.
Host Jeff Crouere was outraged that New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees had the name of Jacob Blake on his helmet during a recent practice. Blake is a Black man left partially paralyzed after being shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, an incident that set off nationwide protests. Crouere was angry that the NFL and other professional sports leagues are supporting Black Lives Matter, and Bernstein thought he knew why that is happening.
“Let’s say the truth,” Bernstein said. “Most people in professional sports, at least 85 to 90 percent of them, are absolute criminal thugs, OK? That’s why they call it the National Felons League, OK? And the bottom line is they cater to felons. They believe in the felon lifestyle, in the thug lifestyle. So, basically you have these people that are, you know, basically the types of folks that get into crime and drugs, and if they couldn’t bounce a ball, if they couldn’t shoot a ball, if they couldn’t throw a ball, catch a ball, block, run, pass, or kick, they’d be in prison, OK? That’s the reality of the situation.”


rightwingwatch--2020-09-10--QAnon Conspiracy Theorist Liz Crokin Complains That Her Critics Have Made Her Life ‘Hell’

Right-wing “ journalist ” and Trump–worshiping conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin posted a video on YouTube last night , complaining that her Shopify account had been shut down , which she said was just the latest attempt by her enemies to destroy her life .
Crokin is a prominent QAnon conspiracy theorist who regularly promotes truly outrageous claims about celebrities and Democrats supposedly being involved in harming children as part of a massive Satanic pedophile ring .
Crokin had been using her Shopify account to sell QAnon merchandise , but her store was recently banned for violating the platform ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is part of an ongoing campaign to ruin her life .
“ They have done everything in their power to destroy my life , ” Crokin complained .
“ Financially , legal situations , health issues , home security issues , my social life .
They ’ ve slandered me , as you all know , in the media for four years and dozens , if not hundreds , of hit pieces trying to destroy absolutely every area of my life.
” “ They have compromised people in my life that were paid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” she continued .
“ They ’ ve used lawfare , they ’ ve used rogue law enforcement against me .
It ’ s been unbelievable .
… I think it ’ s important for people to understand what someone like me goes through for speaking the truth .
My life has been hell .
It has been miserable actually for the past four years , and I do it because it ’ s the right thing to do .
I care about this movement .
I care about the kids , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this movement and children .
And as bad as my life has gotten , I just can ’ t not fight for these kids.
” “ Taking me off Twitter , getting me fired from all my jobs in the mainstream media , taking down my Shopify account , hacking into all my emails , my social media accounts , harassing me , breaking into my home , you name it , ” Crokin continued .
“ This is all about not silencing Liz Crokin , it ’ s about silencing the voices @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voice for these victims , and when they attack me , they ’ re actually attacking these children .
”

Right-wing “journalist” and Trump–worshiping conspiracy theorist Liz Crokin posted a video on YouTube last night, complaining that her Shopify account had been shut down, which she said was just the latest attempt by her enemies to destroy her life.
Crokin is a prominent QAnon conspiracy theorist who regularly promotes truly outrageous claims about celebrities and Democrats supposedly being involved in harming children as part of a massive Satanic pedophile ring. Crokin had been using her Shopify account to sell QAnon merchandise, but her store was recently banned for violating the platform’s terms of service, which she says is part of an ongoing campaign to ruin her life.
“They have done everything in their power to destroy my life,” Crokin complained. “Financially, legal situations, health issues, home security issues, my social life. They’ve slandered me, as you all know, in the media for four years and dozens, if not hundreds, of hit pieces trying to destroy absolutely every area of my life.”
“They have compromised people in my life that were paid to work for me, protect me,” she continued. “They’ve used lawfare, they’ve used rogue law enforcement against me. It’s been unbelievable. … I think it’s important for people to understand what someone like me goes through for speaking the truth. My life has been hell. It has been miserable actually for the past four years, and I do it because it’s the right thing to do. I care about this movement. I care about the kids, and I just feel very passionate about this movement and children. And as bad as my life has gotten, I just can’t not fight for these kids.”
“Taking me off Twitter, getting me fired from all my jobs in the mainstream media, taking down my Shopify account, hacking into all my emails, my social media accounts, harassing me, breaking into my home, you name it,” Crokin continued. “This is all about not silencing Liz Crokin, it’s about silencing the voices for the children. I am a voice for these victims, and when they attack me, they’re actually attacking these children.”


rightwingwatch--2020-09-10--The Post Millennial: The Latest Canadian Outlet Serving Rage Bait to Far-Right America

A Canadian web publication called The Post Millennial is gaining traction among far-right American audiences .
It has all the dressings of a standard news website—a sleek interface , a masthead , a prominently displayed code of ethics—but the content , following themes popular among far-right audiences , strays far from what any standard news site would produce .
The Post Millennial was founded in 2017 by Canadians Matthew Azrieli , the grandson of billionaire real estate mogul David J. Azrieli , and entrepreneur Seyed Ali Taghva , who left the publication under uncertain circumstances this summer .
Despite lacking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the duo sought to create a scrappy outlet that could compete with major news sources , pitching itself to potential readers as “ Your Reasonable Alternative.
” Three founding staff leaders are also associated with a now-defunct outlet called The Nectarine , according to Canadian news site CANADALAND .
Many of the articles published on The Post Millennial are comprised of aggregated content from press releases , social media posts , and the very news sources the site claims it wants to be challenging .
Few articles contain additional reporting and are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of far-right social media rage bait .
The Post Millennial regularly publishes attacks on journalists , defenses of President Donald Trump from his leading sycophants , and inflammatory smears toward causes the modern far-right movement perceives as anathema , like racial justice , LGBTQ equality , and anti-fascism .
The site ’ s coverage mixes its far-right outrage fuel with articles that read like sponsored content , like a July article that celebrated the return of an ice cream promotion at McDonalds .
The outlet ’ s masthead carries a skeleton crew of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it relies on contributors and freelance writers for “ a significant amount of the site ’ s content.
” The outlet is home to right-wing propagandist Andy Ngo , who rose to fame in conservative audiences fear-mongering about Muslims and later anti-fascist street demonstrators .
Libby Emmons , senior editor at The Post Millennial , recently appeared on Fox News host Tucker Carlson ’ s primetime television program to attack school districts in the United States for teaching children about systemic racism and the role it played in the country ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employees at The Post Millennial , including Ngo and contributing editor Ian Miles Cheong .
Although The Post Millennial is headquartered in Canada , web analytical tools SimilarWeb and Alexa accessed September 2020 indicate that most of the outlet ’ s web traffic is U.S.-sourced .
At the time of publication , The Post Millennial carried about 76,400 followers on Facebook , 46,300 on Twitter , 12,600 on Instagram , and 11,300 on YouTube .
Despite its modest digital following for a news outlet , the content on its website has been increasingly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ States .
The site is rooted among a crop of similar right-wing Canadian outlets that have injected themselves in American politics , such as the far-right outlet Rebel Media , and far-right Canadian commentators who have transplanted themselves into American political discourse , like Lauren Southern , Gavin McInnes , and Stefan Molyneux .
Emails and Twitter direct messages requesting interviews with nine current and former staff at The Post Millennial went unanswered at the time of publication .
The Post Millennial Mixes With the Far-Right The Post Millennial ’ s crossover with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
An early hire at the outlet was editor Cosmin Dzsurdzsa , who brought with him a resume that included stints at Free Bird Media and Russia Insider—websites that publish racist and pro-Kremlin propaganda—Canada ’ s National Observer reported in 2019 .
Confronted with National Observer ’ s original reporting on the hire ,  Azrieli declined to tell the paper how the decision to hire Dzsurdzsa was made and chalked up the paper ’ s reporting on Dzsurdzsa ’ s prior employment as “ claims of guilt by association that are spurious @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Taghva echoed that sentiment , calling the reporting “ gross and unworthy of publication.
” About a month after National Observer published its findings , The Post Millennial parted ways with Dzsurdzsa and told National Observer that Dzsurdzsa had worked for the site as a copy editor .
Dzsurdza ’ s current Twitter bio begs to differ—he lists himself as a former senior editor for The Post Millennial .
According to archives , Dzsurdza published 559 articles for the website in about a year .
CANADALAND reported in 2018 that columnist Barbara Kay @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a quote from Holocaust denier Kevin Alfred Strom that appeared in an anti-Semitic context and that Kay falsely attributed to Voltaire .
Weeks after an employee was notified of the mistake , editors at the site removed the article .
The Post Millennial claimed that it took weeks to remove a Holocaust denier ’ s quote because the person who was originally notified had left for a vacation without notifying editors of the mistake .
And last year , The Post Millennial hired right-wing writer Andy Ngo as an editor-at-large after Ngo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. A Portland Mercury investigation last year revealed that Ngo ’ s chummy relationship with far-right protest group Patriot Prayer included a video of Ngo appearing to listen to Patriot Prayer members plan a violent clash at a bar , which he omitted from his coverage and made no effort to stop .
Shortly after the Portland Mercury ’ s reporting , Ngo ’ s former employer , online magazine Quillette , removed Ngo from its masthead .
Later that year , Ngo joined The Post Millennial as editor-at-large , where he has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by far the outlet ’ s highest profile figure in American media , having appeared on Fox News and testified before the U.S. Congress .
The Post Millennial ran a defense of and a column by racist troll Eoin Lenihan in the summer of 2019 after this reporter wrote about the anti-journalist smear campaign Lenihan conducted with the assistance of right-wing media .
Portraying himself as an extremism researcher , Lenihan attempted to link several journalists to “ antifa ” based on the accounts they followed on Twitter , resulting in a plague @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the hands of far-right figures who treated the assembled catalog as a list of targets .
In Lenihan ’ s column for The Post Millennial , the outlet allowed him to falsely claim that his online history “ was never racist , aimed at immigrants , women or religious minorities ” and to make numerous dubious claims about journalists who exposed his history .
( Disclosure : This writer requested a correction from The Post Millennial after the outlet allowed Lenihan and other authors to publish multiple false statements and characterizations about his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ verify the statements .
The Post Millennial refused to correct even basic factual inaccuracies . )
LGBTQ issues are a frequent topic on The Post Millennial , and the coverage carries a tone that is hostile toward transgender people .
One such article , published by Ngo in July , is titled : “ Trans woman who boasts of having ‘ female penis ’ arrested at Portland Antifa riot.
” The article includes images of the individual that appear to show them pre-transition and uses the individual ’ s dead name .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gender identity , although it provides no explanation for why the publication considers it relevant to the person ’ s arrest .
A Plagiarized Statement of Principles That Appears to Be Rarely Followed CBC/Radio-Canada reported in 2019 that The Post Millennial had published a journalistic ethics policy in late 2018 that appears to be derived from the ethics statements of mainstream outlets .
“ Approximately 75 per cent of the language in the policy is identical to declarations of principles from The New York Times , The Washington Post , The Globe and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ found .
Although The Post Millennial ’ s policy now includes a sentence with a hyperlink directing to The Washington Post ’ s own stated policy , the standards laid out still closely resemble those at most major news organizations .
Regarding fact-checking , it states that reporters are primarily responsible and that all articles are “ put through a rigorous multi-level review process that involves multiple editors.
” The Post Millennial states that its reporters are expected to “ offer rights of reply to key subjects before publication ” in order to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ statements , or public image and that “ articles must document the efforts taken to contact them when they decide or are unable to reply.
” It states that its reporters must be “ forward with their identity and disclose their status as journalists while functioning in an investigative role ” unless operating in a country that is aggressive or violent toward reporters .
But whatever agreement exists is almost immediately undercut by the fact that a senior editor at The Post Millennial has worked under a pseudonym for no discernable reason .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Barrett Wilson ” has made a small niche for himself in right-wing media by claiming to be a “ former social justice warrior ” who experienced an epiphany that made him conservative—but without a name or details , there is simply no way to verify anything he claims about himself .
The editor calling himself Wilson has published more than 300 articles at The Post Millennial under his pen name .
Regarding fact-checking , The Post Millennial also appears to neglect its own stated standards .
The outlet is one of several conservative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ duped into publishing material produced by a Middle Eastern propaganda campaign .
A closer look at The Post Millennial ’ s ensnarement by PressProgress in July found that the article it published , an opinion piece regarding anti-government protesters in Iraq , was attributed to Joseph Labba—a computer-generated persona .
Following this reporting , The Post Millennial yanked Labba ’ s author profile off its site but said it would repost the article with a staff byline .
As PressProgress reported , a close look at Labba ’ s author photo reveals indicators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stories published at The Post Millennial cite unreliable sources to support its claims and some articles contain just a single source to support its claims .
In July , The Post Millennial contributor Cheong recycled a false claim originating from a QAnon conspiracy theorist about a slain Black Lives Matter supporter in Austin , Texas , who was shot and killed at a protest .
The Post Millennial ran an article falsely claiming that the killed BLM supporter had fired a gun first , primarily supported by Cheong ’ s inaccurate tweets—one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The site later issued a correction but reportedly stuck by its framing , insinuating the person who had been shot was to blame for his death .
The Post Millennial has also defended right-wing actors who have been criticized for making false and unsubstantiated claims .
An article the outlet published this year backed disinformer and far-right activist Jack Posobiec after The Daily Beast reported that Posobiec had falsely claimed that crates of pipe bombs were found near the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington , D.C .
In its attempt at a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ produce any proof that The Daily Beast ’ s reporting was inaccurate and that Posobiec had been telling the truth about the bombs. Despite The Post Millennial ’ s statement that its reporters must “ offer rights of reply , ” the policy in action leaves much to be desired .
A column published last week presented what it said was an “ exclusive ” story revealing that Seattle Public Schools had required its staff to attend a virtual presentation on racial equality , intersectionality , and anti-racism .
The Post Millennial ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more interested in indoctrination of their students towards their intersectional and divisive ideology than teaching math , science and accurate history , ” and alleged that people who disagreed with the training “ seemed to be shamed into silence.
” Despite the outlet ’ s stated standards , the article made no mention of efforts to reach SPS or any mentioned staff for comment , and the article relied on anonymous sourcing in its entirety , without conveying to the reader why anonymity was necessary .
In another incident , Portland Mercury news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s presence at a June Portland protest ,  where he was not forward about his identity or role as a journalist as The Post Millennial claims it requires .
Following the tweet , the outlet ran a story attacking Zielinski , claiming that her tweet had “ endangered both Ngo and those around him.
” Zielinski said that she was asked for comment on the stories about her , but that the requests were atypical of standard requests .
She provided RWW a screenshot of one such request from Mia Cathell , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ The questions were always very much like ‘ Do you have a response to us thinking that you ’ re doing a bad job ?
’ ” Zielinski said .
“ It was very accusatory .
… It was more like , ‘ We ’ re coming after you , what do you have to say about that ?
’ ” Even as The Post Millennial grows its readershipand influence , the inner workings of the outlet remain murky .
A 2019 CBC/Radio-Canada investigation found that the outlet suffered from “ poor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political campaigns and “ unanswered questions about its journalistic standards and funding model.
” Jeff Ballingall , founder of the right-wing political advocacy group Ontario Proud , was brought on as The Post Millennial ’ s chief marketing officer in May 2019 , raising questions about the outlet ’ s ties to Canadian conservative political campaigns .
Earlier this year , The Globe and Mail reported that Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Peter MacKay and his lawyer issued a legal notice against The Post Millennial alleging the outlet had published an article @ @ @ @ @ @ @ entirely false and misleading impression to any reader ” regarding MacKay ’ s campaign .
The notice also stated that The Post Millennial failed to disclose in its article that Ballingall was working for MacKay ’ s then-political opponent Erin O ’ Toole .
After O ’ Toole ’ s election win in August , co-founder Taghva tweeted that it was a “ huge night ” for Ballingall , who he said “ effectively led the O ’ Toole digital campaign.
” Additionally , BuzzFeed News reported last year that a then-employee for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Facebook pages promoting conservative politicians and attacking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau , often linking to stories published on The Post Millennial .
 When Ballingall became its chief marketing officer , his hiring announcement reportedly stated that the site had received money from undisclosed “ private investors.
” Azrieli says none of his billionaire family ’ s money is invested in the website , according to the Ryerson Review of Journalism , but the outlet ’ s investors remain unknown .
RWW spoke to representatives of National NewsMedia Council , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ independent third-party between reader complaints and news outlets in Canada , via conference call .
NNMC is funded by its more than 500 member organizations , ranging from major papers to local digital outlets , to act in a hybrid role of public editor and press council , offering judgments regarding journalistic standards and ethics .
News organizations are typically invited to join NNMC , and some apply directly .
NNMC Executive Director Pat Perkel said that The Post Millennial is not a member .
“ We would neither invite The Post Millennial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ joining , ” Perkel said .
“ One of the things we ask is that our potential members have a code of practice or standard of practice or code of ethics that they adhere to , that they make that available to their readers so that their readers can find out what they are doing , and that they adhere to our complaints handling process .
Those are pretty big hurdles for some people—The Post Millennial , for one.
” NNMC said it received two complaints about The Post Millennial pertaining to accuracy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Since The Post Millennial is not an NNMC member , the organization is unable to accept the complaint .
Brent Jolly , director of communications , research , and community management with the NNMC , told RWW that credibility is the currency of news organizations , and that public trust in journalism “ has been eroded significantly by organizations that have begun to mimic journalism in order to espouse a larger social-political belief.
” “ It ’ s one thing to post a code of ethics on a web page or run @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , but it ’ s something completely different to actually internalize it and ensure it ’ s part of your DNA , ” Jolly said .
“ I think very much this is a case where that connection may not be as strong as it in is other trusted news organizations .
”

A Canadian web publication called The Post Millennial is gaining traction among far-right American audiences. It has all the dressings of a standard news website—a sleek interface, a masthead, a prominently displayed code of ethics—but the content, following themes popular among far-right audiences, strays far from what any standard news site would produce.
The Post Millennial was founded in 2017 by Canadians Matthew Azrieli, the grandson of billionaire real estate mogul David J. Azrieli, and entrepreneur Seyed Ali Taghva, who left the publication under uncertain circumstances this summer. Despite lacking experience working at or operating news organizations, the duo sought to create a scrappy outlet that could compete with major news sources, pitching itself to potential readers as “Your Reasonable Alternative.” Three founding staff leaders are also associated with a now-defunct outlet called The Nectarine, according to Canadian news site CANADALAND.
Many of the articles published on The Post Millennial are comprised of aggregated content from press releases, social media posts, and the very news sources the site claims it wants to be challenging. Few articles contain additional reporting and are titled with inflammatory headlines following the themes of far-right social media rage bait. The Post Millennial regularly publishes attacks on journalists, defenses of President Donald Trump from his leading sycophants, and inflammatory smears toward causes the modern far-right movement perceives as anathema, like racial justice, LGBTQ equality, and anti-fascism. The site’s coverage mixes its far-right outrage fuel with articles that read like sponsored content, like a July article that celebrated the return of an ice cream promotion at McDonalds.
The outlet’s masthead carries a skeleton crew of conservative media writers; the outlet states that it relies on contributors and freelance writers for “a significant amount of the site’s content.” The outlet is home to right-wing propagandist Andy Ngo, who rose to fame in conservative audiences fear-mongering about Muslims and later anti-fascist street demonstrators. Libby Emmons, senior editor at The Post Millennial, recently appeared on Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s primetime television program to attack school districts in the United States for teaching children about systemic racism and the role it played in the country’s founding. President Donald Trump has retweeted employees at The Post Millennial, including Ngo and contributing editor Ian Miles Cheong.
Although The Post Millennial is headquartered in Canada, web analytical tools SimilarWeb and Alexa accessed September 2020 indicate that most of the outlet’s web traffic is U.S.-sourced. At the time of publication, The Post Millennial carried about 76,400 followers on Facebook, 46,300 on Twitter, 12,600 on Instagram, and 11,300 on YouTube. Despite its modest digital following for a news outlet, the content on its website has been increasingly shared by far-right actors in the United States.
The site is rooted among a crop of similar right-wing Canadian outlets that have injected themselves in American politics, such as the far-right outlet Rebel Media, and far-right Canadian commentators who have transplanted themselves into American political discourse, like Lauren Southern, Gavin McInnes, and Stefan Molyneux.
Emails and Twitter direct messages requesting interviews with nine current and former staff at The Post Millennial went unanswered at the time of publication.
The Post Millennial Mixes With the Far-Right
The Post Millennial’s crossover with the far-right began shortly after its founding. An early hire at the outlet was editor Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, who brought with him a resume that included stints at Free Bird Media and Russia Insider—websites that publish racist and pro-Kremlin propaganda—Canada’s National Observer reported in 2019.
Confronted with National Observer’s original reporting on the hire, Azrieli declined to tell the paper how the decision to hire Dzsurdzsa was made and chalked up the paper’s reporting on Dzsurdzsa’s prior employment as “claims of guilt by association that are spurious at best and defamatory at worst.” Taghva echoed that sentiment, calling the reporting “gross and unworthy of publication.” About a month after National Observer published its findings, The Post Millennial parted ways with Dzsurdzsa and told National Observer that Dzsurdzsa had worked for the site as a copy editor. Dzsurdza’s current Twitter bio begs to differ—he lists himself as a former senior editor for The Post Millennial. According to archives, Dzsurdza published 559 articles for the website in about a year.
CANADALAND reported in 2018 that columnist Barbara Kay started an article for The Post Millennial with a quote from Holocaust denier Kevin Alfred Strom that appeared in an anti-Semitic context and that Kay falsely attributed to Voltaire. Weeks after an employee was notified of the mistake, editors at the site removed the article. The Post Millennial claimed that it took weeks to remove a Holocaust denier’s quote because the person who was originally notified had left for a vacation without notifying editors of the mistake.
And last year, The Post Millennial hired right-wing writer Andy Ngo as an editor-at-large after Ngo was embroiled in a scandal in the U.S. A Portland Mercury investigation last year revealed that Ngo’s chummy relationship with far-right protest group Patriot Prayer included a video of Ngo appearing to listen to Patriot Prayer members plan a violent clash at a bar, which he omitted from his coverage and made no effort to stop. Shortly after the Portland Mercury’s reporting, Ngo’s former employer, online magazine Quillette, removed Ngo from its masthead. Later that year, Ngo joined The Post Millennial as editor-at-large, where he has since published 18 articles. Ngo is by far the outlet’s highest profile figure in American media, having appeared on Fox News and testified before the U.S. Congress.
The Post Millennial ran a defense of and a column by racist troll Eoin Lenihan in the summer of 2019 after this reporter wrote about the anti-journalist smear campaign Lenihan conducted with the assistance of right-wing media. Portraying himself as an extremism researcher, Lenihan attempted to link several journalists to “antifa” based on the accounts they followed on Twitter, resulting in a plague of harassment for the mentioned reporters at the hands of far-right figures who treated the assembled catalog as a list of targets. In Lenihan’s column for The Post Millennial, the outlet allowed him to falsely claim that his online history “was never racist, aimed at immigrants, women or religious minorities” and to make numerous dubious claims about journalists who exposed his history. (Disclosure: This writer requested a correction from The Post Millennial after the outlet allowed Lenihan and other authors to publish multiple false statements and characterizations about his work without attempting to seek comment or verify the statements. The Post Millennial refused to correct even basic factual inaccuracies.)
LGBTQ issues are a frequent topic on The Post Millennial, and the coverage carries a tone that is hostile toward transgender people. One such article, published by Ngo in July, is titled: “Trans woman who boasts of having ‘female penis’ arrested at Portland Antifa riot.” The article includes images of the individual that appear to show them pre-transition and uses the individual’s dead name. The article hyper-focuses on the individual’s gender identity, although it provides no explanation for why the publication considers it relevant to the person’s arrest.
A Plagiarized Statement of Principles That Appears to Be Rarely Followed
CBC/Radio-Canada reported in 2019 that The Post Millennial had published a journalistic ethics policy in late 2018 that appears to be derived from the ethics statements of mainstream outlets. “Approximately 75 per cent of the language in the policy is identical to declarations of principles from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail and Torstar publications,” CBC/Radio-Canada found.
Although The Post Millennial’s policy now includes a sentence with a hyperlink directing to The Washington Post’s own stated policy, the standards laid out still closely resemble those at most major news organizations. Regarding fact-checking, it states that reporters are primarily responsible and that all articles are “put through a rigorous multi-level review process that involves multiple editors.” The Post Millennial states that its reporters are expected to “offer rights of reply to key subjects before publication” in order to allow subjects to clarify their views, statements, or public image and that “articles must document the efforts taken to contact them when they decide or are unable to reply.” It states that its reporters must be “forward with their identity and disclose their status as journalists while functioning in an investigative role” unless operating in a country that is aggressive or violent toward reporters.
But whatever agreement exists is almost immediately undercut by the fact that a senior editor at The Post Millennial has worked under a pseudonym for no discernable reason. The writer using the pen name “Barrett Wilson” has made a small niche for himself in right-wing media by claiming to be a “former social justice warrior” who experienced an epiphany that made him conservative—but without a name or details, there is simply no way to verify anything he claims about himself. The editor calling himself Wilson has published more than 300 articles at The Post Millennial under his pen name.
Regarding fact-checking, The Post Millennial also appears to neglect its own stated standards. The outlet is one of several conservative outlets that The Daily Beast reported were duped into publishing material produced by a Middle Eastern propaganda campaign. A closer look at The Post Millennial’s ensnarement by PressProgress in July found that the article it published, an opinion piece regarding anti-government protesters in Iraq, was attributed to Joseph Labba—a computer-generated persona. Following this reporting, The Post Millennial yanked Labba’s author profile off its site but said it would repost the article with a staff byline. As PressProgress reported, a close look at Labba’s author photo reveals indicators the image was computer generated.
The Post Millennial admits the journalist was fake but said they still thought the article was “well-written.” They also told me: “We stand by the decision to run it and we will be putting the piece back up shortly under The Post Millennial’s byline.”https://t.co/wIQxzWT6i6 pic.twitter.com/geZox4lS1W — Luke LeBrun (@_llebrun) August 24, 2020
Several stories published at The Post Millennial cite unreliable sources to support its claims and some articles contain just a single source to support its claims. In July, The Post Millennial contributor Cheong recycled a false claim originating from a QAnon conspiracy theorist about a slain Black Lives Matter supporter in Austin, Texas, who was shot and killed at a protest. The Post Millennial ran an article falsely claiming that the killed BLM supporter had fired a gun first, primarily supported by Cheong’s inaccurate tweets—one of which was shared by President Trump. The site later issued a correction but reportedly stuck by its framing, insinuating the person who had been shot was to blame for his death.
The Post Millennial has also defended right-wing actors who have been criticized for making false and unsubstantiated claims. An article the outlet published this year backed disinformer and far-right activist Jack Posobiec after The Daily Beast reported that Posobiec had falsely claimed that crates of pipe bombs were found near the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. In its attempt at a refutation, The Post Millennial failed to produce any proof that The Daily Beast’s reporting was inaccurate and that Posobiec had been telling the truth about the bombs.
Despite The Post Millennial’s statement that its reporters must “offer rights of reply,” the policy in action leaves much to be desired. A column published last week presented what it said was an “exclusive” story revealing that Seattle Public Schools had required its staff to attend a virtual presentation on racial equality, intersectionality, and anti-racism. The Post Millennial’s coverage accused SPS of being “more interested in indoctrination of their students towards their intersectional and divisive ideology than teaching math, science and accurate history,” and alleged that people who disagreed with the training “seemed to be shamed into silence.” Despite the outlet’s stated standards, the article made no mention of efforts to reach SPS or any mentioned staff for comment, and the article relied on anonymous sourcing in its entirety, without conveying to the reader why anonymity was necessary.
In another incident, Portland Mercury news editor Alex Zielinski tweeted about Ngo’s presence at a June Portland protest, where he was not forward about his identity or role as a journalist as The Post Millennial claims it requires. Following the tweet, the outlet ran a story attacking Zielinski, claiming that her tweet had “endangered both Ngo and those around him.” Zielinski said that she was asked for comment on the stories about her, but that the requests were atypical of standard requests. She provided RWW a screenshot of one such request from Mia Cathell, a writer at The Post Millennial.
“The questions were always very much like ‘Do you have a response to us thinking that you’re doing a bad job?’” Zielinski said. “It was very accusatory. … It was more like, ‘We’re coming after you, what do you have to say about that?’”
Murky Ties to Conservative Political Campaigns Raise Ethical Concerns
Even as The Post Millennial grows its readershipand influence, the inner workings of the outlet remain murky. A 2019 CBC/Radio-Canada investigation found that the outlet suffered from “poor transparency” surrounding its ties to conservative political campaigns and “unanswered questions about its journalistic standards and funding model.”
Jeff Ballingall, founder of the right-wing political advocacy group Ontario Proud, was brought on as The Post Millennial’s chief marketing officer in May 2019, raising questions about the outlet’s ties to Canadian conservative political campaigns. Earlier this year, The Globe and Mail reported that Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Peter MacKay and his lawyer issued a legal notice against The Post Millennial alleging the outlet had published an article that was defamatory and provided an “entirely false and misleading impression to any reader” regarding MacKay’s campaign.
The notice also stated that The Post Millennial failed to disclose in its article that Ballingall was working for MacKay’s then-political opponent Erin O’Toole. After O’Toole’s election win in August, co-founder Taghva tweeted that it was a “huge night” for Ballingall, who he said “effectively led the O’Toole digital campaign.”
Additionally, BuzzFeed News reported last year that a then-employee for The Post Millennial was behind a collection of Facebook pages promoting conservative politicians and attacking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, often linking to stories published on The Post Millennial.
When Ballingall became its chief marketing officer, his hiring announcement reportedly stated that the site had received money from undisclosed “private investors.” Azrieli says none of his billionaire family’s money is invested in the website, according to the Ryerson Review of Journalism, but the outlet’s investors remain unknown.
National NewsMedia Council Weighs In
RWW spoke to representatives of National NewsMedia Council, a voluntary self-regulatory organization that acts as an independent third-party between reader complaints and news outlets in Canada, via conference call. NNMC is funded by its more than 500 member organizations, ranging from major papers to local digital outlets, to act in a hybrid role of public editor and press council, offering judgments regarding journalistic standards and ethics. News organizations are typically invited to join NNMC, and some apply directly. NNMC Executive Director Pat Perkel said that The Post Millennial is not a member.
“We would neither invite The Post Millennial nor have they expressed any interest in joining,” Perkel said. “One of the things we ask is that our potential members have a code of practice or standard of practice or code of ethics that they adhere to, that they make that available to their readers so that their readers can find out what they are doing, and that they adhere to our complaints handling process. Those are pretty big hurdles for some people—The Post Millennial, for one.”
NNMC said it received two complaints about The Post Millennial pertaining to accuracy in 2019 and no complaints in 2020. Since The Post Millennial is not an NNMC member, the organization is unable to accept the complaint.
Brent Jolly, director of communications, research, and community management with the NNMC, told RWW that credibility is the currency of news organizations, and that public trust in journalism “has been eroded significantly by organizations that have begun to mimic journalism in order to espouse a larger social-political belief.”
“It’s one thing to post a code of ethics on a web page or run it in a manual or something like that, but it’s something completely different to actually internalize it and ensure it’s part of your DNA,” Jolly said. “I think very much this is a case where that connection may not be as strong as it in is other trusted news organizations.”


rightwingwatch--2020-09-10--George Barna Claims ‘Spiritual Deficiency’ To Blame for ‘Collapse of American Society’

Conservative Christian pollster George Barna told Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and “ Washington Watch ” listeners on Tuesday that “ spiritual deficiency ” in the United States was to blame for its “ collapse.
” During a conversation about conservative evangelicals ’ influence on national politics , Perkins said that he perceived that the most important thing for like-minded churches to be doing was not necessarily to be discussing political issues , but to be “ developing the biblical worldview ” in the United States .
“ If we develop the biblical worldview , helping them become integrated @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , do they not ?
” Perkins asked Barna .
“ Absolutely , ” Barna replied .
“ That ’ s why one of the things I ’ m advocating is that America has a profound spiritual deficiency and that ’ s what ’ s produced the worldview crisis that ’ s responsible for the collapse of American society in many ways .
If we clean up that worldview issue , everything else is going to fall into place .
That ’ s really the key domino on the board .
And so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re going to fix a lot of things at once.
” On pseudo-historian David Barton ’ s  “ WallBuilders Live ” radio show Wednesday ,  Barna continued his argument and said Americans must start imprinting the proper “ worldview ” on children 15 to 18 months old .
“ It really does start with our children , ” Barna said .
“ We know that a worldview , no matter which one it is , a person ’ s worldview is going to start developing at 15 to 18 months @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost fully formed by the time they reach the age of 13 , might be reshaped and refined a little bit during the teens and 20s.
” “ By the time they hit 30 , and what we found is that most people will die believing what they believe at age 13 .
So we really do have to invest heavily in our children , be very intentional and strategic about that , ” Barna said .
“ It ’ s got to come from the family , as well as the church @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the fact that the culture of America is the biggest shaper of people ’ s worldview right now .
So , we ’ ve got to turn that around us.. ” At the 2017 Values Voter Summit , Barna portrayed the 2016 election as a “ Christians vs. non-Christians election ” and declared , “ God did a miracle for us .
”

Conservative Christian pollster George Barna told Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and “Washington Watch” listeners on Tuesday that “spiritual deficiency” in the United States was to blame for its “collapse.”
During a conversation about conservative evangelicals’ influence on national politics, Perkins said that he perceived that the most important thing for like-minded churches to be doing was not necessarily to be discussing political issues, but to be “developing the biblical worldview” in the United States.
“If we develop the biblical worldview, helping them become integrated disciples, the pieces fall in place, do they not?” Perkins asked Barna.
“Absolutely,” Barna replied. “That’s why one of the things I’m advocating is that America has a profound spiritual deficiency and that’s what’s produced the worldview crisis that’s responsible for the collapse of American society in many ways. If we clean up that worldview issue, everything else is going to fall into place. That’s really the key domino on the board. And so if we get that right, we’re going to fix a lot of things at once.”


rightwingwatch--2020-09-11--Right Wing Round-Up: BabyQ and the Whizzinator

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rightwingwatch--2020-09-11--Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The KKK of This Time


rightwingwatch--2020-09-11--Christian Reconstructionism at Liberty University’s Falkirk Center ‘Get Louder’ Summit

Liberty University ’ s Falkirk Center held “ Get Louder , ” a day-long “ faith summit ” Thursday that included Christian Reconstructionist Gary DeMar among its speakers .
DeMar ’ s presence at “ Get Louder ” reflects the widespread influence of Christian Reconstructionism and contemporary religious-right leaders ’ embrace of Christian nationalism .
DeMar led a group called American Vision for nearly 30 years , from 1986 to 2015 , and returned to the helm last year .
American Vision promoted “ Get Louder ” and DeMar ’ s appearance on its website , where DeMar wrote Friday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” and “ immoral ” for Christians to vote for Joe Biden .
The stated mission of American Vision is “ to restore America to its biblical foundation—from Genesis to Revelation.
” American Vision ’ s website describes its vision this way : “ If God is to be pleased by men , the Bible must become the foundation of all their governments , including civil government , ” DeMar wrote in his book “ Ruler of the Nations , ” adding that “ Biblical law must be made the foundation of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ civil as well as church and family .
The Falkirk Center was co-founded last year by Jerry Falwell Jr. , who until recently led Liberty University , and Turning Point USA ’ s Charlie Kirk with the stated purpose of “ mobilizing , educating , inspiring , and mobilizing Christians in the battle to preserve American liberty and rally citizens in an effort to shape government policies , national institutions , and American society through a Biblical worldview.
” ( Falwell recently suffered a spectacular fall from grace and left his position at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sexual relationship between a young man and Falwell ’ s wife , reportedly with Falwell ’ s involvement . )
Since Falkirk ’ s founding , Kirk has openly allied himself with dominionists and Christian nationalists in a “ spiritual war ” for the future of America .
DeMar appeared on a panel moderated by religious-right author and pundit Eric Metaxas , recently seen punching a protester after a Republican National Convention session at the White House .
DeMar said he was concerned about Christians who don ’ t sufficiently understand a “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Christians was that God did not simply save them for heaven or to wait around “ for some End Time eschatological event that ’ s going to take you out of the difficulties of the world.
” DeMar continued , “ We were put here in order to manifest basic principles of God ’ s word in every facet of life.
” DeMar said that Christians must fight present political battles while also planning for “ transformative ” longer-term solutions .
The idea that government policies must reflect a “ biblical worldview @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an ideology articulated in the 20th century by Calvinist theologian R.J. Rushdoony , who taught that the United States should be governed according to his interpretation of biblical law .
“ It is God ’ s world and must be brought under God ’ s law politically , economically , and in every way possible , ” Rushdoony wrote .
Religion scholar Julie Ingersoll , author of “ Building God ’ s Kingdom : Inside the World of Christian Reconstructionism , ” calls DeMar a popularizer of Rushdoony ’ s ideas .
She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” put those ideas in a format “ accessible for use in Christian schools and homeschools as well as Bible study groups.
” She writes that DeMar ’ s books “ laid important groundwork for the later promotion of Christian American history by people such as David Barton.
” In an interview , Ingersoll told Right Wing Watch that she was not surprised by DeMar ’ s appearance at the Liberty University event .
She has been making the argument that Reconstructionist ideas have infused the Christian right , Tea Party movement , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as the conservative Christian home-schooling movement .
She said that during the current COVID-19 pandemic , more families have been thrown into homeschooling , and many may end up unwittingly using curricula that is shaped by Reconstructionist ideology .
Many of Rushdoony ’ s concepts , like his teaching that the Bible puts some activities , like care for the poor , outside the jurisdiction of government , are embraced widely across the religious right—even by leaders who would not call themselves Reconstructionists , or who might distance themselves from some of Rushdoony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ include , for example , the application of Old Testament punishments for gay people or rebellious teens .
Ingersoll says that Rushdoony ’ s discussion of “ dominion theology ” is reflected in the Seven Mountains Dominionism promoted by the “ prophets ” and “ apostles ” of today ’ s New Apostolic Reformation and others across the religious right who promote dominionist rhetoric as a political strategy even if they have differences over the theology undergirding it .
( Among the promoters of Seven Mountains Dominionism is Lance Wallnau , a Trump-promoting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) Another Rushdoony teaching heard in the rhetoric of today ’ s dominionists is that there is but one truth and everything else is from Satan .
Echoes of Reconstructionist teaching are also apparent in “ biblical economics ” and claims by religious-right activists that churches are not subject in any way to government public health restrictions because the church is an equal “ sovereign ” to the government—or in anti-gay activist Jim Garlow ’ s “  ] biblical applicationalism ” and right-wing evangelical attacks on the very idea of “ social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ considers “ Reconstructionist-lite , ” promotes a Christian-nation reading of history and the Constitution that reflects Reconstructionist teaching .
Last year ’ s Christmas catalogue for Barton ’ s  ” Wallbuilders ” organization featured a massive three-volume work by Christian Reconstructionist John Eidsmoe , which Right Wing Watch called at the time a sign of the “ near vanishing of whatever blurry line may have once separated religious-right political advocacy groups from their more overtly extreme and dominionist compatriots.
” Religious-right activist and former Rep. Michele Bachmann has cited Eidsmoe as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disgraced former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore ’ s Foundation for Moral Law .
Another Reconstructionist , P. Andrew Sandlin , argues that “ politics , like all else , must be Christian , ” and insists that “ the Constitution requires a Christian people.
” Sandlin has taught young lawyers for the Alliance Defending Freedom ’ s Blackstone Legal Fellowship , which has said its goal is to “ recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd , 4th , and 5th centuries.
” The Institute on the Constitution is another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to legislators to “ restore our American Founding Fathers ’ Biblical , Constitutional , American view of law and government , ” which in practice means insisting that public policy be aligned with the religious right ’ s very specific interpretation of the Bible .
Among the many religious-right figures who spoke at “ Get Louder ” were right-wing pundit Kirk , Kirk ’ s pastor Rob McCoy , and former Arkansas Gov .
Mike Huckabee .
Messiah College historian John Fea , a critic of Christian nationalists and Trump ’ s “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the event .
“ Evangelical Trump supporters were encouraged to yell and scream more , fight more , and make sure that they were active on every social media platform , ” Fea commented on his blog .
“ This is how the Kingdom of God will advance and Christian America will be saved because in the minds of the speakers , and probably most of those in attendance , there is little difference between the two .
”

Liberty University’s Falkirk Center held “Get Louder,” a day-long “faith summit” Thursday that included Christian Reconstructionist Gary DeMar among its speakers. DeMar’s presence at “Get Louder” reflects the widespread influence of Christian Reconstructionism and contemporary religious-right leaders’ embrace of Christian nationalism.
DeMar led a group called American Vision for nearly 30 years, from 1986 to 2015, and returned to the helm last year. American Vision promoted “Get Louder” and DeMar’s appearance on its website, where DeMar wrote Friday that it is “worse than irrational” and “immoral” for Christians to vote for Joe Biden.
The stated mission of American Vision is “to restore America to its biblical foundation—from Genesis to Revelation.” American Vision’s website describes its vision this way:
An America that recognizes the sovereignty of God over all of life, where Christians apply a Biblical worldview to every facet of society. This future America will be again a “city on a hill” drawing all nations to the Lord Jesus Christ and teaching them to subdue the earth for the advancement of His Kingdom.
“If God is to be pleased by men, the Bible must become the foundation of all their governments, including civil government,” DeMar wrote in his book “Ruler of the Nations,” adding that “Biblical law must be made the foundation of all righteous judgment in every government,” civil as well as church and family.
The Falkirk Center was co-founded last year by Jerry Falwell Jr., who until recently led Liberty University, and Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk with the stated purpose of “mobilizing, educating, inspiring, and mobilizing Christians in the battle to preserve American liberty and rally citizens in an effort to shape government policies, national institutions, and American society through a Biblical worldview.” (Falwell recently suffered a spectacular fall from grace and left his position at Liberty due to public revelations of a sexual relationship between a young man and Falwell’s wife, reportedly with Falwell’s involvement.) Since Falkirk’s founding, Kirk has openly allied himself with dominionists and Christian nationalists in a “spiritual war” for the future of America.
DeMar appeared on a panel moderated by religious-right author and pundit Eric Metaxas, recently seen punching a protester after a Republican National Convention session at the White House. DeMar said he was concerned about Christians who don’t sufficiently understand a “Christian worldview.” DeMar’s message to Christians was that God did not simply save them for heaven or to wait around “for some End Time eschatological event that’s going to take you out of the difficulties of the world.” DeMar continued, “We were put here in order to manifest basic principles of God’s word in every facet of life.”
DeMar said that Christians must fight present political battles while also planning for “transformative” longer-term solutions.
The idea that government policies must reflect a “biblical worldview” is grounded in Christian Reconstructionism, an ideology articulated in the 20th century by Calvinist theologian R.J. Rushdoony, who taught that the United States should be governed according to his interpretation of biblical law. “It is God’s world and must be brought under God’s law politically, economically, and in every way possible,” Rushdoony wrote.
Religion scholar Julie Ingersoll, author of “Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstructionism,” calls DeMar a popularizer of Rushdoony’s ideas. She notes that his “God and Government” put those ideas in a format “accessible for use in Christian schools and homeschools as well as Bible study groups.” She writes that DeMar’s books “laid important groundwork for the later promotion of Christian American history by people such as David Barton.”
In an interview, Ingersoll told Right Wing Watch that she was not surprised by DeMar’s appearance at the Liberty University event. She has been making the argument that Reconstructionist ideas have infused the Christian right, Tea Party movement, and “patriot” right as well as the conservative Christian home-schooling movement. She said that during the current COVID-19 pandemic, more families have been thrown into homeschooling, and many may end up unwittingly using curricula that is shaped by Reconstructionist ideology.
Many of Rushdoony’s concepts, like his teaching that the Bible puts some activities, like care for the poor, outside the jurisdiction of government, are embraced widely across the religious right—even by leaders who would not call themselves Reconstructionists, or who might distance themselves from some of Rushdoony’s more extreme positions, which include, for example, the application of Old Testament punishments for gay people or rebellious teens.
Ingersoll says that Rushdoony’s discussion of “dominion theology” is reflected in the Seven Mountains Dominionism promoted by the “prophets” and “apostles” of today’s New Apostolic Reformation and others across the religious right who promote dominionist rhetoric as a political strategy even if they have differences over the theology undergirding it. (Among the promoters of Seven Mountains Dominionism is Lance Wallnau, a Trump-promoting “prophetic” author and speaker.) Another Rushdoony teaching heard in the rhetoric of today’s dominionists is that there is but one truth and everything else is from Satan.
Echoes of Reconstructionist teaching are also apparent in “biblical economics” and claims by religious-right activists that churches are not subject in any way to government public health restrictions because the church is an equal “sovereign” to the government—or in anti-gay activist Jim Garlow’s “biblical applicationalism” and right-wing evangelical attacks on the very idea of “social justice.”
David Barton, who Ingersoll considers “Reconstructionist-lite,” promotes a Christian-nation reading of history and the Constitution that reflects Reconstructionist teaching. Last year’s Christmas catalogue for Barton’s ”Wallbuilders” organization featured a massive three-volume work by Christian Reconstructionist John Eidsmoe, which Right Wing Watch called at the time a sign of the “near vanishing of whatever blurry line may have once separated religious-right political advocacy groups from their more overtly extreme and dominionist compatriots.” Religious-right activist and former Rep. Michele Bachmann has cited Eidsmoe as a mentor; he now works for the disgraced former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore’s Foundation for Moral Law.
Another Reconstructionist, P. Andrew Sandlin, argues that “politics, like all else, must be Christian,” and insists that “the Constitution requires a Christian people.” Sandlin has taught young lawyers for the Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Fellowship, which has said its goal is to “recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries.”
The Institute on the Constitution is another Reconstructionist organization that uses curricula and outreach to legislators to “restore our American Founding Fathers’ Biblical, Constitutional, American view of law and government,” which in practice means insisting that public policy be aligned with the religious right’s very specific interpretation of the Bible.
Among the many religious-right figures who spoke at “Get Louder” were Kirk, Kirk’s pastor Rob McCoy, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Messiah College historian John Fea, a critic of Christian nationalists and Trump’s “court evangelicals,” live-tweeted much of the event. “Evangelical Trump supporters were encouraged to yell and scream more, fight more, and make sure that they were active on every social media platform,” Fea commented on his blog. “This is how the Kingdom of God will advance and Christian America will be saved because in the minds of the speakers, and probably most of those in attendance, there is little difference between the two.”


rightwingwatch--2020-09-11--Mark Taylor Says California Is Trying to Legalize Pedophilia to Avoid Coming Prosecution of Satanic

Mark Taylor Says California Is Trying to Legalize Pedophilia to Avoid Coming Prosecution of Satanic Democrats by Trump

During his appearance on Chris McDonald ’ s “ The MC Files ” YouTube program Tuesday , QAnon conspiracy theorist and so-called “ firefighter prophet ” Mark Taylor claimed that the California state legislature is trying to legalize pedophilia because it knows that President Donald Trump is about to arrest and prosecute prominent leaders in Democratic politcs , entertainment , and business for their supposed involvement in sex trafficking and Satanic pedophilia .
Taylor has claimed for years that Trump is secretly working to arrest and prosecute thousands of “ elite pedophiles , ” and pointed to the legislation recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ theory .
As we explained earlier this week , California is in no way legalizing pedophilia but is rather attempting to end discrimination against LGBTQ youth regarding the state ’ s sex offender registry .
Taylor , of course , doesn ’ t care about the actual facts because those just get in the way of his efforts to promote his conspiracy theories .
“ California legislature passes a bill to soften criminal penalty for LGBT adults who have sex with underage teens , ” Taylor said .
“ This is panic .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , so they ’ re trying to get ahead of the narrative and normalize it like it ’ s no big deal.
” “ Why are they doing this ?
” he asked , rhetorically .
“ You ’ ve got to understand what ’ s fixing to be exposed , what ’ s being exposed on a huge global scale , which is the pedophilia and child trafficking .
They ’ re trying to make it legal where that you can not prosecute them .
That ’ s what this is all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ m saying ?
This is what they ’ re trying to do , or have done , in California .
But that ’ s the reason why they ’ re doing it : They don ’ t want to be prosecuted for what ’ s been going on .
”

During his appearance on Chris McDonald’s “The MC Files” YouTube program Tuesday, QAnon conspiracy theorist and so-called “firefighter prophet” Mark Taylor claimed that the California state legislature is trying to legalize pedophilia because it knows that President Donald Trump is about to arrest and prosecute prominent leaders in Democratic politcs, entertainment, and business for their supposed involvement in sex trafficking and Satanic pedophilia.
Taylor has claimed for years that Trump is secretly working to arrest and prosecute thousands of “elite pedophiles,” and pointed to the legislation recently passed in California as proof of his theory.
As we explained earlier this week, California is in no way legalizing pedophilia but is rather attempting to end discrimination against LGBTQ youth regarding the state’s sex offender registry.
Taylor, of course, doesn’t care about the actual facts because those just get in the way of his efforts to promote his conspiracy theories.
“California legislature passes a bill to soften criminal penalty for LGBT adults who have sex with underage teens,” Taylor said. “This is panic. They know they’re in trouble, so they’re trying to get ahead of the narrative and normalize it like it’s no big deal.”
“Why are they doing this?” he asked, rhetorically. “You’ve got to understand what’s fixing to be exposed, what’s being exposed on a huge global scale, which is the pedophilia and child trafficking. They’re trying to make it legal where that you cannot prosecute them. That’s what this is all about. You see what I’m saying? This is what they’re trying to do, or have done, in California. But that’s the reason why they’re doing it: They don’t want to be prosecuted for what’s been going on.”


rightwingwatch--2020-09-11--GOP Operative Says He’s Building System to Dispatch Protesters Where Ballots Are Counted

Republican political operative Ali Alexander , who previously went by the name Ali Akbar , is floating the possibility of revamping a 2018 effort to discredit mail-in and absentee voting ahead of the 2020 presidential election .
According to a 2018 Politico report , the night before the 2016 election , a PAC advised by Alexander received a $ 60,000 donation from hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer , the pro-Trump billionaire .
Alexander has associated with far-right figures including Unite the Right white supremacist attendee Matt Colligan , and made a habit of noting when members of the media he criticizes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In a Periscope broadcast uploaded Monday—viewed 51,000 times as of Friday morning—Alexander claimed he planned to revamp a November 2018 effort called “ Stop the Steal ” and create a digital text-messaging database that would dispatch supporters of President Donald Trump to places where ballots are being counted as well as the offices of state election officials around the country if their “ physical presence is needed.
” Alexander emphasized that his intention is that the protests would be peaceful and suggested that anyone who attends such protests with intentions of being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his cause .
“ In the next coming days , we ’ re going to build the infrastructure to stop the steal , ” Alexander said .
“ What we are going to do is we ’ re going to bypass all of social media .
In the coming days , we will launch an effort concentrating on the swing states , and we will map out where the votes are being counted and the secretary of states .
We will map all of this out for everyone publicly and we will collect @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you are within 100 mile radius of a bad secretary of state or someone who ’ s counting votes after the deadline or if there ’ s a federal court hearing , we will alert you of where to go .
We ’ re going to bypass all of Twitter , all of Facebook , all of Instagram , OK ?
We ’ re going to bypass it all.
” “ We will camp out if we need to , ” Alexander added .
 ” We will have tents .
We will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We will have vitamin D , C , and A .
We will have zinc .
We will have sandwiches .
We will have everything so that patriots can oversee the supposed people in our republic who are tasked with counting our votes , not making it .
Counting our votes , not making new votes.
” Right Wing Watch attempted to reach Alexander by text message and Twitter direct message for comment on this story and in hopes Alexander would produce proof that his claimed database was being built .
( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claims . )
We did not receive a response prior to publication .
One America News Network personality and far-right collaborator Jack Posobiec , who operates in the same digital space as Alexander , tweeted Monday : “ # StopTheSteal 2020 is coming… ” Right Wing Watch reported in 2018 about an effort orchestrated against a ballot recount in the Florida race for U.S. Senate between Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson by associates of GOP operative and self-described “ dirty trickster ” Roger Stone .
In a burst of protests reminiscent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election recount in Florida , pro-Trump activists from around the country descended into Florida to protest and spread disinformation alleging that recount procedures were part of a Democratic plot to commit voter fraud .
That election ultimately triggered two recounts and a wave of legal battles ; Scott narrowly defeated Nelson by a fraction of a percent .
In 2018 , Alexander said he was recruiting people experiencing homelessness and followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory to fill spots at protests .
In this week ’ s broadcast , Alexander claimed that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” by Democrats , and accused Republican leaders and pro-Trump voices of sitting idle .
“ I ’ m watching a bunch of grifters , MAGA grifters , pretend like they ’ re going to stop the steal .
Are they going to stop the steal ?
” Alexander said .
“ What are these grifters doing online , tweeting , to stop the steal ?
What have they done in the past ?
Not a damn thing.
” Alexander said his announcements were spurred by comments Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s policies to deter political candidates from declaring a premature election victory .
Zuckerberg said that Americans may not know who the next president will be on election night , a likely scenario due to expected increases in mail-in and absentee voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic , and that Facebook would try to moderate against the organizing of civil unrest on its platform .
“ One of the things that I think we and other media need to start doing is preparing the American people that there ’ s nothing illegitimate about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even weeks to make sure that all of the votes are counted , ” Zuckerberg told Axios .
“ In fact , that might be important to make sure that this is a legitimate and fair election.
” The new Facebook policy statement includes the following measure : “ If any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the final results are in , we ’ ll add a label to their posts directing people to the official results from Reuters and the National Election Pool.
” It also states that Facebook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delegitimize the outcome of the election or discuss the legitimacy of voting methods , for example , by claiming that lawful methods of voting will lead to fraud .
”

Republican political operative Ali Alexander, who previously went by the name Ali Akbar, is floating the possibility of revamping a 2018 effort to discredit mail-in and absentee voting ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
According to a 2018 Politico report, the night before the 2016 election, a PAC advised by Alexander received a $60,000 donation from Robert Mercer, the pro-Trump billionaire. Alexander has associated with far-right figures including Unite the Right white supremacist attendee Matt Colligan, and made a habit of noting when members of the media he criticizes are Jewish, according to The Observer.
In a Periscope broadcast uploaded Monday—viewed 51,000 times as of Friday morning—Alexander claimed he planned to revamp a November 2018 effort called “Stop the Steal” and create a digital text-messaging database that would dispatch supporters of President Donald Trump to places where ballots are being counted as well as the offices of state election officials around the country if their “physical presence is needed.” Alexander emphasized that his intention is that the protests would be peaceful and suggested that anyone who attends such protests with intentions of being violent would not be considered part of his cause.
“In the next coming days, we’re going to build the infrastructure to stop the steal,” Alexander said. “What we are going to do is we’re going to bypass all of social media. In the coming days, we will launch an effort concentrating on the swing states, and we will map out where the votes are being counted and the secretary of states. We will map all of this out for everyone publicly and we will collect cell phone numbers so that way if you are within 100 mile radius of a bad secretary of state or someone who’s counting votes after the deadline or if there’s a federal court hearing, we will alert you of where to go. We’re going to bypass all of Twitter, all of Facebook, all of Instagram, OK? We’re going to bypass it all.”
“We will camp out if we need to,” Alexander added. ”We will have tents. We will have water. We will have electrolytes. We will have vitamin D, C, and A. We will have zinc. We will have sandwiches. We will have everything so that patriots can oversee the supposed people in our republic who are tasked with counting our votes, not making it. Counting our votes, not making new votes.”
Right Wing Watch attempted to reach Alexander by text message and Twitter direct message for comment on this story and in hopes Alexander would produce proof that his claimed database was being built. (Alexander has a history of making dubious claims.) We did not receive a response prior to publication.
One America News Network personality and far-right collaborator Jack Posobiec, who operates in the same digital space as Alexander, tweeted Monday: “#StopTheSteal 2020 is coming…”
Right Wing Watch reported in 2018 about an effort orchestrated against a ballot recount in the Florida race for U.S. Senate between Republican Rick Scott and Democrat Bill Nelson by associates of GOP operative and self-described “dirty trickster” Roger Stone. In a burst of protests reminiscent of the chaos during the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida, pro-Trump activists from around the country descended into Florida to protest and spread disinformation alleging that recount procedures were part of a Democratic plot to commit voter fraud. That election ultimately triggered two recounts and a wave of legal battles; Scott narrowly defeated Nelson by a fraction of a percent. In 2018, Alexander said he was recruiting people experiencing homelessness and followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory to fill spots at protests.
In this week’s broadcast, Alexander claimed that the election is being “raped and raided” by Democrats, and accused Republican leaders and pro-Trump voices of sitting idle.
“I’m watching a bunch of grifters, MAGA grifters, pretend like they’re going to stop the steal. Are they going to stop the steal?” Alexander said. “What are these grifters doing online, tweeting, to stop the steal? What have they done in the past? Not a damn thing.”
Alexander said his announcements were spurred by comments Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg made to Axios about his platform’s policies to deter political candidates from declaring a premature election victory. Zuckerberg said that Americans may not know who the next president will be on election night, a likely scenario due to expected increases in mail-in and absentee voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that Facebook would try to moderate against the organizing of civil unrest on its platform.
“One of the things that I think we and other media need to start doing is preparing the American people that there’s nothing illegitimate about this election taking additional days, or even weeks to make sure that all of the votes are counted,” Zuckerberg told Axios. “In fact, that might be important to make sure that this is a legitimate and fair election.”
The new Facebook policy statement includes the following measure: “If any candidate or campaign tries to declare victory before the final results are in, we’ll add a label to their posts directing people to the official results from Reuters and the National Election Pool.” It also states that Facebook will label content “that seeks to delegitimize the outcome of the election or discuss the legitimacy of voting methods, for example, by claiming that lawful methods of voting will lead to fraud.”


rightwingwatch--2020-09-11--The Post Millennial and Jack Posobiec’s Oddly Close Relationship

The Post Millennial , a right-wing Canadian news site gaining fans among the U.S. far-right , has a strange degree of closeness with far-right propagandist and One America News Network figure Jack Posobiec , who the Southern Poverty Law Center ’ s Hatewatch reports built his modern-day career by collaborating with “ white supremacists , neo-fascists and anti-Semites.
” Posobiec is among The Post Millennial ’ s biggest fans on Twitter .
Since Posobiec first shared a link to a story published on The Post Millennial to his Twitter account on March 21 , 2019 , he has posted approximately @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outlet ’ s site .
By contrast , Posobiec has shared OANN links 54 times since July 2018 .
These counts do not include instances where Posobiec retweeted stories .
“ Outstanding original journalism and commentary , ” Posobiec wrote of The Post Millennial in September 2019 .
“ One of the best and most straightforward new sites out there .
Ton of respect for their work.
” It appears the affection is mutual .
Google search results turned up more than 130 articles published on The Post Millennial in which Posobiec is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he is mentioned directly or his posts on Twitter are cited as source material in news articles .
The outlet has also come to Posobiec ’ s defense when Posobiec has faced criticism for false reporting .
The Daily Beast reported in June that Posobiec had falsely claimed in a viral tweet that crates of pipe bombs were found near the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington , D.C. as chaotic anti-racism protests rocked the nation ’ s capital city .
The Post Millennial published an article claiming that The Daily Beast had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attempt at a refutation , it failed to produce proof that the reporting was inaccurate and that Posobiec had been telling the truth about the supposed pipe bombs .
Rather , it allowed Posobiec to claim that an unnamed government agency not reached for comment by The Daily Beast had discovered the bombs .
To date , no hard proof supporting this claim has been publicly produced .
In another article , The Post Millennial attacked CNN anchor Jake Tapper for drawing attention to words in a graphic shared to Twitter by Turning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The graphic pitted CNN Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter against Posobiec , stating that Stelter had “ dubious loyalty ” compared to Posobiec , who the graphic presented as being a “ Devout Christian.
” The comparison echoes centuries-old anti-Semitic tropes that allege Jewish people are only loyal to their religion , not the countries they reside in .
Stelter is not Jewish , but far-right extremists have repeatedly claimed that he is while directing hate toward him .
The Post Millennial accused Tapper of attacking Posobiec “ for being Christian.
” During @ @ @ @ @ @ @ series on Posobiec ’ s connections to extremist figures , The Post Millennial published multiple articles defending Posobiec ’ s character and attacking the SPLC .
One article claimed that the SPLC ’ s reporting was “ filled with guilt by association smears ” and highlighted Jewish right-wing figures who said they stood by Posobiec .
Another story sought to smear SPLC ’ s current president for posing for a photograph in 2016 with celebrity Nick Cannon , who this summer lost his contract with ViacomCBS after making hateful and anti-Semitic remarks on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michael E. Hayden told RWW that one such story was published by The Post Millennial after he reached out to Posobiec for comment regarding a photograph showing him at a “ We Build the Wall ” event alongside Donald Trump Jr. , the president ’ s son .
Hayden said that about one hour before his own article went live , The Post Millennial published its story on SPLC ’ s president being photographed with Cannon , which cites Posobiec as its primary source .
Posobiec then tweeted the link to The Post @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Donald Trump Jr. were discussed online in wake of the SPLC ’ s story .
RWW emailed Posobiec to inquire about his relationship with The Post Millennial , asking if he had a working relationship with the site , and if so , whether the connection was similar to the one he had to the congressional campaign of YouTube personality Joey “ Salads ” Saladino .
According to FEC documents reported by The Daily Dot in 2019 , Saladino ’ s campaign paid Posobiec hundreds of dollars for social media advertising .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ : “ I just follow them on Twitter , read their stuff.
” Posobiec told RWW he does not receive financial compensation from sharing links to content published at The Post Millennial nor does he have a formal relationship with the outlet .
The Post Millennial did not respond to interview requests sent via email .
Current and former editorial staff did not respond to attempts to make contact via email and Twitter direct message .

The Post Millennial, a right-wing Canadian news site gaining fans among the U.S. far-right, has a strange degree of closeness with far-right propagandist and One America News Network figure Jack Posobiec, who the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch reports built his modern-day career by collaborating with “white supremacists, neo-fascists and anti-Semites.”
Posobiec is among The Post Millennial’s biggest fans on Twitter. Since Posobiec first shared a link to a story published on The Post Millennial to his Twitter account on March 21, 2019, he has posted approximately 450 additional links to stories on the outlet’s site. By contrast, Posobiec has shared OANN links 54 times since July 2018. These counts do not include instances where Posobiec retweeted stories.
“Outstanding original journalism and commentary,” Posobiec wrote of The Post Millennial in September 2019. “One of the best and most straightforward new sites out there. Ton of respect for their work.”
It appears the affection is mutual. Google search results turned up more than 130 articles published on The Post Millennial in which Posobiec is mentioned by name, including instances where he is mentioned directly or his posts on Twitter are cited as source material in news articles. The outlet has also come to Posobiec’s defense when Posobiec has faced criticism for false reporting.
The Daily Beast reported in June that Posobiec had falsely claimed in a viral tweet that crates of pipe bombs were found near the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. as chaotic anti-racism protests rocked the nation’s capital city. The Post Millennial published an article claiming that The Daily Beast had bungled it story, but in its attempt at a refutation, it failed to produce proof that the reporting was inaccurate and that Posobiec had been telling the truth about the supposed pipe bombs. Rather, it allowed Posobiec to claim that an unnamed government agency not reached for comment by The Daily Beast had discovered the bombs. To date, no hard proof supporting this claim has been publicly produced.
In another article, The Post Millennial attacked CNN anchor Jake Tapper for drawing attention to words in a graphic shared to Twitter by Turning Point USA’s Benny Johnson. The graphic pitted CNN Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter against Posobiec, stating that Stelter had “dubious loyalty” compared to Posobiec, who the graphic presented as being a “Devout Christian.” The comparison echoes centuries-old anti-Semitic tropes that allege Jewish people are only loyal to their religion, not the countries they reside in. Stelter is not Jewish, but far-right extremists have repeatedly claimed that he is while directing hate toward him. The Post Millennial accused Tapper of attacking Posobiec “for being Christian.”
During the rollout of an SPLC investigative reporting series on Posobiec’s connections to extremist figures, The Post Millennial published multiple articles defending Posobiec’s character and attacking the SPLC. One article claimed that the SPLC’s reporting was “filled with guilt by association smears” and highlighted Jewish right-wing figures who said they stood by Posobiec. Another story sought to smear SPLC’s current president for posing for a photograph in 2016 with celebrity Nick Cannon, who this summer lost his contract with ViacomCBS after making hateful and anti-Semitic remarks on a podcast.
SPLC senior investigative reporter Michael E. Hayden told RWW that one such story was published by The Post Millennial after he reached out to Posobiec for comment regarding a photograph showing him at a “We Build the Wall” event alongside Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son. Hayden said that about one hour before his own article went live, The Post Millennial published its story on SPLC’s president being photographed with Cannon, which cites Posobiec as its primary source. Posobiec then tweeted the link to The Post Millennial’s story while his connections to Donald Trump Jr. were discussed online in wake of the SPLC’s story.
RWW emailed Posobiec to inquire about his relationship with The Post Millennial, asking if he had a working relationship with the site, and if so, whether the connection was similar to the one he had to the congressional campaign of YouTube personality Joey “Salads” Saladino. According to FEC documents reported by The Daily Dot in 2019, Saladino’s campaign paid Posobiec hundreds of dollars for social media advertising.
Regarding The Post Millennial, Posobiec replied: “I just follow them on Twitter, read their stuff.” Posobiec told RWW he does not receive financial compensation from sharing links to content published at The Post Millennial nor does he have a formal relationship with the outlet.
The Post Millennial did not respond to interview requests sent via email. Current and former editorial staff did not respond to attempts to make contact via email and Twitter direct message.


rightwingwatch--2020-09-14--Right Wing Round-Up: Trump’s Third Term

Right Wing Round-Up: Trump’s Third Term


rightwingwatch--2020-09-14--Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Digital Soldiers, Anons, A Revolution, A Rebirthing