Ep. 042 - Maui Wildfire Conspiracism & The Far-Right Clusterf*ck

In episode 42, we discuss the sprawling clusterf*ck of characters on the conspiratorial right, how they feed off of one another's audiences, and how they supplement the global far right movement that seeks to install fascism through propaganda, stochastic terrorism, and outright violence.

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SHOW NOTES:

The Beat with Ari: See Trump Vet Roger Stone Pushing Elector Plot On Tape https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/see-trump-vet-roger-stone-pushing-elector-plot-on-tape-beat-exclusive-190982725545

CCDH poll: Belief in conspiracy theories higher among teenagers than adults, as majority of Americans support social media reform https://counterhate.com/blog/belief-in-conspiracy-theories-higher-among-teenagers-than-adults-as-majority-of-americans-support-social-media-reform-new-polling-finds/

Steven Monacelli: These Christians Think God Needs You Rich And To Rule The World https://www.texasobserver.org/these-christians-think-god-needs-you-rich-and-to-rule-the-world/

Gen Z influencers, quietly recruited by a company with deep GOP ties, rally to impeached Ken Paxton’s aid https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/14/influenceable-texas-politics-ken-paxton/

Kyle Rittenhouse launches nonprofit with far-right Texans as he ramps up political engagement in the state https://www.texastribune.org/2023/08/16/kyle-rittenhouse-texas-foundation/

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Warning, this podcast contains language thatwould offend a seventeenth century Pharasaic, so
keep your headphones plugged in if thosearound you are the I get upset at
words type. But in all seriousness, this podcast does contain difficult subject matter
content. Warnings for this podcast alwaysapply. Now the intro music. This

(00:29):
is another Fucking Guy with a podcastpodcast focused on right wing ship fuckery and
the mountains of relentless propaganda, conspiracytheories, disinformation campaigns, moral panics,
stochastic fucking terrorism and rat fucking liesthat come with it. So as you
can tell, it's a very relaxingpodcast meant to lull you into a state

(00:51):
of mental and physical serenity. Preparedto be lulled. And with that,
here's the episode. Welcome listener,I'm here to break my extended hiatus and

(01:23):
I'll save you an explanation. Ifyou are new to the show, give
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(01:46):
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up, and if you're already subscribed, I love onto the show all right.

(02:06):
Federal prosecutors are seeking thirty three yearprison sentences for former Proud Boy leader
Enrique Tario and his pal Joe Biggs, the highest ranking Proud Boy that was
at the Capitol on January sixth,on seditious conspiracy charges. That's the longest
prison term sought so far in theCapital attack investigation. Oh yeah shit.

(02:29):
Prosecutors previously sought twenty five years forOathkeepers leader Stuart Rhodes, who then got
eighteen. They're recommending twenty to twentyseven years for three other chuds who sowed
violence that day. These motherfuckers fuckedaround and are now finding out and fresh
off the Trump indictment in Georgia,deep state really going after these totally not

(02:49):
bad guys or anything. Just aquick recap. In October twenty eighteen,
the violent Street gang known as theProud Boys came to the broader attention of
the general public when some of itsmembers attacked a small group of anti fascists
in Manhattan. Video showed that theProud Boys initiated the attack, not the
other way around, as Proud Boysfounder Gavin McGinnis had initially said. McGinnis

(03:10):
has since formerly quit the Proud Boysin an attempt to save face, but
still wears the fashy boy uniform andseems to still have some influence over members.
He and his Fucking Fast club gainedtraction publicity wise and around twenty fifteen
when none other than Fucking Joe Roganplatformed him on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Around then is when we learned thatthe Proud Boys is a fraternity of

(03:34):
angry, disillusioned young men who beateach other up, talk shit about women,
and casually throw around racial epithets.But today McGinnis lives in a suburban
McMansion while his little minions go toprison. So I mean, yeah,
just like every other one of thesefucking people who are like the head of
the problem. No, they nevergo to prison. The leaders of all
these right wing groups and the broadermovement as a whole, get to continue

(04:00):
in the safety of their own homes, behind their fucking microphones, spewing stochastic
terrorism, riling up their fashion followersuntil they commit violence. So and that's
the game. That's the point.The cruelty and the violence is the point.
Roger fucking Stone, former Trump politicalconsultant who began his career when he
was a teenager working for Richard Nixon'sre election campaign in nineteen seventy fucking two,

(04:26):
took the Proud Boy's pledge in twentyseventeen at a party thrown by Stone's
friend Milo Yanopolis, a white supremacistwho has defended the idea of adult men
having sexual relationships with underage boys.Yes I'm not fucking kidding. Milo,
of course, has also been aguest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast,
because of course he has, andbecause it's one big, interconnected, multigenerational

(04:50):
cluster fuck of the dumbest men alive, praying on the ignorance and gullibility of
America's increasingly disillusioned population of young men. But yes, Roger Stone posed with
Enrique Tario at this Proud Boys partyand is quoted as saying, I,
Roger Stone, am a Western chauvinist, and I refuse to apologize for creating

(05:12):
the modern world end quote. Soye yeah, that's the mantra of the
Proud Boys, to take pride inwhite supremacist ideology and lore, to wear
it as a badge of honor insteadof a black stain on history with its
untold millions dead in its wake.And of course, as a side note,
Stone is also a frequent guest onAlex jones Ridiculous Show, where Alex

(05:32):
just screams for four hours a dayabout nothing. So that's cool. Roger
Stone was in Washington, DC onthe morning of January sixth, flanked by
members of the oath Keeper's Militia,another far right extremist group with a very
conspiratorial worldview and whose leader, StuartRhodes, was sentenced to eighteen years in
prison on charges of seditious conspiracy,obstruction of official proceedings, and tampering with

(05:56):
documents. The Oathkeepers conspired to disruptthe transfer of power and prepared in advance
for violence to keep Trump and power. On January sixth, they brought a
weapon's cash just outside DC. Theday of the attack on the Capitol.
Terry Cummings, a Florida resident whosaid that he joined the Oathkeepers in twenty
twenty amid concerns about left wing violencein Portland, Oregon, and joined the

(06:17):
group leaders private chats in advance oftheir January sixth trip to DC and said
this quote, I had not seenthat many weapons in one location since I
was in the military. End quote. These are the people who acted as
security for Roger Stone before the attackon the Capitol. And on the fifth
of January, the day before theattack, roger Stone said this, this

(06:42):
is an epic struggle between dark andlight, between good and evil, between
the godly and the godless, andif we fail, this nation will step
off into a thousand years of darkness. So yeah, sounds like a totally
normal dude. So yeah, RogerStone palling around with far right militias and

(07:09):
other extremist groups that attempted to overthrowthe US government on January sixth, And
this past week it came to lightthat Roger Stone, longtime Trump advisor and
lifelong rat fucker, has been caughton video as early as November fifth,
twenty twenty, two full days beforethe twenty twenty presidential election was even called
dictating a fake elector plot to overturnthe will of the American voters and undemocratically

(07:33):
and illegally hand the presidency to DonaldTrump. Because Roger is a flaming,
fucking narcissist, he allowed a documentarianto literally film him while he dictates the
illegal scheme to one of his associates. What an idiot, Take a listen.
Although state officials in all fifty statesmust ultimately certify the results of the

(08:03):
voting in their state, the finaldecision as to who the state legislatures authorize
be sent to the Electoral College isa decision made solely by the legislature.

(08:31):
Any legislative body may decide, onthe basis of overwhelming evidence of fraud to
send electors to the Electoral College whoaccurately reflect the president's legitimate victory in their

(08:54):
state, which was illegally denied himthrough fraud. We must be prepared to
lobby our Republican legislatures by personal contactand by demonstrating the overwhelming will of the

(09:22):
people in their state. In eachstate that this may need to happen.
So that's damning. Roger rat fuckconjured up a fake elector scheme days before
the election was called. And weknow this because he's such a flaming narcissist

(09:43):
that he had a fucking documentarian inthe room filming him do it. But
here's what should frighten everybody. Allthese rat fucking sacks of shit employing stochastic
terrorism to get naive underlings to dotheir bidding are still the old Guard.
What's coming down the pike is somethingfar more more competent and coordinated, I
think, though still stupid and clumsy. Is all fuck, but better than

(10:05):
this clown car of incompetent dipshits.The next wave of far right individuals aspiring
to install a fascist theocracy in theUnited States is the thing we all should
be worried about most, and I'mnot one to think that gen Z and
the generations coming after them are inany better shape whatsoever to save the country

(10:26):
from this shit. The Center forCountering Digital Hate released a report on the
sixteenth detailing its findings regarding a pollthe group conducted to take the temperature of
Americans pension for conspiracy theories. Itfound that forty nine percent of Americans agree
with at least four statements which alignwith common conspiracy theories, including myths relating

(10:46):
to white supremacy, anti semitism,vaccines, and climate change. It also
found that belief in conspiracy theories waseven more common among thirteen to seventeen year
olds sixty percent, and higher stillamong teenagers who are heavy social media users
sixty nine percent. Participants were presentedwith eight statements corresponding with common conspiracy theories

(11:07):
on a range of themes anti vax, anti semitism, in cell ideology,
COVID nineteen, climate denial, deepstate, anti LGBTQ, plus groomer myths
in the Great Replacement theory popular amongwhite supremacists. Again, forty nine percent
of adults agreed with at least fouror more conspiracy theory statements, rising to

(11:30):
sixty percent of thirteen to seventeen yearolds. Social media has four years now
overtaken mainstream media in terms of dominatingthe minds of most Americans, despite what
the right continues to fucking say andnot to sound like an old fucking millennial,
but a consequence of teenagers being letdown by the American education system and

(11:52):
using TikTok and Instagram as their searchengines to learn on their own time.
Is a rising tide of conspiracism amongAmerican youths. So no, the kids
are absolutely not all right because boomers, gen xers and millennials have fucking failed
them, which brings me to thisshit. Last week, a recycling plant

(12:13):
caught fire in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and sent a massive plume of toxic
polyethylene fumes across the city, withcity officials issuing a health alert for people
to stay inside their homes. Upona quick search on x formerly Twitter,
what a stupid fucking name, Iwas immediately inundated with right wing conspiracist accounts

(12:33):
claiming America is under attack and thatthe fire was deliberate. If you're not
up to speed with the conspiracist griftersacross the fucking Internet, this follows a
trend that they've been latching onto foryears now. It's a sort of mass
formation psychosis. If you will,any medium to large industrial fire, chemical

(12:54):
spill, or natural disaster is onlyan opportunity to blame liberal and Democrats,
who are of course maligning deviance,whose only real desire is to destroy society.
Remember, nothing is as it seems, so if you're being told that
a wildfire is caused by climate changeor an industrial accident is caused by the

(13:15):
skirting of safety and environmental regulations,then it must be something else, of
course. Additionally, everything happens fora reason, so nothing can be random
or occur by chance. And Godis on your side and not theirs,
so you can't be wrong. It'sa perfect formula to cement conspiracism in people's

(13:37):
fucking brains. But yeah, allthese fucking right wing conspiracists LARPing, as
you know, the digital soldiers onTwitter X, I don't know. Fuck
it, it's gonna take me aminute to adjust to that ship. But
yes, all the right wing conspiracistslaping on these social media networks mostly X
like they have some fucking insight intohow a disaster was caused when they're not

(14:01):
an expert on fucking anything. Aremaking the wild accusation that fires are caused
by Antifa setting fires to industrial sitesand then the Jews firing space lasers at
forests. I'm not this is yeah, I know, this is really hard

(14:24):
because I mean, it's not funnybecause these people really do believe that this
is happening, and that's terrifying andis not good, but it is also
funny. Yes, conspiracists are doingthe same ship with the Maui wildfire,
with conspiracists claiming that the fire wasdeliberately set by a quote direct energy weapon,

(14:48):
a derivative of the Jewish space lasersthing that took off on the Internet
with the resurfacing of Marjorie Taylor Green'stwenty eighteen Facebook post in which Marjorie pins
blame for wildfires on totally very realspace lasers, the light Arm. A
couple of images are being used togain traction for the direct energy weapon bullshit.

(15:11):
One image is just a long exposureshot taken from a SpaceX rocket launch,
where the rocket's booster trail looks likea fiery beam coming down from space.
Another appears to be a still framefrom a meteor that's entered the atmosphere,
also leading a fiery trail that canbe misconstrued apparently pretty fucking easily as
a fucking space laser. I haveone simple request, and that is to

(15:35):
have sharks with fricking laser beams attachedto their heads now have a deadly My
cycloptic colleague informs me that that can'tbe done. The people duped by this
ship. Don't bother with the easydebunks, so you know they only hear
their echo chamber shit that just reinforcesthe idea that the evil cabal is starting

(15:56):
fires and forests with lasers, orthat you know, Antifa, you know,
Joe Biden's army of leftist soldiers areout there starting fires to destroy the
economy. I don't I have noidea, what the fuck. I don't
know. I guess it first startedbecause you know, Trump was in office,
and every fire at an industrial facilityat some company was an attempt by

(16:21):
Antifa or whatever to destroy the economyand hurt Trump's reelection campaign. But now
I don't know what the purpose isnow, but I'm sure they have a
reason, and I'm sure it's completelycoherent. But no, none of these
people are, you know, goingon fact checking missions or fucking doing any

(16:41):
like even cursory Google searches to findout if this is possible without some malevolent
force behind it. But that's whatmakes them the perfect victims. The grifters
are catching fish in a bucket.Click that follow button subscribe for more bullshit.
Of course, as poker nut Politicspointed out on x Twitter, not

(17:03):
all conspiracy grifters believe the wildfire thatdevastated Maui was caused by space lasers.
Some of them are smart enough tocall out such nonsense from those conspiracy grifters.
So when that they bring up freeenergy being suppressed or that miracle mineral
solution can cure a COVID, thatthey can carry the unearned and false credibility

(17:25):
of someone who doesn't believe that crazyshit, just this crazy shit. Mickey
Willis, the film director and conspiracytheorists known for the Batshit anti vax Plandemic
pseudo documentary series, sent out anemail to his subscribers talking about the nefarious,
deliberate act that caused the wildfires inMaui, which destroyed nearly three thousand

(17:48):
homes and buildings and killed at leastone hundred and fourteen people and counting,
with more than a thousand still missingas of this recording. What does Willis
provide as evidence that this fire wasintentional, nothing but anecdotes that he heard
on the internet. Russell Brand releasedanother video in which he suggests the wildfire
was caused deliberately so the shadowy cabalof global elites could clear the land for

(18:14):
their own nefarious purposes, without providingany evidence, of course, aside from
just saying that they think the fireburned weirdly, which is literally all these
people were saying. They they seevideos of the fire on the Internet and
they go, hmm, why isthe trunk of that tree still standing?
And they're like, shouldn't it burnit? All to the It's just people

(18:36):
see what they want to see ineverything. Grifters like Willis and Brand are
rather adept at planting seeds of conspiracismin the minds of their followers. Russell
also photoshop the photo featuring a spacelaser, which does not exist in the
original photo. The images, ofcourse used to further cement the unfounded idea

(18:56):
of space lasers in people's heads.So these just asking questions, opportunistic conspiracy
theorists are exploiting tragedies by distracting theirfollowers from actually real dangers, like capitalist
vultures coming in to offer families nextto nothing for their now scorched properties.
Author Naomi Klein impressively describes this phenomenonin her two thousand and seven book Shock

(19:22):
Doctrine The Rise of Disaster Capitalism,where she writes about capitalists who rush into
exploit local populations when tragedies occur.What Mickey Brand and so many others are
doing is filtering this very real phenomenonthrough the lens of paranoid nonsense. And
it makes it fucking virtually impossible toconvince centrist liberals that this is actually happening,

(19:45):
that capitalists are fucking with people likethey always do. Liberals are dismissing
leftists of just being conspiratorial, andyou know, no, we're fucking not,
so thank you, you right wingconspira assist fucks. Also quick note,
Naomi Klein is releasing another book soondescribing this very thing, called Doppelganger,

(20:08):
A Trip into the Mirror World.In the book, she describes the
dangers of mixing conspiracies with actual undercoveroperations. She wrote, quote, the
shock doctrine is a framework that hasgiven people some language to guard against profiteering
and attacks on democracy during confusing periodsof emergency. When that concept is mangled

(20:29):
by association with unhinged conspiracy theories aboutglobal cabals, it becomes harder for it
to serve that purpose. It allgets mixed up and rendered absurd. End
quote Derek Barriss of the Conspiratuality podcastsaid this in a video while I was
writing this episode. Quote. Thelast chapter of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine is
devoted to grassroots movements and local politicsthat safeguard against this sort of thing,

(20:52):
reminding us to participate in our regionsand support those who are fighting the same
battle. Derek goes on. Now, compare that to what people like Brandon
Willis offer. Mickey links to hislatest documentary, a pseudo religious event in
Vegas and his quack supplements company,and Russell at the end of his video
tells you to subscribe and comment belowbecause it's really all about them and not

(21:17):
about making a difference. End quote. Yeah, Derek nailed it with that
shit. Conspiracist grifters are never sellinga solution to anything. They're only ever
selling you sensationalism and lies in thehopes that you purchase their fucking self help
seminar, a promo code to buygold, or yet another fucking neotropics supplement
that they promise will make your brainbetter. Mickey Willis appearing at the premiere

(21:42):
of his third installment of the FuckingAnti vax Plandemic documentary Hollapalooza or whatever the
fuck posed with none other than AlexJones and a few other right wing conspiracist
grifters. And I point that outto just, you know, round out
the fact that all of these peopleare one big, interconnected, multigenerational cluster

(22:06):
fuck of sensationalist, lying motherfuckers whoall feed into each other's audiences to fuel
their grifts. And if at anyconsolation, there are some ostensibly left wing
people like, Oh, I don'tknow, RFK Junior, fucking Bobby is
kind of at the center of allthis shit, considering he's an anti vaxer
who has absolutely gotten people killed withhis anti vax bullshit. Mickey Willis,

(22:33):
who's made a series of New Agepseudo documentaries, not least of which the
QAnon plandemic bullshit, also made amovie starring Democrat Mary Ann Williamson. Why
is there so much overlap between someof these democrats and these far right conspiracists.
Well, that's because these democrats areconservatives. They are, for one,

(22:57):
ultra religious. Both RFK Junior andMary Ann Williamson are ultra religious and
incredibly conspiratorial. I mean, Idon't know, I'm not going to get
into this much. But I mean, fuck these two. No, don't.
If you're even remotely attracted to thesetwo people as politicians, no,

(23:21):
just get away from them. They'rethe ones who think that like five G
and Wi Fi signals are creating tumorsin your heads and shit, no stop.
I mean, you know, Iunderstand Mary Ann Williamson to a degree.
Her conspiracism is just over the top. But I get the fact that,
you know, left wing leftist peoplelike some of her commentary. There's

(23:42):
a lot of clips that I seeon you know, in Instagram reels and
TikTok's showing her saying things that aregood, you know, criticizing big business
industries, fucking capitalists. Totally getit. I understand the appeal there.
But what she's doing is co optingpopular leftist messaging to install her fucking whackadoodle

(24:04):
new age conspiracy bullshit into the USgovernment. And that's not good. It's
fucking terrible, dangerous, is allshit. She's also a fucking menace to
work with. Apparently, they're likeall the people that were working on a
campaign that like quit in mass didy'all see that? Holy shit? Yeah,

(24:25):
she's just a fucking horrible person.She's a fucking dumbass one and two
an asshole. So RFK Jr.Also on the Joe Rogan experience. You
know it's a big club and don'tbe in it. But this batshit trend
among the conspiracist right blaming wildfires onspace lasers and industrial fires on foot soldiers

(24:48):
of Joe Biden, as if JoeBiden has leftist soldiers setting buildings a light
for the deep state or whatever thefuck, has the very convenient effect of
distracting almost everyone from the very realproblem of increasingly frequent and intense natural disasters
and worsening working conditions and factories andindustrial spaces generally. Instead of being able

(25:14):
to talk rationally about climate change andhow capitalists are putting workers lives in danger
to make more money, we insteadfocus on how stupid it is to believe
that democrats are setting forests and recyclingplants on fire with fucking lasers beamed from
space. God damn it. Thereare very real and urgent critiques of government

(25:37):
media industries, but these conspiracists playact as brave truth tellers while running interference
for these fucking companies and for thegovernment that backs them by distracting people from
the very real but more complex issues. They did this same ship with the
Norfolk Southern train derailment, the chemicalspill, toxic fucking chemicals in the air.

(26:00):
They said that this ship was deliberate. How the fuck The only thing
that was deliberate was Norfolk Southern tocompany decided to make more money by putting
more train cars on the fucking railroad, which increased the likelihood of a fucking
derailment. It's all profit motive,that's what that is. It's not because
they're trying to kill everyone in fuckingPalestine, Ohio. That's not what the

(26:21):
No. But they would for money, Yes they would, because capitalism.
The same people who are so upsetspewing conspiracy theories about a fucking, very
simple thing that happened. Train companyhas a train derailment, it's carrying highly
toxic fucking chemicals. They decide toburn it off so that they can clear
the tracks and get another fucking trainon there so that they can make more

(26:45):
money instead of waiting to evacuate everyoneeven remotely near it. Are the same
people who are lobbying the government,mostly right wing Republican politicians to get rid
of government regulations so that this shipdoesn't happen again. These people don't understand
how anything works, but I mean, I get it. You know,

(27:06):
if your whole goal is to drifteverything right word, then you have to
blame all the bad things on theleft, even when it's not their fault,
and apparently also whenever it makes nofucking sense whatsoever. So that's fun.
The only actual real conspiracy is thatof corporations in alliance with governments who
are enabling the conspiracist bullshit as todistract and divide people enough that they prevent

(27:32):
any serious attempt to meaningfully organize againstthem. And by meaningfully I mean not
like January sixth. Instead, wehave to sit here and debunk every crackpot
theory conjured up by every cringey,fucking bootlicking shill for the very institutions they
pretend to critique. It's exhausting,but that's the point. But that's why

(27:55):
corporations and governments don't seem to careabout the ship that these people make up
about them as a net benefit,and they know it. They already crunch
the numbers. It gets people distractedenough to just fucking sit in their own
little room and talk about nothing thatmatters, conspiracy theories about people that don't
even exist, the evil Satanist Cabal, it doesn't exist. It is incredibly

(28:19):
fucking annoying. I don't know ifyou can tell, but I'm annoyed.
But it's so annoying how conspiracy theoriesare fucking thriving, Like it seems like
it's not going anywhere, but they'rethriving when there's a small group of billionaires
who have our politicians in their pockets, are lighting the planet on fire not
with fucking space lasers but with COtwo emissions, and are continuing to fund

(28:41):
police departments with endless billions of dollarsto keep the people in check. When
we get angry about it, youdon't need a conspiracy theory when capitalists are
just straight up doing the shit rightin front of your face. But that
can't be it. It can't bethe fucking it can't be the economic system.
It's got to be the evil SatanistCabal. God damn it, we're

(29:07):
all gonna die. But speaking ofthe Satanist Cabal, I want to just
read this out because I think it'sfucking very important. This was a tweet
thread or I get what the fuckan ex thread? Jesus Christ from doctor
Laura Robinson quote, I've returned severaltimes to the strange social question why are

(29:30):
Americans so angry at the idea thatchild sex trafficking, particularly by large organizations
and by kidnapping American kids, isnot as common as people suggest because they
are very angry. This comes upevery time you read an article or book
about this. Every writer acknowledges thatas soon as you suggest that kidnapping of

(29:51):
American kids is rare and that childsex trafficking is overwhelmingly an ad hoc crime
committed by friends and relatives, thesame as child sexual abuse material and not
by well connected, sophisticated strangers,people are absolutely enraged to hear this,
She says, quote I've seen thisin action several times. People will rage
at you if you tell them theirsuburban kids are not likely to be trafficked

(30:15):
by strangers. They will refuse tolook at data you show them. They
will even call you a trafficker ora sex abuser yourself. Some people are
surprised and relieved, but a significantnumber of people will be absolutely furious at
the idea that everyone isn't trying tosteal their kids. Incandescently angry, Laura
says, I've tried to play outa few theories of where this irrational behavior

(30:37):
comes from, anxiety, cognitive dissonance, etc. But having read Andrew Whitehead's
American Idolatry, I think I figuredout why she goes on. Trafficking panics
go almost perfectly with white Christian nationalism. If we think of white Christian nationalism
as a fear based system where terrorof the other or social change in spires

(31:00):
people to shore up self interested power, possibly through state or interpersonal violence,
you really can't do better than thetrafficking panic People from without, who usually
aren't white in cultural imaginations, arecoming from countries where there is no respect
for the sanctity of childhood. Thereforethey bring kids into the US to sell
as slaves, degrading us as anation. And they also take our kids

(31:22):
out of the nation, stealing ourpure children and heritage. Laura goes on
the way to combat this in thecultural narrative is by keeping immigrants out.
Recognizing the suspicion we should feel towardsmen and women of different races being married
to each other and raising kids ofdifferent races, denigrating and vilifying queer people,

(31:42):
carrying weapons, and confronting minorities inpublic about their intentions. So why
get furious when someone tells you thatthe cause of your fear isn't real?
Because this isn't actually something you're justirrationally afraid of. It's foundational to the
way that you see the world.Of course racial minorities are dangerous. Well,
of course they hate kids, andof course they want to torture your

(32:06):
children, same thing with queer people. This literally happens every time that I
write about Oh you Are and othershady anti trafficking organizations, someone will ask
me why I'm not talking about howthe left makes trafficking worse. When I
ask what they mean, they useallowing refugees into the country and LGBTQ people
as examples. She says, theidea that racial minorities and LGBTQ people are

(32:30):
traffickers is just intuitive to them.End quote. Again, that was doctor
Laura Robinson. I thought that thatwas well said and poignant. These people,
mostly white Christians, cannot fucking fathoma world in which the people doing

(32:50):
the child abuse and the child traffickingare the people that are right next to
them. They are fellow white Christians. They cannot fucking imagine that it's them,
not the evil brown people coming fromthe south of the border, and
not those queers in the city,and not the satanic cabal of leftists or
whatever the fuck. All of thisshit is just straight up projection. Like

(33:13):
they know in the back of theirminds that the ship is happening in their
own backyard. It's in your family, man like, and that's where most
of the shit occurs. She's LauraRobinson is absolutely right on this spot on
it's the neighbor, it's the fuckingfamily friend, it's it's it's an uncle,
it's it's it's a family member.That's what this is. The vast

(33:35):
majority of child's abuse is that,I mean the studies on like missing children
that show where these kids are going, I mean, the vast majority of
them are like missing children's cases whereit's a runaway and the kid returns home
like within a day, with withinhours usually. The idea that they're just
fucking hordes of kids going missing andbeing cast off into a fucking volcano by

(33:57):
the Satanists is just I don't evenhave to say it, right. I
don't have to say this, right, I don't have to say that that's
crazy, right, But you know, I get it. It's easier to
just say that it's some mythical groupthat's harmed children than to just accept the
fact that, you know, it'sa lot more mundane than that. Unfortunately

(34:19):
or fortunately, I don't know.I mean, it's like, either way,
it's fucking horrible. But how doyou address a problem when you can't
even identify what the fucking problem isor how it's happening. That's my thing
with this, and I think it'smost people's thing with this shit, Like,
how do you fix a problem likechild abuse when you can't I even

(34:39):
identify what the fuck is actually goingon, and you're just spewing bullshit on
the internet. You're not doing anything, especially when all you're actually doing is
going to see a fucking, crazy, fucking movie start in by a nutcase
who thinks that the evil cabal isstealing children to drink their blo. Yes,

(35:00):
I'm talking about this Sound of Freedom. And Jim Caviezel, the guy
who stars in the movie, wholiterally has said that people are stealing children
so that they can drink their bloodto live longer like people. Please,
All that you're doing by buying aticket to see this movie and by dragging
all of your friends and family tocome see it with you is giving more

(35:21):
money to these very unhinged people sothat they can make even more movies,
so that hordes of people can gosee a movie and claim that they're doing
something good for the world while actuallydoing nothing at all. And also,
I mean the other thing that theright says about immigrants, specifically migrants that
are coming over the border illegally intothe United States. Obviously they make the

(35:45):
claim that, you know, well, they're also bringing drugs across the borders,
so you know, even if childsex trafficking isn't actually a thing that's
happening across the border, at leastwe're stopping the drugs, right. Well,
no, no, you're not.You're also not doing that. Cartels
and drug trafficking are such a meaninglessabstraction for Americans that nonsensical threats from Republican

(36:07):
politicians to literally kill drug mules thatexist only in their imaginations get huge applauses
at political rallies and events. Eventhough nearly one hundred percent of fentinel crosses
in commercial and passenger vehicles at legalpoints of entry right under border patrols.
Dumb fucking noses. But what aboutthe jobs that they're taken? Yeah,

(36:30):
well, you know, I kindof assumed that you would just list off
all the things that you think arethe reasons why we should literally seal off
the border and put literal murder devicesin the Rio Grand River, like Governor
Greg Abbott of Texas has done todrown migrants who are literally just trying to

(36:51):
make ends meet and survive. So, yeah, all of the reasons that
are given by the right for whywe should seal off the border forever or
all fake or wrong or incredibly sensationalizedto the point where it's just still mythical.
So what's the real reason. What'sthe real reason when you dig down
deep enough, Well, the reasonsracism, It's xenophobia. It's who these

(37:15):
people are to their core. They'refucking xenophobes, racists, they're fascists,
and the through line is white Christiannationalism. So all of this ship from
you know, the queers trying todiddle with your children to fucking you know,
migrants trafficking your white kids across theborder. It's they can't help it.

(37:37):
They group all of these boogeymen intheir minds and create these incredible conspiracist
narratives about them all, and it'sjust intuitive to them. And this ship
is going to get worse unless there'sa viable leftist movement that swells in this
country like quickly. Stephen Monicelli,I'm sorry if I'm butchering that last name.

(37:59):
Man, Sorry, but he wrotein the Texas Observer a piece titled
these Christians think God needs you richand to rule the world. And it's
worth a read and a share init, he writes. Leading Word of
Faith preachers like Kenneth Copeland of Texas, who refused to cooperate during a two
thousand and eight Senate Finance Committee investigationinto allegations of improper financial activity, have

(38:21):
amassed enormous wealth and massive congregations throughtheir wide reaching televangelist broadcasts, which ask
followers to donate as a demonstration oftheir faith, with the promise that God
will reward them in return. Accordingto Kate Bowler, a professor of American
religious history at Duke Divinity School andauthor of Blessed, a History of American
Prosperity Gospel. Thirty percent of thecountry's fifty biggest churches follow Word of Faith

(38:45):
inspired teachings, and more than sixtypercent of Prosperity Gospel congregations exceeded five thousand
members in two ten. Texas ishome to at least eleven faith style megachurches,
including Benny Hinn Ministries and Grape inTexas, whose headquarters the IRS rated
in twenty seventeen. In recent years, they've increasingly blended prosperity theology with a

(39:09):
particularly strident strain of Christian dominionism thatseeks to implement Christian rule over every aspect
of society. Stephen continues quote.Some scholars see this highly politicized and rapidly
growing non denominational formation as the successorto conservative evangelical Christianity that has played a
significant role in Republican politics. AntheaButler, chair of the University of Pennsylvania's

(39:34):
Department of Religious Studies, says,quote, Denominationalism is over, and as
a matter of fact, these peoplehave subsumed evangelicalism. This is the wave
of the future. End quote.And now I'm going to skip a little
bit in between. I recommend readingthis whole thing, but I'm not going
to read the whole article, becauseyou know, go read it. It
goes into a little bit of thehistory of televangelism and evangelicalism and how they're

(39:57):
melding today, which I find tobe interesting and important to know. I'll
provide a link in the show notes. But Butler again told Monicelli quote,
They've brought prosperity, Gospel and dominionismtogether in a new and interesting way.
The intersection of dominionism is something thatstarted occurring in the two thousands, but
what really ramped it up was Trump, and now they're being more explicitly political,

(40:22):
Stephen wrote on Twitter. See Stephenwrote on x I witnessed this synthesis
of prosperity, Gospel and dominionism atKenneth Copeland's annual gathering in Fort Worth,
Texas. At the most recent SouthwestBeliever's Convention, debunked election conspiracy theorist Michael
Lindell was featured alongside self described profitand dominionist Lance Walnu, both regular guests

(40:47):
on the Flashpoint political news program producedby Copeland Ministries. Flashpoint has also featured
Michael Flynn, a disgraced former generalaffiliated with the QAnon movement who's Reawakened America
tour simply len's conservative charismatic Christianity withconspiracism. Anthea Butler said, we should
think of them as cousins, notcounterparts. Again, it's one big fucking

(41:12):
clusterfuck. It's terrible. I alsowant to say that the only thing that
this right wing conspiracism mixed with thisChristian nationalism delivers is pushing gullible people and
desperate people to levy threats, carryout violence, and make panicky videos sitting
alone in their cars, yelling orsobbing about what horrible things they believe some

(41:34):
shadowy group of people has done oris doing to them, all of which
being entirely disconnected from reality. Thepurveyors of this ship are the worst of
all grifters. From these megachurch pastorslike Kenneth Copeland to Roger Stone, to
Mickey Willis to RFK Junior to toppolitical candidates like Donald Trump and Ron fucking

(41:55):
De Santis, all of them reekhavoc on the minds of vulnerable, often
well intentioned people, and it's fuckinghorrible. But yeah, have you ever
wondered why right wing influencers seem socoordinated in their messaging online. It's probably
because they're all being paid behind thescenes. Yeah. I know, not

(42:15):
to sound like a conspiracy theorist,but a new company is secretly recruiting gen
Z influencers to defend corrupt Attorney GeneralKen Paxton of Texas and promote the qan
on adjacent Sound of Freedom movie.Meet Influenceable, a network of digital activists
with ties to far right Texas billionairesand Trump's former campaign chairman. God damn

(42:39):
it once again in fort Worth,Texas, Jesus Christ, a gathering sponsored
by a new company, Influenceable,social media leaders began backing the suspended Texas
Attorney general and a controversial human traffickingfilm. Oh fuck, I like this

(42:59):
Texas Tribute article because it says thosewho favor transparency and political advocacy are concerned.
Yes, I'm sure they are.In late June, about a dozen
conservative gen Z influencers converged on FortWorth for a few days of right wing
networking. Totally normal thing for youngpeople to be doing. Stop. They
hit local nightspots, pose for groupphotos, bam, and met a far

(43:23):
right Texas billionaire and Donald Trump's formercampaign chairman, Jesus Christ. Kids fucking
go do drugs or something like.Literally, anything is better than this.
But to each their own, no, not to each their own. This
is terrible, But you know,this wonderfully grand day that these kids are

(43:45):
having didn't stop there. Then thesekids took to social media to rally their
many followers behind a new controversial filmyou know what they're talking about, before
turning their support to impeached Texas AttorneyGeneral Ken Paxton, who I mean,
I'm not going to get into that. You can read all about him,
but he's a corrupt piece of shit. The event was sponsored by a company,

(44:06):
Influenceable LLC, that recruits young conservativesocial media figures to promote political campaigns
and films without disclosing their business relationship. On its website, the company touts
itself as the quote world's largest networkof digital activists and offers clients the power
to quote cultivated community of influencers toleverage their credibility. Oh Man. Photos

(44:30):
from the event show that Influenceable haspowerful allies. Among the speakers were Brad
Parscale, who recently moved to Texasafter years running the Trump Campaigns digital strategy
and Tim Dunn, the West Texasoil tycoon who has given tens of millions
of dollars to ultra conservative movements andcandidates in Texas, including Ken Paxton.

(44:50):
The article goes on, Influenceable appearsto be recruiting young conservatives to parrot claims
that the Attorney general is the victimof a political witch hunt, and more
recently, to promote a series ofvideos alleging that the Texas legislature is secretly
controlled by Democrats intent on destroying Paxtonand other conservatives secretly controlled by Democrats.
That man, they're doing a terriblefucking job. God, Texas is the

(45:17):
most conservative state in the country,on par with Florida. So anyway,
the conspiracies aren't meant to be coherent, They're just meant to confuse and radicalize.
The article goes on, the company'semergence comes amid Republican initiatives to connect
with young Americans who tend to bemore supportive of liberal policies, and while

(45:39):
legal experts set Influencibles methods don't appearto run a foul of campaign finance and
political advertising rules, the company hasalready irked some Republicans who say it's approaches
are deceptive and harmful to democracy.Yeah, no shit. State Representative Tom
Oliverson, it's a mouthful for me. Republican of Cyprus, Texas, said

(46:00):
he may propose new laws to strengthendisclosure requirements because of companies like Influenceable,
saying they create manufactured outrage and furtherpolarized the country. Sure yes, Oliverson
said it disgusts me. In aninterview, he says, quote, it
calls into question the value and validityof their entire message as an influencer.

(46:22):
I think they should all be investigated. Yeah, he says, I think
the company should be investigated, andI think all these influencers should be outed
end quote. Are those the secretDemocrats that are masquerading as Republicans who just
think that, like, this amountof money and influence in politics from billionaires,

(46:44):
oil and gas tycoons should probably belike fucking done away with Like how
is that a partisan thing to say? It's not. This idea just crosses
the political spectrum. Like if youare not on board with doing away with
money in politics, you're just fuckI don't know what you are You're not
even ideologically on the same fucking planet, I don't think And of course,

(47:07):
Influenceable. Terrible name, by theway, is closely linked to another right
wing organization today as America Inc.Fucking what did you a terrible name again,
a self described anti woke social mediacompany that was founded in twenty nineteen
by North Carolina brothers Cameron and Liam. Wow not even attempting that last name.

(47:29):
The company quickly rose to prominence onplatforms such as Instagram, where it
continues to deluge it's quarter million fuckingfollowers with anti LGBTQ plus memes and pro
Trump talking points. So that's fun. According to LinkedIn, Cameron, one
of the brothers is Influenceable's CEO,Liam, the other brother is a co

(47:51):
founder, and another high ranking todayis America employee. These fucking brothers also
attracted the attention of GOP operatives businessfilings for today is America LLC, one
of a few companies associated with theToday's America brand list. Unsuccessful North Carolina
congressional candidate Bo Hines as its CEO, it's chief financial Yeah, all of
these people they have, they're notinterested in politics. They're not interested in

(48:15):
fixing anything. They're only interested infucking owning the libs and posting memes real
hard, but get this. It'schief financial officer is Jason Bulls, who
was the campaign treasurer for US RepresentativeMarjorie Taylor Green before he joined the campaign
of famed fabulous Representative George Santos ofNew York. Bulls is also the leader

(48:37):
of Heal the Divide, a politicalaction committee backing the presidential campaign of anti
vaccine conspiracy theorist you guessed it,Robert F. Kennedy Junior, Good God.
The clusterfuck Live in action. Influenzablewas first registered in August twenty twenty
two in the Infamous Corporation Trust Center, a one story building in Wilmington,

(49:00):
Delaware that some three hundred thousand corporations, including Google, Apple, in Walmart
have used as a registration address totake advantage of the so called Delaware loophole
that allows them to avoid taxes inmany public disclosures. As heat waves strained
the Texas power grid last year.Campaign Nucleus, which promotes itself as an
all in one digital ecosystem that cutsout third party platforms and protects conservatives from

(49:24):
quote unquote, cancel Culture reportedly pushedanti renewable energy talking points favored by oil
and gas companies, and Trump's campaignhas also reportedly used Campaign Nucleus. That's
cool. Campaign Nucleus is a companythat Brad Parskill, Trump's twenty twenty campaign
strategist, began developing seven years ago. I'm tagging this article in the show

(49:45):
notes as well. It's longer thanwhat I've read so far, but it's
pretty fucking crazy. But it justgoes to show that the right is absolutely
inundated with dark money, and noneof this shit is grass roots. It's
like essentially ninety percent of right wingpolitical messaging is funded by right wing billionaires.

(50:07):
Screenshots of one of the recruitment pitchesfor Influenceable, which were published recently
by the conservative website Current Revolt,offer influencers fifty dollars for sharing one post
about that QAnon film. Also listedwere links to a payment website and to
a tweet by Michael quinn Sullivan,the longtime leader of Texas Scorecard, a

(50:29):
far right website that's received millions ofdollars from that Texas billionaire Tim Dunn.
And you want to know something elsethat this Tim Dunn guy is financing.
Robert Downin, writing for the TexasTribune, did a wonderful few articles about
Tim Dunn, the oil billionaire,and the astroturfing of right wing political messaging.

(50:52):
I'm linking both of the articles inthe show notes. They're definitely worth
a read in the share The secondarticle is titled Kyle Rittenhouse launches nonp off
for far right Texans as he rampsup political engagement in the state. So
yeah, the activists known for shootingBlack Lives Matter protesters in twenty twenty has
created the Rittenhouse Foundation, which promisesto fight for gun rights and includes leaders

(51:15):
who have close ties to ultra conservativemegadonas from Texas. Already this year,
Kyle Rittenhouse has rallied with a Texassecessionist movement leader, endorsed ultra conservative midterm
candidates, and railed against Texas guncontrol legislation, which is non existent.
Texas does not have gun control regulation. How are you? How like this

(51:37):
state barely is like, m maybewe should raise the age to like from
eighteen to twenty one, And thenKyle Rittenhouse comes out of nowhere and it
is like, fuck you, We'renot doing that you're not taking away my
second mement rights. I don't evenlive in this state, of course.
And he's also like, you know, railing against the peachman of Ken Paxton,

(52:00):
because Ken's a good guy somehow,even though he's a corrupt piece of
shit. He literally came out inthe Tribune, No, not the Tribune
I was looking at. It cameout in court that Ken Paxton was using
some other guy's Uber account to govisit his mistress so that you know,

(52:21):
his wife wouldn't find out. God. He yes, very Christian guy,
Ken Paxton, very nice, verygood guy, very Christian guy. Good
guy using some other guy's Uber accountto visit your mistress. It's very Christian
thing to do. I'm not kidding. It is a very Christian thing to
do anyway. Rittenhouse is Foundation.The directors are Rittenhouse Texas Gun Rights President

(52:46):
Chris McNutt and Shelby Grysinger. Grysingertreasurer for Defend Texas Liberty Pack, a
key financier of far right candidates acrossTexas. The foundation registered agent is the
law firm of Tony McDonald, whohas four years represented Empower Texans and other

(53:07):
deep red organizations. Defend Texas libertyand empower Texans have received tens of millions
of dollars from a trio of WestTexas oil tycoons. Yes, who that's
right, Tim Dunn and brothers Ferrisand Dan Wilkes and have for decades funded
campaigns, nonprofits, and movements topromote their ultra conservative religious and social views.

(53:29):
Rittenhouse moved to Texas. Yes,Yeah, that's right. I guess
he does live in this state.No, but not really. You don't
fucking count. You're going to BlinnCollege, dude, and you have you
enrolled in like twenty twenty two,so you don't. You don't fucking count.
You are absolutely not a Texas resident. But yeah, I mean he
moved to Texas last year. Yes, after being acquitted of homicide charges in

(53:52):
the fatal shooting of two people attwenty twenty protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
He since steadily ramped up his politicalinvolvement in Texas, while often railing against
media and cantil culture and you know, gun control groups of course. In
January, Rittenhouse appeared out a CONROrally CONRO Texas Rally against Censorship with Daniel

(54:12):
Miller, president of the Texas Nationalistmovement, which advocates for Texas to secede
from the United States. The eventdrew national media attention after the Conro Brewery
said it was inundated with threats andharassment after pulling out as the event's host
venue. That sounds about right comingfrom Texas nationalists Jesus. In May,

(54:35):
Rittenhouse joined Texas gun rights in opposinga House bill that would have raised the
minimum age to purchase semi automatic riflesfrom eighteen to twenty one. Exactly,
they're just fucking freaking out because ofthe most minor of inconveniences. Fucking white
privileged bullshit. Oh yo, damagesaway for three years, what the fuck?

(54:59):
Absolutely, and he's been active onsocial media condemning the Texas House impeachment
of Paxton and endorsing pro Second Amendmentultra conservative candidates who were also backed by
groups affiliated with Dunn and the Wilkesbrothers. So all of these fucking people
are funded by these billionaires. Lastyear, Rittenhouse announced plans to attend Texas
A and M University, only towalk back the claim after the university said

(55:22):
that he had not been accepted.Rittenhouse and Illinois native later said he planned
to attend Blinn College, actually atwo year school in Brenham, Texas.
It's unclear if Rittenhouse is attending theschool, which said he had not enrolled
in classes after he announced his intentionto go there. Okay, so we're
not even fucking sure if he's goingto school. So Rittenhouse is foray into

(55:45):
Texas politics comes as Republicans continue effortsto reach out to younger Americans who are
increasingly supportive of liberal policies. OnMonday, the Tribune reported on a new
company, Influenceable. Yes, sothis is the second an article that accompanies
the first one, both written byreporter Robert Downan. Give him a follow

(56:07):
and check out the articles in theshow notes. So, yeah, the
right wing clusterfuck pretty cool. Anyway, There's a new strain of COVID nineteen
going around, So can you fuckingpeople be careful and try not to spread
the fucking thing. I got COVIDjust a little while ago, and it

(56:30):
was not great. I felt likeshit. I don't know if it was
the new strain. I assume thatit is because where I am there there's
an outbreak going on. But youknow what I did the moment that I
felt just a little off. Itook a test and you know what,
I isolated myself away from my fuckingfamily. And you know what I did,
I didn't spread it. Cancel yourfucking plans and stop being such a

(56:52):
piece of shit. That's my tipof the day. All right. That
was another episode I don't know whatnumber of Another fucking guy with a podcast.
If you want to support the show, head on over to patreon dot
com, forward slash Another guy Pod, and follow me on the socials at

(57:15):
Another Guy Pod And as always,thanks for listening.