A think tank associated with Marco Rubio, which fuels fears about Haitian immigrants in Pennsylvania, has also produced a series of videos in recent months promoting conspiracy theories about LGBTQ+ people, human rights groups and even the corporate consulting firm McKinsey & Company. did.
The editor hired to produce these videos is also the head of MyPillow, a media organization founded by Mike Lindell, a close ally of former President Donald Trump and a prominent election denier. .
The ongoing campaign against Haitians, which follows this video and a similar effort in Springfield, Ohio, that caused chaos in the Midwestern city, raises questions about the increasingly extreme political rhetoric used in Republican circles. is being cast. Two experts told the Guardian the ad contained elements of fascist rhetoric.
producers
The videos on the channel are not clearly attributed to any individual. They are represented by right-wing political operative Nate Hochman, but not all of them, according to an email America 2100 founder Mike Needham sent to the Guardian after publication.
Needham writes that one of them at McKinsey & Company was voiced by another person. The Guardian emailed Mr Hochman and Mr Needham ahead of its publication, asking for comment and clarification on who was narrating the video. Needham’s only response was, “Your reporting is dishonest and pathetic, designed to intimidate those with whom you disagree from participating in the public forum.”
The Guardian reported last month that Mr Hochman has become the face of a campaign to establish Charleroi, Pennsylvania, as a new focal point in a campaign of racist terror against Haitian immigrants. The movement intensified after President Trump falsely claimed that Haitians were eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio.
Hochman has previously weathered scandals over his close ties to the far right.
In mid-2022, he lost his fellowship after a conservative website revealed that he had recorded a friendly conversation on Twitter with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist influencer who had openly praised Nazism.
In July 2023, Hochman was fired from Ron DeSantis’ unsuccessful presidential campaign over a campaign video allegedly produced by Ron DeSantis that featured neo-Nazi imagery.
Meanwhile, Mason Prickett claims video production credit on his website, describing the videos as “a collection of videos I produced for America 2100.” Prickett also claims credit for “motion assets created for FrankSpeech Properties.” FrankSpeech is a video streaming site founded by Lindell, a pillow entrepreneur, Trump supporter, and one of the most prominent figures to publicly deny the results of the 2020 election.
In an article published last month, the Guardian revealed that America 2100 was launched in June 2023 by Rubio’s former chief of staff, Mike Needham.
In its report on the launch of Real Clear Politics, the think tank said it had “Mr. Rubio’s blessing” and would prioritize “the work of codifying and institutionalizing the ideas that Mr. Rubio helped pioneer.” .
Mr. Rubio’s book, published around the same time, was heralded as a milestone in the senator’s transformation from “the darling of the Republican establishment to a policy-armed populist gadfly,” and that Mr. Needham’s “largely It was with the help of
pride month
Some of the videos have anti-LGBTQ+ messages embedded within conspiracy theory narratives.
One was published on YouTube on June 12, which many celebrate as LGBTQ+ Pride Month, and is titled “How Pride Month is subverting and replacing American symbols and identity.” Hochman said in the video that “the practices and symbols of the LGBT movement,” such as “half-naked men gyrating suggestively in front of young children,” are “viscerally offensive” to many Americans. Ta.
He said it was part of a “continuing attack on America’s traditional symbols,” including “movements to replace Thanksgiving with a day of remembrance for indigenous peoples.” claims.
These “new symbols and new traditions,” Hochman argues, are attempts to “form a new moral, cultural, and political order.” He said Pride Month is “a symbolic tool in an ongoing revolution aimed at undermining and replacing symbols of American history and identity.”
human rights campaign
Six days later, while it was still Pride Month, another video featuring Hochman speaking out was published on YouTube, showing that LGBTQ+ rights group Human Rights Campaign (HRC) was using the annual celebration for nefarious purposes. directly accused him of doing so.
The video’s title is How the Human Rights Campaign Forces Companies to Bend the Knee to Radical LGBTQ Agenda, and the YouTube caption reads, “Ever wonder how everything got so…gay?” ” he asked.
“Even just a few decades ago, Pride Month meant a few parades and a few carefully worded statements,” Hochman said in the recording.
He added: “Every major company, brand and organization is fully committed to LGBT right now.”
Furthermore, Hochman argues, “The root of a lot of this is a group called the Human Rights Campaign, which is a powerful LGBT activist group.”
HRC spokesperson Sam Lau said: “Fascists and authoritarian sympathizers target people of color, women, immigrants, and people who think and look different from them for the same reasons that human rights campaigns and “It’s targeting the LGBTQ+ community.” They are desperate to hold on to power. ”
“They know that we are the majority and that the American people believe in equality,” Lau added. “They use inflammatory and false rhetoric to demonize our community. , trying to scare us away from public life,” he added.
Lau also pointed to what he called “dangerous consequences,” adding: “We are seeing an increase in reports of hate crime incidents targeting people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”
Lau cited media reports about FBI data released in August that showed anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes in 2023 increased by 8.6% from 2022 numbers.
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McKinsey conspiracy theory
The video, titled How the Deep State Uses McKinsey & Company to Infiltrate the President’s Administration, accuses the consulting firm of being “a key player in a globalist network seeking to subvert the American state.” has been done.
“For almost a century, the company has infiltrated successive presidential administrations,” the narrator also claims in a video published on YouTube on Aug. 16.
This includes the Trump administration, according to Hochman, who says in the video that “When Donald Trump came to power, McKinsey didn’t leave, it started working,” adding, “We started working with our allies and partners. He placed him in a key position in his administration.” .
The video shows little evidence for these claims or the idea that McKinsey has “deep state connections.”
The Guardian contacted McKinsey, but a spokesperson declined to comment.
The video ends with a warning: “If Donald Trump wins against Kamala Harris, McKinsey will waste no time in infiltrating the Trump transition again.”
rubio link
The YouTube channel also features several short stories, including one showcasing Marco Rubio’s change on immigration issues.
Ten years ago, Florida Republican senators were part of a bipartisan effort to pass immigration reform that would give undocumented immigrants a path to citizenship. In the video, he draws unfavorable comparisons between the established Cuban-American community and recent refugees, saying they receive overly generous welfare benefits from the federal government. .
R. Michael Alvarez, a professor of political science at the California Institute of Technology who has published work on political campaigns, voter behavior and conspiracy theory thinking, said the video overall was “very dark” and “hidden.” He said the focus was on “insurgents, hidden agents.” .
Alvarez added: “I’m concerned that these substances are targeting people who hold such beliefs,” calling the possibility “dangerous.”
Fascist rhetoric?
The Guardian also contacted two rhetoric professors who have published studies of fascist rhetorical tactics to find out how Hochman’s political appeals compare to those made during the darkest days of 20th century popular politics. We investigated whether it was compared to
Nathan Crick of Texas A&M University published a book-length analysis of fascist rhetoric in 2022. Meanwhile, Ryan Skinnell of San Jose State University has published a series of studies on the rhetoric of fascism, Hitler, and Donald Trump.
They said the material could not be described unequivocally as such because it did not contain all the elements of fascist rhetoric. But Crick said the video “has fascist overtones,” and Skinnell said the video had “very fascist themes and significant rhetorical clichés that are definitely associated with fascist rhetoric.” I wrote that it was included.
Click wrote that the video had fascist overtones in that it relied on “conspiracy theory motifs, most consistently themes of dark hidden forces working behind the scenes.” He also criticized the “obsession with sexual perversion and de-masculinization,” the “delegitimization of a hopelessly corrupt status quo,” and the “consistent ‘dark’ tone of the videos,” and the current state of affairs in need of a major overhaul. He also mentioned the atmosphere of “genocide”.
Skinnell wrote that fascist themes included “the invention of a glorious mythical past” and “utopian visions of a future free of interlopers and corrupters.” He also referred to “stories of crisis and decline” and “complementary stories of damage at the hands of perverts and ‘globalists’.”
Both justified these claims by saying the video lacked elements of full-blown fascist rhetoric.
“It’s important to distinguish between ‘conservative’ views in general and fascism itself,” Crick said, noting that even when promoting the “America First” slogan, foreign policy material ” “Stylized political realism.”
Skinnell said the videos are “ambiguous about the ‘one true leader,'” which is central to fascist rhetoric. “Leaders are the embodiment of a nation’s fundamental values,” he added.
He also said the videos “do not lean toward a narrative of violence and domination that reinforces fascist rhetoric.”
This article was modified on October 4, 2024. A previous version listed the voice in the video as Nate Hochman. However, after publication, the Guardian obtained information suggesting it was not clear who was narrating one of the McKinsey & Company videos.
