CRC Media Hits in June 2020

CRC staffers began cautiously to return to the office in June, although based on media hits for the month, one may wonder if staff was ever gone at all. Not only did we have among the highest number of hits the center has ever had, but we also had arguably some of the most high-profile hits we’ve seen in some time.

This is undoubtedly due to the increasing quality and frequency of the work CRC is producing. From the outstanding work of our researchers to the stellar ability of those professionals to translate their work into useful quotes and interviews, CRC is increasingly becoming a go-to source for reporters and other think tank writers who need timely and accurate research on any number of topics related to how influencers move within the political sphere.

And we provide. Below is just a smattering of our work with media for during June. We anticipate this trend to continue.

The Mark Levin Show
Scott Walter (Guest), 6/30/2020

Mark Levin talks with Scott Walter, President of Capital Research Center, about the support pouring into Black Lives Matter and the organization’s finances going through an organization with a convicted domestic terrorist on its board.

The Lars Larson Show
Hayden Ludwig (Guest), 6/18/2020

Is the fundraising service ActBlue passing Black Lives Matter donations to the Democratic Party? Not quite—but that misses the real story about the Left’s billion-dollar “dark money” machine. One story from last week is how activist groups are capitalizing on the recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and far-left riots to raise millions of dollars from sympathetic donors. The website BlackLivesMatter.org, which purports to be the center of a more-or-less headless and decentralized movement, recently reported a major uptick in donations since protests began over the death of George Floyd.

“The Mayhem Is the Message”
Wall Street Journal, Bill McGurn, 6/8/2020

“Radical mobs on campuses call speech they don’t like ‘violence,’” says Scott Walter of the Capital Research Center. “Radical mobs in the streets call their violence ‘speech.’ Either way, instead of highlighting the difference between peaceful protesters and rioters, they want to erase it.” With apologies to Marshall McLuhan, the mayhem is the message.

“Black Lives Matter Fundraising Handled by Group with Convicted Terrorist on Its Board”
Washington Examiner, Jerry Dunleavey, 6/25/2020

The website for Black Lives Matter is operated under an umbrella group known as the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, chaired by BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors, a self-described Marxist. Black Lives Matter uses ActBlue to raise money, but claims from some conservative activists such as Candace Owens that Black Lives Matter was just a “shell company” for donating money to the Democratic Party do not appear to be true. Black Lives Matter appears to make up the majority of the donation work that Thousand Currents does, with the 2019 public audit statement for Thousand Currents showing just over $6.4 million in total financial assets, including holding more than $3.3 million in assets for Black Lives Matter as of last June. The audit shows Thousand Currents released nearly $1.8 million in donations to Black Lives Matter during the year ending on June 30, 2019.

“At Politifact, the Truth Is Often Missing”
Breitbart, J. Christian Adams, 6/11/2020

Which brings us finally to who pays the bills at Politifact and why. Politifact is part of the constellation of groups funded by leftist foundations who attack those fighting voter fraud and election vulnerabilities. They push the same narrative their funders do. Scores and scores of allied groups funded by the same funders push the same message. That is why Politifact should not be taken seriously.

Influencewatch has the goods on them:

“Since 2013, Democracy Fund has donated more than $1,000,000 to PolitiFact, both to the PunditFact project and to grow PolitiFact’s operations in new states. Poynter took over operation of PolitiFact in 2018 to make it easier for the site to solicit charitable donors for support of its work.”

The Democracy Fund exists to attack those who fight voter fraud and who preserve state control over elections.  It is a hard-core leftist foundation.

“The Various Faces of Black Lives Matter”
RealClear Politics, Robert Stilson (Op-ed), 6/21/2020

The horrific killing of George Floyd, combined with other recent fatal shootings of black men and women, has set off weeks of peaceful protests and violent riots across America. It has also thrust Black Lives Matter (BLM) back into the forefront of America’s struggles with race relations. But just what is BLM as an organization? Turns out that’s a difficult question to answer.

As covered here, Black Lives Matter can mean something different depending on what part of the movement is being referenced and who is doing the referencing. For instance, when the term is used to show opposition to police brutality or other racially charged issues, it does not necessarily imply connection with any particular organization. In this sense it serves more as an expression of one’s views, rather than affiliations.

BLM and ActBlue
Bill Meyer Show, Scott Walter (Guest), 6/25/2020

Capital Research Center President Scott Walter joins the show to discuss the background and structure of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The Hill‘s Profile of Sheldon Whitehouse Gets Money and Influence Backward”
National Review, Carrie Severino, 6/8/2020

This legal dominance also extends to the regulatory front. Environmental and other “dark money” groups funded opposition to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in Canada. Some pass-through entities like the Tides Foundation provided funding both for that and for groups that pushed for the Federal Communications Commission’s adoption of net neutrality regulations during the Obama administration.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Arabella Advisors’ network raised $1.6 billion between 2013 and 2017. It has supported a network of affiliates too numerous to list here, but which include the Sixteen Thirty Fund. That well-endowed group spent $141 million in 2018 alone. Their recipients include Demand Justice and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV). The LCV is Whitehouse’s top donor.

“How Antifa Became a Trump Catch-All”
Politico, Tina Nguyen, 6/2/2020

“In a way, antifa is the political correctness that all kinds of conservatives dislike, in a really radical form,” said Scott Walter, the president of the Capital Research Center, a conservative-libertarian think tank that maintains a database of research on left-wing organizations. “And the most common place to find political correctness and antifa is on college campuses, where the essential thing is that you want to silence your opponents completely, and you want to have mob rule. That’s what, I think, almost all conservatives see.”

“Creation Care Means Controlling People Not the Environment”
CBN, Hayden Ludwig (Op-ed), 6/28/2020

The scheme is called “creation care,” and far from stewardship of Creation, its real objective is undermining the pro-life movement in order to enact a radical Global Warming agenda. Creation care activists want to broaden the term “pro-life” to include environmentalism—replacing the conviction that life begins at conception with a new definition that’s so meaningless it means whatever they want it to. And with today’s hardened Left, that includes redistribution of wealth, open borders, and even abortion.

The premise is simple: if you can’t convince them, deceive them.