MPR, Unicorn Riot scrutinize Dorr Brothers, Liberate Minnesota rally co-hosts

We've been struggling with dry and windy weather here in Summit, and our sinuses' reaction to the dust kicked up has slowed down our posting.

Fortunately, Minnesota Public Radio's Catharine Richert in Behind rallies to reopen economy, a Minnesota activist and his family and Unicorn Riot's Niko Georgiades in Who’s Calling to ‘Liberate Minnesota’, and Why? have published stellar coverage of the question posed in the latter headline.

MPR investigation

As the headline suggests, Richert focuses on the Dorr family in Behind rallies to reopen economy, a Minnesota activist and his family. The strength of this piece is following the money that the activists raise in their activity. She reports:

Last week, as cars and people filled the street in front of the governor’s residence, demanding an end to restrictions meant to fight COVID-19, a live video of the protest appeared on the group Minnesota Gun Rights’ Facebook page.

Amid the honking cars and the chants of “USA, USA,” the group’s leader, Ben Dorr, took credit for helping draw supporters to the rally. 

“We’re done being quarantined, we’re done having our freedoms taken,” said Dorr. “It’s time to open up America.” 

Across the country, Dorr and his older brothers, Chris and Aaron, have long opposed Republican legislators for not being conservative enough on issues ranging from guns to abortion. Their detractors say they spread disinformation to sow confusion among voters.

Last week, as cars and people filled the street in front of the governor’s residence, demanding an end to restrictions meant to fight COVID-19, a live video of the protest appeared on the group Minnesota Gun Rights’ Facebook page.

Amid the honking cars and the chants of “USA, USA,” the group’s leader, Ben Dorr, took credit for helping draw supporters to the rally. 

“We’re done being quarantined, we’re done having our freedoms taken,” said Dorr. “It’s time to open up America.” 

Across the country, Dorr and his older brothers, Chris and Aaron, have long opposed Republican legislators for not being conservative enough on issues ranging from guns to abortion. Their detractors say they spread disinformation to sow confusion among voters.

Based on publicly available tax documents, the Dorrs’ efforts in Minnesota, Iowa and Ohio have raised more than $2.9 million since 2013, with at least a third of it going to a direct mail printing company in Iowa owned by the Dorr family. 

Now, the trio is using their pro-gun social media platforms to call for anti-quarantine protests in Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa and New York, just as President Trump commanded some governors on Twitter to “liberate” states with stay-at-home orders. 

In a year when experts are warning against disinformation campaigns meant to deepen political divides and influence the outcome of elections up and down the ballot — and now, on the outcome of a pandemic sweeping the globe — the Dorrs’ operation offers a window into how disinformation machines churn in our most vulnerable moments.

Ben Dorr declined an interview in early March when MPR News first started reporting on his operation, while Aaron and Chris Dorr didn’t respond to calls, texts or emails. Calls and emails to the Dorrs’ associates were not returned.  .  . .

Minnesota lawmakers are also troubled by Ben Dorr’s tactics — so much so that they, along with the Republican Party of Minnesota, launched a website earlier this year denouncing his organizations as scams. 

It’s an unusual move for a party that’s typically in lock-step on key conservative issues such as gun rights and abortion.

But House Minority Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown, said Ben Dorr’s influence at the State Capitol is questionable. 

While Ben and his brother Chris are registered as lobbyists, Daudt said they do little to advance issues at the Capitol or support legislators during campaign season.  . . .

There's much more at MPR. Excellent spadework.

Unicorn Riot's broader take

At Unicorn Riot, Niko Georgiades' Who’s Calling to ‘Liberate Minnesota’, and Why? dispatch looks at broader tapestry of the ultra-conservative right. As with Richert, there's some impressive spadework here. Some high points:

In opposition to the state of Minnesota’s Stay At Home order, over five hundred people protested in front of the Governor’s Residence on Friday, April 17. The protest, called ‘Liberate Minnesota‘, was one in a slew of recent right-wing protests across the country calling for an end to business shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Unicorn Riot was live on the ground during two hours of the rally at the Governor’s mansion. We interviewed four of the main organizers of the protest and dozens of attendees who ranged from small business owners to anti-vaccine and 5G conspiracy proponents, a member of the Proud Boys hate group, and a handful of counter-protesters. In this report we take a deep dive into the pre-existing networks that generated this rally and similar ones around the country.

Bluestem looked at the earlier video in our post, Liberate Minnesota rally at Governor's residence: Unicorn Riot's exclusive livesteam interviews. Georgiades deeper dives:

The protest featured a few local politicians including Minnesota Libertarian Party Chairman Chris Holbrook, former 2nd District Congressman Jason Lewis (who is challenging U.S. Senator Tina Smith in November), and State Representative Jeremy Munson (R-Lake Crystal). Munson is part of the New House Republican Caucus, a faction of the Republican Party. Munson has been a vocal opponent to Gov Walz’s Stay At Home executive order and posted a Facebook picture posing with one of the rally organizers, Don Huizenga.

Elements of more hardcore right-wing organizations were in attendance, including several III Percenter Militia members, Oathkeepers, and a man who professed to be a member of the far-right ‘western chauvinist’ Proud Boys, who have been active in these cross-country actions. But most of the crowd was a mix of capitalists looking to get back to work.

Who’s Behind the Wave of Right Wing Protests?

. . . In 2015, a politically bipartisan group of 16 Second Amendment advocates shunned the Dorr family’s Minnesota Gun Rights group for predatory practices.

In Minnesota, mainstream conservatives have sought to sideline parts of this broader alignment. The Republican Party of Minnesota (RPM) and the official House and Senate Republican caucuses went further and made a website called MNScammersExposed, with a page dedicated to Minnesota Gun Rights, calling them scammers. The site calls out the Dorr brothers directly, saying “Scamming is a family affair for brothers Ben Dorr, Chris Dorr and Aaron Dorr“.

In a thread of tweets posted by social media researcher Erin Gallagher about the Dorr family connection to the anti-quarantine protests (or grifting efforts), Gallagher links to a Facebook video (below) that shows the Dorr brothers in videos representing their gun owner clubs with similar names across several different states. . . .

While City Pages looked at three of the Liberate Minnesota hosts, Unicorn Riot spoke with the other two:

Co-organizer Doug Malson told Unicorn Riot that this shutdown is creating a “black market” because the “economy is organic, it’s everybody here” and that Walz has no levers to stop it. Malson said the economy should open back up right now and not wait until May 4, as other lawmakers have agreed. Malson feared the White House’s three-phase plan is faulty because new tests will alter the case rate, preventing states from moving forward to the next phase.

“My understanding is that we have to have less cases for 14 straight days to go to the next phase, but we’re going to increase our testing up to 5,000 tests a day. There’s no way we’re going to have lower [cases] if we’re increasing the amount of tests we’re doing.” – Doug Malson, Liberate Minnesota Co-organizer

When asked about the risks to the protest and opening up the economy, Malson said, “absolutely there’s risks” but said if you have underlying conditions, stay home, and the rest should “live free, not scared.”

3 Percenter militia member and co-organizer of the protest, Randy Quick, called the Stay At Home order “draconian” and said he was worried about the precedent set by the measures that could allow for the state to suspend constitutional rights. . . .

There's lots more (and more video) in the Unicorn Riot piece. Like the MPR report, this is a must-read for understanding the people behind the Liberate Minnesota event.

We'll have some additional material on Quick and Malson in a bit.

Related posts:

• Action 4 Liberty scolds MN Senate Republican Caucus Facebook notice of Liberate Minnesota
• Liberate Minnesota rally at Governor's residence: Unicorn Riot's exclusive livesteam interviews
• Footnote: Liberate Minnesota leader Michele Even part of GOP's MN Scammers Expose

Photo: Organizers Marni Hockenberg and Michelle Even gleefully react when mentioning Trump tweeting “Liberate Minnesota.“ Image from Unicorn Riot's Niko Georgiades, Who’s Calling to ‘Liberate Minnesota’, and Why?.

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