The Citizens Council for Health Freedom, "a right-wing 501(c)3 organization based out of St. Paul, Minnesota. . . . an associate member of the State Policy Network," held its annual fundraiser last Thursday night.
The keynote speaker? Michael Flynn: who went from government insider to holy warrior, as Michelle Smith reported in an article for PBS Frontline/Associated Press early this month.
The nexis of the free market/COVID misinformation nonprofit and Flynn might serve as a marker for one corner of the conservative movement in Minnesota. Let's take a look.
First, a bit at what Frontline reported about Flynn, then take a look at CCHF. Smith wrote:
. . . Flynn, 63, has used public appearances to energize voters, along with political endorsements to build alliances and a network of nonprofit groups — one of which has projected spending $50 million — to advance the movement, an investigation by The Associated Press and the PBS series FRONTLINE has found. He has drawn together election deniers, mask and vaccine opponents, insurrectionists, Proud Boys, and elected officials and leaders in state and local Republican parties. Along the way, the AP and FRONTLINE documented, Flynn and his companies have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars for his efforts. . . .
. . .Throughout 2021 and 2022, Flynn made more than 60 in-person speeches in 24 states, according to a count by the AP and FRONTLINE. When he speaks, the former top adviser to then-President Donald Trump spreads baseless conspiracy theories, stoking fear and fueling anger and division and grievance.
Flynn is “one of the most dangerous individuals in America today,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian and expert on authoritarianism and fascism who wrote the book “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.”
“He is spearheading the attack on our democracy, which is coming from many quarters, and he is affiliated with many of these sectors, from the military to Christian nationalism to election denial to extremist groups,” she said. “All of this comes together to present a very live threat. And he’s at the center.”
Flynn has, with mixed success, supported like-minded candidates around the country, and has said his immediate goal is to influence this year’s elections. . . .
His support didn't work so well for the most high-profile candidate in Minnesota, Doug Wardlow, who unsuccessfully challenged MNGOP-endorsed attorney general candidate Jim Schultz, in the primary.
At the end of June, Wardlow tweeted:
I am honored to have this endorsement from General Flynn. I look forward to working with General Flynn as we fight to repudiate the Radical Left’s agenda, uphold conservative values, and make America great again! pic.twitter.com/HI4eqjoV4B
— Doug Wardlow (@doug_wardlow) June 29, 2022
That didn't work so well. Smith continued later in the article:
. . .Flynn sees conspiracies in just about every corner of American life.
He’s repeated falsehoods about Black Lives Matter and said that so-called globalists created COVID-19. He tells the tens of thousands of people who have paid to see him speak that there are 75 members of the Socialist Party in Congress, and has said the left and Democrats are trying to destroy the country. He asserts, above all else, that the United States was founded on Judeo-Christian values. The bedrock, he warns, is crumbling.
The country, Flynn often says in speeches and interviews, is in the midst of a “spiritual war,” and he goes after many of the institutions and ideas that stand as pillars of American democracy. . . .
She points to Flynn’s role as headliner of a multicity roadshow known as the ReAwaken America tour, an event that is a potent mix of politics, religion and commerce that has become a prime example of the Christian nationalist movement.
Flynn helped found the tour in 2021 with Clay Clark, an entrepreneur from Oklahoma who had been running business conferences before the pandemic. In his interview with the AP and FRONTLINE in February, Flynn said he considered himself a “senior leader” of the team that’s running it.
That's a tour Minnesota Republicans' endorsed gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen appeared in a least one stop on the Reopen/Rewaken Tours, then tweeted that the organizers couldn't use his name. Readers may recall our September 3 post, MNGOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen bails on 3rd annual Alex anti-vaxx event:
. . . Perhaps Scott needs new schedulers. It's not the first time Jensen's name has appeared on a bill off fare that he said he has nothing to do with. And it the past, he claimed he'd asked to have his name removed from the bill of fare.
. . .Via Nancy Levine's tweet stream, we learned that Jensen had appeared on the schedule for the tour at a different place and date, when the tour was originally called "Reopen America Tour."
The Michael Flynn Event in Oakdale
If a sourc is accurate, it doesn't appear as if the Republican gubernatorial candidate was at the event to renew his Reawaken America ties, though other conservative office seekers and holders were in the audience.
The CCHF noted Flynn's involvement in the "Health and Freedom Conferences, now called the Reawaken America Tour" via screenshot of a Health Freedom Minute in an August 16 tweet:
Health Freedom Minute | Listen to Today's HFM Audio on CCHF Homepage: https://t.co/8XlqAdEpQO pic.twitter.com/LdCpV64CW8
— CCHFreedom (@CCHFreedom) August 16, 2022
Earlier, in July, the CCHF offered table sponsorships for the fundraiser. Via tweet:
INVITATION TO SPONSOR A TABLE: We’re looking forward to gathering for one incredible event this September 15. Join CCHF in Oakdale, MN.
— CCHFreedom (@CCHFreedom) July 26, 2022
Look here for details: https://t.co/A2Rivl7zlT pic.twitter.com/QbDYtrUBK3
Here are the top two sponsorship opportunities:
Sponsorship Opportunities:
SPEAKER'S TABLE: 8 seats - $20,000/table
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- Head table with General Flynn
- Private meet & greet photo with General Flynn for table sponsor
- 8 tickets to VIP Reception
- A Letter to America -signed by General Flynn for sponsor
- Front and center seating
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TITANIUM: 8 seats - $15,000/table
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- Head table with Twila Brase, CCHF President and Co-founder
- Also dining with special guest Jan Markell, Olive Tree Ministries
- Includes a home-baked cake by Twila Brase
- Private meet & greet photo with General Flynn for table sponsor
- 8 tickets to VIP Reception
- A Letter to America -signed by General Flynn for sponsor
- Premium front row seating
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That letter? This Is My Letter To America begins:
We are witnessing a vicious assault by enemies of all that is good, and our president is having to act in ways unprecedented in decades, maybe centuries.
The biblical nature of good versus evil cannot be discounted as we examine what is happening on the streets of America.
It’s Marxism in the form of antifa and the Black Lives Matter movement versus our very capable and very underappreciated law enforcement professionals, the vast majority of whom are fighting to provide us safe and secure homes, streets and communities.
When the destiny of the United States is at stake, and it is, the very future of the entire world is threatened.
As Christians, shouldn’t we act? We recognize that divine Providence is the ultimate judge of our destiny. Achieving our destiny as a freedom-loving nation, Providence compels us to do our part in our communities. . . .
Jan Markell of Olive Tree Ministries gained some attention back in 2019. Buzzfeed News' Craig Silverman reported in How An Apocalyptic Preacher And QAnon Followers Made A False Pope Francis Quote Go Viral:
A false quote first attributed to Pope Francis two years ago is once again going viral thanks to a mix of apocalyptic preachers, followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, and pro-Trump Facebook groups and pages.
Over the past month, several religious websites have published articles claiming Pope Francis said the US needs to be overseen by a world government "for their own good." He never said that. But people preaching about the end times and deep state corruption have latched onto it and helped it spread on Facebook and Twitter.
An article, "Pope Francis: World Government Must Rule U.S. ‘For Their Own Good,’" was published on the website of fundamentalist preacher Jan Markell in January and has so far attracted more than 205,000 Facebook shares, reactions, and comments. Markell, who oversees the Olive Tree Ministries, has preached against the evils of Harry Potter, Pokemon Go, Oprah, and sharia law. In a recent YouTube video, she said that any attempt to implement a one world government would be overseen by the antichrist.
BuzzFeed News emailed Markell to ask her about the article's false quote and headline. "No comment," she replied. . . .
Not exactly Bluestem's choice for a dinner table companion, but we don't hang with the Flynn and Markell audience.
Some social media moments from people who attended the event:
Lt. General Michael Flynn at @CCHFreedom annual banquet in Oakdale, Minnesota with a message to all patriots to get involved in local elections and to play a role no matter how big or small in our Constitutional Republic. pic.twitter.com/3x51ZCdiEO
— Deplorable Housewives (@DeplorableWives) September 16, 2022
And from Facebook:
State Representative Eric Lucero, R-St. Michael, who is running for Senate District 30, included a photo of Senator Bruce Anderson, R-Buffalo Township, in his album. Anderson is running for re-election in District 29, MinnPost's candidate list notes.
Perhaps more Republican candidates will turn up in social media in the coming days.
Lobbying reports for CCHF are available online at the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Finance Board. A glimpse of the group's finances can be viewed at ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer.
SourceWatch looks at the group here.
What does health care freedom mean to this group, other than no COVID mandates? The Star Tribune reported in 2017 that it supported representative Steve Drazkowski's Plan for narrower health plans sparks debate in House committee, unlike the Minnesota Hospital Association, Minnesota Nurses Association and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
Katy Read reported in the Strib last September in Rally speakers at State Capitol denounce face masks, Black Lives Matter:
Twila Brase, a registered nurse and co-founder of the Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, shared a number of views that conflict with what almost all medical and public health officials say but are popular with many conservatives.
She told the crowd that much of the COVID-19 information provided by experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci is false.
The number of cases has been exaggerated, tests are being conducted incorrectly and possible treatments have been misrepresented, she said.
Face masks, she said, do not help prevent spread of the virus and should be rejected.
“We look at masks as an existential threat to freedom in America,” Brase said. “No more masks!”
She seems nice.
Bluestem looked at the group over ten years ago during the Tea Party years in Conservative sisterhood is powerful: VOICESPAC director throws Twila Brase under the bus after anti-Dayton protest fiasco. Brase also showed up in UPDATED:Twila Brase and CCHF organizing protest against HF497, health insurance exchange bill.
And there's State Policy Network's local members & friends are rethinking Minnesota's public workforce.
To come full circle on the lede, here's Source Watch's description of the State Policy Watch from its CCHF post:
SPN is a web of right-wing “think tanks” and tax-exempt organizations in 50 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, and the United Kingdom. As of January 2022, SPN's membership totals 166. Today's SPN is the tip of the spear of far-right, nationally funded policy agenda in the states that undergirds extremists in the Republican Party. SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told the Wall Street Journal in 2017 that the revenue of the combined groups was some $80 million, but a 2019 analysis of SPN's main members IRS filings by the Center for Media and Democracy shows that the combined revenue is over $120 million.[3] Although SPN's member organizations claim to be nonpartisan and independent, the Center for Media and Democracy's in-depth investigation, "EXPOSED: The State Policy Network -- The Powerful Right-Wing Network Helping to Hijack State Politics and Government," reveals that SPN and its member think tanks are major drivers of the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)-backed corporate agenda in state houses nationwide, with deep ties to the Koch brothers and the national right-wing network of funders.[4]
In response to CMD's report, SPN Executive Director Tracie Sharp told national and statehouse reporters that SPN affiliates are "fiercely independent." Later the same week, however, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer caught Sharp in a contradiction. In her article, "Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?," the Pulitzer-nominated reporter revealed that, in a recent meeting behind closed doors with the heads of SPN affiliates around the country, Sharp "compared the organization’s model to that of the giant global chain IKEA." She reportedly said that SPN "would provide 'the raw materials,' along with the 'services' needed to assemble the products. Rather than acting like passive customers who buy finished products, she wanted each state group to show the enterprise and creativity needed to assemble the parts in their home states. 'Pick what you need,' she said, 'and customize it for what works best for you.'" Not only that, but Sharp "also acknowledged privately to the members that the organization's often anonymous donors frequently shape the agenda. 'The grants are driven by donor intent,' she told the gathered think-tank heads. She added that, often, 'the donors have a very specific idea of what they want to happen.'"[5]
A set of coordinated fundraising proposals obtained and released by The Guardian in early December 2013 confirm many of these SPN members' intent to change state laws and policies, referring to "advancing model legislation" and "candidate briefings." These activities "arguably cross the line into lobbying," The Guardian notes.[6]
Image: A CCHF promotion for its annual fundraiser featuring Michael Flynn.
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