The Patriot Freedom Project’s Gaslighting Campaign Intervention
Former President Trump is real good at gaslighting, don’t hate me for saying so. Gaslighting is a cool term used to describe the process resulting in people just not believing what they see or hear with their own eyes or ears. The man could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot someone and 100 people standing next to him would swear he didn’t do it. Psychology Today defines gaslighting:
Gaslighting is an insidious form of manipulation and psychological control. Victims of gaslighting are deliberately and systematically fed false information that leads them to question what they know to be true, often about themselves. They may end up doubting their memory, their perception, and even their sanity. Over time, a gaslighter’s manipulations can grow more complex and potent, making it increasingly difficult for the victim to see the truth.
A whole bunch of mostly Trump-appointed judges have ruled time and again that the 2020 elections weren’t rigged or stolen. Don’t believe them, just don’t, even if it was demonstrably false that voting machines were hacked. A variation on gaslighting involves accusing another person of doing what the accuser is actually doing through the accusation itself. If only to spark outrage in that other person in hopes they will act irrationally. So every time Trump is faced with unpleasantness from someone he thinks an illegitimate “other” he waxes racist, accusing the other of racism. Its a strategy right out of Joseph Goebbles’ playbook. He will call a Latino judge or a Black New York AG “racist” without batting an eye. Last week he said that DeSantis would be “working in a pizza joint” if it weren’t for him. I hate both those men, ain’t no secret about that. So I secretly enjoyed that little bit of racism towards another racist, I gotta be honest.
There is a group called the Patriot Freedom Project whose exempt purpose is all about gaslighting. It is a legal defense fund dedicated to freeing the “1/6er (one-sixer) hostages,” by which the group means the people we all saw on TV breaking into the capital on January 6. Just “tourists,” according to allies in Congress. Never mind your lying eyes, the people convicted are all political prisoners locked up by the same Biden-weaponized justice department currently prosecuting a sitting President’s son. Think about that for a minute. Biden has weaponized DOJ to go after the son of a sitting President.
NPR has an expose on the Patriot Freedom Project this week. The 501(c)(3)’s raison d’etre, getting President Trump elected again, is so obvious that the story is hardly instructive of campaign intervention. Check out the video above. There is no subtly about it. Here is an excerpt from NPR:
Congressional Democrats are raising alarms about a nonprofit group that provides financial support for defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, questioning whether the organization’s apparent support for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign may violate federal tax law. The group, known as the Patriot Freedom Project, launched in response to the arrest of a Jan. 6 rioter known for promoting extreme racist, antisemitic and pro-Nazi views. The group’s leaders describe Jan. 6 defendants as “political prisoners” and have developed a close relationship with Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign. The former president has embraced defendants charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol, calling them “hostages” and promising to issue pardons to defendants if he wins the 2024 presidential election.
That close relationship has now drawn scrutiny from members of Congress. Because the Patriot Freedom Project is organized as a nonprofit charitable organization under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, it is “absolutely prohibited” by federal law from “directly or indirectly” taking part in partisan political campaigns or endorsing or opposing candidates.
As NPR previously reported, the founder and president of the Patriot Freedom Project, Cynthia Hughes, encouraged people to vote for Trump at one of the group’s events held at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in August 2023. “When you go to the ballot box, don’t worry about what you hear in the media. Worry about what’s right for this country. And the only thing that’s right for this country is this gem,” said Hughes as she pointed to Trump, who was standing beside her, according to video of the event posted online.
The Patriot Freedom Project would no doubt say it is entitled to tax exemption nevertheless and that its not engaging in campaign intervention. Your eyes and ears are just lying to you again.
darryll k. jones