Thread by @dogemperor

@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin Keep in mind that various forms of affinity fraud are RIFE in MAGA World, and I'm not just talking the affinity frauds from TFG, I'm talking "his Christian Nationalist base has a *very long history* of being taken in over and over again by affinity fraud"

A thread:

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin So, probably THE earliest form of affinity fraud is in the *religious* base of Christian Nationalism, and specifically New Apostolic Reformation Christian Nationalism (which is widely regarded as a coercive religious movement)

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin There is an extremely good argument to be made that the NAR (all the way back to Branhamism) was BORN of religious grifts (Branham was forced to retire due to being caught out as a fraud, his mentor--who also co-founded the 2nd KKK--ALSO had history of religious fraud)

3/x

@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin Andthe NAR from its beginnings (Branhamism era, and Manifest Sons of God and Latter Day Rain branding) always had some form of "Prosperity Gospel" at its roots (basically they're all sons and daughters of God and thus Deserve all the worldly riches as little kings)

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin And that led to basically the classical Prosperity Gospel grift in which the Almighty Himself was promoted as a Ponzi scheme, and that ANYTHING donated to the church (inc. all beyond the 10% volun-told tithing in "love offerings") would be multiplied 10x fold

5/x

@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin People literally have spent themselves into bankruptcy over this, people have spent themselves into food insecurity over this, I myself grew up in functional poverty because my parental units were giving fully 40% of pretax income to the church playing the God Lottery.

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin And, unsurprisingly, this has led to a LOT of OTHER associated frauds, because the average Christian Nationalist congregation is FULL of proven marks AND marks that will trust ANYONE who says the right Jesusy Shibboleths at any specific time.

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin One of the earliest forms of this, and one which really had its co-genesis with a *very* similar form of church management in NAR circles, is in MLMs; AmWay and Cho-lineage NAR Christian Nationalist churches have cross-recruited since their respective origins in the 50s

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin And to this day, pretty much the two communities MLM huns target the hardest are LDS women and Quiverfull women in NAR Christian Nationalist and IFB Christian Nationalist groups, for almost identical reasons (easy marks & almost only acceptable employment for women)

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin Another longterm grift--in part because of the inherently racist origins of Branhamism, and the LONG association with Birchers and its sister-mother movement in Christian Identity--is promotion of various "sovereign citizen" nonsenses popular longterm in these circles

10/x

@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin And these basically claim that almost every amendment after the 12th isn't legally valid because Reasons (why yes, this is a backdoor recruitment into neo-Confederacy more often than not), and that it's all plots by TEH J00ish BANKURZ to rob them of their INHERITANCE

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin And more often than not, this ends up in some claim that White Land-Owning Men are More Citizens Than Other Citizens (who are merely Subjects), and they can be Lords of their Domain Again if they just follow the specific Legal Ritual to RECLAIM THEIR RIGHTFUL RICHES

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin (Note: This does not, and has never, worked. Generally sovcit nutters filing false liens and refusing to use license plates because they think the Articles of Confederation are still in effect just manage to *at best* annoy police and judges dealing with their Nonsense.)

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin And of course this is often promoted to people who are getting calls from collectors every day over not paying their bills because they've been giving ludicrous amounts of Love Offerings (which they cannot afford) to the church, and getting MAYBE used Israeli pennies back

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin (OH YES THIS WAS A GRIFT TOO. NAR Christian Nationalist churches doing "Bible tours" of Israel during the 80s when Israel had an S&L collapse and associated hyperinflation of their currency, buying up out-of-circulation 1-agora coins and proffering them as "widow's mites")

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin (And of course the Israeli government was functionally selling the old coins for the money they could get from the aluminum used to mint the things, and the Widow's Mite grift did interestingly dry up once Israel's economy stabilized and they dropped the 1-agora coin.)

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin THIS IS STILL NOT THE END OF THE AFFINITY FRAUD IN CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST COMMUNITIES.

There's the *classical* Ponzi scheme (outside of, you know, the Prosperity Gospel sort) called the "Christian Gifting Scheme"...which is basically the classic "Make Money Fast" crap

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin And that stuff is INCREDIBLY rife in Christian Nationalist "small groups", right alongside MLM Hun Work At Home Moms for Jesus and seminars on how You Too Can Get Out Of Taxes By Use Of Commas And Pointing Out Fringed Flags In Your Courtroom When Inevitably Sued.

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin And there is a LOT of goldbuggerie, and (much, much more recently) at least some promotion of Dunning-Krugerrands Based On Arbitrarily Complex Math (though there's still much more goldbug stuff, including more than a few outright gold investment Ponzis where no gold exists)

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin AND IT GETS WORSE.

The Iraqi Dinar grift was a Thing that was actively promoted in far-right circles, including Christian Nationalist circles, in that (wildly hyperinflated) Iraqi dinars would be worth MILLIONS

(This, needless to say, Did Not Happen. At all)

20/x

@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin There's been a LOT of *Israel* focused investment grifting, too, in Christian Nationalist communities--everything from oil prospecting in Israel and even claims on the Gaza Strip (note: Israel is possibly the WORST place in the Middle East re oil exploration prospects)...

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin to investments of a decidedly more esoteric (and potentially extremely inflammatory) nature, like breeding programs for "red heifers" to be sacrificed to dedicate the Third Temple (nevermind the Dome of the Rock exists there now, they'll deal with THAT after Gaza)

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@Thomas93469886 @Jemsinger @andrewrsorkin to any number of investment opportunities specifically geared at a) promoting things connected to Christian Nationalist endtime theology re Israel and b) separating Christian Nationalists from the contents of their wallets.)

Affinity fraud is BAD in these communities

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