Thread by @pleasesaveour

“Hot Gulag Summer,” held at the nondescript Capitol Hill town house leased by the Conservative Policy Institute, advertised Jan. 6, 2021-themed cocktails, including the “Capitol Attaquiri,” “Insurrection on the Beach” and the “Mostly Peaceful Mojito.” grid.news/story/politics…

It's all fun and games to the traitors

“We’re all going to be sent to the gulag eventually,” the invitation read. “We might as well party and get to know each other before we are all ‘reeducated.’”

Donald Trump himself has endorsed the group’s work, boosted its fundraising and even donated $1 million to the group from his PAC in 2021.

The network has broad reach and keeps an eye on future elections: CPI helped found and support the election monitoring nonprofit run by

ex-Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell, along with roughly a dozen other dark money and advocacy groups, virtually all of which share the address of the CPI town house

These organizations employ or assist at least 20 key operatives, reportedly involved in Trump’s failed effort to

subvert the 2020 election, including Mitchell, Mark Meadows, and Jeffrey Clark

House Freedom Caucus keeps its PAC at CPI’s headquarters and holds meetings at the brownstone. The Senate Conservatives Fund also calls the building home.

Caroline Wren, a key organizer for the

“Stop the Steal” rally preceding the Capitol riot, was invited by CPI to speak at an event last year. The group made Dan Scavino, Trump’s social media guru, a CPI digital fellow and asked him to speak about “Winning Communications Strategy” at a recent conference

Scavino wrote many of Trump’s postelection posts falsely alleging vote fraud and promoting his rally on Jan. 6. Jenna Ellis, a Trump lawyer who wrote memos attempting to justify overturning the election, records her podcast, “The Jenna Ellis podcast,” at CPI

#Mastriano

CPI and its affiliates are more than just a safe harbor: The network and its employees are a continued source of false vote fraud allegations, and produce and amplify defensive messaging in conservative circles responding to the major revelations of the Jan. 6 hearings.

Its tools reflect a growing right-wing communications strategy, which largely avoids mainstream media in favor of direct-to-supporter platforms like podcasts and social media, or engagements with MAGA-friendly outlets

Offices at 300 Independence boast an in-house podcasting studio, a TV studio and a host of employees with large Twitter followings. Boebert is a “frequent visitor” to CPI’s tv studio, and she records her podcast at CPI, as do Biggs & Gaetz as well as several other RW figures

CPI also opens its facilities to RW outlets who help promote Trump-friendly messaging. The Epoch Times, a far-right media co affiliated with the anti-Chinese Communist Party Falun Gong religious movement, films 2 shows there. Newsmax filmed a doc about J6 at CPI’s tv studio

After Hutchinsons testimony T Stephen Miller who now runs CPI-linked America First Legal, appeared on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show to call Hutchinson “an extremely junior, low-level aide.”

“This is a Rorschach test for your sanity. If you heard this story, and you thought,

‘Man, I believe every word about this and I’m going to go online and say something about it energetically,’ something is wrong with you. Something is wrong with you if you’re that gullible.”

Later that night Kash Patel, now with CPI’s Center for Renewing America, went on Hannity

to join the attacks on Hutchinson. The 26-year-old former Meadows aide, Patel said, was a “junior staffer who is completely, I believe, lying to the Jan. 6 committee for [her] own self-gain.”

CPI is thriving. In less than five years, it has grown from a newcomer to a $19.7 million organization. Its network likely has raised much more, because separate organizations that are affiliated with CPI raise funds independently of their parent organization.

One of the biggest donors to CPI has been Trump himself

It's his own personal propaganda machine

Trump also appears to have paid legal bills for CPI-linked figures through his PAC, including Mitchell and Scavino.

“They’re frauds,” said a GOP strategist who has worked for major campaigns. “They claim to be fiscal conservatives, but they’ve made a living off of generating conservative outrage in order to raise money for themselves.”

GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein’s foundation gave CPI $1.25 million in 2020, making him one of the best-known donors to the organization. Mike Rydin, who founded a Texas-based construction software company, helped CPI buy a $1.5 million town house next door to its leased hq