Happening now in Texas: Cindy Clemishire, whose disclosures led to the indictment of megachurch pastor Robert Morris, is testifying in favor of a bill that'd ban NDAs in settlements for sexual abuse lawsuits. #txlege Rep. Jeff Leach: "You either stand with victims or you stand with the people who harmed them. There is no middle ground." #txlege

I’ve spent nearly a decade covering evangelicals and then far-right extremism. The overlap was always there but has drastically accelerated as of late — due in part to the view, prominent in Eva circles, that online is not real life or that the fringe will stay fringe.

https://twitter.com/renofmen/status/1898124254623023286

I say this because I think that there is the potential for Evangelicals to see this steadily rising Nazi movement in their ranks and shirk it off as fringe. It is. But so was QAnon, election denialism, COVID conspiracies, etc

Megan Basham is scheduled to speak in January to True Texas Project, the far-right group whose leaders sympathized with the El Paso WalMart gunman and just held a Christian nationalism conference that claimed Dems want to "rid the earth of the white race." True Texas Project's recent conference included panels that defended Great Replacement Theory, claimed "forced multiculturalism" is a conspiracy to destroy white people, and encouraged attendees to embrace being called white nationalists or supremacists.
texastribune.org/2024/06/12/tru…

🧵🧵In 2022, Elvie Kingston’s dementia took a turn for the worse. A doctor said the oil-rich conservative activist couldn’t manage a bank account or dress alone - but could sign legal docs removing her family's control of her health/finances.

Enter a Texas Supreme Court justice: Since 2022, Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine has overseen Kingston's trust. He claims they are basically family. Legal experts say he is clearly violating ethics rules that explicitly bar judges from such positions to avoid conflicts of interest + appearance of impropriety

NEW: For two years, Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine has controlled the trust of a woman with dementia — a violation of Texas' judicial ethics code, experts say. The woman's niece + three friends also allege that she wanted nothing to do with him.
texastribune.org/2024/10/22/tex… The concerns are the latest raised about Devine's ethics as a judge. In February, we reported that he did not recuse himself from a high-profile sex abuse lawsuit against Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler despite their close ties.

https://x.com/RobertDownen_/status/1757566579183583699

[1] To be clear: It is the most basic journalism ethics to not name abuse survivors without consent (barring extraordinary circumstances). There's not some carve out that says "ok well go for it since their name is buried in a court record or some blog ID'd them"... [2] I've seen many people argue that, because the survivor was ID'd in a court record, it's fair game. Legally, sure. Ethically? Absolutely not. And this is not an area where there's any serious debate among serious journalists...

JD Vance, who is rumored to be Trump's VP pick, is heavily influenced by Curtis Yarvin, a New Right leader who has written about race-based IQ and wants America under a "national CEO, or what's called a dictator." Yarvin is also a favorite of billionaire Peter Thiel.

“We are in a late republican period,” Vance said later, evoking the common New Right view of America as Rome awaiting its Caesar. “If we’re going to push back against it, we’re going to have to get pretty wild, and pretty far out there."
vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/i…

Former, longtime Southern Baptist exec member Rod Martin claims there is no "proof" that Paul Pressler was a predator, and that attacks on him are part of a leftist scheme. He's right - there isn't proof. Just a mountain of corroborating evidence. Let's unpack:



Let's start with just SOME claims that predate Duane Rollins' 2017 lawsuit, most with contemporaneous supporting evidence. All were made by conservative Christians, so not sure why they'd try to take down the SBC.

NEW: A Texas group with ties to Ted Cruz and GOP megadonors is hosting a pro-Christian nationalist conference that embraces Great Replacement Theory and resists a campaign "to rid the earth of the white race." Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer's mentor is speaking.
texastribune.org/2024/06/12/tru… True Texas Project's founder Julie McCarty once said she sympathized with the El Paso Walmart shooter, who murdered 23 people he believed were replacing him. Her husband, also a True Texas Project leader, called the shooting "blow-back" for trying replace white people.

Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine, who rules on election disputes: “Do you really think the Democrats are gonna roll over and let Trump be president again? You think they’re just gonna go away, all of a sudden find Jesus and be an honest election?” As I covered earlier this year, Devine – a former anti-abortion activist who calls church-state separation a "myth" – has a history of publicly blasting people/issues that could one day be before the court, raising questions about his impartiality.

https://x.com/RobertDownen_/status/1762479510803353768?s=20

I missed most of the Department of Justice/Southern Baptist drama. But I saw quite a few people - including those who've vocally opposed abuse reforms - celebrating. Let's talk about that: To be clear: I am not weighing in on the validity or strength of the DOJ's hypothetical case, or whether the SBC did/didn't break laws. I am just spotlighting one type of response, and way some folks selectively apply standards of proof to fit their own views.

🧵🧵Super Tuesday in Texas will be a bellwether for the Texas GOP's ongoing civil war over school vouchers, the Paxton impeachment and, to lesser degrees, white supremacists and sex abuse scandals. Let me explain: Ahead of election day, deep-pocketed groups and lawmakers have poured in millions amid fights over school vouchers, the Paxton impeachment and the broader future of the Texas GOP.
texastribune.org/2024/02/27/gre…

🧵🧵In leaked audio, Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine says his all-GOP colleagues are "brainwashed" and "would sacrifice the Republic for the sake of the (legal) process."

More on his comments + 30-year rise from anti-abortion activist to jurist:
texastribune.org/2024/02/27/joh… Devine also blasted his colleagues' ruling in the Jeff Younger case; said the all-GOP Court of Criminal Appeals is filled with "RINOs" and "trans-Republicans"; and accused Harris County Democrats of trying to use "dirty tricks" to steal elections. #txlege
texastribune.org/2024/02/27/joh…

🧵🧵A 2017 email accused Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler of being a pedophile – and sheds new light on the role that Jared Woodfill, who is running for Texas House with Ken Paxton's backing, played in providing Pressler access to potential victims.
texastribune.org/2024/01/23/jar… In the email, Pressler's then-aide wrote to the Pressler family, warning that he was a racist sexual predator who bragged about being naked w/ boys. The aide also wrote that he'd seen Pressler "manipulate" a nearly-homeless young man into a nude massage.
texastribune.org/2024/01/23/jar…

In 2021, longtime Southern Baptist Convention attorney Jim Guenther wrote that he and others feared discovery in the Paul Pressler lawsuit would produce "a lot of evidence" that Pressler had sexually abused Duane Rollins "for many years." Jim Guenther represented the SBC from 1966 until 2021, when he resigned in protest of a third-party investigation into the SBC's handling of sex abuse claims. The report later found that he played a key role in downplaying or ignoring warnings of a crisis. houstonchronicle.com/news/investiga…

Nazis in Houston. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t… Certainly looks like Ronald from Goyim Defense League, which has been very active in Houston and Texas.

#BREAKING The Southern Baptist Convention and others have settled a high-profile sexual assault lawsuit against former leader + Texas judge Paul Pressler, ending a six-year legal drama that prompted a reckoning over child sex abuse in evangelical churches.
texastribune.org/2023/12/29/sou… The suit, which claimed that Pressler's behavior was concealed by other Southern Baptist figures/churches, was the impetus for a 2019 investigation into sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's second-largest faith group. #SBCtoo
houstonchronicle.com/news/investiga…

NEW: We've confirmed that Chris Russo – who leads the influential group Texans For Strong Borders – is also a prominent figure in Nick Fuentes' white supremacist movement. Russo ran multiple anonymous accounts filled with hate speech and slurs. #txlege
texastribune.org/2023/10/25/chr… Earlier today, @noturtlesoup17 first identified Russo as the person behind the "Optics Respecter" account via audio of him talking with Nick Fuentes. You can listen here:
turtlediaries.net/p/groypers-in-…

🧵🧵Adolf Hitler admirer Nick Fuentes was the best-known –– but hardly the only –– extremist embraced by Defend Texas Liberty, a major donor to Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others. Nor was he even the first this month. #txlege
texastribune.org/2023/10/23/def… In the wake of our reporting on the Fuentes meeting, some of Defend Texas Liberty's beneficiaries –– including Patrick –– have downplayed the ordeal as a "blunder" and, resisting calls to return DTL's money, said it had no other ties to antisemitism. texastribune.org/2023/10/11/jar…

NEW: The leader of a group that's given millions of dollars to AG Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick hosted white supremacist Nick Fuentes on Friday. Also there: Kyle Rittenhouse + Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi, who denied meeting Fuentes.

STORY: texastribune.org/2023/10/08/nic…


Fuentes spent about 6.5 hours at Pale Horse Strategies, a consulting firm owned by Jonathan Stickland. Stickland also leads Defend Texas Liberty, which is funded by West Texas oil billionaires who are by far Ken Paxton's biggest donors. texastribune.org/2023/07/24/ken…

NEW: White supremacist Nick Fuentes spent Friday at a company owned by Jonathan Stickland, who leads a major PAC that’s funded by West Texas billionaires and has donated millions of dollars to top Republicans. Kyle Rittenhouse was there. So were we.
texastribune.org/2023/10/08/nic… Stickland is the leader of Defend Texas Liberty PAC, which recently made news after giving Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick $3 million ahead of Ken Paxton's impeachment trial, over which Patrick presided. texastribune.org/2023/07/18/ken…