Tag: homophobia
Brenden Dilley

Trump 'Meme Team' Troll Brenden Dilley Spews Racism, Sexism, And Homophobia

Content warning: This article contains anti-LGBTQ, ableist, and misogynistic commentary and slurs, and other profane language.

Brenden Dilley, a far-right podcaster who previously pushed the QAnon conspiracy theory, leads a “meme team” that creates pro-Trump content that The New York Times says “traffics freely in misinformation,” “racist stereotypes,” and “demeaning tropes about L.G.B.T.Q. people.”

Media Matters conducted a monthslong review of Dilley’s show, which regularly streams on right-wing video-sharing platform Rumble, and found that the Trump ally regularly traffics in misogynistic, discriminatory, and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric. There are dozens of examples so far this year in which he made comments like saying he wished women would “focus on their pretty dresses and their house and their children and making me sexually satisfied all the time, and food” instead of focusing on politics, claiming that Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was a “DEI” hire, and saying that transgender people were “fucked in the head.”

Dilley has also bragged on his show about his ties to Republican officials, including former President Donald Trump and Arizona Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake, and called for his followers to aid them, including by targeting their political opponents with “psychological warfare.” Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly shared material from Dilley’s “meme team” and supposedly said he “loves” Dilley, while his campaign has reportedly shared footage for Dilley’s team to use and given Dilley press passes for a campaign event.

Dilley has also threatened and spread baseless claims about former President Barack Obama, former first lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and other people he disagrees with.

Dilley is a former Republican congressional candidate turned online show host who has pushed conspiracy theories and formed a “meme team”

  • Dilley unsuccessfully ran for Congress in Arizona in 2018. He lost the Republican primary for a 2018 special election for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, billing himself as a “staunch believer in the Make America Great Again movement.” [The Arizona Republic, 2/27/18; The New York Times, 12/13/23]
  • Dilley previously supported the QAnon conspiracy theory, and he has since denied the theory’s existence (which its central figure has encouraged people to do) and invoked the QAnon-linked adrenochrome conspiracy theory. In the past, Dilley wore QAnon hats and covered posts from QAnon’s central figure, “Q,” on his show. He has since dubiously claimed that he “never was all in for Q” but also invoked the conspiracy theory among QAnon supporters that elites are harvesting a substance called adrenochrome from children to gain youth. [Media Matters, 1/29/24, 2/20/24; The Daily Beast, 8/14/20; The Dilley Show, 4/9/24, 4/24/24]
  • Dilley used to air a show on YourVoice America, the online channel of right-wing commentator Bill Mitchell. Mitchell has repeatedly promoted conspiracy theories, including the QAnon conspiracy theory. [Right Wing Watch, 8/1/18, 9/18/18; Media Matters, 7/9/19, 3/24/20]
  • Dilley said he created his “meme team” following the January 6 insurrection and decided to turn it into a “political weapon” after Trump launched his 2024 campaign. In an interview on Real America’s Voice , Dilley said that in 2020 he was banned from social media. And after the January 6 insurrection, he “let all of the memers know if they need a place to go, if they’re getting banned, here’s a Telegram chat I created private just for them, and they can still create content, and I’ll continue to play it for my audience.” He claimed that in the following years they “refine[d]” their “skills” and that once Trump launched his 2024 presidential campaign, “we pretty much knew it was game time, and we were going to take all those skills that we had been refining and utilizing just for entertainment purposes, and we were going to turn it into a political weapon.” [Real America’s Voice, Smack Down with Pastor Darrell Scott, 2/17/24]
  • Dilley said in 2020 that he didn’t “give a fuck about being factual” and “it doesn't matter if it's true” and that he would “make shit up.” In 2020, Dilley said, “My objective is to destroy Democrats, OK? Destroy liberals, liberalism as an idea, Democrats, and anything that opposes President Trump.” He added, “You don’t have to fact check me because I don’t give a fuck,” and “I fucking make up shit sometimes, from time to time. I don’t care. I don’t care. Democrats know it. Republicans know it. I don’t mind admitting it. I don’t give a shit. … When I get a chance to shit on the left, I don’t mind making shit up. No, not at all.” And the year before, Dilley said, “It doesn’t have to be true; it just has to go viral.” [Right Wing Watch, 1/2/24; Twitter/X, 5/4/20]
  • During Trump’s presidency, Dilley threatened violence against protesters. Dilley said in response to protests over George Floyd’s murder in 2020 that he and millions of other gun owners were waiting for Trump to give “us the green light to finish this entire thing in under an hour.” [Right Wing Watch, 1/2/24]
  • Trump and his campaign have repeatedly shared material from Dilley’s “meme team,” including a video regarding a “unified Reich.” The New York Times reported that Dilley’s group “traffics freely in misinformation, artificial intelligence and digital forgeries known as deepfakes,” and its memes “are riddled with racist stereotypes, demeaning tropes about L.G.B.T.Q. people and broad scatological humor.” Trump has repeatedly shared content from the group on his social media, as have members of his orbit, including as recently as June 10 when Trump shared a video and claimed that President Joe Biden “hates the military.” In May, Trump also shared a video from a member of Dilley’s “meme team” that mentions a “unified Reich.” [The New York Times, 12/13/23; Media Matters, 5/21/24; Truth Social, 6/10/24]
  • Trump has been photographed with Dilley’s “meme team” and seemingly coordinated with the group. According to The New York Times, Dilley and his “meme team” members have “posted numerous photos of themselves posing with Mr. Trump, spending time with his advisers and attending events at Trump properties,” and Trump’s campaign has also “privately communicated with members of the meme team, giving them access and making specific requests for content.” Additionally, “in at least one instance, the campaign shared behind-the-scenes footage to be used in videos, according to members of the team.” Trump has also “sent personalized notes to several of the group’s members, thanking them for their work.” [The New York Times, 12/13/23]

On his show, Dilley has repeatedly played up his ties to Republican politicians, consultants, and staff, including Trump and Kari Lake

  • Dilley claimed he’s been told that Trump said he would never disavow Dilley and his “meme team” because he “loves” them. Dilley said that “somebody who was a very, very good friend of President Trump” told them that Trump is “never going to disavow you because he loves you and he loves the Dilley meme team.” [The Dilley Show, 1/5/24]
  • Dilley bragged that he was the only pro-Trump figure “who was allocated 20 fucking tickets for me to distribute” for Trump’s Iowa caucuses event. Dilley said, “I challenge you to find anyone else, an influencer or otherwise, who was allocated 20 fucking tickets … to distribute,” adding that it shows that “the campaign completely trusts our judgment, specifically mine, to make sure that the most worthy and hardworking MAGA are in attendance at all of his rallies.” [The Dilley Show, 1/11/24]
  • Dilley bragged that he received “exclusive” press credentials to the Trump campaign’s Iowa caucuses “War Room,” where he interviewed Kari Lake and Iowa’s attorney general. Dilley said they gave him credentials “because I’m Brenden Dilley of the Dilley meme team.” He also bragged that he got an “exclusive” press credential that had “Dilley 300” written on it, which he claimed got him into the “Trump War Room.” [Media Matters, 1/29/24]
  • Dilley claimed that Trump met a member of his “meme team” and asked for her phone number. Dilley said a member of his “meme team” met Trump and told him that she helped create one of the team’s pro-Trump videos, and then he asked for her phone number “in the event that he needs more videos.” Dilley also showed an image of another supposed member of his team meeting Trump, and claimed that Trump “lit up when he found out” he was a member of Dilley’s “team.” [The Dilley Show, 2/19/24]
  • Dilley claimed now-Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump encouraged his “meme team” to make videos for her. Dilley shared a text from a supposed “meme team” member who met Lara Trump, saying, “Here’s a shot for DITW [Dilley in the wild]. When I told Lara I was with The Dilley Show and Brenden Dilley specifically wanted her to know the DMT [Dilley Meme Team] will make memes for her she lit up and said, ‘oh yes, please!’” [The Dilley Show, 2/22/24, 3/13/24]
  • Dilley bragged that the RNC is “completely full, from top to bottom, with Dilley meme team fans.” In March, Dilley claimed on the show that he was “friends with” multiple new RNC employees, including Christina Bobb, who had been newly installed as senior counsel for election integrity at the RNC, saying she was “a friend of the show and absolutely loves the Dilley meme team.” He added that the RNC was “now completely full, from top to bottom, with Dilley meme team fans and Dilley Show friends.” [Media Matters, 4/3/24; The Dilley Show, 3/13/24]
  • Dilley said Lake told a member of his “meme team” that she “love[s]” Dilley. According to Dilley, a member wearing apparel from his “team” met Lake and she said, “Oh my God, I love him. Tell Brenden I said hi.” [The Dilley Show, 4/15/24]
  • Dilley claimed that “a senior, senior, senior member of our beloved Trump 2024 campaign” texted him about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Dilley said that this supposed Trump campaign member texted him about a post of his regarding the independent presidential candidate and wrote, “fucking devastating.” [The Dilley Show, 5/8/24]
  • Dilley suggested that he would “help people on the transition team” if Trump is reelected. [The Dilley Show, 5/14/24]
  • Dilley said he “had a half-an-hour conversation with the [Trump] campaign” about how to help get “committeemen and delegates for Trump.” Dilley said that Trump’s campaign was “calling upon the Dilley 300 phone bank team” and had tasked his “meme team” “to try and get people to sign up and be committeemen and delegates for Trump.” [The Dilley Show, 5/29/24, 5/30/24]
  • Dilley said that he met with the Trump campaign’s “state director for Georgia” to discuss how he could help the campaign. He said that he “had a wonderful breakfast with the state director for Georgia this morning” to discuss “how I can help and what The Dilley Show can do to facilitate a fucking massive victory here in Georgia.” [The Dilley Show, 6/7/24]
  • Dilley claimed he heard from Lake that Trump said one of Dilley’s “meme team” videos was “one of the best videos I’ve ever seen.” Dilley said he passed along that “the Dilley meme team is honored” by Trump’s embrace of their content. [The Dilley Show, 1/15/24]
  • Dilley said he and his wife “have spent a lot of time chitchatting and hanging out with” his “friend” Lake. [The Dilley Show, 2/12/24]
  • Dilley claimed that there is “no buffer between myself and Kari Lake or the Dilley meme team and Kari Lake.” He said that while Trump knows him, his wife, and his “meme team,” “there are buffers between us and him because it's taken longer to establish that relationship and obviously he’s Donald Trump.” In contrast, he said, “there is no buffer between myself and Kari Lake or the Dilley meme team and Kari Lake.” [The Dilley Show, 4/17/24]
  • Dilley also claimed a member of Congress gave him their phone number and they texted. According to Dilley, after he criticized members of Congress in late 2023, “a congressman had reached out to me and said, ‘I’d like for you to have my number. … We can discuss anything you want or text me.’” He also said they later texted. [The Dilley Show, 1/1/24]
  • Dilley claimed that GOP political consultant Alex Bruesewitz is a “big friend” of his “meme team” and an “honorary Dilley meme team” member. Dilley said Bruesewitz was “a good friend of mine, and he’s [a] big friend of the meme team. Loves the entire Dilley meme team.” [The Dilley Show, 2/12/24, 2/19/24]
  • Dilley: “Some of your favorite MAGA people, like your favorite candidates,” are “calling me for counsel constantly.” Dilley claimed that he’ll “reach out” and “check in” on campaigns and candidates, saying he’ll “call them or they’re calling me for counsel constantly,” adding that he also does this “with some of your most influential political fucking operatives.” [The Dilley Show, 4/16/24]
  • Dilley claimed that “one of the most probably respectable minds in all of politics” said that “Biden has an asymmetrical advantage in money, but Donald Trump has the Dilley meme team.” According to Dilley, one of the members of his “meme team” was “having a private conversation with somebody that I would say many people consider one of the most probably respectable minds in all of politics,” and that this person made this claim about Biden and Trump “to a group of megadonors.” [The Dilley Show, 5/9/24]

Dilley has called for his followers and “meme team” to aid Trump and Lake, including targeting their political opponents with “psychological warfare”

  • Dilley took credit for getting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to drop out of the 2024 GOP presidential primary race, saying the “massive effort of psy-oping their insecurities and what they really were completely toppled the entire organization.” Dilley claimed, “We utilized massive psychological warfare on DeSantis via shame and insecurity, relentlessly so.” He added, “This is unfortunately what it will take to win. That is the level of savagery you must have. You must view everybody who is opposing Donald Trump and the America First agenda as opposing America itself. This is how we toppled them.” [Media Matters, 3/19/24]
  • Dilley called for “a fucking army of poll watchers at all of the critical precincts in the swing states.” [The Dilley Show, 1/25/24]
  • In a tirade filled with misogynistic slurs, Dilley threatened to target then-presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s friends and family as long as she stayed in the GOP primary race against Trump. Dilley said that since Haley had yet to drop out of the race at that point, “the Dilley meme team has decided to make you, your family, your friends, your coworkers, and every single individual as even remotely associated with you a political target henceforth.” Specifically, Dilley said he hoped that “every single person who’s ever fucking called you, emailed you, or shaked your goddamn hand is used to having public scrutiny via meme and fucking song and deep dives and everything in between,” adding that “every picture your son has ever posted, every fucking comment he's ever made in every forum, is going to be unearthed.” He also threatened to “dig into all your daughter's comments, all of the pictures, all of her associations, her ex-boyfriends, her fucking ex-girlfriends. We’re going to dig into all of your employees. We'll dig into all of their employees. We’ll dig into your lovers.” [The Dilley Show, 2/20/24]
  • Dilley directed his “meme team” to target Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is running against Kari Lake for U.S. Senate in Arizona, and Dilley used homophobic rhetoric and called the Democrat “an actual commie-carrying member and a cartel fucking mouthpiece.” Repeatedly mispronouncing the congressman’s name, Dilley said he was “going to turn the Dilley meme team loose on Gallegos” and “we’re going to start churning out content for Kari Lake,” adding that “we’re going to go heavy on Gallegos. ... I told that little fucker last night. I was like, ‘Hey. I’m going to ruin your fucking life.’” He also said, “Gallegos is a priority right now, and the meme team is turning their attention to him right now as we speak,” explaining that “the plan is to destroy this motherfucker.” Dilley went on to credit his “meme team” for “jumping in that fight and sharing so much great content” for Lake, saying her campaign is supposedly “gaining momentum every single day.” [The Dilley Show, 4/4/24, 4/22/24]
  • Dilley told his followers to take memes from his “meme team” and “be saturating the replies” of “leftist accounts” with them. Dilley said, “I care about all of these leftist accounts being inundated with memes that are relevant and pushing back against their argument,” adding, “Soon as you see the comments, you see the Biden HQ account, you see Gallego, any of these leftist accounts, you need to be saturating the replies.” [The Dilley Show, 4/18/24]
  • Dilley also instructed his followers to “hijack” hashtags and spread memes and videos during the June 27 presidential debate between Biden and Trump. Dilley said, “We want to hijack that hashtag as we always do. Whatever the top three hashtags are for the debate, we want to own them.” He added that “all I want you doing is retweeting all of those videos. So we’re going to be working that shit, dropping the videos, pushing back, and showing the truth about Joe Biden’s lies. We're also going to be pushing pro-Trump content.” [The Dilley Show, 6/24/24, 6/25/24, 6/26/24]

Dilley has repeatedly spread extreme misogyny on his show

  • Dilley has repeatedly used the word “bitch” to describe women across the political spectrum. The women whom Dilley has called a “bitch” include Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, former Trump White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), actress Amy Poehler, key QAnon promoter Tracy “Beanz” Diaz, MSNBC co-host Mika Brzezinski, conservative commentator Candace Owens, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate Nicole Shanahan, Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), and columnist E. Jean Carroll. [The Dilley Show, 1/11/24, 1/22/24, 1/24/24, 1/25/24, 1/26/24, 2/8/24, 2/22/24, 2/27/24, 3/11/24, 3/18/24, 3/22/24, 3/27/24, 4/29/24, 6/19/24]
  • Dilley claimed that former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis was fat and “real, real slutty.” Dilley said that Ellis was “real, real slutty,” calling her a “real big girl” and “big bitch” who “wore a dress over the summer” and “made it look like a fucking giant bottle of Pepto Bismol.” [The Dilley Show, 1/31/24]
  • Dilley claimed that weddings often featured “the slut that wants to fuck half the fucking audience.” Dilley also referred to the maid of honor as the “best bitch” who “secretly wants to fuck your husband.” [The Dilley Show, 2/2/24]
  • Dilley: “I hope everything goes back to the 1950s” when “women could focus on their pretty dresses and their house and their children and making me sexually satisfied all the time, and food.” Dilley added that he would tell women, “You don't worry your pretty head about those politics” and that “that’s a man's problem,” adding that instead “I’ll let you know who to vote for” and that “what you need to concern yourself with is how come the floors in the kitchen aren’t as shiny as they were two weeks ago.” [The Dilley Show, 2/8/24]
  • Dilley: “Americans don't want to vote for a bitch,” and “a bitch with the fucking red button on the nukes” is “dangerous.” In a rant he admitted would “sound misogynistic” after calling then-presidential candidate Nikki Haley “kind of a slut,” Dilley argued that “we know in our deepest biology that a bitch with the fucking red button on the nukes is dangerous” and that “we all kind of inherently know there are certain kinds of women we must avoid at all cost giving them power,” calling it “herd protection.” He also argued that that was “why we give them like as much power as we can in the house” but “why women don’t get control of anything outside of the house” and “the closer we get to other humans, the less control my wife should have.” During an appearance on the Matt Kim Podcast on YouTube the next month, Dilley lauded a voter who said she would not vote for Haley because she was “probably menopausal,” with Dilley saying that the voter meant to say that “the bitch is menopausal most likely, and we don’t need that as a president.” [The Dilley Show, 2/12/24; Matt Kim Podcast, 3/5/24]
  • Dilley complained that Super Bowl advertisements did not feature “fuckable women.” During a rant about Super Bowl LVIII commercials, Dilley claimed that the “elites” put a “moratorium on new fame,” and that it meant that Super Bowl ads featured “bitch” pop star Taylor Swift, fellow pop star Madonna was “still gyrating her vagina,” and fellow pop star Cher’s “new pussy” is “only, like, 15.” He also claimed, “They don’t put these bitches out to pasture, and now we all have to see them half-naked on a fucking magazine cover at 65 years old,” and that, “They’re not even trying to sell you sex anymore with, like, fuckable women.” [The Dilley Show, 2/12/24]
  • Dilley claimed former Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin was a “frail, worn out piece of ass.” While criticizing Alex Soros, the son of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, for reportedly dating Abedin, Dilley also called Abedin the “leftovers” and “sloppy seconds” of her ex-husband, former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY). [The Dilley Show, 2/15/24]
  • Dilley claimed that “God hates” Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis “because he made her fat” while having small breasts. Added Dilley, “Put on all that weight and not even go up a cup size? … That is just brutal.” He has also claimed that Willis “might be the dumbest whore to ever have graduated a law school.” [The Dilley Show, 2/16/24, 3/12/24]
  • Dilley called Meghan McCain “fat fuck Miss Piggy” and accused Cindy McCain of being a “whore.” After Meghan McCain rebuffed Kari Lake’s supposed “olive branch” following her criticism of McCain’s father, the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Dilley called McCain “one of the ugliest, fattest women in America,” and claimed that her mother, World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain, “is a whore, OK? She’s a child-trafficking whore.” He alleged, without evidence, that a member of his “meme team” saw Cindy McCain cheating on John McCain, and accused John McCain of being “a traitor to this country.” [HuffPost, 2/21/24; The Dilley Show, 2/22/24]
  • Dilley complained that a newly crowned Iranian-born Miss Germany was “this fucking busted piece of Iranian ass” instead of “the perfect fucking Aryan woman” he said the country used to have. Dilley complained that a woman who was born in Iran and moved to Germany when she was six had been crowned Miss Germany, arguing that she does not “even look German.” He contrasted this to how, he said, Germany “used to technologically, scientifically fucking create their women. They were all 5 foot 8 with fucking blonde hair, blue eyes, huge tits, and fucking 24-inch waists.” [Euronews, 2/27/24; The Dilley Show, 2/26/24]
  • Dilley claimed that any woman who has earned a law degree only did so because she is “a leftist whore.” Added Dilley, “They just hand these out to leftist whores. You’re not actually smart.” He also argued, “If you gave me one week to prepare a case or debate of some kind against any woman who graduated with a law degree in the last eight years, I could beat them. Anyone. Every single one. Because I’ve seen enough now to know that they’re fucking retarded.” [The Dilley Show, 3/5/24, 3/5/24]
  • Dilley claimed that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold has “a fat face, but she got some big ass dick-sucking lips.” While discussing the Supreme Court ruling to keep Trump on the ballot in Colorado, Dilley also called her a “stupid bitch” who was “one of the dumbest whores we’ve ever had” before the Supreme Court. [The Dilley Show, 3/5/24, 3/5/24]
  • Dilley claimed that women managers in the workplace realize that they should hire “only guys for this job.” He argued that women working meant female managers “have to police a bunch of cunts all day long at [their] job because then they force [them] to hire other women.” [The Dilley Show, 3/21/24]
  • Dilley called Vice President Kamala Harris a “dirty bitch” and baselessly claimed that she “suck[ed] dick to become the vice president.” [The Dilley Show, 3/25/24]
  • Dilley on pop singer Lizzo: “You can be a fat fuck singer and no one will make fun of you. But if you’re a fat fuck singer who tells everybody you're hot as shit and then proceeds to show everybody your giant 600-pound ass, that’s when people get upset.” Dilley was responding to Lizzo’s announcement on social media that she would step back from the public spotlight after being attacked for singing at a Biden fundraiser. Dilley added, “This should have happened years ago, fucking years ago, but better late than never,” and took credit for Lizzo’s announcement, remarking that “apparently the Dilley meme team’s leading the charge” against her. [HuffPost, 3/30/24; The Dilley Show, 4/1/24]
  • Dilley has repeatedly discussed and mocked House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and climate activist Greta Thunberg’s breasts. Dilley accused Thunberg of having undergone breast augmentation surgery and claimed she was therefore a hypocrite regarding climate change. [The Dilley Show, 4/4/24, 4/8/24]
  • Dilley claimed former CNN anchor Poppy Harlow had a “sloppy, slutty kind of look to her.” Discussing the announcement that Harlow would be leaving CNN, Dilley said Harlow looked “kind of stacked” and that “she looks like Stormy Daniels kind of; kind of got that, like, sloppy, slutty kind of look to her.” He also speculated that she could join Fox News “if she’s going to show her fun bags.” [The Dilley Show, 4/26/24]
  • Dilley claimed that “total bitch” CNN anchor Kasie Hunt’s hair would be a “rape deterrent.” Dilley claimed that Hunt is a “total cunt” and has a “stupid mini fridge head” that makes her look like “a homeless transgender” person who is “battling some kind of a Down syndrome situation.” He also claimed that her hair could serve as a “fucking rape deterrent in New York City … so migrants won’t touch her.” [The Dilley Show, 6/24/24]

Dilley has made racist, anti-immigrant, bigoted, and antisemitic comments on his show

  • Dilley has more than once invoked the racist and antisemitic “great replacement” conspiracy theory. Dilley has claimed, “They’re replacing you right now with a bunch of fucking illegals from south of the border. At every turn, they’re going to replace you,” and said of Black voters, “Your voting bloc has been replaced by illegal invaders.” The claim echoes the white nationalist conspiracy theory known as the “great replacement,” which posits that nonwhite people are replacing white people in the United States and other predominantly white countries, specifically through immigration. [Media Matters, 1/12/24; The Dilley Show, 1/22/24, 2/5/24]
  • Dilley claimed if women vote for Democrats it will “no doubtably result in them getting raped at some point in 2025 by an illegal immigrant or some migrant from a foreign land or some criminal” who was let out after repeat offenses. [The Dilley Show, 1/19/24]
  • In response to a predicted influx in Florida of Haitian migrants fleeing political instability, Dilley claimed that Floridians were “about to have cannibal Haitians showing up in your yard.” [Tampa Bay Times, 4/14/24; The Dilley Show, 3/14/24]
  • Dilley called Minnesota “frozen Somalia.” Dilley asked, “Why would anybody in their right fucking mind move to frozen Somalia?” [The Dilley Show, 3/19/24]
  • Dilley said Jews who support Democrats are “voting for your own destruction.” [The Dilley Show, 4/10/24]
  • Dilley falsely claimed that George Floyd was “a felon overdosing underneath a cop’s leg.” According to The Associated Press: “The county medical examiner’s office ruled Floyd’s death a homicide due to ‘cardiopulmonary arrest,’ not an overdose, even though he had fentanyl and methamphetamine in his system.” [The Associated Press, 10/21/22; The Dilley Show, 4/11/24]
  • Dilley said “DEI hires” are OK in retail, but “you used DEI to choose a Supreme Court justice,” mentioning Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. [The Dilley Show, 4/25/24]
  • Dilley said that “England is way more fucking Muslim now” and that “jihadis” are “taking control of these cities and the government.” While praising an action from the British government, Dilley speculated that it was “not being caused by Judeo-Christians living in England with Western values” and instead was “more likely … caused by the highly influential Muslim community,” calling it a “slippery slope.” [The Dilley Show, 5/16/24]

Dilley has repeatedly made anti-LGBTQ remarks and used hateful slurs on his show

  • Dilley bragged that “we brought back the word f–––––,” and he has repeatedly used the anti-LGBTQ slur to describe people and things he opposes, including philanthropist George Soros’ son Alex. Dilley has also repeatedly called things “gay” and “queer” derogatorily. [The Dilley Show, 12/28/23, 2/1/24, 4/10/24, 4/15/24, 4/26/24, 5/9/24]
  • Dilley lauded a mixed martial artist who claimed that being transgender used to be “a mental fucking illness” and that “the world’s not saying … chicks have dicks.” Dilley said that MMA fighter Sean Strickland was “delivering knockouts inside and outside the octagon” with his anti-LGBTQ rant and claimed that transgender people were the “fucking deranged chicks with dicks t––––– community.” [TheWrap, 1/18/24; The Dilley Show, 1/18/24]
  • Dilley claimed that transgender people were “fucked in the head” and that “we tried to tell you that and you told us we were being bigoted.” Dilley said this in response to the unsubstantiated claim that a shooting at a Texas church had been carried out by a transgender person. [The Associated Press, 2/13/24; The Dilley Show, 2/12/24]
  • Dilley complained about “LGBTQ bullshit” at Disney. Dilley made the remark in response to a poll supposedly showing that most Americans opposed “Disney’s gay ‘inclusion’ agenda.” [The Dilley Show, 5/6/24]
  • Dilley suggested that “gay butt sex” and “homoerotica” were “degeneracy.” He also claimed that Democrats “decided to do all kinds of weird shit to their bodies, moving things around, changing genders, and sucking each other off.” [The Dilley Show, 5/8/24]
  • Dilley claimed that “they give you a whole month” if “you put your penis in another dude’s butt” or “if you’re a chick with a dick.” [The Dilley Show, 5/14/24]
  • Dilley claimed that White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was hired because “she’s Black and she eats pussy.” He also claimed that she was asked in a job interview for the position, “Are you a t–––––?” [The Dilley Show, 5/14/24]
  • Dilley called anti-LGBTQ laws “a very good thing” and “good news.” Dilley praised a new Mississippi law requiring people at public schools to use facilities corresponding to their gender assigned at birth and guidance from the United Kingdom’s conservative government telling schools in England not to teach about gender identity. [CNN, 5/14/24; BBC, 5/16/24; The Dilley Show, 5/16/24]
  • Dilley appeared to call for violence against — and for court martialing — a person in the military who he alleges is married to a transgender woman who was crowned Miss Maryland. After a transgender woman won Miss Maryland, Dilley complained about a “woke marine who’s married to a fucking dude that just won Miss Maryland,” asking, “How the hell was that guy not beat with a sack of oranges by other marines?” He added, “If I was in your group and you married a fucking cross-dressing shim … I would beat you with oranges while you slept.” He also called for the person to be “court martial[ed] … right now” due to their marriage. [The Baltimore Banner, 6/7/24; The Dilley Show, 6/7/24]

On his show, Dilley has used threatening rhetoric against certain figures he opposes

  • Dilley threatened to “punish that bitch” Taylor Swift if she made the “wrong choice” and endorsed Biden. Said Dilley, “As long as Taylor Swift remains — we’ll call it a free agent — we will behave a certain way. The second she makes … the wrong choice, it is absolutely incumbent upon us to punish that bitch for … doing that.” [The Dilley Show, 1/30/24]
  • Dilley called for “asymmetrical warfare” against a Georgia judge and his family after his ruling in Trump’s Fulton County case. After Fulton County, Georgia, Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee ruled against disqualifying Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from prosecuting Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference and racketeering case, Dilley slammed the ruling, saying, “You see him in public, you mock him. You see him online, you mock him. You see his sister online, his mom online, his brother, his wife, his fucking kids. Doesn’t matter … Asymmetrical warfare. That’s how you do it. You wanna fucking condemn the nation? We will condemn your fucking entire lineage.” [Media Matters, 3/19/24]
  • Dilley called for pro-Palestinan college protesters to be “curb stomp[ed].” Added Dilley, “I hope they literally jackboot thug the shit out of you because you are not protesting. This is not — this is not what the First Amendment is about.” [The Dilley Show, 5/1/24]
  • In response to Trump’s criminal conviction in New York, Dilley called for “the fucking destruction of every motherfucker that had their hands involved in this entire bullshit collapse of this country.” Of the possibility that “cities will burn” if that happens, Dilley said, “I don’t give a fuck. I don’t give a fuck. Blind justice must return.” [The Dilley Show, 5/31/24]
  • Dilley called for people in the DOJ and FBI who he claimed “committed treason” against Trump to “be thrown in prison.” Dilley, addressing “FBI agents who overthrew the government,” said, “You should have everything you fucking ever earned taken from you also. Your pension should have to be paid back, your retirement funds should cease immediately, your assets should be seized, and, yes, you should be thrown in prison.” He added, “This country would be so much safer if the majority of these corrupt FBI cunts were behind bars.” [The Dilley Show, 6/6/24]
  • Dilley called for “every bad thing that’s possible to happen to” Dr. Anthony Fauci. He added that he wanted “everything that he [Fauci] ever loved to be gone” and that a “jail cell wouldn’t be enough for that guy.” Dilley also claimed that “anybody with Fauci blood fucking coursing through their veins is inherently going to have some type of evil in them” and expressed hope that Fauci’s “entire lineage” would be “gone.” [The Dilley Show, 6/19/24]

Dilley has spread false claims and conspiracy theories about those he opposes

  • Dilley claimed without evidence that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s voice condition is due to drug use. Dilley claimed that Kennedy had a “destroyed voice box from crystal meth.” In reality, Kennedy’s voice is caused by a neurological condition called spasmodic dysphonia. [Business Insider, 8/17/23; The Dilley Show, 2/28/24]
  • Dilley falsely claimed that former President Barack Obama is “a Kenyan” and “the former terrorist in chief.” Dilley also implied that Obama — who was born in Hawaii and is an American citizen — was involved with “bring[ing] the violent people here to the United States of America and let[ting] them do their violence on our college campuses.” [The Dilley Show, 4/23/24, 5/1/24]
  • Dilley baselessly suggested that Hillary Clinton’s “homebrew server” could have contributed to the Baltimore port bridge crash. Said Dilley, “Do I think Hillary had anything to do with terrorists attacking the ship and making it crash? Probably not, but the dumb cunt did have a homebrew server where she was giving away military secrets via the Chinese hacking her shit because it was open completely. So I’m not saying they did it, but I’m saying they could.” In reality, the crash appears to have been caused by multiple power outage issues on the cargo ship that crashed into the bridge. [The Associated Press, 5/14/24; The Dilley Show, 3/26/24]
  • Dilley falsely claimed that journalists who wanted to speak with him were “all vaxxed” and “shedding” the “poison … jab you took.” Said Dilley, “They’re all vaxxed and shit spreading their fucking God-knows-what. Like, no. You’re not fucking shedding in my house. You’re not shedding — you’re not fucking shedding those poison fucking jab you took. No.” In reality, COVID vaccines are safe and people who got them do not “shed” from them and harm others. [Reuters, 4/23/21; The Dilley Show, 5/15/24]
  • Dilley invoked a baseless anti-trans conspiracy theory about Michelle Obama and falsely claimed Jill Biden had a relationship with Joe Biden while working as a babysitter for him. Dilley called former first lady Michelle Obama “big Mike Obama” — an apparent reference to a baseless conspiracy theory asserting that she is transgender. In the same episode, Dilley also falsely claimed that first lady Jill Biden “was the babysitter that Joe was fucking when his family died”; in reality, Jill Biden met and began dating Joe Biden a few years after his first wife’s death. [PolitiFact, 2/28/23, 3/14/23; Reuters, 1/27/21; The Dilley Show, 5/30/24]
  • Dilley baselessly claimed that “like 1% of teachers … are actually quality and the rest are complete fucking batshit crazy communists.” Added Dilley, “There’s a reason I’ve hated them since I was a child.” [The Dilley Show, 5/30/24]Dilley baselessly accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of being a “serial killer.” [The Dilley Show, 6/3/24]

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Wave Of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bills Sweeping Across Red States

Wave Of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bills Sweeping Across Red States

Republicans never let a terrible idea go to waste. If one Republican-controlled state passes a harmful law that will do violence to vulnerable people, it’s a virtual certainty that several other Republican-controlled states will follow suit. That’s how it’s been with the Texas abortion bounty hunter law, and it’s how it’s shaping up with Florida’s notorious “Don’t Say Gay” law.

Ohio and Louisiana Republicans are already considering their own versions of the Florida legislation, which prohibits teachers from talking about gender identity or sexual orientation to students in kindergarten through third grade, and limits how those subjects can be discussed with older students. In Texas, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says he’ll make a similar bill a priority when the state legislature starts its next session in January. If he’s going to jump on board with every oppressive bill introduced in any state between now and January, the Texas legislature is going to have a lot to get done.

The thinking behind such bills “is that parents will be allowed to decide when they want their children to learn about LGBTQ+ issues instead of having the school talk about them at an age that may be too early or confusing,” Marissa Higgins explained about the Florida bill. “Mind you, there are undoubtedly LGBTQ+ children (and teachers, custodians, principals, parents, and so on) in every school in Florida right now. They might not be ‘out,’ they might not have the language yet, but they’re there. The only thing that comes from not talking about LGBTQ+ identity is that people lack knowledge, and down the road, may live with internalized queerphobia and feelings of confusion and self-hate. It doesn’t stop anyone from being queer to simply be silent about it.”

But silence—and the knowledge that you are seen as unacceptable or dirty that comes with enforced silence—is enough for Republicans.

A viral social media post exposed some gaps in the logic of the Florida law, enraging right-wing groups in the process:

Dear Florida parent/caretaker:
The Florida house of Representatives has recently ruled that “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
To be in accordance with this policy, I will no longer be referring to your student with gendered pronouns. All students will be referred to as “The” or “them.” I will no longer use a gendered title such as “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or make any references to my husband/wife in the classroom. From now on I will be using the non-gendered title “Mx.”
Furthermore, I will be removing all books or instruction which refer to a person being a “mother,” “Father,” “husband” or “wife” as these are gender identities that also may allude to sexual orientation. Needless to say, all books which refer to a character as “he” or “She” will also be removed from the classroom. If you have any concerns about this policy, please feel free to contact your local congressperson.
Thank you, Mx. XXXXXXXXXX

“Man” and “woman” are gender identities, guys. Heterosexuality is a sexual orientation. Florida Republicans—perhaps soon to be followed by Ohio and Louisiana ones—technically did ban those identifications as well. Because it wouldn’t occur to Republicans that what they think of as normal and right could fall under the category of “gender identity” or “sexual orientation.” They expect that everyone will know what they mean and fall in line because the very vagueness and broadness of the law is itself a threat.

Relatedly, the Ohio bill also contains familiar bans on teaching about race and racism, or, as it calls them, “divisive or inherently racist concepts.” Again, by being extremely vague and broad, it may limit speech even more than carefully written, highly specific language would do.

”I think it's probably by design, that they just want to instill fear, that if you wonder if something may or may not be considered controversial or considered divisive or considered illegal under this legislation, the safest bet is to just not talk about it at all. And that's the real harm that's caused because that deprives our students of a complete and honest education,” Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro told CNN.

That harm comes whether the concepts being banned are “trans people exist” or “racism exists.” And Republicans are dedicated to harming as many kids as possible.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

The Right-Wing Theatre Of Cruelty: Rush Limbaugh, 1951-2021

The Right-Wing Theatre Of Cruelty: Rush Limbaugh, 1951-2021

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters

Before Fox News and Donald Trump, there was Rush Limbaugh. A talk radio trailblazer who chased ratings by stoking bigotry and shielding his listeners from uncomfortable truths, Limbaugh reshaped right-wing media and eventually the Republican Party itself.

On February 17, Limbaugh's wife announced on air that he died after a battle with lung cancer.

The Rush Limbaugh Show began broadcasting nationwide in 1988 and the host soon amassed an army of "dittoheads," a term which came to signal fans with unquestioning support for Limbaugh's views. According to Talkers Magazine, more than 15 million unique weekly listeners tuned into his show in December 2020.

Not only was Limbaugh syndicated on hundreds of stations across the country, but most other conservative talk radio hosts who came after him were — with few exceptions — Limbaugh wannabes. His disciples included future Vice President Mike Pence, who once described his own 1990s talk radio personality as "Rush Limbaugh on decaf." The cumulative effect was a never-ending stream of Limbaugh or Limbaugh-like rhetoric available day or night to anyone with access to a radio.

GOP leaders recognized the hold that Limbaugh, the self-described "titular head of the Republican Party," had on their voters. They responded by heaping praise on the host and fashioning their politics to fit his monologues. After the 2012 election, when some Republicans pushed to expand outreach to minority voters, the party instead chose to double down on Limbaugh's exclusionary politics.

As my colleague Matt Gertz observed, Republican leaders' constant appeasement of Limbaugh foreshadowed their approach to candidate and then President Donald Trump. Trump and Limbaugh understood the value they offered one another; Trump as the fighter Limbaugh's audience always wanted, and Limbaugh, who was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Trump last year, as the sycophant who could be counted on to spin or ignore Trump's failures.

Weeks before the 2020 presidential election, Trump turned to Limbaugh once again, participating in a two-hour interview in which he knew his lies would never be questioned. And throughout the final days of his program, Limbaugh continued to falsely insist that President Joe Biden had not legitimately won the election.

Media historian Brian Rosenwald notes that talk radio is an intimate medium, one in which hosts develop a deep and lasting bond with longtime listeners. Limbaugh manipulated that bond to convince his audience of things that were not true and to turn them against Democrats, the news media, and anyone else who failed to share his hardline views.

Bigotry And Lies Were Essential To His Appeal

Limbaugh entertained an audience that was primarily composed of older, white conservative men by mocking women, minorities, and anyone else who did not embody his default listener — setting the tone for the toxic, cruel politics of the modern-day conservative movement.

Sexism was one of the most reliable features of Limbaugh's program, and women were regularly referred to on the show as "babes" or even "feminazis" — a term which Limbaugh boasted about coining. Feminism, according to Limbaugh, was created to enable "unattractive women" to have "easier access to the mainstream."

In 2012, the host faced widespread backlash and advertiser boycotts after he referred to a law student who testified in favor of health care coverage for contraceptives as a "slut." During the #MeToo era, Limbaugh mocked and attacked women who reported sexual assault. The host was also virulently opposed to reproductive health care, once comparing abortion clinics to "death camps" and attacking groups like Planned Parenthood as "death squads."

People of color and members of the LGBTQ community were also frequent punching bags on Limbaugh's show.

Limbaugh once remarked that "all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson" and that "the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons." During Barack Obama's presidency, the host fed into birtherism and the conspiracy theory that Obama was secretly a Muslim.

Limbaugh repeatedly downplayed racial discrimination and espoused white nationalist talking points, arguing that immigrants are trying to "invade" the United States. Once, when discussing genocide against Native Americans, Limbaugh asked, "They all have casinos -- what's to complain about?"

After the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, Limbaugh described the decision as an "assault" on American culture that would lead to incest and polygamy. Limbaugh referred to transgender people as mentally ill and blamed the Roman Catholic Church's sex abuse scandals on "the gay infiltration of the Catholic Church."

When confronted with facts that contradicted his conservative worldview, Limbaugh promoted conspiracy theories and obvious lies.

A staunch climate denier throughout his entire career, Limbaugh once bragged about his role in undermining the American public's belief in climate science.

After a Trump supporter mailed pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and media organizations in 2018, Limbaugh suggested that the attack was a false flag designed to damage conservatives. The host made similar remarks in 2019 after the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand.

And when the coronavirus first began to spread through the United States, Limbaugh assured his audience — one of the oldest in conservative media — that it was merely "the common cold." As the death toll continued to mount, the host claimed that the virus had been weaponized by Trump opponents, mocked mask wearers, and accused journalists and hospitals of inflating COVID-19 case counts.

Limbaugh's Toxic Legacy Is Secure

For more than 30 years, Limbaugh's show helped to set the agenda for hosts across the country, and it's not clear who is likely to succeed him as talk radio's unifying voice.

One possible replacement may ironically be the only Fox News prime-time host without radio experience. Tucker Carlson's monologues are already frequently cited by right-wing radio hosts, and his emphasis on culture war topics — particularly his xenophobic, anti-trans, and misogynistic content — aligns well with standard talk radio fare.

But even Carlson is unlikely to match the hold Limbaugh had on a now-declining industry. Today, conservative talk radio is just one facet of a much larger right-wing media ecosystem, where television hosts and conservative writers all sound somewhat like Limbaugh. This ecosystem controls a political party whose latest president regularly sought the counsel of Fox News hosts.

Even without one of its central architects, a right-wing media machine built on outrage and cruelty will continue to deceive its audience long into the future.

Official Involved In Bush-Era Purge of Gay Employees Now Working For Trump

Official Involved In Bush-Era Purge of Gay Employees Now Working For Trump

Reprinted with permission from ProPublica.

It was one of the uglier scandals of the Bush administration: Top officials at an agency dedicated to protecting whistleblowers launched a campaign against their own employees based on suspected sexual orientation, according to an inspector general report.

Staffers were abruptly reassigned from Washington, D.C., to a new office 500 miles away in Detroit in what the head of the office reportedly described as an effort to “ship [them] out.” Staffers who refused were fired.

Crude anti-gay emails were found in the agency chief’s account.

Now one of the major players in the scandal has a new assignment: He works in the Trump administration.

In December, James Renne was appointed to the Trump “landing team” at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as part of the transition effort between the election and the inauguration. He was then hired January 30 in a senior role at the Department of Agriculture, though his exact job duties are not clear.

Renne was part of the wave of early political appointees on so-called “beachhead teams,” whose role is to lay the groundwork for the new administration’s policies. (We published details on hundreds of beachhead hires, obtained through public records requests.)

In the Bush administration, Renne was hired in 2004 as deputy special counsel of the Office of Special Counsel, the small federal agency that is supposed to protect employees across the government from retaliation for whistleblowing. The tenures of Renne and his boss, Special Counsel Scott Bloch, were almost immediately mired in controversy after career gay employees said they were improperly fired. Language stating that job discrimination protections extend to sexual orientation also disappeared from the agency website.

A little-noticed inspector general report, released in 2013, depicts Renne as a central player in the efforts. Bloch and Renne, it found, hatched the plan to abruptly open a new “Midwest Field Office” in Detroit and reassign career staff there. Employees who declined to move lost their jobs.

The report found that the employees were targeted for no legitimate reason, pointing to “facts which reflect that Mr. Bloch and Mr. Renne may have been motivated in their actions by a negative personal attitude toward homosexuality and individuals whose orientation is homosexual.”

One evening shortly after he was hired in 2004, Renne took the lead in removing the language from the agency’s website about how job protections cover sexual orientation, the report says.

From the report: “Mr. Renne was depicted as intently searching the OSC website with the assistance of a senior career official to identify passages which interpreted [the nondiscrimination law] as extending protection to gay employees on the basis of their sexual orientation. According to this account, Mr. Renne demanded that OSC’s information technology manager remove these materials from the website immediately.”

That change was later the subject of congressional hearings.

Renne did not respond to requests for comment. The Department of Agriculture, which hired him, declined to comment.

The scandal at the Office of Special Counsel dragged on for years, spawning congressional and criminal investigations.

In a formal complaint filed at the time, the employees who were reassigned to Detroit pointed to a “Concerned Catholic Attorneys” letter Renne had signed in 2000 that is a broadside against a range of gay rights efforts. It warns that the “homosexual lobby’s power has grown exponentially.”

The inspector general report found that Renne played a central role in the plan to open a Detroit office, noting that “the reorganization was formulated by Mr. Bloch and Mr. Renne very early in their tenure.” An outside consultant they hired to help with the plan told investigators that “it appeared that Mr. Bloch may have been heavily influenced by Mr. Renne.”

That consultant, retired Lt. Gen. Richard Trefry, told investigators:

Mr. Bloch indicated to General Trefry that there was a sizeable group of homosexuals employed by OSC, which had developed during the years prior to his taking office, that he “had a license” to get rid of homosexual employees, and that he intended to “ship them out.”

The report continues:

Further, in the portions of Mr. Bloch’s official e-mail account that were available to the investigative team, there were crude and vulgar messages containing anti-homosexual themes that appeared to have been forwarded from his personal email. 2026 Similarly, Mr. Bloch’s public media references to [his predecessor as Special Counsel, Elaine] Kaplan contained repeated, negatively-phrased assertions regarding her sexual orientation. For example, in interviews he granted during 2007, Mr. Bloch described her as a “lesbian activist,” a “public lesbian,” a “well-known gay activist”, and similar depictions.

Now in private practice, Bloch told ProPublica the report is “filled with untruth, outright falsehoods, and innuendo.” When the report was released, Bloch denied that he ever talked about targeting gay employees.

The inspector general report says it was based on interviews with more than 60 people and examination of over 100,000 emails.

The affected gay employees ultimately came to a settlement with the government. The terms were not released.

During the investigation into his tenure, Bloch’s home and office were raided by the FBI and he ultimately pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge arising from his hiring the company Geeks on Call to do a “seven-level wipe” on his government computers. Years later, Bloch later unsuccessfully sued the government over his firing.

There’s little public record of what Renne has been doing since his time working with Bloch. The Trump landing team announcement identified him as working for Renne Law. A fellow member of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence landing team said that Renne had worked at the ODNI inspector general office. And Bloch said he also heard that Renne had gotten a job in the intelligence community after their work together. An ODNI spokesman declined to comment.

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