Tag: right-wing grifters
Tears bourbon

Online Grifters Laugh As MAGA Marks 'Keep Falling For The Same Con'

Scammers are taking advantage of President Donald Trump's MAGA base by selling them products without ever actually fulfilling their orders.

That's according to a Wednesday article by Jezebel's Jim Vorel, who wrote that numerous products marketed to pro-Trump conservatives are frequently accused by those same customers of ignoring them after taking their money. Vorel focused mostly on customer reviews for MAGA-branded alcoholic beverages, though he noted that scammers targeting MAGA customers do so through a variety of products.

"Here’s the thing about grifters in this mold: They truly don’t care who they’re stealing from, and the ideology they’re wearing ends the moment the mark is no longer buying, or the ideology is no longer selling," he wrote. "They will steal from anyone, or appropriate any image, personality or movement without permission, in order to move some units."

Vorel observed that one product dubbed "Tears of the Left" — which proclaims to be a Kentucky-made bourbon that sells for $100 complete with a tear-shaped whiskey stone — has a Facebook page that is rife with irate consumer reviews. Some reviewers wrote about their frustrations with the company's customer service, saying they had yet to receive an estimated shipping date despite making their order several weeks prior.

"One of the people lodging their complaint even notes that the company’s tracking information claims that the $100 bottle of what is no doubt cheaply sourced bourbon was already delivered to him, when it never actually was. Would you believe that no one has been responding to his repeated inquiries about that?" Vorel wrote.

"By the end of the post, he’s already settling into exactly the frame of mind that a grifter prizes above all: Annoyance, but resignation. When your political tribe is more important to you than defending your rights as a consumer, that makes you the perfect mark — someone who will lodge a testy complaint, but take it no further than that."

The Jezebel writer asserted that President Donald Trump also participates in the practice of grifting MAGA customers out of their money, pointing to his cryptocurrency "memecoin" that quickly lost most of its value not long after it was publicly introduced in January of last year. While the $TRUMP coin was initially valued at more than $27, it sells for just $4.95 today.

"Even when Trump is stealing directly from his most ardent supporters, they’re all too happy to keep falling for the same con, over and over," Vorel wrote.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

‘Conservative’ Groups That Opposed Local And State Relief Took Millions In Federal Aid

‘Conservative’ Groups That Opposed Local And State Relief Took Millions In Federal Aid

Reprinted with permission from DailyKos

Conservative groups have long railed against government assistance, including even against economic stimulus during the coronavirus pandemic, but—surprise!—that hasn't stopped many of them from taking millions in the aid themselves, an analysis conducted as part of Accountable.US's CovidBailoutTracker.com project shows.

Back in May, a long list of right-wing groups signed a Conservative Action Project letter opposing "federally funded bailouts for states and local governments." At least eight of those groups were just fine with federally funded bailouts for their own bank accounts, though: They collectively took more than $2.25 million in CARES Act aid, with three taking money both from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. (Disclosure: Kos Media received a Paycheck Protection Program loan, but wasn't a giant hypocrite about it.)

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Sidney Powell

QAnon Lawyer Sidney Powell’s New ‘Kraken’ Scam

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Today we learned why Donald Trump wanted the wildest of his wild-eyed attorneys ejected unceremoniously from his so-called legal team: She was trying to cut into his action.

Yes, TV attorney Sidney Powell can grift with the best of them.

Now that Powell has "unleashed the Kraken" with the help of a copy editor who was smoking the Kraken, it's time to resolve one of the burning questions of the QAnon universe: "How can we ever show our appreciation to Sidney Powell?"

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Right-Wing Grifters Using ’Stolen Election’ To Scam Republican Suckers

Right-Wing Grifters Using ’Stolen Election’ To Scam Republican Suckers

Reprinted with permission from MediaMatters

Democrats did not "steal" the presidential election, but that hasn't stopped right-wing personalities from grifting their followers by asking for money to supposedly help President Donald Trump stage a coup and overturn the results.

Media Matters has documented over the years how conservative media figures have frequently grifted and scammed their audiences. So it's no surprise that right-wingers have seized on Trump's lies about the "stolen" 2020 election to get money from readers.

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