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   From: willyt1955@yahoomail.com   
      
   Top Republicans rub shoulders with extremists in secretive rightwing   
   group, leak reveals   
      
      
   Then president Donald Trump arrives to speak to the 2020 Council for   
   National Policy meeting in Arlington, Virginia, in August last year. The   
   group was founded in 1981 by activists influential in the Christian right.   
   Then president Donald Trump arrives to speak to the 2020 Council for   
   National Policy meeting in Arlington, Virginia, in August last year. The   
   group was founded in 1981 by activists influential in the Christian right.   
   Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP   
      
   Wealthy entrepreneurs and media moguls also named on membership list for   
   influential Council for National Policy Jason Wilson   
   @jason_a_w   
      
      
   A leaked document has revealed the membership list of the secretive   
   Council for National Policy (CNP), showing how it provides opportunities   
   for elite Republicans, wealthy entrepreneurs, media proprietors and   
   pillars of the US conservative movement to rub shoulders with   
   anti-abortion and anti-Islamic extremists. The historic coal city of   
   Bluefield, West Virginia. A survey shows that 80% of West Virginians want   
   Biden’s $3.5tn budget proposal to be passed. In deep red West Virginia,   
   Biden’s $3.5tn spending proposal is immensely popular Read more   
      
   The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors rightwing hate   
   groups, describes the CNP as “a shadowy and intensely secretive group   
   [which] has operated behind the scenes” in its efforts to “build the   
   conservative movement”.   
      
   The leaked membership list dates from September last year, and reveals the   
   40-year-old CNP put influential Trump administration figures alongside   
   leaders of organizations that have been categorized as hate groups.   
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   The group was founded in 1981 by activists influential in the Christian   
   right, including Tim LaHaye, Howard Phillips and Paul Weyrich, who had   
   also been involved in founding and leading the Moral Majority. Initially   
   they were seeking to maximize their influence on the new Reagan   
   administration. In subsequent years, CNP meetings have played host to   
   presidential aspirants like George W Bush in 1999 and Mitt Romney in 2007,   
   and sitting presidents including Donald Trump in 2020.   
      
   In videos obtained by the Washington Post in 2020, the CNP executive   
   committee chairman, Bill Walton, told attendees of the upcoming election:   
   “This is a spiritual battle we are in. This is good versus evil.”   
      
   The CNP is so secretive, according to reports, that its members are   
   instructed not to reveal their affiliation or even name the group.   
      
   Heidi Beirich, of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said in   
   an email that “this new CNP list makes clear that the group still serves   
   as a key venue where mainstream conservatives and extremists mix”, adding   
   that CNP “clearly remains a critical nexus for mainstreaming extremism   
   from the far right into conservative circles”.   
      
   The document – which reveals email addresses and phone numbers for most   
   members – shows that the CNP includes members of SPLC-listed hate groups.   
      
   They include leaders of organizations listed as anti-Muslim hate groups,   
   including:   
      
       Frank Gaffney, founder and executive chairman of the Center for   
       Security Policy (CSP)   
      
       Brigitte Gabriel, founder and chairman of Act For America (AFA)   
      
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   They also include several founders or leaders of groups listed as   
   anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups, such as:   
      
       Michael P Farris, president and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom   
       (ADF)   
      
       Brad Dacus, founder and president of the Pacific Justice Institute   
      
       Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council   
      
       Matthew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel   
      
       Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association   
      
   Also, there are members of organizations listed as anti-immigrant hate   
   groups, including James and Amapola Hansberger, co-founders of Legal   
   Immigrants For America (Lifa).   
      
   Additionally, the list includes members of groups that have been accused   
   of extremist positions on abortion. They include Margaret H Hartshorn,   
   chair of the board of Heartbeat International, which has reportedly spread   
   misinformation worldwide to pregnant women.   
      
   Several high-profile figures associated with the Trump administration, or   
   conspiracy-minded characters in Trump’s orbit, are also on the list, such   
   as Jerome R Corsi, who has written conspiracy-minded books about John   
   Kerry, Barack Obama and the September 11 attacks. Corsi is listed as a   
   member of CNP’s board of governors.   
      
   Along with these representatives of extremist positions, the CNP rolls   
   include members of ostensibly more mainstream conservative groups, and   
   representatives of major American corporations. Still others come from the   
   Republican party, a network of rightwing activist organizations, and the   
   companies and foundations that back them.   
      
   A newcomer to the group since a previous version of the member list was   
   exposed is Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA   
   (TPUSA), a conservative youth organization.   
      
   Although TPUSA works hard to make inroads into mainstream culture with   
   stunts and on-campus events, Kirk has recently staked out more hard-right   
   positions, saying last week that Democratic immigration policies were   
   aimed at “diminishing and decreasing white demographics in America”, a day   
   after Tucker Carlson ventilated racist “great replacement” conspiracy   
   theories on his Fox News program.   
      
       The CNP is so secretive, reports say, that members are told not to   
       reveal their affiliation or name the group   
      
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   Conservative movement heavyweights in the group include Lisa B Nelson,   
   chief executive of the American Legislative Exchange Council; Eugene   
   Mayer, president of the Federalist Society; Grover Norquist, president of   
   Americans for Tax Reform; Daniel Schneider, executive director of the   
   American Conservative Union, which organizes the CPac conference; and L   
   Brent Bozell III, the founder of the Media Research Center and a member of   
   the Bozell and Buckley dynasties of conservative activists.   
      
   Other members include pillars of the Republican political establishment,   
   including former GOP congressional majority leader Tom DeLay; former   
   Wisconsin governor Scott Walker; Reagan administration attorney general   
   Edwin Meese III; and former RNC chair and Trump White House chief of staff   
   Reince Priebus.   
      
   Their number also includes sitting congressmen such as Barry Loudermilk   
   and influential operatives like David Trulio, who was the senior adviser   
   and chief of staff to the under-secretary of defense in the Trump   
   administration.   
      
   The member list also includes representatives of major US corporations,   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)