By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: January 11, 2021 ~

It is perhaps the height of irony that the groups behind the event that led to the worst battle in the U.S. Capitol building since the British attempted to burn the place down in 1814 (during the War of 1812) call themselves Peaceably Gather, Moms for America, and the Rule of Law Defense Fund. Those names stand right alongside a group that acknowledges what it expects to go down: WildProtest.com.

Many of the web pages for the nine groups listed as Coalition Partners for the January 5th and 6th event have quietly disappeared from the Internet. Fortunately, the Internet Archives’ Wayback Machine has allowed us to reconstruct what these groups were doing and saying in the leadup to an event that has, thus far, resulted in dozens of serious injuries and the deaths of five people, including a Capitol Police officer who was beaten by the mob.

The group that was officially in charge of the event, Women for America First, is Chaired by Amy Kremer who has a storied history with the Tea Party movement, following a career as a Delta Airlines flight attendant. After being a founding member of Tea Party Patriots, Kremer left to join Tea Party Express in 2009. Tea Party Express was a tentacle of the campaign PAC, Our Country Deserves Better. Kremer also made a failed attempt as a candidate for House Rep in Georgia’s 6^th Congressional District. NBC News reported that Kremer offered donors a chance to win an AR-15 assault rifle.

Kremer’s current group, Women for America First, appears to be scooping up donations coming in to her own website as well as that of others. For example, WildProtest.com says it is “Brought to you by Stop The Steal and its Coalition Leaders.” #StoptheSteal links to a donation page for Kremer’s group, Women for America First.

ABC News reports that while the January 6 demonstration “was publicly promoted as being organized by groups not directly tied to the president’s team, including ‘Women for America First’ and ‘Stop the Steal,’ behind the scenes White House staff and close allies of the president, including former Trump campaign staff, worked with the organizers to plan and promote the events on Wednesday that would ultimately erupt into the deadly storming of the Capitol, sources said.”

StoptheSteal.com has been taken down but text on its page at the Wayback Machine says this:

“We the People must take to the US Capitol lawn and steps and tell Congress #DoNotCertify on #JAN6! Congress cannot certify this fraudulent Electoral College. Our presence in Washington D.C. will let Members of Congress know that we stand with Rep. Mo Brooks and his colleagues in the House of Representatives who will bravely object to the certification of the Electoral College. We’re in need of at least one Senator. We’ve identified six (seven including Senator-elect Tommy Tuberville) that could join our cause.

“On December 16, 2020, Stop the Steal movement founder, Ali Alexander, announced that the coalition would take to DC on January 6, 2021 to make sure Congress does not certify the botched Electoral College.

“StopTheSteal.us is working closely, whipping the vote up, with patriots in the Congress. Visit WildProtest.com for event details.”

(There has been no evidence produced of any significant voter fraud that would have changed the outcome of the November 3 election. Over 50 courts have dismissed election fraud challenges. What there has been evidence of, in a taped recording, is Donald Trump attempting to extort the Secretary of State of Georgia to find him 11,000 votes.)

In this WildProtest.com video, it assures its followers that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, has invited them to the demonstration on January 6, which Trump did in a Tweet on December 19, writing: “Be there, will be wild!”

The PeaceablyGather.com website features Pastor Brian Gibson urging people to “get out to DC this weekend.” You can watch his video here.

Phyllis Schlafly Eagles is also listed as a Coalition Partner. (Schlafly is the anti-feminist, anti-gay, anti-abortion activist who died in 2016.) The group’s President, Ed Martin, was listed as a speaker for the first day of the event on January 5. In 2016, Martin co-authored with Schlafly and Brett Decker the book, The Conservative Case for Trump. A promotion for the book reads as follows:

“If you can’t stand Hillary Clinton, but wonder if you could vote for Donald Trump, you need to buy this book. In it, you’ll learn from conservative icon Phyllis Schlafly – lawyer, bestselling author, and ‘sweetheart of the Silent Majority’ – why Donald Trump is worthy of every conservative’s vote. Joined by Ed Martin, the former head of the Missouri Republican Party, and Brett Decker, formerly an editorial writer with the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Times, Schlafly presents the real Trump, the Trump she and her colleagues have met with and interviewed, the Trump who promises to be the most conservative president America has had since Ronald Reagan.”

Martin previously founded his own nonprofit, the American Issues Project. Its sole funder, to the tune of $2.87 million, was the late corporate raider and billionaire, Harold Simmons, who died in 2013. American Issues Project ran attack ads against Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.

On December 29 of last year,  Martin released an audio stating the following:

“What You Need to Know is the President needs our support! On January 6th, Congress will meet in a joint session to formally count the votes of the Electoral College. There are members who plan to object to these votes and they should! We need the President and Congress to see how important it is for We the People that they do the right thing. The election was broken and corrupt — the right thing to do is get to the bottom of it. Come to Washington, DC, to show support for President Trump!”

Until the FBI gets to the bottom of just who it was that was funding these groups and if the Trump administration was strategizing with the leaders of these groups, Americans remain at risk of further acts of insurrection.

It’s time to start taking the money and men behind Donald Trump seriously. (See Billionaire Charles Koch, Whose Minions Staffed Up the Trump Administration, Has a Common Bond with Russian Election Interference.)

Editor’s Update: The Rule of Law Defense Fund, listed as a Coalition Partner, goes beyond the height of irony and into the rabbit hole of twisted campaign financing that is rapidly turning the U.S. into a tawdry kleptocracy. The Rule of Law Defense Fund (RLDF) is the dark money arm of – wait for it – the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). Jamie Corey of Documented has quite the tale to tell about this group, including this:

“RLDF’s role in organizing the protests, which turned into a violent mob attack inside the Capitol, is ironic given its 2020 election campaign warning of ‘lawless liberal mobs’ burning down buildings and committing violence….”