America First Policies | America First Action
SOURCE: Wikipedia, captured 2020-06-23
America First Policies is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit social-welfare organization, incorporated on January 27, 2017, to promote the "America First" policy agenda of the Donald Trump presidential campaign. Social welfare organizations are commonly called "dark money" groups in elections contexts, especially pejoratively.
On March 30, 2017, Katie Walsh, formerly White House Deputy Chief of Staff, left that position to join America First Policies. The America First Policies has courted controversy, as one of its directors was forced to resign due to racist and America First Policies comments and another adviser was caught proclaiming support for the Nazis on video.
History
America First Policies was founded by several people, including Nick Ayers, a Republican consultant who is regarded as Mike Pence's top political adviser, Rick Gates and Brad Parscale.
America First Policies and its affiliated super PAC, America First Action, have faced criticism for their high turnover of Republican donors.
Trump Presidential Campaign donor Rebekah Mercer disagreed with Brad Parscale about the direction of America First Policies. According to investigative journalist Vicky Ward, Mercer wanted America First Policies' data engine to be Cambridge Analytica, which would have effectively given her organizational control and potentially influence over the Republican Party. If Mercer had control over the organization's database and the money, Mercer could have led the organization to sway President's supporters against the President. Parscale aggressively sought to establish himself as leader of the group and commented in an early meeting that although he meant "no disrespect" to the Mercer family, the focus of America First Policies ought to be on Donald Trump and his political movement, rather than on the Mercers.
America First Action Super PAC
The legally separate America First Action (as opposed to "Policies") Super PAC serves a similar function of promoting Trump's policies under the "America First" theme, but due to its legal status may expressly advocate for the election or defeat of particular candidates (rather than only advocating for policies), and must disclose its donors. Both organizations have overlapping personnel (such as the chair, president, and communications director).
In the 2018 midterm election cycle, the Super PAC spent $29 million. As of the end of March 2020, it had reported spending $9 million during the 2020 election cycle.
Donors
It was reported in May 2018 that CVS Health, Dow Chemical, and Southern Company had donated a combined $1.6 million to America First Policies.
Targeted campaigns
On June 23, 2017, Republican Senator Dean Heller was targeted with an advertising campaign over his opposition to the Obamacare repeal bill. Heller was considered to be vulnerable in the 2018 election, and ultimately lost to Democratic challenger Jackie Rosen.
Racism, anti-Semitism and bigotry
America First Policies' Director for Advocacy, Carl Higbie was forced to resign as head of the Corporation for National and Community Service (an independent agency of the U.S. government which runs AmeriCorps, Learn and Serve America, Senior Corps, and other national service initiatives) to which he had been appointed by Donald Trump, after making racist and inflammatory comments on a radio talk show about black Americans, Muslims, women, LGBT people, veterans suffering from PTSD and immigrants, which included advocating violence. Higbie also pushed the false Birther conspiracy about Barack Obama. In a 2018 tweet, Higbie apologized for his comments.
On May 10, 2018, it became public that the group's policy advisor, Juan Pablo Andrade, was a Nazi sympathizer, who was recorded on snapchat saying that
"the only thing the Nazis didn't get right was that they didn't keep fucking going."
Andrade has been on Trump's National Hispanic Advisory Council, Trump's National Diversity Coalition and the Trump campaign as a surrogate. He also wrote for The Hill, but the outlet dropped him when it learned of the video and its contents.
Later that month, it was reported that John Loudon, a policy advisor for the group, used inflammatory and derogatory language against women, Muslims and Democrats. He suggested that Obama was a Kenyan-born Muslim.
In May 2018, CVS Health and Dow Chemical announced that they would not contribute more money to America First Policies, citing racist and bigoted comments by the staff at America First Policies. This announcement followed a report stating that three Fortune 500 companies, including CVS Health and Dow Chemical, had contributed to America First Policies.
Additional Reading
[reference] New faces emerge among top political donors in 2020.
... Timothy Mellon, chairman of Pan Am Systems and grandson of famed Pittsburgh banker Andrew Mellon, contributed over $40 million to Republican causes this election cycle [2020], but only became a top GOP donor recently. In the 2018 election cycle, Timothy Mellon contributed $10 million to the GOP-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund. This cycle [2020], Timothy Mellon gave $20 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, $10 million to America First Action, and again donated $10 million to the Congressional Leadership Fund. ...
[2020-09-22] Top presidential super PACs boosted by "dark money" donations
Priorities Action USA: $72,718,932
Preserve America PAC: $51,753,665
America First Action: $50,730,744
American Bridge 21st Century: $34,169,254
Unite the Country: $25,891,207
[2020-08-12] Pro-Trump "news" site is run by Trump's super PAC -- and that raises legal questions. The American Herald looks like a conservative news site, but it's run by pro-Trump super PAC America First Action.
America First Policies was co-founded by former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and Nick Ayers, a top adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, but its tax status as a "social welfare organization" bars it from engaging primarily in political activity or coordinating with any political campaign or party. ...
... But what truly separates the American Herald [America First Policies | America First Action's affiliated disinformation (fake news) site] from these sites [e.g., the Democratic Party super PAC American Bridge 21st Century's fake news site "American Ledger"] is the direct affiliation with Trump.
The PAC [America First Policies] has spent tens of millions of dollars on Trump's re-election efforts over last three years, hosting events at Trump properties and raising money through some of the President's shadiest supporters -- including accepting a $325,000 illegal donation from a shell company co-founded by Rudy Giuliani associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who are currently under indictment.
The Chair of the America First Action Super PAC is former pro-wrestling executive Linda McMahon, who served under Trump as head of the Small Business Administration. The Spokesperson of the America First Action Super PAC, Kelly Sadler, worked for the White House as a special assistant to the president handling surrogate and coalitions outreach.
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