LaffyMar 15, 2023

Steps from the Capitol, #Trump allies buy up properties to build #MAGA campus

“But the sales were not coincidental. Unbeknown to most of the sellers, the limited liability companies making the purchases — a shopping spree that added up to $41 mil— are connected to a conservative nonprofit led by Mark Meadows. The organization has promoted MAGA stars like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert” 🪡

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/15/dc-maga-campus-patriots-row-meadows/

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

In what may be an only-in-Washington vista, a single Pennsylvania Avenue block is occupied by the left-leaning Public Citizen, the conservative Heritage Foundation and the Conservative Partnership Institute, which bought four properties through its affiliates.

The Washington Post
Show threadLaffy
2/ “The Conservative Partnership Institute, as the nonprofit is known, now controls four commercial properties along a single Pennsylvania Avenue block, three adjoining rowhouses around the corner, and a garage and carriage house in the rear alley. CPI’s aim, as expressed in its annual report, is to transform the swath of prime real estate into a campus it calls “Patriots’ Row.”
Mar 15, 2023 at 11:06pmWeb
Show threadLaffyMar 15, 2023
3/ “On its 2021 tax returns, CPI reported $45 million in revenue, most of it generated through contributions and grants, and paid DeMint and Meadows compensation packages of $542,000 and $559,000, respectively. Its current offices, a three-story townhouse at the corner of Third Street and Independence Avenue SE, is a hub of GOP activity. During the chaotic lead-up to Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s election as House speaker, dissident Republican lawmakers were observed congregating at CPI.”
Show threadLaffyMar 15, 2023
4/ “CPI also provides grants to a cluster of nonprofits headed by Trump allies. Stephen Miller, for ex, leads America First Legal, which received $1.3 mil from CPI in 2021 & bills itself as a check on “lawless exec actions & the Radical Left.”
Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who was on the call Trump made to Brad Raffensperger seeking to reverse votes…runs what the org bills as its “Election Integrity Network,” which has cast doubt on the validity of President Biden’s 2020 victory.”
Show threadLaffyMar 15, 2023
5/ Rep. Jamie Raskin:

“It just seems like a massive real estate coming-out party for the extreme right wing of the Republican Party,” Raskin said. “This is a very explicit and well-financed statement of intent. They set out to take over the Republican Party and they’re very close to clenching the power.”
Instead of Patriots’ Row, Raskin suggested an alternative name: Seditionist Square.
“Maybe Marjorie Taylor Greene can be their advisory neighborhood commissioner,” he said.
Show threadLaffyMar 15, 2023
6/6 “On Capitol Hill, several property owners who sold their buildings to CPI-linked companies were surprised to learn that the buyers were connected to a group led by Meadows and DeMint…”
Show threadLaffyMar 15, 2023

7/ @emptywheel chimed in:

This has been covered before (WaPo credits @gridnews), but it is deeply alarming. As if they're creating a private govt from which to run the Capitol.

And @SpeakerMcCarthy utterly capitulated to these people.

Show threadSpaceHistory, etcMar 15, 2023
@GottaLaff @emptywheel - This is the most salient element of the article: “businesses along Pennsylvania Avenue have struggled over the past couple of years. Tony Tomelden, executive director of the Capitol Hill Assn. of Merchants & Professionals, said CPI could energize a strip pocked with vacant storefronts.” Over the 40 yrs that I’ve worked (&lived) on The Hill - at the Capitol & the Folger, pretty much all those townhouses have had political owners. Big yawn.
Show threadVicki MeagherMar 15, 2023
@rlpaulprodn Have the political owners all been far-right people?
Show threadSpaceHistory, etcMar 16, 2023
@vickimeagher - For the most part, yeah. You walk from the Folger to the Hart Bldg., and all the townhouses along the back of the Supreme Court have Bible verses and 10 Commandments outside, or they have cryptic signs with names like “Freedom” This and “Righteous” That. On the stretch where Heritage is, it’s much the same.
Show threadLot⁴⁹Mar 15, 2023
@GottaLaff Raskin is so good.
Show threadLaffyMar 15, 2023
@12thRITS He’s the best. Soooo good.
Show threadIrene Costa 🥁🌊🐦🌻Mar 16, 2023
@GottaLaff Rep Raskiin is the best.
Show threadLaffyMar 16, 2023
@imcosta1 One of my heroes
Show threadCarinaMar 16, 2023
@GottaLaff these folks are disturbing
Show threadLaffyMar 16, 2023
@carina033 Beyond