Connoisseurs of schadenfreude are enjoying the announcement, on the eve of Mr. Lump’s convention, that his former campaign chairman, whom, we assume, he barely knows, was indicted in a scheme to bilk morons for money to build a section of steel barricade on the Mexican border.
The story’s got everything, from stochastic terrorism of butterfly enthusiasts to homeland security related plastic surgery.
It also has a number of unanswered questions. Why, for instance, is former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach not mentioned in charging documents? As the named counsel for the grifting group, he must have had some idea of how it was set up and for what purposes. His name and likeness were used, presumably by permission, to promote the scheme and solicit donations.
Here’s a shot of the home page of WeBuildTheWall dot us, featuring a YouTube video of Kobach with a link to the group’s donation page. Which leads us to another question:
Why is this organization, whose officers are indicted for fraud, still able to solicit donations on its web site?
And another: How many donors have plunked down their dough to pay for for Mr. Bannon’s golf carts or tummy tucks? The initial gofundme campaign, which had to return donors’ money as it didn’t get to its goal, had 300K donors. How many did Bannon and Co’s new and improved scam net? Have they been offered refunds?
Gofundme is cooperating with the investigation into We Build The Wall, Inc’s troubles. Oddly, there is another gofundme campaign to build Mr. Lump’s big, beautiful wall. This one, founded by a woman in the greater St. Louis area two weeks after Mr. Lump was inaugurated, has raised only $7K of its billion-dollar goal and, like the more famous campaign, will likely have to return donors’ dough when it admits it won’t reach its mark (though it may well reach some marks).
(If you really want to help these other folks, some of the messages on the gofundme page give an email where you may get instructions to donate to their 501 c 3 corp, which apparently ran a now-defunct “counter-terrorism university” around the turn of the millennium.)
I’m sure there are many other questions regarding these and other MAGA scams, not least of which:
Would you buy a used brick from this man?
