Imagine a Conference Full of Conspiracy Theorists. Sponsored by a Prison Company. At a Trump Resort.

Imagine a Conference Full of Conspiracy Theorists. Sponsored by a Prison Company. At a Trump Resort.
Oh, and Don Jr. will be there.
Stephanie Mencimer

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Holding functions at a Trump-owned property has become de rigueur for interest groups, from payday lenders to the Saudis, looking to influence the administration, and GEO Group is no exception. The country’s largest private prison company relies heavily on federal largesse. More than 40 percent of its revenue comes from federal contracts, and it has taken a number of steps to ingratiate itself with the Trump administration. During the presidential campaign, a GEO Group subsidiary donated $225,000 to a pro-Trump super-PAC. After Trump was elected, the company donated $250,000 to Trump’s inaugural committee and moved its annual meeting to Doral. And now, it’s helping a pro-Trump group spend some money there.

A press release for the American Priority Conference touted the new location of the event with as many superlatives as it did for any of the major headliners. “Doral Resort offers an experience like no other with unbeatable savings and luxurious accommodations on a prestigious 800-acre resort in tropical Miami,” it read. “The $250 million renovation boasts a completely re-designed clubhouse, 643 new deluxe accommodations, fresh restaurant concepts, enhanced championship golf courses, re-imagined Trump Spa and an array of retail shops and recreational amenities, including the Royal Palm Pool oasis.”

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Sponsoring the American Priority Conference at the Doral may win GEO Group favor with Trump, but it’s hardly an ideal model of corporate image burnishing. Despite the relatively mainstream headliner additions of Don Jr., former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), the vast majority of people on the schedule for the three-day event hail from the right’s furthest fringes.

The event will feature a climate change denier as well as promoters of QAnon, an internet conspiracy that claims Trump is fighting the deep state to stop liberal elites they believe are running a secret pedophile ring. Tracy Beanz, who organized 100-plus QAnon believers to march on Washington last year, will be on a panel called “Unmasking the Russian Hoax,” along with George Papadopoulos. He’s the former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about the campaign’s contacts with Russia.

Conferencegoers will hear from the internet troll Jack Posobiec, who helped promote an earlier conspiracy theory that suggested Hillary Clinton and her henchmen were running a pedophile ring out of the basement of a DC pizza parlor. The idea inspired an armed North Carolina man to show up at Comet Ping Pong and fire shots as he searched for the nonexistent basement holding cell. The event will also feature a speech from “free speech maven” Jason Fyk, who sued Facebook after the social media giant killed his business by shutting down pages he’d created that were dedicated solely to videos and photos of people peeing. (He lost.)

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/10/imagine-a-conference-full-of-conspiracy-theorists-sponsored-by-a-prison-company-at-a-trump-resort/