Photograph by Anthony Crider

Dear John:

Trump may no longer be president, but the far-right extremism he unleashed in America continues to poison our politics. Disinformation and conspiracy theories about people of color, election fraud, and COVID-19 have gone mainstream in the Republican Party and right-wing media. And—perhaps most alarming—funding for white nationalist hate groups has seen an enormous increase.

In such dire times, CMD has stepped up its follow-the-money reporting, shining a spotlight on the murky world of hate-group funding and the right-wing media that spread their dangerous lies and bigoted ideas.

This year, CMD:

• Exposed $4.3 million in funding for the white nationalist hate group VDARE—an 800% increase over the previous year.
• Partnered with the Southern Poverty Law Center to call out DonorsTrust, the “dark money ATM” of the Koch donor network, for giving an unprecedented $600,000 to the racist American Renaissance—more than its entire budget in any recent year.
• Documented ALEC’s (American Legislative Exchange Council) central role in promoting disinformation about critical race theory to silence teaching about racism, and outed ALEC legislators who are members of a neo-Confederate group.
• Revealed the companies bankrolling the Texas state senators who introduced one of the worst anti-trans bills in the country.
• Exposed ALEC’s ties to anti-LGBTQ hate groups and caught its leaders bragging about passing radical anti-trans and anti-abortion bills.

But we didn’t stop there. We connected the Tea Party Patriots to extremist pro-Trump doctors spreading conspiracies about COVID-19 and profiting off of fake cures. And we uncovered the funding behind right-wing news outlets like The Federalist and PragerU that peddle misinformation.

But we can’t do it without you! CMD depends heavily on reader support!

We can’t let extremism become the new normal.

That's why CMD urgently needs your help to shine a light on the forces of disinformation and division in 2022!

With your support, CMD will continue to call out the politicians and groups that collaborate with hate, and hold the companies and people who bankroll them accountable.

Your generous tax-deductible donation to CMD will go directly to paying CMD’s writers and researchers who dig below the surface and scour through thousands of pages of documents.

PLUS...

Thanks to a $50,000 match, your year-end gift will go twice as far!
Donate Here!

(If your gift crossed with my email, thank you very much for supporting CMD this year.)

Together we can fight to keep people safe and win back a democracy of which we can all be proud!

Thank you for your support of CMD and all that you do,

Arn Pearson
Executive Director

IMPORTANT: Under the CARES Act, through December 31, individual taxpayers who take the standard deduction may deduct charitable gifts up to $300, and married couples who file jointly can deduct charitable gifts up to $600. Additionally, individual taxpayers who itemize their deductions may now deduct certain charitable contributions up to 100% of the taxpayer’s adjusted gross income. Please make the most of this unique opportunity when you support CMD this year. Thank you!