Clearly The Trump Administration Had Its Reasons To Back Away From the Southern Poverty Law Center

It’s one thing for a group to be bitter when the Trump administration refuses to work with them anymore. But it’s another to learn that there was reasoning behind the breaking off from the group, especially when it comes to defrauding its own investors out of millions of dollars.

This week, the Department of Justice revealed that it had indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center with 11 counts of fraud, noting that the group had actively been funding the very white supremacist and racist groups that they swear they had been fighting against.

For those unfamiliar who the group is, it was originally founded in 1971, based on the idea of fighting for civil rights litigation and advocating for social justice. That meant fighting against hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and assuring they were taking care of human rights across the board.

But apparently the group had been doing anything but, which may have been the reason for the Trump administration ending their partnership after several years of working with the FBI and law enforcement groups. And now this is arisen, indicating that it was the right choice.

“The SPLC’s paid informants (or so-called “field sources”) engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website,” the indictment, turned in by a grand jury in the U.S. District Court in Montgomery, Alabama, reads.

In total, there are six counts of wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering. No individuals were named in the indictment, but that could soon change.

So how did it happen? Well, it’s apparently been taking place for some time, between the years of 2014 and 2023. The group had paid approximately $3 million to eight people that had association with the Ku Klux Klan, the United Klans of America, the National Socialist Party of America, the Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club and the American Front, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche.

“The SPLC was not dismantling the groups,” he noted, with FBI Director Kash Patel speaking alongside him. “It was instead manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred.”

This bothers me to no end. People invested millions of dollars into this group for the sake of fighting for social equality. And instead, they got the shaft.

Of course, the SPLC had excuses in regards to these charges, with CEO Bryan Fair wire fraud, four counts of bank fraud and one count of money laundering.noting, “We are outraged by the false allegations levied against SPLC – an organization that, for 55 years, has stood as a beacon of hope fighting white supremacy and various forms of injustice to create a multi-racial democracy where we can all live and thrive.”

So then, Bryan, why didn’t you address the focus of these payments then? Why are you so reliant on the group’s general mission over the years, instead of explaining how these groups managed to get money from you? Seems like a deflection to me.

If you need evidence as to why the FBI broke away from the group months ago, Patel made the point clear, calling the group a “partisan smear machine.” What’s more, he noted they used some kind of “hate map” to document alleged anti-government and hate groups across the U.S., rather than genuine research. Again, very suspect.

Obviously, the SPLC will have a chance to defend itself, and hopefully not just with a reminder of the good work that it’s insisted it’s done over the past few years. It needs to thoroughly explain to the Department of Justice – not to mention its own investors – why so much money was given back to the groups it swore it was fighting against.

But this just seems like the actions of a communist activist group, rather than a team that would rather make a difference for the United States. And rather than work to prove that its money was going towards the greater good, it appears that it’ll be scrambling to protect that image. You know, like a typical smear machine would.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on this. But let me just close by saying hate isn’t the answer – and funding said hatred isn’t it, either. We should be working together, not tearing each other apart.