politics

NRA Declares Bankruptcy, Intends to Move to Texas

/ matthewabromitis / Leave a comment
Wayne LaPierre, EVP of the NRA (Photo from AP)

The NRA declared bankruptcy today in a move that followers of the saga saw coming. Attorney General Letitia James of New York had previously filed a lawsuit against the infamous gun rights organization, accusing the leadership of the organization of stealing money from the organization to use in their own personal lives. This claim has been sharply denied by the leadership of the NRA.

The NRA released a statement declaring its intention to move to Texas and file as a non-profit with the state, claiming the New York had a strict regulatory environment, and a corrupt political system. Of course, most people can see their real reasoning is to attempt to escape this lawsuit as best they can. The NRA is in dire straights right now and will do almost anything it can to keep the embezzlement scheme alive and well for the board.

This significant update in the unfolding story comes at a time when the NRA is deeply unpopular: for the first time in the organization’s history, most Americans have an unfavorable opinion of it. This is due to the majority of the population showing support for common sense gun reforms such as red-flag laws and universal background checks. Conversely, another organization, the Gun Owners of America, is on the rise nationwide. Founded in 1976, GOA now has over 100,000 members. It’s political contributions are on the rise every election cycle. With all of the bad press with the NRA, it seems the GOA has a chance of eventually overtaking them.

Unfortunately for gun control reform advocates, the GOA takes an even harder line on some issues than the NRA, branding itself as the “no compromise gun lobby”. Unlike the NRA, which offfers firearm safety classes and focuses on a range of things besies lobbying and politics, the GOA is hyper-focused on its political capital in Washington.

Only time will tell if the NRA’s move to Texas will prove to be successful, but if it is not, it seems there is a clear successor to it that will be even less willing to compromise with those who seek to emulate the firearm policies of other first world nations. The NRA will face questions and lawsuits for a long time due to the Attorney General of New York accusing them of embezzling money. If they can’t get their act together, and quick, the GOA might just take their title as the biggest gun lobby in Washington from their cold, dead hands.

MyPillow: A Very Stupid Coup

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News dropped today that the MyPillow CEO, Mike Lindell, had advised President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and try to do some kind of soft coup within the government. Thanks to a Washington Post photographer, you can see in his notes that he was advising Trump to do these things.

Photo courtesy of the AP.

this has got to be the dumbest coup attempt of all time. Seriously, the MyPillow guy, someone who makes tens of millions of dollars a year, has nothing better to do than to try to convince President Trump to use the military to stay in office? It’s unclear at this point if any sort of repercussions will happen to Lindell, but many are calling on Bed Bath & Beyond, his biggest retailer, to stop selling his products or face a boycott of their stores. As of this post, the store has not released a statement indicating that his Lindell’s products would be pulled from the shelves.

So, this whole story begs the question: what does Mike Lindell have to gain in this bizarre attempt to convince the President? He has hitched his name to the President for a few years now, but why? Does he hope to become yet another succesful conservative grifter, or does he genuinely believe in “conservative politics”? Trump obviously isn’t a traditional conservative, expanding government spending and entering into a trade war with another country.

Lindell started donating to political causes in 2016, according to OpenSecrets. He donated $16,100 to the RNC in September of 2016 and another $2,700 to the Trump campaign a month later. Since then, he has donated to various conservative Congresspeople and Senators, and has become a confidant of the President. With corporate America fleeing Trump, especially after the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th, one could speculate that Lindell sees a market opening up with a lack of compeitors: a strong corporate voice for the President and his movement, and one hell of a good way to sell pillows.