As The Daily Beast explains, Thompson is a relatively unknown pastor who has nonetheless made a name for himself by attacking teachers, school boards and public education, itself.
More from The Daily Beast:
Thompson already tipped the scales of the Temecula Valley Unified School District in 2022, helping to give three new right-leaning board members a majority. That year, [his Inland Empire] Family PAC raised more than $206,000, filings show. His candidates included Dr. Joseph Komrosky, who is facing a special recall election on June 4.
After the trio assumed office, they immediately banned critical race theory (CRT) and shelled out at least $15,000 in district funds for a consultant to teach staff why CRT is harmful. The panel also passed a policy that forces teachers to “out” transgender kids to their parents and rejected a social studies book because its accompanying teacher materials included gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
The Daily Beast reported on lots more of Thompson’s bullying and hate mongering. The video above gives a glimpse of just how bizarre Thompson’s extremism is. In it, he claims zoophilia is “becoming a big, major problem not only in America but throughout the world. Yes, people are looking at animal furs and looking at mannequins and are becoming sexually aroused to where now their sexual appetite has become so demonically perverted that they’re no longer looking at the opposite sex.” I don’t want to know where he “learned” that. But I’ll bet it wasn’t at a public school.
Not surprisingly, there’s hypocrisy, too. In a January video, Thompson inveighs against the evils of pornography. He called it “a proven fact that people who are pedophiles started off looking at porn.” Yet, he seems fine with the fact that Donald Trump is currently on trial in New York for covering up hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, with whom he had extramarital affairs.
Supporting a hypocritical bully is right up the alley for MAGA folks like Habba, Patel and Eric Trump. Ditto for supporting a lawbreaker. The Daily Beast noted that Thompson’s activities appear to violate IRS rules and regulations about partisan campaigning. TDB also explained that Thompson has connections in MAGA world and that he recently said, in a talk radio appearance, “The Trump family is very well aware of what we have going on here in the Inland Empire.”
But doing a fundraiser for a local California PAC takes the support to a whole new level. According to TDB, Eric Trump’s speaking fee is advertised as $50,000 to $100,000. Who or what is paying that fee?
Still, I hear the sound of ka-ching in The Daily Beast article:
Thompson’s supposed conduit to Trumpworld, Jeremy Oliver, declined to speak to a Daily Beast reporter. But when asked why Eric Trump and national GOP figures care about Temecula elections, Oliver said, “Why wouldn’t they?”
At Wednesday’s event—which also features Riverside County DA Mike Hestrin—guests can pay $1,000 for VIP seating and a photograph and meet-and-greet with Eric Trump, or snag a sponsorship for as much as $10,000.
Oliver has emerged as a promoter of Thompson’s IE Family PAC fundraisers on social media, including a private concert at Trump-loving country musician John Rich’s Nashville home. The April event advertised tickets starting at $1,300 with sponsorships up to $100,000. It’s unclear how much was raised for Thompson’s group.
I’ll go out on a limb here and guess that whoever is paying for the three toadies to attend the fundraiser, a good amount of the money raised will go back into some Trump pocket somewhere somehow.
These grifters never do anything without selfish motives.
