Politics

MAGA influencers are scrambling after the DOJ’s Russia indictment

Published

1 year ago

November 12, 2024

MAGA influencers are scrambling after the DOJ’s Russia indictment

Right-wing social media influencers and online platforms are scrambling after the Department of Justice revealed several of their own were allegedly enlisted into a Russian manipulation scheme to sway the presidential election in Donald Trump’s favor.

An author page for Lauren Chen is no longer available on the webpage for far-right activist Charlie Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA. Along with her husband, Chen co-founded a company, Tenet Media, that’s at the heart of the DOJ indictment. YouTube took down several Tenet Media channels and one field reporter said the outlet has “ended” after the feds alleged Chen and her husband knowingly used it to funnel millions of dollars from Russian officials to right-wing content creators who were paid to push far-right and pro-Kremlin talking points.

Chen and her husband weren’t charged as part of the indictment, leading people such as BLN contributor Andrew Weissman to suggest she may be cooperating with the feds. Conservative news site The Blaze, which previously employed Chen, has fired her following the indictment. And whatever the reason, Turning Point USA, which has promoted many of the influencers employed by Tenet Media — such as Benny Johnson, Tim Pool and David Rubin — seems to have determined one course of action at this point is to paper over its links to Chen in the wake of her appearance in the DOJ report. Some of her articles are still accessible on TPUSA’s website, however. Johnson, Pool and Rubin all say they did not know about the Russian influence plot.

Pool said on his podcast that he’s been contacted by federal authorities and plans to provide a voluntary interview. If that’s true — and Pool is not known for being a straight shooter — his apparent willingness to sit for an interview probably doesn’t sit well with fellow Trump-supporting podcaster Dan Bongino, who used a portion of his podcast last week to warn fellow right-wing influencers about “people working with the feds,” claiming they and other right-wing influencers could be “ensnared” in the DOJ’s investigation.

Other MAGA influencers seem a bit nervous about what else may be coming down the pipe. One wonders if that has anything to do with an unsealed affidavit released last week alleging a Kremlin-backed agency had nearly 600 U.S.-based influencers in its sights as it waged an online-based election manipulation operation in the United States. One can only imagine what the group chats are looking like in MAGA world these days.

Ya’han Jones

Ja’han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He’s a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”

Politics

Trump plays Texas hold ’em with Senate endorsement

Published

6 hours ago

March 27, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

As the MAGA faithful gather for another day of CPAC in Grapevine, Texas, they are openly celebrating what they believe is tantamount to a major midterms victory: keeping President Donald Trump from endorsing John Cornyn ahead of May’s GOP Senate primary runoff.

MAGA world is taking a victory lap — and fresh comfort — in the receipts: A lack of significant spending and polling so far by not only Cornyn’s campaign, but also the NRSC and One Nation, the Senate Leadership Fund-aligned nonprofit. It amounts to a pattern the MAGA cohort reads as Washington making peace with a matchup between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, their anointed candidate, and Texas Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.

“The grassroots stood in the breach and said a resounding ‘NO’ to Cornyn,” Steve Bannon, who has framed Paxton’s bid for the nomination as a battle for MAGA’s soul, told Blue Light News. “Polling and spending indicates that the Republican DC establishment reluctantly concurs. This could be the victory that empowers MAGA through the midterms.”

Paxton, though, hasn’t rested his case. He traveled to Mar-a-Lago last Friday for a Palm Beach County GOP dinner, and was spotted speaking to Trump himself, according to three sources familiar.

Trump and Paxton were on the patio, one source added, with another saying the two discussed the runoff. “It was a positive meeting,” said yet another person. A Paxton spokesperson declined to comment on the meeting.

It’s the latest sign of a fierce and feverish effort to keep Trump from endorsing Cornyn.

Even when all signs pointed to a Cornyn endorsement following the longtime senator’s showing in the primary, MAGA faithful kept pressing for Paxton. Now they’re optimistic their guy can come out on top — and they’re still taking shots at Cornyn every chance they get.

“The Cornyn endorsement looks dead, but it’s Trump, so it’s never certain,” a person close to the White House said. “Cornyn sealed his fate by carrying Mitch [McConnell]’s water on that ridiculous gun grabbing bill. No one thought he would be dumb enough to run for reelection after that but here we are.”

Now, Trump may not give an endorsement at all. Or if he does, he may endorse Paxton after the SAVE Act debate in the Senate is over, three sources tell Blue Light News.

“Nothing is dead,” said a source familiar with the president’s thinking. “It’s all just stasis at the moment.”

“It’s looking like he may not endorse at all,” another White House official said. “But it doesn’t seem like he has made up his mind.”

But the endorsement equation in Texas amid the SAVE Act saga is still very much vexing Trump, according to five Republicans in and around the White House. The president, who will not be in attendance at this year’s CPAC, is “being patient” and “trying to exact” a policy win, another person said.

“Trump isn’t going to endorse against Cornyn while the Save America Act is still being debated,” one White House ally said. “So for now I think he stays out, but if Thune files cloture and Paxton continues to lead in every poll then I could see him endorsing Paxton. No question Paxton wins if Trump stays out though.”

Every Republican who spoke to Blue Light News cautioned that Trump could change his mind at any moment. It’s still early for the runoff, they said, with Election Day still nearly two months away. But the deadline for a candidate to drop off the ballot passed last week.

One person familiar told Blue Light News that the Senate Leadership Fund and NRSC aren’t spending in order to conserve resources. “Not cause they are throwing in the towel,” this person said.

The campaign will be spending soon, a Cornyn spokesperson said. “Ken Paxton said he needed $20M to win this primary and he’s barely raised a quarter of that,” said Cornyn campaign senior adviser Matt Mackowiak. “His professional failures and indefensible personal conduct make GOP donors and Texas primary voters deeply uncomfortable.” He added: “We have a plan to win this race and we are executing it. Ken Paxton is busy whining and hiding.”

Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s top campaign hands who works as a senior adviser for the pro-Cornyn super PAC Texans for a Conservative Majority, said the runoff boils down to a resource equation. “The question remains the same,” LaCivita said. “Does the GOP want to spend $150-200 million holding what should be a safe seat and giving up other opportunities to gain advantage?”

Joanna Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the NRSC, said it’s “been very clear that the fight to protect President Trump’s Senate Majority should not be fought in Texas, and John Cornyn is the only candidate who ensures that does not happen.”

When it comes to money, Republicans are planning for MAGA Inc. to be “responsible for resources needed in a general election if it’s Ken Paxton,” according to two GOP operatives briefed on strategy (one cautioned that “planning is probably more hoping.”). A MAGA Inc. spokesperson declined to comment.

On the sidelines of CPAC, where bedazzled and sequined conservatives gathered for the base’s annual pep rally, the overwhelming feeling was that most Texas GOP primary voters had already made up their minds — and a Trump endorsement in either direction wouldn’t make much of a difference. Some attendees said they viewed Trump’s silence as a nudge toward Paxton.

“Texans — we’re done,” said Gregorio Heise, a Paxton supporter and Republican running for Congress in Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Dallas district. “It’s already showing, even in the polling. Cornyn doesn’t do what Texans want, and [Paxton] does.”

On Friday night at CPAC, attendees will hear from Paxton, who’s headlining the conference’s Ronald Reagan dinner. Cornyn isn’t planning to attend.

“It’s an opportunity to be able to, you know, share your vision and basically sell yourself to the crowd, to the Texas crowd,” CPAC host and organizer Mercedes Schlapp told Blue Light News. “So Ken Paxton agreed to come, and he has a very high CPAC rating. And you know, we’ve invited Cornyn, and so we are still open. The invitation is still open for John Cornyn to come.”

Like this content? Consider signing up for Blue Light News’s Playbook newsletter.