4/28/2022: Seen at the "A Seat at the Table" conference in Somerset, NJ
A First-Time Conference similar to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) In Somerset, New Jersey was held last week, drawing both State And National Far-right Figures. We decided to take it in.
Rolf Maurer/May 3, 2022
Themes of freedom from threats to bodily integrity, voter corruption, centralized education and secularism in government arose repeatedly throughout the six hours Cora Santaguida and I were in attendance at A Seat At The Table: New Jersey Resurgent. This inaugural gathering of some 200-250 allied conservative voters, pundits, politicians and organizations, founded by Marla Zuciano, Elizabeth Nader and Alexandra Elliot, convened in Somerset, April 28 at the sprawling meeting venue, The Palace at Somerset Park.
In addition to Toby Anderson (NJ CD11), Claire Gustafson (NJ CD1) and ten other New Jersey congressional candidates, ASATT’s 34 featured speakers included Trump Deputy Assistant Sebastian Gorka, CCAP founder Matt Schlapp, Matt Braynard of Look Ahead America, Steven Reed, Act For America founder and Turning Point America’s Donna Molloy, among other prominent far-right pundits and organizers.
The Oxymoron Of Capitalism Without Cronyism
Among the four-member “Government, Healthcare and Civil Liberties” panel, moderated by Jersey 1st founder Rosmary Becchi, were Dr. Richard Amerling (formerly of America’s Frontline Doctors), who expounded on how the emergence of Evidence-Based Medicine was inherently unscientific because it implied that scientific findings were immutable: “Real science is always in flux.” Dr. Liam Schubel elaborated, “Evidence-informed medicine is superior” because it takes into account the doctor’s individual skills, patient familiarity and experience.
Dr. Steven Hatfill (the virologist who sued John Ashcroft for falsely accusing him of the 9/11 anthrax attacks) elaborated on how the prevailing reductionist doctrine emphasized protocol over responsible medicine in shaping government response to the COVID-19 crisis, such as the general use of Emergency Use Authorizations for vaccines, tests and masks, when EUAs were originally to be confined to hospital settings.
Former National Alliance On Mental Illness policy activist and self-labeled “rabid captialist” Hannah Cox couldn’t seem to make up her mind. At first she condemned Federal overreach re mask mandates and lockdowns, adding how “Government intervention in the market is (also) the problem with poor health care towards the poor (as if the market has no role in unequal access to health care).” Yet, in the next sentence she admited to the cronyistic role of Big Pharma (which Schubel labeled the “fourth branch of government”) in shaping government policy (her former affiliation, NAMI, received nearly 75 percent of its funding from drug companies in 2009). When the discourse was unavoidably tending toward some form of universal health care, Cox proposed direct primary care, which “would get rid of insurance by contracting doctors with a monthly stipend of $50, or so.”
The War On Voting Convenience
George Khalaf of the Resolute Group conservative PR consultancy opened “The War On Election Integrity” by citing Jimmy Carter’s view of mail-in ballots as the single greatest threat to election integrity. Speaking on turnout, overall, as with the Democrats, panelist John Seravalli, Election Integrity Director, Republican National Committee, felt more Republicans needed to serve as poll workers in-state. While in agreement with Khalaf, in principle, at the same time, the panelist reluctantly backed mail-in ballots in New Jersey where he reported Republican turnout was around 45 percent because the Democrats encouraged mail-ins to boost support among low propensity liberals. (No one suggested making election days holidays, or expanding the timeframe for in-person voting beyond a single day to increase turnout, or lessen concerns of mail-in fraud).
In a surprising technophilic twist, co-panelist Matt Braynard (LAA), the former Trump aide who tried to pose as an independent data analyst to make the case for the theft of the 2020 presidential election, brought up the idea of using a thumb print-based digital ID system for electoral security—quick to assure attendees how encryption would protect privacy; anyway voters’ “fingerprints are already all over the forms.” A more practical solution floated was to outlaw black-box voting, altogether to increase transparency—although returning to simpler mechanical voting machines or paper ballots was not entertained.
Making Churches Town Halls Again
The third discussion, “Engaging Grassroots, Youth and Faith Community”, led by Chad Connelly of Faith Wins made repeated use of “policy” in place of “politics” in making the case openly for infusing local and Federal governance with the tenets of conservative Christianity—in contrast with conventional evangelicals’ shunning political involvement. Boasting of how his organization currently partners with 50,000 faith leaders in influencing Washington through their congregations, Connelly took a cue from the prior presentation by pointing out the reason for low Republican electoral turnout is that they are all to be found in their churches.
Steve Reed of ACT For America similarly urged New Jerseyans of faith (that is, Christian) towards active engagement with their state representatives, even as he bragged about wearing a Trump shirt all the time. The irony of indulging in open demagoguery in the name of a faith whose sacred text condemns such a practice 55 times went completely without notice.
Tapping into even more cynicism, Turning Point USA’s Donna Molloy challenged, “If you can talk to your pastor about finance, marriage, etc., why can’t you talk to them about politics?” To her, the key to normatizing the promulgation of political change through religion is simply a matter of one person in an influential position taking action. “If you are on the worship team, run the nursery school, use your role to get the talk going regarding civil citizenship training and voter registration on Sunday mornings,” an approach that dovetailed well with fellow panelist Mason Morgan’s grooming of 18-25-year-olds as conservative candidates for office via Run GenZ. Perhaps the most aggressive aspect of this strategy was the breath of its reach: “Naturally we look toward conservative churches, but also any faith community that takes politics seriously,” Molloy added.
Yet, in her describing Turning Point USA as a revival, but, in effect, a revival of something that the United States was founded against, Molloy demonstrated an alarming obliviousness not only to the principle of church/state separation, but how it works both ways, for the protection of the civic and clerical spheres from one another’s control. As associational absurdly, Rhode Island, founded on the premise of freedom of worship, was among the states she reported visiting in her theocratic crusade.
Striking a comparably retrograde note, Steven Reed talked of his success in starting chapters for his anti-Muslin organization within churches: “We have about one million contacts and are strong around the border issue. If we can make the churches town halls again… you can make a difference.”
This Gun for Hire
Separating the morning from the afternoon three-panel sets, the vendors’ room afforded us ample time to socialize and check out the wares and causes congruent with the right-wing outlook and values, such as the Gun for Hire Academy and the USATrumpStore.com (Cora snagged a handbag that looked like it had just fallen off one of the development mogul’s more gaudy towers).
Several tables represented particular, or long-standing causes, such as the previously mentioned Run GenZ’s cultivation of a new wave of younger political candidates and the Convention Of States’ campaign for a Constitutional Convention. When I introduced us as visitors from Connecticut, they pointed out with eager amusement how our petition signatures in support of such a nationally volatile measure would instantly put us on the contact list of the COS chapter in the Constitution state.
Advancing Into the Past
Paul Teller, as moderator of “Advancing Freedom In America” described his work with Mike Pence’s Advancing American Freedom, as helping to offer an optimistic articulation of right-wing values refreshingly free of off-putting acronyms, primarily through the “Freedom Agenda” statement posted online.
Unfortunately, the first panelist, John Amanchukwu (author, Eraced), did little to carry-through the opening upbeat tone. While defining Critical Race Theory in practice as a reverse Jim Crow, he also expressed disdain for white liberals telling black people what is good for them–“We accept that blacks are not smart enough to get a voter ID card, but are supposed to be smart enough to get a vaccine ID?”, he also lamented God being removed from the home beginning in the Johnson administration to be replaced by the God of government (how LBJ achieved this wasn’t made clear). The speaker, once a rebellious liberal for his refusal to support Planned Parenthood, received an ovation for his asserting “There is no such thing as a pro-choice pastor!” in reference to Reverend Raphael Warnock’s declaration on the timely issue.
Former Navy Seal and FBI special agent Jonathan Gilliam (author, Sheep No More) joined in promoting this Rushdoonian societal prescription of replacing one kind of authority, however flawed, with another that can only be enforced with a dangerous level of personal intrusiveness: “Freedom is about (exercising) your free will to be the greatest or not the greatest you can be, and about your relationship with God (italics added).”
Between ex-George W. Bush administration member Jim Carter and Amanchukwu, the two-way equivalence between freedom and prosperity was championed without regard to how freedom from want under captitalism, be it illness, illiteracy, homelessness, or starvation, is systemically neglected. With typical rhetorical brio, the pastor declared “Capitalism is number one in terms of economic development, and number one is obedience to God.” Those nations that don’t comply “are visited with famine,” a cruel piety considering Libya, one of the most materially advanced and politically-participatory countries for men and women in Africa, was utterly destroyed by US/NATO forces in 2011’s “Operation United Protector” in defense of the sort of unbridled capitalist expansion the panelists celebrate.
Speaking of gender political parity, Gilliam called on male Republicans to become more active in the conservative/Christian reconstructionist cause: “Women are the backbone for everything and men have to be willing to stand up and yell their outrage, as well.” A casual scan of the crowd throughout the one-day event confirmed the attendance of more women than men.
Though more theonomic than overtly white supremacist (only one person sported a “fascie” haircut), what A Seat At The Table stood for within the right-wing continuum was surmised by Gilliam as profoundly reformist: “The Left is the enemy, but the Republicans are the problem, because of too much lethargy. While the January 6 raid on the Capitol was dramatic, it was not authentic, as it was more about Instagram then making change. If you want to change things, go after the GOP.”
When “Choice” Doesn’t Apply
Local radio personality Bill Spadea of “The Common Sense Club” oversaw a four-member panel leading off with Katie Gorka of the Heritage Foundation, who condemned school boards across the country in promoting pornography, transgender “ideology” and sex education as part of district curricula. Citing the passage of Parent’s Bill of Rights laws in Florida and Georgia as proof of the ability of communities to challenge the boards, Josh Aikens (Arise New Jersey) weighed in on the challenges, even though the state has the best public schools in the country: “For too long people didn’t care what was going on at the school boards and now we are facing a situation where our backs are against the wall. There is much that boards can do that people aren’t aware of, even their members.”
Toward the latter end, Moms for Liberty founder Tiffany Justice spoke of her group’s success in placing conservatives on school boards and saw the issue more as a competition between parents and unions for influence over education (which is interesting, given ASAT, itself is partly sponsored by IBEW Local 102).
Kenny Xu (author, An Inconvenient Minority) spoke on how the doctrine of diversity, equality and inclusion was, in reality, excluding college students and, in a nod to Mrs. Gorka, referred attendees to “Inclusion Delusion”, a 2021 Heritage Foundation paper asserting the achievement gap actually grew when DEI was introduced. He also discussed a local example of how Critical Race Theory entered the Newark district through the auspices of Senator Corey Booker, securing funding from Mark Zuckerberg to save the public schools, with the money ultimately going to expensive consultants. “Parents were so outraged and Zuckerberg, learning that schools are strong things, lost all of his money, his interests lying mainly in data-mining activities.”
Jenny Clark of Love Your School promoted school choice. Instead of eliminating funding disparities across the district by ending the common practice of relying on property taxes (Aikensacknowledsged how a child’s fate was determined by their Zip code), she wanted city funds for school to be directed where the individual parents wanted them to go, such as horse therapy for autistic kids, home schooling, etc., as practiced in W. Virginia. Of course, the controversial practice of public funding of for-profit charter or private schools was ignored.
Gorged On Gorka
In the final discussion of the day, “Winning Elections In New Jersey”, Senator Ed “The Trucker” Durr, at the prompting of moderator Katie Gorka’s husband, Sebastian (former Trump Deputy Assistant) channeled Justice Stewart’s infamous quote on pornogrphy in demonstrating how freedom can be made to define and represent only that which a particular faction cares about: “Freedom is something you can’t see, taste or feel, but you know what it is when it’s absent, like oxygen.”
An entire event could have been built around Dr. Gorka, who was emotive, charismatic and ultimately confusing in his near dominance of the closing session. Fabrications, distortions and contradictions flowed as effortlessly as his majesterial stride about the stage: “My boss’ win” in 2016 was supposedly a refuation of elite dominance, when in reality Trump only got in thanks to the Electoral College vote overriding a less-than-half popular total; he told people to stop “focusing on stupid identity stuff”, yet in the next breath criticized fellow patriots for worrying more about scratches on their cars than “paying attention to women having secret double-mastectomies because they are transitioning.” Further, Gorka said his heart was broken when Fauci rose as an undisputed medical dictator, though, more precisely, it was both the Trump administration and the NIAID director’s support which ensured Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine was the first fast-tracked to the public.
In order for conservatives to become a “good source of information”, Gorka encouraged greater discrimination in where to connect and get organized, starting with his online archive, a curious mixture of his own past audio/video interviews, geopolitical commentary and… biblical readings. Originally from the UK and of Hungarian descent, Gorka, holding Islamaphobic views and neo-Nazi ties, continues to ply a lightweight doctoral status as a foreign affairs maven to promote his primary America First website.
Pollster and Trafalgar Group founder Robert Cahaly also expressed concern over the need for proper discernment of the facts. While laudable, especially in light of the establishment in late April of a Disinformation Governance Board by the Department of Homeland Security, it was hard to take this seriously when Gorka assured us with an invocation of love for God, that “our commitment to the truth ensures we cannot be stopped.” This man was part of the Trump presidency, whose administration popularized the expression “alternative facts” and he is expressing reverence for the truth?
Conclusion
It would be hard to say where A Seat At The Table could go from here. From an anti-fascist perspective, of the known reactionaries in attendance, such as Matt Braynard and Sebastian Gorka, most appeared to downplay the extremity of their positions so as not to alienate a new audience. If anything, it was the particularly religious bent of the conference that was most concerning. In the pages of a copy of The Lies We Believe About Faith and Politics by Jeanne Nigro in the vendor’s room, I found the essence of what ASATT stood for as both sinister and socially catastrophic: the notion that compassion and mutuality should be delivered soley through the authority of church or faith-based organizations in accordance not with common social values, but their own. No other institutions would be permitted to address any shared human interests or needs—the things that make any civilized community worth living in–because they might compete with spiritual authority.
That isn’t spirituality; that’s Hell.
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