The case against the anti-hate organization will reassure racists that an organization that successfully tracks, exposes, and bankrupts them is now in the government’s crosshairs.
To understand the Trump Department of Justice’s indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center, start with the fact that the claims DOJ officials promoted at last Tuesday’s press conference aren’t in the indictment. Announcing the charges, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche framed the case as centering on the SPLC’S paying right-wing extremists to commit acts of violence—“manufacturing the extremism it purports to oppose by paying sources to stoke racial hatred…not dismantling extremism but funding it.” The DOJ press release doubles down, with Blanche stating that the “SPLC is manufacturing racism to justify its existence. Using donor money to allegedly profit off Klansmen cannot go unchecked.” Calling it a “fraud operation,” FBI Director Kash Patel claims the SPLC “lied to their donors, vowing to dismantle violent extremist groups, and actually turned around and paid the leaders of these very extremist groups—even utilizing the funds to have these groups facilitate the commission of state and federal crimes. That is illegal—and this is an ongoing investigation against all individuals involved.”
It would indeed be illegal to pay people to commit hate crimes, but that’s not what the indictment charges the SPLC with doing. And while Patel states that these charges arise from an investigation...
*This content was translated by AI. Professional basketball team Busan KCC has filed a criminal complaint against two officials from Daegu Korea Gas Corporation on charges of defamation. On the 24t...