Astroturfers FreedomWorks Shutters, Blames Trump

Politico reports:

FreedomWorks, the once-swaggering conservative organization that helped turn tea party protesters into a national political force, is shutting down, according to its president, a casualty of the ideological split in a Republican Party dominated by former President Donald Trump.

“We’re dissolved,” said the group’s president, Adam Brandon. “It’s effective immediately.” FreedomWorks’ board of directors voted unanimously on Tuesday to dissolve the organization, Brandon said.

After Trump took control of the conservative movement, Brandon said, a “huge gap” opened up between the libertarian principles of FreedomWorks leadership and the MAGA-style populism of its members

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FreedomWorks was created in 2003 when a Koch Brothers-founded group split into Americans For Prosperity and FreedomWorks.

They soon became infamous for slimy astroturfing campaigns on behalf of the Tea Party.

FreedomWorks last appeared here in 2023 when they opposed a rail safety bill proposed in the wake of an Ohio derailment disaster.

In 2021 it was revealed that they had paid former Trump acting AG Matt Whitaker $400,000 to lobby Trump for “pardons and commutations.”

It was former House Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey who gave the group its name. They later gifted him an $8 million golden parachute when he left the group.

Scoop! FreedomWorks is abruptly shutting down, effective immediately, Prez Adam Brandon tells me.

My latest for @POLITICOMag https://t.co/xxIeaqaXj0

— Luke Mullins (@lmullinsdc) May 8, 2024