American Thinker

Last updated
American Thinker
American Thinker logo.jpg
Type of site
 News, commentary
Available inEnglish
FoundedMarch 2003;21 years ago (2003-03)
Headquarters El Cerrito, California, United States
Founder(s) Ed Lasky, Richard Baehr, Thomas Lifson
Key peopleThomas Lifson, editor-in-chief
Ed Lasky, news editor
URL americanthinker.com
LaunchedNovember 2003
Current statusActive

American Thinker is a daily online magazine dealing with American politics from a politically conservative viewpoint. It was founded in 2003 by attorney Ed Lasky, health-care consultant Richard Baehr, and sociologist Thomas Lifson, and initially became prominent in the lead-up to the 2008 U.S. presidential election for its attacks on then-candidate Barack Obama. [1] The magazine has been described as a conservative blog. [2] [3] The Southern Poverty Law Center has called the site "a not so thoughtful far-right online publication". [4]

Contents

In the aftermath of Donald Trump's loss in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the American Thinker published a variety of articles that had claims of election fraud. [5] Faced with a lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, Lifson acknowledged that the site had relied upon "discredited sources who have peddled debunked theories". [6] The American Thinker likewise admitted that its election claims were "completely false and have no basis in fact" and that "it was wrong for us to publish these false statements." [7]

Coverage

In 2009, in the wake of the election of Barack Obama, the American Thinker joined a wave of conservative media publications discussing the possibility of a second Civil War. They forecast the possibility of "several regional republics" emerging following the "overbearing, oppressive leviathan" of Obama's presidency. [8]

A 2008 column in the American Thinker drew attention to a California plan to require programmable thermostats that could be controlled by officials in the event of power-supply difficulties. According to The New York Times, the column was "by turns populist..., free-market..., and civil libertarian". [9]

Right Wing Watch has written about American Thinker, including that the site had in 2014 published a complimentary piece on white nationalist Jared Taylor and in 2015 asserted that rainbow-colored Doritos are a "gateway snack to introduce children to the joys of homosexuality". [10] The site has also been described as sympathetic to the counter-jihad movement, having published writers such as Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Paul Weston. [11]

In a 2020 blog post on the site, Thomas Lifson referenced a paper published in Geophysical Research Letters to claim that sea level rise has been slow and constant, and that this rise pre-dated industrialization. This claim went viral over social media in March 2020. [12] The author of the paper describes this interpretation as factually incorrect, constituting climate misinformation. [12]

Under threat of litigation, in January 2021 American Thinker published a retraction of unsupported stories it published asserting that Dominion Voting Systems engaged in a conspiracy to rig the 2020 presidential election against President Donald Trump, acknowledging, "These statements are completely false and have no basis in fact." [13] [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox News</span> American conservative cable news channel

The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owned by the Fox Corporation. It is the most-watched cable news network in the U.S., and as of 2023 generates approximately 70% of its parent company's pre-tax profit. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan. Fox News provides a service to 86 countries and territories, with international broadcasts featuring Fox Extra segments during advertising breaks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudy Giuliani</span> American attorney and politician (born 1944)

Rudolph William Louis Giuliani is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 107th mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001. He previously served as the United States Associate Attorney General from 1981 to 1983 and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1983 to 1989.

A big lie is a gross distortion or misrepresentation of the truth primarily used as a political propaganda technique. The German expression was first used by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf (1925) to describe how people could be induced to believe so colossal a lie because they would not believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". Hitler claimed that the technique had been used by Jews to blame Germany's loss in World War I on German general Erich Ludendorff, who was a prominent nationalist political leader in the Weimar Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Dobbs</span> American television host (born 1945)

Louis Carl Dobbs is an American conservative political commentator, author and former television host who presented Lou Dobbs Tonight from 2003 to 2009 and 2011 to 2021. Since 2021, he hosts The Great America Show on iHeart Radio and loudobbs.com.

Newsmax Media, Inc. is an American cable news, political opinion commentary, and digital media company founded by Christopher Ruddy in 1998. It has been variously described as conservative, right-wing, and far-right. Newsmax Media divisions include its cable and broadcast channel Newsmax TV; its website Newsmax.com, which includes Newsmax Health and Newsmax Finance; and Newsmax magazine, its monthly print publication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Bartiromo</span> American television personality, author

Maria Sara Bartiromo is an American conservative journalist and author who has also worked as a financial reporter and news anchor. She is the host of Mornings with Maria and Maria Bartiromo's Wall Street on the Fox Business channel, and Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo on the Fox News channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominion Voting Systems</span> Electronic voting systems company

Dominion Voting Systems Corporation is an American company that produces and sells electronic voting hardware and software, including voting machines and tabulators, in Canada and the United States. The company's headquarters are in Toronto, Ontario, where it was founded, and Denver, Colorado. It develops software in offices in the United States, Canada, and Serbia. Dominion produces electronic voting machines, which allow voters to cast their votes electronically, and optical scanning devices used to tabulate paper ballots. Dominion voting machines have been used in countries around the world, primarily in Canada and the United States. Dominion systems are employed in Canada's major party leadership elections, and across the nation in local and municipal elections.

One America News Network (OANN), also known as One America News (OAN), is a far-right, pro-Trump cable news and political opinion commentary channel founded by Robert Herring Sr. and owned by Herring Networks, Inc., that launched on July 4, 2013. The network is headquartered in San Diego, California, and operates news bureaus in Washington, D.C., and New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CJ Pearson</span> American journalist and political commentator

Coreco Ja'Quan Pearson is an American conservative activist, political advisor, former political candidate and commentator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections</span>

Russian interference in the 2020 United States elections was a matter of concern at the highest level of national security within the United States government, in addition to the computer and social media industries. In 2020, the RAND Corporation was one of the first to release research describing Russia's playbook for interfering in U.S. elections, developed machine-learning tools to detect the interference, and tested strategies to counter Russian interference. In February and August 2020, United States Intelligence Community (USIC) experts warned members of Congress that Russia was interfering in the 2020 presidential election in then-President Donald Trump's favor. USIC analysis released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) in March 2021 found that proxies of Russian intelligence promoted and laundered misleading or unsubstantiated narratives about Joe Biden "to US media organizations, US officials, and prominent US individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration." The New York Times reported in May 2021 that federal investigators in Brooklyn began a criminal investigation late in the Trump administration into possible efforts by several current and former Ukrainian officials to spread unsubstantiated allegations about corruption by Joe Biden, including whether they had used Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani as a channel.

Chanel Rion is an American broadcaster, political cartoonist, and children's book author. She was formerly the chief White House correspondent for One America News Network (OAN), a far-right American cable channel. She is known for promoting conspiracy theories.

The Biden–Ukraine conspiracy theory is a series of false allegations that Joe Biden, while he was vice president of the United States, improperly withheld a loan guarantee and took a bribe to pressure Ukraine into firing prosecutor general Viktor Shokin to prevent a corruption investigation of Ukrainian gas company Burisma and to protect his son, Hunter Biden, who was on the Burisma board. As part of efforts by Donald Trump and his campaign in the Trump–Ukraine scandal, which led to Trump's first impeachment, these falsehoods were spread in an attempt to damage Joe Biden's reputation and chances during the 2020 presidential campaign, and later in an effort to impeach him.

Caroline Rose Giuliani is an American filmmaker, political activist, and writer. She is the daughter of Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York City. Giuliani has received national media attention for publicly disagreeing with and criticizing her Republican father's politics and political endorsements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Republican reactions to Donald Trump's claims of 2020 election fraud</span>

Members of the United States Republican Party have reacted differently to Republican president Donald Trump's false claims about the 2020 United States presidential election, with many publicly supporting them, many remaining silent, and a few publicly denouncing them. Trump falsely claimed to have won the election, and made many false and unsubstantiated claims of election fraud. By December 11, 2020, 126 out of 196 Republican members of the House backed a lawsuit filed in the United States Supreme Court supported by nineteen Republican state attorneys general seeking to subvert the election and overturn the election results. The Trump campaign hired the Berkeley Research Group to investigate whether there had been voter fraud. The researchers found nothing, and the consultancy reported this to Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows on a conference call in the final days of the year, before the attack on the Capitol.

After the 2020 United States presidential election, the campaign for incumbent President Donald Trump and others filed 62 lawsuits contesting election processes, vote counting, and the vote certification process in 9 states and the District of Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sidney Powell</span> American lawyer and conspiracy theorist (born 1955)

Sidney Katherine Powell is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor, and conspiracy theorist who attempted to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election. In August 2023, she was indicted along with Donald Trump and eighteen others in the prosecution related to the 2020 election in Georgia, arising from the attempt by the former president and his allies to subvert the election outcome in Georgia and other key states lost by Trump. In October 2023, as part of an agreement with Georgia prosecutors, she pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties. She was sentenced to six years of probation and agreed to testify against the other defendants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election</span> U.S. historical and political event

After Democratic nominee Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election, Republican nominee and then-incumbent president Donald Trump pursued an unprecedented effort to overturn the election, with support and assistance from his campaign, proxies, political allies, and many of his supporters. These efforts culminated in the January 6 United States Capitol attack by Trump supporters, which was widely described as an attempted coup d'état. One week later, Trump was impeached for incitement of insurrection but was acquitted by the Senate by a vote of 57–43, 10 votes short of the 67 votes required to convict him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenna Ellis</span> American lawyer (born 1984)

Jenna Lynn Ellis is an American conservative lawyer who was a member of Donald Trump's 2020 re-election campaign's legal team. She is a former deputy district attorney in Weld County, Colorado. During the Trump presidency, she presented herself as a "constitutional law attorney" during cable news appearances, though The New York Times reported that her background did not reflect such expertise and The Wall Street Journal reported that she had no history in any federal cases.

<i>Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network</i> 2021 defamation lawsuit in the US

Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News Network was a U.S. defamation lawsuit filed in March 2021 by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News Channel and its corporate parent Fox Corporation. Dominion's complaint sought US$1.6 billion in damages, alleging several Fox programs had broadcast false statements that Dominion's voting machines had been rigged to steal the 2020 United States presidential election from then-president Donald Trump. Fox News argued that it was reporting "pure opinion" regarding what others were saying which, if true, would be protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964).

References

  1. ↑ Libit, Daniel (February 18, 2010). "For the Tea Party Movement, Sturdy Roots in the Chicago Area". The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2017.
  2. ↑ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay (March 29, 2011). "Still Crusading, but Now on the Inside". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 June 2019.
  3. ↑ McKinley, Jesse (2007-09-13). "University Fences In a Berkeley Protest, and a New One Arises". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2019-06-24.
  4. ↑ "American Thinker Needs to Start Thinking". splcenter.org. April 24, 2014. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  5. ↑ "Conservative website apologizes to Dominion voting system after defamation letter from attorneys". WKBN-TV . January 15, 2021.
  6. ↑ Wang, Amy (May 1, 2021). "Newsmax apologizes to Dominion employee for falsely alleging he manipulated votes against Trump". The Washington Post.
  7. ↑ Corasaniti, Nick (January 25, 2021). "Rudy Giuliani Sued by Dominion Voting Systems Over False Election Claims". The New York Times .
  8. ↑ Avlon, John P. (2014). Wingnuts: extremism in the age of Obama (2nd ed.). New York. pp. 224–227. ISBN   9780991247608.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ↑ Barringer, Felicity (2008-01-11). "California Seeks Thermostat Control". The New York Times . Archived from the original on May 13, 2012. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
  10. ↑ "All Posts About American Thinker". Right Wing Watch.
  11. ↑ Pertwee, Ed (October 2017). 'Green Crescent, Crimson Cross': The Transatlantic 'Counterjihad' and the New Political Theology (PDF). London School of Economics. p. 135.
  12. 1 2 "Sea levels rose faster in the past century than in previous time periods". Climate Feedback. March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  13. ↑ Corasaniti, Nick (January 25, 2021). "Rudy Giuliani Sued by Dominion Voting Systems Over False Election Claims". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  14. ↑ Lifson, Thomas (January 15, 2021). "Statement". American Thinker. Retrieved 2021-01-15.
  15. ↑ Evon, Dan (January 15, 2021). "Did a Conservative News Site Admit Its Voter-Fraud Claims Were False?". Snopes. Retrieved January 20, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.