WND is an American far-right fake news website. It is known for promoting falsehoods and conspiracy theories, including the false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States.
InfoWars is an American far-right conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones. It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC.
Mark Rankin Herring is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Attorney General of Virginia from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he previously served in the Senate of Virginia since a 2006 special election, representing the 33rd district, made up of parts of Fairfax and Loudoun counties. In 2021, Herring lost re-election for a third term to Republican challenger Jason Miyares.
Breitbart News Network is an American far-right syndicated news, opinion, and commentary website founded in mid-2007 by American conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart. Its content has been described as misogynistic, xenophobic, and racist by academics and journalists. The site has published a number of conspiracy theories and intentionally misleading stories. Posts originating from the Breitbart News Facebook page are among the most widely shared political content on Facebook.
Ralph Shearer Northam is an American physician and politician who served as the 73rd governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A pediatric neurologist by occupation, he was an officer in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1984 to 1992. Northam, a member of the Democratic Party, served as the 40th lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018 prior to winning the governorship against Republican nominee Ed Gillespie in the 2017 election. Prohibited by the Virginia Constitution from running for a consecutive term, Northam left office in January 2022, succeeded by Republican Glenn Youngkin.
Milo Yiannopoulos is a British right-wing political commentator. His speeches and writings criticise Islam, feminism, social justice, and political correctness. Yiannopoulos is a former editor of Breitbart News, an American far-right news and opinion website.
Patrick Howley is an American reporter. As of 2020, he was writing for National File. He is the former editor-in-chief of Big League Politics, In 2019, he worked as a freelancer for The Epoch Times.
The 2017 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2017. Incumbent Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe was unable to run for reelection, as the Constitution of Virginia prohibits the officeholder from serving consecutive terms; he later ran unsuccessfully for a second term in 2021.
Charles Carlisle Johnson is an American alt-right political activist who was a public figure in the years 2013 to 2019. A self-described "investigative journalist", Johnson is often described as an internet troll and has been repeatedly involved in the proliferation and spread of multiple fake news stories. Johnson was owner of the websites GotNews.com, WeSearchr.com, and Freestartr.com, all of which were short-lived. He wrote two books, both published by Encounter Books in 2013.
r/The_Donald was a subreddit where participants created discussions and Internet memes in support of U.S. president Donald Trump. Initially created in June 2015 following the announcement of Trump's presidential campaign, the community grew to over 790,000 subscribers who described themselves as "Patriots". The community was banned in June 2020 for violating Reddit rules on harassment and targeting. It was ranked as one of the most active communities on Reddit.
Michael Cernovich is an American right-wing social media personality, political commentator, and conspiracy theorist. Though he initially called himself alt-right, he dissociated from the movement after Richard Spencer became its public face. Cernovich describes himself as part of the new right and some have described him as part of the alt-lite.
"Pizzagate" is a conspiracy theory that went viral during the 2016 United States presidential election cycle. It has been extensively discredited by a wide range of organizations, including the Washington, D.C. police.
The Gateway Pundit (TGP) is an American far-right fake news website. The website is known for publishing falsehoods, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories.
Justin Edward Fairfax is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st lieutenant governor of Virginia from 2018 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, he is the second African-American elected statewide in Virginia, following Douglas Wilder. In 2019, he faced sexual assault allegations dating to 2000 and 2004, which he denied. In 2021, he was a Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia. He finished fourth in the Democratic primary with 3.54% of the vote.
NewsPunch is a Los Angeles-based fake news website. Originally named Your News Wire, it was founded in 2014 by Sean Adl-Tabatabai and his husband Sinclair Treadway. In November 2018, it rebranded itself as NewsPunch. Your News Wire was revived as a separate website in November 2020, and has continued publishing hoaxes similar to those in NewsPunch.
Over the course of one week in February 2019, all three of Virginia's statewide elected executive officials became engulfed in scandal, and were consequently the subjects of nationwide bipartisan calls for resignation or removal from office.
Cassandra MacDonald is an American journalist and activist. As a journalist, she has worked for the Russian state-owned international news agency Sputnik (2015–2017), far-right American conspiracy theory websites Big League Politics (2017) and The Gateway Pundit, as well as Timcast.
Elizabeth M. Crokin is an American columnist and conspiracy theorist.
True Pundit is a far-right fake news website known for publishing conspiracy theories. In 2021 True Pundit stopped publishing new content.
