February 2, 2024

Right-Wing Moms Are Headed to the Border

Their president was subpoenaed for her involvement with the January 6 rally.

Moms for America president Kimberly FletcherMoms for America

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Yesterday, I wrote about the “Take Our Border Back” convoy headed to three southwestern cities and the grab bag of conspiracies its participants embrace. But, wait, there’s more! Moms for America—not to be confused with that other right-wing moms’ group, Moms for Liberty—has joined the convoy, and here is what their leader, Kimberly Fletcher, has to say about why they’re going:

Fletcher, who was subpoenaed for her involvement in the rally that preceded the January 6 Capitol insurrection, has spoken up about the border before. In 2018, Fletcher told the conservative outlet The Blaze about how, on a recent trip to the border, she had learned about a six-year-old migrant girl who “had been raped by 30 men!” But when FactCheck.org tried to verify the story with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, they learned that there was no evidence that the supposed rape ever happened. When the fact checkers called Fletcher for comment, she told them that she had heard the story from someone else. Politifact didn’t find any evidence to support Fletcher’s story, either.

Moms for America may not be as au courant as Moms for Liberty, but actually, it’s been around for much longer. Founded in 2004, the group says it “marches forward together to restore the value of motherhood, marriage, womanhood, and patriotism.” Last year, I wrote about Moms for America’s involvement in the right-wing takeover of the board of Florida’s Sarasota Hospital.

While Moms for America’s conference, coming up later this month, will not be as star-studded as Moms for Liberty’s presidential hopeful extravaganza last summer, there will be a few right-wing superstars in attendance: former national security advisor to former President Donald Trump, Mike Flynn (who tweeted Fletcher’s border convoy video yesterday, proclaiming, “I am Moms for America”), former Trump-era Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson, and Hercules actor and conspiracy theorist Kevin Sorbo.

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The December 31 deadline is closing in fast. To reach our $400,000 goal, we need readers who’ve never given before to join the ranks of MoJo donors. And we need our steadfast supporters to give again—any amount today.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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