April 11, 2016

We might be having our own internecine battles on the left, but they're absolutely nothing compared to the shredding of the right wing and their long-standing infrastructure.

When Eagle Forum founder and President Phyllis Schlafly endorsed Donald Trump for president, all hell broke loose in the ranks. Right Wing Watch is now reporting rumors of a board takeover to push Schlafly out and usher in a new generation of leadership, one all in for Ted Cruz.

One of the Cruz supporters, Cathie Adams of Texas Eagle Forum, delivered a low blow to Schlafly after her campaign stop with Trump, speculating that Schlafly's age had allowed her to be manipulated into the endorsement. "At 91, it is just totally unfair to impose upon someone who has such a beautiful legacy … I think this was very much a manipulation," Adams said. "When you’re 91 and you’re not out with the grass roots all the time, it is very much taking advantage of someone.”

This obviously did not sit well with the national organization. In Martin’s email this weekend, he said that Adams was part of a “Gang of 6” seeking to oust Schlafly from the group she founded.

Five of the “Gang of 6” have publicly endorsed Cruz. The group includes Adams and even Schlafly’s own daughter, Anne Cori.

The others are Eunie Smith, Shirley Curry, Carolyn McLarty and Rosina Kovar, who in 2011 won internet fame for her unintentionally hilarious screed about anal sex.

The Missouri Eagle Forum said that “Phyllis Schlafy’s endorsement of Trump is a likely catalyst” of the “upcoming hostile takeover of Eagle Forum’s board and its assets.”

This may not really be about Cruz as much as it is the extreme right wing's longstanding effort to call a Constitutional Convention and rewrite much of the U.S. Constitution, though.

The email from Martin, however, does not mention the Cruz-Trump split, although he does mention that Adams “disparaged and insulted Phyllis.” Instead, he says that the “Gang of 6” are moving against Schlafly because of her opposition to holding a new constitutional convention.

Several conservative activists such as radio host Mark Levin and homeschooling activist Michael Farris have called for a convention of states in order to amend the U.S. Constitution with a litany of right-wing items. Schlafly, however, has repeatedly said that there would be no way to limit a constitutional convention to just advancing conservative causes like a Balanced Budget Amendment, warning that liberal activists could use it to ratify proposed amendments like the ERA.“
The rogue members have a hidden agenda, and most refused to return phone calls personally made to them by Phyllis to ask what their concerns are,” Martin wrote. “They are being guided by a big, liberal law firm that they refuse to identify (but the press has identified). They also refuse to say who is funding the high paid liberal lawyers.”

Later, Schlafly did confirm that at least part of the motivation was her endorsement of Trump, which her daughter had objected to strenuously.

Whatever the motives, it's fun (and instructive) to watch the right wing disintegrate and splinter in the face of a rogue candidate like Trump.

Update: The insurrection is underway. Schlafly just updated her Facebook page with this statement:

"At 2:00 pm today, 6 directors of Eagle Forum met in an improper, unprecedented telephone meeting. I objected to the meeting and at 2:11pm, I was muted from the call. The meeting was invalid under the Bylaws but the attendees purported to pass several motions to wrest control of the organization from me. They are attempting to seize access to our bank accounts, to terminate employees, and to install members of their own Gang of 6 to control the bank accounts and all of Eagle Forum.

"The members of their group are: Eunie Smith of Alabama, Anne Cori of Missouri, Cathie Adams of Texas, Rosina Kovar of Colorado, Shirley Curry of Tennessee, and Carolyn McLarty of Oklahoma.

"This kind of conduct will not stand and I will fight for Eagle Forum and I ask all men and women of good will to join me in this fight."

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