DeSantis calls out fake news, but his campaign used satirical ‘fake news’ site to raise cash
In messages to supporters, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t shy about labeling “fake news media” the enemy.
But when it comes to raising money for his reelection bid, the Republican governor’s campaign and an associated political committee have sought help from a satire website with the tagline “Fake news you can trust.”
The governor’s campaign committee as well as the associated Friends of Ron DeSantis political action committee paid the conservative-leaning satire website The Babylon Bee a combined $15,000 last year for services related to online fundraising, according to state campaign finance records.
It isn’t uncommon for political committees to pay advocacy groups, other political campaigns or partisan news sites for access to their list of past donors or subscribers to solicit them for contributions.
“They want to reach people who might not know about your campaign, but might be persuaded to learn more,” said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of Open Secrets, which tracks money in politics.
The practice is typically referred to as renting a list and parent companies of the conservative news sites the Daily Wire, co-founded by Ben Shapiro, and the Daily Caller, co-founded by Tucker Carlson, as well as the liberal news site Daily Kos, founded by Markos Moulitsas, were among the top 100 beneficiaries of campaign cash connected to list rentals during the last political cycle, according to Open Secrets.
The DeSantis committees paid more than $38,000 to Daily Wire, LLC and $7,500 to Blaze Media, LLC, associated with Glenn Beck, this year and last.
But the two DeSantis committees are the only political committees in Florida who have paid The Babylon Bee, which is based in Jupiter, for fundraising help, according to Florida campaign finance records. The expenses were coded as “LIST RENTAL” and “EMAIL SERVICES.” No federal political committee has paid the website, either, according to federal campaign finance data.
The DeSantis campaign declined to comment, and The Babylon Bee didn’t respond to questions about the expenditures.
The website, which bills itself as “Your Trusted Source for Christian News Satire,” has been described as a conservative version of the humor website The Onion. It was created in 2016 by Adam Ford but sold in 2018 to Seth Dillon, who incorporated the company in Florida. It regularly writes about DeSantis.
Recent Babylon Bee stories include:
▪ “Governor DeSantis Signs Declaration That ‘The Last Jedi’ Sucked,” in the wake of the governor’s recent feud with Disney, which owns the Star Wars franchise.
▪ “Ron DeSantis Bullies Kids Into Doing Whatever They Want,” after DeSantis made headlines for asking high school students to remove their masks during a press conference he gave with the students at the University of South Florida.
The website attracted its own attention recently when it was suspended on Twitter after tweeting a story it had published naming Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who is a transgender woman, its “man of the year.”
Krumholz from Open Secrets said she couldn’t think of another instance where a committee turned to a satire website for help in soliciting donations but thought the strategy was novel.
“A satire site sounds like a creative way to reach people that might be reachable and not necessarily in your choir,” she said.
Clarification: The headline of this story has been updated to more precisely describe The Babylon Bee. Although website brands itself as ‘Fake news you can trust,’ the description is satirical.
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 11:18 AM.
