geoff: Over the past few years,
many republican-led states have
enacted new laws rolling back
the teaching of race and lgbtq
rights in classrooms and banning
books on those subjects.
And in many cases, the push for
these new restrictions is being
driven by one group -- moms for
liberty which is holding its
, annual convention in
Philadelphia this week.
Laura barron-lopez reports on
the group and its influence.
Laura: Geoff, moms for liberty
was founded just two and a half
years ago in Florida.
Since then, it's expanded to 45
states and claims 120,000
members.
And it has become one of the
most influential groups for
Republican candidates and voters
in the 2024 race.
Several GOP candidates made
their case today.
>> Moms for liberty is no hate
group, you are joyful warriors,
fears patriots.
[Applause]
You are not a threat to America,
you are the best thing that has
ever happened America.
>> My wife and I really believe
parents in this country should
be able to send their kids to
school, should be able to let
them watch cartoons or just be
kids without having some agenda
shoved down their throat.
>> You've got dialogical boys
playing in girls -- biological
boys playing in girls sports.
How can we get our girls
comfortable with biological boys
in their locker room?
You can.
Laura: To understand more about
moms for liberty, I'm joined by
David Gilbert.
He's a reporter at vice news who
covers the group.
You've done multiple
investigations into this group,
which has spread very fast in a
short amount of time.
Who are they and are they as
grassroots as they claim to be?
David: Moms for liberty was
founded in late 2020 by a couple
of former school board members
who lost their seats and decided
they wanted to continue staying
in this world, I guess.
They had slows the growth and on
the face it seems they are a
grassroots movement of suburban
moms and the only aim is to
protect students and support
public education.
But you quickly realize when you
start looking into them that
what they actually are is an
astroturf movement backed by
senior figures in the Republican
party and right wing
conservative groups.
They've been able to leverage
those connections to give
themselves this national
platform almost instantaneously,
and at the same time, they've
used harassment tactics to get
what they want at the local
level I harassing teachers,
students, superintendents and
school board members.
Laura: I want to get to those
tactics because they starteded
that they were anti-vaccine and
anti-masks, that was the
rallying cry, and now they are
responsible or a number of book
bands across the country about
race and gender identity.
You looked at the tactics these
members have used against school
board officials, against
teachers, and especially also
when they are talking to other
parents and recruiting parents.
What did you find?
David: Firstly, there tactics
were to go to school board
meetings and shout the loudest
and harass and attack school
board members.
Not just at school board
meetings but outside of
meetings, they attacked them
online and in several cases they
were able to go to those
people's houses and physically
and verbally attack them where
they lived.
From there, they moved on to
using their bigger platform I
guess in national media to
recruit much more people.
As you said, the growth rate is
astonishing, 300 different
chapters now across the country.
Because of that, they have been
able to recruit people to sit on
school boards.
During the last election cycle
they were able to get their
members onto school boards.
Which means they are in power in
certain cases.
They are able to affect policy
in those school districts.
Laura: You also, in your
investigations, found some of
those moms for liberty chapters
across the country have ties to
extremist groups like the proud
boys.
Tell me what you found.
David: With the explosive growth
and the fact that the chapters
have a major base in fort,
they'd grown in nearly every --
in Florida, they have grown in
nearly every state now, and part
of that is controlling the
narrative what you see is some
chapter leaders who have maybe
previously had connections to
extremist groups such as the
proud boys, oath keepers, 3 per
centers, they keep those
connections.
In forte, we saw a chapter
leader -- in Florida, we saw
chapter leader organizing with
proud boys members about how
they would attack school board
meetings.
That was not a one-off case.
We found this in Tennessee and
New York where they have very
close ties to these groups.
They are working basically in
coordination with each other to
achieve their goals.
Laura: The group clearly has
influence over the GOP field,
particularly the GOP primary
race.
What impact do you think they
will have more broadly as the
2024 race develops and into the
general election?
David: It is really hard to say
at this point.
What we can say is if you look
at this weekend, every viable
candidate looking for the GOP
nomination is in Philadelphia.
At one point, Robert F Kennedy
junior was going to speak but he
pulled out earlier this week.
They have some sort of power and
pull and I think what it comes
down to is the fact that they
are engaged.
Their members are active, they
are not just sitting on
Facebook, they are out there in
school board meetings and active
in their community and that is
exactly what trump or Desantis
or Nikki Haley or whoever wins
the GOP nomination wants.
They will be able to rally these
people.
There is a network there already
they can plug into and get
people out to vote, which is key
to winning the 2024 election.
Laura: David, thank you for your
time.
David: No problem.
♪♪