Vici Media Group
Vici Media Group is a Republican Party political consulting disinformation[1] company based in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 2011 and is run by brothers Patrick (born c. 1989) and Ryan Mauldin. Their slogan is "We Kick A**", intentionally censored, and in some cases using the Democratic donkey in place for "A**".
Vici creates branding, fake websites,[2] and mailers[3] for conservative candidates, causes, and parties.[4]
Sites and campaigns
[edit]Vici has created branding or sites for:
- Live Action (organization)[5]
- Texas Federation of Republican Women[5]
- Liberty For All PAC[5]
- Ohio Right to Life[6]
- Texas Right to Life PAC[6]
- Texas Pregnancy Care Network[6]
- Massachusetts Citizens for Life[6]
- Thrive Women's Clinic
Trump
[edit]In June 2016, the Trump campaign, through Brad Parscale, hired Vici Media Group to help with the campaign. Vici is also part of the 2020 campaign.[4]
In July 2016, after Hillary Clinton asked her voters to "Pokémon Go to the polls", Vici had a popular viral response Facebook video titled "Crooked Hillary NO". It was posted to the official Trump Facebook page but didn't have official endorsement, an indication the campaign paid for it, nor attribution to Vici.[7][8][9][10][4]
Faux Democratic sites
[edit]In advance of the 2020 presidential election, Patrick Mauldin created parody, faux, fake or troll websites in the names of notable Democratic candidates,[4] including:
- "Biden2020", JoeBiden.info; was ranked higher than the official page on Google for some time[11]
- "Millionaire Bernie"
- "Elizabeth Warren for Chief": ElizabethWarren.co
- "Kamala Harris for Arresting the People", kamalaharris.info
- Cory Booker[12]
Patrick Mauldin's Reddit account has been suspended,[13] but he posted about the sites on r/The_Donald.[14] When The New York Times discovered Patrick was behind the sites through shared analytics tags, he asked to not be identified.[4] CNBC opted to not name Patrick.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ "Trump consultant is trolling Democrats with Biden site that isn't Biden's". 29 June 2019.
- ^ "Trump Campaign Worker Behind Fake Biden Site". 29 June 2019.
- ^ "Mailers - Vici Media". Vici Media. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d e Matthew Rosenberg (2019-06-29). "Trump Consultant Is Trolling Democrats With Biden Site That Isn't Biden's". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
There is indeed an American behind the website — that much is unambiguously true. But he is very much a political player, and a Republican one at that. His name is Patrick Mauldin, and he makes videos and other digital content for President Trump's re-election campaign.
- ^ a b c "Branding - Vici Media". Vici Media. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Pro-Life Advocacy - Vici Media". Vici Media. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
Ohio Right to Life
- ^ "Pokémon Go-themed Clinton attack ad is as lazy as you'd expect". Polygon. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
To be clear, while Trump posted the brief video on his Facebook page, it does not appear to be an ad that his campaign created. The required "I'm Donald Trump and I approve this message" notice is nowhere to be found, and the video doesn't say that it was paid for by the Trump campaign.
- ^ "Trump slams Clinton in Pokemon Go-themed attack ad". The Hill. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
Trump's campaign on Thursday released an attack ad against Clinton themed after the wildly popular mobile game.
- ^ "Donald Trump Spoofs 'Pokemon Go' With 'Crooked Hillary NO' Campaign Ad (Video)". TheWrap. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
Even Donald Trump has "Pokemon Go" fever, as his campaign released a Facebook video titled "Crooked Hillary NO" that imitates the popular game with Hillary Clinton taking Pokemon's role.
- ^ "Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Want to Catch Voters With Pokémon Go". Time. 14 July 2016. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ Sean Kane. "Joe Biden parody site beats his official campaign page on Google". CNet. Retrieved 2019-07-01.
The New York Times, which opted to name the site in its reporting, said June 29 that it was created by Patrick Mauldin, who makes "videos and other digital content for President Trump's re-election campaign. Together with his brother Ryan, Mr. Mauldin also runs Vici Media Group, a Republican political consulting firm in Austin."
- ^ a b Higgins, Tucker (3 May 2019). "A parody website with embarrassing photos of Joe Biden is outranking his official campaign page on Google". CNBC. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
- ^ "reddit: the front page of the internet". reddit. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
This account has been suspended.
- ^ "I own Joe Biden's Website :) : The_Donald". reddit. Retrieved 16 February 2020.