Democracy Has Prevailed.

July 14, 2021

ARISE USA! (Wendy Bell Joins The QAnon Tour)

We noticed this at the usually reliable Beaver County Times the other day and it sent us down into a deep dive.

Sadly, the BC Times left out a few rather important parts.

First, the frame:

Two national recording artists from Beaver County will perform, and speakers will address unity and change, at the Arise USA! event on July 21 at the gazebo in Beaver.

Karen Staley, who grew up in Hookstown, toured with Reba McEntire's band, and wrote No. 1 songs for Faith Hill ("Take Me As I Am"), Michael Martin Murphy ("A Face in The Crowd") and Tracy Byrd (ACM Song of The Year "Keeper of The Stars"), will sing.

The BC Times described the event this way:

The speakers will include emcee Trent Loos, a sixth generation farmer from Illinois; Robert David Steele, a former Marine and CIA counterintelligence expert who created We The People – Unity for Integrity, seeking to the unify the populist right and left with people of color, Latinos, and all small parties with Independents to enact election reform; and Kevin D. Jenkins, the CEO of Urban Global Health Alliance, which states its mission is "to educate, empower and release urban communities and their leaders from decades of indoctrination and suppression; and to create effective public policy, which safeguards rights of equality."

The event's flier also lists as speakers conservative radio commentator and former Pittsburgh TV news anchor Wendy Bell; former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack, a gun rights advocate and founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association; Jamie Sheffield from Audit The Vote PA, and Monaca High graduate Josh Himes, a former champion pro boxer.

And now you know how we got here.This should be fun, no?

The main problem here is that when we dig into the nature of Arise USA! we find things are a little different than what the Times says. 

From the tour's website we discover that Steele, Staley, Mack, Loos, and Jenkins are actually tour organizers not simply speakers.

And the tour isn't simply about unity and change but something else. When the tour went through Oregon this is how the local media described it:

Nearly 40 people showed up to encourage people to get more involved with their government at the local level at the Grant County Fairgrounds Thursday

The goal of the Arise USA tour, organizer Robert David Steele said, is to unite 99% of the country against the 1% in government, who he said no longer represent the people.

And then:

The group’s grievances ranged from COVID-19 restrictions to alleged election fraud to satanic pedophilia and critical race theory.

So QAnon? The "satanic pedophilia" part is a dead give away. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe just one of the guest speakers is a QAnon quack.

But then there's this on Steele:

Steele also blames the U.S. government for the 9/11 terrorist attacks despite contrary conclusions reached by the 9/11 Commission, which released its findings in 2004. He said Israel was behind the attack while former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld were “inside guys.”

Steele also “absolutely” believes that high-ranking Democratic Party officials were running a human trafficking and child sex ring out of a pizza parlor.

QAnon it is! 

The Arise USA! Rally in Beaver County is a QAnon event, plain and simple. Wendy Bell should feel right at home.

And Scott Tady, of the the Beaver County Times, completely missed this. 

Why did they send an entertainment reporter to cover this story?