'This is not the PTA': GOP slammed for fawning over activist group with ties to right-wing extremism

Prominent GOP politicians have thrown their support behind Moms for Liberty, a right-wing activist group that has been at the forefront of picketing school boards and censoring books around the country. Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, as well as a number of other GOP presidential candidates, state officials and representatives, are gathering for the group's summit in Philadelphia this weekend.

But, though it poses as a group of concerned mothers, experts condemned the Republican hopefuls for fawning to an organization with ties to extreme fundamentalist organizations that want to impose Christian law on the nation, VICE News reported Thursday.

"Moms for Liberty’s founders claim the group is a grassroots movement led by 'joyful warriors' who are focused solely on 'parental rights,' but VICE News investigations have found that it is an astroturf movement with deep ties to far-right Christian organizations, as well as to the GOP establishment," reported David Gilbert.

"Moms for Liberty members have harassed and viciously attacked school board members, parents and students, as well as those who dare oppose their book ban campaigns and efforts to undermine LGBTQ protections. They’ve also succeeded in getting their own members elected to school board positions, in order to accomplish their own far-right goals. This month, the group was designated an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and a VICE News investigation found the group has close ties to many other extremist organizations, notably the Proud Boys."

“This is a political group that is aligned with the hard right political movement,” extremism watchdog Peter Montgomery told VICE. “This is not just concerned moms. This is not the PTA supporting students and teachers. This is a group that is fully aligned with authoritarian politicians and activists.”

Moms for Liberty was also recently plunged into controversy after a chapter in Indiana quoted Adolf Hitler in their first newsletter. Another earlier investigation by VICE found the group is forging ties with groups like the Proud Boys, the antigovernment "sovereign citizen movement," QAnon conspiracy theorists, and even the pastor of a Pennsylvania church that literally worships the AR-15.

"Experts say that some on the right, like Moms for Liberty and DeSantis, appear to be focused on gaining control of public education in order to undermine it from within," said the report. "'These groups are now saying that they should not be anti-government, they should be aggressive about using the government power that we take to impose their worldview,' Montgomery said. 'DeSantis’s recent book is pretty much all about bragging, how he figured out how to use every lever of power to impose his worldview on the state.'"