Trump promoted a bizarre nautical group that fears a war between 'woke folks' and 'boat folks'

Boaters celebrate Trump&#039;s birthday.

(Image credit: CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)

published 16 June 2020

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful PAC…

Last week, President Trump shared a video promoting a boat parade for his birthday on June 14, which directed viewers to learn more by visiting the website for a nautical super PAC, called Boaters for a Brighter Future. But a three-hour tour of the group's history by The Daily Beast found that the PAC isn't quite what it seems — in fact, it isn't a PAC at all.

Boaters for a Brighter Future was apparently launched last year by a man named Scott Crabtree and his partner, Carlton Morris, but the accountant who was supposed to register the PAC with the Federal Election Commission and IRS for them died of a heart attack on his boat before he could do so. In other words, Boaters for a Brighter Future is basically just a website at this point but "what a website it is," The Daily Beast reports:

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The pages are filled with warnings that Democrats want to do something ominous to the nation's boats in, what it describes as, a war of "boat folks" against "woke folks." Next to pictures of Democratic leaders, the site asks: "do you trust them with your boat?" The site has imagines of armed soldiers blocking access to a marina. … Boaters for a Brighter Future imagines a world in which outraged boaters fearful that Democrats will ban boating swing the election for Trump. And to achieve it, they have a strategy: "More Boaters Than Voters." [The Daily Beast]

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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