Home Ben Cline whiffs, badly, in House hearing on Southern Poverty Law Center
Politics, Virginia

Ben Cline whiffs, badly, in House hearing on Southern Poverty Law Center

two faces of ben cline
Ben Cline. Photo: © lev radin/Shutterstock

Ben Cline, our Sixth District congressman, didn’t seem to know, today during a sham congressional hearing held by the MAGAs to harass the Southern Poverty Law Center, that the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville was in 2017.

“Following the Unite the Right rally, the SPLC reported an annual revenue increase of $80 million between 2015 and 2016. Is that correct?” Cline asked of Bryan Fair, the interim director of the SPLC, during the House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Fair’s first answer was to point to how “a number of national civil rights groups saw their fundraising donations surge after the election of Donald Trump.”

When Cline pressed his earlier point, Fair seemed taken aback.

“The Unite the Right rally was in 2017. You referred to 2015 and ’16,” Fair said.

Poor Ben. His gotcha! moment became a self-own.

He would be due one more of those: Cline also tried to get Fair to say that the SPLC received “special treatment” from the Biden-Harris administration, including “direct access to high-ranking officials in the Civil Rights Division, early access to FBI hate crime data, and invitations to exclusive events with DOJ leadership.”

“The SPLC has met with every administration since its founding to advance racial justice and equality in this country. I’m not aware of any special treatment for the SPLC during any of those administrations,” Fair said.

Cline’s statline for the day: 0-for-2 with two Ks.

This is why our guy sits the bench.

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Chris Graham

Chris Graham

Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].

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