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Averaging around 25 tweets a day 鈥� almost all of them anti-Muslim 鈥� Mekelburg has 230,000 Twitter followers and has received several endorsements from Donald Trump on the social media platform.

As reported by Huffington Post, Mekelburg sought to turn her online anti-Muslim activity into real-life activism. With the help of anti-Muslim provocateur Anni Cyrus, she founded the organization Resistance Against Islamic Radicals (RAIR). The original mission was 鈥渢o stop the Jihadi infiltration in our American communities.鈥澨齊AIR鈥檚 website also allowed visitors to report 鈥渁ccomplices鈥� supposedly 鈥渃omplicit in the advancement of Sharia in the U.S.鈥� The bar for making the 鈥渁ccomplices鈥� list, however, was low. Some of those listed included Iowa city council members and newspapers like The Daily Iowan. Some made the list for endorsing or donating to Mazahir Salih, the first Sudanese-American elected to the Iowa City Council.

Information published on social media and reviewed by Hatewatch show that RAIR鈥檚 president is Chris Gaubatz, a well-known anti-Muslim figure previously affiliated with the hate group Understanding the Threat.

Despite his own anti-Muslim views, Gaubatz has gained inroads with mainstream Republican figures and groups. In 2016, he was invited by Sen. Ted Cruz to at a Senate subcommittee hearing titled, 鈥淲illful Blindness: Consequences of Agency Efforts to Deemphasize Radical Islam in Combating Terrorism.鈥� Gaubatz used the opportunity to the only two Muslim members of Congress of having ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. Earlier this year, the Amherst County Republican Committee in Virginia invited him to speak at one of their events.

Gaubatz gained notoriety with anti-Muslim circles for posing as a Muslim convert and interning at the American Muslim civil rights organization Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in hopes of exposing them as a Muslim Brotherhood front group. CAIR and other Islamic advocacy organizations are slandered by anti-Muslim groups as being fronts for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Though not the most outspoken anti-Muslim figure, Gaubatz has presented Islam as a violent religion and subscribes to a variety of anti-Muslim conspiracy theories.听In 2016, he with former FBI agent turned anti-Muslim conspiracist John Guandolo. Up until April of this year, Gaubatz served as vice-president of Guandolo鈥檚 consulting firm Understanding the Threat (UTT). During that time, Guandolo and Gaubatz traveled the country providing training seminars about the 鈥渏ihadi threat鈥� to law enforcement and civilians.

The 澳彩开奖 and other civil rights groups have kept the pressure on UTT who, because of their , have no business training law enforcement. Presumably finding it harder to book law enforcement training gigs, Guandolo and Gaubatz began turning more toward civilian trainings. However, in April, UTT suffered a major setback when a Midwest speaking tour fell apart after all but one of the venues canceled. Later that month, Guandolo on 鈥淪andy Rios in the Morning鈥� and said the cancelations were the result of a concerted effort by the 鈥淚slamic鈥� and 鈥淢arxist鈥� movement. When asked by Rios what he would do if he were king, Guandolo responded that he would 鈥渆xecute鈥� his political opponents, including U.S. elected officials, for sedition. 鈥淚 would start with the people supporting the Islamic movement and the Marxist movement, Democrat leadership at the national level, Republican leadership at the national level,鈥� he stated.

The speaking tour flop saw another development 鈥� the departure of Gaubatz from UTT. Guandolo says there is no ill will between the two men. Attempts by Hatewatch to contact Gaubatz were not successful.

What is the RAIR Foundation?

Within the last two months, Gaubatz on the anti-Muslim speaking circuit with a new title, president of Rise Align Ignite Reclaim, or RAIR Foundation, whose mission is to 鈥渞eclaim America from the network of individuals and organizations waging war on our Constitution, borders and Judeo-Christian values.鈥�

Materials associated with the group reveal this is the same organization associated with Mekelburg, only the name has been changed and the mission statement slightly altered. The branding, however, has remained the same.

Additional proof comes full circle on Twitter, where both Gaubatz and Mekelburg鈥檚 bios linked to the same website:听, which is now behind a membership wall. Gaubatz and Mekelburg removed the links to the RAIR Foundation in their bios, presumably after Hatewatch reached out to Gaubatz to ask him about his ties to Mekelburg and RAIR.

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Mekelburg wrote in a June 7 tweet that the Huffington Post and CAIR teamed up against her 鈥渨hen @CAIRvGaubatz [Gaubatz's Twitter handle] & I began to work together."

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RAIR鈥檚 Facebook page includes the new name with the old mission statement originally attributed to Mekelburg.听

The group鈥檚 Twitter , branded 鈥淩ise Align Ignite Reclaim,鈥� only follows one user: @AmyMek.听And the only activity from the account is retweeting听Mekelburg.

It appears Gaubatz and Mekelburg have had mutual respect for one another over the years and have shared a rapport on Twitter. Mekelburg has videos of Gaubatz testifying on Capitol Hill. She also the work of UTT. Gaubatz has to Mekelburg鈥檚 tweets and tagged her in posts of his own.

Mekelburg鈥檚 exposure by Huffington Post has prominent anti-Muslim figures like Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer into a frenzy. As reported by Luke O鈥橞rien, Mekelburg听had been trying to gain entry into the organized, well-funded anti-Muslim movement. The launch of RAIR was her attempt at doing so. However, given the revelations about Mekelburg, the future of RAIR remains uncertain.

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