Pat Robertson's Truth, or Why Kleptocracy and Theocracy Make Good Bedfellows
Anna Massoglia, a researcher at the Center for Responsive Politics, was recently diving for connections between alleged Russian spy Maria Butina, the NRA, and GOP operative and convicted felon, Jack Abramoff. She soon published a story about her findings on December 10 and then took to Twitter to relate details of her research that did not make the published story.
One such juicy detail was a note from Abramoff that reads in part, “let me assure you that none of the individuals involved here in Washington in trying to secure a visa for President Mobutu of Zaire have any contact with Mr. Robertson or any knowledge of what he may do next.” This note strongly implies what has long been expected, namely that televangelist Pat Robertson, who made high-profile appearances with Mobutu Sese Seko in the 1990s, was lobbying on the brutal dictator’s behalf, apparently in exchange for the numerous diamond mining concessions that were granted to Robertson’s African Development Company.
When Playboy reached out for comment, Massoglia explained that Abramoff’s note indicates “some type of advocacy work by Pat Robertson for Mobutu Sese Seko.” In order to set up his mining company in Mobutu’s Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Robertson had to work closely with the country’s ruling elite. This is one of many disturbing facts laid out in the 2013 documentary Mission Congo, an exposé on Robertson’s shady activities in Africa during a period when he was soliciting numerous donations for Operation Blessing on his Christian Broadcasting Network, whose signature show, The 700 Club, still reaches an estimated one million viewers per day according to the network’s own records.
While Robertson used his platform to tout a supposedly massive humanitarian relief effort in response to the influx of refugees into Zaire due to the genocide in neighboring Rwanda, Mission Congo uses key interviews as well as documentary evidence to build a case that much of the money Robertson raised was used for his diamond operation, which ultimately failed. In addition, the documentary shows CBN footage of Robertson interacting in a close and friendly way with Théoneste Bagosora, a key architect of the Rwandan genocide. Robertson’s organization is known to be aggressive about bad press surrounding his work in Africa, and it even once forced The Guardian to print an apology for some of its reporting.
When Playboy reached out for comment, Massoglia explained that Abramoff’s note indicates “some type of advocacy work by Pat Robertson for Mobutu Sese Seko.” In order to set up his mining company in Mobutu’s Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, Robertson had to work closely with the country’s ruling elite. This is one of many disturbing facts laid out in the 2013 documentary Mission Congo, an exposé on Robertson’s shady activities in Africa during a period when he was soliciting numerous donations for Operation Blessing on his Christian Broadcasting Network, whose signature show, The 700 Club, still reaches an estimated one million viewers per day according to the network’s own records.
While Robertson used his platform to tout a supposedly massive humanitarian relief effort in response to the influx of refugees into Zaire due to the genocide in neighboring Rwanda, Mission Congo uses key interviews as well as documentary evidence to build a case that much of the money Robertson raised was used for his diamond operation, which ultimately failed. In addition, the documentary shows CBN footage of Robertson interacting in a close and friendly way with Théoneste Bagosora, a key architect of the Rwandan genocide. Robertson’s organization is known to be aggressive about bad press surrounding his work in Africa, and it even once forced The Guardian to print an apology for some of its reporting.
The Cold War paved the way for the rise of today’s Christian Right, and their cultivation of close relationships with brutal dictators is nothing new.
Nevertheless, Mission Congo makes a strong case against the efficacy of any humanitarian relief delivered by Operation Blessing to Zaire in the 1990s, showing Samantha Bolton, then a key relief worker with Doctors without Borders in the refugee camps at Goma, saying “I don’t remember ever seeing Operation Blessing anywhere. They may have sent some representatives, but they were in no way a player.” Meanwhile, an investigation conducted by the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs at the behest of Virginia State Senator Janet Howell—CBN is located in Virginia Beach—found that Robertson had made misleading statements. These findings were shelved by the office of the state’s attorney general, whose campaign had received a large donation from Robertson. Howell states explicitly in Mission Congo that Robertson “was above the law because of political influence.”
This is a decades-old sordid story, but Massoglia’s new finding bringing it back into the spotlight serves as a good reminder that theocracy is often kleptocracy’s handmaiden—or is it the other way around? The National Prayer Breakfast that Butina used to gain influence for Putin’s kleptocratic Russia is a project of the elite fundamentalist Christian group known as the Family or the Fellowship, and has been attended annually by U.S. presidents since President Dwight Eisenhower. The Cold War paved the way for the rise of today’s Christian Right, and their cultivation of close relationships with brutal dictators is nothing new.
Putin, for his part, has achieved remarkable success in cultivating the American Christian Right by recasting post-Soviet Russia as a conservative, religious country, transforming it into the global standard bearer for so-called “traditional values.” But like Mobutu, both Trump and Putin are known for corruption. The right-wing Christian ideologues who support them don’t mind so long as they are able to aggressively pursue their own agenda, and sometimes they are equally corrupt. While head of the Christian Coalition, an organization founded by Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed was happy to work closely with Jack Abramoff. Today, Robertson’s CBN has an unusual degree of access to Trump, who thrilled CBN’s target audience by following through on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Fortunately, the ugliness of this is now on display in a way that is damaging white evangelicals’ reputation with the American public, and that will hopefully ultimately lead to the sidelining of the Christian Right from American politics.
This is a decades-old sordid story, but Massoglia’s new finding bringing it back into the spotlight serves as a good reminder that theocracy is often kleptocracy’s handmaiden—or is it the other way around? The National Prayer Breakfast that Butina used to gain influence for Putin’s kleptocratic Russia is a project of the elite fundamentalist Christian group known as the Family or the Fellowship, and has been attended annually by U.S. presidents since President Dwight Eisenhower. The Cold War paved the way for the rise of today’s Christian Right, and their cultivation of close relationships with brutal dictators is nothing new.
Putin, for his part, has achieved remarkable success in cultivating the American Christian Right by recasting post-Soviet Russia as a conservative, religious country, transforming it into the global standard bearer for so-called “traditional values.” But like Mobutu, both Trump and Putin are known for corruption. The right-wing Christian ideologues who support them don’t mind so long as they are able to aggressively pursue their own agenda, and sometimes they are equally corrupt. While head of the Christian Coalition, an organization founded by Pat Robertson, Ralph Reed was happy to work closely with Jack Abramoff. Today, Robertson’s CBN has an unusual degree of access to Trump, who thrilled CBN’s target audience by following through on his promise to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Fortunately, the ugliness of this is now on display in a way that is damaging white evangelicals’ reputation with the American public, and that will hopefully ultimately lead to the sidelining of the Christian Right from American politics.
