Shady

Report: Robert Mercer Bankrolled Group That Pushed Anti-Muslim Ads to Swing-State Voters

With $2M, the top donor for voter-targeted spots showing Statue of Liberty in a burqa.

Robert Mercer, the hedge-fund investor and major donor to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, pumped money into a secretive group that targeted swing-state voters with anti-Muslim ads on Facebook and Google, the watchdog group Open Secrets reports. The research site, run by the nonprofit Center for Responsive Politics, reported that Mercer was one of three financial backers of Secure America Now, which used social media to target swing-state voters likely to be receptive to its anti-Muslim rhetoric. Documents obtained by Open Secrets show Mercer donated $2 million to the group—the largest individual donation it received. The adverts produced by the company include a mock travel video about an “Islamic State of France” where the Eiffel Tower is capped with a star and crescent and the “Mona Lisa” is covered by a burqa. In another, the group made an “Islamic States of America“ travel promo where the Hollywood sign reads “Allahu Akbar,” and New York's 9/11 memorial is presented as an “Islamic victory.”