How the GOP's hysterical fundraising emails tried to terrify voters into buying a '$35 House membership card'

18 January 2023

Anyone who signs a Democratic or Republican online petition is likely to be bombarded with e-mail fundraising pitches, often with over-the-top subject headings. Some political donors, according to Politico’s Jessica Piper, have grown so weary of endless fundraising pitches and mountains of spam that they are mailing paper checks rather than risk ending up on countless e-mail and text messaging lists.

In an article published by Mother Jones on January 15, journalist Jeremy Schulman takes a look at GOP fundraising e-mails that followed the 2022 midterms. Schulman recalls that the e-mails promised him a “House majority membership card” for $35 and often had an apocalyptic tone, warning that there could be dire consequences for the United States if he didn’t accept the offer.

“It started innocuously enough,” Schulman recalls. “A week after the election, I got an e-mail from the National Republican Congressional Committee. Having just taken back the House, the GOP’s campaign arm was very excited to offer me an ‘exclusive’ chance to pay $35 for a ‘House Majority Membership Card.’ But I had to act fast. ‘If you do not accept before midnight,’ they warned, ‘we will offer this slot to the next top Conservative Patriot on our list.’”

The journalist continues, “Apparently, I didn’t take this opportunity seriously enough. ‘You CANNOT be serious!’ the NRCC fumed the next day in a follow-up e-mail, complaining that I hadn’t yet purchased my card. From there, things got vaguely threatening. ‘Did you just forget to claim it, or have we lost you to the Radical Left?’ they continued. ‘You have until 11:59 pm tonight to claim your 2023 Majority Membership, or we will be forced to assume you have abandoned us and joined forces with the Radical Left.’”

Schulman goes on to note that “over the next two months,” he received “at least 61 e-mails” urging him to buy the “membership card.”

On November 19, 2022, an NRCC e-mail read, “OFFER EXPIRES AT MIDNIGHT… We can’t bear the thought of losing you to the Radical Left, so please act now!” And on December 13, a subsequent NRCC fundraising pitch read, “We’ve reached out to you over 5 times now and we’re shocked to hear you haven’t finalized your 2023 House Majority Membership yet!”

The tone of the NRCC’s December 21 pitch was one of total hysteria, reading, “We tried to warn you but you kept ignoring us. Now, you are letting your fellow Republicans and our country down with each passing day…You were the patriot who finally helped us FIRE Nancy Pelosi ONCE AND FOR ALL, but our work isn’t done here. We need you to stay on our team to help us DEFEND our Majority and stop the Democrats’ radical agenda in Congress. Or you can ignore this message, do nothing, and watch Democrats destroy this country… Please make the right choice.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was quoted in an NRCC fundraising pitch from December 28. That one read, “A DEVASTATING loss… Newt Gingrich here: and I can’t believe my ears… Did you mean to IGNORE our emails about renewing your membership? Or have we just LOST you to the Radical Left?”

The pitches, according to Schulman, ranged from “disturbing levels of anger” to “emotional manipulation” to “threats.” And he puts the NRCC’s January 8 e-mail in the “threats” category.

That January 8 e-mail read, “You are now marked in our records as standing with the RADICAL LEFT as they continue to wreak havoc on our American First values. By renewing your membership before MIDNIGHT you will prove that you are committed to defeating the Radical Left and supporting strong Conservatives.”

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