MAGA is scamming kids... Again.
It seems that bilking a kid or two is a rite of passage within the MAGA movement (lookin' at you, Eric), and Nick Adams is no exception to that rule.
Adams is the founder of FLAG, the Foundation for Liberty and American Greatness, a Florida-based nonprofit program designed to bring high-quality civics education to students in Kindergarten through 12th grade across the United States. But, according to an eye-opening deep dive by Propublica, Adams' non-profit is actually raking in a whole lot of profit... For Adams.
The FLAG founder, who was born in Australia and has morphed himself into a conservative commentator and MAGA influencer, has garnered himself intense attention and admiration from Donald Trump and his administration -- serving as further proof, for what it's worth, that Trump and his people are actually cool with immigrants, provided they're not poor, Brown immigrants. Adams has grown so beloved by the President that he managed to secure himself a position as the special presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism, and values, a made-up position created specifically for Adams by the Trump Admin after his nomination as ambassador to Malaysia fell through last year.
People within the MAGA-sphere have been heaping praise on Adams for years as, over its decade of existence, his charity has raised a whopping $7.7 million and claims to have reached 2 million children in total with its civics education.
As we've come to expect with anything born and bred from the MAGA movement, a much different story is going on behind closed doors.
Propublica reports:
But a review of FLAG’s finances, donor operations and online donation network reveals a less celebratory picture. There is little evidence that the nonprofit has provided the civics education it claims. And Adams and his nonprofit have engaged in a pattern of questionable financial arrangements, including paying Adams and his mother more than half its recent annual revenue, while raising much of its money through a sweepstakes operation that has promised donors a chance to win $1,000,000 — a prize FLAG’s records show no evidence of ever paying.
"Since 2016, as FLAG’s annual revenues grew from $68,000 to $1.1 million in 2024, there is almost no indication in the organization’s annual federal tax filings that it was spending money on its stated mission," the publication reports, confirming that, in the last six years, they could only find evidence of one instance in which FLAG's activity actually fit the definition of "educational."
But, wouldn't you know, the nonprofit has been lucratively successful for Adams, personally, and his family, including his mother, who raked in a cool combined $587,279 in compensation and benefits in 2024, serving as FLAG's secretary, constituting a whopping 53% of the organization's total revenue that year.
Of course, Adams' behavior certainly won't serve to stifle the support he receives from the sitting President. Trump's own son has gained infamy for scamming kids with cancer, and Trump is up to his fat neck in a kids' savings account scam as we speak.
Birds of a feather, as they say.
