Left-leaning lion Rachel Maddow has been among the most prominent liberal voices in media for decades. A longtime MSNBC fixture, Maddow frequently shines her spotlight on political hypocrisy and the societal challenges inherent in a system dominated by market capitalism and a winner-take-most approach to economic justice.
The purity of such positions — Maddow as a justice warrior hammering the establishment — are sometimes tough to maintain, however. Writing for The Intercept, Eli Clifton says Maddow’s participation in the upcoming TruCon conference illustrates a problem that’s rife in contemporary U.S. politics — the open market for buying influence.
Jamie Raskin and Rachel Maddow, brought to you by Peter Thiel and Lockheed Martin https://t.co/krw1Fl3zMM by @EliClifton https://t.co/krw1Fl3zMM
— The Intercept (@theintercept) May 26, 2023
Clifton exposes just how this kind of overarching money-power influence plays out in real life, with powerful — and frequently adversarial — interests buying influence where Maddow presides.
Clifton points out that Maddow and Rep. Jamie Raskin, another liberal hero, are headlining the Truman Center’s TruCon conference June 1-4 in Washington, D.C.
Maddow will give the keynote address while Raskin will be one of three recipients of Truman Center’s Award for Exceptional Moral Courage in Public Service.
One top sponsor listed for TruCon is Lockheed Martin, the largest and highest paid U.S. defense contractor, which reportedly derives more than 70% of its revenue from the U.S. government.
Another top-listed sponsor of the conference is Palantir, the powerful A.I. and data company co-founded by the brilliant and controversial billionaire Peter Thiel, who has backed Maddow and Raskin adversaries like former President Donald Trump. Palantir works with private commercial industry and government agencies to deliver software as a “weapon that will help you win.”
In other words, prominent Trump-backer Peter Thiel is helping to pay for Rachel Maddow’s speech. Title Sponsorships for the conference are listed at $200,000 each in the TruCon brochure.
As Clifton points out, Maddow has been highly critical of Lockheed Martin and Palantir, while Raskin has also called out Lockheed Martin for overcharging the U.S. taxpayer. But they are — Lockheed and Maddow, Palantir and Raskin — all literally on the same page here. Clifton quotes one jaded observer of money-in-politics shrugging his shoulders in acknowledgment that this is just the way things work in Washington.
The fact is that even if rumors that she is a $30 million-a-year TV star are wrong by half, Maddow is nevertheless a very wealthy insider. And while fulfilling her role as a media-political insider, Maddow sometimes inevitably offers evidence of the notion that there aren’t so much left and right powers in society: Instead, the real chasm is between the moneyed and the rest.
There is no suggestion that Lockheed or Palantir hope to influence Maddow’s speech, which may well excoriate these conference sponsors. But if there is greenwashing and sportswashing, then this kind of sponsorship might well be called lib-washing.