Awaken/RMNNT Meddles Again
They are pushing to replace our democracy with a theocracy, and believe that violence in the name of God is justified. Now, they are again promoting candidates for the upcoming election in Coronado.
Awaken’s political wing, the RMNNT, Warriors for Liberty, has meddled in our local politics before, promoting school board candidates in the 2022 elections who were associated with movements that oppose public education. They’re at it again this year, backing candidates for our city council and school board.
Associated with neo-nazis, hate groups, election deniers, science deniers, conspiracy theorists, social media trolls and Q-Anon kooks, the Awaken Church of San Diego is hell-bent on supremacy.
Awaken founder Jurgen Matthesius streams endless hate speech and prejudice on dark social media. From his pulpit, he vows to take over all of San Diego and tell people to “come out with your hands up, we have you surrounded,” while calling Coronado residents “demoniacs” and threatening to run us out of town if we dare oppose him.
The group has even rented our public community center a few times for so-called “preview services” and falsely claimed it’s their “Coronado Campus.”
The 2024 Awaken/RMNNT political endorsements:
Given Awaken/RMNNT’s questionable reputation, all four candidates have understandably distanced themselves from the endorsements, claiming they never sought them, have nothing to do with the group, and some even say they have asked that Awaken/RMNNT remove their names from its voter guide.
We’ll see how that goes, but they might be better off asking Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey for help.
Bailey has long been a favorite of Awaken/RMNNT and even helped train political candidates at an Awaken megachurch in San Diego. In return, the voter guide has consistently endorsed his runs for office in Coronado and backed him when he put his hat in the ring in 2021 for Congress and County Supervisor in 2023.
For the record: Bailey backed out of the Congressional race when it was clear he had no chance of winning. Then he pulled out of the County Supervisor race after his own party made it clear that it had someone better to support. He did manage, however, to keep tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to his fleeting congressional campaign and funnel it into the coffers of his political action committee.
Perhaps our mayor has stood by without a peep about Awaken’s founder vowing to run Coronado residents out of town because he is deeply connected with the group. RMNNT founder Alana Sorensen even praises Bailey for helping her win a Caucus Chair on the Central Committee of the San Diego Republican Party, where she serves with Bailey and his political advisor, Brad Gerbel.
For John Duncan, who’s already spent more than $30,000 seeking the mayor’s office without having finished half of his first term on the city council, it’s the second time he has disavowed any connection with Awaken/RMNNT (the group endorsed his successful 2022 run for city council). I’ve asked Mr. Duncan if he has brought this up with his mentor and ardent supporter, Richard Bailey, given the current mayor’s connections with Awaken/RMNNT, but I have not heard back.
The mayor himself, who terms out this year, continues to avoid questions about his connections with Awaken/RMNNT. But the bottom line is that with Bailey’s help, Awaken/RMNNT has established itself on the San Diego County Republican Central Committee and remains committed to dominating the political landscape far and wide… including here in Coronado.
Stay tuned.
Resources:
The Group Seeking to Educate Conservatives to Influence Local Politics
It’s No Big Deal, We Just Want to Take Over the World
Awaken Pastor Vows to Drive Coronado Residents out of Town
Stop playing games. Our Community Center is not your “Campus.”