Patriot Post / Via patriotpost.us

Last week, a conservative website and email newsletter that claims endorsements from Nancy Reagan, Sen. Rand Paul, and other conservative luminaries was in the midst of its annual Independence Day funding drive. “One of the most significant things you can do to promote Liberty is to support our efforts,” read an appeal for donations displayed on the top of the Patriot Post’s site from Managing Editor Nate Jackson. A man’s headshot photo appeared alongside the message — but although the man pictured works at Patriot Post as its managing editor, he isn’t actually named Nate Jackson. That’s a pseudonym, as are the names of other staffers and contributors listed on the Patriot Post’s website, including that of its publisher and executive editor, Mark M. Alexander. While you may not have heard of the Patriot Post, it is among the oldest conservative publications online. In addition to its website, it has a newsletter whose subscribers seemingly number in the hundreds of thousands, and a large and growing presence on Facebook. Although it doesn’t run ads or charge for subscriptions, it generates enough revenue to fund a full-time staff and significant ongoing Facebook ad campaign. Yet who runs it has remained largely concealed from the public throughout its 23-year history. When the Patriot Post launched back in 1996 as an email news digest, it was called the Federalist and did not disclose the names of those involved. Today it’s still obscuring the identities of staff and contributors through the use of pseudonyms. During that time, the for-profit organization has funded itself solely from donations from readers, according to its owner. That owner, Mark Caldwell, publishes the Post under the pseudonym Mark Alexander. He previously went by M. Morrison Alexander. The reason for the pseudonyms is “proprietary,” he initially told BuzzFeed News. The combination of pseudonyms, claims of top GOP endorsements, an ad-free model, and reluctance to share details about its operations makes it one of the most unique, and mysterious, partisan news operations. It’s also in the midst of what, for it, is an unprecedented investment in Facebook ads, spending more than $23,000 since May promoting Trump’s accomplishments and inviting people to subscribe to its free email newsletter, according to data in the Facebook ads archive. The Patriot Post site generates significant organic engagement on Facebook, primarily thanks to its partisan memes and a page with close to 600,000 followers. One meme mocking vegans generated more than 2.9 million shares, reactions, and comments, and another chiding Parkland, Florida, shooting survivor David Hogg attracted more than 2.1 million engagements. It also operates an online store selling patriotic and novelty items and has a related nonprofit, which declared over $825,000 in assets in its 2017 tax filing.

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But the Patriot Post’s core offerings are email newsletters promising “timeless and highly acclaimed analysis, advancing our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty.” So just how many people have subscribed since it started collecting email addresses way back in 1996? “It’s proprietary; it’s a big number,” said Caldwell after picking up the phone in Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, a wealthy, bucolic suburb of Chattanooga. He runs the company out of a quaint storefront office along a winding highway popular with tourists that connects Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. Caldwell said he’s the sole owner of the Patriot Post, though he clarified that there are actually two people using the Alexander pseudonym. Why? “That’s all proprietary,” he said. (Caldwell later said a staffer uses the Alexander name to help him answer email.) A lot of the Patriot Post’s details are not for public knowledge. Asked if he can say how much money the company takes in per year from donations, Caldwell said, “No, that’s totally proprietary.” It was the same when he was asked where the money came from to start the business, and his current number of full-time employees: proprietary. The site lists 11 people under its “staff” heading. Most, if not all, appear to be pseudonyms. Caldwell told BuzzFeed News the Patriot Post accepts money only from individual donors, and the average donation is less than $50. He also said he is the organization’s lowest-paid employee. (Caldwell owns the building that houses its office, as well as a parking lot behind it, according to public records and media reports.) “We have a large and loyal readership, and loyal supporters … no big sugar daddies, no big backers,” he said. While he declined to share many details during an interview, Caldwell is more forthcoming on the site when using the Alexander moniker. There’s a lengthy bio recounting his (i.e., Caldwell’s) life, the details of which appear to be largely true. He writes a weekly column, and his headshot is often used in memes that feature quotes attributed to his pseudonym. When pressed to explain the Post’s unusual use of pseudonyms, Caldwell said it’s in the tradition of the authors of the Federalist Papers, and also part of an organizational philosophy that “we are about ideas, not who drafts them.” That ethos appears to be at odds with the fundraising pitch that prominently featured the name and photo of Patriot Post staffer “Nate Jackson,” the promotion of Caldwell/Alexander’s weekly column, and the fact that his headshot and pseudonym are featured in memes. Each edition of the site’s daily email digest is also signed by the Alexander and Jackson pseudonyms. (One of the few times Caldwell overtly linked his real name with the operation was for a glowing 1999 article by Chattanoogan.com.)

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