Deplorable's Death Rattle

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody
I got some money 'cause I just got paid

-Sam Cooke

The donors figure it out almost immediately: Deplorable Pride was a scam.

It still is. All blue sky, all promises not kept, all events that remained eventual.

The Gofundme.com campaign, set up by DP's co-founder in his name, raised 74% of all its intake in the first two days, and 88% in the first week. A handful of true believers straggled in after that.

That's how fast it became apparent Deplorable Pride is a cardboard cutout, the humbug behind the curtain.

Deplorable Pride never had anything going for it but the anger of a handful of guys with a half-baked idea for a float in Charlotte's LGBT Pride Parade when their application was turned down.

Deplorable Pride's six-week run has been nothing but promises of things to come that never did. There was to be a Deplorable Pride Ball; a Deplorable Pride drag pageant with a $2500 first prize, and a Deplorable Family picnic. All vanished from DP's website.

There was a claim to the press that the Godfundme campaign was to raise money for a lawsuit against Charlotte Pride. That never happened, and when Talbert was questioned about it on Facebook, he refused to answer, erased the exchange, and blocked the questioner from the page.

Later he appeared to drop the plan entirely, telling an interviewer he wouldn't accept a parade slot under any circumstances.

He called on Charlotte Pride sponsors to withdraw their support. All but one ignored him; of the one that responded, gay blogger Joe.My.God reported,

Wells Fargo, the presenting sponsor of Charlotte Pride, has essentially told the homocons to go fuck themselves.

Talbert called on sponsor customers to boycott sponsors for ignoring his demands. Nothing happened.

He set up a YouTube Channel to launch a weekly gay conservative talk show. It had two subscribers, and when I went to watch Episode 1, the channel was closed.

Next up was a weekly audio podcast. That never happened, either.

Charlotte Pride called DP an anti-LGBT group, and so it has proved to be. The group has an incoherent message of patriotism as a solely Republican value ("We were representing that we were proud and saluted our 45th president of the United States the same way we would have done any other Republican president"); and of celebrating a President who is the most gay-friendly in history, yet somehow appointed- and presides over- the most anti-gay administration in history without noticing what his minions are up to.

Somehow, DP co-founder Brian Talbert thinks the two utterly opposed facts are occupants of separate universes. He tried explaining it to a Canadian radio show on June 9:

CO: A lot of gay people believe that the US President Trump is anti-gay. Why do you as a gay man support him?

BT: Well Donald Trump honestly, is like the only Republican candidate to ever invite the gay group to be in the DNC. I mean the RNC. You know, his way to do that to extend that, he's not against the gays in anyway. He's said I’m nowhere, I’m not. But you claim I am. He said what the Supreme Court decision was asked if he was going to try to overturn the gay marriage. He said no. The Supreme Court ruled on that. It is over, it is the law of the land. And he supports it fully. His administration will not touch that that law. But yet everyone on the gay side, or the left side seem to say that we're all going to still go to concentration camps and everything. It's ridiculous. I believe that not only will he save my country, he will save my gay community. The man is a unifier in my opinion.

CO: He did say things of that nature while he was campaigning. But people in the LGBTQ community feel that after he became president, that he did demonstrate anti-gay sentiments.

BT: Well, I would like his example.

CO: I'll just give you the couple they've given. They point to the revocation of the federal guidelines saying that transgender students have the right to use school bathrooms that match their gender identity, and they also point to vice president Mike Pence, his choice for vice president, who signed a law that [crosstalk] I’ll just tell people, sorry, I'll just interrupt you just to tell so people understand what the reasons were.

BT: With Mike Pence, our float was not representing Mike Pence or any member of his administration. We were representing the 45th president of the United States and we would have represented the next one. Honestly, as a gay man. I know what it's like to have not had rights. I'm an older gay man. I'm 47. I know what it's like not to have rights or be respected or anybody. So I know what I've gotten. We do not have one less right than what any other person walking around in Charlotte, North Carolina doesn’t have.

CO: Can we just talk about Mike Pence for a moment, because he did, Mr. Trump did choose him as the vice president.

BT: I'm not I'm not getting into public policies of the United States. I am a gay man in North Carolina trying to fight my whole community. I'm not going to have to sit down and fight with about my country. I'm not doing that alone.

CO: But Brian, my point is only that–

BT: I’m interrupting and I don't want to be rude, but I'm not talking about Mike Pence, his beliefs. I believe everyone has a right to their own beliefs. No one has to accept me. That is not a right that I do have. I'm not answering for them or anything. I'm discussing about me being discriminated by my own community that is pissed off about Mike Pence doing something that they claim that I did. It’s a circle, there's a circle and Charlotte pride started it by discriminating against their own kind.

Flags, drag, and attention for Talbert is all DP is about. They lack the intellectual horsepower to advance or defend the President's policies, as Talbert's meandering, angry whinge on CBC made painfully clear.

And like the President, Deplorable Pride is perfectly comfortable taking both sides of an argument within days:

Nor has Deplorable Pride ever given two slaps about being part of a larger LGBT community. On the CBC show, Talbert made a half-hearted effort to sing a verse of "Kumbaya":

I want to reach common ground know when are you coming round because I've said this in every statement that I've made since this happened. The only way that any side is going to understand each other for gay Republicans and gay liberals to get together is for us to sit down together and start talking to each other and stop vilifying somebody just because they're exercising the right to vote for the U.S. president.

In practice, all Deplorable Pride has done in its bungled social media outreach (its Official Website, Official Twitter Feed, and Official Facebook page all got hacked, the former two serving for a time as a dating site for gay conservatives) is call people names: lazy, pathetic, snowflake, lefty loons, libtard.

"Poor baby get his little feelings hurt? Lol. Loser." "And I will be praying for your ignorance." "Kasper, the unfriendly libtard blocked me...LOL Yep, I won." "He knows what it means to be an American. Maybe your traitor ass could learn a lesson from him."

(It's what real, conservative guys do: this week, boxer Floyd Mayweather, struggling to dazzle 10,000 at a promo to hype a fight, called his challenger, Conor McGregor, a faggot.)

Talbert's slagged "illegals", Muslims, and nonconservative Americans exercising their constitutional rights (Talbert also shared a video showing a driver nearly running over protesters. His post read, "you will be run over."..."I stand by those words. If they're going to beat on my car, stop me from my everyday life, they're a terrorist organization attacking me. I'm going to do anything to defend myself," he said.)

He posted this on DP's Facebook page:

And this:

Misogyny's part of his pail of mud, too: "you are wrong on so many levels. Educate yourself and stop getting your news from CNN and PMSNBC!," he wrote one dissenter. Then Talbert posted this:

Talbert has railed against liberal "queens" (just what do you have to be proud of? Gay Pride did more damage to equality this year than any other group ever has! You lost all credibility. The world was watching), and "bitter jealous Republican queers", too (I thought liberals would be the only ones I would have to deal with. You really see the grandstanding, jealousy, and greed come out when you start dealing in the political world. But I have said one thing from the beginning. I promise to be 100% truthful and transparent. A man is only as good as his word. I assure you that I am a man of my word. My goal is to fight for the Conservative LGBT voice. I don't care who I have to fight to achieve it).

After a June interview with him, San Diego LGBT Pride wrote,

The group is led by Brian Talbert, who has used or promoted inflammatory language against Muslims, women, and even the LGBTQ community itself.

Talbert's posts and actions have gotten more grandiose and self-absorbed by the day, reminding Facebook readers he is the only person who speaks, or answers, for Deplorable Pride (the website-in its second or third version- moved its news section to its home page. It was all links to media interviews with Talbert).

After mutterings about "a transition" that would make everything better in the group- with a membership of twelve before the purge- Talbert issued a military coup leader-style statement of triumph:

DeplorablePride.org is issuing the following statement:

I am informing everyone of the changes at DeploralePride.org Derek VanCleve is no longer associated with DeplorablePride and has no authority to speak on our behalf. We have made this change to ensure the goal of DeplorablePride stays in focus and achievable. I have told you from the beginning that I am a man of my word. I promised to be truthful and transparent. I promised I will not let the Conservative LGBT voice die on my watch. Mr. VanCleve had different aspirations and Deplorablepride.org felt this to be a liability in obtaining our goal. Therefor his removal was effective as of July 7, 2017 at 5:08 pm. Our website will be up and running by the end of the weekend. You may reach us at our only official Facebook page. Thank you all again for your encouragement and support. I will not let you down!

Brian Talbert
Founder
DeplorablePride.org

From "co-founder" to "Founder" in a week.

Can "Dear Leader" be far off?" Talbert has plans for creating a vacancy:

Talbert announced a run for Congress, and predicted his re-election in 2020.

And that's, apparently, just the beginning: Not going to a truck pull. But I will take your advice and have fun when I am at the White House. Thank you for that.