Harris campaign accused of paying influencers to bash Trump
The presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris is now being accused of paying internet influencers to bash former President Donald Trump, her opponent in the 2024 election.
The accusation comes from 22-year-old Michael Doherty.
Breitbart News describes Doherty as "a 22-year-old social media influencer who posts explicit content to his OnlyFans page and more safe-for-work LGBT-related posts on Instagram."
According to Doherty, he was approached by a proxy of Harris' campaign.
The accusation
Doherty made the claim - that he was approached by Harris' people to use his social media influence to go after Trump - during an interview with the New York Post.
"When this agency reached out to me, I was shocked. For one, I can’t believe the ‘when-we-go-low-they-go-high’ liberals would pay people to talk trash about Trump . . . Secondly, I can’t believe this agency would be so dumb as to not Google me," he said.
That's because the Google search would have revealed Doherty to be a pro-Trump conservative. The search would have also revealed that he happens to have upwards of 775,000 people following him on social media.
But, maybe they did do the search and thought that they could change Doherty's mind. If so, they were wrong.
"I’m conservative-leaning. I even wear American flag underwear and shoot guns on my OnlyFans. Just because I do OnlyFans, doesn’t mean I whore out my values. I would never sell out for Kamala Harris," Doherty said.
Here's the deal:
Doherty provided the Post with the solicitation that he received from Palette MGMT at the behest of Future Forward, which the Post describes as "the largest and most influential Democratic SuperPAC operating today."
Essentially, Doherty would have received $1,500 for a single TikTok video, that could be less than 90 seconds long, bashing Trump.
This is not the only incident of its kind. There have been other reports of Harris or those with ties to Harris trying to pay social media influences to help out her campaign. About a week ago, journalist Laura Loomer reported:
. . . Kamala Harris is paying social media influencers to post in support of her campaign to deceptively create the illusion that she has grassroots support on TikTok and Instagram.
Loomer has published a highly detailed report explaining how Harris, by proxy, goes about doing this. Loomer, for example, reports, "Launch Viral, a company with CCP ties, is paying Instagram and TikTok users $150 to post positive messages about Kamala Harris."
Harris, at the time of this writing, has not responded to these reports.