Rick Wiles (born August 20, 1953) is a
far-right American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
conspiracy theorist
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
,
pundit,
religious extremist and
senior pastor
A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...
at the
non-denominational Flowing Streams Church. He is the founder of ''
TruNews''; a website promoting
racist,
homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, m ...
,
Islamophobic
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...
, and
antisemitic conspiracy theories
A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources:
*
*
*
* The term has a nega ...
.
Wiles has said that
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
seek to obtain control of countries to "kill millions of
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
", and has claimed that Jews are "deceivers" and that Jews "plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda".
In February 2020,
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
permanently banned the ''TruNews'' YouTube channel.
Career
Before becoming a radio host, Wiles worked as an advertising and marketing sales manager for
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
and
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
in the early 1980s, and in 1984 joined the
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series '' The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook'' ...
as their first National Cable Marketing Manager. In 1995, he was hired as the Marketing Director for
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN was headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, until March 3, 2017, when it sold its ...
. He resigned from the network in September 1998.
Wiles previously broadcast his radio show on
WRMI
WRMI (Radio Miami International) is a shortwave radio station broadcasting from Okeechobee, Florida, United States. WRMI is a commercial radio station that sells airtime to businesses and organizations.
Programming
WRMI relays several internatio ...
(Radio Miami International), but has since adopted the internet as its sole platform, abandoning the short-wave broadcasting station.
TruNews
Wiles founded the organization later to be called TruNews in September 1998, based in
Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, supposedly as a
Christian ministry. During later months, Wiles toured America where he spoke of moral decline and aimed to prevent "economic collapse" and "war on American soil". On May 24, 1999, the organization, then named America's Hope, made its first broadcast. After five years of regular broadcasts, the news station changed its name to America Freedom News for a brief period. Wiles later changed it a second time to its current name, TruNews. It has also been known as Christian News Channel.
Wiles was reported by ''
The Colorado Independent'' in October 2014 to have said the spread of
Ebola "could solve America's problems with atheism, homosexuality, sexual promiscuity, pornography and abortion." In late January 2020, he said the
coronavirus was God's "death angel" and "plagues are one of the last steps of judgment."
TruNews frequently described President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
as a "demon from hell".
Obama, he claimed while the former president was in office, was the "jihadist-in-chief" who was "waging jihad against the United States from inside the White House" and murdered Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia as a "pagan sacrifice."
In 2017, Wiles' guests included someone who claimed President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
is a flesh eating cannibal leading to his contraction of related diseases. Another asserted that Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
of the United Kingdom is a "lizard person" who had
Diana, Princess of Wales murdered because the Princess was in the process of revealing that the Royal Family was involved in satanism.
He has also asserted that Israel and the "Jewish mafia" had President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
assassinated. Another edition of Wiles program claimed Israel and the "
synagogue of Satan
In the letters to the early Christian churches of Smyrna and Philadelphia in Revelation 2:9 and 3:9, reference is made to a synagogue of Satan ( gr, συναγωγή τοῦ Σατανᾶ, ''synagoge tou satana''), in each case referring to a g ...
" are pushing the United States to fight wars on their behalf.
Wiles has asserted that the effects of
Hurricane Harvey upon the city of Houston, Texas, in September 2017 resulted from Houston's "
LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term ...
devotion;" has described Judaism and Islam as "the
Antichrist
In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form)1 John ; . 2 John . ...
"; has called Central American immigrants a "brown invasion" being used by God to punish White Americans for legal
abortion
Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
;
has claimed that the
2017 Las Vegas shooting
On October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old man from Mesquite, Nevada, opened fire on the crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in . From his 32nd-floor suites in the Mandalay Bay hotel, he fired ...
was conducted by government death squads from a "gay/lesbian Nazi regime;"
and, in July 2018, predicted an imminent coup (led by CNN's
Anderson Cooper and MSNBC's
Rachel Maddow) that would result in the nationally televised decapitation of the
Trump family
The family of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021 and owner of The Trump Organization, is a prominent American family active in real estate, entertainment, business, and politics. Trump, his wife Melania, a ...
on the White House lawn.
TruNews is known for promoting racist and
antisemitic conspiracy theories, including about the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
in 2001. In May, Wiles said: “
/11wasn’t done by the Muslims. It was done by a wildcard, the Israeli Mossad, that’s cunning and ruthless and can carry out attacks on Americans and make it look like Arabs did it.” He promoted conspiracy theories of
Jewish world domination while discussing the 2019
AIPAC conference. He said on TruNews in November 2019 that the congressional hearing concerning the
impeachment of Donald Trump are "infested with Jews" and constitute a "Jew coup".
He claimed: "That's the way the Jews work. They are deceivers. They plot, they lie, they do whatever they have to do to accomplish their political agenda" and asserted the United States would reach a state of civil war before Christmas. Millions of Christians would be murdered by Jews as a result. Of the hoax ''
Protocols of the Elders of Zion
''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion'' () or ''The Protocols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion'' is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan for global domination. The hoax was plagiarized from several ...
',' Wiles said the authors had "accurately predicted what was going to happen in the world."
TruNews and Wiles have also claimed that the transgender rights movement is a Zionist plot to make all of humanity androgynous, that this supposed plot was inspired by Talmudic and Kabbalistic doctrines, and that it involves "putting specific things in food, in drink."
Via Twitter in November 2019, TruNews said its channel had been suspended by
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
.
It was removed for violating YouTube's rules on
hate speech.
Wiles has denied his rhetoric has antisemitic intent: “It’s hard to say. I don’t know. I can tell you from my heart there is no ill will toward the Jewish people, with all sincerity.” He blamed
George Soros
George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
for organizing a campaign against him.
In late February 2020, TruNews was permanently banned from YouTube.
In March 2020, at a TruNews broadcast, Wiles claimed that the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
was
God's punishment to Jews for opposing Jesus Christ and the disease spread in synagogues. Wiles also
claimed
"Claimed" is the eleventh episode of the The Walking Dead (season 4), fourth season of the Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, post-apocalyptic Horror fiction, horror television series ''The Walking Dead (TV series), The Walking Dead'', wh ...
that the
outbreak in the United States started at the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
on March 2, 2020.
Wiles has claimed that the vaccines for protection against coronavirus are a plot for "global genocide" and has opposed vaccination efforts. In late May 2021, it was reported that Wiles himself had contracted COVID-19 and had been hospitalized. He said that his wife was "very fatigued," that his daughter-in-law was hospitalized, and that his grandson and other family members were suffering from coronavirus symptoms. He added that three staff members at TruNews were also ill with the virus.
The
Trump administration
Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...
gave Wiles's website press credentials on several occasions.
Advocating violence and mass murder
In October 2019, Wiles stated that if Trump was defeated in the
2020 presidential election
This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
*5 January:
**C ...
:
there is going to be violence in America. There are people in this country, veterans, cowboys, mountain men, guys that know how to fight, and they’re going to make a decision that the people that did this to Donald Trump are not going to get away with it and they’re going to hunt them down. If these people in Washington think that they are going to get away with it, it’s not going to happen. The Trump supporters are going to hunt them down. It’s going to happen and this country is going to be plunged into darkness and they brought it upon themselves because they won’t back off.
In late July 2020, Wiles urged President Trump to use “billions of hollow-point bullets” against
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police br ...
protestors in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
to put down the "insurrection". He claimed the bullets were hoarded by President Obama "to round up Christians and constitutionalists under a President Hillary Clinton".
In late November 2020, after Trump's defeat was confirmed, Wiles stated that the Trump administration "plan to shoot some people". He said:
They’re going to have a bunch of traitors, they’re going to line them up against the wall, and start shooting them, because that’s what they deserve. The Democrats, the news media...If the leftists, if the scientists, professors have been working secretly with the Chinese Communist Party, then line them up against a wall and shoot them. That’s what you do with them.
COVID-19 vaccine
Rick Wiles has been spreading
COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy
Anti-vaccination activists and other people in many countries have spread a variety of unfounded conspiracy theories and other misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines based on misunderstood or misrepresented science, religion, exaggerated cl ...
although misinformation is causing thousands of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
deaths in the United States weekly according to Dr Frances Collins of the
National Institutes of Health
The National Institutes of Health, commonly referred to as NIH (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in the late ...
. Wiles maintains the government inserts eggs into COVID vaccine that hatch into synthetic parasites and grow inside human bodies. This is part of a plot by "the most evil cabal in the history of mankind" to take over the world.
In June 2021, it was reported that Wiles had been admitted to hospital suffering from COVID-19.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wiles, Rick
1953 births
Living people
Alt-right writers
American conspiracy theorists
American political commentators
American talk radio hosts
American Christians
Antisemitism in the United States
Anti-Zionism in the United States
Christianity and antisemitism
Christian conspiracy theorists
Christian fundamentalists
Christian nationalists
COVID-19 conspiracy theorists
Discrimination against LGBT people in the United States
Far-right politics in the United States
People from Vero Beach, Florida