Trump superfan Bill Mitchell is in hot water with his fans, after raising nearly $15,000 to move to Washington, D.C. to improve his online video show and then taking the cash and moving to Miami instead.
Mitchell, a vocal promoter of the QAnon conspiracy theory who became internet-famous in 2016 for his ardent, sometimes-cult-like Twitter defenses of Donald Trump, claimed in May that he wanted to move his online video show “Your Voice America” to a top-of-the-line studio in the nation’s capital.
Mitchell said the move to D.C. from his studio in Palm Beach, Florida would give him and his viewers access to senators, congressmen, and other assorted “movers and shakers.” He said he planned to make the trek within 90 days of May 5. But first, he needed to raise money to pay for the studio.
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“All that stuff is very expensive, and if you want it, there’s a couple of ways you can do it,” Mitchell said on his show, before plugging a GoFundMe page to help raise $15,000 for his move. Mitchell also frequently discussed his move to Washington and the fundraising page on Twitter, claiming it would put him closer to “all my political friends.”
Eventually, Mitchell raised nearly his entire fundraising goal, pulling in $14,280. But when his 90-day moving deadline came and went, he wasn’t anywhere near D.C.
Last Saturday, his fans began to get suspicious when he tweeted a picture of a Miami apartment complex that he described as “my new Miami home!” and when the Miami New Times reported that he had moved to the city. And now Mitchell’s fans and other right-wing personalities are starting to ask what that money was for in the first place.
“‘New Miami home,’” tweeted one disappointed conservative Twitter user. “Didn't you say you was raising money to move your voice America to D.C.?”
The surprise switch to Miami and the fate of the $14,280 also caught the eye of Mindy Robinson, an actress who has promoted herself as a hyper-patriotic Trump fan.
“Seriously, I hate that I have to call out another conservative pundit, but you’ve gone off the rails on both the cause and your morals,” Robinson tweeted at Mitchell.
Mitchell didn’t respond to requests for comment. But he announced this week that he was taking a position at Yippy.com, a little-known search engine based in Miami whose CEO, Richard Granville, has frequently courted conservative personalities like Mitchell. He’s also been waging war on his haters on Twitter, arguing that he’s moving to Miami in part because it has better weather than Washington.
“DC gets maybe 4 nice months a year,” Mitchell tweeted. “Miami gets 10.”
Mitchell, who visited the White House in July as one of the right-wing personalities invited to Trump’s “Social Media Summit,” also claimed that Miami, rather than the capital of the United States, will be a much better place for him to cover the 2020 presidential race.
Additionally, Mitchell said he would also save money by not moving to Washington.
“Surprisingly, DC is much more expensive than Miami and the taxes are very high,” he tweeted on Sunday.
It’s not clear why Mitchell couldn’t, or didn’t, take predictable factors like weather and local taxes into account before raising money to move to Washington. And some Mitchell fans have started to demand on Twitter that he offer refunds on the GoFundMe page.
Mitchell has denied his detractors’ claims that he used the $14,280 to pay for his new Miami home. “You think I can purchase a place in Miami with the small amount donated on gofundme?” Mitchell asked his critics on Twitter. “Have you been to Miami?” He has also countered that the GoFundMe page itself doesn’t mention a move to Washington, although he frequently promoted it, both on Twitter and on his online show, as a way to raise money for a move.
