On May 11, 2023 – a date that will fornever be remembered in the annals of American History – Taylor R. Marshall let the cat out of the bag.
“But I am running for President.”
Was this a spur of the moment decision? Was it just a joke?
His Twitter followers seemed unsure. One woman asked where she might find his campaign info. Marshall responded, “I have founded the Christ the King Party.”
So, Marshall “founded” the Christ the King Party (whatever that means, more on that momentarily) in order to facilitate his run for President of the United States. As far as I’ve been able to determine, he did so more than six months ago in late December 2022.
I’ve not been able to find any evidence that the Christ the King Party (CKP) is registered with the Federal Elections Commission, but hey, it does have its own website.
The links on the homepage (pictured above) are dead as of this writing but, still, it does provide at least some useful information.
For one, the purpose of the CKP – its ostensible purpose, at any rate – is twice repeated: “Taylor Marshall for President.” The actual purpose of the website, however, is perfectly plain, namely, to gather email addresses and followers. This, indeed, is the only function on the website that works.
No one, or at least very few, seemed to be taking Taylor Marshall’s candidacy seriously until May 12, 2023. It was on this day that he appeared to make a more formal announcement.
Later that same day, LifeSite News confirmed the big announcement. “I am serious. I am running,” he informed them via text message.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I wasn’t buying it. Not for a New York second.
Could this be just another marketing stunt? That, my friends, is what you call a rhetorical question. The chances that it was just another marketing stunt, to me, seemed astronomical.
Why? The reason is simple: Marshall has a history of concocting elaborate theatrical schemes designed to fuel his enterprise.
The Pachamama-in-the-Tiber incident – a thoroughly cringeworthy affair if ever there was one – tells you everything you need to know about Marshall’s integrity as he looked square into the camera and subjected his naive viewers to a well-rehearsed tall tale, only to later sheepishly come clean during a staged, make-pretend-candid conversation with Alexander Tschugguel (an act for which both men deserve an Oscar – the green one.)
Picking up once more with the Taylor Marshall for President saga…
Not long after the big announcement on May 12, 2023, Marshall’s tangled web began to unravel. During a video interview with Eric Sammons of Crisis Magazine on May 19, when asked if he planned to run as a Republican or an independent, Marshall replied:
That’s really the delay. What we’re discussing is what is the best way to position these talking points and to position this platform. Is it to go third party or is it to join in and try to get on the stage with the Republicans and into the primaries and into the debates? So that’s really, I think, the main question of not moving forward aggressively yet is that has to be decided.
He “thinks” that’s the main question? He doesn’t know for sure? That’s odd.
More peculiar still, the “Christ the King Party” that he “founded” (which, evidently, means nothing more than registering a url and uploading a homepage with an email registration widget) for the purpose of … ahem … running for President of the United States, wasn’t mentioned even once during the interview.
Bear in mind, this interview with Sammons took place only eight days after he told a Twitter follower in search of campaign info, “I have founded the Christ the King Party.”
What exactly transpired in those eight days to render the party that was supposedly established for Marshall’s candidacy so irrelevant as not to merit even one mention? Could it be that it was never anything more than a virtual theatrical prop?
Marshall did, however, use the Sammons interview to drop a few clues that hint (read, shout) that the entire affair is exactly what I suspected.
I’m serious about preparing the run. There has to be a form filed officially, and that form has not been filed. So, until that happens, it’s not on ink, but I am meeting with clergy, consultants, lawyers, other advisors that I trust, and we will be putting out a platform on the 4th of July. Today, I will leak out some of those points and we’ll discuss some of the platform that I’m running on, but we’re doing the feasibility study and I do intend to file that paperwork.
“So this is real,” he insisted.
Yes, it’s real alright, but real what is the question. So, let’s see if we can unpack what we’ve covered thus far.
– December 2022: Marshall kinda-sorta-founded the Christ the King Party to facilitate his candidacy for President of the United States.
– In May, he kinda-sorta-formally announced his intention to run, assuring LifeSite News, “I am serious. I am running.”
– A week later, speaking with Eric Sammons, nearly five months after he kinda-sorta-founded the Christ the King Party, he was still “preparing” to run, i.e., getting ready to get ready. For some reason, he still hadn’t filed any paperwork, but he told Sammons he was “doing the feasibility study and I do intend to file that paperwork.”
So, let’s make sure we get this right: Nearly half-a-year after kinda-sorta-founding the CKP, Marshall still hadn’t yet determined if running was feasible. And yet, he placed no contingencies whatsoever on his claim, “I do intend to file!” Really? Even if it’s not feasible?
What’s with the “This is real… I do intend” attitude, despite the question of feasibility?
Could it be that a more forthright statement like, “I am considering whether or not running for President is feasible” makes for a terrible marketing plan that probably won’t garner very much attention? [By the way, I am not suggesting for a moment that Taylor Marshall was ever actually considering a run for the White House. You can draw your own conclusions on that note.]
– Oddly enough, he told Sammons that he wasn’t sure if he was going to go Republican or Independent. Again, this was only 8 days after he pointed to the Christ the King Party in response to a reader interested in his “campaign.” Marshall never mentioned the Party in that interview. Not even once. Strange, given that he kinda-sorta-founded it in order to facilitate his presidential campaign, the very reason for his appearance on Sammons’ podcast.
Moving ahead, as recently as June 11, Marshall was tweeting about “If I were elected President…” So, his supporters had every reason to imagine that the run for the White House was still alive and well. This was just three weeks ago.
Since then, his followers have been patiently waiting for the 4th of July, the momentous day when he would announce his platform.
Yesterday, after milking this thing for all it’s worth, it finally happened:
Marshall dropped out of the race before he ever got into the starting blocks, but not before he made his gullible audience sit through a 20+ minute recitation of his “Platform in 12 Points.”
Back in May, JD Flynn at Pillar Catholic got it close to right when he said that Marshall is “best understood as a kind of religious entertainer, a performance artist…”
Flynn left out hustler, but maybe he’s just a nicer guy than I am. (Not a high bar, I know.) In any case, Marshall began yesterday’s long awaited announcement:
Happy Independence Day, Fourth of July, to all my fellow Americans and today I’m going to share with you my Presidential platform in 12 points.
Yes, you read that correctly. My Presidential platform… This after having already made the decision that he isn’t actually running for President, or dog catcher, or any public office at all.
“Performance artist” is way too kind.
Marshall was at pains to insist that this charade hasn’t been a moneymaker. No sir!
I’ve had so many people supporting, signing up for their emails, so many people trying to give me money for campaign finance. I’ve refused 100% of all donations. I’ve not taken anything up until this point.
The showman doth protest too much, methinks.
What about those poor fools who actually thought that Marshall was sincere about making a run and were thus moved to donate (or up their donation) via the Patreon link on his Youtube channel, all without earmarking the money as “campaign finance”?
I’m sure Taylor will conduct an audit tout suite to see to it that those shekels are returned with interest.
After treating those who stuck it out to the end like the suckers he clearly thinks them to be, Marshall finally dropped the bomb, dashing the hopes of young and old alike:
Can it be done in six months to get me on the stage, to get me on ballots, to get me into debates? And as we consulted, and as we discussed, the answer is no, it’s not possible. It’s not possible at this point in 2023. Now, it is possible to run third party, but the third party is going to fizzle out. Ultimately, we need to infiltrate in a positive way in the Republican Party.
This invites some obvious questions:
How long before the 4th of July, and after June 11, did Taylor come to the disappointing conclusion that six months is just not long enough?
Remember, on May 19 he told Eric Sammons that he was meeting with clergy, consultants, lawyers, and other trusted advisors, doing a feasibility study.
Does anyone really believe, number one, that this is true, and number two, if it is, that Taylor’s band of brilliant bastards had to mull this thing over for seven more weeks before they realized “no, it’s not possible?”
Or, is it perhaps more likely that the timing of the big drop out announcement (disguised as a platform reveal) was calculated to maximize the publicity, grow that email list to its full potential, and encourage NOT campaign donations?
I’ll leave it to you, dear reader, to decide whether or not the entire “Taylor Marshall for President” thing was a hustle from day one.
In my view, the details speak for themselves.
