Matt Hay @MattHayOriginal - Twitter Profile

15 days ago

I haven’t chimed in on the whole video saga yet because I find the entire thing absurd. But since this community note is 100% factually wrong and is now impacting how Grok answers legitimate questions, it needs to be corrected. 1. This entire debate only exists because a handful of bad-faith actors have spent months trying to attack Erika, destroy the organization her husband built, and divide the movement. Most, if not all, of these people attacked Charlie when he was alive, and they found a new target since Charlie is now off-limits. You can rebut lies with all the facts you want, but they don't care, and they won't stop. Next, it's a chin mole is missing, next it's AI, etc. etc. 2. There is a pattern continually playing out and people need to see it for what it is. They launch a conspiracy theory, they say it's the smoking gun, it falls apart, a new theory appears, and the cycle repeats. Meanwhile, the people making these claims have no obligation whatsoever to prove them. They and their followers condemn the accused as guilty and demand a response to clear their name. The accused is then expected to respond, defend themselves, produce documents, provide explanations, and somehow prove a negative. But the response is never sufficient because the response was never the objective. Goalposts move instantly. The answer was too defensive, too dismissive, or they find some irrelevant tidbit to pick apart and the cycle repeats. It's a sucker's game. 3. I find the video largely irrelevant. Boards do not determine succession based on whether someone can produce a random clip. Boards evaluate leadership, governance, organizational continuity, and the wishes of the founder. In this case, Charlie hand-picked the board, communicated his wishes to them, to me personally on three or four occasions, to Erika, to Don Jr. (who has gone on the record), to pastors, friends, and colleagues. That board voted unanimously to make Erika CEO. That should be the end of story. 4. Yes, Charlie was asked about this once when a camera was on him and he said exactly what he always did: Erika would take over should something God-forbid happen and that she would do a great job. 5. This did not happen at ActCon 2023 in West Palm as @CommunityNotes wrongly says. He said this in Aspen in 2025 at Investors. ActCon was a large convention with a massive blue stage and thousands of attendees. Investors was a small hotel ballroom with a few hundred attendees and a white and red backdrop. I was at both. 6. The "Building the Machine" claim is also wrong. In 2023, the theme of ActCon was "We are doing the work to save America." When we titled CK's opening speech for a podcast episode, we just came up with a random title "Building the Machine" that Charlie liked. Charlie was from Chicago and always talked about the Democrat Machine. He wanted a machine built for the right. It was just an episode title but over time it became something Charlie said more and more. So, in 2025, after Trump won the election, Charlie wanted to expand the Chase the Vote "machine" that proved so effective, so he made the theme for Investors 2025 "Building the Machine." 7. I think Community Notes has been a force for good and I fully support its purpose and mission, but for whatever reason, it’s been weaponized in this case to spread disinformation. Hopefully whatever went wrong here will be corrected both on this note, and in the future. Images of the two very different events attached. Blue backdrop is ActCon 2023, while the white and red is Investors 2025. cc: @nikitabier

AndrewKolvet's tweet photo. I haven’t chimed in on the whole video saga yet because I find the entire thing absurd. But since this community note is 100% factually wrong and is now impacting how Grok answers legitimate questions, it needs to be corrected.

1. This entire debate only exists because a handful of bad-faith actors have spent months trying to attack Erika, destroy the organization her husband built, and divide the movement. Most, if not all, of these people attacked Charlie when he was alive, and they found a new target since Charlie is now off-limits. You can rebut lies with all the facts you want, but they don't care, and they won't stop. Next, it's a chin mole is missing, next it's AI, etc. etc.

2. There is a pattern continually playing out and people need to see it for what it is. They launch a conspiracy theory, they say it's the smoking gun, it falls apart, a new theory appears, and the cycle repeats. Meanwhile, the people making these claims have no obligation whatsoever to prove them. They and their followers condemn the accused as guilty and demand a response to clear their name. The accused is then expected to respond, defend themselves, produce documents, provide explanations, and somehow prove a negative. But the response is never sufficient because the response was never the objective. Goalposts move instantly. The answer was too defensive, too dismissive, or they find some irrelevant tidbit to pick apart and the cycle repeats. It's a sucker's game.

3. I find the video largely irrelevant. Boards do not determine succession based on whether someone can produce a random clip. Boards evaluate leadership, governance, organizational continuity, and the wishes of the founder. In this case, Charlie hand-picked the board, communicated his wishes to them, to me personally on three or four occasions, to Erika, to Don Jr. (who has gone on the record), to pastors, friends, and colleagues. That board voted unanimously to make Erika CEO. That should be the end of story.

4. Yes, Charlie was asked about this once when a camera was on him and he said exactly what he always did: Erika would take over should something God-forbid happen and that she would do a great job.

5. This did not happen at ActCon 2023 in West Palm as @CommunityNotes wrongly says. He said this in Aspen in 2025 at Investors. ActCon was a large convention with a massive blue stage and thousands of attendees. Investors was a small hotel ballroom with a few hundred attendees and a white and red backdrop. I was at both.

6. The "Building the Machine" claim is also wrong. In 2023, the theme of ActCon was "We are doing the work to save America." When we titled CK's opening speech for a podcast episode, we just came up with a random title "Building the Machine" that Charlie liked. Charlie was from Chicago and always talked about the Democrat Machine. He wanted a machine built for the right. It was just an episode title but over time it became something Charlie said more and more. So, in 2025, after Trump won the election, Charlie wanted to expand the Chase the Vote "machine" that proved so effective, so he made the theme for Investors 2025 "Building the Machine."

7. I think Community Notes has been a force for good and I fully support its purpose and mission, but for whatever reason, it’s been weaponized in this case to spread disinformation. Hopefully whatever went wrong here will be corrected both on this note, and in the future.

Images of the two very different events attached. Blue backdrop is ActCon 2023, while the white and red is Investors 2025.

cc: @nikitabier

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