Nimble America
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About
Nimble America is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The organization has been widely denounced by Trump supporters on the /r/The_Donald subreddit, where many speculated that the organization is a scam and criticized its initiatives as "astroturfing."[1]
History
On June 28th, 2016, the /r/nimbleamerica[9] subreddit was launched for discussions about Nimble America's activities. On June 30th, the domain for the organization's official website was registered.[19] In July the @NimbleAmerica[17] Twitter feed was launched. On July 7th, a Facebook[18] page for the organization was created.
Promotion on /r/The_Donald
On September 17th, 2016, moderator TehDonald of the /r/the_donald[3] subreddit submitted a post promoting Nimble America, remarking that the community had "proven that shitposting is powerful and meme magic is real." Meanwhile, Redditor NimbleRichMan submitted a /r/the_donald[8] post asking for help defeating Hillary Clinton by donating to Nimble America. In the comments section, Milo Yiannopoulos replied with an endorsement of /u/NimbleRichMan, claiming he knew him personally.
A majority of the subreddit's community denounced Nimble America, arguing that Trump supporters did not need the organization to support their candidate. While the posts were subsequently deleted, the originals have been archived on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine[2] and Archive.is.[7] That day, Redditor geragh submitted a post chronicling the backlash on /r/SubredditDrama.[16] Meanwhile, /r/the_donald[5] moderator Viking83 submitted a post titled "This Community is Not For Sale," which announced that moderators TehDonald and Lil-z had resigned from the community. On September 23rd, Redditor ahubbs submitted a post titled "Fuck you /u/tehdonald. Fuck Nimble America" to /r/the_donald,[4] where it gained over 1,200 upvoted (96% upvoted) and 120 comments in four days.
Milo Yiannopoulos' Statement
September 17th, Yiannopoulos posted a response to a post about the incident on /r/the_donald,[6] in which he apologized for the way he handled the announcement (shown below).
![C- yiannopoulos mNero +1] MILO 51 points 5 days ago Hi guys. This is Milo. I'Il link to this post from my verified Facebook when it's up. https://www.facebook.com/myiannopoulos/(] A few days ago I was asked to confirm the identity of a billionaire I know personally. He's a huge Trump supporter and I trust him entirely. He asked me to verify that he was who he said he was. Here are some mistakes I made: 1. Not drafting the post myself. It was quite obviously not in my voice, which led some to ask if I'd been hacked 2. Not reading it closely before approving it via an assistant. I waved this endorsement through because I know the person personally. I should have given the project more careful thought. I didn't show this community the appropriate level of respect and consideration and for that I apologise 3. Allowing any solicitation for donations to appear under my name. I know some people have questions about a story the Daily Beast published related to my charity, which means I ought to have been more careful before lending my name to anything involving donations The Beast story is without foundation, the unfortunate product of a disgruntled ex-employee In the coming weeks on my Dangerous F----- tour I will be making more public announcements about the progress of the Grant, and I will be making several awards in person on the stage at various schools. Keep an eye on this link for more info. https://privilegegrant.com/news21 Those who desire greater detail can go here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrGnX-7ITmw[3] I respect and love this little corner of the universe so in the interests of transparency, here's how much I spend monthly, on one credit card http://sli.mg/tTtLqH[41 I'm not trying to show off, just to demonstrate to you that I don't need your money and I would never try to con you out of it. I'm not about to risk my career for a few thousand dollars. I might be crazy, but I'm not insane Thanks for listening Edit: Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/myiannopoulos/posts/74470408233415615] permalink source embed save save-RES give gold reply hide child comments](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/001/173/561/606.jpg "Milo Yiannopoulos' Statement")
Conspiracy Theory
Also on September 17th, Redditor Chazzen submitted a post titled "Something strange I found on the NimbleAmerica FAQ section," which contained a link to an archived version of Nimble America's FAQ page linking the word "billboard" to a screenshot of an email thread between an unknown recipient and Reddit community manager Philippe Beaudette (shown below). Within one week, the post garnered upwards of 2,300 votes (97% upvoted) and 480 comments on /r/the_donald,[20] where many speculating that Nimble America was created as a false flag conspiracy.
In a comment, Redditor purpletricycle revealed that Beaudette was contacted to prevent the community from being shutdown for legal reasons, seeking approval from Reddit lawyers prior to launching the non-profit.[21]
Palmer Luckey Identified as /u/NimbleRichMan
On September 22nd, The Daily Beast[10] reported that Oculus founder Palmer Luckey confirmed that he used the pseudonym NimbleRichMan to post on the /r/The_Donald subreddit. The article included a statement from Luckey, who expressed doubt that the organization was a scam:
"I'm not going to keep throwing money after something if I don't see any results. I think these guys are pretty legit. The sums of money are so small, I don’t think they’re out to scam anybody. If they disappear with the money, I wouldn’t throw any more money at them."
In the coming days, several news sites published articles about Luckey's involvement with the organization, including The Verge,[11] Kotaku,[12] Mashable[13] and New York Magazine.[15]
Search Interest
External References
[1] Wikipedia – Astroturfing
[2] Internet Archive – Announcing Nimble America
[3] Reddit – Announcing Nimble America
[4] Reddit – Fuck you /u/tehdonald
[5] Reddit – This Community Is Not For Sale
[6] Reddit – Yiannopoulos comment
[7] Archive.is – I am a Nimble Rich Man
[8] Reddit – I am a Nimble Rich Man
[9] Reddit – /r/NimbleAmerica
[10] The Daily Beast – Palmer Luckey – the Facebook Near-Billionaire
[11] The Verge – Palmer Luckey is funding Donald Trumps Internet Trolls
[12] Kotaku – Oculus Rift Founder Palmer Lucky Funding Trump Shitposters
[13] Mashable – Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey is apparently funding anti-Hillary memes
[14] Inquisitr – Milo Yiannopoulos Controversy
[15] NY Mag – Facebook VR Millionaire Palmer Luckey is Funding Anti-Hillary Political Group Based on Memes
[16] Reddit – Backlash when milo yiannopoulos promotes website
[17] Twitter – @NimbleAmerica
[18] Facebook – Nimble America
[19] NimbleAmerica.com – Nimble America
[20] Reddit – Saw something strange on the Nimble America website
[21] Reddit – Philippe is a reddit admin that the_donald works with
![C- yiannopoulos mNero +1] MILO 51 points 5 days ago Hi guys. This is Milo. I'Il link to this post from my verified Facebook when it's up. https://www.facebook.com/myiannopoulos/(] A few days ago I was asked to confirm the identity of a billionaire I know personally. He's a huge Trump supporter and I trust him entirely. He asked me to verify that he was who he said he was. Here are some mistakes I made: 1. Not drafting the post myself. It was quite obviously not in my voice, which led some to ask if I'd been hacked 2. Not reading it closely before approving it via an assistant. I waved this endorsement through because I know the person personally. I should have given the project more careful thought. I didn't show this community the appropriate level of respect and consideration and for that I apologise 3. Allowing any solicitation for donations to appear under my name. I know some people have questions about a story the Daily Beast published related to my charity, which means I ought to have been more careful before lending my name to anything involving donations The Beast story is without foundation, the unfortunate product of a disgruntled ex-employee In the coming weeks on my Dangerous F----- tour I will be making more public announcements about the progress of the Grant, and I will be making several awards in person on the stage at various schools. Keep an eye on this link for more info. https://privilegegrant.com/news21 Those who desire greater detail can go here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrGnX-7ITmw[3] I respect and love this little corner of the universe so in the interests of transparency, here's how much I spend monthly, on one credit card http://sli.mg/tTtLqH[41 I'm not trying to show off, just to demonstrate to you that I don't need your money and I would never try to con you out of it. I'm not about to risk my career for a few thousand dollars. I might be crazy, but I'm not insane Thanks for listening Edit: Facebook link https://www.facebook.com/myiannopoulos/posts/74470408233415615] permalink source embed save save-RES give gold reply hide child comments](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/001/173/561/606.jpg "Milo Yiannopoulos' Statement")
Top Comments
Nedhitis
Sep 23, 2016 at 04:26PM EDT
Goddamned Skeletor
Sep 23, 2016 at 08:08PM EDT