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“It is a sophisticated
campaign to indoctrinate
young people,” said Tara
McGowan, chief executive of
Acronym, a nonprofit that
advises progressives on dig-
ital campaigning. “The
amount of money they are
putting behind it is alarming
and significant. They seem
to have created a savvy way
to push an ideology onto an
audience and get a tax break
in the process.”
Prager himself has lim-
ited affection for Trump. He
compares his support for
the president to the alliance
President Franklin D.
Roosevelt brokered with Jo-
sef Stalin in World War II — a
move born of necessity in the
face of what he sees as a big-
ger evil (in this case, the left).
“We are not a Trump or-
gan,” he said in an interview.
“I would not be surprised if
someone watching our 300
videos would affect the way
they vote. I don’t live in a
bubble. I recognize that. But
that is not our raison d’être.
It is to give people wisdom.
We don’t believe the uni-
versities give wisdom.”
The segments are not full
of memes and shouting.
They are straightforward
five-minute lectures in
which a diverse array of stars
from various segments of
the ideological right rip into
pillars of the left: multicul-
turalism, climate action,
equal pay, Medicare for all,
gun control, gay rights.
Despite Prager’s reserva-
tions about Trump, the vide-
os do tend to echo the presi-
dent’s grievances. Like
Trump, many of them brand
most mainstream news de-
ceitful. And, as with Trump,
PragerU’s critics say it is
sometimes selective with
facts.
The Southern Poverty
Law Center warns that sev-
eral PragerU videos, such as
one arguing that black
Americans are coddled by
society, “function as dog
whistles to the extreme
right.” The Weather Chan-
nel branded PragerU’s chal-
lenges to global warming “a
course in climate misinfor-
mation.” After watching a
few PragerU videos, Prince-
ton University historian
Kevin Kruse tweeted that
they were “utterly wrong on
the facts.”
Prager’s supporters say
he’s filling a need, especially
for conservative young peo-
ple on largely liberal cam-
puses.
“People watch these vid-
eos in between classes, they
watch them on the line at
Starbucks,” said Bradley
Devlin, a leader of the Col-
lege Republicans at UC
Berkeley, one of many cam-
puses where PragerU has a
network of representatives
who push out each new vi-
deo through social media
and word of mouth.
“They point out the un-
sustainability of leftism and
intersectionality, and the
false promises of the left,” he
said.
The site mixes intensely
partisan videos with apoliti-
cal content. One week the fo-
cus is on trying to convince
viewers that it is a media-
generated myth that Trump
called neo-Nazis in Char-
lottesville, Va., “very fine
people.” Another week, co-
median Yakov Smirnoff is
giving marital advice.
The common thread is
Dennis Prager’s worldview.
“We thought there was a
dearth of intelligent presen-
tation of the values we care
most about ... to make the
case for a God-based moral
system,” said Prager, a reli-
giously observant Jew. “We
play no role in Donald
Trump’s election, no role in
his presidency ... We don’t
talk about him. Not anti. Not
pro. I am more interested
that the viewer understand
why they should honor their
parents even if they have
trouble with them than I am
in the contemporary politi-
cal scene.”
Prager says he disavows
the alt-right ideology that
has gained ground in the
Trump era, but the online
lessons often echo some of
the movement’s talking
points. A video of Dinesh
D’Souza, the right-wing au-
thor, opining on why West-
ern cultures are superior to
others has been viewed 4.
million times, for example.
Another, featuring Doug-
las Murray, the British au-
thor of several books about
Europe and immigration,
laments that North African
and Middle Eastern immi-
grants have been permitted
to destroy European culture
by refusing to assimilate. It
has 6.7 million views.
“You can be poor, middle
class, rich, doesn’t matter,”
conservative activist Can-
dace Owens says in a video
called “Playing the Black
Card” that has been
watched 11 million times.
“The black card will still con-
fer upon you an entire his-
tory of oppression, even if
you have never been op-
pressed,” she says. “ With the
black card you can sell books
full of indecipherable prose
because with a card that
powerful, who cares if your
words make any sense?”
Whatever the motiva-
tion, the product is having a
notable effect.
“The YouTube and Face-
book algorithms like what
they produce,” said Ramesh
Srinivasan, a professor of in-
formation studies at UCLA
whose upcoming book, “Be-
yond the Valley,” focuses on
the relationships between
technology and politics.
“They predict it will capture
people’s attention. It is not
surprising they have grown
to the extent they have.”
The polarizing nature of
PragerU’s messages, along
with the large social media
followings of the presenters,
take full advantage of the
business model of the plat-
forms, Srinivasan said.
“It is much more effective
than the version of this con-
tent available on the liberal
side,” he said, citing as an ex-
ample the short presenta-
tions posted online by for-
mer Labor Secretary Robert
Reich, which are popular
among liberals but aren’t
complemented by an array
of other voices and content
similar to what PragerU of-
fers.
To amplify that content,
the group has an annual
budget of nearly $23 million,
fueled in part by donations
from religious conserva-
tives, including $800,000 last
year from Texan Lee Roy
Mitchell, owner of a global
movie theater chain and ally
of the conservative Koch
brothers.
Other big donors include
GOP megadonor Sheldon
Adelson’s Maccabee Task
Force, and the foundation of
Adelson’s top deputy,
Michael Leven.
Most of the seed money
for PragerU came from Dan
and Farris Wilks, billionaire
brothers from east Texas
who made their fortune from
fracking and run a church
called the Assembly of Yah-
weh. Farris Wilks preaches
at the church. In his ser-
mons, he has compared
homosexuality to bestiality
and declared climate change
the will of God.
While the group relies on
big-dollar conservative
donors, however, 40% of its
budget comes from almost
130,000 online donors.
PragerU has more donors
than some prominent
Democrats running for pres-
ident.
All that has fueled rapid
expansion at PragerU’s Los
Angeles studio, where the
videos are produced, and
has raised Dennis Prager’s
profile, helped on by contro-
versy.
When Prager was invited
to guest-conduct the Santa
Monica Symphony at a fund-
raiser at Walt Disney Con-
cert Hall two years ago, mu-
sicians citing what they
termed anti-gay, anti-Mus-
lim advocacy boycotted. The
dispute drew national head-
lines. Prager devotees came
out in force. The concert sold
out.
He and comedian Adam
Carolla later this year will re-
lease “No Safe Spaces,” a
documentary about one of
their favorite subjects: intol-
erance for conservatives on
college campuses.
“It breaks my heart that a
vast number of young people
have not only not been
taught how lucky they are to
be Americans, but have been
taught either how unlucky
they are or how ashamed
they should be,” Prager told
a Senate panel last month
that held hearings into con-
servatives’ claims that
Google discriminates
against them.The site’s growth has
been lucrative for Prager,
who last year started collect-
ing fees for his work with the
charity. Tax filings show
$237,500 went to his consult-
ing firm. An additional
$155,700 went to Prager’s son
for help with fundraising.
“What he makes is negli-
gible,” said Marissa Streit,
chief executive of PragerU.
“If this were a for-profit, he
would be making a lot more
money. But we are not driv-
en by that. We are driven by
impact.”
Streit came into Dennis
Prager’s orbit through an
unconventional path. After
living in Israel and serving in
an Army intelligence unit
there, she moved to Los An-
geles and became the head-
mistress of a school in Man-
hattan Beach. On the job,
she grew disturbed by thestate of American education
and the power of teachers
unions.
“I was disgusted by the
fact that colleagues kept
telling me you could fire a
plumber but not a bad
teacher,” she said. The grow-ing influence of what she
calls the anti-Zionist move-
ment in America, and the
way Israel was portrayed in
the media, also pushed her
toward activism, she said.
Prager and his producer
Allen Estrin recruited her tolaunch the group in 2009, lay-
ing out a mission that encap-
sulates Prager’s ambition as
well as his combative view of
ideological debate:
“Dennis said, ‘I feel like I
have penicillin for the mind
of this country.’ ”Online ‘university’ is
an internet sensation
SUPPORTERSof President Trump gather at the White House in July for what
was billed as a social media summit. Prager University representatives attended.Michael ReynoldsEPA/Shutterstock[PragerU,from A1]
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