this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2026
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Deliberately instigated violent opposition so they could press and collect on civil lawsuits.
Many members of the group are trained lawyers, including founder Fred Phelps, and they have historically filed hundreds of lawsuits—mostly over picket rights and alleged civil rights violations—aiming to secure settlements or court-awarded legal fees.
They were quite literally professional trolls. Baiting people into attacking them by criticizing dead soldiers had nothing to do with ideology. It was purely part of their grift.
Omg I had no idea there was a grift behind it. That just adds more layers of how fucked up they were.