<!-- wp:html --><p>Nathan Howard/Getty</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trumps-fundraising-machine-save-america-pac-is-barely-covering-his-expenses">Donald Trump</a>-backed, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/washington-state-gop-pays-white-nationalist-pro-nazi-blogger-greyson-arnold">alt-right-cozy</a> Washington State congressional candidate <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/washington-state-gop-pays-white-nationalist-pro-nazi-blogger-greyson-arnold">Joe Kent</a> tells it—in his public appearances and public filings—he made <a href="https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2022/10046466.pdf">$122,110.36</a> last year as a “<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-kent-280a85208/">project manager</a>” for a <a href="https://www.columbian.com/news/2022/mar/17/joe-kent-herrera-beutler-is-too-establishment/">tech start-up</a> called “American Enterprise Solutions.”</p>
<p>One problem: there’s no record the company exists.</p>
<p>The enigma of the former Green Beret’s income has prompted fevered conspiracy-mongering on <a href="https://blogs.columbian.com/all-politics-is-local/loose-leads-on-conspiracy-website-further-confusion/">fringes of the internet</a> where his past work for the <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/new-generation-of-combat-vets-eyeing-house-strike-from-the-right/">Central Intelligence Agency</a> has marked him as a supposed “puppet of the deep state.” These suspicions have arisen despite Kent’s <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/in-wa-congressional-debate-joe-kent-mocks-vaccines-marie-gluesenkamp-perez-says-calls-him-extremist/">vaccine-bashing</a>, endorsement from not just Trump but right-wing billionaire <a href="https://twitter.com/joekent16jan19/status/1395194993673871362?lang=en">Peter Thiel</a>, and his vanquishing in the August primary of Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), one of the <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/jaime-herrera-beutler-becomes-fifth-house-republican-to-back-impeachment">few Republicans</a> to support the ex-president’s impeachment.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/mystery-surrounds-company-paying-maga-republican-candidate-joe-kents-salary-as-he-runs-in-washington?source=articles&via=rss">Read more at The Daily Beast.</a></p><!-- /wp:html -->
One problem: there’s no record the company exists.
The enigma of the former Green Beret’s income has prompted fevered conspiracy-mongering on fringes of the internet where his past work for the Central Intelligence Agency has marked him as a supposed “puppet of the deep state.” These suspicions have arisen despite Kent’s vaccine-bashing, endorsement from not just Trump but right-wing billionaire Peter Thiel, and his vanquishing in the August primary of Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), one of the few Republicans to support the ex-president’s impeachment.
