Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/YouTube
By Oct. 19, Truth Tour 2 was near its end. So was its leader’s patience.
“I will NOT take it any longer,” the organizer, Lewis Herms wrote on the messaging app Telegram. “It appears as if the lies, rumors and infiltration of the Truth Tour and it’s [sic] participants is reaching epic levels.”
For weeks, Truth Tour 2 had been on the road, bringing its eclectic mix of fringe speakers to hotel conference rooms across the country. There were COVID denialists, election denialists, and at least one globe denialist. But nestled among the semen-retention evangelists and a self-described “Shamanic Priestess™ of the Magdalene Mysteries School” were figures with startlingly long reaches in rightwing politics.