ICYMI: Brown Checks Boxes [The Daily Beast]

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The Daily Beast: Brown Checks Boxes
By Jake Lahut
June 14, 2024 

• Though Brown loves railing against government spending and efforts to improve diversity in higher education and the military, he himself received millions of dollars in federal aid for disadvantaged businesses, in one instance seeing his own Native American heritage help him secure more cash, The Daily Beast can report.

• Since entering politics, Brown has pitched himself as a strong MAGA Republican who will take no guff from big government. Adamant about the need to cut “reckless” federal spending which he says is “destroying this country,” he has promised to seek “painful” cuts to federal spending.

• But according to government records viewed by the Beast, from 2019 to 2022 Brown’s business, Palisade Strategies, racked up 26 government contracts, allowing him to receive up to $8.3 million.

• During the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown, the only Palisade employee at the time, secured a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan for $20,832. ProPublica’s Tracking PPP log shows $16,000 of the loan listed as going toward payroll costs, $750 for rent, and another $3,400 toward debt payment.

• On the campaign trail, Brown has also taken aim at initiatives to promote diversity, equity and inclusion, widely known as DEI, throughout American life. Decrying “how many ‘diversity’ checkboxes” have crept into everyday affairs, he has described such initiatives as divisive, particularly in the military in which he served.

• Brown himself, however, has checked diversity boxes. Identified as a member of the Cherokee Nation in a 2023 National Review article, he spent several years taking advantage of hefty government contracts, including one in which “enrolled members of a state recognized Indian tribe” were deemed to have “socially disadvantaged” status.

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