Revealed: top Vance aide worked for far-right consultancy with extremist links [View all]

Parker Magid worked for Beck & Stone, which is close to shadowy fraternal order and Claremont Institute

Jason Wilson
Wed 28 Aug 2024 09.00 EDT


A senior aide to Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, once worked for a far-right political consultancy that touts its capacity for “clandestine actions” and has links to a network of extremist groups and thinktanks, the Guardian can reveal.

Parker Magid was recently appointed as Vance’s press secretary and his employment history links Vance and his circle to elements of the extremist right far outside the mainstream of American politics.

Vance’s staffer links him to Beck & Stone (B&S) and its subsidiary political consultancy Knight Takes Rook (KTR). The brand consultancy with a business address in New York is close to Vance allies including the far-right Claremont Institute, the serial Arizona political candidate Blake Masters and the “counter-revolutionary” magazine IM–1776.

B&S was founded in 2014, according to statements by its founders, Andrew Beck and Austin Stone. Initial company filings in Florida date from April 2015. Its current Florida filings give an address that is a UPS store in New York City.

Beck, also a Claremont co-founder, is closely involved with the Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR), a secretive invitation- and men-only fraternal lodge that has been the subject of extensive previous reporting in the Guardian.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/28/jd-vance-far-right-aide