Last Updated on May 25, 2021
In the Washington Post‘s article that revealed the Biden administration’s plan to leverage the power of large corporations to force Americans to accept the controversial COVID-19 vaccine passports, the Post revealed that Frank Luntz, recently made infamous by Tucker Carlson’s reporting, held a focus group that purportedly claimed conservative Trump voters would accept the vaccine passports if it were required to resume leisure travel.
The Washington Post reported in March of this year that the threat of vaccine passports “could motivate skeptical Americans to get shots.” The left wing newspaper then explained, “Several vaccine-hesitant participants at a recent focus group of Trump voters led by pollster Frank Luntz suggested their desire to see family, go on vacation and resume other aspects of daily life outpaced fear of the shots, particularly if travel companies and others moved to require proof of vaccination,” emphasis added by National File.
Luntz was hired by the de Beaumont Foundation to provide insight about Americans’ hesitance to get one of the controversial vaccines. They claim that Luntz’s focus group – which have been described as scams by his former employees – revealed that conservative Americans may consent to the vaccines and vaccine passports under certain conditions. Reflecting on the session later, Luntz concluded, “Trump Republicans remain the last significant holdout in embracing the COVID-19 vaccine — but we now have hope. A combination of key medical facts, enumerated clearly without any political undertones, and a human story of just how random and deadly the virus has been, is a convincing, motivating message. If the elected officials and the public health experts adopt this strategy, they will save thousands of lives,” de Beaumont Foundation wrote on its website.
This came months before three of Luntz former employees would speak to Salon, another left wing publication, and characterize Luntz’s business as a “scam” and Luntz as a “slimeball” and a “a pay-for-play pawn in Washington” who sways the opinion of those in his focus groups with the goal of providing a desirable outcome to his clients. “The actions were basically contrived: He screened out anybody that isn’t going to give the viewers the opinion that Frank, on behalf of his client, is looking for. Somehow, he is able to bullshit people,” said Chris Ingram, who previously worked as Luntz’s senior vice president.
Tucker Carlson famously exposed Luntz’s deep financial ties to large pharmaceutical companies and left wing Big Tech companies including Google. In the process, Carlson received information suggesting Luntz rents part of his palatial 7,000 square foot penthouse apartment in Washington, D.C. to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the House of Representatives.
“Kevin McCarthy lives in Frank Luntz’s apartment in downtown Washington. That’s what we were told, and honestly we did not believe it. The top Republican in the House lives with a Google lobbyist? Come on, come on. Even by the sleazy and corrupt standards of politics in Washington, that did not seem possible, in fact it sounded like a joke,” said Carlson, before revealing that the source’s information was later confirmed by McCarthy’s staff. “So actually the top Republican in the House does live with someone who lobbies for Google,” Carlson said. “Mystery solved. Not only are they friends, they’re roommates! So now you know why they listen to Frank Luntz but they don’t listen to you.”
Carlson later learned that, despite McCarthy’s staff telling Carlson that the top Republican pays a “fair market rate” for his accommodations – and thus is not in violation of House ethics rules – he pays a paltry $1,500 per month to live in the palatial apartment. “Well, we learned that Kevin McCarthy paid $1,500 a month to live in Frank Luntz’s apartment. That sounds fine until you find out the apartment is 7,000 square feet and it’s a penthouse.” Carlson then revealed that “McCarthy’s spokesman defended that, saying that’s fair market rate because McCarthy is renting only one of twelve bedrooms in the apartment, and it’s only 400 square feet. Well, I guess that means that he doesn’t use the kitchen, or the living room, it’s just a 400 square foot bathroom. It gives the term friend and family discount a whole new meaning.”
Vaccine passports have become a polarizing issue in the United States, with Republican states taking various steps to ban the initiative. Almost immediately after National File shined a light on the Biden administration’s plan to leverage corporate America, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis banned vaccine passports via an executive order, and asked the Florida legislature to enshrine the order into law. The legislature responded with a bill that bans private businesses, schools, and government agencies from requiring COVID-19 vaccine passports, and DeSantis immediately signed it into law.
