WASHINGTON, D.C.-Founded by Congressman Andy Kim, Rise Stronger was a group that called for a leftist, progressive revolution in the United States. It operated in secret until in 2018, the campaign for his opponent Tom MacArthur discovered its existence.
Kim was, according to MacArthur, the leader of this “resistance”, evidenced by a welcome message from the group on its website and Facebook page from Kim and several resistance lectures held by Kim, such as one at the Fels Institute of Government.
“The Fels Institute is proud to host Andy Kim, the founder of RISE Stronger,” Fels Institute advertised the seminar.
Now, Rise Stronger is alive and well once again, this time as “Rise District“. Kim, who now works his constituents calling for bi-partisanship in government is less than one year removed the day he shut down his own “Rise Stronger” propaganda sites.
“Andy Kim founded and served on the Board of Directors for an extreme organization – Rise Stronger – that has aligned itself with an individual who called for “jihad” against the United States government and that promoted books authored by convicted cop killer Mumia Abu Jamal and domestic terrorist Bill Ayers,” MacArthur said at the time. “Andy Kim has taken thousands of dollars from extreme politicians who want to abolish ICE and even refused to defend ICE when asked 16 times.”
Kim shut down any public access to his own radical rendition of Rise Stronger late last summer.
Now, the group is back at it, promoting leftist propaganda and they’re even hiring a Facebook moderator to work with their team.
Rise Stronger, since its days of promoting cop killers and terrorists, now promotes white fragility, resistance to every action by President Trump, Black Lives Matter and other radical progressive ideas.
“I felt very detached as an activist,” Kim said. “I would spend a lot of my time trying to nudge or pressure individuals.”
The resurgence of Rise Stronger began shortly after the swearing in of Kim as a Congressman. Kim coined his resistance movement the “United States of Resistance”.
According to an interview with NBC, Kim said he expected a small group of D.C. types to join, but the network has quickly grown to over 50,000 people nationwide, with chapters in nearly every state and several policy working groups. It also organized a conference over Inauguration Weekend in DC.
These days, Kim remains silent about his affiliation to the group he started as he works to reshape his image as a congressman who cares about constituents on both sides of the political aisle, but his past tells a far different story than the spit-shine persona he tries to project as a congressman.