The Southern Poverty Law Center is one of the most hateful organizations in the country. 

So I have to say it's good news that they are laying off a substantial fraction of their staff to "streamline operations."

🚨BREAKING: The far-left smear factory Southern Poverty Law Center is laying off staff, according to its union. The move comes one week after SPLC smeared a record number of mainstream conservatives as "hate" and "antigovernment extremist" groups.‼️https://t.co/buYLyxvxnR pic.twitter.com/rWZDsAUidM

— Tyler O'Neil (@Tyler2ONeil) June 13, 2024

The move, first announced by its union--yes, this nonprofit has a union--may not be welcome news for the oppressed workers at the SPLC, but it can't be anything but good news for the country. 

For those of you who don't know, the SPLC exists for no other reason than to smear conservatives as hateful. They distribute a "hate map," which is used by the media and social media companies, that labels groups that are right of center as hate groups. 

Here's just a sampling of the groups the SPLC labels as hate groups:

Advocates Protecting Children

Alliance Defending Freedom

American College of Pediatricians

American Family Association

American Family Association of Pennsylvania (registered as Pro-Family Alliance)

Family Research Council

Family Research Institute

Illinois Family Institute

Ruth Institute

Save California (under Campaign for Children and Families)

American Freedom Alliance

American Freedom Defense Initiative

American Freedom Law Center (Inc.)

Center for Security Policy

David Horowitz Freedom Center

Florida Family Association

Thomas More Law Center

Jihad Watch (project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center)

Fatima (Network) Crusader (Servant of Jesus & Mary, Inc., Constable NY)

In the Spirit of Chartres Committee

Robert Sungenis (Catholic Apologetics International Publishing, Inc.)

Center for Immigration Studies

Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR)

Immigration Reform Law Institute (part of FAIR; donations appear to go through FAIR)

California Family Council

Do No Harm

Family Foundation of Virginia

Florida Family Policy Council

Frontline Policy Council

Louisiana Family Forum

Montana Family Foundation

Pennsylvania Family Institute

Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine

Massachusetts Family Institute

Foundation to Abolish Abortion 

National Coalition for Men San Diego 

Homeland Institute

There are many more, but you get the point. Heavily skewed against Catholics, groups that promote family issues, immigration,  and religious freedom. But pretty much anybody can wind up on the list--when I ran the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, the SPLC labeled us as a hate group, and because of that, I got interviewed by the police. Seriously, we fought for lower taxes, and that was labeled as "hate."

By the 2010s, it started putting mainstream conservative and Christian organizations on a list of “hate groups” that eventually morphed into including a “hate map.” The list and the map have always included Klan chapters.

In 2019, the SPLC fired its co-founder, Dees, in a racial discrimination and sexual harassment scandal. Amid that scandal, a former employee came forward, calling the SPLC’s “hate” accusations a “highly profitable scam.” Almost every year, the SPLC reports a higher number of “hate groups” than the year before. For the 2022 version of the “hate map”—released in 2023—it added “antigovernment extremist groups” to the map. 

Conservatives have long suspected that the “hate map” is a tool to silence the SPLC’s opponents. The SPLC advocates against enforcing immigration laws, and it brands immigration enforcement groups like the Federation for American Immigration Reform, the Center for Immigration Studies, and the Dustin Inman Society “anti-immigrant hate groups.” It also advocates for LGBTQ issues and it puts Christian nonprofits like Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Research Council on the map as “anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups.”

Last year, it added parental rights groups such as Moms for Liberty to the “hate map.”

When the SPLC released its latest “hate map” report last week, it predictably claimed that hate and extremism were increasing. This version of the “hate map” included Gays Against Groomers, a group of gay people who oppose the sexualization of children, as an “anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.”

Well, the union is pissed and attacking the SPLC, and I have to say that I am enjoying the show. 

SPLC’s decision has a catastrophic impact on the organization’s work in support of immigrants seeking justice and its mission to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance human rights through support of educators.

— SPLC Union (@SPLCUnion) June 12, 2024

More than 60 SPLC Union members, including five Union stewards and our Union Chair, were informed that they would be losing their jobs. We are devastated for our Union and for our colleagues.

— SPLC Union (@SPLCUnion) June 12, 2024

I would encourage the union to fight, attack the leadership of the SPLC as fraudsters, and sue the pants off the organization. Defend worker's rights, SPLC Union! 

The layoffs of all 16 staff in the Southern Immigrant Freedom Initiative and its office closure will decimate free legal representation to detained immigrants across Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

— SPLC Union (@SPLCUnion) June 12, 2024

This shameful decision comes in a critical period of time for people struggling in the Southeast.

— SPLC Union (@SPLCUnion) June 12, 2024

I couldn't agree more, folks. I would suggest the union engage in a vendetta against the SPLC. Clearly, the organization hates the working man and doesn't deserve to exist. 

Fight for JUSTICE! 

Make no mistake - laying off dozens of employees, many of whom were Union activists, less than a year before we will bargain our second contract was no coincidence.

— SPLC Union (@SPLCUnion) June 12, 2024

It's always fun to watch the Left eat its own, and while this may or may not be an example of an increasingly common phenomenon, the Left has a problem in its activist community. As the employees get more woke and more addicted to activism, the leaders are having trouble running the organizations. The inmates are beginning to run the asylum. 

Most of these groups are really Democrat front groups, but as the Democrats rely more on radical activists, they can lose control of the messaging and direction. Younger folks who are now getting hired genuinely believe the world is on fire, that White Supremacy is on the rise, that settler colonialists are oppressing the natives, and that the borders must be open. 

The people at the top generally use the issues to collect money to help Democrats and slander Republicans. Suddenly they are facing revolts. 

I suspect that is part of what is at work here. The SPLC isn't going broke, so it's likely that they are dumping the most troublesome employees under the guise of a restructuring. 

That's a guess, but probably a good one. 

How will today’s layoffs help us achieve our goals of fighting hate, decarcerating Black and Brown people, defending democracy, and eradicating poverty? The answer is: they won’t.

— SPLC Union (@SPLCUnion) June 12, 2024

The core mission of the SPLC is to slander conservatives, and, as CRT and immigration issues are becoming problematic for the Left, they are retrenching to focus on what matters to their donors. 

Will the media amplify the union's complaints? Almost certainly not, although some truly left-wing outlets might wade in a bit. But the mainstream media is fully on board with helping Democrats and harming Republicans, so they will almost certainly stick with the approved narrative. 

Democrats, though, still have a problem: their left flank is too activated on issues that repel ordinary Americans, and Democrats have come to rely on the extreme elements to win elections.