WorldNetDaily’s attempt to crowdfund its campaign to push Seth Rich conspiracy theories has been a dismal failure, raising a paltry $4,358 (as of this writing) of its $100,000 goal. Which makes it strange that WND is trying the crowdfunding route again.
This time, it’s for WND’s film division to make a movie of Anna Dittman’s WND-published memoir “Trapped in Hitler’s Hell.” Dittman, you might remember, earned WND’s love by smearing President Obama as purportedly exhibiting Nazi-esque tendencies — something she strangely denied applied to Donald Trump.
One article touting the campaign states: “It’s a timely story that offers plenty of lessons for us in our present age. All the critical issues young Anita faced in the 1930s and ’40s are resurfacing today. Fake news is being pushed, just like Nazi propaganda in the days of old.” Needless to say, the article doesn’t mention how much of that fake news is coming from WND.
WND is seeking $120,000, none of which would actually go toward making the film; instead, it would cover “legal expenses, business operations, marketing plans and materials (promo reels, websites, posters and press kits) as well as pre-production budgeting, scheduling and location scouting.” WND adds: “After this preliminary work is done, the film can be pitched to investors who will be able to supply the money necessary to begin production and filming.”
The GoFundMe page for the project states: ‘The math is simple. If 2% of our WND audience of 6-8 million monthly visitors each donates $10 (that’s less than two cappuccinos, or lattes, or mochas from Starbucks), we’ll reach our film investor package goal of $120,000.” That argument would seem to be less than persuasive, given that the typical WND reader likely doesn’t frequent Starbucks and that WND despises the latte purveyor. For instance, columnist Rita Dunaway urged WND readers to boycott Starbucks over its support for Planned Parenthood, and WND cheered another boycott attempt over Starbucks’ failure to hate gays like right-wingers do.
Another WND promo tried to steal a little glory from a much more successful film than anything WND has ever produced, pushing the idea that this film project would be just like the film “Dunkirk”:
In the hit movie “Dunkirk,” British soldiers are trapped between the English Channel and the impending onslaught of the German army.
At stake is the capture or slaughter of 400,000 soldiers, the end of the British empire, and the conquest of Europe by Hitler’s Third Reich. All of this is a certainty unless a miracle happens.
In the same way, the true story of Holocaust survivor, Anita Dittman, involves an equally miraculous rescue. Her story is told in the book “Trapped in Hitler’s Hell: A Young Jewish Girl Discovers the Messiah’s Faithfulness in the Midst of the Holocaust.”
[…]This is the powerful story that WND Films is endeavoring to make. And we need your help to tell it. Just like “Dunkirk” is reminding a generation that freedom is not free … it costs everything. Anita’s story will help restore belief in God’s providence … and that He alone has paid true freedom’s cost.
Actually, if you don’t have a $100 million budget and Christopher Nolan as director, you’re probably not going to end up with another “Dunkirk.”
And it’s pretty clear that won’t be happening anytime soon. WND’s GoFundMe campaign has raised just $5,273 as of this writing a full month into the campaign.