If you ever walked down a city street and saw someone standing on a box with a microphone screaming about the end of the world and government conspiracies, it honestly could’ve been Maurice Symonette. This 69-year-old Black man is former President Trump’s biggest groupie and the founder of the “Blacks for Trump.” Yet, his discipleship to super villains began with a violent cult based in Miami, according to a report. Surprising? Not really. Plot of American Horror Story? Probably.
According to The Intercept, he followed cult leader Yahweh ben Yahweh who was accused of conspiracy to murder after trying to sacrifice 14 white people for an initiation ritual. Local Florida news reported the so-called “Temple of Love” was built on a “Hebrew Israelite belief system” and Yahweh (whose government name is Hulon Mitchell Jr.) often referred to himself as Jesus. Then, Mr. High-and-Mighty was accused of ordering his followers to stab, behead and severe the limbs of people who threatened him, local news reported. Symonette was charged in two of the murders but was acquitted.
Symonette rebranded himself to ‘Michael the Black Man,’ the conspiracy theorist who condemns the gays and despises the Democratic Party. Per his website, he claims high-profile Black people including Barack Obama and Rep. Maxine Waters are “fake Black people.” Oh, and Oprah is the devil. He fed into the coronavirus conspiracies, waved a sign accusing Obama of endorsing the KKK and justifies his beliefs on Bible passages, The Intercept reported.
From The Intercept:
His online sermons and writings suggest that he still sees himself as a follower of the cult leader, who died in 2007. In July, for instance, he declared on Facebook that he had received a divinely inspired cure for Covid-19 from the late cult leader. “I Michael can teach & give the World & Pres. Trump the Conqueror of Pharaoh the gift from YAHWEH BEN YAHWEH which is the true cure for Corona,” Symonette wrote. Before turning over this cure, he added, “we must remove the Conquered Pharaoh Magician’s FAUCI.”
Symonette garnered more attention once spotting him behind Trump in every campaign rally became a game of Where’s Waldo? Waving a “Blacks for Trump” sign with a matching t-shirt, Symonette was a true ride-or-die. The Intercept reported he stood behind Trump’s passive response to the Charlottesville riot and supported his presidential campaign against “our radical Democrats.” He also called on Trump to pardon cult-leader Yahweh.
From The Intercept:
For years before Trump emerged as a candidate, Symonette had been trying with less success to use campaign rallies as a vehicle to spread his strange hybrid of politics, religion, and delusion.Ahead of the 2012 Republican presidential primary in Florida, Symonette appeared under the stage name Michael Warns as the lead singer in a band opening a campaign rally for former Republican Sen. Rick Santorum in Coral Springs. “Remember Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and all of them were all Republicans,” Symonette sang. “The Democrats, they’re the worst thing that ever happened to the Black man.”
Recently, The Miami Times reported he was spotted supporting the voting campaign “Say Yes Press 240” to incorporate Florida neighborhood Biscayne Gardens. The Democrats behind the operation did not seem enthused about his support. “Say Yes Press 240” organizer Elizabeth Judd told the Miami Times, “I agree there’s bias. I’d never say what he’s saying - He gets attention.” In other words, free press ain’t never hurt nobody.
As soon as you thought Trump’s followers couldn’t be any more out of their minds, someone like Symonette reminds us they absolutely can.