Cindy Ficklin, a Grand Junction realtor and conservative activist who is now running for the Colorado House of Representatives, believes that by listening to people and fighting for constitutional rights, she can bring the people of Mesa County together. She also believes that a small group of billionaires including George Soros and the Rothschild family may secretly control global banking and are pushing to subjugate America under a “New World Order.”
Ficklin, a former math teacher and principal, says her political activism began in 2015 with the Obama administration’s Common Core math curriculum. Unwilling to implement what she saw as ineffective lessons, Ficklin says she resigned her position running a juvenile corrections school, walked into the Mesa County Republican Party office, and asked how she could help. There she says she was welcomed into political activism.
Ficklin was already an avid Facebook user with a large audience. Her frequent posts teeming with energy and peppered with emojis effectively engage the reader, but mostly focused on family and her real estate business. She posted on politics more often as the 2016 presidential campaign heated up.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, however, Ficklin’s Facebook posts promote a dizzying array of conspiracies, most focusing on either the “New World Order” or COVID. She describes her process of “researching” these claims as “going down the rabbit hole.” She’s posted dozens of conspiracy related posts since March of last year, often referring to them as conspiracy theories, or writing “not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but…”
A post from last September dives deep into one the oldest and more pervasive conspiracies, that powerful Jewish men such as George Soros and the Rothschild family control the global economy.
“BLOWING THE LID OFF the Rabbit Hole to Hell,” posted Ficklin in September 2020. “George Soros seems to be very much at the center of ALL this craziness in 2020. — (It’s the culmination of his ‘Great Campaigns.’) If you don’t know who George Soros is … You’re not alone. — (He’s one of the monsters in the shadows). Soros seems to control even the Rothschilds … (who control all the banks of the world). Bill Gates is a Rothchild, btw. — (I included his family tree as evidence)…”
She described the 2020 election as “fraud on a stick.” She claims the government public health response to the pandemic is intended to crash the economy to usher in the “New World Order.”
Other conspiracies she’s promoted include the possibility that COVID vaccines are both ineffective and/or deadly, and that they carry nanotechnology devices.
In response to the Colorado Times Recorder noting the anti-Semitic origins of claims that a handful of Jewish families control the world’s banks, Ficklin replied, “My maiden name is Paschal, which means Passover in Hebrew, so I’m definitely not anti-Semitic.”
In defense of her theories, Ficklin shared a video called “Monopoly.” Created by conspiracy site “Stop World Control.” Purporting to reveal those who “own the world,” the movie’s blends factual information about the staggering size of the nation’s largest investment firms with a jumble of classic and new conspiracy theories, many of which are linked to QAnon.
Here’s the film’s summary provided by the “Stop World Control” conspiracy site that posted it to Rumble:
“This incredibly eye opening documentary reveals something astonishing: the majority of our world is owned by the very same people. Because of this they can control the entire world and impose their wicked agenda onto all of humanity. This is the time to expose them and to rise up as one to defend our freedom. The name of the two companies who virtually owns the world’ are Vanguard and BlackRock. They are at the heart of the Deep State or Cabal. Their plan is the Great Reset where they want to enslave every human on earth.”
The hour-long movie promotes numerous conspiracies, from Soros-Rothschilds-Gates controlling the world economy and all media, the United Nations Agenda 21/30 conspiracy, the recent claim that COVID was created and released intentionally, the claim that Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes were a plot to blackmail other rich & powerful individuals, and even the assassinations of JFK and John Lennon being perpetrated by the global elite.
The focus on powerful Jewish men controlling the economy is unmistakable, from the aging Rothschilds superimposed on a mansion to Blackrock CEO Larry Fink depicted as a puppeteer pulling the strings of the entire planet. The video also highlighted a headline about the suicide of an actor who was a QAnon supporter.
The video links all of the various conspiracies together with QAnon language warning that a “Great Reset” by the global elites will lead to a “New World Order,” unless viewers undergo a “Great Awakening” that can only occur by sharing the video with everyone they know.
“It’s kind of like the Illuminati,” said Ficklin, explaining the movie. “There’s all these people in power that control most of the money, Most of the Big Tech. Most of Big Pharma. And I’m watching it, and I’m just like, What the heck? So my eye is on that. I just want everyone to feel like they are free to be the individuals that they are. And wake up every day and feel like they can breathe free American air again because it feels very stifling and very like, ‘We’re going to have to put masks on you guys again, and on your children, and we’re going to make you not be able to go to events and so on.’ When does this end? We just want to be back to our normal country again.”
After reviewing various fact-checking articles shared with her by the the Colorado Times Recorder in response to the conspiracy movie, Ficklin says she believes “the truth is somewhere in the middle.” In response to an inquiry as to where she get her news, she said the following:
“The Epoch Times and Dan Bongino and Ben Shapiro are my favorite conservative sources, along with Tucker Carlson), said Ficklin. “I love Tucker, but I recognize that he’s gone far right this year. The Natural News is a far right source that’s pretty interesting, but it’s a little “out there…” I also watch CNN (Don Lemon mostly). Tucker hates Don, but I find value in some of the things he says. I think he loves this country like I do. And I read the Daily Sentinel here in Grand Junction. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle.
I also hope we can bring the country together around our common ground. I think each side needs to get out of its own echo chamber and start treating one another with respect. That’s the only way to save the country. And I want to be part of that.”
In addition to wanting to share her research simply to “open the eyes” of others, Ficklin acknowledges that her many many posts have had a side benefit, particularly during the pandemic: increasing her real estate client list.
“But there’s good stuff that came from all this, from COVID,” says Ficklin. “Talk about an explosion of opportunity tech-wise… . I do a lot of business from Facebook. Whenever I get fired up about stuff, I put it on Facebook. They know I’m a realtor. If they if they feel the way that I do, it’s me that they call to sell their houses. But people weren’t that plugged in to social media until everyone was at home during COVID, trying to make sense out of all this.”
Asked if being elected to public office would influence her social media posts, Ficklin said that it would.
“If I’m elected to office, then the way that I talk, and how I’m out there [publicly] has to shift,” said Ficklin. “It needs to be different and I’m learning as I go along here and I want to do it right.”
Last weekend Ficklin attended the Western Conservative Action Network political conference in Salt Lake City. Headlining the event was former Trump National Security Advisor and QAnon promoter General Michael Flynn. Ficklin said she wasn’t aware of Flynn’s QAnon links, and said she attended in order to see Dr. Simone Gold, founder of a right-wing COVID misinformation group of medical professionals called America’s Frontline Doctors (AFD).
Gold, who is facing multiple charges for not only entering the U.S. Capitol building as part of the Jan. 6 insurrection but giving a speech in the rotunda, urges people not to get the COVID vaccine. Other members of AFD spoke in Grand Junction earlier this summer. The group encourages Americans to take unproven and possibly dangerous alternative treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which it sells on its website.
Ficklin wasn’t the only Mesa County resident at the event. Clerk Tina Peters, one of the featured speakers, continued to promote the unfounded conspiracy that the election was rigged, adding the new claim that her deputy clerk, who faces a felony charge, was framed.
Ficklin says Peters is a friend and says that based on the data she’s seen that Peters has been discussing, it looks like fraud occurred, but she doesn’t believe that all of the facts are known and they may not be known until the next election cycle. She’s focused on making sure the upcoming election is secure and has signed up with the county to participate in the hand count that new election administrator, Sheila Reinart. will conduct in late November following the certification of next week’s election results.
Peters and Ficklin are both graduates of the Leadership Program of the Rockies, Colorado’s most prominent conservative candidate training class. LPR trains dozens of aspiring Republican candidates and operatives every year, and can point to countless graduates in elected office and staff position from the local to federal level. In addition to Peters and Ficklin, many other recent graduates have publicly promoted conspiracy theories, including Ficklin’s classmate Schumé Navarro (LPR ’20), Ty Winter (LPR ’20) Raymond Garcia (LPR ’20), Danny Moore (LPR ’19), and Vanessa DeMott (LPR ’18).
