Sex Workers & A Secret Charity: The Story Of Cory Mills's 'F*cking Bananas' Afghanistan Mission

[Nevilledog]

https://sollenbergerrc.substack.com/p/sex-workers-and-a-secret-charity

The nation, or at least the Fox News nation, first met Cory Mills in the summer of 2021, a few months into his first congressional campaign.

The Biden administration’s military withdrawal from Afghanistan had erupted in chaos, overwhelming the government’s resources to evacuate American citizens. And Mills—a former Army medic who drove an ambulance in Iraq—seized a chance to take the national stage and separate himself from the primary pack: He joined a private extraction team to evacuate a family of American citizens fleeing the Taliban.

In his many retellings of the saga since then, Mills leans into the drama, styling himself as much an active member of the special forces as an active member of Congress.

“I’m actually the only member of Congress who actually went over and conducted rescues of Americans in Afghanistan when Biden and his administration intentionally left Americans to die,” Mills told Fox News in 2023, promoting congressional hearings on the withdrawal. (This isn’t true: Then-Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK)—who now serves in the Senate—was also involved in Afghanistan rescue efforts, a fact that was widely reported at the time and often mentioned in stories featuring Mills.)

Nonetheless, the mission made Mills a MAGA star and Fox News darling. He hyped the trip in numerous media interviews at the time, citing what Mills characterized, falsely, as his “special operations background” while trashing the State Department. Eventually, Mills parlayed this experience into a seat in Congress, racking up a landslide 2022 midterm victory in Florida’s newly gerrymandered 7th district. By the summer of 2024, Mills had climbed the MAGA ladder, and was in the presidential V.I.P. box at the Republican National Convention alongside presidential nominee Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, J.D. Vance.

*snip*

[mercuryblues]

1. This guy has Magaism down pat

Lie, steal, abuse, prostitutes...