{{Short description|American criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor (born 1968)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox person | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1968|10|30}} | children = 5 | occupation = Attorney | political_party = Democratic (since 2021) | other_party = Republican (until 2021) }}
'''Ron Filipkowski''' (born October 30, 1968)<ref>{{Cite tweet |number=1719113098252922923 |user=RonFilipkowski |title=It is Ivanka's birthday today, as well as my own. Thankfully, I will not be at this party. |first=Ron |last=Filipkowski |date=October 30, 2023 |access-date=January 21, 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240306132748/https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1719113098252922923 |archive-date=March 6, 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="McGraw-2023">{{Cite web |last=McGraw |first=Meridith |date=2023-08-17 |title=The Hard-Tweeting Defense Lawyer GOP Candidates Have Learned to Fear |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/08/17/ron-filipkowski-desantis-trump-00110950 |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Politico |language=en |archive-date=January 20, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240120014118/https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/08/17/ron-filipkowski-desantis-trump-00110950 |url-status=live}}</ref> is an American criminal defense attorney and former state and federal prosecutor who is known for sharing political clips and commentary on social media.<ref name="McGraw-2023" /><ref name="Klas-2020" /> He is the editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch Network, a liberal news website.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Jacobson |first1=Louis |last2=Putterman |first2=Samantha |last3=Sherman |first3=Amy |date=October 26, 2023 |title=Did Donald Trump make these 27 campaign promises? Fact-checking this viral list |url=https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/oct/26/did-donald-trump-make-these-27-campaign-promises-f/ |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=PolitiFact |language=en-US |archive-date=October 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231031060147/https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/oct/26/did-donald-trump-make-these-27-campaign-promises-f/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Early life== Filipkowski grew up on Cape Cod<ref name="Doleatto-2022" /> with his mother, a single parent. He worked to pay his college fees.<ref name="McGraw-2023" />
==Career== Filipkowski served as a Marine from 1986 to 1990.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Filipkowski |first=Ron |date=2020-08-27 |title=I'm a veteran — and I'm sick of Trump lying about what he did for my health care |url=https://americanjournalnews.com/donald-trump-veterans-choice-military-health-care-barack-obama-marines-ron-filipkowski/ |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=American Journal News |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2008, Filipkowski ran on the Republican ticket for public defender in Florida's 12th Judicial Circuit. He was elected president of the Republican Club of South Sarasota County in 2009 and 2010.<ref name="Doleatto-2022" /><ref name="McGraw-2023" /> In December 2020, Filipkowski resigned from his judicial nominating committee appointment, citing Florida governor Ron DeSantis's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. His departure came a day after data analyst Rebekah Jones had her home raided by Florida's Department of Law Enforcement.<ref name="Klas-2020">{{Cite web |last=Klas |first=Mary Ellen |date=December 9, 2020 |title=GOP lawyer resigns over treatment of Florida data analyst |url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2020/12/08/gop-lawyer-resigns-over-treatment-of-florida-data-analyst/ |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en |archive-date=September 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230913040134/https://www.tampabay.com/news/florida-politics/2020/12/08/gop-lawyer-resigns-over-treatment-of-florida-data-analyst/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="McGraw-2023" />
Prior to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Filipkowski started tracking far-right extremists on social media, working with two anonymous researchers to monitor livestreamed events, social media, podcasts and radio shows and post their findings on Twitter.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Gaudiano |first=Nicole |date=December 31, 2021 |title=A former Marine and prosecutor who monitors Trump's base online worries confrontations over race and gender education could endanger school-board members |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/marine-ron-filipkowski-monitors-trump-supporters-rightwing-conspiracy-theories-online-2021-12 |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US |archive-date=December 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201224534/https://www.businessinsider.com/marine-ron-filipkowski-monitors-trump-supporters-rightwing-conspiracy-theories-online-2021-12 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Doleatto-2022" /> In February 2022, Filipkowski said he and his team had turned over "hundreds of very obscure interviews and podcasts from the planners, leaders and participants" of the January 6 Capitol attack to the January 6 Committee.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gaudiano |first=Nicole |date=February 5, 2022 |title=A former Marine and prosecutor who monitors Trump's base online has turned over information to the January 6 select committee |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/marine-ron-ron-filipkowski-tracking-trumps-base-helps-jan-6-committee-2022-2 |access-date=2024-01-24 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US |archive-date=January 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240124111522/https://www.businessinsider.com/marine-ron-ron-filipkowski-tracking-trumps-base-helps-jan-6-committee-2022-2 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Filipkowski is the editor-in-chief of the liberal news website MeidasTouch Network.<ref name="McGraw-2023" /> He has written opinion pieces for ''The Daily Beast''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-04-22 |title=Ron Filipkowski |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/ron-filipowski |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=The Daily Beast |language=en |archive-date=May 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240509133806/https://www.thedailybeast.com/author/ron-filipowski |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2024, he said, "The Meidas guys, as a team, said: We are going to do this to Trump. We are going to hit every gaffe, every mispronunciation, every slurred word, every mispronounced name, every time he mixes up a name. We're going to clip that and we're going to put it out and we're going to put it in montages. No one else was doing that."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.semafor.com/article/03/19/2024/the-viral-bloodbath-clip-and-the-rise-of-the-liberal-video-influencer|title=The viral 'bloodbath' clip and the rise of the liberal video influencer|date=March 20, 2024|access-date=April 8, 2024|website=Semafor|last=Weigel|first=David|author-link=David Weigel|archive-date=April 8, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240408045815/https://www.semafor.com/article/03/19/2024/the-viral-bloodbath-clip-and-the-rise-of-the-liberal-video-influencer|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Views== Filipkowski was a member of the Republican Party until January 2021, when he registered as a Democrat following the January 6 Capitol attack.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="McGraw-2023" /> He describes himself as a moderate Democrat.<ref name="Doleatto-2022">{{Cite web |last=Doleatto |first=Kim |date=August 22, 2022 |title=Former Republican Stalwart Ron Filipkowski Uses Twitter to Track the Far Right |url=https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/news-and-profiles/2022/08/ron-filipkowski-twitter-politics-far-right |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=Sarasota Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=December 8, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208160718/https://www.sarasotamagazine.com/news-and-profiles/2022/08/ron-filipkowski-twitter-politics-far-right |url-status=live }}</ref> Filipkowski is critical of Donald Trump and DeSantis.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tomazin |first=Farrah |date=2022-04-14 |title=Meet Ron Desantis, the Trump rival taking on 'woke' Disney in the culture wars |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/meet-ron-desantis-the-trump-rival-taking-on-woke-disney-in-the-culture-wars-20220413-p5ad2w.html |access-date=2024-01-21 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=July 4, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230704211927/https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/meet-ron-desantis-the-trump-rival-taking-on-woke-disney-in-the-culture-wars-20220413-p5ad2w.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="McGraw-2023" /> During the 2020 election cycle, Filipkowski recorded a video consisting of reasons he thought the Republican Party should not re-elect Trump as part of an ad campaign by Republican Voters Against Trump, a group launched by Bill Kristol.<ref name="McGraw-2023" />
In December 2020, Filipkowski criticized DeSantis's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as "reckless and irresponsible". Following a raid on Rebekah Jones's home, he suggested that she was targeted for questioning DeSantis's approach to the pandemic.<ref name="Klas-2020" /><ref name="McGraw-2023" /> After Jones's accusations of being fired for not manipulating COVID-19 data were determined to be unfounded, Filipkowski has since criticized her as a "fraud" and a "grifter".<ref name="McGraw-2023" />
== Personal life == Filipkowski is married. He and his wife have five children; their first son is named Ronald Reagan Filipkowski.<ref name="McGraw-2023" /> Filipkowski has coached a Little League Baseball team, leading it to six state championships. In 2010, he was named the 13-U National Coach of the Year by the baseball publication ''Travel Ball Select''.<ref name="McGraw-2023" /> In 2011, he published a manual for youth baseball coaches titled ''Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successful Travel Baseball Team''.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Filipkowski |first=Ron |title=Travelball: How to Start and Manage a Successful Travel Baseball Team |date=2011-02-05 |publisher=Harmonic Research Associates |isbn=978-1-933198-29-3 |language=English }}</ref><ref name="McGraw-2023" /> Filipkowski ran triathlons, competing in the national championship when he was 50. He later suffered nerve damage to his foot while running sprints, preventing him from running.<ref name="McGraw-2023" />
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== * {{Bluesky|handle=ronfilipkowski.bsky.social}} * {{Twitter|id=RonFilipkowski}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Filipkowski, Ron}} Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American lawyers Category:United States Marine Corps non-commissioned officers Category:People from Sarasota, Florida Category:Never Trump movement Category:Criticism of Donald Trump Category:Florida Republicans Category:Florida Democrats