A young man who openly boasted that he turned in his own father to the FBI for attending the January 6, 2021 Capitol protest was rewarded by liberals with nearly $200,000, which he raised on GoFundMe, saying he would “save[] it for years to come.”
After Jackson Reffitt, a long-haired, far-left Texan who is now 21, turned in his father to the FBI and then testified against him at trial, his father, Guy Reffitt, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.
Jackson first ratted on his father even before January 6, with the then-18 year old filing an online tip on Christmas Eve, 2020 that his dad “was going to do something big.”
After his father returned, Jackson secretly recorded him discussing his actions, then gave the recordings to the FBI. On January 16, 2021, the FBI raided the family home and arrested Guy. On January 22, Jackson went on CNN to take credit, saying his dad is “an adult and made his own decisions.” Former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo praised him.
Then he created a GoFundMe to cash in, saying he “was interviewed on CNN and got so much support from thousands of people.”
“So many asked for a Go Fund Me so here it is. Every penny is another course in college or me saving it for years to come. I might be kicked out of my house due to my involvement in my dad’s case, so every cent might help me survive,” the page read. It raised $195,000 from 5,500 people.
According to public records, Jackson attended Collin County Community College, and the median home value in his area is $187,000. Jackson’s own social media feed is full of posts praising left-wingers who occupy universities and clash with police in ways similar to January 6.
In court, Guy cried as his son testified against him for three hours, with the son saying he didn’t regret turning him in. The judge said in imposing a sentence that, “He bragged to his family about what he did at the Capitol. Those comments were taped by his son Jackson.”
On Tuesday, in an interview with The Daily Beast, he said, “My dad ran up the Capitol steps under Trump flags.” Guy did not enter the Capitol or engage in any violence, though he brought a gun with him to D.C. and spent 44 minutes on an outside staircase, records show.
Jackson now blames Trump for his father’s incarceration, saying, “Trump destroyed my whole family… Without Trump, my family would still be together. I 100 percent guarantee you. It was a perfect family.”
Xi Van Fleet, who escaped Communist China, said this is reminiscent of China under Mao.
“Family members turning against each other was the hallmark of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. Now it is in America,” Van Fleet said.
James Lindsay, a scholar of Marxism, said it was “classic Communist behavior. Brainwashed against his family then externalizes and misdirects the blame against the object of political hatred.”
Soviet propaganda lauded Pavlik Morozov, a 13-year old boy who was praised by the authorities as a martyr after turning in his father for consorting with “enemies of the Soviet state.” His father was given the death penalty, and other family members were said to have killed the boy in retribution.
In 2023, the Washington Post painted a portrait of a family that was seeking reconciliation. The mother supports her husband, and Jackson’s sisters are no fans of Trump, but think it doesn’t excuse turning on their father, it said. One of the sisters began having panic attacks, while another moved to D.C. and held vigils outside the jail in support of her father. Guy took responsibility for his actions and forgave his son, the Post said.
But Jackson was more stubborn. When his mother broke down, saying “I don’t know what to do anymore,” he began lecturing her about politics.
When they came together again to forgive and move on, Jackson trotted out a list he had compiled of the family betraying him by commenting on his betrayal, dredging up that his sister once said he was “making the family a political statement and sold ya’ll out.”