Margo Baldwin has faced criticism in recent months for promoting discredited theories about Covid-19 and the vaccines intended to prevent its spread. Chelsea Green, the White River Junction publishing house she runs, is the force behind the bestselling book “The Truth About Covid-19,” written by Dr. Joseph Mercola — a man the New York Times dubbed “the most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation online.”
Baldwin appears unfazed by the blowback. Earlier this month, the Chelsea Green publisher and president attempted to help organize a bus trip to the Jan. 23 “Defeat the Mandates, an American Homecoming” rally in Washington, D.C.
One hiccup: The bus company didn’t want anything to do with the trip.
On Jan. 9, two posts appeared on the Woodstock Community Crier Listserv advertising a chartered bus to the D.C. rally that would leave White River Junction on the morning of Jan. 23. Those interested in joining the ride were instructed to contact Margo Baldwin.
Asked about the bus, Baldwin at first denied involvement. “I’m not organizing a bus or anything,” she wrote in an email to VTDigger.
Asked if she was aware that people were instructing Woodstock residents to contact her if they wanted to get a seat on the bus to D.C., Baldwin expanded upon her involvement.
In response to questions about chartering a bus to the rally, Baldwin said she “was helping to look into it, but am not involved anymore. I might ask what business is it of yours what I do in terms of my own private life.”
The original Listserv poster later clarified that the bus company had told organizers that it did not want to transport the group. The poster believed the denial of service to be political punishment.
Vermont Stands Up, a group opposing Covid-related mandates and restrictions, has advertised the Defeat the Mandate rally to its followers. “Currently, the COVID crisis of the past two years, the ensuing mandates, sanctioned discrimination against the unvaccinated, and threats to informed consent and bodily autonomy are the most pressing issues to address,” reads the group’s website.
Aimee Stephenson, a leader of Vermont Stands Up, denied the group’s direct involvement in organizing the bus trip. “We asked people, you know, if people were going, if they wanted to be connected, but there’s no organized effort. It’s just like, who else might be going?” she said.
The Defeat the Mandates rally is expected to feature speakers such as Dr. Robert Malone — a vaccine critic who appeared on Joe Rogan’s podcast — and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an outspoken vaccine conspiracy theorist. (Baldwin has also promoted the rally in her Twitter feed and has retweeted Kennedy.)
The ideas espoused at the rally would fall in line with some of Chelsea Green’s most popular and controversial titles, including Mercola’s “The Truth about Covid-19,” which has sold more than a quarter of a million copies. The book promotes a conspiracy that “global elites” manufactured the pandemic as a power grab.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., penned a letter to Amazon Sept. 7, citing “The Truth about Covid-19” as an example of dangerous misinformation that the company’s search algorithms amplify. “The book perpetuates dangerous conspiracies about COVID-19 and false and misleading information about vaccines,” Warren wrote.
In November, Chelsea Green filed a federal civil lawsuit against Warren for her letter, claiming it stifled free speech.
Baldwin did not respond to further requests for comment.
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