SPLC website screenshot of its 2019 "hate map." The CARES Act, a stimulus package to help Americans struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, established the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help small businesses retain employees during and after COVID-19 lockdowns. Last week, NBC News claimed that no fewer than 14 “hate groups” received $4.3 million in forgivable loans from PPP. While the NBC News report did highlight one especially noxious group on the list, it largely relied on the biased and corrupt Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to smear mainstream conservative organizations as “hate groups.” The SPLC, which gained national notoreity (and millions in donations) for bankrupting organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, expanded its “Klanwatch” program to smear its political and ideological opponents as “hate groups.” The SPLC’s history gives the accusation undue weight, and the SPLC repeatedly uses the “hate group” accusation to suggest mainstream conservative groups pose a danger to society similar to the racial terrorism perpetrated by the KKK.