MAGA Actress Patricia Heaton Reveals Secret Hollywood Code Used by Conservatives To Find Allies During Obama Era

Hollywood may have been full of famous faces, but Patricia Heaton claims conservative performers once had to look twice before revealing what they really believed.

The 'Everybody Loves Raymond' and 'The Middle' actress said conservatives in the entertainment industry created a discreet way to identify people who shared their political views, using the phrase 'Friend of Abe' or the initials 'FOA' as a private signal during the Obama era.

Heaton Explains the Secret FOA Code

According to Heaton, the code was deliberately simple. Someone could quietly ask a colleague, 'Are you a friend of Abe?' or 'Are you FOA?' A positive response would indicate that the person was likely conservative, independent or simply not a Democrat.

Heaton explained that the signal gave members confidence that they were speaking to someone who understood their political position.

'You could ask someone if they are a friend of Abe, or FOA, and if they said yeah, then you know there was another conservative or independent, or someone who is not a Democrat, that you could talk to without feeling like you were going to get in trouble at your job,' she said.

The actress portrayed the system as less of a political operation and more of a discreet way for people to find companionship in an industry where they believed their views were not always welcome.

Friends of Abe Started as a Safe Space

Heaton said the network was created because many entertainment professionals felt uncomfortable expressing conservative opinions openly.

'There were a lot of people that felt like they couldn't say anything who were conservative. And we ended up having to make a secret group,' she recalled.

Friends of Abe took its name from Abraham Lincoln and was reportedly founded in the mid-2000s by actor Gary Sinise and others.

Heaton remembered Sinise approaching her and her husband, David Hunt, about hosting an early meeting at their home. The gathering was expected to involve only a few dozen people, but she said around 80 guests eventually arrived.

Hollywood Stars Could Finally Speak Freely

The meetings were not presented by Heaton as campaign events or fundraising operations. Instead, she said the purpose was simply to give people somewhere to socialise and discuss politics without worrying that their careers could suffer.

'All it was was fellowship. We weren't raising money for candidates. We didn't go protest anything,' Heaton said. 'It was just to go hang out, be able to talk freely without worrying about losing your job.'

That sense of relief was apparently one of the group's biggest attractions. Members could encounter colleagues they already knew professionally and suddenly discover that they shared similar political views.

Heaton recalled the reaction when members recognised one another at meetings.

'People would come to these FOA meetings and they would see people that they worked with and they were like, 'You're FOA.' They'd be like, 'Oh, you're FOA. My god,'' she said.

Although Heaton described Friends of Abe as a 'secret group', its existence eventually became widely known. The network reportedly grew to more than 1,000 members and developed a website and executive director as it became a more established organisation.