A billionaire conservative philanthropist considered by some to be the “George Soros of the right” has called for the right to start “weaponizing” their ideas the way the left does with theirs.
Billionaire Leonard Leo, a former president of the Federalist Society and a big influence on right-wing politics, issued the call in a letter he sent this week to a number of groups that are supported by his 501(c)(3) nonprofit, The 85 Fund.
Leonard Leo, former president of the Federalist Society, who is a daily Mass goer, deserves a big appreciation for recommending some of the recent Supreme Court appointments to the sitting presidents because those appointments paved the way for the overturning of Roe vs Wade. pic.twitter.com/ljZrVECWH6
— Sachin Jose (@Sachinettiyil) June 26, 2022
“The Left built powerful networks of activists, academics, journalists, and philanthropists, along with professionals from other disciplines, who could collaborate to influence public attitudes and generate political pressure on public officials,” he wrote. “They invested in talent pipelines to populate the power centers inside government, where policy would be implemented.”
“They incubated litigation as a means of leveraging the law to produce change. And, beyond politics and law, left-wing philanthropy built or took over enormous infrastructure to control various cultural chokepoints — especially media, entertainment, higher education, and corporate America. The Left correctly saw these institutions as catalysts for the radical social and political change they wanted to achieve, and their philanthropic investments were very smart and impactful,” he added.
He continued by noting that “the most important and entrepreneurial move by the Left” has been the launch of “large funding engines, 501(c)(4) as well as 501(c)(3), that incubate action-oriented campaigns, spur litigation, and build extensive networks and talent pipelines.”
The two most prominent, he noted, are the George Soros-funded Tides Foundation and the Hansjörg Wyss-backed Arabella Advisors.
Arabella Advisors is linked to North Fund, which in turn is linked to Accountable Tech, a left-wing, dark-money-funded group that led a campaign in 2022 to pressure advertisers into dropping Twitter unless the social media network agreed to a list of “non-negotiable” stipulations.
Clinton-linked dark money group behind campaign to pressure advertisers to dump Twitter https://t.co/wguB0xTo2B pic.twitter.com/ORp7wStSj6
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) November 18, 2022
“Arabella’s and Tides Network’s constellations of groups, spend over $1 billion a year on operationalizing and weaponizing the Left’s philosophy,” Leo wrote in his letter.
“In contrast, vastly insufficient funds are going toward operationalizing and weaponizing [conservative] ideas and policies to crush liberal dominance,” he added.
And that’s where he enters the picture: Leo is putting his money where his mouth is by investing $1 billion into turning the political tide in America.
“We need to crush liberal dominance where it’s most insidious, so we’ll direct resources to build talent and capital formation pipelines in the areas of news and entertainment, where leftwing extremism is most evident,” he told the Financial Times in an interview.
“Expect us to increase support for organizations that call out companies and financial institutions that bend to the woke mind virus spread by regulators and NGOs, so that they have to pay a price for putting extreme leftwing ideology ahead of consumers,” he added.
That said, his non-profit advocacy group, the Marble Freedom Trust, reportedly hasn’t been donating to affect the 2024 presidential election.
“The non-profit is instead helping the Republican effort to end the Democratic majority in the Senate, which confirms judges and justices,” the Times notes.
“The political environment is more topsy-turvy and more uncertain than it’s ever been in my lifetime,” Leo told the outlet. “Political investing is not as good a bet as it used to be.”
Fair enough.
Leonard Leo, megadonor and former executive vp of the Federalist Society, told the Financial Times his “nonprofit” group was pledging $1 billion to “crush liberal dominance” in corporate America and target “companies and financial institutions that bend to the woke mind virus,”
— Susan Baker (@SusanBa92489649) September 12, 2024
Leo has also pledged to stop funding groups that aren’t doing enough on their part to stop the rise of “liberal dominance.”
“Leonard Leo, the conservative activist with an estimated $1 billion at his disposal, is threatening to withhold money from the dozens of groups he supports unless they develop plans to ‘weaponize’ their ideas,” Axios has confirmed.
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