I think tank europei favorevoli al MAGA che Trump vuole finanziare

The U.S. is reorienting its foreign funding program to export MAGA ideology to Europe — and a growing set of far-right and conservative think tanks and political groups are lining up to take Washington’s money.

U.S. State Department officials have held early talks about government funding with representatives of the new MAGA-supporting French think tank Western Arc and Britain’s Free Speech Union, an advocacy group.

Those approaches were informed by a list provided to U.S. officials by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation of groups the MAGA-aligned think tank described as “like-minded.” Other far-right and conservative groups in Italy and Brussels told POLITICO they would also be interested in support from a U.S. administration they see as an ally.

POLITICO spoke to representatives from 10 European think tanks and policy groups, all of them aligned in some way with far-right politics. They described a burgeoning ecosystem of ideologically-aligned organizations that had rapidly professionalized in recent years and were working to build cooperation with similar groups across the Atlantic.

With U.S. President Donald Trump’s second presidency giving European nationalists and hardline conservatives a champion at the head of the world’s largest economic and military power, groups on both sides of the Atlantic want to seize the moment. Their ambition is to repurpose the soft-power tools America once deployed to spread the gospel of liberalism, to expand their reach and power and ultimately rebuild the West in their image — a project both sides call a “civilizational alliance.”

French connection

Nicolas Conquer, a former media director for Republicans Overseas France, launched Western Arc, a self-described “MAGA-inspired” think tank in Paris in December. Conquer, a French-American citizen, said he had discussed specific projects that could receive funding with several U.S. State Department officials.

Western Arc pledges to connect “ideas, people and projects” across the Atlantic to “organize western civilizational renewal.” Its mission statement aligns closely with language from the U.S. National Security Strategy, released earlier that month, as well as a prior essay from Samuel Samson, a senior adviser for the U.S. State Department.

Conquer said he had been in touch with Samson and others in the U.S. State Department in the past few months and was exploring ideas for projects of mutual interest, such as stakeholder mapping or transatlantic trips for targeted groups, including around the 250th anniversary celebrations of U.S. independence this July.

“There is this logic, which I think is very healthy, of project-based funding,” Conquer said. 

The U.S. State Department did not answer a detailed list of questions. But in response to a query about U.S. funding of European organizations, a spokesperson said: “This is a transparent, lawful use of resources to advance U.S. interests and values abroad.” 

Samson made headlines last year for proposing the use of American taxpayer funds to support far-right leader Marine Le Pen. He traveled to European capitals last May to meet with NGOs and civil society groups.

U.S. State Department officials approached The Heritage Foundation in the second half of last year to ask which organizations in Europe would be viable targets for funding, said Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow Paul McCarthy.

We’ve suggested some institutions, just a few names of organizations back in the late summer, early fall. And maybe that formed the basis of it,” he said. 

The amount of money discussed at that time was “tiny.” That was before the U.S. National Security Strategy laid out a policy of “cultivating resistance” in Europe and boosting organizations that stood against left wing “censorship” and migration policies that it said were “transforming the continent and creating strife.”

“Once they got the imprimatur in the national strategy, it’s really taking off right now,” said McCarthy, while stressing he had no inside knowledge of the State Department’s latest plans.

Last week the FT reported that U.S. Under Secretary of State Sarah Rogers was pushing a funding program for think tanks and institutes, with a focus on London, Brussels, Paris and Berlin. In December she met with Toby Young, a British social commentator and founder of the Free Speech Union. 

“We’ve discussed the possibility of the State Department funding some of the FSU’s sister organisations in other parts of the world, but not the organisation I run,” Young said. He would not be drawn on which organizations he meant, but the British Free Speech Union is affiliated with similar bodies in Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand, indicating the U.S. State Department’s plans may not be confined to Europe.

Check out that guy Nicolas Conquer, he’s a real treat /s

some would say he’s a grifter, some a traitor to europe and some a smart politician.

i don’t see anything smart in voting for a politician who takes money from other countries. no matter who it is.

The only “thinking” these organizations do is finding ways to get people to go along with obvious lies.

We Europeans should fund all organisations in USA that are against MAGA

Republican talking points already seep into our political discourse through far right parties. Think tanks not only help formulate strategies, they will help lobby for their cause.

The (social) media landscape can easily be titled into a certain direction as we’ve seen in the US over the course of the last 5 years.

Imagine European influencers being paid the same way American ones are being paid to parrot MAGA tropes. Money usually favors center right talking points anyway… The far right often works as an accelerator for those, so there’s a synergetic effect that could easily be harnessed

There is a push in Europe to decouple from US software and social media platforms. But as we build our own, these conservative think tanks could influence how an EU digital ecosystem would look like.

People shouldn’t dismiss this so quickly. It’s a real threat.

Hold on a minute. Isn’t Trump one of the biggest whiners when other countries interfere in American politics🤔 one might think he was hypocrite, if it wasn’t for the fact him being a complete tosser of course.

>McCarthy said The Heritage Foundation was fostering ties with groups in Europe through joint summit hosting and research. Their aim is to push back against “European federalism” and the “green transition madness” while fostering a vision for families that excludes gay couples, trans rights and promotes higher birth rates.

They don’t want the EU becoming stronger so they want to weaken the EU by promoting ideas like Brexit.

They’re against climate policies because their shares and stocks in oil and gas will tank, they want higher birth rates because they need more wage slaves.

They’re “Pro-family” yet deny children in the United States free school meals.

Fewer workers mean workers can bargain more and businesses will need to compete for that labour. These people/groups aren’t anyone’s friends.

Is anyone old enough to understand if I call them *Fashintern*?