Trump wants to give millions to right wing European groups

President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused other countries—particularly China—of attempting to influence American politics, all while his administration is spending millions of taxpayer dollars to shape political debates abroad.

The State Department is currently accepting applications from MAGA-aligned groups in Europe for two or three grants, ranging from $1 million to $3 million, out of a total funding pot of about $4.9 million.

The grants are intended to fund research, conferences, cultural programs, and civil-society groups addressing “mass migration,” national sovereignty, and lawfare, all in the name of defending “our common Western civilizational heritage.” The agency is also looking to finance programs to “identify, analyze and respond to instances of lawfare and judicial activism that undermine democracy and national sovereignty.”

In addition to this open grant application, the State Department is considering three separate awards to named British organizations. According to documents reviewed by The Guardian, it intends to allocate $7 million to 878, a recently established group founded by former government special adviser Radomir Tylecote and former Conservative minister Jacob Rees-Mogg. The group is dedicated to “renewing our Judeo-Christian culture and civilisational mission,” working with “scholars in Israel and other closely allied nations” to rejuvenate “knowledge of the origins of our constitutional tradition.”

A further $5 million has reportedly been set aside for Free Speech Union International, an offshoot of the Free Speech Union (FSU), to “promote free speech and oppose digital overregulation across Britain, Europe, and Australia.” The Free Speech Union, which defends free speech in Britain (a principle constantly under attack), currently states that they “take no government money.”

“FSU International expressed interest, but hasn’t yet formally applied,” Toby Young, the founder and director of the Free Speech Union and a member of the House of Lords, tells Reason. “If the US government wants to spend money to project America’s soft power overseas, these are the kinds of groups—promoting free speech and free markets—it should be funding.”

The department is also reportedly considering a $3 million grant to the Jobs Foundation for a project titled “Countering Overregulation to Advance American Investment.” The Jobs Foundation, co-founded by former Vote Leave—the official pro-Brexit campaign group—CEO Matthew Elliot, is a charity that aims to “champion the role of business as a force for good.”

Many of the groups being considered for funding by the State Department do noble work that promotes liberty and prosperity, and Britain may be in a far more perilous state without such organizations. However brilliant that work may be, it’s unclear why American taxpayers are being forced to fund these foreign groups.

The funding opportunities sit awkwardly alongside Trump’s repeated attacks on foreign aid. On his first day back in office, Trump declared that foreign-aid bureaucracy was “not aligned with American interests” and ordered that no assistance be distributed unless it was “fully aligned” with his foreign policy. The administration has since boasted of eliminating billions in “woke, weaponized, and wasteful” overseas spending. Apparently, however, using American taxpayers’ money to subsidize ideologically sympathetic organizations abroad is acceptable.

Yet over 800 federal funding opportunities for international and domestic projects have been posted on simpler.grants.gov since June 5th, totaling more than $25.34 billion. This includes various foreign funding opportunities, including $500 million for a U.S.-Africa Strategic Investment Program, a quarter of a million dollars for a conference in Korea, and thousands of dollars for a 21-month program in Jordan that would hold monthly screenings of classic American sports films for Jordanian young people to promote “American excellence.”

Trump promised to end wasteful foreign spending, not to replace left-wing nation building with MAGA nation building. American taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll either.