A new guest essay by Thomas Edsall in the New York Times goes into disturbing detail of a coordinated right-wing MAGA effort to overtake and dismantle our democracy. In an unprecedented move, extremist MAGA dark money groups have joined forces––representing a more than $2 billion political effort––to support Donald Trump should he win reelection, including “a detailed postelection agenda, lining up prospective appointees and backing Trump in his legal battles.”
As Edsall points out, the groups are taking advantage of our broken campaign finance system, which allows wealthy donors to fund the efforts without disclosing their identities––and get a tax break.
End Citizens United President Tiffany Muller issued the following statement in response to this report:
“The revelations in this report highlight just how broken and dangerous our campaign finance system is and why reforming it must be a top priority. This coordinated effort by extremist dark money groups and wealthy donors to subvert our democratic institutions and strip us of our fundamental freedoms poses an existential threat. Unless we reform our campaign finance system, make it easier to vote, and shore up ethics rules, we will continue to see MAGA Republicans deepen the fractures in our democratic foundation and empower those seeking to exploit it.”
The New York Times Opinion: Trump’s Backers Are Determined Not to Blow It This Time Around
Thomas B. Edsall
04/03/2024
In a rare display of unity, more than 100 conservative tax-exempt organizations have joined forces in support of Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda, forming a $2 billion-plus political machine.
Together, these organizations are constructing a detailed postelection agenda, lining up prospective appointees and backing Trump in his legal battles.
Most of the work performed by these nonprofit groups is conducted behind closed doors. Unlike traditional political organizations, these groups do not disclose their donors and must reveal only minimal information on expenditures. In many cases, even this minimal information will not be available until after the 2024 election.
Nonprofits like these are able to maintain a cloak of secrecy by positioning themselves as “charitable organizations” under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code or as “social welfare organizations” under section 501(c)(4).
Not only are these tax-exempt organizations attractive to large contributors who want to keep their role secret; 501(c)(3) groups have an added benefit: Donors can deduct their gifts from their taxable income.
The benefits don’t end there. The minimal reporting requirements imposed on political nonprofits lend themselves to self-dealing, particularly the payment of high salaries and consulting fees, and the award of contracts to for-profit companies owned by executives of the charitable groups.
“The growth of these groups is largely flying under the radar,” Sean Westwood, a political scientist at Dartmouth, wrote by email in response to my inquiry. “This level of coordination is unprecedented.”
Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and sociology at Harvard, replying by email to my inquiry, wrote, “These are detailed plans to take full control of various federal departments and agencies from the very start and to use every power available to implement radical ethnonationalist regulations and action plans.”
This activity, Skocpol continued, amounts to a “full prep for an authoritarian takeover, buttressed by the control Trump and Trumpists now have over the G.O.P apparatuses.”
In this drive by the right to shape policy, should Trump win, there are basically three power centers.
The first is made up of groups pieced together by Leonard Leo, a co-chairman of the Federalist Society, renowned for his role in the conservative takeover of the Supreme Court and of many key posts in the federal and state judiciaries.
If cash is the measure, Leo is the heavyweight champion. Two years ago, my Times colleagues Kenneth P. Vogel and Shane Goldmacher disclosed that a little-known Chicago billionaire, Barre Seid, who made his fortune manufacturing electronic equipment, turned $1.6 billion over to the Marble Freedom Trust, a tax-exempt organization created by Leo in 2021, helping to turn it into a powerhouse.
The second nexus of right-wing tax-exempt groups is the alliance clustered on Capitol Hill around the intersection of 3rd Street SE and Independence Avenue — offices and townhouses that fashion themselves as “patriots’ row.”
Former Trump campaign aides, lawyers and executive appointees, including Mark Meadows, Stephen Miller, Edward Corrigan and Cleta Mitchell, run these organizations. After Trump was defeated in 2020, the cash flow to these groups surged.
The third center is coordinated by the Heritage Foundation, which, under the leadership of Kevin D. Roberts, who assumed the presidency in 2021, has become a committed ally of the MAGA movement.
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