Where the United States used to try to export the ideals of democracy, now it has put right wing influence on a grant schedule.
On Monday, July 13, the State Department published a grant offer aimed at Europe. Nearly five million dollars, split among two or three winners, including funding for research on mass migration’s impact.
The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor is leading the program. For decades that office funded dissidents, independent journalists, and election monitors living under authoritarian governments. Now, it is heading a program in which recipients must work “in line with our shared political philosophy, law, and Western heritage.” The Guardian describes the program as a scheme to fund MAGA-aligned causes in Europe.
The program is part of the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy, which claims that migration threatens Europe with so-called “civilizational erasure.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Munich Security Conference this year that America and Europe form one civilization bound by “Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, [and] ancestry.”
Applications close August 12. Germany holds federal elections in September, with immigration expected to be a defining campaign issue. Chancellor Friedrich Merz warns the new program could open the door to interference in Germany’s elections.
Where the United States used to try to export the ideals of democracy, now it has put right wing influence on a grant schedule.
Notes To My Future Self 