The AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) is the first far-right party to win a state in Germany in the post-Nazi era. It won the state election last month in Thuringia, central Germany, and has also made gains in other recent elections. Across the continent, the threat to democracy posed by the AfD — with its Nazi sympathies – has become increasingly understood.
But less well known is another, likewise dangerous AFD: the Alliance Defending Freedom, a U.S. foundation that provides money to radical right-wing causes. If we understand who funds the extreme and populist right, it undercuts these so-called anti-establishment movements.
The Alliance Defending Freedom is an ultra-conservative foundation that pumps money into Christian-right and far-right organizations in the U.S. and Europe. Typically, it supports anti-abortion, anti-women, anti-LGBTQ+ and other repressive causes.
This foundation is not an isolated case. Many wealthy foundations based in the U.S. inject 'dark money' into Europe, such as the Heritage Foundation, which gained new notoriety as the author of Project 2025 – a roadmap for a Trump-led America that critics say “ends democracy, multiculturalism and even recreational sex.”
Less well known is that this one-time Ronald Reagan cheerleader organization has also recently poured millions of dollars into far-right movements across Europe, as we reported in 2016.
This form of dark money helps small, xenophobic fringe groups gain mainstream popularity. Street fascists are now wearing Armani suits and gaining votes with all the political make-up that only big money can buy.
Tech bros, alt-finance and big oil
Investigative journalists uncovering the millions of dollars in donations to far-right projects suggest that what they can uncover is just the tip of the iceberg.
Many billionaires backing Trump's presidential bid also want to remain in the shadows. Billionaires often wish to remain anonymous, if they are driving politics toward pro-business, far-right policies, or scapegoating to distract people from their profit-making off a system that is broken for most.
Among the list of those we know support Trump are venture capitalists, hedge fund managers (aka casino capitalists), actual casino owners, new tech companies, oil tycoons and real estate tycoons, among a host of other business interests.
Big Oil, alt-finance and tech bros are also main sources of money flowing from ultra-conservative foundations in the U.S. to the European far right. These entities, among other things, want to control people's bodies (from childbirth to sex lives to people’s movement across borders) while not wanting control over capital flows, fossil fuel production and new technologies.
Yet while the far right is on the rise across Europe, on certain issues, particularly policies towards the European Union or Putin's Russia, massive cracks are forming. Digging into who is funding specific parties, for example, shows how much they are up for sale.
The French far-right National Rally party, and the 2016 British Brexit campaign and post-Brexit movements, are similar to Trump's known funding sources. National Rally's political backers include alt-finance, such as owners of the private equity fund Otium Capital. The French far-right is also backed by Vincent Bolloré, a fossil fuel millionaire who backs CNews, a French version of Fox News.
It was the same story in Britain's Brexit campaign, which was funded by hedge-fund managers who profiteered from the bank bailout, and a nexus of political interests connected to big oil and climate denial.
In a similar vein, Brexit’s xenophobic energy is most recently being pushed by the Reform Party, whose key funder's money-making came from property and alt-finance.
Dodgy donations from non-US sources
Investigative journalists and researchers have revealed France’s National Rally and Britain's Brexit have murky political connections and donations from Russia. In 2020, a UK parliamentary committee reported the British government ignored suspected meddling and funding in the 2016 referendum and Brexit campaigns that have since catalysed anti-migrant sentiment and xenophobia across Britain.
In 2024, financial probes into National Rally have revealed significant loans from Hungary and Russia. Perhaps this helps explain why both Nigel Farage, Brexit's primary mouthpiece, and National Rally are both often seen cow-towing to the Kremlin.
Likewise, connections have been revealed exposing financial support for Germany's AfD party through connections to Russia and China.
In another example, the far-right party in Austria was caught in a sting in Ibiza, where Austria’s far-right Vice Chancellor was willing to take money apparently from Russia. More allegations have surfaced recently of real interference by Russia with Austria's far-right.
Looking at the far-right politicians who are not criticizing Putin for his invasion of Russia perhaps offers the best clues about who is and is not on that country’s payroll. Italy's far-right leader, Giorgia Meloni, fits this bill. Yet while her party is itself trying to detoxify its fascist brand, it stands accused of funding neo-fascist organisations, adding more nuance to the murky, complex web of money flows.
The contradictions in the far-right are further revealed by Meloni's cozy relations with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Hungary is a central European country that has become pivotal in Europe’s far-right and authoritarian drive. Orbán is leading the charge towards eroding democracy, eliciting much praise from Trump in the process.
When Orbán visited Washington this summer, against protocol, he snubbed President Joe Biden to only visit Trump and the Heritage Foundation. The depth of Heritage Foundation support for Orbán shows how far former neoliberals are willing to go to protect their business interests: all the way to the end of democracy.
Neo-Nazi start-ups
Returning to Germany, the big money that launched the AfD party has been linked to a deceased banking heir, August von Finck (1930-2021), whose family supported Hitler's Nazis Party.
Bankers who collaborated with Hitler have been able to pass on not only their fascist views, but their wealth, to their children. In turn, their children were able to mold and shape the new far-right movement according to their interests.
As an article for Der Spiegel explained, wealthy business owners, including the aforementioned banking heir, felt their fortunes were threatened by the European Union. They needed an anti-European Union party, so they helped invent the AfD to play this role. They bankrolled the party as a start-up and then assisted its financial growth, enabling its meteoric rise through German politics.
When we consider how the far right is fronted by a group of elites – Trump inherited a housing fortune, AfD's leader worked for Goldman Sachs, Brexit's Farage went to public school, and so-on – their anti-establishment and populist message seems a hard sale. Yet it’s the massive fortunes like these that are making the most dangerous political projects happen today, on both sides of the Atlantic.
