by WorldTribune Staff / 247 Real News October 8, 2026
Independent investigators such as Mike Benz, executive director of the Foundation for Online Freedom, investigated the U.S. “soft power” machine funding NGOs, political programs, media projects, and activist networks overseas.
USAID was a central figure in that funding. Benz noted that he had delivered a five-hour presentation to the Brazilian Congress laying out what he described as USAID’s role in building Brazil’s censorship infrastructure.
But when President Donald Trump shut the USAID spigot off, that infrastructure began to crumble. It will likely collapse completely with the ouster of the nation’s leftist president in a runoff election later this month.
While Benz shed light on what was festering under USAID’s guidance abroad, investigative journalist Christopher Rufo said a similar nightmare is unfolding in our own backyard.
“We have a domestic USAID sending hundreds of billions of dollars to universities, labor unions, activists, and NGOs, that are running the same kind of propaganda we saw in Latin America here in the United States,” Rufo said on Fox News’s Gutfeld.
Revolver News noted: “In Brazil, American money helped build and support an entire system of NGOs, media and censorship groups, activists, and institutions that pushed the country in one very far-left political direction.
“Now imagine that same basic architecture operating right here at home as federal agencies sending massive amounts of money into universities, nonprofits, labor organizations, advocacy groups, research programs, and institutions that push far-left ideologies.”
Policy critics and oversight reports describe a broader domestic and international ecosystem of pooled funds, donor-advised funds (such as the Sixteen Thirty Fund or Arabella Advisors-managed networks), and private foundations that direct capital toward progressive initiatives—ranging from environmental and green energy advocacy to social justice and policy campaigns.
During a July 2025 House Subcommittee on Oversight Committee on the Judiciary hearing, subcommittee chair Rep. Jeff Van Drew, New Jersey Republican, noted:
“The last administration disbursed $3 billion to a migrant housing group whose employees were accused of sexually abusing children. Nearly one million went to a group linked to riots in Los Angeles. Over 1.8 million meant for women’s safety overseas instead was used to promote gender ideology through LGBTQ+ grants. Even if you agree with the ideology, we should all agree our tax dollars shouldn’t be paying for this.”
Revolver News noted:”These homegrown institutions can change political power structures the same way American-funded NGOs did overseas.
“So when people hear somebody say there’s a ‘domestic USAID,’ we know exactly what that means. The question is how much of it exists here, and how do we get rid of it?”
