The large sum represents an unprecedented annual haul for an American white nationalist group and suggests that big-money donors of the conservative movement may be moving their riches to more extreme causes in the aftermath of Trump’s rise.
In an era where white nationalists increasingly embrace decentralized online activism, VDARE stands out for its organizational prowess and links to power.
#Hatewatch connected former Trump administration officials Stephen Miller and Julia Hahn to its founder, Peter Brimelow.
Extreme right discourse is *everywhere*.
Celebrity anti-immigrant columnist Ann Coulter contributes to the group’s online publication. Even with visible ties to the mainstream right, VDARE embraces an agenda that cultivates a radical far-right world view in its sympathizers.
VDARE promotes the white genocide & Great Replacement conspiracy theories - very concerningly now gaining traction in Britain - which many view as having inspired far-right terror attacks in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; El Paso, Texas; & Christchurch, New Zealand, in recent years.
Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler published a post on VDARE’s website titled “Yes, Virginia (Dare), There Is Such A Thing As White Genocide,” less than two months before a neo-Nazi murdered an antiracist demonstrator. VDARE also romanticizes the Capitol Hill insurrection.
“The Dissident Right is an intellectual movement,” Brimelow wrote of the Capitol insurrection. “Our ideas are considered dangerous by [mainstream media] Cultural Marxists, but we’re actually quite few.. (the) movement was the American people.”
VDARE’s recent fundraising prowess coincides with the Republican Party’s embrace of the anti-immigrant, anti-democratic worldview promoted by Steve Bannon & Donald Trump & his followers.
Total donations to the VDARE Foundation surged throughout the Trump era.
DonorsTrust, a right-wing funding vehicle tied to Charles Koch, the Mercer family & other like-minded billionaires - who influence the UK by helping fund publications like Spiked & Tufton St think tanks like the IEA - pumped $1.5 million into VDARE in 2019.
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In February 2020, VDARE paid $1.4 million in cash to purchase a castle in West Virginia, establishing a base that is less than a two-hour commute from Washington, DC.
The purchase provides a small window into how VDARE may be spending their newly acquired wealth.
During the #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations in June 2020, VDARE impersonated journalists from VICE Canada & asked antiracist protesters to identify themselves by name & face to their large #racist audience on YouTube.
Facebook & YouTube have since suspended VDARE’s accounts.
The group also stumped for the defense team of Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer a jury convicted in April of murdering Floyd.
The big increase in revenue worked out well for Brimelow, whose salary nearly doubled from the year before, making £345,000 in 2019.
DonorsTrust - the “dark-money ATM of the conservative movement” - & other similar funds, donate to many US hate groups every year.
'Donor-advised funds' (DAFs) manage individual charitable accounts for its clients for a fee, who can then shield their identities from the public.
In 2019, DonorsTrust also provided $10,500 to the New Century Foundation, the nonprofit behind Jared Taylor’s white nationalist American Renaissance magazine & website. An associate of Brimelow, he shared a stage with him & Richard Spencer at an “alt-right” event in 2016.
Jared Taylor promotes dehumanizing pseudoscience on his website, including the myth that Black people are predisposed to be less intelligent than other races - something else with support in Britain, & a view that exists within the Govt, & in the past, amplified by Boris Johnson.
One foundation that formally ended its funding of VDARE is the Innovia Foundation. For years, it facilitated a wealthy donor’s contributions to VDARE.
Despite pleas from its CEO, it was only after national press attention that the foundation’s board adopted an anti-hate policy.
Like many extreme far-right figures, Brimelow invests in Bitcoin.
His cryptocurrency donor list included French computer programmer Laurent Bachelier, who donated to open admirers of fascism such as Andrew Anglin of The Daily Stormer & white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Anyway, what happens in the US generally happens in the UK shortly afterwards. Brexit, Bannon & Farage mainstreamed far-right rhetoric, & now it is increasingly normalised: it's already *crystal clear* that the fastest growing terrorist threat in Britain comes from the far-right.
Last year it was reported that for the first time, the largest number of Prevent referrals in the UK related to far-right extremism.
Of cases referred on to Channel, 43% were for rightwing & 30% for Islamist radicalisation.
I've written elsewhere about the dangerous rise in right-wing populist nationalism, & the increasingly dangerous & cavalier rhetoric of the Tory Govt, the mainstream press, & publications such as Spiked & the Spectator - as well as Govt links to Viktor Orban & other extremists.
And now, with #GBNews funded by questionable US Libertarians & overseas hedge-funders clearly becoming Britain's Fox News & normalising & mainstreaming further explicitly "anti-woke" (ie intolerant, demonizing & scapegoating rhetoric), I fear for Britain.
Imho, you should too.
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A coordinated political project is reshaping Britain in the image of Trump’s MAGA movement.
Reform UK—fuelled by wealthy donors, ideologically aligned think tanks, and a network of right-wing media—has ambitions unlike anything in modern UK politics.
The goal is clear: install Farage as PM, backed by policies and rhetoric that mirror America’s populist right.
Recent events, including JD Vance’s high-profile visit, reveal a deliberate and potentially transformational transatlantic political strategy.
Politicians, right-wing news media and far-right extremists opportunistically exploit public concern over asylum seekers in hotels, inciting protests and potential violence.
How did we get here? And why the gulf between public perception and reality?
The government spent nearly a third less on hotels to house asylum seekers between April 2024 and March 2025.
The Home Office's annual accounts show £2.1bn was spent on hotel accommodation - an average of about £5.77m per day, down from £3bn or £8.3m per day, the previous year.
GB "News", which employs 75% of Reform UK MPs, is not a news channel - it's Reform's propaganda wing, co-funded by billionaire Paul Marshall and Dubai-based investment firm Legatum, who see it as an investment opportunity to help protect their wealth and interests.
@Ofcom
In the UK, since 1990, 'due impartiality' and 'due accuracy' have been fundamental components of broadcasting - especially for news and current affairs - and imho are essential for a well-informed citizenry and a fair-minded functional democracy.
GB "News" appears to disagree.
The first broadcasting standards in the UK emerged with the BBC in 1922.
Formal standards took shape with the Royal Charter in 1927, which mandated that the BBC provide information, education, and entertainment while maintaining impartiality and serving the public interest.
Voters need to know how right-wing populist nationalist politicians and radical/far-right nativist extremists construct their divisive discourse and rhetoric to exploit the anti-elite climate and fuel violence and division - and what to do about it.
So what can be done to counter divisive narratives and framing and to help Britain to become a more open, inclusive, fairer, less polarised and better multicultural society?
I make several suggestions in the above article, but make more below,
Countering the extreme right’s narrative of feeling "attacked" and needing to "defend" national identity requires a strategic, multi-faceted approach that challenges their framing while addressing underlying concerns and emotions.
The shameless lie that "Britain is lawless" is categorically false, as it contradicts empirical data on crime trends, rule of law metrics, and the functioning of UK institutions. Reform UK often use fearmongering exaggeration and selective framing to create a sense of crisis.
Official data from the ONS and Home Office indicate that overall crime rates in England and Wales have fluctuated but do not support the notion of a "lawless" state. The ONS reported a 7% decrease in total recorded crime (excluding fraud) from 2023 to 24.
#OnThisDay, 21 July, 1969, the Chicago Daily News published: The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.
It began: One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”
I reproduce it, below.
Harris was born in London in 1917, moving to the US in 1922. A formidable journalist who established a distinct voice integrating incisive social commentary with wit and humour, his weekday column, ‘Strictly Personal’, was syndicated in 200 US newspapers.
The ‘love it or leave it’ nonsense, by Sydney J. Harris.
One of the most ignorant and hateful statements that a person can make is “If you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave?”
That attitude is the main reason America was founded, in all its hope and energy and goodness.