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Billionaire conservative philanthropist Leonard Leo, who operates an unlimited community of conservative nonprofits, referred to as on his teams to start out “weaponizing” their concepts, one thing he mentioned the left has been championing through the years.
A letter despatched to teams supported by Leo’s 85 Fund on Wednesday mentioned it might be present process a “complete overview” of entities it helps, and “shall be adjusting the extent to which it funds concepts and coverage improvement.” The objective, in line with Leo’s letter, is to make sure their philanthropic efforts usually are not overly targeted on “ideation,” or as Leo describes it, “the event of and training about conservative concepts and insurance policies.” Moderately, Leo needs his teams to undertake extra aggressive ways that “weaponize” their concepts and produce extra tangible outcomes, one thing he advised liberals have championed successfully for his or her causes.
“The Left constructed highly effective networks of activists, teachers, journalists, and philanthropists, together with professionals from different disciplines, who might collaborate to affect public attitudes and generate political strain on public officers,” Leo mentioned. “They invested in expertise pipelines to populate the facility facilities inside authorities, the place coverage can be carried out. They incubated litigation as a method of leveraging the regulation to supply change. And, past politics and regulation, left-wing philanthropy constructed or took over monumental infrastructure to regulate numerous cultural chokepoints.”
“In distinction,” Leo continued, “vastly inadequate funds are going towards operationalizing and weaponizing [conservative] concepts and insurance policies to crush liberal dominance.”
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Leonard Leo speaks on the Nationwide Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., on April 23, 2019.
Leo’s letter cited the George Soros-funded Tides Basis and the Hansjörg Wyss-backed Arabella Advisors as examples of teams that “incubate action-oriented campaigns.” He pointed to their assist of nationwide NGOs like College students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the World Skilled Affiliation for Transgender Well being (WPATH). SJP has been on the forefront of drumming up anti-Israel sentiment at school campuses throughout the nation since Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror assault that killed over a thousand harmless Israelis and took tons of hostage. In the meantime, WPATH has been on the forefront of the transgender motion, publishing requirements of care that medical doctors and public officers alike have used to justify “gender-affirming care” for minors.
“With donors like Hansjörg Wyss and the Arabella Advisors community having billions at their disposal, the left is ready to considerably outspend the conservative motion to shift American society,” Leo informed Fox Information Digital. “Consequently, we have to do extra with much less, specializing in leveraging the conservative motion’s expertise to have affect, if we need to achieve success.”
Leo is the co-chairman and former government vice chairman of the Federalist Society, a bunch specializing in advancing the ideas of a restricted, constitutional authorities, significantly within the authorized world. He has been credited with remodeling the Federalist Society into the powerhouse lawfare group it’s as we speak with greater than 70,000 members. In the meantime, Leo has additionally been thought-about one of many foremost influences on former President Trump’s Supreme Courtroom nominations. Previous to Trump’s collection of Federalist Society-backed Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Leo drew up a listing of potential judges that Trump launched throughout his 2016 marketing campaign.
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From left: Supreme Courtroom Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson attend a non-public ceremony for late Supreme Courtroom Justice Sandra Day O’Connor within the Nice Corridor on the Supreme Courtroom in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 18, 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin-Pool/Getty Photographs)
After Trump was elected, Leo stepped away from his day by day duties with the Federalist Society, however remained its co-chair. In the meantime, in 2022, Leo’s Marble Freedom Belief acquired a $1.6 billion present from American businessman and GOP donor Barre Seid. Leo nonetheless has roughly $1 billion left to spend, the Monetary Instances reported this week after analyzing public monetary disclosures. A consultant for Leo declined to share what number of whole NGOs obtain monetary assist from the 85 Fund.
“[W]e have to do extra with much less, specializing in leveraging the conservative motion’s expertise to have affect, if we need to achieve success.”
“Anticipate us to extend assist for organizations that decision out corporations and monetary establishments that bend to the woke thoughts virus unfold by regulators and NGOs, in order that they should pay a worth for placing excessive left-wing ideology forward of shoppers,” Leo mentioned throughout a uncommon interview he granted to the Monetary Instances.
Leo informed the outlet that his Marble Freedom Belief has been more and more targeted on going after “woke” banks and China-friendly entities throughout a spread of sectors, akin to meals manufacturing and synthetic intelligence. Leo additionally indicated he plans to put money into native media within the U.S. over the following 12 months.
Protesters show an indication to protest conservative billionaire philanthropist Leonard Leo.
The decision from Leo for his teams to “operationalize” and “weaponize” their concepts has been met with anger from liberal critics.
“Leonard Leo’s brazen name to ‘weaponize’ the conservative motion additional exposes his technique of utilizing his darkish cash community to power his right-wing agenda on on a regular basis People and stack the deck in favor of the highly effective few,” mentioned Carolina Ciccone, president of NGO watchdog Accountable.US. “Let’s be very clear: This is not nearly shaping conservative thought — it’s about weaponizing the very establishments which can be set as much as defend the rights of on a regular basis People to serve the pursuits of right-wing particular pursuits.”
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Jay Willis, former GQ author and present editor-in-chief of progressive commentary web site Balls & Strikes, accused Leo of attempting to rebrand “as an Elon Musk-style tradition warrior who rants concerning the ‘woke thoughts virus.’”
