Nicolai Haugsted
Trump faces criticism after human rights millions are steered toward ideological projects abroad.
Washington has spent decades using foreign aid to support dissidents, democracy activists and victims of authoritarian governments. Donald Trump’s administration is now giving part of that playbook a substantial rewrite, according to The Guardian.
More than $175 million from the State Department’s Human Rights and Democracy Fund has been directed toward dozens of programs that include anti-communist initiatives, support connected to white Afrikaners in South Africa and projects promoting conservative causes across Europe and elsewhere.
The State Department obligated the money shortly before the September 30 deadline, according to reporting by The Guardian, despite objections from Democratic lawmakers who questioned whether several projects belonged in a fund traditionally associated with democracy and human rights work.
Supporters inside the administration describe the approach differently. They argue that free speech, national sovereignty, religious freedom and what officials call Western “civilizational self-confidence” deserve greater attention in American foreign policy.
More than $175 million heads toward a new set of priorities
Congress appropriated roughly $205 million for the Human Rights and Democracy Fund, and 43 awards worth a combined $176.9 million have attracted particular scrutiny.
Projects span several continents and cover subjects ranging from Christianity and anti-communism to immigration, business regulation and opposition to what administration officials describe as “gender ideology.”
Sources familiar with the process told The Guardian that senior administration officials had taken a direct interest in the programs, with priorities associated with Vice President JD Vance and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller appearing among the proposed initiatives.
One person familiar with discussions surrounding the awards described the level of White House attention as unusually high.
“These awards have been briefed at the highest levels of the department and have buy-in from the White House,” the person said.
Such spending represents a notable departure from the fund’s traditional emphasis on civil society organizations, political dissidents and human rights defenders operating under authoritarian governments.
A $40 million anti-communism project leads the list
By far the biggest individual award is $40 million for a consortium led by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
Congress created the foundation through legislation signed by President Bill Clinton, and its stated mission includes commemorating victims of communist governments and advocating freedom for people living under authoritarian rule.
The size of the latest award stands out.
State Department vetting records reviewed by The Guardian reportedly show the foundation received less than $100,000 in department contracts during the previous five years. Andrew Bremberg, who served in the first Trump administration and later represented the US at the United Nations office in Geneva, is the foundation’s president.
Other projects would direct American money toward conservative or ideologically aligned initiatives in established democracies rather than concentrating solely on authoritarian states.
Europe gets a dose of ‘Western civilization’
Several proposed awards offer a particularly clear picture of the administration’s new definition of human rights work.
A $2 million initiative called “Promoting Western Civilization Allies” would favor organizations that reject what grant documents describe as “ideologically weaponized accounts of human rights, such as gender ideology.”
Potential recipients were identified across Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Balkans, with emphasis placed on organizations promoting anti-communist ideas and “natural rights.”
Another project would examine supposed democratic decline associated with mass and illegal migration and rules imposed by supranational institutions.
State Department officials argue such programs are consistent with the administration’s broader foreign-policy priorities.
“Our programming in Europe aims to support our European allies in defending those rights and principles, along with their civilizational self-confidence and sovereignty from those who seek to undermine them,” a State Department official told The Guardian.
Brazil and South Africa also feature prominently
Washington’s new funding priorities stretch well beyond Europe.
A $1 million project titled “Countering Lawfare and Censorship in Brazil” is intended to support groups challenging alleged judicial overreach and censorship by Brazil’s supreme court.
Relations between Washington and Brazilian authorities have already been strained by Trump administration actions involving justice Alexandre de Moraes and its criticism of Brazilian institutions.
South Africa also appears among the countries targeted by the new funding strategy, including programs linked to white Afrikaner interests.
Trump officials have repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority, an allegation rejected by the South African government. The administration has separately changed US policy toward South Africans over what it describes as anti-white discrimination.
Democrats accuse Rubio of ignoring congressional objections
Capitol Hill Democrats have pushed back against several of the awards.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Congress created the democracy fund on a bipartisan basis to assist human rights defenders and victims while supporting democratic institutions abroad.
“The Trump administration’s proposals would use taxpayer funds to promote far-right organizations and programs in established democracies,” Shaheen said.
“This is a waste of resources and undermines United States values and relations with democratic partners, including allies in Europe.”
A Democratic congressional aide told The Guardian that Shaheen had placed holds on 10 awards totaling approximately $22 million.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio subsequently signed a memorandum overriding those objections and allowing the funds to be obligated, according to the aide.
British groups were offered millions
Britain provides some of the more unusual examples of how far the proposed programs reached.
A $3 million no-bid award was allocated to the Jobs Foundation, headed by Matthew Elliott, who previously led the Vote Leave campaign. The project would promote business-friendly policies and reduced regulation under the banner “Countering Overregulation to Advance American Investment.”
Other British organizations originally appeared on the funding list before their proposed awards disappeared.
A planned $5 million grant involving the Free Speech Union, founded by Toby Young, was withdrawn. Young previously said his organization had neither requested nor received money from the US government.
Another abandoned proposal would have provided $7 million to 878, a thinktank founded by former Conservative cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg whose stated priorities have included reducing migration and restoring Judeo-Christian culture.
Had all of the original British proposals survived, millions in American taxpayer money could have gone toward campaigns touching British debates over immigration, regulation and online speech.
