Who Funds that?

Seemingly out of nowhere, the motivating energy on America’s political left switched from traditional social-democratic economics—think socialized health care—or from the usual libertine sexual drives that have motivated left-of-center activists to the question of Palestinian nationalism as part of a broader anti-Westernism, an ideology often called “Third Worldism.” While much of the motivation is the usual swings of events and the Eye of Sauron of Everything Leftism, there is real money behind this rising faction of the progressive movement. Joining us to discuss the mysterious donors behind the rise of the Third Worldist left is our colleague Shane Devine. Links:https://www.wsj.com/politics/elections/the-crew-of-virtually-unknown-donors-powering-the-rise-of-the-new-left-191fcc85.https://www.influencewatch.org/political-party/american-priorities/https://www.influencewatch.org/political-party/new-yorkers-for-lower-costs/https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/applovin/

It seems like everywhere you look around the world, political extremism—of forms Islamist, radical-right/ultranationalist, and radical-left/neocommunist—is on the rise. Why is this so and what can be done about it? At Capital Research Center, we’re debuting a new program, the Counter Extremism Research Center to track and expose the forces promoting, funding, and engaging in extremist activity. Leading that project and joining us today to discuss the rise of extremism and his work for Capital Research Center is the director of the Counter Extremism Research Center, Sean Durns. Links:https://nationalinterest.org/feature/frances-riots-stem-from-a-deep-rothttps://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-chinese-communist-partys-tactics-to-weaken-the-u-s-d0570734?mod=letterstoeditor_article_pos1https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/10/when-terrorism-was-first-fashionable/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/oct/12/tehrans-calculus-shifts-must-washingtons/?srsltid=AU7gw4Vw6QfTyAc-DKrk5G4cPqKw-jWbySgmpUmSWIJAkxeCHEwbLr_q

If you listen to any number of left-of-center environmentalist activists, donors, and advocacy groups, the People’s Republic of China is the environmental champion among the great powers, with the United States a climate criminal that should be taking lessons from the totalitarian Communists. But is that true? And if it isn’t, why are American donors spending hundreds of millions of dollars to claim that it is? Ken Braun, our colleague and author of Capital Research Center’s Enemies of Energy joins us to discuss Xi Jinping’s useful green idiots. Links:https://capitalresearch.org/publication/enemies-of-energy-the-myths-the-movement-and-the-money/https://capitalresearch.org/article/climate-ngos-are-xi-jinpings-useful-idiots-in-america/https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/energy-foundation-china/

Cue the fanfare and Pomp and Circumstance March Number One: The MacArthur Foundation has revealed its latest class of “Genius Grant” recipients (officially styled MacArthur Fellows). But behind the marketing hype, this program—and the related program of the even-more-radical Marguerite Casey Foundation—are just an old form of ideological or political advancement: Patronage. Joining us to discuss the MacArthur “geniuses” and the Marguerite Casey Freedom Scholars is our colleague, Robert Stilson. Links:https://apnews.com/article/macarthur-foundation-fellows-genius-grant-list-bea43976f1d35d706b49dadfdc8ed8fdhttps://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/john-d-and-catherine-t-macarthur-foundation/https://capitalresearch.org/article/big-philanthropys-most-radical-scholars/https://capitalresearch.org/article/meet-another-batch-of-big-philanthropy-funded-leftist-loons-the-health-policy-research-scholars/https://capitalresearch.org/article/robert-l-woodson-sr-and-his-concern-for-the-plight-of-the-least-of-gods-children/https://capitalresearch.org/article/featured-book-excerpt-how-great-philanthropists-failed-how-you-can-succeed-at-protecting-your-legacy/

As we discussed last week, the robot apocalypse is maybe not coming, which means that we’re going to have to learn to live with artificial intelligence and related technologies. And now Randi Weingarten, one of the least helpful people in American public life, is here to help us. Joining us to discuss how teachers unions are trying to wriggle themselves into AI regulation is CRC Senior Fellow Kali Fontanilla.  Links:https://capitalresearch.org/article/unions-and-school-districts-have-been-clumsy-ai-regulators/https://capitalresearch.org/article/who-funds-that-episode-23-the-prophets-of-the-ai-apocalypse/

It’s not every day that the would be masters of the universe are going on television and proclaiming an imminent doomsday, as if they were street preachers or the people who used to walk around public parks with sandwich boards saying “The end is nigh!” But the heads of major artificial intelligence companies like Anthropic and OpenAI have spent the last couple of weeks doing just that, claiming that they themselves are bringing forth Armageddon and that only government bureaucracy can stop them. But are these “AI Doomers” a true, organic response to concerns best known by those building the god-machine, or is it a cynical media operation by a mega-business interested in using the regulatory state to lock out potential competitors? Our colleague Parker Thayer, who is skeptical of the motivations of the corporate titans, joins us to discuss. Links:https://x.com/ParkerThayer/status/2097759699626328575?s=20https://capitalresearch.org/article/my-problem-with-effective-altruism/https://capitalresearch.org/article/left-wing-billionaire-dustin-moskovitz/https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/anthropic/https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/openai/

They say that every son of a gun deserves a lawyer and his day in court; it’s a core principle of the American legal system. But certain lawyers informally focus on certain cases and certain clients, often for ideological reasons. That raises the question: Who do Communists—both foreign Communist regimes and Americans facing investigation for alleged Communist activities—call when they need counsel? The answer, often, is Rabinowitz, Boudin, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman, P.C., which has made a name for itself as the preferred U.S. legal representatives of clients including Cuba’s Communist government, Vietnam War draft opponents and Communist-influenced labor unions, among others. Joining us today to discuss RBSKL is our CRC colleague Robert Stilson, who just conducted a major research project for our InfluenceWatch project on the law firm. Links:https://www.influencewatch.org/for-profit/rabinowitz-boudin-standard-krinsky-lieberman-p-c-rbskl/https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/national-lawyers-guild/https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/venceremos-brigade/https://www.influencewatch.org/organization/weather-underground-weatherman-weathermen/

On this podcast, we largely cover who funds the groups and people who are influencing public policy — and today we'll be diving into the abyss of labor unions with our regular host and CRC's research director, Mike Watson.Thirty years ago, a former teachers-union operative named Max Green wrote a book called Epitaph for American Labor. He came not to praise the American labor movement but to bury it. Mike went back to that book at the thirty-year mark to ask whether Green was right — and his answer is yes, and it's worse than Green thought. Links:https://capitalresearch.org/article/an-epitaph-for-a-distinctly-american-labor-movement-at-30/https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/-epitaph-for-american-labor_125813738926.pdf?x91208https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-thesis-that-drove-american-politics-crazy-part-1/https://capitalresearch.org/article/a-republican-plan-to-resurrect-obamas-assault-on-labor-union-democracy/

Charities (like Capital Research Center) are formally prohibited from intervening in election campaigns. But for years, liberal Big Philanthropy has exploited non-enforcement and loopholes in the law to use charities for transparently electoral purposes. Joining Michael Watson and Tiffany Gabbay to discuss how the left uses charities to directly influence elections is our colleague Parker Thayer, who just released a report on the topic.Links:https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-charities-influencing-elections-2024-and-beyond/https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-vote-machine-is-already-planning-for-the-2030-census-2/https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-lefts-voter-registration-grift-thrived-in-2024/https://capitalresearch.org/article/influencewatch-podcast-332-voter-participation-unless-you-like-nascar/https://capitalresearch.org/article/testimony-on-the-nonprofit-voter-registration-industry/

Occasionally we step back from our usual focus on advocacy groups and take a broader look at the news and the world around us, with help from subject-matter experts. This week, we take a look at Iran, and the lessons the ongoing conflict and other contemporary conflicts have for the American defense industry. Joining me is Barak Seener, an associate research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, a foreign- and military-affairs think tank in the United Kingdom. Links:https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/restoring-deterrence-destabilising-the-iranian-regime/https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/regime-collapse-in-iran-a-necessity-for-regional-stability/https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/policy-briefing-regional-influence-after-iran-preventing-a-vacuum-following-regime-collapse/https://capitalresearch.org/article/influencewatch-podcast-398-the-mullahs-friends-in-america/