InfluenceWatch Podcast

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/ 

On this podcast, we take time to investigate who funds the groups and people who are influencing public policy—but what if you want to be one of those people? Well, you could always provide well-appreciated support to us if you like the sort of things we do—not just this podcast. Joining me to discuss that which you could fund by supporting Capital Research Center is our organization president, Scott Walter.Links:https://www.influencewatch.org/person/neville-roy-singham/ https://capitalresearch.org/publication/enemies-of-energy-the-myths-the-movement-and-the-money/ https://www.encounterbooks.com/books/arabella/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/bill-gates-to-stop-grantmaking-via-arabella-advisors/ https://capitalresearch.org/article/communism-and-the-democratic-socialists-of-america/ https://www.wsj.com/opinion/amazon-teamsters-subcontractors-new-york-zohran-mamdani-fd76f25f?st=QVH7Dk

Do environmentalists—and the rest of the progressive left that includes combating climate change as part of its “Omnicause”—care more about saving the planet or replacing market capitalism, private property, and pluralist living arrangements with socialist tower-blocks connected by overcrowded light rail (on which there will be no enforcement of fare payment, naturally)? There’s a tell—opposing nuclear-powered electric generation, which emits no point-source carbon emissions whatsoever. And my colleague Ken Braun, author of Capital Research Center’s comprehensive report on the environmentalist movement’s “Enemies of Energy,” has updated his extensive list of left-wing groups opposed to nuclear energy—the ones that clearly privilege making a New Soviet Man over making the Earth better for people.Links:https://capitalresearch.org/article/opponents-of-nuclear-power-now-hauling-in-400k-per-hour/https://www.influencewatch.org/influence-networks/opposition-to-nuclear-energy/https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-ideological-fuel-of-a-new-left-part-1/https://capitalresearch.org/article/nrdc-adopts-nuclear-power-sanity-and-exits-list-of-nuclear-energy-enemies/’https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-odd-enemies-of-nuclear-energy/ 

A faction of the political right, supported by the think tank American Compass that is funded by the leftist Hewlett Foundation, claims that organized labor has a “conservative heart” and should be empowered to dominate American life in a manner not seen since the 1940s or 1950s. But is that true? Just about all available evidence suggests not—Big Labor is, as it has been since at latest the turn of the twentieth century, Everything Leftism. Adding more evidence to the pile today is Jarrett Skorup of the Mackinac Center, who joins me to discuss his report on Big Labor’s involvement in left-wing “environmental, social, and governance” — ESG — investing movements.Links:https://www.mackinac.org/archives/2026/s2026-04.pdfhttps://capitalresearch.org/article/2026-proxy-preview-reports-far-fewer-esg-resolutions/https://www.influencewatch.org/influence-networks/esg-activism/

Many people are saying that Congress doesn’t do anything, and…yeah they’re often correct—and that’s sometimes a good thing. But on the subject of nonprofit and advocacy group regulation, the House Committee on Ways and Means—responsible for writing federal tax laws—is proving very active, advancing four bills to change how nonprofits and political advocacy groups operate. Joining us is our colleague Robert Stilson to discuss the legislation and the goals of nonprofit regulatory policies. Chairman Smith Opening Statement: Markup of Legislation Increasing Transparency & Accountability in …https://capitalresearch.org/article/who-funds-that-episode-14-the-foreign-funding-election-loophole/https://capitalresearch.org/article/influencewatch-podcast-396-congress-tackles-foreign-nonprofit-funding/https://capitalresearch.org/article/treasury-is-rightly-focused-on-nonprofit-transparency/

It is supposed to be the law that foreigners, people who do not have citizenship or permanent residency, cannot fund federal election campaigns. But our colleague Parker Thayer notes that there is a giant loophole in this prohibition—one that the government needs to take seriously—namely, the charitable election sector (which maybe also shouldn’t exist). He joins us today to discuss foreign nationals, charities, and elections.CRC: The Charitable Back DoorCRC: The Left’s voter registration grift thrived in 2024 CRC: The Vote Machine is already planning for the 2030 CensusInfluenceWatch: Wyss FoundationInfluenceWatch: Hansjorg Wyss

You’ve heard quite a lot about the Democratic Socialists of America, the left-wing faction that has surged to victories in Democratic Party primary elections across the country. But how did what was as recently as the early 2010s a marginal player on the radical-left of American politics become power brokers who can drive their candidates to major political offices? Joining us is Sean Speer of the Manhattan Institute joins us to analyze these dynamics.City Journal: How the Far Left Captured the Democratic PartyCRC: Communism and the Democratic Socialists of AmericaCRC: The Anti-American Left: Democratic Socialists of America

The Supreme Court has issued its rulings, and with big decisions on citizenship, transgender athletes, and congressional redistricting, a major case with significant impacts on policy may fly under the radar. In Trump v. Slaughter, the Court ruled that the President has the power to dismiss members of multi-member federal boards like the Federal Trade Commission regardless of Congressional attempts to restrict the dismissal power to specific conditions. That will affect, among other things, labor-relations law, because the National Labor Relations Board is one of these multi-member boards almost certainly affected by the ruling. With President Trump also having nominated Kieth Sonderling as permanent Secretary of Labor, where will the Slaughter ruling and the new labor secretary take labor policy (and other economic policy, with other affected boards)? Joining us to discuss these questions is Akash Chougule of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity.The Foundation for Research on Equal OpportunityFREOPP: Americans need opportunity abundanceCRC: Leadership Change at the Labor DepartmentSCOTUS Blog: Supreme Court allows Trump to fire FTC commissioner and overturns major restraint on presidential power 

Artificial intelligence: what does it mean? Is it taking all the water? Is it taking all the jobs? Are foreign interests, radical socialists, and cynical AI companies misleading the public about what AI is doing to America? Our colleague Parker Thayer joins us to discuss.Parker Thayer on XExclusive: Conservatives plan nationwide protest against AI data centersInfluenceWatch Podcast #385: Effective Altruism, AI, and Shrimp WelfareDustin MoskovitzAnthropicOpenAI

Today’s higher education is not your grandfather’s higher education. Indeed, it’s not even the higher education of my first run through it in the 90s, before the pervasive embrace of DEI and critical race theory, before the extreme ideological disparities that led to a decrease in the study of traditional humanities and an increase in the study of social justice issues, and before the pernicious threats to independent thought and free speech that led to a recent wave of rampant antisemitism at some of the America’s most prestigious institutions. The threats facing higher education and, more broadly, civil society have arisen relatively quickly, and the question now is: can anything be done to fix what ails higher education in the same rapid timeframe? As universities grow richer and more administratively bloated and students become less educated and more ideologically indoctrinated, are there answers from inside the institutions, or is it going to take choices made by outside influences like governments, donors, and parents to get higher ed back to its mission of educating America’s young people to be productive American citizens? A new book of essays from The Heritage Foundation, written by preeminent education scholars, titled “Higher Education in America: It’s Worse Than You Think,” seeks to answer some of these questions. One of those scholars, Jonathan Butcher, Acting Director for Heritage’s Center for Education Policy, joins us today.

Since the Hamas attacks on Israel in October 2023, the Everything Leftist Omnicause has turned its Eye of Sauron toward aggressive support for Palestinian nationalism—support for Palestinian nationalism that all too frequently crosses the line from a political position to antipathy towards American Jews. Nowhere has the latter been more visible than on the most elite college campuses, where administrations that have been perfectly happy to suppress speech they didn’t like about mainstream political issues have allowed Palestinian nationalist demonstrators to impose their wills on campus. Today’s guest used her position to ask the presidents of three of America’s most prestigious universities how that came to be; the resulting incoherent responses started a firestorm that culminated in her new book, Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America's Elite Universities. Joining us today to discuss higher education and the rot within it is U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik of New York.Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America's Elite UniversitiesRep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) Questions University Presidents on AntisemitismThe Universities That Don’t Understand Academic FreedomElise Stefanik’s new book ‘Poisoned Ivies’ highlights the dangerous extremism in higher education

Without energy, we have nothing: The economy relies on it; our entertainments rely on it; our schools rely on it; our comfort and lives rely on it. But the energy on which we all rely has enemies, and our colleague Ken Braun has traced them in his new report Enemies of Energy. Ken joins us today to discuss his report.Enemies of Energy reportWhat’s Behind American Energy NGOs Doing China’s Dirty Work

Americans who know Cuba best—those who fled the Communist-ruled island and their descendants—loathe the country’s Communist regime, in power since Fidel Castro overthrew an American-backed strongman in 1959. Thanks to Cold War geopolitics and the political influence of those Cuban-American communities (especially those around Miami, home city of Secretary of State Marco Rubio), the United States has maintained strict restrictions on trade and travel to the island, largely on a bipartisan basis. But left-of-center activists often operate as if laws they don’t like don’t apply to them, and that any infractions will be dismissed with a wink and a nod by their “moderate” allies. And with an aggressive right-of-center government in power, that is increasingly a bad bet, as a number of radical-left activists including podcaster Hasan Piker and CodePink leader Medea Benjamin have reportedly been subpoenaed for information about their participation in the “Nuestra America Convoy” supporting the Communist regime. How much trouble are these leftist agitators potentially in? What are they doing, and who’s funding it? Stu Smith of the Manhattan Institute joins us to discuss.Feds subpoena Hasan Piker, Medea Benjamin over Cuba tripsHasan PikerCode Pink (CODEPINK)Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)The Cuban regime’s American sympathizersStu Smith

Today we’ve got a very important and exciting topic to cover: The nonprofit tax return (Form 990)! Now please don’t turn your podcast dial—this actually matters way more than you think, even if you aren’t a nonprofit accountant, because 990 disclosures are so very important to discovering “Who Funds That” in nonprofit advocacy. The Trump administration has proposed major changes to the “990” that “are intended to detect misconduct and hold wrongdoers accountable.” We’ve invited our colleague Robert Stilson, who has written extensively on fixing the nonprofit tax return, to offer his ideas on what the Trump administration should do. Treasury Announces Form 990 Transparency Initiative to Expose Hidden Funding and Strengthen OversightSome Suggestions for Improving the Form 990Thinking About Fiscal Sponsorship: The Form 990 Black HoleThinking About Fiscal Sponsorship: Potential ReformsTides Center

Seven buildings with 288 companies. Empty offices with unopened government notices in the mail slots. Convicted fraudsters vaguely warning that they know who journalists’ families are. It’s all real, and it’s all been uncovered in Columbus, Ohio, where millions of taxpayer dollars are disappearing into questionable home healthcare businesses and the state government and the businesses have few answers to many, many questions. Joining us to discuss their Ohio Medicaid investigation are Luke Rosiak, an investigative reporter for the Daily Wire, and Capital Research Center’s investigative researcher Parker Thayer.Medicaid MillionairesHe Was Convicted For Defrauding The Government. Now Medicaid Pays His Wife Millions.Ohio Restores Medicaid Anti-Fraud Measures After Daily Wire InvestigationInside Ohio’s Home Health Empire: 7 Buildings, 288 Medicaid Companies, $250 MillionNo One Is Safe: Homecare Fraud Schemes Are Ripping Off Americans In Every State

As working-class Americans demonstrate increasing willingness to support conservative political candidates, some ostensible conservatives—some perhaps in service to their think tank’s funders in left-wing Big Philanthropy and others perhaps in the delusion that Big Labor will lead them to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue—have argued that the path to working-class support is through union bosses’ marble and stone palaces in Washington, D.C. and other big blue cities. Today’s guest brings warnings that that way lies madness—or at least self-inflicted defeat, because those palaces still serve the Left as they have for (at least) almost a century. Today Tom Jones of the American Accountability Foundation brings the receipts, with documentation on how private-sector unions that have Republican members have been using their (often forced) dues to fund the Institutional Left.see lessScathing report claims nation's oldest labor union 'betrayed' MAGA members through 'shocking' spendingDUKE: A Shaky Ceasefire And A Union BetrayalMaking the AFL-CIO great again: labor policy in 2026Some local Teamsters groups announce Harris endorsements after national union declines to do soDoes Big Labor truly represent the American worker?Big Labor sees pensions as a “weapon”

When conservatives wax poetic about their favorite Supreme Court justices from what one might call the “Federalist Society era” of Republican appointments, Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia take precedence. The oldest may prefer the late William Rehnquist, for a time the lone “originalist” on the court; the youngest may prefer Neil Gorsuch, the libertarian radical appointed by President Donald Trump in 2017. But today’s guest argues for Samuel Alito, appointed as George W. Bush’s second choice for the vacancy created by the retirement of Sandra Day O’Connor in 2005, as perhaps the most consequential of them all. Mollie Hemingway, editor-in-chief of The Federalist, joins us to discuss her latest book: Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution.Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the ConstitutionAlito: The fulcrum of the conservative CourtDemand JusticeProPublicaBrett Kavanaugh’s Would-Be Assassin Gets Time Off for Trans Behavior

Maryland, for my sins my home state, is almost completely controlled by the teachers unions—this was proven during COVID-19, when the state had among the longest school closures in the nation. But the end of the pandemic did nothing to curb Maryland teachers unions’ ambitions, which are now focused against private education, which the unions and their allies in state government hope to ideologically compel to follow the party line. Today’s guest, Corey DeAngelis of the Heritage Foundation among other places, focuses on an effort by the union-backed state legislature to require private schools in the state to acquiesce to gender transitions—even schools that have sincere religious objections to gender transitions likely protected by the First Amendment. He joins us today to discuss what this effort by blue-state teachers-union-controlled legislatures can tell us about parental rights campaigns across the country.Maryland’s assault on private educationTeachers Unions Extort States Unwilling to ResistInfluenceWatch Podcast #397: Teachers Unions Target TargetBREAKING: Chicago Teachers Union just sent out curriculum for public school teachers and it indoctrinates kids by calling Trump fascist.

Hello, I’m Michael Watson joined by Sarah Lee and this is our first episode of Capital Research Center’s “Who Funds That?” podcast. I am fond of reminding anyone who will hear me that organized labor is an institutional pillar of “Everything Leftism,” the omnibus ideology of progressive-liberal-socialist politics that relies on every single issue—yes, including that one—has one right answer and every issue relies on all issues following the party line. Today’s guest, Rhyen Staley of Defending Education, found documents from the Sunrise Movement, the radical left mobilization group that has shifted focus from the Green New Deal and environmentalism toward the full Everything Leftist agenda, that further prove these ties. He joins us today to discuss his research on Sunrise Movement’s guide to planned school disruptions and the role of the teachers’ unions in supporting them.A Sunrise Movement training guidebook calls for students to ‘take action monthly’ to ‘disrupt business as usual’ to bring about a ‘political revolution’Newly obtained slides from a Sunrise Movement membership meeting calls for a ‘political revolution’ that includes the ‘need to structurally change the foundations of this country’ to achieve ‘Eco-socialism, [a] multi-racial democracy, and Green New Deal legislation’A May Day 2026 Host Toolkit includes training information for a “coordinated day of action” and promotes tactics such as a school ‘walk-in’; NEA provided $1.7M in funding to organization involved with training.K-12 Student Walkout and Protest Tracker

This is not the Influence Watch Podcast. After our 400th episode, we said we'd be back with our new format and new name on April 7th, but we're making bigger changes and they'll take a little bit more time. You'll be able to see us in video format on YouTube and we're upgrading our microphones so we sound as good as we possibly can. But getting all that in order is taking a little bit longer than we initially expected. We look forward to joining you all once again on April 21st.Thank you for sticking with us at Capital Research Center and Influence Watch as we relaunch the "Who Funds That?" podcast.

Hello, I’m Michael Watson and this is the 400th episode of the InfluenceWatch Podcast. For us, it is a time for looking back and a time for looking forward—we will have a special announcement at the conclusion of today’s episode. Joining me to discuss their work at Capital Research Center are our director of communications and external relations and my usual co-host Sarah Lee, investigative researcher Parker Thayer, and senior research analyst Robert Stilson.Big Philanthropy “decolonizes” itselfTrump’s labor agencies get to work for independent workersSuspicious immigration NGO rakes in tax dollars in Columbus

You may have seen news reports that California is facing something called “outmigration,” in which residents – including some of that state’s most wealthy – are picking up and moving to greener pastures in states not dedicated to taxing them to death. California’s billionaires are most recently eyeing a ballot measure to be voted on this November that would essentially serve as a 5% excise tax for the crime of being billionaires. This has led to many of the state’s prominent entrepreneurs like Google’s Sergey Brin, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Paypal’s Peter Thiel to make their objections known with their feet and their moving trucks. But what if a federal wealth tax were imposed, like the one recently introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ro Khanna, and there was nowhere to run? And, given how much these individuals give to philanthropy – for better or worse – what would happen to that giving if Sanders and Khanna were to succeed? Joining us to discuss is Andrew Wilford, Director of State Policy at the National Taxpayer Union Foundation, who has been writing about the possible calamities surrounding a wealth tax for many years. California Wealth Tax Proposal Achieves a New Feat in Tax Policy: Losing the State Money Before It Even Becomes LawThe Wealth Tax's Impact on Private CharitiesBernie Sanders’s Radical Wealth TaxBig Labor’s bid to kill its Golden State

As we speak—it’s February 25th as we record, so commentary on the current situation may be out of date when you hear this—a naval armada of two fleet carriers and their accompanying surface-ship escorts sits off the Middle East as American diplomats pressure the Islamic Republic of Iran to renounce its nuclear ambitions and its expansionist agenda to dominate the region. Given the brutality of the Iranian regime—estimates suggest the regime killed at least 6,000 and perhaps in excess of 30,000 Iranians who protested against it earlier this year—you would think that Americans, even those who oppose armed conflict to depose the regime, would universally acknowledge the Mullah-ocracy’s evil. But you would be wrong. Joining us today to discuss those who don’t is our colleague Robert Stilson.Iran and the anti-American leftThe Anti-American Left: CommunophilismCRC News: Congress asks CRC about foreign funding of American NGOsCommunist Party USA (CPUSA)

That teachers’ unions are more interested in radical leftist political power than student achievement is increasingly recognized, and today’s guest brings two new pieces of evidence to pile on the scales. First, AFT president Randi Weingarten, the under-recognized villain of the COVID-19 pandemic, announced to a videoconference of radical-left activists that she was leveraging teachers’ pensions against Target to get the company to denounce immigration enforcement. Then, we dive deeply into Union del Barrio, a radical anti-immigration-enforcement group that may take control of Los Angeles’s teachers union. Stu Smith of the Manhattan Institute, who surfaced the Weingarten clip and recently wrote on UdB, joins us to discuss.Meet the Radicals Running to Lead the Los Angeles Teachers’ UnionMeet the radicals who ran to lead LA’s teachers union, Unión del Barrio and its offshoots.Randi Weingarten’s Fight With Target Isn’t Remotely About Education

Foreign influence in American nonprofit organizations. It’s real, it has influence on our public life, and Congress has taken note of it. Joining me to discuss the influence of foreign funding of voter registration, ballot initiatives, and the rest of the American nonprofit sector are three of Capital Research Center’s experts on the topic: Senior Research Analyst Robert Stilson, Investigative Researcher Parker Thayer, and last but not least President Scott Walter, who testified to the House Ways and Means Committee last week.(Congressional testimony) Foreign Influence in American Nonprofits: Unmasking Threats from Beijing and BeyondPeople’s Support Foundation (PSF)Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF)Hansjorg WyssThinking About Fiscal Sponsorship: The Form 990 Black HoleThinking About Fiscal Sponsorship: Potential Reforms

It’s Minnesota day, again. Before Minneapolis lit politics on fire with immigration-enforcement-related shootings and associated protests and riots, the story from the land of 10,000 lakes was public-benefits fraud, allegations of which surged to public attention alongside memes about the “Quality Learing Center.” But it’s not just a right-wing internet meme or video investigation—Minnesota has a serious, proven problem with millions if not billions of dollars in public money stolen by scammers, most notably the “Feeding Our Future” nonprofit that ripped off the taxpayer instead of feeding children during COVID-19. This raises a question we have raised in our Minnesota discussions before: Should the government, or should nonprofit groups, carry out the role of Big Government? Stephen Eide of the Manhattan Institute joins us to discuss.A Hidden Lesson of the Minnesota Welfare ScandalMamdani’s NGO Model ArmyThe Union and the Republican Prize Patrol

As Minnesota, the only state not to have voted for Ronald Reagan, continues to dominate the headlines, a question arises: Just how radical is the state, and its largest city, Minneapolis, anyway? A recent decision on the organization of the Minneapolis City Council indicates that the city is extremely radical. While one-party city legislatures in places dominated by Democrats are extremely common, how many have Democratic Socialistsas both the “majority” and “minority” leaders of their city councils? Minneapolis does, a fact brought to public attention by today’s guest, Luke Rosiak of the Daily Wire. Minneapolis City Council Names Socialists As Both ‘Majority’ and ‘Minority’ LeadersCommunism and the Democratic Socialists of AmericaLocal Prosecutors Join Forces to Bring Charges Against Federal AgentsHead Of Soros Prosecutor Group Resigns Following Daily Wire Report On Staff MutinyInfluenceWatch Podcast #379: The Hidden Power Behind Soros DAs

Amid protests over immigration enforcement by leftists in Minneapolis, a group of Black Lives Matter demonstrators allegedly invaded a service at a church whose pastor they claimed was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. (Ex-CNN talking head Don Lemon was also there, claiming to be an independent journalist.) The U.S. Department of Justice has issued statements that they are investigating the incident, with the possibility of pressing charges under the FACE Act, a piece of legislation enacted in 1994 to deter protests at abortion clinics that contains a provision extending its provisions to religious worship sites, or the Ku Klux Klan Act, Reconstruction-era legislation that made interfering with Americans’ civil rights a federal crime. Already, the federal government has announced that multiple activists involved in the demonstration have been arrested. Is that reasonable? We are joined by Manhattan Institute legal policy fellow Tal Fortgang to discuss.How the White House Can Crack Down on Radical Groups—LegallyAnti-ICE protesters storm church in Minnesota during serviceMinnesota agitators arrested in wake of church invasion, Bondi saysDispute over Arresting Don Lemon?Don Lemon Just Happens to Make It to Church on TimeThe Rise of Civil TerrorismBlocking the Road Is Civil Terrorism

Just before Christmas, the federal Justice Department secured indictments against four alleged radical-left domestic terrorists alleged to be affiliated with the “Turtle Island Liberation Front.” Our colleague Robert Stilson is deeply familiar with the notion of “turtle island,” a name for the North American continent derived from a Native American myth that radical leftists increasingly use to show they deny the legitimacy of the American and Canadian governments. He joins us today to discuss the radical left’s increasing rejection of America’s existence and how the mainstream center-left appeases the radicals with “land acknowledgments.”https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/grand-jury-charges-four-members-anti-government-group-terrorism-felonies-stemming-newhttps://capitalresearch.org/article/turtle-island-and-the-legitimacy-of-america/https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-ideological-fuel-of-a-new-left-part-1/https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-marguerite-casey-foundation-part-3/statics.teams.cdn.office.net/evergreen-assets/safelinks/2/atp-safelinks.html

In the early morning hours of January 3rd, U.S. military, in an impressively covert operation, captured Venezuela’s self-declared president Nicolas Maduro, and his wife and spirited them away to face narco-terrorism charges in a New York courtroom. In the immediate aftermath, Venezuelans cheered in the streets, celebrating the demise of Maduro’s Marxist regime, one that had decimated their economy and led to huge numbers of Venezuelans fleeing the country since 2013. Leftist groups in the U.S., such as the ANSWER Coalition, The People’s Forum, Code Pink, and the Chicago Teachers Union, also organized quickly,  gathering crowds for protests in prominent American cities, leaving observers wondering just how they were able to mobilize so fast. Here to discuss what happened on Jan 3, what the future looks like now for Venezuela and her relationship with the U.S., and to answer questions about the organizations behind the protests, is our friend Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow for national security and foreign policy at the Heritage Foundation.Mike GonzalezHow the Smithsonian lost its way Trump’s reforms are essentialTrump Announces U.S. Military's Capture of MaduroANSWER CoalitionCode Pink (CODEPINK)The Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)The People’s Forum

Minnesota was liberal to begin with: It has the distinction of “voting blue, no matter who” since Jimmy Carter led the Democratic ticket, joining only the District of Columbia in refusing to give its electoral votes to President Ronald Reagan in 1984. For a while, the Hubert Humphrey model of Big Government, strong labor unions, and a business community that operated with a “social conscience” worked well. But in recent years, the social model of Scandinavian exiles has broken down, just its big brother did in Scandinavia itself. Joining us to discuss how Minnesota’s social model has collapsed as “some of the state’s leading politicians and sectarian interests” have come to “understand government not as a society’s shared instrument to address its problems, but as a storehouse to pillage” is Armin Rosen, a journalist who wrote on the state’s problems for Walter Kirn’s newspaper-magazine County Highway.The Shame of Our Cities

The year 2025 has been wild and disruptive in the world of policy and influence, with a new administration coming to power with an aggressive agenda, a major reorganization of the left and Democratic Party’s most important dark-money network, and a worrying rise in political violence. Joining me to look back on the year are my colleague Robert Stilson and Capital Research Center president Scott Walter.Six homes, Caribbean vacations and a new SUV: How Oklahoma pastor spent $3.15M of ‘embezzled’ BLM OKC moneyThe DOGE Files: Top ten ways to waste tax dollarsHow Left-Wing Nonprofits Exploit American Taxpayers to Fund Their AgendasAmerican Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center)Greenpeace, nonprofits, and illegal protests

A new presidential administration does not typically mean new management at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but typically the incumbent FBI director did not oversee the FBI when it raided the President-elect’s house. Given that fact and other standing disputes with the Bureau, it is not surprising that President-elect Donald Trump and Senator Chuck Grassley have informed FBI Director Christopher Wray that he does not have the confidence of both the incoming administration and the incoming Senate majority. President-elect Trump has announced his intention to nominate Kash Patel, a former Congressional staffer and national security staffer in the first Trump administration, to replace Wray. Here to discuss how the FBI got here and where it might go in the next administration is our colleague, Ken Braun.Links: Pursuing the FBI’s “Wicked” Russiagate PerpsThe FBI’s Bad Apples: The Bureau’s Worst Days Are Worth RememberingMatt Taibbi: Kash Patel was totally vindicatedFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)Follow us on our socials: Twitter: @capitalresearchInstagram: @capitalresearchcenterFacebook: www.facebook.com/capitalresearchcenterYouTube: @capitalresearchcenter

The Groups, the justly maligned nonprofit and otherwise-professional activist groups whom moderate Democrats blamed for the failures of the Biden administration on the economy and immigration, are back and bolder than ever. Joining us today is our colleague Robert Stilson to discuss his profile on one of the most well-funded and radical The Groups you’ve probably never heard of: PolicyLink.The ascent of PolicyLinkInfluenceWatch profile for PolicyLink

Minnesota was liberal to begin with: It has the distinction of “voting blue, no matter who” since Jimmy Carter led the Democratic ticket, joining only the District of Columbia in refusing to give its electoral votes to President Ronald Reagan in 1984. For a while, the Hubert Humphrey model of Big Government, strong labor unions, and a business community that operated with a “social conscience” worked well. But in recent years, the social model of Scandinavian exiles has broken down, just its big brother did in Scandinavia itself. Joining us to discuss how Minnesota’s social model has collapsed as “some of the state’s leading politicians and sectarian interests” have come to “understand government not as a society’s shared instrument to address its problems, but as a storehouse to pillage” is Armin Rosen, a journalist who wrote on the state’s problems for Walter Kirn’s newspaper-magazine County Highway.The Shame of Our Cities

Arabella Advisors, we hardly knew ye. The once obscure, multi-billion dollar, private-equity-owned machine of leftist funding has gone the way of the dinosaurs. Or has it?Arabella, an organization we here at CRC worked diligently to help bring into the light, has in fact, after being rather publicly and unceremoniously dumped by the Gates Foundation in June, simply split, been restructured, been sold, and/or rebranded, depending on your perspective. The two new entities born of Arabella’s demise are Sunflower Services, a public benefit corporation, and Vital Impact, a philanthropic consulting firm that most resembles the former dark money machine.  The three c3 workhorse nonprofits housed under the former Arabella, who often served as fiscal sponsors for other nonprofits and from which the funding flowed – New Venture Fund, Hopewell Fund, and Windward Fund – are now investors in the aforementioned Sunflower Services and have vowed to continue the work of helping leftist nonprofits accomplish their goals on everything from DEI, to abortion, to social justice. But there are many questions remaining, with perhaps the most interesting: what happens to Arabella’s most political entities, the c4s, notably the notorious Sixteen Thirty Fund? And what prompted them to make this momentous change?Arabella Advisors Dissolves After Years of GOP-Led InvestigationsBill Gates to Stop Grantmaking via Arabella AdvisorsArabella: The Dark Money Network of Leftist Billionaires Transforming AmericaWhat, Exactly, Just Happened to the Left’s Dark Money Behemoth Arabella Advisors?Bill Gates may have just set off the death of far-left-tainted philanthropy

What makes a journalistic outfit “completely independent”? According to Drop Site News, the outlet is exactly that, and “reader-supported” to boot. But recent Open Society Foundations spending reports suggest that the outlet is not completely reader-supported: George Soros’s philanthropy spent $250,000 to support the creation of a “MENA desk” for the group through a fiscal sponsorship cut-out. Joining us to discuss the Open Society-Drop Site relationship is Chuck Ross, senior investigative reporter at the Washington Free Beacon. EXCLUSIVE: Soros Bankrolling Anti-Israel Drop Site NewsSame Game, Different Name: 'Radioactive' Arabella Advisors Announces Rebrand to 'Sunflower Services' as Prominent Donors Flee

It can seem infuriating: Leftist demonstrators wantonly violate the law, only to face no or negligible consequences because the powers that be either support or refuse to oppose their disruptive tactics. But as a famous progressive politician was fond of saying, “The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.” Last month, a North Dakota jury awarded Energy Transfer, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, $667 million in justice, holding that Greenpeace USA had defamed the company during demonstrations against the pipeline. Joining us to discuss the protests, the verdict, and what it might mean for leftist activism going forward is James Meigs, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.City Journal: Greenpeace Verdict Is a Wake-Up Call for Progressive NGOsWashington Post: Greenpeace ordered to pay Dakota Access Pipeline operator $667 million in case that could destroy the groupMartin Luther King, Jr.: Letter from a Birmingham JailCity Journal: Dismantle the “Environmental Justice” Juggernaut

A defining feature of the creeping leftism the country has experienced over the last several years is just that: It’s creeping, coming in on padded feet behind the scenes until Americans began to see it everywhere, in boardrooms, schoolrooms, and entertainment options. Now, there’s real concern that emerging technology like AI is embracing the ideology of woke on the sly, bringing it into the very information people seek online. Fortunately, there are organizations monitoring these things on behalf of consumers, such as Consumers Research via their Woke Alerts, which very recently sounded the alarm about a partnership between Anthropic AI and Salesforce that they say could make it easier to push left-wing ideologies on technology consumers.Here to discuss is Will Hild, Executive Director of Consumers' Research.Consumer protection organization warns of partnership between two 'woke' tech companiesWoke alertMarc BenioffSam Bankman-FriedEffective Altruism Animal Welfare Fund

Regular listeners might remember that earlier this year, a North Dakota jury awarded $667 million to Energy Transfer, the company building the Dakota Access Pipeline, for damages caused by Greenpeace. Because that poses an existential threat to the environmentalist activism group, Greenpeace has vowed to appeal pending final court action, and supporters published a mass open letter of 400 fellow activist groups and a large number of individual supporters, including (of course) prominent celebrities. But the case and the letter raise more fundamental questions about the activities of tax-exempt groups; namely, is it proper for nonprofits to advocate for, endorse groups that, and in some cases, outright engage in lawbreaking?  Joining us to discuss this is our colleague Robert Stilson. Greenpeace, nonprofits, and illegal protestsInfluenceWatch Podcast #361: Justice for GreenpeaceMegaphone philanthropy

In Washington, D.C., the “government shutdown” continues as Democrats demand that Republicans expand subsidies for Obamacare in exchange for lifting a filibuster on a “clean continuing resolution” that would reopen the government through approximately Thanksgiving. What listeners might not know is that there are is a big, well-known advocacy group and major corporation that look to benefit from those subsidies being extended: AARP, and its $9 billion funder, UnitedHealth. Joining us to discuss the dance of Obamacare, the AARP, and UnitedHealth is Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment. How AARP Makes Health Insurance Unaffordable for Its MembersHow AARP’s Profits Harm Patients —And Violate Its PrinciplesAARP: Influence Watch

It has been a lousy couple of years for one of the leftist factions most deserving of a lousy couple of years—no, not organized labor, institutional transgender activism. Great Britain, home to noted critic of transgenderism J.K. Rowling who not long ago faced odds as impossible as those of the Britons defending Rorke’s Drift in the 19th century, issued the Cass Report condemning activists’ preferred approaches to treating “gender dysphoria” by the “affirming” model, and the country’s Supreme Court ruled that a woman is, in fact, an adult human female. In the United States, our Supreme Court ruled that states had the power to prohibit sex changes for minors in U.S. v. Skrmetti and the Trump administration has sought to extirpate “gender ideology” from federal executive policy. But the campaign to “trans the kids” continues, and our colleague Parker Thayer went into the belly of the institutional beast to study it.Transgender medical symposium showcases radical quackeryACLU Attorney Confesses: Transgender-Suicide Claim is a MythWorld Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)InfluenceWatch Podcast 341: Progressive Transgender Coercion

Last week, radical-left terrorist and cop killer Joanne Chesimard, better known by her nom de guerre Assata Shakur, died in exile in Communist Cuba. You would think that leftists, even radical leftists, would let Chesimard go quietly, especially with the hot lights of public scrutiny on left-wing political violence. But the Chicago Teachers Union, one of America’s most powerful and influential radical-left groups did not, posting a Tweet praising the terrorist. Joining us to discuss this latest controversy and her group’s efforts to push back against America’s worst labor union—and I would normally hesitate to award that title—is Mailee Smith, vice president of policy and litigation at the Illinois Policy Institute.Chicago Teachers Union honors convicted murderer, wanted terroristThe Chicago Teachers Union Is Exactly Who You Thought They WereHow Chicago Teachers Union acts like Illinois’ newest political party

That left-wing violence is on the rise is undeniable; even The Atlantic, the bien-pensant left-wing magazine propped up by liberal heiress Laurene Powell Jobs’s billions has published a piece admitting it. But how high does support for such violence go, and how do violent left-wing extremists obtain resources? Our colleague Ryan Mauro, an expert in extremist networks, recently issued a report showing that the support, at least in terms of resources, stretches all the way to the top of institutional progressivism, with the Soros network of funding entities providing over $80 million into groups tied to terrorism or extremist violence. He joins us today to discuss his research. Exclusive: Soros’ Open Society gave $80 million to pro-terror groupsExclusive: Soros’ Open Society Gave Terrorist and Pro-Terror Groups Over $80 Million - ReportStochastic Terrorism, Speech Incantations and F orism, Speech Incantations and Federal Tax ExemptionLeft-Wing Terrorism Is on the Rise

You’ve heard of “Soros DAs”—prosecutors, whose campaigns were financially backed by George and Alexander Soros, who seek election on promises not to prosecute. But the anti-criminal-justice movement is bigger than one eccentric progressive billionaire and his nepo-baby son. Today’s guest, Sean Kennedy of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, focuses on one previously hidden link in the anti-criminal-justice movement: The Wren Collective, a secretive donor and advocacy organization that worked with over 40 current and former non-prosecuting prosecutors, including such radicals as ousted San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin. Also joining is my colleague Parker Thayer, who has written extensively on the “Soros DA” phenomenon.Unearthed emails show left-wing group quietly writing policies for progressive DAs: ‘No billing, no publicity’Outsourcing justiceSocial and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE)Vital Projects FundCari TunaChloe Cockburn

Before it was pushed from the headlines by the horrifying assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the major national crime story was the murder of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian woman stabbed to death on public transportation in Charlotte, North Carolina in late August whose killing was captured on graphic surveillance video. The suspect in the killing had an extensive criminal record, and his mother had previously pleaded to have her son committed to a mental institution. But at the time of the crime, the alleged killer was out on a written promise to appear for a charge of misusing the 9-1-1 system. The alleged killer’s extensive criminal record and the shocking horror of his crime has reignited a debate over criminal justice policy in America; today’s guest, the Daily Wire’s Megan Basham, discovered that in Charlotte itself, Big Philanthropy has pushed the policies that may have left the man free to kill Zarutska.Fatal Charlotte Stabbing Highlights The Failure Of Racial Equity Policies(Daily Wire)John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation(InfluenceWatch)A Gruesome Murder in North Carolina(New York Times)Charlotte train stabbing suspect's brother says killing could have been 'prevented'(Fox News)Analysis: Chicago foundation paid $3.3 million to Mecklenburg County to keep career criminals, like DeCarlos Brown, on the streets(SE Valley Times)

After widely publicized revelations of highly ideological nonprofits receiving federal funds and spending them on highly ideological projects, the Trump administration (and now, through the “rescissions” package and “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passed before Congress went on its August district work period, also even Congress) has started cutting off some of those nonprofit-led projects. What does this mean for the nonprofit sector? Mike Hartmann, longtime conservative philanthropoid and director of Capital Research Center’s Center for Strategic Giving, joins us to discuss.The New Era for Nonprofits Eight things to know about Big Philanthropy and the populist reaction against itThe New Populist Conservatism and Civil SocietyA self-protective “deep state” in the nonprofit industrial complex 

I'm Michael Watson joined by Parker Thayer and Sarah Lee and this is the InfluenceWatch Podcast. We're recording a special episode from the SPN Annual Meeting because there's big news from the world of Arabella Advisors: The New York Times is reporting that Bill Gates and his Gates Foundation are cutting off grantmaking to the Arabella network. We discuss the report, how the Arabella name has become deservedly synonymous with liberal politics and left-wing ideology, and what might come next for the left-wing "dark money" enterprise.Bill Gates cuts ties with Arabella