[News] US diverts millions to European right-wing groups after aid cuts

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-diverts-millions-to-european-right-wing-groups-after-aid>
US diverts millions to European right-wing groups after aid cuts
Al Mayadeen English
August 12, 2026
------------------------------

After shutting down USAID over waste claims, Washington is now sending
millions in grants to right-wing groups across the UK and Europe.

   - [image: President Donald Trump greets supporters after arriving on a
   Freedom 250 train, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Medora, ND (AP Photo/Julia
   Demaree Nikhinson)]
   <https://alpha-en-media.almayadeen.net/media/image/2026/8/12/84f53432-7941-4c9e-9ecb-28804b2f6702.jpg?width=1000>
   President Donald Trump greets supporters after arriving on a Freedom 250
   train, Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Medora, ND (AP Photo/Julia Demaree
   Nikhinson)

The Trump administration shut down the US Agency for International
Development
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/us-set-to-end--lifesaving--aid-in-seven-african-countries--r>
in February 2025, with President Trump declaring the agency plagued by
corruption and ordering it closed within hours of posting the accusation on
Truth Social.

The move was presented as part of an "America first" push to stop wasting
taxpayer money overseas, following unsubstantiated claims from conservative
media that the agency had funneled millions toward frivolous projects
abroad.

More than a year later, however, US government money is still leaving the
country, according to reporting by *The Guardian*. Rather than funding
humanitarian relief, the funds are now being steered toward right-wing
organizations across Europe, many with financial or ideological ties to
Trump-aligned networks.
Grants flow to UK conservative groups

*The Guardian* reported last month that the US State Department plans to
award around $12 million to conservative organizations in Britain
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/uk-populist-right-media-funding-tops--170-mln--study>.
The largest single grant, worth $7 million, is earmarked for 878, a newly
registered group co-founded by former Conservative minister and broadcaster
Jacob Rees-Mogg. The organization describes itself as a British-American
think tank focused on strengthening the "civilizational partnership"
between the two countries.

A former US official told *The Guardian* that standard funding procedures
appear to have been bypassed to channel money toward causes aligned with
Trump's political movement.

Separately, Washington has opened grant proposals for European groups
working to build  "civilizational self-confidence," addressing sovereignty,
migration, censorship, and what the funding language calls shared Western
values.

Researcher Zsuzsanna Végh told the *i Paper* that the vague wording
reflects years of coordination between MAGA-aligned figures and sympathetic
European actors, who had already been identified as likely grant recipients.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz responded by cautioning the Trump
administration against interfering in Germany's elections. In Britain, the
US embassy in London is also offering grants of up to $500,000 for "public
education" initiatives promoting a shared narrative of transatlantic
values, a program one former State Department official described to *The
Guardian* as an effort to manufacture UK-based narratives supporting MAGA
messaging.
Part of a wider export strategy

The grants form part of a broader pattern of exporting Trump-aligned
politics beyond US borders. Billionaire ally Elon Musk has repeatedly
amplified right-wing populist movements across Europe, while former Homeland
Security Secretary
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/trump-faces--misogynistic-cabinet--claims-after-firing-bondi>
Kristi Noem publicly backed Polish presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki at
a Conservative Political Action Conference event in Warsaw, breaking with
diplomatic norms. Nawrocki went on to win narrowly.

CPAC itself has expanded well beyond its original US base, holding
conferences from Tokyo to Budapest since 2017, and last month launched a
British chapter led by former prime minister Liz Truss.

A December national security strategy document reportedly framed Europe as
facing "civilizational erasure" and called for cultivating resistance to
the continent's political direction, according to The Guardian.
Domestic costs mount

The spending comes as domestic support for Trump's foreign policy
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/trump-s-maga-base-sours-on-iran-war-as-costs-keep-mounting>
shows signs of strain. A Politico poll cited by The Guardian found that
only a third of Trump's base now views the US war on Iran as worth its
cost, down from half in May, with prominent supporters including podcaster
Joe Rogan voicing criticism over the conflict.

Trump has largely dismissed concerns over the rising cost of living at
home, even as reports place the price tag of the Iran war above $100
billion. Critics argue the gap between the administration's domestic
promises and its overseas political spending is becoming harder to obscure,
regardless of how the funding is framed.
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