Meet The Think Tanks Behind MAGA’s New Free Speech Crackdown
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump—and many of his most prominent right-wing supporters—are directly linked to some of the most radically pro-war, pro-Israel organizations in the country. These connections form a sprawling web of lobbying groups, tech billionaires, and media figures who consistently promote Israeli interests above those of ordinary Americans.
Why has the pro-Trump right suddenly pivoted from branding itself as a bastion of free speech to openly supporting censorship and state-led crackdowns? This MintPress News investigation uncovers a donor-driven advocacy network driving that ideological shift.
The Horowitz Connection
Since the early 2000s, writer and activist David Horowitz has been at the center of a movement that claimed to defend free speech while portraying Muslims and leftists as existential threats to Western civilization. In the aftermath of 9/11, Horowitz called for the profiling of “Palestinian” and “Islamic” people and infamously stated that “the Palestinians are Nazis.”
Through the David Horowitz Freedom Center (DHFC), founded in 1998, he and his donors built a media and policy network that shaped the careers of nearly every major pro-Trump conservative figure active today. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated the DHFC a hate group, and it has received anonymous dark money routed through Donors Trust, which has also funded white nationalist causes.
Horowitz focused much of his activism on college campuses, pushing inflammatory anti-Islam and pro-Israel narratives intended to provoke backlash. He then framed protests against his appearances as proof that the left and Muslim communities oppose the First Amendment.
This strategy laid the foundation for figures like Ben Shapiro, who built his early career on college campus tours, defending even hate speech as protected expression and popularizing slogans like “facts don’t care about your feelings.” Shapiro began as a fellow at the DHFC, and his first book, “Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth,” was published in 2004.
Shapiro would later become editor-in-chief of Truth Revolt, a website funded by the David Horowitz Freedom Center, where his managing editor was Jeremy Boreing. The two would go on to co-found what is now The Daily Wire. Both also worked with organizations linked to Israeli intelligence circles before eventually hiring Jordan Peterson. Although Peterson had previously said little about Israel, upon joining the Daily Wire he adopted a vocal pro-Israel stance and later met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The DHFC has also funded or aligned with numerous high-profile right-wing figures, including former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, former national security adviser John Bolton, Pamela Geller, and Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Trump’s current Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, received $30,000 in speaking fees and honoraria from the Freedom Center between 2023 and 2024.
Candace Owens, now a high-profile conservative commentator, was initially recruited by Horowitz, but later came under attack from his affiliated activists after publicly expressing support for Palestinian rights.
“I started my career, my political career, on YouTube making just funny, satirical videos, and I got an email from David Horowitz inviting me to this conference, and let me just tell you what a big deal it was for me. I h
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
