Why is billionaire George Soros a bogeyman for the hard right?

[Joinfortmill]

https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-49584157

I wondered why George Soros is blamed for every goddamn thing by the rightwing crazies. The short answer is Alex Jones (my words)

'He's a Jewish multi-billionaire philanthropist who has given away $32bn....The Hungarian emigre, who survived the Holocaust and fled the Communists, is thought to have made in total about $44bn through financial speculation. And he's used his fortune to fund thousands of education, health, human rights and democracy projects...Established in 1979, his Open Society Foundations now operate in more than 120 countries around the world. But this bold philanthropy in support of liberal, democratic causes has increasingly made him the bogeyman of the right.

The first conspiracy theories about George Soros appeared in the early 1990s, but they really gained traction after he condemned the 2003 Iraq War and started donating millions of dollars to the US Democratic Party. Ever since, American right-wing commentators and politicians have gone after him with increasing fury and vitriol, and often with scant concern for the facts...But it was Donald Trump's election victory that took the attacks on Soros to a new and dangerous level.

Eight months into Trump's presidency, in August 2017, neo-Nazis held a torchlit procession in Charlottesville, Virginia...Among US right-wingers it was soon claimed that the violence was orchestrated and financed by Soros, in order to tarnish the reputation of President Trump. And they said the key to the secret plot was a man called Brennan Gilmore, who filmed the car being driven into the counter-protesters. Right-wing radio host Alex Jones claimed Gilmore was paid $320,000 a year by Soros and was part of a deep-state coup to oust the president...Gilmore, who never received any money from Soros, is now suing Alex Jones and several others for defamation.

[Ray Bruns]

1. "He's a Jewish". Could have stopped the article right there. It's all the reason they need.

[mobeau69]

4. BINGO.

[JohnSJ]

8. Exactly

[marybourg]

13. Yup.

[elleng]

21. Right

[H2O Man]

28. +1

[LoisB]

33. Totally agree.

[SammySlytherin]

2. he coud do better

With all the money he puts into getting people on our side in positions of power, he sure does a horrible job of picking people who last more than one term

[dpibel]

5. Welcome to DU!

Are you sure about what you've posted?

It seems a little off-key somehow.

[mopinko]

11. link?

[Hekate]

18. You sure about that?

Welcome to DU. Enjoy your stay.

[littlemissmartypants]

24. Hi, Sam! Welcome to DU. Have you read the TOS?

[BWdem4life]

25. lol

Try harder

[H2O Man]

30. Darn him.

I think you have nailed the exact reason that so many unstable, full of shit republicans hate him. Its almost an exact quote there.

[LoisB]

35. Huh?

[flying_wahini]

3. Yes, GOP didn't take kindly that their racist and antisemitism that was Exposed.

They still believe that our military is the first go to in conflicts. It helps pad their bank accounts.
PNAC is still ‘alive’ and kicking.

[edisdead]

6. that garbage has been around

that garbage has been around since way before alex jones was a thing.

[keep_left]

7. Here's a bit of history that might be useful.

I posted this response to a similar OP.

Soros, through his Open Society Foundation, also helped to bring the Wall down and to end the Cold War, especially in Europe (he's Hungarian). The new totalitarians (MAGA chuds and the alt-right) hate that because they love strongmen like Orban, and of course because Soros is Jewish.

(additional content follows)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=17740357

[yardwork]

16. In other words, he helped destroy the USSR.

[keep_left]

23. That's probably an overstatement, but Soros definitely played a role.

He's also funded a lot of useful projects in the USA, including drug decriminalization.

The far-right hates Soros because he favors open societies (hence the name of his think tank, the Open Society Foundation), and also because he detests strongman dictatorial regimes, having seen enough of that during WWII and then in Cold War Hungary. (And of course, there is the covert anti-Semitism of the alt-right as well).

[Zambero]

9. They need one

And Soros checks all their boxes: Jewish, foreign born, philanthropist for non-RW causes, contributor to Democratic candidates. A "perfect" dog-whistle for those programmed to hear it.

[pandr32]

12. Exactly, and they can easily remember and say his name.

[keithbvadu2]

10. Trumper claiming that DeSantis is funded by Soros. La la la la la...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217724425

[keithbvadu2]

14. Soros must be as broke as Trump now with all that he has supposedly paid out.

Soros must be as broke as Trump now with all that he has supposedly paid out.

Conservatives will believe any lie for their cause, especially if it involves Soros.

This prosperous looking guy claims he has gotten rich from Soros.

And the Congressman 'believes' him.

[blm]

15. To deflect from the Korean cult leader who shaped today's GOP

Spent billions more than Soros ever did and with far-reaching influence.

RevMoon conditioned the RightWing mindset for 4 decades, 15years before FOX went on air.

[yardwork]

17. Thank you for reminding us of Reverend Moon.

[keep_left]

27. I recall that David Brock, the former far-right operative...

...who wrote Blinded By the Right, came clean about the funding of so many of the right-wing foundations and publishing enterprises--most notably the Washington Times. I can't remember if this was mentioned in the book or in an interview (both, I think), but Brock explained how the Times had been funded by Sun Myung Moon with billions of dollars for several decades with a flat or declining subscription base.

[brooklynite]

19. Nancy Pelosi isn't available anymore?

[Hekate]

20. "He's Jewish" -- right there

[Fritz67]

26. In addition to the fact Soros is Jewish...

...I suspect the Neo-Nazis/Alt-Right/White Supremacists/Tea Party/Republicans are so tired of us pointing out how a few creepy billionaires like Rupert Murdoch, the Mercers, and the Kochs blatantly exert massive influence over the right, they figure the left must be under the control of a creepy billionaire too, so they basically made up a bunch of bullshit about Soros just for that purpose.

[ZonkerHarris]

29. Points to sign lit up in neon that says JEWISH.

Just pure anti Semitism

[Midnight Writer]

31. Rush Limbaugh used to mention Soros almost daily.

And all the Limbaugh wannabes like Hannity picked up that ball and ran with it.

Alex Jones is a scumbag, but he never had nearly the reach of Limbaugh and his ilk. Soros was the boogeyman long before Alex Jones hit the scene.

[Mr.Bill]

32. And why at age 80, is Biden

in the final stages of dementia and staggers around the White House bumping into walls while not even knowing his name or where he is while at 92, Soros is masterminding the takeover of the world?

[Catherine Vincent]

34. Thank you for this article

Cons have demonized Soros for years. And it's only because he poured in millions of dollars for liberal causes.

Alex Jones and his made up bs is the reason these stupid republicans out there parrot all his bs. I hope this Gilmore fellow wins his case against Jones and receive $320,000.

[no_hypocrisy]

36. Stole the idea from 1984 (Emmanuel Goldstein)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Goldstein

[flying rabbit]

39. +1 nt

[JHB]

37. The people who invoke Soros' name generally have no idea where he fits on the scale of things

They know his name because their favorite hosts (Alex Jones, Glenn Beck, and a bunch of others on radio, websites, and cable) in conservative media said his name and railed against his imaginary evils. Plus, he's Jewish but his name doesn't "sound Jewish", so they have a smokescreen for the antisemitism that this kind of talk feeds into.

The people for whom Soros is an all-powerful boogie-man generally don't have a working knowledge of the political philanthropy of:

The Koch brothers
The Mercer family
The Coors family
The Walton family
Sheldon Adelson
Richard Mellon-Scaife
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
The Searle Freedom Trust

an assortment of less-visible and smaller-scale ideological donors
assorted foundations set up by persons named above who have passed on
etc.

They also don't know the RW funders' history of being much more focused on "working the system" to reshape to their liking, as opposed to Soros' more individual-project funding, and that the numbers of what the RWers spend swamp his spending many fold.

[Martin Eden]

38. Soros in an enemy of fascism in all its forms

Therefore he is hated and reviled by American "conservatives."

[Behind the Aegis]

40. 1st person got it right, but here is a history in pictures...

and this applies to more than just the right, especially when they feel the need to shit on threads about Jews by "whataboutism" "concern" regarding Israel.

[Hekate]

41. Thank you for the graphic representations-- & for the warning about the Left