George Soros, a billionaire and frequent donor to Democratic causes, has been credited by the American right with the indictment of Donald J. Trump. His indirect donations to a prosecutor’s campaign are animating Trump allies.
The right’s concern with Mr. Soros has waxed and waned for years, but the tumult surrounding Mr. Trump’s indictment has given new life to what critics have long contended is a concern, yet tinged with (unfounded) antisemitic bigotry.
Mr. Soros, a Jew from Hungary, survived the Holocaust, fled communism, and became one of the most prominent funders of alleged democracy promotion, anti-Communism, and liberal education around the globe.
Denny Hastert once suggested that George Soros’s efforts to counter George W. Bush’s re-election bid in 2004 may have been financed by “drug money.” Donald Trump hinted in 2018 that Soros was funding migrant caravans that were making their way to the United States Southwestern border.
Viktor Orban has called out Soros for what he calls “illiberal democracy” and has proposed a Stop Soros bill to ban organizations judged to support migration and tax groups receiving foreign funding.
The indictment of Donald Trump has re-centered Soros in American politics and rekindled the debate over whether criticism of a Democratic megadonor who is Jewish can be labeled bigotry. The left has made an industry out of hiding its agenda behind minority shields, where criticism of the actions and policies is met with bigotry accusations.
The conservative columnist Charles C. W. Cooke argued that Mr. Soros’s active involvement in politics, including the push to elect liberal district attorneys like Mr. Bragg, makes him fair game and that charges of antisemitism are out of line.
In 2021, the political arm of the self-described racial justice organization Color of Change pledged $1 million to support Mr. Bragg’s campaign. Shortly afterward, Mr. Soros gave the organization a $1 million gift, one of several donations he gave to the group totaling about $4 million since 2016.
