How was George Soros accused of having just about everything

George Soros has had a lot of things. A survivor of the Holocaust; an immigrant; a financier; a billionaire; and a philanthropist.

But he has been accused of much more: interference in Russia, organization of demonstrations against corruption in Romania and armed violence in the United States, financing of the caravan of migrants in Mexico.

How did Soros, who received a home-made bomb in the mail last month, come to be criticized for interfering in the societies of Russia in the United States, and many of them , goes back decades In 2018, in the United States, Trump reached a high fever level.

The story of Soros the man is now well known, but perhaps not as good as that of Soros the myth. He was born in 1930 in Hungary. concealed disguised as a Christian during the brief Nazi occupation of his country at the age of 14; studied at the London School of Economics, where he met the ideas of the philosopher Karl Popper, with whom The open society and its enemies he was obviously so taken that he gave his name to his foundation.

He earned his money in finance and is accused of having "broken" the Bank of England as one of the speculators who shortened the pound sterling, forcing Britain to retreat. of the European exchange rate mechanism in 1992. But it became known in philanthropy, starting with the Republic of South Africa, the time of apartheid, where it granted scholarships to black students from 1979. He returned to his native Hungary, which was then part of the communist-controlled Eastern Bloc, in 1984, where he opened the first Open Society office in Europe. .

During the 1990s, Soros funded student debates, scholarships for the arts and trips through Open Society. It has also funded politically active NGOs. "Some of the elite groups that he has supported in countries like Croatia, Poland, and Hungary – they have played a role not only in philanthropy but also in politics," BuzzFeed said. Janine Wedel, social anthropologist and professor of politics at George Mason University. New

The 1998 "Rock the vote" Slovak campaign, for example, which overthrew Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar, was led in part by NGOs supported by the Open Society.

For most of the 1990s, however, Soros was seen as a benefactor and not a threat to society. Then came the early 2000s.

Three things happened in the early 2000s, began the international defamation of George Soros.

The first took place in 2003, when the Rose Revolution in Georgia resulted in the ousting of Eduard Shevardnadze, former Soviet Foreign Minister turned president of Georgia in the 1990s, and the rise to power Mikheil Saakashvili, who later became president of the country. Saakashvili sharply criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had apparently threatened to suspend his Georgian counterpart "by bullets". Open Society had supported some of the NGOs and political figures involved in the revolution, as well as one of the members of Saakashvili's cabinet, Alexander Lomaia. , had been executive director of the Georgian branch of Open Society. Soros himself said his role in Georgia had been greatly exaggerated. But it mattered less than the fact that he caught Putin's attention.

The second was in 2004, when Soros turned his attention to US politics by donating $ 27 million in the 2004 election cycle to incumbent President George W. Bush, who was not available for an interview for this article. Soros called to work to drive Bush out of the "central focus" of his life and said Bush's "with us or against us" rhetoric in the aftermath of September 11th reminded him of "the Germans," adding, "My experiences with the Nazis and Soviet domination made me aware. "

At the end of August of the same year, Dennis Hastert, who was then the Speaker of the House of Representatives, appeared Sunday in Fox News: "You know, I do not know where George Soros gets his money. I do not know where – whether it comes from overseas or drug groups or where it comes from … George Soros has been legalizing the drugs in this country. So, I mean, he has a lot of accessory interests. Hastert, who was released from prison last year for structuring illegal withdrawals from a bank to pay for a student victim of sexual abuse, did not respond to a request for comment.

And the third thing is that in 2010 – the same year that Glenn Beck broadcast three hours of anti-Soros programs on Fox News (Beck refused a request for an interview on the origin of his interest in Soros ) – a former Soros stock exchange. A student named Viktor Orban returned to power in Hungary, in the midst of the global economic crisis.

Since then, anti-Soros Conspiracy theories have multiplied, across the oceans and around the world. In 2011, Soros was accused of funding Occupy Wall Street, a left-wing movement stemming from the financial crisis in the United States, whose flagship event was the occupation of a small park not far from Wall Street. He had donated money to a center called Tides Center, which then gave money to smaller groups, some of which involved in Occupy Wall Street. For example, the center donated money to Adbusters, who made a poster depicting a ballerina riding a bull. in front of the demonstrators, face covered with masks.

But that is in 2015, as hundreds of thousands of people fled Syria to Europe, as Orban turned to Soros. The government sent a questionnaire on the "Soros Plan" aimed at pumping Europe into mass migrants in 2017, and Orban announced that Soros would be at the center of his reelection campaign, which he won.

In the 2016 presidential election, his name was back in people's languages. During this donation, he donated $ 16 million to groups supporting Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton. And he's been there ever since, the billionaire being accused of everything from this fall's caravan of migrants to protests against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Senator Chuck Grassley asked if he thought Soros was behind the Kavanaugh protests.

Asked by BuzzFeed News about how Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, came to believe that Soros was behind the demonstrations, a spokesman was obviously trapped and suggested that the question implied that Grassley was responsible for recent anti-Semitic attacks in the United States. "Sen. Grassley never mentioned the religion or descent of Mr. Soros and had nothing to do with it. He simply pointed out, in response to a question, the well-established fact that Mr. Soros had contributed financially to organizations that paid demonstrators. He did not specify which ones.

Some seized the fact that two demonstrators who had clashed with Senator Jeff Flake about his vote for Kavanaugh's approval were working for the Center for Popular Democracy, which receives funding from the Open Society ("The Protestant The elevator admits she's working for a Soros-funded organization "right-wing title of Daily Caller, read), equating the funding of organizations through its foundation to the organization." personal events.

Response from Grassley's spokesperson did not come from nowhere The critics of Soros are often called anti-Semites and denigrating Soros himself is often considered an outlet for anti-Semitism.

But is criticizing Soros different from criticizing other political donors? Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, for example, m said on Twitter, it's a "double standard" to consider the anti-Semitic critics of Soros, but not those of Sheldon Adelson, the businessman and philanthropist who donated millions of dollars to Trump's inauguration committee .

The difference is that Soros is criticized for the money that he gives, but also for the money that he has never given and that he is never going to give . The funder Soros is criticized all over the world, but the spectrum, the stranger who is actively working to undermine the very fabric of society, is also.

And here comes a variety of antisemitic tropes that go back decades, if not centuries.

"We are fighting an enemy different from us. Not open, but hidden; not simple but cunning; not honest but low; not national but international; does not believe in work but speculates with money; does not have its own homeland, but has the impression of owning the whole world, "said Orban in a speech delivered during the March election campaign.

Some, including leaders of Hungarian Jewish groups, have called this anti-Semitic dog whistle, playing on the wandering Jew's old tramp, rootless and lying, sowing discord with ill-gotten wealth. The Hungarian government, after the elections, diverted criticism by pointing out that the Israeli government congratulated Orban for his victory. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also an enemy of Soros. Billionaire finances Human Rights Watch, which criticizes the treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government.

This criticism does not apply only to Hungary.

"In far-right circles around the world, Soros philanthropy is often turned into a powerful argument for disproportionate conspiracy theories, including accusations that it has organized specific world intrigues or manipulated events. to achieve its goals, "wrote the Anti-Defamation League last month. "Many of these conspiracy theories use longstanding anti-Semitic myths, particularly the idea that wealthy and powerful Jews work behind the scenes, planning to control countries and manipulating world events."

How the Tropes, rumors, myths travel from Russia to Hungary to Israel in the United States?

In part, there are formal channels. Take, for example, the Congressman turned lobbyist Connie Mack IV. Mack has been in the House for almost ten years – from 2005 to 2013 – and has co-sponsored acts such as "Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 2010" and "Prohibit the Financing of Student Financing". abortion of taxpayers ". business and oversight committees. After losing a Senate race to Democrat Bill Nelson in 2012, he became a lobbyist. He is now lobbying, among others, for the Hungarian government, and Hungarian human rights groups have accused him of spreading anti-Soros sentiment in Congress – he has already called for a resolution condemning Orban "simply an addition to the negative campaign led by George Soros against Hungary" network of influence. "

Mack did not respond to a request for comment.

Social media has proven to be a greenhouse for anti-Soros memes.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Facebook and Twitter that Soros should not be allowed to buy this election, a message that he removed after Soros received a bomb in the mail.

McCarthy's office did not respond to a request for comment, but a spokesman told CNN and the Washington Post that McCarthy "has always strongly condemned violence and attempted violence."

Most reviews by Soros The people contacted for this article did not respond to requests for comments on questions such as "When did Soros get your attention for the first time?" And "Why do you think Soros deserves that?" 39, do we talk about it?

Wedel, George Mason's professor, suggested that the fascination for Soros resembled the case of OJ Simpson, the football star turned presumed murderer, whose case was followed with a lot of talk. Attention by the Americans. "Why does the episode take such a big place in the public's imagination? Because it addresses many topics of interest to Americans, such as their perception of race, celebrities, senior lawyers, sports figures, impunity for the rich, mixed marriages and domestic violence. It resonated so deeply because he exploited all these veins of latent prejudices and stories of division. "

Soros, she says, is sort of like that. He was born elsewhere (unless we talk about Hungary, in which case he left and went well, his own problem). He is a self-taught billionaire. He is Jewish. And he is perceived as a politically powerful person.

"Myths resound. That's why they work. They resonate with some … with the experiences and imagination of people. "●