US-Förderung: MAGA-Offensive in Europa – wer nach Trumps Millionen greift

The US government plans to offer financial support in the fall to European organizations advocating for national sovereignty and opposing "migration and censorship." According to Handelsblatt information, at least one German application for grants has been submitted. The US Department of State allocates $4.9 million for research, conferences, and cultural activities.

Beneficiaries can be think tanks, foundations, media platforms, and other groups based in the US and abroad, as long as they operate in Europe. The German Federal Office for Foreign Affairs in Berlin is considering the structure and motivation of the fund. Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) criticized foreign financial interventions as an unacceptable interference in the democratic process.

The funds originate from legally approved US federal funds and are provided by the Department for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) under Marco Rubio. Applications are still possible until August 12, with the project launch expected by the end of September. The call aligns with ideological goals from "America first" and "Make America great again" (MAGA), the foundations of the Trump administration.

They specifically support "projects on freedom of expression and the press, national sovereignty, Western identity," as well as "research on the consequences of mass migration for democracy and civil liberties." This aims to strengthen "civilizational bonds, democratic resilience, and the rule of law in Europe." German influencer Naomi Seibt, who aligns with Alternative for Germany (AfD), plans to establish a network called "Freedom Alliance of the West" (FAW) using the US Department of State's fund.

Her plans include a media component called "Freedom TV," cooperation with European lawyers defending freedom of expression cases, and collaboration with alternative media and polling institutes in Europe. Seibt, 25 years old, gained attention as "Musk-Flüsterin" after supporting Elon Musk's social media posts against mass immigration and attending an AfD campaign event.

She now has nearly half a million followers on Musk's platform X. In December 2025, she met Markus Frohnmaier, the foreign policy spokesman of the AfD Bundestag faction, in Washington. Seibt had applied for asylum in the US the previous year, citing threats from left-wing extremist Antifa. She calls herself the "first German asylum seeker under President Trump."

If the US government grants her asylum or grants funding, it would be a highly unusual and politically sensitive move. Other European groups are also pursuing the grants. Some organizations reject the award but explicitly accuse it of exerting influence. The Hungarian Danube Institute, close to former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, plans to apply.

Orban has progressively turned Hungary into an autocracy, receiving support from prominent MAGA movement representatives, including US Vice President J.D. Vance. A Hungarian observer suspects the American program could replace the previous promotion of right-wing groups by the Orban government. In Italy, an Instagram account "Welcome to Favelas" is applying for the MAGA funding.

It documented urban decay in Italy, from pig sties feeding on Rome's trash cans to drug gangs in Milan's metro, since Trump's re-election. They increased MAGA-related content after meeting with an Elon Musk contact. Italian newspaper La Repubblica attributes the shift to a meeting with a Musk contact. The operator Massimiliano Zossolo claims to reach two million people through his main and various accounts and Telegram channels.

After the Ceuta migration crisis, he boasted of having the courage to tell his followers the truth about the situation. MCC Brussels, the Brussels branch of the right-conservative Hungarian Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), is checking funding possibilities. Polish right-wing think tank Ordo Iuris Institute explicitly declines the financing, citing independence: the US funds would contradict the goal of remaining a "fully independent organization."

Similar arguments come from the Christian-conservative lobby organization ADF International, which operates several branches in Europe, emphasizing the need to "conduct our work free of state interference." The Berlin-based liberal Friedrich-August-von-Hayek-Gesellschaft has shown interest in the funding, provided it does not come from taxpayer money and is permitted by German law.

In practice, the taxpayer funding attribution would be hard to trace: the US federal budget derives from various revenues and financing sources.