Bannon Sets Up For EU Showdown With George Soros, Who Just Quadrupled Lobbying Expenditures

Bannon Sets Up For EU Showdown With George Soros

Steve Bannon plans to lead a populist revolt throughout Europe which, if successful, will crush George Soros and his network of open-border NGO's to smithereens, according to the Daily Beast.

And just how does the former White House chief strategist and Goldman Sachs alum plan to do this? 

Bannon will set up a Brussels-based non-profit NGO called "The Movement" which will go head to head with Soros - with the goal of uniting like-minded European parties and various conservative think tanks along with other support structures. 

The non-profit will be a central source of polling, advice on messaging, data targeting, and think-tank research for a ragtag band of right-wingers who are surging all over Europe, in many cases without professional political structures or significant budgets.

Bannon’s ambition is for his organization ultimately to rival the impact of Soros’s Open Society, which has given away $32 billion to largely liberal causes since it was established in 1984.

Over the past year, Bannon has held talks with right-wing groups across the continent from Nigel Farage and members of Marine Le Pen’s Front National (recently renamed Rassemblement National) in the West, to Hungary’s Viktor Orban and the Polish populists in the East. -Daily Beast

In other words, everyone who doesn't like largely unchecked human trafficking of migrants into Europe via Soros-funded NGOs which operate throughout the Mediterranean. 

Bannon is looking to establish a populist stronghold within European Parliament which could gain as many as a third of the lawmakers following next May's Europe-wide elections. As the Beast points out, "A united populist bloc of that size would have the ability to seriously disrupt parliamentary proceedings, potentially granting Bannon huge power within the populist movement."

Depending on electoral law in individual countries, the foundation may be able to take part in some campaigns directly while bolstering other populist groups indirectly. -Daily Beast

“I didn't get the idea until Marine Le Pen invited me to speak at Lille at the Front National,” recalled Bannon. “I said, ‘What do you want me say?’”

Le Pen responded: “All you have to say is, ‘We're not alone.’”

In order to carry out his plan, Bannon will spend at least half of his time in Europe, mostly in the field, once US midterm elections are over in November. The Movement will also serve as a link between the pro-Trump freedom caucus in the US and Europe's populist movement.

Liberals in Europe, meanwhile, are fuming over Bannon - with EU Parliament center-left politician Udo Bullmann branding Bannon's plan as "an attack on freedom and democracy in Europe," and vowing a "response" to Bannon's planned NGO (which, ironically would be an attack on the freedom of populists in Europe who wish to coordinate efforts). 

Liberal Belgian politician Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and MEP, wants to "ban Bannon" from Europe completely in order to stop his "hate" speech. 

“Steve Bannon's far-right vision & attempt to import Trump's hateful politics to our continent will be rejected by decent Europeans. We know what the nightmare of nationalism did to our countries in the past,” Verhofstadt tweeted.

Soros just quadrupled lobbying expenditures

George Soros must be really worried by all the progress President Trump is making. Soros’s Open Society Policy Center, the 501 (c)(4) nonprofit organization[i] that he sponsors spent more money lobbying the federal government last quarter than it has ever spent in its history. Joe Shoffstall reports in The Free Beacon that the Open Society Policy Center:

...reported spending $10.37 million between April 1 and June 30—an increase of nearly $8 million from the first quarter of the year when the center reported spending $2.52 million on its lobbying efforts.

That is an increase of 412%. And it is concentrated on foreign affairs:

The increase in its lobbying activities can be attributed to the group adding a number of issues related to the nomination of Donald Lu as the U.S. Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan and the nomination of David B. Cornstein as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, where Soros was born.

The group's three in-house lobbyists additionally focused on a handful of issues related to North Korea such as the Preventing Preemptive Action in North Korea Act of 2017, the No Unconstitutional Strike against North Korea Act, the North Korea Nuclear Baseline Act, and issues related to security sector assistance, North Korea, and Defense in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.

Soros’s organization has effectively been expelled by Hungary:

 Hungary's parliament approved a law that targeted foreign-funded NGOs last year saying that they could "threaten the country's political and economic interests and interfere with the functioning of its institutions." While the bill did not mention Soros directly by name, many Hungarian politicians have said they wanted to sweep Soros-tied organizations from the country.

Following the stepped up pressure, Soros's organizations said in May that it had become impossible for the Open Society Foundations to operate in Hungary and announced that they would be leaving. The group said that their operations would be moved to Berlin.

He obviously is deeply concerned by Trump:

Soros's lobbying arm spent more ($16.2 million) during Trump's first year in office than it had any previous year. (snip)

Between 2002 and 2012, the policy center reported spending $19,120,000 total on lobbying expenses, which averages to $1.9 million per year. Soros's lobbying budget shot up to $11 million in 2013. The most Soros had spent prior to last was $12.4 million in 2014.