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How George Soros Became The Subject Of So Many Far-Right Conspiracies

Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros talks to the audience after receiving the Schumpeter Award 2019 in Vienna.
Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros talks to the audience after receiving the Schumpeter Award 2019 in Vienna.

George Soros is a Hungarian American billionaire and philanthropist. Until recently, he was most famous for founding Central European University in Budapest. But these days his name and reputation carry a very different meaning.

Soros’s name and donations are repeatedly invoked by right-wing pundits and politicians in discussions about immigration, protests, pandemics, elections and more. Bloggers, podcasters and even some politicians are convinced that the businessman funds left-wing and anti-authoritarian dissent in the United States.

How did a Hungarian businessman who was relatively unknown in the U.S. before the 2016 election come to be held responsible for so much? And why have conspiracy theories about him persisted?

Copyright 2020 WAMU 88.5

Kaity Kline
Kaity Kline is an Assistant Producer at Morning Edition and Up First. She started at NPR in 2019 as a Here & Now intern and has worked at nearly every NPR news magazine show since.