{"id":2263865,"date":"2024-06-10T10:38:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T14:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-leftist-billionaire-vowed-to-reimagine-capitalism-then-he-colonized-a-federal-agency\/"},"modified":"2024-06-10T10:40:50","modified_gmt":"2024-06-10T14:40:50","slug":"a-leftist-billionaire-vowed-to-reimagine-capitalism-then-he-colonized-a-federal-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-leftist-billionaire-vowed-to-reimagine-capitalism-then-he-colonized-a-federal-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"A Leftist Billionaire Pledged to &#8216;Reimagine Capitalism,&#8217; Then Took Over a Federal Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-leftist-billionaire-vowed-to-reimagine-capitalism-then-he-colonized-a-federal-agency%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2263865&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In September\u200b 2020, the \u2062Omidyar Network, led \u200dby \u2064Pierre Omidyar, former CEO of eBay, launched a campaign to &#8220;Reimagine Capitalism in America,&#8221; focusing\u2064 on creating\u2063 an anti-racist, inclusive economy. Omidyar invested millions into this\u200c initiative, channeling funds through various \u2062dark money \u200cgroups\u2063 to support Joe Biden&#8217;s presidential\u2063 campaign. \u2064Following\u2064 Biden&#8217;s victory, Omidyar&#8217;s\u200d groups aimed to place \u2063their associates within \u2064influential positions in \u200cthe U.S. government, particularly targeting the Federal Trade\u2063 Commission (FTC) and \u2064the Department of Justice\u2062 (DOJ).<\/p>\n<p>Numerous individuals\u200b associated with\u200b Omidyar-funded organizations have \u200bsecured key roles \u2063within \u200bthe FTC and DOJ, such as FTC&#8217;s Chair Lina Khan\u200c and DOJ Assistant \u2063Attorney General \u2062for Antitrust, Jonathan\u2064 Kanter. These placements are part of a broader strategy to influence policies especially \u2064regarding antitrust \u2062measures\u2063 and competition, \u200caligning with \u2064Omidyar&#8217;s interests in limiting the power of\u200b major \u200dtech firms. Additionally, \u200bthe\u200c FTC \u2062has \u200bbeen involved in\u2064 creating reports on regulating tech industry practices, particularly concerning online harms and misinformation.<\/p>\n<p>The Omidyar Network has also been\u2063 likened to other influential mega-donors\u2063 like George Soros, operating primarily through charities and\u2062 non-profit\u200c organizations to push their\u200c political and social agendas. The network \u2064claims to have \u200bdisbursed \u200cover $1.86\u200b billion in funds towards reimagining societal structures and \u2063promoting equity and inclusivity. This strategy underscores \u200da trend where wealthy individuals can exert significant influence\u2063 over public policy and \u200bgovernance through strategic placements and philanthropy.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In September 2020, the Omidyar Network, the activism vehicle of former eBay chief Pierre Omidyar, issued a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/omidyar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Guide-Design_V12_JTB05_interactive-1.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Call to Reimagine Capitalism in America<\/a>,\u201d bemoaning \u201cstructural racism, colonialism, paternalism,\u201d and proposing to build \u201can explicitly anti-racist and inclusive economy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Omidyar was spending millions of dollars, largely funneled through dark money groups, to put Joe Biden in the White House. After his election victory, one of Omidyar\u2019s groups, called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reset.tech\/people\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reset<\/a>, explained how it would use the Biden presidency to implant its people to pursue its goals, specifically targeting agencies it believed had sway.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost promisingly, the Biden administration may open the door for specific actions on antitrust and competition policy in the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission,\u201d it said, adding that it would \u201csupport a constellation of organizations working on research, communications, and advocacy to ensure they are more than the sum of their parts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Three years later, the France-born Omidyar has succeeded to an extent seldom seen, with a vast swath of top FTC posts going to people who worked for his \u201cconstellation\u201d of groups \u2014 and sometimes continued to do so even as they joined the federal government.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.openmarketsinstitute.org\/publications\/open-markets-applauds-president-bidens-choice-to-nominate-lina-khan-for-commissioner-of-the-federal-trade-commission\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lina Khan<\/a>, the FTC\u2019s chair, was previously the legal director of the Open Markets Institute, funded by the Omidyar Network. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.economicliberties.us\/press-release\/economic-liberties-executive-director-to-depart-for-role-at-ftc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sarah Miller<\/a>, the government agency\u2019s chief of staff, left her role as executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project, funded by the Omidyar Network, to take the job.<\/p>\n<p>FTC\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/burn-every-cop-precinct-to-the-ground-new-dccc-cto-tweeted-violent-anti-police-rhetoric\/\" title=\"\u2018Burn Every Cop Precinct To The Ground\u2019: New DCCC CTO Tweeted Violent, Anti-Police Rhetoric\">chief technology officer<\/a>, Stephanie Nguyen, served as a Civic Science Fellow for Consumer Reports, also funded by the Omidyar Network. FTC technology advisor Erik Martin previously worked with the Democracy Fund, which is solely funded by Omidyar. FTC\u2019s spokesman, Douglas Farrar, worked for Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, funded by Omidyar. In May 2022, Alvaro Bodeya, a former board member of the Omidyar-backed group Free Press, was appointed as the FTC\u2019s fifth commissioner, giving it a Democrat majority.<\/p>\n<p>The list goes on, with figures such as FTC associate director Shauol Sussman, attorney advisor Alex Petros, and attorney Kurt Walters all coming from the activist groups seeded by Omidyar.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps most alarming, by January 2024, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240104170814\/https:\/\/ainowinstitute.org\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">all four officials<\/a> listed on the website of AI Now Institute, an activist group funded by Omidyar to regulate how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/from-impeaching-incitement-to-canceling-conservatism\/\" title=\"From Impeaching Incitement to Canceling Conservatism\">big tech firms<\/a> use artificial intelligence, had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2021\/11\/ftc-chair-lina-m-khan-announces-new-appointments-agency-leadership-positions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">hired<\/a> as FTC advisers, while apparently continuing to work at the nonprofit.<\/p>\n<p>The advisers contributed to key FTC outputs including a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/system\/files\/ftc_gov\/pdf\/Combatting%20Online%20Harms%20Through%20Innovation%3B%20Federal%20Trade%20Commission%20Report%20to%20Congress.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">report to Congress<\/a> on \u201conline harms\u201d including \u201cdisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The report relied on partisan groups lamenting \u201cfar-right violence,\u201d and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/loudoun-says-teachers-who-attack-parents-protected-by-free-speech-mulls-banning-trump-flags\/\" title=\"Loudoun Says Teachers Who Attack Parents Protected By Free Speech, Mulls Banning Trump Flags\">adopted critical race theory<\/a> in questioning the legitimacy of hate crime enforcement because it turns out that minorities, such as blacks and Muslims, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/fbi-stats-on-2021-anti-trans-hate-crimes-dont-support-claims-of-genocide\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cdisproportionately\u201d<\/a> commit them. It lamented that \u201cFacebook played a critical role in spreading false narratives about the election immediately before the January 6, 2021, siege of the United States Capitol.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only effective ways to deal with online harm are laws that change the business models or incentives allowing harmful content to proliferate,\u201d it concluded.<\/p>\n<p>Just as Reset pledged, key roles at the Department of Justice were also captured. DOJ Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Jonathan Kanter had worked, through his previous law firm, as a lawyer for the Omidyar Network. The division\u2019s Senior Counsel, Sally Hubbard, came from the Open Markets Institute, and Deputy Chief of Staff Robyn Shapiro came from the American Economic Liberties Project.<\/p>\n<p>At least 12 people linked to Omidyar nonprofits have worked in the Biden White House itself, including Joelle Gamble, a \u201cprincipal\u201d at Omidyar Network who was named Deputy Director of the National Economic Council, and Omidyar Network Vice President Paula Goldman, who was named to Biden\u2019s National AI Advisory Committee.<\/p>\n<p>One of Omidyar\u2019s top goals is breaking up companies, particularly tech firms, to prevent them from being something close to monopolies. In some ways, that\u2019s an unexpected focus: Omidyar himself made his billions through eBay, a tech firm that had a stranglehold on its corner of the market. Conservatives also share a distrust of big tech firms like Meta, TikTok, and Google, and want their power limited.<\/p>\n<p>But the reasons identified in Reset\u2019s manifesto \u2014 seemingly attacking big tech firms for not being helpful enough to Democrats in elections \u2014 highlight the strident politics that come with the man who has successfully bought his way into Washington.<\/p>\n<p>Omidyar Network has pledged to \u201ccommit to the calling of <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/omidyar-network\/omidyar-networks-statement-reflecting-and-responding-to-injustice-5e1b928a68b7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Angela Davis<\/a>,\u201d referring to the longtime communist who was acquitted of murder after she bought one of the guns used in the killing of a judge, and who was involved in the Jonestown suicide cult.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/capitalresearch.org\/article\/omidyars-political-machine-from-tech-billionaire-to-mega-donor-repost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Capital Research Center<\/a> (CRC) probe fashioned Omidyar as the new version of liberal mega-donor George Soros. His massive partisan activities have flown under the radar because he prefers to influence politics through ostensible charity groups rather than direct campaign contributions. The Omidyar Network says it has paid out more than <a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.mediajobboard.com\/company\/omidyar-network-312991\/job\/reporters-in-residence-summer-2024-in-washington-dc-xn8e8lhixxjwq43afxkf22592vp99a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$1.86 billion<\/a> and \u201creimagines critical systems, and the ideas that govern them, to build more inclusive and equitable societies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Its efforts to reshape politics in the United States frequently rely on infiltration, funding former conservative Bill Kristol to make it seem like many Republicans don\u2019t like Donald Trump; a \u201cFaith in Public Life\u201d project to push liberal causes among religious people; and a \u201cMillennial Action Project\u201d to convince young conservatives to adopt liberal policies.<\/p>\n<p>Omidyar has also heavily pushed the ability to vote by mail, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2024\/06\/02\/artificial-intelligence-ai-dnc-campaign-2024-republicans\/84846498-20b1-11ef-becb-2cf8dbfd9eb9_story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">paid the reliably liberal Associated Press<\/a> to write about AI and <a href=\"https:\/\/jobs.mediajobboard.com\/company\/omidyar-network-312991\/job\/reporters-in-residence-summer-2024-in-washington-dc-xn8e8lhixxjwq43afxkf22592vp99a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">other journalists<\/a> $50,000 to write about \u201creimagining capitalism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Omidyar has escalated his efforts since the emergence of Trump, writing that \u201cTrump is a dangerous authoritarian demagogue\u201d and \u201cendorsing Donald Trump immediately <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/politics\/pierre-omidyar-gives-100000-to-new-anti-trump-super-pac\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">disqualifies <\/a>you from any position of public trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The FTC and the Omidyar Network did not return requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Parker Thayer, a researcher who has extensively looked at Omidyar\u2019s presence in Washington, says the full extent of his influence is likely unknown.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Biden Administration has already proved itself <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/secretive-soros-funded-group-works-behind-scenes-biden-admin-policy-documents\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">highly susceptible<\/a> to the influence of billionaires\u2019 pet nonprofits that\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0have an entire government agency full of former staffers at their disposal,\u201d said Thayer. \u201cI shudder to imagine how much sway Omidyar and his network might hold.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In September 2020, the Omidyar Network, led by eBay&#8217;s Pierre Omidyar, launched a campaign to &#8220;Reimagine Capitalism in America,&#8221; addressing issues like structural racism and advocating for an anti-racist, inclusive economy. Omidyar invested millions, primarily through undisclosed groups, to support Joe Biden<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":2263866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-94631381.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2263865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/06\/GettyImages-94631381.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2263865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2263865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2263866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2263865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2263865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2263865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}