Liberal billionaire George Soros gives millions each year to fund a left-wing media empire that promotes far-left opinions. It’s only natural that some of those Soros-funded or Soros-linked media are pushing the eco-socialist Green New Deal and hoping to influence the upcoming presidential race.
The Green New Deal resolution was introduced by Democratic Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA). Ocasio-Cortez described it as a “comprehensive agenda of economic, social and racial justice,” aiming to force a New Deal-like federal mobilization designed to “achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition.”
Although it’s been embraced by a host of Democratic presidential candidates, the resolution failed to garner a single Democratic vote in the Senate on March 26. But it has had support from Soros-funded journalism including The Nation, Think Progress and Columbia Journalism Review.
The Nation, the far-left magazine of The Nation Institute (which received $422,000 from Soros in 2015-2016), touted the “political power of the Green New Deal” on May 17. That article boosted Sunrise Movement activists demanding a Green New Deal. It also minimized the extreme ambitions they hope will shape the 2020 election.
Sunrise is trying to force Democratic presidential candidates to adopt a Green New Deal as part of their platform. The Nation complained about the “grim” concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and said it, “added an extra twinge of urgency to a town-hall convened Monday in DC by the Sunrise Movement, a group of young activists trying to reshape the contours of climate politics in the US.”
But the movement wants to do far more than reshape “contours” for the sake of the planet. They want an economic revolution. This was evident by the event speakers which included democratic socialists Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Anti-capitalist Naomi Klein was another speaker and she reacted with glee to Sen. Edward Markey’s (D-MA) speech saying “here tonight you saw Sen. Ed Markey come out as a Democratic eco-socialist, if I’m not mistaken.” She smiled and laughed as the audience erupted with cheers.
Sunrise Movement is demanding Democrats “refuse donations from fossil-fuel interests, that they pledge to make the Green New Deal a ‘day one’ priority if elected, and that they support calls for a primary debate focused squarely on climate change.”
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Think Progress Profiles Sunrise, Touts Inslee’s Proposal to Fulfill Green New Deal
The media arm of Soros-funded Center for American Progress also profiled Sunrise Movement while attacking critics of a Green New Deal. On May 14, that Think Progress article on Sunrise claimed that Republicans “incorrectly argued” a Green New Deal would “ban hamburgers and airplanes.”
That’s been the standard accusation coming from the left since Ocasio-Cortez’ office issued and then retracted an embarrassing FAQ that said the goal was for “net-zero” emissions “because we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast [within 10 years].”
ThinkProgress’s focus was on how Sunrise was pushing Democrats to declare for a Green New Deal. Two days later it hyped Democratic candidate Jay Inslee’s “ambitious new climate proposal” and claimed it would fulfill some of the goals of a Green New Deal.
“As the climate crisis has become a leading election issue, several Democratic candidates have expressed support for ideas like the federal Green New Deal resolution, which is predicated on mass job creation to expand clean energy and zero out greenhouse gas emissions,” Think Progress wrote May 16. “Inslee’s new plan would do exactly that.”
How? By “creating a ‘G.I. Bill’ for impacted communities, bolstering union protections, and raising the minimum wage — an approach that could counter some of the resistance labor groups have shown towards various climate policies, which they feel do not adequately protect workers across industries.”
The Media Research Center found Soros gave at least $10 million to Center for American Progress between 2000 and 2015 and the CAP website listed additional funding of $1 million or more for 2017, 2016, 2015 and $100,000-$499,999 in for 2018.
CAP is also funded by a host of anti-fossil fuel individuals and foundations including impeach Trump crusader Tom Steyer (TomKat Charitable Trust) who was listed as a $1 million or higher donor each year from 2014-2018. Another CAP support is the left-wing ClimateWorks Foundation which wants an aggressive reduction of carbon emissions by 2030 and distributes donor funds to many environmentalist groups
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Columbia Journalism School Hosts Event to ‘Transform’ Climate Journalism
In addition to funding organizations with media outlets, Soros funds journalism education at Columbia — one of the most influential journalism schools in the U.S. That journalism school produces the Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) which is openly trying to transform media coverage on global warming.
In March, CJR wrote that “The media’s job, now, is to expand, and improve, the climate beat. The nuances of the Green New Deal can be debated; its underpinning science cannot. Here’s hoping the debate will get the sustained airtime it warrants.”
By April, CJR wasn’t just waiting for media to give it more airtime. It hosted an event to tell fellow journalists how to cover climate change and the Green New Deal. The event included journalists from MSNBC, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Nation and others on April 30, and was specifically designed to “devise a new playbook for journalism that’s compatible with the 1.5-degree future that scientists say must be achieved.”
At least one journalist confessed to refusing to include “climate deniers,” while many of the media attendees praised climate activism by fellow members of the press. During one session, self-proclaimed “leftist,”Naomi Klein praised a Green New Deal and blamed the lack of action on climate on “self-loathing.”
“I really do think there is a deep feeling of ‘We’re are, we’re not even sure we deserve to survive,’” Klein said.
Another department at Columbia University was also helping promote a Green New Deal. Director of Columbia’s Center for Sustainable Development Jeffrey Sachs wrote an op-ed for The Hill in March arguing the Green New Deal “isn’t outlandish — it’s a necessity.”
Sachs is a friend of Soros and heads the liberal, climate change group The Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Columbia University has received at least $9.7 million from Soros and journalism school dean Steve Coll formerly worked at the Soros-funded progressive policy group: New America Foundation.
Sach’s other efforts have gotten additional multi-million dollar backing from the liberal billionaire. According to a 2007 story in Vanity Fair, “one of Sach’s biggest supporters is the financier and philanthropist George Soros, who recently donated $50 million to the Millennium Villages Project.”
Millennium Villages was a project involving the U.N., Columbia University and Sach’s non-profit Millennium Promise designed to eradicate global poverty. In 2011, Soros promised another $27 million to that project.
