Recently 60 Minutes aired an episode about Alden Global Capital, a New York-based hedge fund known for slashing purchased local newspapers to the bone by running them into the ground and selling off all valuable assets. Featured was Evan Brandt, who is literally the last journalist standing at The Mercury in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, a one-man show in a ramshackle newsroom.

At a time when billionaire interests are preying on weakened assets like local news publications, where is the hidden financial support for international alt-right-wing publications like Epoch Times? A free copy of this rag turned up on my driveway in Orange County California yesterday. Wondering who financed this dispersal of misinformation – I noticed it hit other driveways, as well – I checked the internet for information.

Sure enough, much is nebulous about its supporters. It is organized into several regional tax-free non-profits called Epoch Media Group. It is known that conservative political donor, Robert Mercer, set up a hedge fund called Renaissance Technologies to support it and that it scatters the spread of all infecting evils like COVID, Donald Trump, & his associated conspiracy theories like Qanon. It covers all the far-right bases: election fraud in the 2020 election, illegal immigration, critical of abortion and LGBT people, also sees Communism in all liberal people.

Now, why does so much money support such misinformation?

The spread of misinformation is absolutely vital in gaining control in any country. Ours is no exception. You might say that the Donald Trump attempt to take over our government failed because enough Americans were not misinformed enough to support the Trump lies.

Big business money has supported the consolidation of America’s media beginning in the 1970s with the Powell Manifesto at a time when corporate accountability for pollution was on the rise and labor union strength was high.

This was a slow, peaceful coup that stretched out into the Donald Trump administration, giving big business time to consolidate the news media into a for-profit enterprise and institute cultural changes that elevated the corporate plans for control – political and economic.

The bulk of corporate campaign finances gradually went more and more to Republicans who pushed the corporate agenda with all their efforts. The corporate flow of money only stopped for a short time with Donald Trump’s attempted violent overthrow of the government.

Corporations did not intentionally lead us into violent overthrow but their agenda of maximizing profit was not popular with the majority of voters. The main threat to their control of the economy and government was progressive change through government, including democratic reforms like easy voting, informative public education, labor union membership, consumer protection, progressive taxes – all the things that cut into their profits and control.

So, beginning with Ronald Reagan, “big government” became the enemy in his Inaugural Address in 1980: “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” This has been a consistent message with the Republican Party. And the elevation of corporate power, the suppression of voting, and the redistribution of income from the people to corporations has been the GOP creed through legislation and the court system.

So, what is common now? Dark Money to finance the installation of alt-right wing judges. Tax-free non-profit status for organizations that spread lies and misinformation favoring corporations. A for-profit news organization is the voice of the GOP, a direct agent of corporate-backed lies, Fox News (realistically called “Fox Spews”). They helped buoy up over 74 million votes for Trump in 2020.

The money that backs right-wing media, supports Republican candidates who represent Donald Trump, supports the social media misinformation, and advertises on right-wing media. Much of it comes from corporations, often in the form of Dark Money which SCOTUS nicely supports, in effect, calling corporations people and their money an amplified vote.

What is the biggest threat to democracy? You might say a re-formulated culture that misinforms 74 million people and makes the rest non-committal and/or passive enough to stand by and let it happen.