Reporter’s Source Guide: American Extreme Right Networks & Infrastructure
(A practical sourcing tool for experts on the structure, funding, and dynamics of the American Far Right)
1. Movement Architecture & Donor Strategy
Nancy MacLean
Professor Duke University. Author, Democracy In Chains, the Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America
Expertise: History of American Right, libertarian strategies, Dark Money networks
Best for: How donor networks shape ideology over decades, Atlas (British affiliates), IEA, Adam Smith Center, etc.
Contact: nancy.maclean@duke.edu
Link: https://history.duke.edu/people/nancy-maclean
Anne Nelson
Author, Shadow Network, Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right
Expertise: Council for National Policy, Christian Right networks
Best for: Structure of right-wing eco-system, behind-the-scenes coordination of religious-right power, disinformation media systems including religious and Russian
Contact: anne.nelson@gmail.com
Link: https://www.anne-nelson.com
Theda Skocpol
Professor Harvard University. Political scientist, sociologist.
Expertise: Grassroots + elite organizing
Best for: Structural understanding of movement layers
Contact: Harvard faculty page
Link: https://scholar.harvard.edu/skocpol
2. Dark Money & Right-Wing Funding Infrastructure
Lisa Graves
Author, Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Democracy
Executive Director, True North Research, a national investigative watchdog group that works with journalists and other researchers who focus on the dark money fueling regressive agendas and targeting vital institutions in our republic.
Expertise: Captured courts, dark money in courts, Leonard Leo, authoritarianism, ALEC
Best for: Judicial branch, and anything they have done reports on, linking donor networks to legal strategy
Contact: lisa@truenorthresearch.org
Link: https://truenorthresearch.org/
David Armiak
Research Director, Center for Media and Democracy
Expertise: The flow of dollars, ALEC, State Policy Network, the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship,
Best for: Anything they have written about, learning how to follow the money, donor networks, specific info on specific donors,
Contact: david@prwatch.org
Link: https://www.exposedbycmd.org
Maurice Cunningham
Professor Emeritus, UMass Boston
Expertise: Privatization of public schools, Moms for Liberty, Dark Money in politics
Best for: Identifying hidden national funding in local campaigns
Contact: maurice.cunningham153@gmail.com
Link: https://blogs.umb.edu/masspoliticsprofs/
3. Grassroots, Religious Fundamentalism Policy
Katherine Stewart
Author, Money, Lies and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy.
Expertise: Christian Nationalism
Best for: Religious-Right, organizing, recruiting
Contact: https://katherinestewart.me/contact/
4. Policy Infrastructure & Higher Ed Influence
Isaac Kamola
Director of the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom. Professor of political science at Trinity College, CT
Expertise: Dark money networks that influence higher ed
Best for: Culture-war legislation on campuses, academic safety
Link: https://www.trincoll.edu/faculty/ikamola/
Contact: Ikamola@aaup.org
5. Young Extreme Right
Kyle Spencer
Author, Raising Them Right, the Untold Story of America’s Ultraconservative Youth Movement and Its Plot for Power. Founder Reporting Right, a weekly newsletter for American reporters and editors
Expertise: Right-wing youth organizing, education ecosystems, ideological pipeline-building
Best for: Understanding how political identity and narratives are shaped on campuses, in schools, parenting networks, and youth culture
Contact: kylespencerdemocracy@proton.me