Will POTUS Donnie’s “religious freedom” agenda just create a new path for the wealthy to control Washington – PB/TK
Religious Freedom vs Political Agenda: Trump’s Gift To Group That Helped Stephen Bannon, Stephen Miller – By Lydia O’Neal / June 6 2017
President Donald Trump’s pledge to “destroy” the Johnson Amendment could boost the kinds of group that launched adviser Steve Bannon’s political career, flooding them with tax-exempt cash. The impact on the political system could be as dramatic as the Citizens United ruling in allowing big donors to further a political agenda.
About a month ago, Trump issued an executive order weakening the Internal Revenue Service measure that sought to prevent donors to charities that engage in political activities from getting tax breaks on their donations. But some groups have spent years using donations to fund overtly partisan efforts anyway — including one that played a major role in the rise of some of the most prominent members of Trump’s cabinet.
As the Washington Post detailed in a Saturday report, the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a charity founded by the anti-establishment conservative whose name it carries, and its leaders have a long history of publishing pamphlets and articles railing against immigration and denying climate change, attacking former President Barack Obama and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and holding events themed “Islamo-Fascism Awareness.” Its contributors include Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, which Mother Jones has described as “the dark money ATM of the conservative movement.”
Continue to ibtimes.com article: http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/religious-freedom-vs-political-agenda-trumps-gift-group-helped-stephen-bannon
