The National Endowment for Democracy Under Scrutiny
One of Elon Musk’s latest targets is a nonprofit dedicated to bolstering democracy overseas that has long been a darling of the GOP. Yet prominent Republicans with ties to the group — including a lawmaker who serves on its board — are staying conspicuously silent.
Musk, in recent posts on X, has demonized the National Endowment for Democracy — a 41-year-old organization rooted in efforts to counter communism that provides grants to democracy and civil society groups abroad — is “rife with corruption” and guilty of unspecified “crimes.” He posted in early February that the “evil organization needs to be dissolved.”
The group has since been unable to access its funding from the Treasury Department, and organizations it supports have begun laying off staff.
Republican Establishment's Support and Silence
The democracy organization is one of dozens of groups that Musk has gone after in recent weeks, but it is notable because it has long had support from the Republican establishment. And while the Trump administration’s cost-cutting is often framed as a downsizing of a bureaucracy bloated by reckless Democratic Party spending, NED’s crisis shows it is hitting institutions beloved by Republicans, without much pushback.
Congress created the organization in 1983 as part of a wider effort under President Ronald Reagan to fight the spread of communism. It is bipartisan but is notable for the extent to which the Republican establishment has long backed it. Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) is a board member. Its current chair is former Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), and its vice chair is Stephen Biegun, former deputy secretary of State in the first Trump administration. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Trump’s U.N. ambassador nominee, is a former board member.
Reactions and Responses
Young declined to comment, and neither Biegun nor Stefanik responded to requests for comment. Roskam declined to comment on Musk’s allegations but called the group a “disciplined, cost-effective foundation” that does work “critical to American interests in a dangerous world.”
NED board member Daniel Fried, who served in the National Security Council in both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, said the group is getting unfairly painted with a partisan brush.
“The notion that NED is a bastion of woke would come as a great surprise to the Reaganites who backed it,” said Fried, who also served as a foreign service officer. The history of “Trump veterans” including Stefanik and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien as NED board members should demonstrate that its funding is neither “a luxury or a waste,” Fried added. (O’Brien didn’t respond to a request for comment.)
Financial Struggles and Political Ramifications
As of Friday, NED was unable to access its operational funding held at the Treasury Department, according to a person familiar with the group’s financing, who was granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the funding situation.
While the reason for the funding halt was not immediately clear, it could be because NED receives a fraction of its funding — roughly 5 percent of its operating budget — from the State Foreign Operations Democracy Fund, which falls under a foreign aid funding freeze that President Donald Trump ordered last month. The remaining 95 percent of NED’s budget comes from sources outside of those hit by the funding stoppage.
Implications and Future Outlook
Not all Republicans have a rosy view of NED.
“I would be happy to see it on the DOGE chopping block,” said Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), a member of the Senate’s DOGE Caucus. NED is “yet another politicized NGO meddling in the affairs of our friends and allies regardless of what’s best for the American people,” he added.
But cutting NED’s funding carries political risk by raising questions about the Trump administration’s touted tough-on-China foreign policy. The initiatives it funds include labor rights education and monitoring in Chinese factories, and groups that work to combat Chinese government propaganda.
The closure of such organizations would be “a gift to dictators and authoritarians around the world,” said Tom Kellogg, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Asian Law, who has worked with NED-funded Chinese activists for more than two decades.
Conclusion
As controversies and challenges mount for the National Endowment for Democracy, the future of this longstanding institution hangs in the balance. With criticisms from Elon Musk and mixed reactions from prominent Republicans, the organization faces a pivotal moment that may reshape its role in democracy promotion globally.
Stay tuned for updates on this developing story as the National Endowment for Democracy navigates financial hurdles and political pressures.
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