The Global Nationalism Scam
Modern nationalism isn’t about protecting borders. It’s about building global power through transnational deals, data, and disinformation.
The Illusion of Nationalism
Let’s get this out of the way: nationalism sells.
It taps into fear, identity, belonging, and resentment, the emotional currency of modern politics. That’s why it wins elections. The story is simple:
We’re under threat. I’ll protect you. The others are the problem.
But what’s really being sold isn’t national strength.
It’s submission to a global authoritarian pipeline, cloaked in a flag and dripping with “patriotism.”
From Orbán to Bolsonaro, Trump to Modi, these movements operate like a deranged international franchise. Different flags, same slogans:
“Traditional values.” “Protect the children.” “Sovereignty.”
It looks grassroots, but it’s not. It’s a top-down operation of repression in patriotic drag.
The Global Web of Reactionaries
This isn’t just parallel oppression. It’s coordinated.
Authoritarian actors are sharing playbooks, money, influence, and a common enemy: liberal democracy.
Let’s break it down:
The U.S. Christian Nationalist Complex
Wilks Brothers: Texas oil billionaires who dumped millions into Daily Wire, PragerU, and Family Research Council, churning out anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-abortion propaganda for global export.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF): Leading the global war on "gender ideology." Advises far-right governments, lobbies the UN, and helps roll back LGBTQ+ rights from Uganda to Hungary.
Focus on the Family and Family Watch International: International partners in a theocratic PR campaign posing as democracy.
For a sharp and disturbing overview, John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight episode on ADF is worth watching.
Russia’s Authoritarian Export Machine
World Congress of Families: Funded by Russian oligarchs. Collaborates with U.S. evangelicals and European reactionaries.
RT (Russia Today): Propaganda disguised as “alternative media.” Sells nationalism as rebellion.
Russian Imperial Movement: A literal extremist training network. Alumni have shown up from Ukraine to the U.S.
Europe’s Far-Right Dark Money Machine
Novae Terrae Foundation: A far-right ideological venture fund. Its founder, Luca Volontè, was convicted of funneling foreign money to influence EU decisions.
CitizenGO: A digital lobbying machine with deep ties to U.S. and Russian-aligned orgs. Pushes “family values” legislation and uses slick campaigns and donor-sharing to operate globally.
Tech and the Attention Economy
Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly Twitter) are the amplifiers.
Their algorithms don’t just allow this ecosystem, they power it.
Research shows YouTube’s recommendation engine pushes users, especially teens, toward increasingly extreme content. What starts as a video on “culture wars” spirals into disinfo.
These platforms are the architecture of international radicalization.
Why the Political Center Keeps Getting Played
This isn’t just about the “extremes.”
It’s about how fascism sells itself as order, and how centrists keep falling for it.
In countries like Poland, Romania, and the Czech Republic, nationalists have bought off centrists with state contracts, church alliances, and private donations.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., groups like AIPAC, once seen as mainstream, have endorsed far-right, anti-LGBTQ+ candidates to maintain foreign policy leverage. They’ve aligned themselves with MAGA loyalists and Christian nationalists in a move that signals bipartisan comfort with authoritarianism if the price is right.
When centrists pretend nationalism is just another opinion, they’re not being neutral.
They’re enabling it.
What They Really Want
Nationalism is just the trailer. The movie is feudalism 2.0.
What these actors are actually building:
Theocracy: Control over bodies, enforced identities, forced births
Authoritarianism: Suppress labor, crush dissent, seize the press
Kleptocracy: Concentrated wealth, dismantled accountability, corporate feudalism
Crisis Politics: Keep the public scared, angry, and exhausted
This is not about flags.
It’s about replacing democracy with ownership, and you’re the product.
What Can Be Done
You can’t outspend a global alliance of oil tycoons and autocrats.
But you can outmaneuver them.
Expose the networks. Name names. Follow the money until it screams.
Build international coalitions. LGBTQ+, feminist, labor, climate, democracy—none of them survive alone.
Use culture like a weapon. Storytelling and satire move people faster than policy papers.
Demand transparency. Fight for laws that kill dark money and expose shell orgs.
Refuse to legitimize fascism. Stop debating what shouldn’t be dignified.
And for the love of democracy, if your resistance ends with a clever protest sign and an Instagram story, you’re doing their job for them.
They’ve got AI, oil, and oligarchs. You need to get strategic.
Final Thought
These nationalists aren’t patriots.
They’re middle managers in a global authoritarian franchise. Their product is fear. Their brand is repression. Their business is control.
Trump’s return in 2025 has already poisoned election discourse far beyond U.S. borders. His chaos exposes the grift but doesn’t stop it.
The infrastructure remains. The laws. The networks. The algorithms.
The scam evolves.
This fight isn’t about one man.
It’s about systems. And unless we tear those systems out by the roots, they’ll outlive all of us.
Don’t let them claim your country or your silence.
Sourcing Note
This piece includes findings from:
Reuters
Associated Press
Freedom House
Transparency International
openDemocracy
The Guardian
Haaretz
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Select details are also drawn from advocacy journalism, but public filings, international watchdogs, and government reports back all major claims. The goal isn’t provocation, it’s connecting the dots others would rather leave scattered.