International

On Friday, President Donald Trump tweeted that people protesting against Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court by confronting members of Congress are “paid professionals only looking to make Senators look bad,” adding that they were “paid for by Soros and others.”

This is the first time the president has referenced Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, whose links to progressive causes have made him a far-right boogeyman both in the United States and around the world.

Since Kavanaugh’s nomination, a number of prominent figures across the conservative spectrum have referenced Soros’s possible involvement in protest movements. For example, on September 24, a columnist for National Review accused Deborah Ramirez, one of the women who has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct or harassment, of receiving funding from Soros via a fellowship in 2003 (which actually went to a different Deborah Ramirez.)