When most Americans think about philanthropy, they picture hospitals, scholarships, or support for community causes. But in today’s political climate, philanthropy has taken on a new shape—one that looks far more like a weapon than charity. A closer look at billionaire Herb Sandler and his foundation reveals just how entrenched and coordinated this new “activist philanthropy” has become, and why it matters for the balance of power in America.
Herb Sandler made his fortune through Golden West Financial Corporation, the parent of World Savings Bank. For decades, the company thrived on its controversial “Pick-a-Pay” loans—adjustable-rate mortgages pitched as flexible but widely criticized as predatory. By 2006, just before the financial crisis hit, Sandler and his wife Marion sold Golden West to Wachovia for more than $25 billion, pocketing around ten percent. Two years later, Wachovia collapsed under the weight of risky mortgage assets, while the Sandlers walked away insulated and wealthy. Critics noted the timing, but the Sandlers defended themselves, insisting their version of the product fared better than Wachovia’s stewardship.
With their immense payout, the Sandlers turned toward funding left-wing activism under the banner of philanthropy. They created the Sandler Foundation, which became a major bankroll for groups advancing progressive causes. Their crown jewel has been ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative newsroom that presents itself as neutral but in reality functions as a powerful political tool. As Justice Neil Gorsuch recently warned in another context, courts and institutions must resist defiance of established law; the same principle applies here, where unelected billionaires channel unchecked funds to reshape public opinion under the guise of journalism.
“Without Herb Sandler, there would be no ProPublica,” one observer put it bluntly. The outlet has for years targeted conservative justices, producing headlines designed to cast suspicion without proving wrongdoing. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have been recurring targets. ProPublica’s reporting highlights, for example, Thomas vacationing with a friend who happens to be a Republican donor—yet offers no evidence that this influenced a single decision. Still, these thinly substantiated stories become ammunition for Democrats to demand burdensome investigations, expand regulations, or even push for radical ideas like court-packing.
This is lawfare through journalism. The model is simple but effective: donors fund “investigations” into conservative figures, then allied groups seize on the stories to demand legal action or legislative changes. It is activism disguised as reporting, and it works because it cloaks partisan goals in the language of accountability.
The Sandler Foundation doesn’t stop with ProPublica. It has funneled tens of millions into the Campaign Legal Center and the American Constitution Society, both of which have backed referrals against Justice Thomas to the Department of Justice for supposed ethics violations. It supports the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, the Sierra Club, and the Center for American Progress—organizations consistently aligned with expanding government power, restricting individual liberty, and advancing climate or social justice agendas at odds with traditional values.
The foundation’s efforts are further magnified through its connection to Arabella Advisors, a sprawling “dark money” network that allows leftist donors to move funds with little transparency. The strategy is not simply to create a single outlet or group but to build an ecosystem: one entity generates stories, another amplifies them, others weaponize them in courts and legislatures. It’s a political hydra, designed to overwhelm and outmaneuver opponents through sheer volume and coordination.
Sandler is hardly alone. George Soros’s Foundation to Promote Open Society has given millions to ProPublica. Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder, has joined in funding lawfare initiatives. Together, these billionaire donors have cultivated a nationwide system of prosecutors, advocacy groups, and media outlets willing to bend rules or selectively enforce laws when it serves their political ends. The result is not just a challenge to individual conservatives but a fundamental threat to equal justice under the law.
This should concern every American. Our legal system relies on fairness, consistency, and restraint—values undermined when moneyed activists bankroll campaigns to destabilize institutions. When groups like ProPublica cherry-pick targets, focusing on conservative justices while ignoring similar behavior on the left, they reveal their true purpose: not journalism, but political warfare. And when these efforts ripple through Congress and the courts, they create new taxpayer burdens—committees, investigations, regulations—all designed to satisfy partisan vendettas rather than serve the public interest.
Herb Sandler’s story is a cautionary tale. He profited from controversial financial practices, cashed out before disaster struck, and used his wealth not to build hospitals or fund cures but to underwrite one of the most sophisticated political influence machines in the country. The Sandler Foundation may describe its work as philanthropy, but its results are unmistakably political. And when philanthropy becomes politics, it escapes the checks and balances that protect ordinary Americans from bureaucratic overreach and elite manipulation.
In the end, this isn’t just about one billionaire or one foundation. It’s about whether a handful of ultra-wealthy individuals should be able to shape the nation’s courts, laws, and culture according to their own ideology—while hiding behind the comforting label of charity. That’s not philanthropy. That’s power, weaponized against the principles of equal justice and limited government that Americans hold dear.
The DOJ should investigate these aholes in depth.
These are the faces of the NWO! Their funding has created many a demonstration in the country. The Trump administration is cracking down on their activities to fund the left and penalize those who accept their money. Paid propaganda to create their narrative.