The Trump Regime’s Heinous Attack on a Legendary Civil Rights Organization
Publisher’s Roundup 64
The Trump administration’s move to indict the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) stands as the latest in a string of preposterous abuses of power and the continued weaponization of our justice system. I know many of us were alarmed into action by prior controversial investigations involving high-profile figures (e.g., Leticia James, James Comey). This week’s indictment is perhaps an even more brazen smear — one that raises the stakes for the deployment of government authority against civil society organizations.
I spent time this week on other injustices that you, Contrarians, are enabling me to contest — including David Ellison’s Paramount-Warner merger and my forthcoming court appearance arguing for summary judgment on the renaming of the Kennedy Center. But this publisher’s note spotlights the SPLC battle. It’s a stark example of the erosion of institutional norms and the chilling effect such actions could have on free press and expression. These concerns underpin a Contrarian special report I co-wrote with my colleague Tom Joscelyn, a senior adviser for Democracy Defenders. We’ll be posting that at noon ET here at The Contrarian. In it, we scrutinize the details of the indictment to share a definitive takedown. You won’t want to miss it!
Here’s a sneak peek, followed by our usual weekly roundup:
During a press conference on Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel announced that the SPLC had been criminally indicted by a grand jury in Montgomery, Alabama. “There is nothing political about this indictment,” Blanche insisted. Anyone paying attention knows that is a lie. This DOJ attack on the esteemed SPLC is a travesty.
This sham regime has unethically abused its power in this ridiculous attack on a legendary civil rights organization. As my fellow former presidential ethics counselors Richard Painter (George W. Bush), Virginia Canter (Barack Obama and Bill Clinton), and I (Barack Obama) wrote in a statement issued shortly after the indictment, we will not stay silent while the administration weaponizes the tools of law enforcement to attack groups it disagrees with.
This grievance is not a new one. MAGA Republicans have been gunning for the SPLC for years. During a congressional hearing late last year, for instance, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) portrayed the legendary civil rights organization as a bogeyman out to get conservatives and demanded a full investigation into how the DOJ, FBI, and other federal agencies had long relied on the center’s work. Other leading MAGA Republicans have loudly complained when the organization called out their hate.
Donald Trump’s corrupted DOJ and FBI have found a way to use the court system to act out MAGA’s revenge fantasy. Absurdly, the Trump regime alleges that instead of seeking to “dismantle” white supremacist groups — the center’s mission for the past 55 years, during which time it helped take down the Ku Klux Klan — it was surreptitiously paying extremists as part of some convoluted conspiracy. Blanche accuses the group of “manufacturing racism to justify its existence.” Patel claims the SPLC “allegedly engaged in a massive fraud operation to deceive their donors, enrich themselves, and hide their deceptive operations from the public.”
These allegations are a smear. None of them withstands scrutiny.
The indictment centers on the SPLC’s use of paid informants to infiltrate white supremacist groups. That is not unusual. It is often difficult to get inside groups seeking to overthrow the U.S. government or impose their racist vision on the country. The FBI itself regularly uses informants, and the “courts have recognized” that it “is lawful and often essential to the effectiveness of properly authorized law enforcement investigations.”
Indeed, the SPLC provided intelligence from its informant network to law enforcement agencies, including the FBI — a fact not included in the indictment. The exclusion of any mention of the longstanding working relationship between the SPLC and the FBI is outrageous and undermines the entire premise of the case. “We frequently shared what we learned from informants with local and federal law enforcement, including the FBI,” Bryan Fair, the SPLC’s interim president, said in a video defending his organization.
Patel knows Fair’s statement is true. Patel severed “all ties” between the FBI and SPLC in October 2025, as he wrote on X. Patel’s statement is an admission that the SPLC had those ties and was providing intelligence to the bureau. In fact, before Patel ended the relationship, Republican congressmen and conservative activists frequently complained that the FBI was cooperating too closely with the SPLC.
Nevertheless, the DOJ alleges that the SPLC’s use of informants was part of a “scheme and artifice” to deceive donors. Acting U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson alleges in the indictment that though SPLC’s “stated mission included the dismantling of white supremacy and confronting hate across the country” it was “unbeknownst to donors,” secretly using “donated money … to fund the leaders and organizers of racist groups, including the Ku Klux Klan, the Aryan Nation, and the National Alliance.”
However, the indictment utterly fails to explain how these payments to extremist leaders undercut the SPLC’s stated mission. Nor does it say how anyone working for the center intentionally deceived donors. Nor could it; if you surveyed donors to the organization, they have already stated or would almost undoubtedly say that investigating hate is exactly what they wanted to support and that these claims are reprehensible.
The DOJ’s entire case centers on the SPLC’s alleged payments to ten informants inside extremist groups. Our special report, which will be posted here at The Contrarian at noon today, details the facts regarding these informants. The report makes evident that not a one justifies the criminal charges brought against the SPLC.
Please check it out! As you’ll read, this is hardly a conspiracy to secretly fund extremism or defraud donors. It is simply intelligence work. In fact, it is the type of information-gathering on white supremacist groups the FBI routinely engages in — or at least used to.
The hollow, desperate accusations underscore the extent to which the Trump regime wants Americans to believe that the SPLC, which has fought white supremacy since its founding in 1971, was secretly sponsoring white supremacy. That is utter nonsense.
We stand with SPLC and will support the organization however we can. The ability to do so in the court of law and of public opinion through our nonstop journalism is all thanks to you, Contrarians. Your paid subscriptions help fund our legal battles and scintillating coverage. See for yourself in our rundown of The Contrarian’s other work this week, put together as always by my wonderful colleagues:
War Is a Reality Check on Even the Maddest of Kings
Tom Malinowski wrote on the president’s unappealing next options in a war he said would be over in 24 hours, which has now stretched for eight weeks. “Trump wanted Iran to be easy, not hard.”
Tim Dickinson reminded us why Earth Day began as a protest—and why its spirit is more vital than ever to counter “the carbon-pilled nihilist in the White House” bent on reversing decades of environmental progress while making climate denial official U.S. policy.
Jennifer Rubin found something of a pattern in which Trump’s (incompetent) lieutenants are thrown under the bus—and which seem to only fail upward. “There is less tolerance for Chavez-DeRemer’s petty scandals than for Hegseth’s blunders that endanger our national security. Mike Walz got a different job after Signalgate; Bondi got shown the door.”
A President of Spectacle, A War of Consequence
Brian O’Neill wrote on the Iran War as a testing ground for whether Trump knows how to command anything other than attention. “The president whose political style has long depended on improvisation, denial, and force of personality is now confronting the one test that exposes those habits most brutally: sustained conflict against a capable adversary.”
Good News for Women — from the States
In the face of the administration’s ongoing attacks on women’s health, Jennifer Weiss-Wolf took a look at the states that are serving as “laboratories for democracy,” showing what can be done when women’s health is a priority.
JD Vance Can Forget About 2028
Jill Lawrence looked ahead to the 2028 prospects for the man many have picked as the best chance for Republicans to turn MAGA into a post-Trump dynasty — and why, amid a crush of scandals and outrages, the road isn’t as clear as he thinks. “Vance has no choices and no escape.”
The Tea w/April Ryan ft. Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie and Loni Love
On this week’s The Tea, April Ryan and guests Bishop Vashti Murphy and Loni Love talked about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, faith in the time of Trump, and what’s next for the entertainment industry.
‘Bow Down’: Why Madonna Remains in Vogue
Culture columnist Meredith Blake this week honored Madonna, the Queen of Pop who cemented her legacy at Coachella while her contemporaries Prince and Michael Jackson showed up elsewhere in the news. “If people are stealing your looks — literally or figuratively — it means they still care.”
Resistance Reading and How to Protest Paramount
Every week, be sure to check out the Contrarian Calls To Action, which this week includes not only our usual guide to making a difference for democracy — including how to support the SPLC, planning for May Day, and ways to protest the Paramount merger — but also recommended reading in honor of World Book Day!
And of course, we always have our pet of the week. This week, we feature our own culture columnist, Meredith Blake’s adorable new puppy, Penny, who’s sure to leave you with a million-dollar smile on your face.
One last thing: Your big idea could win $1,000. Five colleagues and I are judging The Future of Democracy Prize — and we’re looking for young voices (18–30) with bold answers to one question: What will it take for U.S. democracy not just to survive, but to thrive? No finished essay required to enter. Just a 350-word abstract by April 30. Finalists get $1,000 and publication in a national anthology. Learn more or submit your entry here. And please, forward this to one fellow pro-democracy 20-something who needs a nudge.
As always, thank you for being a Contrarian!
Warmly,
Norm
 | A guest post by
|
SPLC has been one of my target charities for years. I'm retired, very old, white, female, and intensely angry. Thank you for standing strong. We fucking need the truth right now!!!
Thank you very much for speaking the truth and standing with the SPLC. One clarifying thing this insane case highlights is how much of a Neo-Confederacy this fascist, corrupt regime actually is.