The far-right financier giving millions to the Republican party to fight ‘woke communists’

Thomas Klingenstein has become one of the largest donors to the party and has increasingly used his resources to pursue a hard-edged version of rightwing politics

Newly released tax and election records show that since 2020 controversial financier Thomas Klingenstein has become one of the largest individual donors to national Republicans, contributing more than $11.6m to candidates and Pac, after decades as the far-right Claremont Institute's biggest donor and board chairman.

The spending spree dwarfs the total $666,000 Klingenstein spent between 1992 and 2016, and in the last election cycle put Klingenstein in the top 40 contributors to national Republican candidates and committees.