One of President Donald Trump’s top priorities in his second term is rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse across the federal government—and for good reason. The curtain was already being pulled back when Elon Musk and Department of Government Efficiency exposed just how much taxpayer money was being torched on absurd, indefensible projects.
Now, Minnesota is providing another case study in what happens when oversight disappears and ideology replaces accountability. Even more fraud and reckless squandering of public funds are coming to light by the day.
Worse still, we’re learning just how little regard the Joe Biden administration had for the hard-earned tax dollars of working Americans—and exactly where that money was funneled in the year before Trump returned to the White House.
The Tides Center, a so-called “social justice” fiscal sponsor closely tied to the Tides Foundation, has been swimming in taxpayer cash. According to 2024 tax records, the Tides Center pulled in a staggering $37,810,397 in government funding—its largest haul in a decade and nearly triple what it received in 2014, when the total stood at $13,030,345.
That money flowed primarily through government grants, and since it was handed out during the Joe Biden administration, it doesn’t take a wild imagination to figure out where it went. Predictably, the funds were steered toward a grab bag of left-wing causes that would never survive on their own merits in the private marketplace.
During Joe Biden’s final year in office, the Tides Center directed taxpayer-funded grants to groups pushing a familiar menu of left-wing priorities—expanding access to abortion, promoting affirmative action, and assisting illegal immigrants in getting out of detention facilities. The organization also served as a fiscal sponsor for outfits like the “Anti-Police Terror Project” and circulated materials related to sex-change procedures.
Enjoying USA Journal? Make sure to tell your conservative friends about us!
But the biggest eyebrow-raiser is where a massive slice of that money ultimately landed. Roughly $21.9 million was funneled onward to the Tides Foundation and Tides Advocacy, the latter of which describes itself as a 501(c)(4) “social welfare organization.” In plain English, that’s the vehicle designed for aggressive political advocacy—exactly the kind of activity taxpayers are told their money isn’t funding.
The org says it provides “fiscal sponsorship and essential services, including financial, legal and personnel services, to nonprofit organizations that promote shared prosperity and social justice.” In addition, the group claims to manage “140 projects and activities.”
So what other corners of the “social justice” universe did the Tides Center decide were worthy of taxpayer-backed generosity in 2024? One example: a $25,000 grant to the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ).
That name should ring alarm bells. Back in 2021, Discover Card cut ties with AFGJ after reports surfaced linking the group to a Marxist terrorist organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). And it gets worse. AFGJ also served as a fiscal sponsor for a pro-Iran activist who was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in October 2024 for fundraising on behalf of PFLP terrorists.
Another recipient of the Tides Center’s taxpayer-backed largesse in 2024 was the Oregon-based Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC), which received $48,500. CLDC’s niche is well known: providing legal advice and representation to protesters tied to Antifa and other far-left activist groups. Its current focus? Defending protesters under federal investigation for allegedly doxxing immigration officials—hardly the kind of “civil liberties” work most Americans think their tax dollars should be underwriting.
Even Biden-era federal agencies weren’t shy about feeding the pipeline. The U.S. Department of Labor awarded the Tides Center $3 million for the “expansion of registered apprenticeship (RA) programs.” That alone should raise eyebrows. What should really set off alarms, however, is that another $5.9 million is reportedly in the queue.
This is exactly the sort of funding stream the Trump administration ought to scrutinize—hard.
But the real cherry on top of this taxpayer-funded giveaway is what happened over the longer haul. Between 2014 and 2022, the U.S. Department of State, along with our old friends at U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), funneled a staggering $27 million to the Tides Center.
In August, President Trump halted the funding for various programs by signing an executive order. This order requires federal agencies to distribute grant money only for projects that align with the President’s priorities, ending support for race-preferential programs, transgender issues, illegal immigration, and anything deemed “anti-American.”
Many Americans are frustrated with their tax dollars being wasted on initiatives they oppose, especially in states like Minnesota. They believe their hard-earned money is being treated like Monopoly money, supporting leftist causes. Now, groups like the Tides Center will find it much harder to tap into taxpayer funds.