The far-right megadonor pouring over $10m into the US election to defeat ‘the woke regime’

Thomas Klingenstein has become one of the largest donors to the Republican party and has increasingly used his resources to pursue a hard-edged version of rightwing politics. Illustration: Tom Klingenstein YouTube/Guardian Design

Thomas Klingenstein, chair of the rightwing Claremont Institute, has cemented his place in the pantheon of Republican megadonors with a more than $10m spending spree so far in the 2024 election cycle, according to campaign contributions recorded by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Klingenstein has been one of Claremont’s largest donors for decades. As the institute has made its hard-right, pro-Trump drift in recent years, Klingenstein has continued to publicly describe US politics with extremist rhetoric, calling it a “cold civil war”, and has encouraged rightwingers to join the fight to defeat what he calls “the woke regime”.