RICO, SOROS, AND THE SHADOW PARTY: A BATTLE OVER AMERICA’S POLITICAL FUTURE By Josimar Salum

 

RICO, SOROS, AND THE SHADOW PARTY: A BATTLE OVER AMERICA’S POLITICAL FUTURE

By Josimar Salum – August 2025

On August 27, 2025, Donald J. Trump made headlines by demanding that George Soros and his son be prosecuted under the RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). He accused them of bankrolling violent protests and orchestrating coordinated efforts to destabilize the United States. For many, Trump’s comments sounded radical. For others, they echoed a warning sounded nearly twenty years ago in a little-known book: The Shadow Party by David Horowitz and Richard Poe.

A NETWORK BEYOND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY

Published in 2006, The Shadow Party described in detail how George Soros, through his billions, constructed a web of organizations designed to transform American politics from the outside in. Soros was not just a donor; he was an architect of influence. By pouring money into activist networks, media watchdogs, and policy think tanks, he created what Horowitz and Poe called a parallel power structure—a political machine that could pressure, bypass, and even dictate the Democratic Party’s agenda.

The book traced how groups like MoveOn.org, Center for American Progress, and Media Matters—funded or influenced by Soros—coordinated messaging, mobilized activists, and steered the national conversation. It was, in Horowitz and Poe’s words, a “shadow party”: a party within a party, operating largely out of public view but exercising enormous sway over policy and elections.

THE CLINTON ALLIANCE AND THE LONG GAME

At the time, the authors emphasized Hillary Clinton as a central figure aligned with Soros’s project. She and other party elites benefited from the grassroots mobilization and media power Soros financed. Though the book predated Barack Obama’s rise, its analysis foreshadowed how future Democratic leaders would ride the infrastructure Soros built.

The lesson was clear: Soros was not only funding candidates—he was reshaping the political battlefield itself.

WHY RICO ENTERS THE CONVERSATION

The RICO Act, passed in 1970, was originally intended to dismantle the Mafia. It allows prosecutors to target enterprises that engage in a pattern of racketeering activity—from fraud and bribery to money laundering and beyond.

Trump’s argument is that Soros’s network—when it supports violent protests, funds coordinated campaigns, or potentially manipulates election processes—should be investigated under the same framework. To qualify, prosecutors would need to prove that the network crossed the line from legal political financing into criminal enterprise activity.

Critics argue that Soros simply funds progressive causes within the law. But Trump and others contend that the systematic, organized, and global nature of Soros’s influence matches the spirit of RICO: to confront entities that act above accountability, cloaked as legitimate enterprises but operating with subversive intent.

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FROM 2006 TO 2025: HISTORY REPEATS

Nearly twenty years after Horowitz and Poe warned about The Shadow Party, Trump’s RICO call puts Soros back in the center of American politics. The same accusations—that Soros bankrolls unrest, undermines national sovereignty, and manipulates democratic structures—are now tied directly to the most powerful legal weapon the U.S. has against organized enterprises.

Whether prosecutors pursue such charges remains to be seen. But the convergence of Trump’s rhetoric with Horowitz and Poe’s analysis suggests this debate is far from over.

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THE LARGER BATTLE

At stake is not only the future of George Soros and his network, but the question of accountability in American democracy. Can vast private fortunes, acting through webs of nonprofits and activist groups, wield unchecked influence over elections and policy? Or should such influence be investigated as a form of organized manipulation that violates the spirit—if not yet the letter—of the law?

For Trump and his supporters, the answer is clear: the “shadow party” described nearly two decades ago is not a theory but a living enterprise that must be confronted. For Soros’s defenders, it is simply philanthropy and democracy in action.

History will decide which view prevails. But one thing is undeniable: the clash between Trump and Soros has become a defining fault line in the struggle over America’s future.