Former Trump Campaign Manager at Center of Israeli Influence Operation Targeting Gen Z

Israel is trying to influence American public opinion via conservative podcasts and text messaging operations, according to recent reports from The Wall Street Journal (Center bias) and TIME Magazine (Lean Left).

TIME Report: According to TIME, last month, when the US and Iran were negotiating a ceasefire, a "senior US official" noticed stark similarities in social media posts from "prominent members of the online right" and linked the perceived operation back to President Trump's former campaign manager, Brad Parscale. TIME confirmed earlier reporting from Responsible Statecraft (Center) that Parscale had registered as a foreign agent and had begun working for the Israeli government in September. According to the contract, Parscale's work was meant to be "tailored to Gen Z audiences across platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, and other relevant digital and broadcast outlets."

WSJ Report: The Journal reported that Israel has poured "tens of millions of dollars" into a text messaging campaign and directly paid "conservative media," apparently podcasters and influencers. The Journal said Israel recently signed a $45 million contract with Parscale, and that the country's 2026 budget for shaping public perception of its affairs was announced to be $700 million. It also reported quotes from former Trump strategist and podcaster Steve Bannon (Right), who said, "How is the second-biggest conservative talk network run by a registered foreign agent?"

Reactions: The Washington Examiner (Lean Right) highlighted reactions from Vice President JD Vance and Parscale himself in separate pieces of coverage this week. Vance told the Joe Rogan (Center) podcast, "People are always going to try to influence the United States of America, whether they're allies of ours or whether they're enemies of ours, but again, when I open up the pages of Time magazine and I see that there's a literal foreign influence campaign being funded to tank the very deal that I was pursuing, and oh by the way, many of the people who were receiving that money were actually attacking me in completely dishonest ways, you know, my response to that is, 'Well, go to hell.'"

Parscale told The Examiner on Thursday, "Claims that I attacked the [peace deal] or the Administration are false. I welcome professional journalists who examine the facts instead of drawing conclusions from speculation or manufactured connections. Everything I created and did is publicly disclosed through the FARA process. There isn't a single shred of evidence that I acted against the Administration." He added that his efforts began three years ago during the Biden administration because he "saw a rise in Jewish hatred, not because of any government agenda."

How The Media Covered It: Several mainstream outlets, particularly from the left and center, covered the story since the reports from TIME and WSJ, though most major mainstream outlets did not cover it. Several major Middle Eastern outlets, like the pro-Arab Middle East Eye (Left), The Jerusalem Post (Center), The Times of Israel (Center), and Turkish state media outlet Anadolu Agency (Center) covered the story.

Past Coverage: A few outlets have shown a particular interest in Parscale's pro-Israel foreign agent affairs in recent months, most notably The Quincy Institute's Responsible Statecraft (Center) and The Daily Caller (Right). Responsible Statecraft reported on the text message campaign in February and published a joint report with The Intercept (Left) on the operation's funding in May. The Daily Caller ramped up its coverage in June, publishing a handful of opinions and news articles since June 19. Most recently, last week it published an opinion from editor John Loftus titled, "MAGA's Paid Influencer Scandal Exploding Into Full View."

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