Tentacles of Influence

Uncovering the Threat to American Democracy

A stunning insight into the American foreign lobbying “industry” and an indictment of the part of it that threatens to end democracy.

For years, a group of Americans has been working as foot soldiers for the most authoritarian regimes on the planet. In doing so, they have not only helped to consolidate the positions of various dictatorships and expand a kleptocratic network around the world, but have even secretly directed US policy without the rest of America ever noticing.


Now, some of them have begun to target the very essence of American democracy. These Americans are called foreign lobbyists. Many of them have spent years letting dictators into the corridors of top-level Washington politics, all while whitewashing the reputations of the world's most odious and repressive regimes.

These foreign lobbyists have included figures such as Ivy Lee, the “inventor” of public relations and the man who polished Mussolini's reputation, opened the door to the democratic world for the Soviets, and advised the Nazis on how to influence the American public. But they also include people like Paul Manafort, who invented lobbying as we know it today and offered his talents to autocrats from Ukraine to the Philippines before setting his sights directly on the White House. The ranks of these people are also being swelled by a growing number of Americans from various professions: in law firms and consulting companies, among PR specialists and former lawmakers, and even in influential think tanks and universities.

In American kleptocracy, Casey Michel points the finger at these foreign lobbyists. After decades spent paving the way for dictators around the world and corrupting American politics, some of them have embarked on another mission: to end the American democratic experiment once and for all.