Cross-border isolationism

There is one thing authoritarians everywhere agree on: it's that international solidarity is nothing but foreign interference.

February 25, 2026

More evidence that the Trump playbook is part of a global authoritarian movement can be seen in the parallels between Trump Administration actions and events in Kenya this week. 

Zimbabwean human rights attorney Brian Kagoro was stopped at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and immediately deported on Sunday, in connection to what The Star says “officials described as a sophisticated political mobilisation network bankrolled by international donors.” 

The specific allegation is that Kagoro was responsible for funding protests in Kenya that aimed at overthrowing the government. The Ruto government claims the action was the result of an extensive investigation:

Officials said investigations spanning six months tracked Kagoro through three separate visits to Nairobi last year, during which authorities allege he promised in closed-door meetings to raise $1.2 million (Sh150 million) for activist initiatives.

The move follows a decision by top security organs that civil activists from foreign countries would not be allowed to engage in political activities in Kenya.

“Should foreigners come with sinister political motives, we will deny them entry or track and deport them to their country of origin,” said a senior security official involved in Kagoro’s deportation.

Brian Kagoro/HANDOUT

Kagoro is a senior leader at Open Society Foundations, the global philanthropy founded by George Soros. He has been deported and declared persona non grata by the Kenyan government due to his role in making grants to Kenyan activist groups.

Streamline, an online news source in Kenya, notes that the government acted “following months of grueling, youth-led demonstrations that have shaken the political establishment to its core.” In other words, some Kenyans have taken to the streets to express their anger against endemic corruption and the rising cost of living. Support Kagoro allegedly organized is familiar stuff, “ranging from legal defense funds for arrested demonstrators to operational cash for printing protest materials.”

There is an argument to be made against international philanthropy, which provides money to support political activity in countries around the world, particularly countries where nonprofit organizations struggle to raise enough money to operate. The argument that is made – made notably by Vladimir Putin in pushing anti-philanthropy legislation in 2012 – is that donors call the shots, and local NGOs are in effect “foreign agents,” executing the strategy of outsiders intent on destabilizing the country. On the other side, what philanthropic groups and civil society organizations say is that grants from these foundations respond to locally-determined needs and priorities, and enable citizens to play a meaningful role in the political life of their nations. 

Demonizing the actions of grantmakers in the abstract is a thin broth; putting a face to it is more effective. Beginning with the authoritarian Hungarian and Russian governments, George Soros became the face of the great grantmaking conspiracy. Kagoro’s role in the Soros network tars him with that brush. 

In much of the world, this approach is effective: NGOs depend on overseas philanthropy to survive, and attacks on their financial supply lines, if they don’t drive groups out of business outright, force the dilemma of rejecting their main sources of support or appearing to be subversives working on behalf of foreign powers. This has enabled autocratic governments around the world to discredit human rights activists in the eyes of their people.

Demonizing George Soros is a go-to tactic for JD Vance and other Trump supporters, too. And as with the allegations against Kagoro, the fact that No Kings protesters and other activists have printed materials is taken by right-wing critics as a sign that their efforts are bankrolled by a faraway, sinister mastermind.

The “foreign agent” attack on American pro-democracy activists has limited power, however, relative to other places, for the simple reason that printed signs and pro bono legal representation is not dependent on foreign donors. To a degree, the Soros association serves a similar role, portraying activists as in the thrall or on the payroll of an out-of-touch billionaire who is in it for himself, somehow. Not to mention the occasionally rather overt antisemitism that comes with it.

There is another, deeper connection at work here, as well. When Kenya stops a man like Kagoro (described in most of the news coverage as a “pan-Africanist”) at the border, and does so on the grounds that he is an outsider fomenting unrest, the effect is to create a kind of Fortress Kenya, a society where the legitimacy of political critique is delimited by the passport the critic holds. It says that Kenya is for Kenyans (to criticize) and Kenyans only. Authoritarians of necessity eschew cross-border identities, because international solidarity – or interference – is a key ingredient in many if not most of the toppled dictatorships in modern history.

International philanthropy is necessary for the activist, but it is also useful for the autocrat, in that it sets up a vast conspiracy, an untamed and frightening outside world, that they can define a national identity against.

Yesterday, when Donald Trump stood before Congress and chided Democrats for failing to applaud his anti-immigrant rhetoric, he was playing the same game. He has no George Soros or National Endowment for Democracy that he can use to claim that his opponents as foreign agents. But if he can pick out one or two of the vanishingly small percentage of undocumented immigrants who commit violent crimes, that will do just as well.