Sublime

Brookings and the Times rushed to add conservatives to their ranks in hopes of demonstrating their nonpartisanship.

Karl Rove, the operative whom George W. Bush called “the architect” of his 2004 reelection, had long dreamed of creating a conservative political machine outside the traditional political parties’ control that could be funded by virtually unlimited private fortunes. His hope was to draft conservative donors of all stripes into creating a

prompting a new breed of wealthy ultraconservatives to weaponize their philanthropic giving in order to fight a multifront war of influence over American political thought.