American Principles Project (APP) 

Radical right wing culture war organization. 

APP is a 501c4 political advocacy and campaign organization founded in 2009 by Robert P. George and Francis P. Cannon.  It claims to advocate for "family values" which is a frequent cover phrase used to push anti-liberty/anti-inclusion culture wars. 

Their stated issues are: Anti-Abortion (Forced Birth), Parental Rights (Anti Public Education), Anti-Transgender Policies (Bigotry), Opposition to Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Racism) and "Gender Ideology" (freedom of self identity)  in schools, and defense of religious liberty.
The APP was a member of the advisory board for Project 2025

App seeks to force women to breed, destroy public education, eradicate transgender people, and protect institutional racism. 

Since 2015, APP's influence has been defined by three key strategies:

1. Mainstreaming Anti-Transgender and Anti-LGBTQ+ Rhetoric

Following the 2015 Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, APP shifted its primary focus toward opposition to the affirmation of transgender identity, particularly concerning minors and in schools.

• Campaign Strategy: APP has been a pioneer in creating and funding highly targeted campaign advertisements (often through its PAC) that use false or misleading claims about transgender youth, school board policies, and parental rights.

  • Example: In state and local elections across the country, APP-funded ads have spread disinformation, claiming, for instance, that officials endorse "sex change treatments" for young children or that Democrats want to remove children from families that question transgender identity.

• Impact: This strategy is credited with introducing and aggressively normalizing the narrative of "Parental Rights" and "Gender Ideology" as central, high-stakes battlegrounds in Republican politics. This rhetoric has been described by organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as advocating for "anti-transgender hate."

2. The "Culture War" Political Strategy

APP champions the idea that the Republican Party must focus on winning the "culture war" to succeed electorally, arguing that running on economic issues alone is insufficient.

• Focus: It has focused on hot-button social issues like Critical Race Theory (CRT), transgender athletes in sports, and "pornographic" material in schools to mobilize a dedicated base of voters.

• Outcome: By aggressively framing these issues as existential threats to the "American family," APP's efforts have successfully pushed these topics to the forefront of conservative political campaigns, encouraging other right-wing groups and politicians to adopt similarly aggressive cultural stances. This intensifies the political polarization by framing policy debates in extreme, moralistic, and often de-humanizing terms.

3. Direct Campaign Intervention and Policy Influence

APP has leveraged significant funding (including from major conservative donors) to intervene directly in races from local school boards up to the state level.

• Political Spending: The organization spends heavily on elections to support candidates who sign their pledges or advocate for their positions, such as the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA).

• "Top Threats" Reports: APP regularly publishes reports, such as the "Top 25 Threats to the American Family," which identify politicians, corporations, and legislation it views as hostile, further solidifying the narrative of a besieged conservative family unit under attack by "Cultural Marxists" and the "Left."

In summary, the American Principles Project's role has been to serve as a major political and financial engine behind the contemporary culture war on social and LGBTQ+ issues. By utilizing emotionally charged and often false campaign rhetoric, it has helped radicalize the Republican party's stance on these issues, moving them from peripheral concerns to central pillars of the mainstream conservative political identity since 2015.

DARK MONEY 

1. The 501(c)(4) Structure: The Engine of "Dark Money"

The core of the APP's opacity comes from its tax status as a 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organization.

• Non-Disclosure Requirement: Unlike political campaigns or 501(c)(3) charities, a 501(c)(4) organization is not required by the IRS to disclose the names and addresses of its donors to the public. This legal shield allows major contributors to funnel large sums of money into political advocacy without fear of public scrutiny, backlash, or public accountability for the content of the campaigns.

• Political Activity Allowed: A 501(c)(4) can engage in political activities, such as lobbying and issue advocacy to support or oppose candidates, as long as this activity is not its primary purpose (typically interpreted as less than 50% of its total expenditures). This loophole is strategically leveraged to blur the line between social welfare and outright political campaigning.

2. The Affiliated Super PAC: Channeling the Funds

To maximize its election spending, the APP utilizes an affiliated organization, the American Principles Project PAC (Super PAC).

• The Conduit Loophole: While Super PACs are required to disclose their donors, they can legally accept unlimited contributions from 501(c)(4) groups like the APP. This creates a conduit system where undisclosed funds from the 501(c)(4) flow into the Super PAC. The Super PAC then publicly reports the APP as the source of the contribution, effectively masking the original donor—the source of the "dark money."

• High-Impact Spending: This structure allows the APP to finance expensive, hyper-targeted campaigns—especially those using aggressive, divisive messaging on transgender issues and parental rights—with the knowledge that the ultimate source of the funds remains hidden from the voters it is trying to influence.

3. Key Known Megadonors

Despite the opacity of the 501(c)(4) structure, campaign finance filings from the affiliated Super PAC have revealed that the APP network is supported by a few high-net-worth conservative figures. These are the known sources who have funded the APP PAC, often through other related political funds:

• Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein: The Uihleins, major conservative megadonors, have contributed millions to the APP PAC, often channeling funds through their own Super PAC, Restoration PAC.

• Sean Fieler: The chairman of the APP itself, Fieler is a hedge fund manager who is a significant personal funder of the organization, having contributed substantial amounts to its Super PAC.

• Robert Mercer: The billionaire who has historically backed various far-right and anti-establishment political causes, also contributed to the APP Super PAC.

In essence, Frank Cannon's political impact is magnified by a strategic ecosystem of conservative nonprofits designed to legally obscure the source of the money funding the most divisive "culture war" campaigns, thus empowering a small number of wealthy individuals to exert disproportionate, untraceable influence over US elections.