The State Department Published A Substack Manifesto On ‘Western Civilizational Heritage’

Everyone has a newsletter now, even the United States Department of State. And, since taking to Substack in late April, the agency tasked with articulating and representing America’s foreign policy interests on the world stage has published a manifesto of sorts touting the need for this country and Europe to “recommit to our Western heritage.”

The piece in question was titled “The Need For Civilizational Allies In Europe.” It was published on Tuesday and authored by Samuel Samson, a senior adviser in the department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Among other things, Samson argued there is “an aggressive campaign against Western civilization itself” that includes “digital censorship, mass migration, [and] restrictions on religious freedom.”

“On both sides of the Atlantic, we must preserve the goods of our common culture, ensuring that Western civilization remains a source of virtue, freedom, and human flourishing for generations to come,” Samson wrote. 

The Substack post made headlines because it came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a new wave of visa restrictions on Chinese students and foreigners deemed to be “complicit in censoring Americans.” Yet the post was important not just because it was another salvo in President Trump and the right’s fight against content moderation and alleged censorship. Samson’s rhetoric arguing against “mass migration” and in favor of “Western heritage” sharply echoes the ideology of many extremist and even white nationalist groups. 

A “backgrounder” published by the Anti Defamation League in 2020 laid out how figures involved in “alt right” politics tend to “avoid explicit white supremacist references” and instead “use terms like ‘culture’ as substitutes for more divisive terms such as ‘race,’ and promote ‘Western Civilization’ as a code word for white culture or identity.” That rhetoric was used for the promotion of the 2017 Charlottesville rally, which included multiple neo-Nazi groups. Affiliated organizations like the explicitly pro-Trump antisemitic group National Justice Party, which has a podcast named for the Holocaust, have used the term. The Proud Boys, a militant group whose leadership has included four people charged with seditious conspiracy related to the January 6 attack before being pardoned by President Trump, also describe themselves as focused on “Western Chauvinism.”  

Samson’s piece also waded into European politics and similarly promoted ultranationalist perspectives. He defended a far-right party and candidate — Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party and French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen — and suggested they have faced undue censorship. German intelligence has labeled AfD as extremist for suggesting Muslim immigrants are not equal. Candidates promoted by Le Pen and her party have made racist comments and engaged in Holocaust denial. 

TPM reached out to the State Department on Thursday to ask about the essay and the fact it echoes some of this white nationalist rhetoric. A spokesperson asked us to “extend” our deadline for comment until Friday, but did not reply to subsequent emails. 

“Alt right” and white supremacist-adjacent ideals promoting “western civilization,” denunciations of immigration as a threat to culture, and links with far-right figures in Europe have all been a feature of the second Trump administration. In March, Trump signed an executive order aimed at stopping federally funded historical sites, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture and other parts of the Smithsonian Institution, from promoting what it described as “divisive, race-centered ideology” rather than “Western values.” Vice President J.D. Vance also touched on these themes in a speech at the conservative Heritage Foundation in April. 

“I think that what we’ve learned over the last few months is that the American people, and I think western peoples, are a hell of a lot more resilient than our elites give them credit for,” he said, later adding, “I think if we speak the truth, if we refuse to live by lies, then I think we can redeliver on the promise of Western civilization.”

And earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio referred to Germany’s designation of AfD as an extremist group as “tryanny in disguise.” Rubio and his State Department have also been at the forefront of Trump’s efforts to curb immigration — and have continually discussed this in terms that echo those of the American “alt right” and European ultranationalists. On Thursday, the State Department notified Congress about plans for a sweeping reorganization that would include cutting jobs, reworking the agency’s refugee bureau into a “Remigration” office aimed at returning immigrants to their home countries, and prioritizing “Western values” at its human rights bureau. 

Samson, the author of the State Department’s Substack manifesto, is representative of a wave of young activists and staffers who have gravitated towards these nationalist perspectives. His career and activism prior to joining the government was boosted and guided by conservative groups that are promoting these ideas. 

Prior to joining the Trump administration, Samson spent over two years at “American Moment,” a nonprofit whose major funders include the Conservative Partnership Institute, an organization that was deeply involved in Trump’s attempts to reverse his 2020 election loss. “American Moment,” which was founded in 2021, is designed to “identify, educate, and credential young Americans who will implement public policy.” The group’s priorities include restricting immigration and promoting traditional values in “the West.”  

Before writing for the State Department on Substack, Samson published pieces for a variety of conservative publications, including a 2022 article for The Federalist that declared, “the modern West is itself a culture looking down.”

“Our culture is dominated by passions, of pursuit for the sake of good feelings and satisfaction,” Samson wrote. “Activity is reduced to binge streaming, social media scrolling, face stuffing, and chronic porn watching.”

Samson has locked his page on the site formerly known as Twitter. The Internet Archive shows that he maintained a presence on the site, including penning poems that criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s efforts to solicit international aid for his country’s war with Russia. Samson graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021. Coverage from the school’s Daily Texan newspaper indicates he spent his college years involved in the Young Conservatives of Texas, the Zionist Organization of America, and working as a legislative staffer for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). He also participated in a 2019 event with conservative commentator Steven Crowder where, according to the paper, Samson argued in front of other students that “there are only two genders.” In multiple articles published by the college paper, Samson suggested he faced “harassment” on campus for his conservative views. 

The young man who would go on to publish arguments against migration also made an interesting early comment about his pathway to right-wing politics. In a 2018 interview in which he endorsed Cruz’s re-election bid that year, Samson said his mother was an immigrant who went through the naturalization process.

“She worked her butt off wanting to come to this country, and I think that’s a microcosm of why I’m a conservative,” Samson said.