How these 'insidious' Texas billionaire brothers are bankrolling right-wing politics

05 September 2023

Texas billionaire brothers Farris and Dan Wilks, who made their fortune in hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, are dumping massive amounts of money into "right-wing media outfits" and organizations like the Heritage Foundation, Family Research Council, and Focus on the Family "that have promoted climate-crisis denialism," The Guardian's Peter Stone reports.

"Farris Wilks and his wife control the Thirteen Foundation, while Dan Wilks and his wife lead the Heavenly Fathers Foundation, both of which have been funded with proceeds from the 2011 sale of their majority stake in Frac Tech Services for $3.2 billion," Stone writes. "Since they created their foundations, six- and seven-figure checks from the Wilks brothers have bolstered numerous pro-fossil fuel and evangelical projects."

The Wilks siblings "have poured millions of dollars into PragerU and the Daily Wire, two rightwing media outlets that have promoted wide-ranging conservative agendas, including climate crisis denialism to school-age kids and adults via short videos, articles and other materials," Stone continues. "The two brothers have given at least $8m to PragerU, which is unaccredited, according to Texas financial records. In July, Florida approved the use of what PragerU has called its 'edutainment' videos and other materials for use in its classrooms, and PragerU has said it is trying to get other states, including Texas, to do likewise."

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The Wilks have also contributed to conservative Texas politicians who are willing to advance their anti-climate, pro-oil narrative, such as United States Senator Ted Cruz, "whose abortive run for president in 2016 was bolstered by $15m they gave to a pro-Cruz Super Pac," Stone explains, noting the "deep pockets" that the Wilks have at their disposal.

Stone adds, "The Thirteen Foundation donated about $5m in 2021 and ended the year with close to $60m in assets. By contrast, the Heavenly Fathers Foundation gave away just under $11m in fiscal year 2022 and ended the year with about $187m in assets. The evangelical ties of the Wilks brothers are deep and personal. Farris Wilks is a preacher in Cisco, Texas, a town of approximately 3,000 people, where he leads the Assembly of Yahweh Seventh Day church, which was founded by his father and interprets the Bible literally while embracing Old and New Testament teachings."

The Wilks' politics also exploits the GOP's aversion to advancing social equality, which Stone recalls Farris as describing as "a perversion tantamount to bestiality, pedophilia, and incest." Farris, Stone points out, "seems to equate the climate crisis with God’s will. 'If [God] wants the polar caps to remain in place, then he will leave them there,' he said to worshippers at a 2013 service."

Experts like Texas campaign finance analyst Chris Tackett elaborated on the Wilks brothers' vast sway on the Wilks brothers' vast sway.

Tackett told Stone, "Farris and Dan Wilks, who believe their billions were given to them by God, have spent the last decade working to advance a dominionist ideology by funding far-right organizations and politicians that seek to dismiss climate change as 'God's will,' remove choice, demonize the LGBTQ community, and tear down public education, all to turn America into a country that gives preference to and imposes their extreme beliefs on everyone. The goal of [the] Wilks and those that share their ideology is to gain control of levers of power and control information. That's why they invest heavily into politicians, agenda-driven non-profits, and media organizations like PragerU and the Daily Wire. It is all connected."

University of Notre Dame history professor and Anointed with Oil author Darren Dochuk voiced similar concerns.

"Thanks to their incredible wealth and largesse, the country — as well as the [Republican] Party — are now feeling the effects of their aggressive brand of religiously-charged political activism," Dochuk revealed. "The Wilks brothers epitomize the new strain of religious-right culture-warring that has taken hold of the GOP. Blending fierce allegiance to free-market economics with equally fierce commitment to social conservatism [and] anti-statist rage with Christian nationalist sentiments, they seek to draw the church itself (not just church folk) into battle for control of the country. What makes the Wilks' strain of religious-right politics so potent and impactful is its striking range of priorities, including abortion, gay rights, and the broader crusade for traditional family values. Significantly, the Wilks' big checks are also aimed at influencing the politics of climate and environment, energy and extraction, to protect fossil fuel interests."

Dochuk stressed that "the Wilks brothers aren't the only ones with oil and gas ties to question climate change science from a position of self-interest; with so much invested in hydrocarbon society, their pro-fossil fuel, anti-climate-crisis science position only makes sense. Where the Wilks take things further, however, is their articulation of climate change denialism in theological terms, as if we are all destined by God for a future of environmental ruin we have no responsibility for and can’t control. The force of their advocacy, informing PragerU, the Daily Wire and other conservative media outlets, is what makes their influence so penetrating and paralyzing, and insidious."

View Stone's full article at this link.

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