Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr., Bill Gates, Tucker Carlson, and a host of other U.S. political figures have all descended on the Qatari capital of Doha in recent days to discuss an array of current events. In doing so, they perhaps unwittingly lent considerable legitimacy to an event with open ties to anti-American organizations.

Doha Forum, the event in question, invited dignitaries from across the world between Dec. 6 and Dec. 8 to discuss topics ranging from geopolitics to artificial intelligence. To host the conference, Doha Forum relied on partnerships with a wide variety of organizations. Included among these partners were state-backed Turkish and Qatari media outlets that produce consistent flows of anti-American content, as well as entities with strong links to the Chinese government, which seek to assist the United States’s primary adversary in accomplishing its aims.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, one such Doha Forum partner, is a state-run think tank based in Beijing. Far from being an ordinary think tank, Chinese President Xi Jinping has embarked on a campaign to enforce ideological uniformity at CASS by encouraging its staff to report one another for disloyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and replacing its leadership with loyalists. Gao Xiang, the head of the academy appointed by Xi, has demanded “ironclad loyalty” to the Chinese president. 

CASS is part of a consortium of think tanks that works to promote China’s Belt and Road initiative — a global infrastructure development program critics have accused the CCP of using to influence developing nations — and regularly assists Chinese officials in diplomatic efforts. The think tank plays a crucial role in helping the U.S.’s top adversary formulate its policy, according to the Guardian.

Despite the Doha Forum’s partnerships with anti-American forces such as CASS, many of its high-profile attendees are aligned with the “America First” movement. Beyond Carlson and Trump Jr., top MAGA consultant Alex Bruesewitz, conservative media mogul Neil Patel, and Trump-aligned businessman Omeed Malik also spoke at the event. Jewish Insider reported that “several Trump administration officials” attended the event.

The presence of well-known and respected conservatives at the Doha Forum may lead some on the Right to place trust in the event, especially given Carlson’s recent praise of Qatar. At times, however, the discussions held at the forum amplified anti-American opinions without platforming a pro-American voice to push back.

One such session, titled “US–China Relations: Navigating the Risks and Opportunities of a Changing Global Order,” featured four panelists: government officials from Pakistan, Iran, and Serbia, as well as an Emirati policy researcher. The session was moderated by former Chinese State Councilor Wang Huiyao.

Officials from Iran and Pakistan both argued, while taking moral jabs at the U.S., that the U.S.’s power is in decline and is making way for a multipolar global order, where China is of greater importance. The Serbian, meanwhile, argued against hawkish Western policies toward China, given its economic power, and the Emirati, along similar lines, expressed China’s economic might as a reason to avoid adopting a “Cold War” approach to the country.

None of the panelists mentioned China’s slowing economic growth or abysmal birthrates in their opening remarks.

The Center for China and Globalization, which partnered with Doha Forum to hold the panel, is led by Wang, who, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, was an adviser to the United Front Work Department — a global network of CCP loyalists who work to exert influence and acquire sensitive knowledge on behalf of the party. The Economist described Wang, whose organization also promotes the Belt and Road initiative, as “something of a go-between for technocratic government ministries, Chinese entrepreneurs, and foreign embassies in Beijing.” 

The Doha Forum was sponsored by the Qatari government. Although the Gulf state has attempted to maintain cordial relations with Washington, it has strengthened its diplomatic and economic ties to China in recent years, and China is, for obvious reasons, a major proponent of a multipolar global order. 

Qatar’s state-funded media, which also partnered with Doha Forum to put on the recent conference, pushes similar anti-American rhetoric as was present at the CCG panel. 

Al Jazeera, Qatar’s flagship international media conglomerate, has been charged by many with acting as a mouthpiece for the country’s government while promoting anti-American and anti-Western content. Videos and articles produced by Al Jazeera have, among other lines of critique, accused the U.S. of racism and railed against its foreign policy. 

“[Al Jazeera] frequently highlights injustices in American society pertaining to women’s rights, issues facing the Black community, and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people,” said a 2023 report produced by the Zachor Legal Institute. “[Al Jazeera’s] coverage portrays American society as divided and often contributes itself to widening those divisions, creating a fertile ground for harming the legitimacy of the American government and its institutions.”

The Zachor Legal Institute’s report found that, during one week in 2023, 32% of the content produced by Al Jazeera’s primary English-language social media account was anti-American and an additional 25% was broadly anti-Western. 

Contrary to independent journalists and news organizations, critics have accused state-backed media operations, such as Al Jazeera, of covering stories not out of genuine interest but rather to advance the interests of their sovereign patrons. 

TRT News and Anadolu Ajansı, two Turkish state media outlets that have criticized the U.S. along similar lines as Al Jazeera, were also listed by the Doha Forum as partners. 

Doha Debates, similar to the Turkish and Qatari media operations, has pushed content to millions of viewers, arguing that the U.S.’s global power is diminished, saying Western nations are racist, criticizing Israel, and pressuring the developed world to accept more refugees. Doha Debates and its parent organization, the Qatar Foundation, are both listed among the Doha Forum’s partners. 

The Doha Forum, an annual event, has long drawn criticism.

“The Doha Forum was the logical next step in an international effort by Islamists to distract from their violence and advance their interests using the accompanying legitimacy of Western statesmanship; benefiting not just the radical Qatari hosts, the Iranian regime or the murderous Taliban, but even their Islamist proxies in the West,” Dexter Van Zile, a research fellow at the Middle East Forum, wrote in 2022.