USAID Money Went to Leftmedia
When we say that the legacy media is largely propaganda, it’s an accusation that is verifiable.
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is behind a plethora of nefarious left-wing agenda items. Perhaps the most insidious is giving millions of dollars to media groups that were supposedly unbiased.
New White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained some of the egregious misspending of taxpayer dollars:
.@PressSec: “I can confirm that the more than $8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayers’ dime will no longer be happening.” pic.twitter.com/9uA1imuKtt
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 5, 2025
Politico received $8 million in USAID money. Some of that was apparently for subscriptions to Politico Pro, its top-tier subscription. (Talk about wasteful spending.) However, USAID wasn’t the only federal agency that gave money to this outfit. The Department of Education, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency all gave millions of dollars. In total, it seems that Politico received $34.3 million from the federal government.
After Karoline Leavitt announced that USAID payments to Politico would be ending, something equally strange happened. For the first time ever, Politico missed a pay period. While corporate told employees that it was due to a glitch in the system, the timing is pretty suspicious.
This is the email Politico sent to all employees yesterday. No one got paid. Politico’s corrupt management blame this on a “glitch” and not their government gravy train ending.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) February 5, 2025
State propaganda collapsing pic.twitter.com/mIDWGmOkZ9
Politico is not alone in receiving USAID money. The New York Times received $3.1 million, and BBC received about $3.2 million. These monies and where exactly they went are still being evaluated. The Associated Press, for example, claims that the BBC money went to its charitable arm known as BBC Media Action. Regardless, it all goes back to the same fundamental question: Is it ethical for ostensibly independent news media to take large amounts of government money? Particularly when they flaunt their “integrity” as “unbiased” news sources?
It’s not just the secular news media that received federal money. Apparently, Christianity Today received $1.8 million from USAID right before the election. The increasingly left-leaning outfit has been one of the leading voices calling out what the Democrats have distortedly defined as “Christian Nationalism.” For an organization that is very concerned with the separation of Christianity and politics, this grant money is a really bad look.
Correction: According to Christianity Today CEO Timothy Dalrymple, “Christianity Today Has Not Received USAID Funds.” He says:
We applied in 2023 for an Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC), a program signed into law by President Trump in 2020 to assist organizations impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns. Accountants enter the ERC into a standard line in tax forms for government “grants” even though it is a credit against payroll taxes. We have still not actually received the credit, but we keep our books on an accrual basis and were encouraged by our auditors to book the amount as a receivable in 2023.
This is also not the first time Russell Moore, Christianity Today’s editor-in-chief, has retrieved funding from secular sources. Moore, New York Times columnist David French, and Duke Divinity consulting professor Curtis Chang procured money from The Rockefeller Foundation for their political Bible study called “The After Party.”
Like with other news outlets, the question of integrity is a big one. What was this money going toward? Was it to buoy charity, or was it used to sway the political views of evangelical Christians? If it was the latter, then that’s a serious offense.
Want to know what media you can trust with a clear conscience? Here at the Liberty-minded Patriot Post, we don’t receive a penny from any U.S. government agency or any “unelected billionaire,” either. We are entirely funded by donors like you. Thank you for your support.
