Tipsheet

Trump Just Dropped the Hammer on Public Broadcasting and Leftists Are Freaking Out

Jeff Charles
Jeff Charles  |  May 02, 2025 11:45 AM

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order slashing funding to National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The move is aimed at stopping these entities from using taxpayer funds to promote far leftist ideology.

“Government funding of news media in this environment is not only outdated and unnecessary but corrosive to the appearance of journalistic independence,” the executive order reads.

At the very least, Americans have the right to expect that if their tax dollars fund public broadcasting at all, they fund only fair, accurate, unbiased, and nonpartisan news coverage.  No media outlet has a constitutional right to taxpayer subsidies, and the Government is entitled to determine which categories of activities to subsidize.  The CPB’s (Corporation for Public Broadcasting) governing statute reflects principles of impartiality:  the CPB may not “contribute to or otherwise support any political party.”

The president noted that “The CPB fails to abide by these principles to the extent it subsidizes NPR and PBS” and that “neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens.”

The order instructs the CPB Board to “cease direct funding to NPR and PBS” and “cancel existing direct funding to the maximum extent allowed by law and … decline to provide future funding.”

The board will “cease indirect funding to NPR and PBS, including by ensuring that licensees and permittees of public radio and television stations, as well as any other recipients of CPB funds, do not use Federal funds for NPR and PBS.”

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Defunding NPR and PBS has been a desire on the right for decades. It makes sense given that both entities use the money taken from taxpayers to fund left-wing propaganda — which should never have been a thing in the first place. The notion that taxpayers should be forced to fund political propaganda is absurd.

However, there can be no doubt that Democrats will furiously challenge this order as they seek to protect state funding to their favorite propaganda purveyors. As you might have already guessed, leftists are melting down on social media over Trump’s executive order.

Even some on the right, such as conservative podcaster John Ziegler, argued that “There’s a lot of good/important programming they do, especially on a local level, that just can’t exist in today’s media environment.”

“Why not just use federal leverage to get rid of the bias?!” he asked.

However, many applauded the move, agreeing that taxpayer funds should not be used to prop up any media — especially that which has a clear political agenda. Even comedian Bill Maher came out in favor of Trump’s executive order.

Conservative commentator Clay Travis said this “Should have happened decades ago.”

Media Research Center reporter Justine Brooke Murray brought a “left-leaning tower of bias” to a protest including those who oppose Trump’s move.