Trump goes to war with National Public Radio in Truth Social rant

Donald Trump is going to war with National Public Radio, according to a new Truth Social Post.

Trump launched into an attack on public funding for public radio in a rant Wednesday, taking up a common theme voiced by Republicans for years.

It followed a public letter written by NPR's senior business editor which hit the station for being populated with left-wing employees and having a “distilled worldview of a very small segment of the U.S. population."

Trump responded: "NO MORE FUNDING FOR NPR, A TOTAL SCAM! EDITOR SAID THEY HAVE NO REPUBLICANS, AND IS ONLY USED TO 'DAMAGE TRUMP.' THEY ARE A LIBERAL DISINFORMATION MACHINE. NOT ONE DOLLAR!!!"

Elon Musk made a similar accusation about NPR when he took over Twitter, now X. Then, he alleged it was a “government-affiliated” news organization. NPR left the platform as a result, and many others followed.

NPR is partly funded by federal money, though much of its finances come from corporate sponsorship, programming fees and donations, its organization report says.

"Here’s how it works: Under the terms of the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act, funds are allocated annually to a non-governmental agency, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, overseen by a board of presidential appointees," The Hill reported last year in a fact-check.

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"That corporation, in turn, can choose to support original programming produced by public television or public radio — but, by law, must direct much of its $445 million funding (scheduled to top $500 million next fiscal year) to local public television and public radio stations across the country, via so-called 'community service grants.'”

In 2011, Republicans in the House overwhelmingly voted to cut NPR's funding. Last year, Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson ignited a new war against the radio station, calling it “taxpayer-funded fake news.”

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) proposed his own similar bills over the course of several sessions, most recently in 2021 and in 2019.