Stop Funding Radical "Journalists"
Internet meme star Benny Johnson accused Politico of receiving $8.2 million in funding from the US Agency of International Development (USAID). The truth is actually far worse.
Internet meme star Benny Johnson accused Politico of receiving $8.2 million in funding from the US Agency of International Development (USAID). The truth is actually far worse.
The media was quick to hop on the fact that, no, Politico’s $8.2 million cash influx didn’t come entirely one department as Johnson claimed. The USAID spent $44,000 on subscriptions to Politico Pro — a subscription service of Politico that follows and analyzes the ins and outs of legislation, regulations, and policymaking. (A birthday gift anyone outside of DC would just love!)
Instead of reporting on the facts of the story — namely that a massive news outlet was raking in millions of dollars from the federal government — the news outlets focused on Johnson’s error. The story was quickly dubbed a “right-wing conspiracy.”
Per our usual arrangement with corporate media, they are DEAD. WRONG.
Politico LLC has received $8.4 million in subscription fees from the federal government in 2024 alone. The funding comes from a range of departments including the Department of Health & Human Services, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Energy, and, well, I’m pretty sure you can read the graph below.
In all honesty, Johnson’s haste to post this story without double-checking the data did a real disservice to this BOMBSHELL story. The real story is far more frightening than the one he posted.
Notice in the graph above that the federal funding takes a massive uptick in FY2020. Conveniently, the same year the deep state attempted to cover up the Hunter Biden laptop story. A story Politico was more than enthusiastic to bury.
Politico’s CEO Goli Sheikholeslami and Editor-in-Chief John Harris released a statement on Feb. 6, defending the company from allegations that its journalism is bought and paid for.
Despite Politico’s insistence otherwise, it’s more than fair to question whether the outlet has motivations to appease federal employees to maintain or extend a lucrative contract like this.
Politico is far from the only organization pulling in federal dollars. Axios admitted in its Feb. 5 “Axios PM” edition that it received $5,500 in federal subscriptions from the FCC in 2024.
Don’t forget the countless “journalists” that the federal government bankrolls with grants. Andy Ngo has a great tweet thread highlighting this exact journalistic corruption in relation to a high school shooting in Nashville.
The federal government is currently funding the demise of ethical and responsible journalism and it must stop. NOW.
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