Trump And Republicans Plan To Privatize PBS To Pay For Tax Cuts For The Rich

Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:50 pm

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Trump is planning a massive slash on government spending, including privatizing PBS, with the money saved being spent on tax cuts for the wealthy.

The Hill reported, “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting would be privatized, while the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities would be eliminated entirely. Overall, the blueprint being used by Trump’s team would reduce federal spending by $10.5 trillion over 10 years.”

We know that Trump’s tax cuts for the rich will reduce federal revenues by $9.5 trillion over ten years, so the Trump administration is going to get that money back by slashing federal spending everywhere else.

Republicans have been attempting to kill PBS for years.

We have seen this movie before. During the 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney promised to kill PBS in an interview with Fortune, “There are three major areas I have focused on for reduction in spending. These are in many cases reductions which become larger and larger over time. So first there are programs I would eliminate. Obamacare being one of them but also various subsidy programs — the Amtrak subsidy, the PBS subsidy, the subsidy for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities. Some of these things, like those endowment efforts and PBS I very much appreciate and like what they do in many cases, but I just think they have to strand (sic) on their own rather than receiving money borrowed from other countries, as our government does on their behalf.”

Everything that Romney mentioned in the above 2016 interview is on the chopping block once Trump takes office.

Republicans have long held up reality TV-fueled networks like A&E, History Channel, and TLC as adequate replacements for PBS. Replacing documentary series like Frontline with Pawn Stars and American Pickers is not an equal exchange. PBS is the last television network in the United States that is dedicated to informing and educating children and adults.

The privatization of PBS would be a national tragedy.

At a time when the American people need less entertainment and more sources of information, Trump is eyeing up the destruction of the last bastion of educational television in the country.

A president-elect and a party who are at war with facts and knowledge are set to eliminate PBS.

It is a predictable outcome that should serve to remind every American who argued that both Clinton and Trump were the same that elections have consequences.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association