Marjorie Taylor Greene vs. Elmo: The Dumbest Culture War
The GOP’s latest fight? Defunding the most trusted news source in America—PBS and NPR
MTG hates Mr. Rogers. That’s right. The chair of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) has launched hearings to investigate whether America’s most trusted media institutions deserve federal funding. Spoiler alert: She thinks they don’t.
If this all feels familiar, it’s because Republicans have been trying to kill off Big Bird and NPR’s tote bags since the Reagan administration. Every few years, the GOP dusts off the same old argument: “PBS and NPR are biased! Defund them!” Never mind that NPR gets only 1% of its funding from the federal government or that PBS uses its meager 0.0076% of the federal budget to educate children, provide local news, and ensure rural America has access to something other than Fox News and static.
But this time, it’s different.
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Project 2025: The Master Plan to Kill Public Media
Greene’s hearings align perfectly with Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s MAGA battle plan for Trump’s second administration. One of its big-ticket items is completely defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which could gut PBS and NPR, especially in rural areas where they are often the only reliable news sources.
Why the sudden urgency? Conservatives claim NPR and PBS are too “liberal” despite decades of research showing they are among the most factual news outlets in the country and are widely trusted.
But this isn’t just about "bias." It’s about power. Removing fact-based journalism and educational programming makes it easier to fill the void with propaganda.
A Timeline of the Right’s War on Public Broadcasting
📺 1967 – The Public Broadcasting Act creates PBS and NPR to provide non-commercial, educational programming.
📻 1970s-80s – Republicans start calling for defunding, but Reading Rainbow keeps winning hearts.
🦅 1995 – Newt Gingrich calls PBS “elitist” and tries to cut its funding. The Magic School Bus survives.
💰 2012 – Mitt Romney vows to kill PBS funding, causing an internet meme war over Big Bird.
🎭 2020s – Trump repeatedly tries to eliminate CPB funding. News Hour reports on the story as Congress ignores him.
📢 2025 – Trump’s Project 2025 and DOGE mean PBS and NPR could struggle to remain on the airwaves.
Why PBS and NPR Matter
Popularity: PBS and NPR reach over 150 million people per month.
Trust: PBS and NPR are ranked high in trustworthiness.
Literacy Impact: Studies show Sesame Street improves school readiness as much as preschool (National Bureau of Economic Research).
Rural Communities: Public media is among many rural areas' only local news sources.
Greene and her allies want to destroy public broadcasting—not because it's failing, but because it succeeds. A well-informed public is harder to manipulate. And a country where kids can learn for free? That’s too dangerous for the GOP to tolerate.
So here we are, in 2025, still debating whether Clifford the Big Red Dog is a socialist. If only Republicans fought for rural hospitals, working families, and public schools as hard as they fight against puppets and tote bags.