16-05-2025
Why conservatives are finally ready to cut the cord on public broadcasting
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WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR — For many children growing up in conservative evangelical Christian households in the 1990s, Saturday morning cartoons were confined to one of two options: the Christian Broadcasting Network or PBS Kids.
Aside from the occasional dustup, conservative families in the 1990s saw PBS programming — reading through history's greatest literary masterpieces with Wishbone or doing science experiments with Bill Nye — as a safe alternative to 'secular' shows found on network and cable TV like Sabrina the Teenage Witch or Rugrats.
But a lot has changed in the last 30 years, in both the way kids consume television and in the right's relationship with PBS. And now, conservatives in Congress and the White House are finally ready to cut the cord, ending once and for all federal funding for PBS and National Public Radio.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on May 2 directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to cancel funding for both networks. Executives at those media organizations are pushing back — arguing that the changes are unlawful.
'Congress directly authorized and funded CPB to be a private nonprofit corporation wholly independent of the federal government,' Corporation for Public Broadcasting CEO Patricia Harris wrote in a statement on May 2.
It isn't the first time Republicans have tried to defund PBS. Both PBS and NPR have long fielded accusations that their news programs lean too far to the left. According to the Ad Fontes media bias chart, PBS Newshour is rated further to the left than ABC's nightly news program, but not as far left as major CNN or MSNBC shows. NPR is in roughly the same place. Both are rated 'skews left,' the most centrist of the four left-leaning categories.
'We're gonna be more tolerant of publicly funded things that we agree with than publicly funded things we don't agree with,' pointed out Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) — a conservative evangelical Christian who also leans libertarian. 'Unless you're a true, honest, free market conservative.'
In the past, PBS' children's programming has proven a savior for the network. In 1969, Fred Rogers, host of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, famously testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications against then-President Nixon's proposed cuts. His testimony helped save funding for the network then, and PBS CEO Paula Kerger is taking a page out of the same playbook in the current fight. She told Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation last Sunday that Trump's order would halt all childrens' shows currently in development, and could impact the research which ensures that the programming is actually educating kids.
But this time, that argument may not work as well — primarily because it's much easier to find childrens' programming online that aligns with individual family tastes.
'Now we have 1,000 channels,' said Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), who spent more than two decades as a youth pastor. Lankford said changes in technology make government funding for a network obsolete, as most families now stream childrens' programming online rather than turn on a TV. 'Why are we funding this [channel] when we have a $2 trillion deficit?' he asked.
Cramer echoed Lankford: 'Why do we need to continue to fund … public television and/or radio, when there's so much competition out there?'
Streaming, in other words, has diminished a once-effective argument to keeping PBS alive.
Most evangelical groups — including Southern Baptist Convention and the Heritage Foundation — declined to discuss the issue of federal funding for PBS Kids for this report. But Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, told POLITICO that Christians are reacting to kids programming shifting left since the 1990s. He pointed to a 2021 episode of the kids show the Odd Squad, which ran from 2014-2024, that featured a wedding between two women. Graham suggested that if the network moved away from LGBTQ+ storylines and instead ran more Bible stories, there would be greater support for funding.
When asked if they shared Graham's primary concerns with the network, however, Cramer and Lankford both disagreed. 'That's a fair point, particularly with him — Franklin Graham is a very political pastor, and it makes me uncomfortable,' Cramer said, instead arguing that defunding PBS is a financial consideration, not a culture war issue. 'For true conservatives, the idea of just funding anything doesn't make sense in a very competitive marketplace, [including] faith media.'
'There's nothing against Sesame Street,' Lankford added. 'It's a fiscal question.'
Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's author at nfertig@ or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @natsfert.
What'd I Miss?
— Supreme Court extends block on Trump's deportation bid under Alien Enemies Act: President Donald Trump's drive to use an 18th century law to rapidly expel alleged Venezuelan gang members suffered another legal setback today as the Supreme Court extended its block on deporting dozens of men in immigration detention in northern Texas. The court emphasized that the men — whom the Trump administration has labeled 'alien enemies' — are entitled to more due process than the administration has so far provided. That means advance notice of their deportations and a meaningful opportunity to challenge the deportations in court, the justices wrote in an unsigned opinion.
— House budget panel rejects GOP megabill amid conservative opposition: The House Budget Committee voted against advancing the GOP's party-line tax and spending package today thanks to ongoing opposition from hard-line conservatives. The 21-16 vote, with five Republicans joining all panel Democrats in opposition, is not the final word on the megabill. The House Budget Committee will reconvene over the weekend to vote again on approving the GOP's party-line tax and spending package. The panel is officially scheduled to gavel back in at 10 p.m. on Sunday, with negotiations expected in the meantime among GOP leadership, conservative holdouts and the White House.
— Trump says U.S. will set new tariff rates for countries, skirting negotiations: President Donald Trump said today the U.S. would begin unilaterally informing many of its trading partners of new tariff rates, rather than securing deals with the countries individually as the White House has repeatedly promised. After his sweeping April tariff plan sent markets spiraling and set in motion a global trade war, Trump reversed course and issued a 90-day pause on the new duties for every affected country except China, opening the door for individual countries to negotiate deals with his trade team.
— Hegseth briefly paused cyber ops against Russia as part of negotiations, GOP Rep. Bacon says: U.S. Cyber Command paused offensive operations aimed at Russia for a day earlier this year as a negotiating tactic, House Armed Services Committee cyber subcommittee Chair Don Bacon (R-Neb.) confirmed today. During a subcommittee hearing on the Pentagon's cyber posture, Bacon referenced reports that emerged in late February suggesting that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had directed Cyber Command to stand down from planning on all matters regarding Russia, including offensive actions. The Pentagon at the time denied that any stand-down order was made.
— $40,000 SALT offer discussed with megabill holdouts: House GOP leaders discussed a new, heightened state-and-local-tax deduction with a group of Republican holdouts as they race to salvage their party-line megabill from ruin. A $40,000 cap on the key deduction for individuals and $80,000 cap for joint filers was part of a list of items GOP leaders raised overnight as they scrambled to shore up ultraconservative votes, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private conversations. The SALT cap increase is one of the biggest hangups in the bill, which is filled with President Donald Trump's domestic policy priorities. A band of SALT Republicans are publicly pushing for the cap increase to hit $62,000 for individuals and double for joint filers.
AROUND THE WORLD
PRISONER SWAP — Talks between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul ended with the two sides pledging to exchange 1,000 prisoners of war but fell short of an unconditional ceasefire deal. The swap would be the largest since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Ahead of today's meeting, Ukraine pushed for a full, unconditional ceasefire for at least 30 days, an 'all-for-all' exchange of POWs, and a meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian presidents — at which point real peace talks would begin in earnest as long as a ceasefire held.
'Our position — if the Russians reject a full and unconditional ceasefire and an end to killings, tough sanctions must follow,' Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a post on X after talks concluded. 'Pressure on Russia must be maintained until Russia is ready to end the war.'
While the delegations were speaking in Istanbul, Ukraine's European backers — many of whom are in Albania for the European Political Community summit — held a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump.
WHO'S IN FRONT? — The contest for the Romanian presidency is almost over.
Sunday's vote will determine whether a strategically vital NATO member on the EU's eastern edge takes a turn against Ukraine under the disruptive influence of a hard-right populist, or remains firmly anchored in the traditional pro-Brussels mainstream.
In the lead after the first round is the Donald Trump-loving George Simion, a 38-year-old nationalist who opposes aid to Ukraine and has previously favored uniting Romania with its neighbor Moldova.
His opponent in Sunday's second round runoff vote is moderate, centrist mathematician Nicușor Dan, 55, who has been the independent mayor of Romania's capital, Bucharest, since 2020. Dan promises to keep Romania on its European and pro-Western trajectory and has called on Trump to take a harder line with Russia.
On Wednesday, a poll of 4,000 people by AtlasIntel put the two candidates level on 48 percent each. Crucially, AtlasIntel included a sample of the large Romanian diaspora population, among whom Simion is hugely popular.
Nightly Number
RADAR SWEEP
TAKE ME OUT TO THE MOVIES — If you've ever watched a baseball game on television, you'd know that a lot of it looks pretty rote. Shots of the pitcher, the hitter, the ball traveling and the occasional fan dominate. But John DeMarisco, director of the local network that broadcasts Mets games called SNY, is changing the way that the game looks by using his obsession with cinema to bring a different kind of feel to the game. He's taking inspiration for various shots from cinematic masters like De Palma, Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. And his innovations have in recent days gone viral. For Slate, Luke Winkie talks to DeMarisco about the natural blend of baseball and the movies.
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