Dear John,

For months, Donald Trump has been attacking PBS and public media, calling it a “giant SCAM” and an arm “of the Radical Left Democrat Party.”

But Trump’s attacks just escalated dramatically.

Thursday night, Trump issued an executive order directing the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to strip all federal funding from PBS.

Worse yet, Trump has sent a formal request to Congress that would force the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to give back $1.1 billion that it received during the Biden administration.

That’s about two years’ worth of funding that was mostly passed through to local stations to help cover basic day-to-day operations. Forcing them to give that money back now would be crushing.

It’s the kind of thing that sounds like it shouldn’t even be legal, but it is. In fact, all Trump needs is for a majority in both houses of Congress to vote yes.

Inequality Media Civic Action is sounding the alarm and mobilizing grassroots support to fight back. Will you make a monthly donation to help support our work, get out the truth, and stop the defunding of PBS and public media?

If you’ve saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately.

Express Donate: $5 monthly

Express Donate: $12 monthly

Express Donate: $25 monthly

Express Donate: $40 monthly

Donate another amount monthly

Or make a one-time gift

Over the years, I’ve been interviewed on PBS more times than I can remember. When I was Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, I always knew these conversations would be substantive, challenging, and elevating for the audience.

It was a breath of fresh air, especially compared to the 10-second sound bytes I might get on the evening news or the shout-fests on cable TV. (I used to call those “yelling shows.”)

Today, given the rampant right-wing disinformation on social media platforms like X and Facebook, PBS is even more vital. And with the decline of newspapers in many parts of the country, communities’ local public media outlets are frequently the only trusted source of news.

That’s exactly why Trump is so hell-bent on destroying PBS. So he will have even more control over the news and information that the public receives — or doesn’t even receive at all.

The good news is that solid majorities of voters oppose defunding public media. That’s why Trump’s efforts to defund PBS were stopped during his first term.

But the threat has never been greater, so I’m asking you today: Will you make a monthly donation to help alert the public, educate people with the truth, and stop Donald Trump’s plan to defund PBS?