Dear MoveOn member,
We should be worried: The news media is in danger under Donald Trump. Look
at these recent headlines:
"MSNBC cancels Joy Reid show as part of overhaul under new
administration," reported The Hill on Sunday.^1
"Washington Post Cancels Ad From Groups Calling for Trump to Fire Musk,"
The New York Times wrote last week.^2
Reid, a powerful and outspoken critic of Trump, began hosting shows at
MSNBC in 2014. Her show, "The ReidOut," has been on air since 2020. Her
firing was abrupt.
Trump praised MSNBC's move to cancel Reid's show, saying horrific things
about her and calling her "one of the least talented people in
television," who should have been "canned" long ago.^3
The Washington Post's decision to reject the anti-Musk ad comes on the
heels of Jeff Bezos, the paper's owner, sitting in the front row at
Trump's inauguration and after he demanded that the paper, at the 11th
hour, pull its presidential endorsement of Kamala Harris.^4,5
And then earlier today the White House announced they will hand-select the
reporters who can ask the president questions at events.^6 In free
countries, leaders don't get to choose which reporters cover them.
At the same time, Elon Musk has made X into a pro-Trump echo chamber, Meta
gutted its moderation and fact-checking on its platforms, and the Trump
administration and Republicans in Congress, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene,
have launched multiple attacks on public media—NPR and PBS.^7,8
John, we urgently need to both protect public media and use
MoveOn's large megaphone to get the truth to millions of Americans about
Trump and Musk's reign of destruction and what we can all do about it,
together.
MoveOn can reach tens of millions of people through email, text messages,
and on social media. And in this critical moment, we're significantly
modernizing and strengthening our digital infrastructure. But it's a huge
undertaking, and we're doing it while also firing on all cylinders to
blunt Trump and Musk's attacks on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid,
public schools, and more.
Can you chip in $5 a month to help MoveOn strengthen our
technology infrastructure to be able to reach more people and at lightning
speed so we can get the truth out and engage millions of people in the
fight for our communities, freedoms, and safety?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. If you've saved your
payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through
immediately.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
The latest news about MSNBC and The Washington Post follows Disney, which
owns ABC News, paying Trump $15 million to settle a bogus lawsuit, Meta
and X writing Trump big checks to settle similar lawsuits, and Paramount
Global, owner of CBS News, considering settling a defamation lawsuit with
Trump that they almost certainly would win in court.^9 And Trump
personally made the decision to bar the Associated Press, one of the most
well-respected news organizations in the world, from the White House and
Air Force One after the news outlet declined to refer to the Gulf of
Mexico as the "Gulf of America."^10
The consolidation of the corporate media and tech billionaires behind
Trump and the MAGA movement (remember, in addition to Elon Musk and Jeff
Bezos, the CEOs of Google and TikTok also flanked Trump at his
inauguration) poses a major threat to the future of our country—which is
why MoveOn is doing everything we can to fight back.^11
That work includes MoveOn's undertaking a massive effort to move our
digital tools—including the system we use to send you emails like this—to
platforms that are aligned with the progressive movement. All while we are
also running a full-court press to protect our communities by stopping
Trump's chaos, as he further enriches these same billionaires.
The amount of work involved cannot be overstated, and as a grassroots
organization, we are able to do it only with your support,
John. Please, if you are able, will you donate $5
a month to ensure that MoveOn has the resources to continue all of our
work?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. If you've saved your
payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through
immediately.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
MoveOn is migrating much of our digital infrastructure to a platform
called ActionNetwork, which was created by a nonprofit organization with
deep ties to the labor movement. We have also made the decision to no
longer actively post content on X and are working diligently to rebuild
our social media presence on Bluesky, an open-source platform with much
stronger community controls.
In addition, we're investing even more heavily in tech security to help
prevent hackers from attempting to infiltrate MoveOn or shut us down
through coordinated online attacks.
And we're organizing MoveOn's millions of members to hold the corporate
media accountable, stop Trump and Republicans in Congress from shutting
down NPR and PBS, and fight against abuses by big tech companies and
misinformation.
Essentially, we need to walk and chew gum at the same time.
We have to migrate our data piece by piece while also training volunteers
to organize events in their communities.
We have to rebuild our digital infrastructure while also flooding Congress
with calls.
We have to retrain our staff to use entirely new systems while ensuring
that MoveOn's millions of members are kept informed and given concrete
ways to take action against the Trump administration.
It's a lot of work, but we are confident that we have made the right
decision and that MoveOn will be stronger, more secure, and better able to
lead in the fights to come because of it.
We have just over two months left to complete our tech migration process,
and we need your help to make sure we cross the finish line. Can you chip
in $5 a month to help us through this most challenging of
times?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month. If you've saved your
payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through
immediately.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Thanks for all you do.
–Kelly, Nakia, Isbah, Alexis, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "MSNBC cancels Joy Reid show as part of overhaul under new
administration," The Hill, February 23, 2025
[link removed]
2. "Washington Post Cancels Ad From Groups Calling for Trump to Fire
Musk," The New York Times, February 17, 2025
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3. "Donald Trump Celebrates Joy Reid Cancellation—'Least Talented
People,'" Newsweek, February 24, 2025
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4. "Trump, a populist president, is flanked by tech billionaires at his
inauguration," AP News, January 20, 2025
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5. "Washington Post Employees Plead for a Summit With Jeff Bezos," The New
York Times, January 15, 2025
[link removed]
6."White House Moves to Pick the Pool Reporters Who Cover Trump," The New
York Times,
February 25, 2025
[link removed]
7. "Zuckerberg Makes Meta Worse to Please Trump," Algorithm Watch, January
8, 2025
[link removed]
8. "Marjorie Taylor Greene demands hearings with leaders of PBS and NPR to
address their 'biased' coverage," The Independent, February 3, 2025
[link removed]
9. "Media Giants Settling With Donald Trump Are Setting a 'Dangerous'
Precedent," Vanity Fair, February 7, 2025
[link removed]
10. "Trump personally decided to limit Associated Press' access to White
House," Politico, February 24, 2025
[link removed]
11. "Trump, a populist president, is flanked by tech billionaires at his
inauguration," AP News, January 20, 2025
[link removed]
Want to support MoveOn's work? Donald Trump and his MAGA allies expect us
to give up. But we will not give them what they want. We will never stop
working to defend our fundamental freedoms and protect our democracy.
MoveOn has been leading the movement against right-wing extremism for 26
years, and we promise you that we will still be here every step of the way
forward.
Will you start a monthly donation to sustain MoveOn's work to protect our
freedoms and democracy under Trump's administration?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
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