Tipsheet

This Is Likely Why Politico Couldn't Make Payroll Last Week

Matt Vespa
Matt Vespa  |  February 06, 2025 6:00 AM

There was a peculiar post on X this week: Politico couldn’t make payroll to its employees. We likely know the reason: USAID subsidized it with millions of dollars. The late Andrew Breitbart covered extensively about the Democrat-media complex—this is it personified. And it’s as rank and corrupt as we’d all imagined. Over $8 million was "funneled" to the media outlet via subscriptions. That cash flow is ending, and with one-quarter of Politico’s business model sustained through subscriptions, this is quite the death blow.  

It also explains this piece in its magazine, denouncing Elon Musk’s attacks on USAID, citing a former Republican head to give it weight. Yeah, we see the receipts, thanks to DOGE. Nuke this agency: 

… Andrew Natsios, who ran USAID under President George W. Bush and is a lifelong conservative Republican, calls such moves “illegal” and “outrageous.” What Musk and Rubio are doing “is criminal. They can’t abolish the aid program without a vote of Congress.” 

Moreover, Natsios says, they miss the point that USAID is critical to winning the competition with China and reflects longstanding Republican priorities. 

“It’s just 1 percent of the federal budget, right?” says Natsios, who also played a leading role in building World Vision, the largest Christian nongovernmental organization in the world with programs in 103 countries. “And it builds goodwill and political influence and economic influence. It promotes American business. It protects us in terms of disease threats around the world. It is in our national interest to run these programs.” 

No, it doesn’t, man. We have the laundry list of nonsensical DEI trash that we were footing. It’s not some key agency. Also, the “it’s not that big of a budget item” is stupid and isn’t resonating. First, if this much waste had been uncovered at USAID, how bad would it have been elsewhere? Second, many of these “not-so-big” waste items account for more money than most Americans make in their lifetimes. It’s a classic inside the Beltway snob talk that has people wanting to January 6 the entire capital, and I don’t blame them. Also, we don’t care if some people think it's illegal; Joe Biden’s entire presidency was arguably unlawful, so take a seat, Bushie acolyte.  

This is going to happen, and given recent financial disclosures—it explains a lot:

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And this is for the lawyers, but some argue that Politico isn't getting cash "funneled" to them. I'll let you decide.