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Trump administration plans $4 million for right-wing media in Europe, sources say (www.reuters.com)

submitted 2 days ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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Donald Trump's administration is planning to spend $4 million to bolster right-wing media in ‌Europe, part of a package of at least $25 million for civil society groups working on conservative causes in the region, according to four people familiar with the funding.

The grants risk deepening tensions between the Trump administration and European governments, some of which have already accused Washington of interfering in their domestic politics.

The U.S. State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) says the funding is meant to strengthen transatlantic ties and promote free speech. It comes as European countries prepare for elections over the next couple of years, and ⁠as the Trump administration openly backs Europe's populist right-wing and far-right parties.

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[-] x00z@lemmy.world 16 points 22 hours ago

This is an attack on Europe.

[-] troyunrau@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago

$4M is nothing. That's like 50 bloggers in western Europe, or one regional rag with no readers. Or a Twitter troll farm in Hungary with 100 totally real humans and their handlers getting rich siphoning most of it off for themselves. A literal drop in the bucket.

The US has been funding foreign media for a century at least, steering narratives. It was part of their soft power strategy. This isn't surprising. Where people are freaking out is due to the shift in alignment.

[-] merdaverse@lemmy.zip 3 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago)

USA in 2025: let's cut funding to state sponsored propaganda like Radio Free Europe (good riddance) **
USA in 2026: let's give funding to state sponsored propaganda

** Funny story: in Romania, Radio Free Europe, preachers of the free market for decades, shut down after they couldn't survive for 3 months on the free market without propaganda money from the American state. And in Czech Republic, the state bailed them out.

[-] formergijoe@lemmy.world 3 points 22 hours ago

Well SOMEBODY's gotta use state funding to push facisim in Europe now that Orban's out of office. /s

[-] dreadbeef@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 18 hours ago

Oh I know there's a big audience in Europe for that.

[-] CyroSignal@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

So they're funding the right-wing...

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this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2026

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