White Nationalists Are Planning A Full Media Takeover

A secret meeting in Italy, gutting of public broadcasting, and a government-funded expansion of "PragerU"—right-wing evangelical indoctrination has become mainstream.

We face a media crisis in America, and it is about to get worse.

Per Gallup, trust in national media is now close to 25%—meaning three in four people no longer trust national media. Moreover, since 2002, 75% of local media has failed, crumbling under the pressure of costs, the Internet, and social media. And now, fascists are planning to seize on this information gap and fill it with white nationalist and Nazi propaganda. We do not have to concede the public discourse to those who would rather see our nation burn. Here’s the state of where we are, and the tools we must employ to fight back. Let’s Address This.

Dennis Prager, the conservative talk show host and founder of the Prager University Foundation, which is not an accredited education organization. Characters in PragerU’s videos downplay the horrors of slavery and make false claims about the climate crisis. [Credit: The Guardian Getty Images/PragerU]

The White Nationalist Agenda

As historian Greg Johnson reported earlier this month, white nationalists had a private meeting in Italy to celebrate a plan to advance fascist media in rural America. A summary of the meeting was posted on Twitter, with lead white nationalist Kevin Deanna stating:

Local media is dying all over America, which means there’s essentially no way to hold local governments accountable and they can do whatever they want. We should be fantasizing about this, this is a good thing. It takes very little money and very little time to win these elections. Local government still has the ability to direct where all the state money is going, especially for things like higher education.

He goes on to state that through sheriff’s races, they can “have 10 people take over an entire county,” and “even arrest FBI agents” who get in their way.

The core of this hostile takeover begins with their intent to capture local media. Let’s be clear—this is not a conspiracy. They are so bold in their hateful agenda, that they are proclaiming it loudly and publicly for all to see, and dare anyone to do anything about it. They are bold because they know a media gap exists, that no one is really working to fill that gap, and because Donald Trump is greasing the wheels on the national front. This includes, for example, his attack on Public Broadcasting.

Public Broadcasting’s Mission: Uplifting Truth and Humanity

The Trump regime has made clear that it views truth, diversity, and shared humanity not as values to be upheld but as obstacles to be destroyed. One of the most alarming fronts in this battle is its campaign to gut the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). For decades, the CPB—through PBS, NPR, and local stations—has sought, with all its imperfections, to provide a baseline of truth, inclusion, and education to Americans. It’s been a place where children learned empathy through Sesame Street, where communities could access reporting free from corporate chokeholds, and where diverse voices found platforms they were denied elsewhere.

Public broadcasting was not perfect. But it was designed to serve the public interest—to give all Americans, regardless of wealth or power, access to culture, history, science, and storytelling that connect us to one another’s shared humanity. Likewise, our public school system isn’t perfect, but it is grounded in fact and truth—and constantly improving to be more inclusive and representative.

And that is precisely why Trump and his enablers want to kill public broadcasting and public education. Because authoritarianism cannot tolerate diversity or dissent. Fascism thrives on fear, division, and ignorance. Public broadcasting has long-served as an antidote to these poisons by shining light where authoritarianism thrives in the shadows. Today, Trump’s movement follows the same script as past authoritarian regimes: silence the voices that expose white supremacy, corporate greed, and state-sanctioned cruelty.

Unfortunately, as Trump guts public education as a whole, entities like Prager “University”—a right-wing, unaccredited propaganda machine that cloaks itself in the language of education while spreading anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-Latino, anti-LGBTQ, and anti-woman lies—seek to fill that void. This isn’t an accident. It’s a strategy.

Enter Prager “University”

Prager “University” (PragerU) is not a university at all. It has no accreditation, no peer-reviewed scholarship, and no legitimate academic standing. What it does have is dark money from far-right billionaires and political operatives who understand that controlling the next generation’s worldview is the surest path to consolidating power. Yet, it is quickly replacing factual information and reporting, on the taxpayer dime no less. PragerU reports on its own website how its an official approved educational resource in at least 10 states, and growing.

PragerU churns out slick, deceptively packaged videos designed to look educational—but which instead indoctrinate children with whitewashed history, anti-science rhetoric, and bigoted stereotypes. It tells students that systemic racism doesn’t exist, that climate change is exaggerated, that immigration is a threat, that feminism destroys families, and that LGBTQ people are a danger to society. It is only a matter of time before the White House and the Federal government under the Trump regime try to push Prager propaganda nationwide.

Indoctrination Masquerading as Education

For example, Prager portrays icons like Frederick Douglass as a man who celebrated white Americans for allegedly ending slavery, refusing to ‘live in the past,’ and even defending slavery as a ‘compromise.’ Prager portrays Columbus—a genocidal sociopath and rapist—as a magnanimous and thoughtful person. It portrays the Founding Fathers—many of whom were enslavers and rapists—as flawless individuals.

This isn’t education. It’s indoctrination. By diverting funds away from Public Broadcasting and into PragerU, Trump’s allies are ensuring that instead of a child learning kindness from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, they are taught suspicion and hatred of their neighbor. Instead of being exposed to diverse authors, musicians, and scientists, they are funneled a single, toxic worldview designed to protect the wealthy, punish the marginalized, and entrench authoritarian rule.

Make no mistake—this is not about budget cuts. This is about replacing truth with propaganda.

How We Fight Back

The white nationalist agenda to capture local media, the Trump agenda to gut public broadcasting and public education, and the PragerU agenda to fill the airwaves with fascist propaganda represent a three-headed monster of hate and disinformation. It would be fatal for us to give up hope, or to sit idle in response.

The first step to curing any cancer is to recognize that cancer—in this case the cancers of Nazism and disinformation. The second step is to take meaningful action, invest meaningful resources, and utilize the power we have to effectuate meaningful change. Here are two examples of what that looks like.

1. Support Independent Media

I launched Let’s Address This to loudly and clearly confront injustice while demanding accountability. More than 900 articles and 55 million readers later, we’ve built a movement. A movement is never one person—it’s a community. In addition to our national platform, we are hyper focused on local media.

This is why we have launched Let’s Address This out lets in Georgia, Illinois, and Texas, and we’re launching Virginia soon! Fully manifested, we will have a local chapter in all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico, reporting on the hyper local issues that impact that particular state and locality. But that only happens if we continue to build a subscriber base to ensure we do not collapse the way local media previously collapsed.

The challenge is this—we do not and will never have a paywall. We believe a model that ensures free and full access can inspire those of means to invest a cup of coffee a month ($6) or an annual subscription of $50 to uplift our entire network. Our vision is to appeal to the innate desire of the American people to combat disinformation and hate, and ask them to invest in us.

So, if you’re already a subscriber, thank you. You have helped us get this far and with your support we will continue to expand. If you are not yet a subscriber, please join us. No paywalls. No billionaire backers. Just people-powered media. Every subscription, every share, every read chips away at the disinformation machine.

2. Use Ground News to Cut Through the Noise

With at least 10 states adopting PragerU as it’s “official” indoctrination machine, we need to be ready to fight back. It is not ironic to me that Trump, a man who was forced to pay $25 million in damages for a fake Trump University curriculum targeting young adults, is now embracing another fake university to indoctrinate young children. So, given this reality, how do we know the article we’re reading is grounded in fact, not government talking points? Here, as I’ve shared a few times before (and will no doubt remind you again at some point in the future) I invite you to look at what Ground News has to offer. This is not just news website or app—it’s a critical tool in a disinformation age. If you care about combatting misinformation and disinformation—and I know you do—you need Ground News. Here’s how it works.

Ground News gathers related articles globally in one place, then it reveals their source bias and factuality. This helps users cut through partisanship and sensationalism to focus on the facts. Ground News lets you know who is funding a media outlet—is it a legitimate organization or some dark pac with a right wing agenda?

So even if you didn’t know a media outlet was funded by the same right wing billionaires who fund “PragerU,” you would be able to discover that with ease. If you didn’t know that a white nationalist outlet was targeting rural America, Ground News would help you uncover that bias. Because Ground News shows you where media funding comes from. This helps you ensure your information consumption habits are good habits, not at the mercy of propaganda.

And finally, Ground News itself is subscriber supported. It is not billionaire funded. So by subscribing, you do two important things. One, you directly support my independent media platform. And two, you contribute to keeping the media transparent.

Conclusion: This Matters Now

We’ve seen this movie before. History tells us exactly where it leads. When leaders dismantle independent sources of truth and replace them with propaganda mouthpieces, democracy itself becomes the casualty. The battle I discuss here is about far more than funding or programming. It’s about whether America remains a democracy rooted in truth—or slides further into authoritarian rule built on lies.

We are being tested. Do we allow fascism to rewrite reality for the next generation? Or do we fight back to defend truth, justice, and shared humanity? This exactly is why I created Let’s Address This. If you believe in that mission—if you believe in integrity in media that doesn’t flinch when power roars—then now is the time to act.

👉 Subscribe to this human rights newsletter.
👉 Share this with someone who may not be aware of the spread of racist propaganda.
👉 Join Ground News, and reclaim a media narrative grounded in verifiable facts.

Sitting idle is not an option. Let’s act and continue to fight for a media grounded in facts and integrity.

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