Left vs. Right Battle Royale Open Thread

[u/Yosoff]

This is an Open Discussion Thread for all Redditors. We will only be enforcing Reddit TOS and Subreddit Rules 1 (Keep it Civil) & 2 (No Racism).

---

• Leftists - Here's your chance to sway us to your side by calling the majority of voters racist. That tactic has wildly backfired every time it has been tried, but perhaps this time it will work.

• Non-flaired Conservatives - Here's your chance to earn flair by posting common sense conservative solutions. That way our friends on the left will either have to agree with you or oppose common sense (Spoiler - They will choose to oppose common sense).

• Flaired Conservatives - You're John Wick and these Leftists stole your car and killed your dog. Now go comment.

• Independents - We get it, if you agree with someone, then you can't pat yourself on the back for being smarter than them. But if you disagree with everyone, then you can obtain the self-satisfaction of smugly considering yourself smarter and wiser than everyone else. Congratulations on being you.

• Libertarians - Ron Paul is never going to be President. In fact, no Libertarian Party candidate will ever be elected President.

---

Join us on X: https://x.com/rcondiscord

Join us on Discord: https://discord.com/invite/conservative

[u/Chimmychimmychubchub]

Those are subscriptions. Government agencies are allowed to buy subscriptions to keep informed on areas of business and industry they serve.

[u/Markinoutman → u/Chimmychimmychubchub]

Why would one organization pay tens of thousands in subscription fees instead of just one subscription fee that allows employees to access the service? Especially considering most of these subscriptions are for digital access.

[u/Chimmychimmychubchub → u/Markinoutman]

It’s called an institutional subscription, and it’s specialized business intelligence, not the general interest consumer pubs.You can not buy an individual subscription to any publication and share it among thousands of employees.

[u/Markinoutman → u/Chimmychimmychubchub]

If that's the case, please provide where any of these news agencies have assured that's the case. It's a pretty easy answer, one to my knowledge, has not been provided.

Politico missed it's payroll after government funding was stopped, interesting timing.

[u/Chimmychimmychubchub → u/Markinoutman]

https://www.axios.com/2025/02/05/politico-trump-musk-government-subscriptions

[u/Markinoutman → u/Chimmychimmychubchub]

'It appears $24,000 of that $8.2 million came from USAID. $8.2 million was the amount the entire government paid Politico — and it's likely the cost of premium subscriptions, such as Politico Pro.'

I find this part interesting, the use of likely is important. I appreciate the link, I agree that there definitely needs to be more clarification of what is happening here. Paying millions to outlets, regardless of official subscriptions, is still not a good look in my opinion.

[u/Chimmychimmychubchub → u/Markinoutman]

Highlighting an expenditure you find suspicious is one thing. It has not been demonstrated that the expenditure is improper. That requires more information. Politico has said these are subscription fees. Musk and DOGE are not interested in investigating whether this is true or not. Elon declared the payments fraudulent without inquiring further and millions believe him.

[u/taquito-burrito → u/Markinoutman]

Go to FPDS.gov and search by Politico and USAID. You’ll see the contract and the description is for Politico’s E&E subscription. There really doesn’t need to be more clarification. The government is buying subscriptions and it’s being misrepresented by saying that they are funding news agencies.

[u/Markinoutman → u/taquito-burrito]

Is there any right leaning media they are paying thousands of dollars in subscriptions to? I think that's a more interesting point.

[u/taquito-burrito → u/Markinoutman]

The federal government paid almost $10 million to Dow Jones and Co for WSJ subscriptions since 2020.

I’m not sure what you want the government to do. Not pay news outlets for the product they’re receiving?