White House says it will cancel $8M in Politico subscriptions

This is all just the dumbest knee jerk stuff.<p>Politico didn’t make payroll a couple of days ago for some technical reason or another. But because the timing coincided with Musk and his minions invading USAID conspiracy theories immediately popped up: Politico is bankrolled by USAID! It’s a psyop!<p>Of course the reality is incredibly boring. Politico sells PoliticoPro[1], “public affairs software”. The government (not USAID) was paying for that. Was it a good purchase? Are we getting value for money for it? No clue, but I’d bet the people that terminated the subscriptions don’t have a clue either. The hoarde demanded immediate action so action was taken.<p>My bet is they’ll quietly resubscribe in a few months.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.politicopro.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.politicopro.com&#x2F;</a>

*Politico Pro, specifically: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.politicopro.com&#x2F;pro-features&#x2F;stakeholder-management&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.politicopro.com&#x2F;pro-features&#x2F;stakeholder-managem...</a><p>So lobbyists, consultants, and NGOs can still get access to the PR tool - just not the policymakers themselves.

Already debunked<p>&gt; USAID paid $44K to Politico, not over $8M as White House claimed. It was for subscriptions<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=42977622">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=42977622</a>

I think $8M is for a little more than “subscriptions”.

Without seeing the value delivered for the service, it seems kind of pricey at first blush unless it was paying for multiple individual analysts for N accounts to give them credible, researched expertise as a service. Maybe they were paying for a zillion individual subscriptions? If so, perhaps a site license for $1-2 million would be more reasonable. Don&#x27;t just throw things a way because the number is higher than X.

Didn’t the CEO of the parent company of Politico recently call on all the executives to pray for president Trump?<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rollingstone.com&#x2F;politics&#x2F;politics-news&#x2F;politico-owner-pray-for-trump-mathias-dopfner-axel-springer-1234587243&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.rollingstone.com&#x2F;politics&#x2F;politics-news&#x2F;politico...</a>

Plenty of gov related media. FCW, Government Executive, Aviation Leak. If there&#x27;s a dept budget for subs either cut it or not. Via Congress.<p>Congress decides on budgets in an democracy. But not in an idiocracy.<p>btw, both d and r teams are idiotic.