Overview

• Republican-led Congress rescinded $500 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting under President Trump’s 2025 tax law, triggering PBS’s closure earlier this week.
• The White House has tapped PragerU as the de facto replacement in U.S. classrooms, preparing nationwide distribution of its conservative short-form videos.
• PragerU was founded by conservative commentator Dennis Prager in 2009 and has grown into a digital juggernaut with millions of followers across social media.
• Academic and public critics, including historian Thomas Lecaque, argue that PragerU’s content advances climate denialist, Islamophobic and misleading narratives about slavery.
• The shift highlights a broader conflict over ideological influence in classroom content and raises questions about the future of nonpartisan public media in U.S. education.