• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 24, 2025

Donald Trump may rail against the “fake news” media. But he reads and pays for a vast number of news products, according to an investigative report by The Ankler.  

Trump’s committees spent more than $31,000 on subscriptions to 65 publications during the recent campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records through late 2024, Dave Levinthal reports. That’s roughly twice the number subscribed to by opponent Kamala Harris. 

Among the periodicals Trump subscribed to are The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Foreign Affairs, Newsweek and The Daily Beast. And it paid four-figure sums for The Associated Press, Bloomberg, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times, Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, Philadelphia Inquirer, South Florida Sun Sentinel and The Economist.  

How could Trump subscribe to such titles when he has been denounced as ““corrupt,” “lame,” “radical,” “phony,” “crazy,” “deranged,” “unhinged,” “pathetic,” “false,” “sick,” “inaccurate,” “dangerous,” “dying” and “fiction writers,” Levinthal asks. 

“You don’t know how to attack them if you don’t know what they’re saying,” says Rod Hicks, director of ethics and diversity for the Society of Professional Journalists, Levinthal reports. “Him paying for news helps prove why I don’t believe Donald Trump believes the news is fake.”

Of course, Trump has also subscribed to conservative news products like Washington Times, Newsmax, Daily Wire, Epoch Times, American Conservative, American Spectator, National Review and Townhall Media, and to the Tucker Carlson network along with many other streaming services. 

Another publication paid for by the Trump team is The Augusta (Georgia) Press, whose reporter Skyler Andrews was kicked out of a Republican event on orders from the Trump campaign, Levinthal writes.  

In addition, the Trump campaign spent $90 to subscribe to New York magazine, which has spent “more than 40 years covering Trump’s deals, bankruptcies, marriages, affairs, casinos, yacht, children, vendettas, television show, marketing schemes and presidential campaigns,” spokesperson Lauren Starke notes, Levinthal writes.  

“So we’re not surprised that the campaign subscribed,” Starke says. “We’re glad that they see the value in paying for quality journalism, a necessity for a healthy news ecosystem.”

Levinthal is an investigative journalist based in Washington, D.C. He previously was editor-in-chief of Raw Story and a deputy editor at Business Insider. 

Hopefully, The Ankler sent Trump a copy of the Levinthal article for free.