Will the GOP Make Liberals Generous Again?
7th August 2025
Before politics overwhelmed the word, the primary meaning of “liberal” was “generous.”
President Donald Trump and the Republican Congress have given political liberals a chance to take that meaning back — by opening their wallets to show just how much they value NPR, PBS and other programs defunded by the GOP.
There’s no shortage of cash on the left:
Laurene Powell Jobs, the mega-rich backer of The Atlantic, has a net worth that was estimated above $11 billion a year ago and is thought to be even higher today.
George Soros, at 94, has a fortune in the vicinity of $7 billion, with billions more in his Open Society Foundations.
Bill Gates has about $115 billion, and his ex-wife, Melinda, around $30 billion.
Any one of these left-leaning billionaires could single-handedly make up the $535 million that NPR, PBS and local stations were getting annually from taxpayers before Congress zeroed out their subsidies.
And if half a billion a year is too much for one zillionaire, a half-dozen of them (or more) could share the burden without feeling a pinch.
But are wealthy liberals willing to put their money where their mouths are?