Although they may no longer be best buddies, it looks like the combined efforts of the (formerly) dynamic duo of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, ably assisted by a few state attorneys general, may have inflicted mortal damage on one of the left's more prominent activist organizations of the last two decades.
Media Matters, the supposed "media watchdog" group that targets conservatives, is reportedly having serious financial woes after Trump and Musk pushed back against their bullying tactics, according to a Friday report from The New York Times. The group has apparently had to fire staff and beg its donors for a cash infusion after it found itself mired in legal troubles at the hands of Trump and Musk.
As RedState's Sister Toldjah would say, cue the sad trombones.
NEW: In a sign of what could be in store for other targets of Trump & his allies, Media Matters (@mmfa) is struggling to survive.
— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) July 25, 2025
The Dem-aligned group has racked up $15m in legal bills, dialed back its criticism of Trump & Musk & contemplated closing. https://t.co/Ow8Y89h220
If you're noting a pattern of leftist candidates, committees and non-profits facing serious financial crises, you're not alone. Put a pin in that that, and we'll get back to it in a minute.
Some of you may recall that Media Matters was founded in 2003 by David Brock, a former conservative who says he became disillusioned by the right's supposed use of character assassination and partisan warfare as political tactics. So, he became a Democrat who started an organization that used character assassination and partisan warfare as political tactics against conservatives. He's kind of the Lincoln Project of the early 2000s.
MORE: Elon Musk Notches Legal Victory As TX Judge Rules X Suit Against Media Matters May Proceed
Media Matters Staffers Offered the Chance to 'Learn to Code'
Brock, who spent the 1990s writing about the corruption of Hillary Clinton, did an amazing about-face and embraced Mrs. Clinton and her wretched brand of politics wholeheartedly; Media Matters became nothing more than a propaganda mouthpiece for the left's efforts to shoehorn Hillary Clinton into the Oval Office. In attempting to her prop her up under the guise of being a media watchdog, the group blew through more than $250 million of its donors' money.
Absent Hillary, Media Matters set about trying to ruin Donald Trump for having the gall to beat her (and get a second term!) and Elon Musk for the crime of purchasing Twitter (now X) and embracing free speech. Musk sued the organization for its apparent role in driving advertisers away from the platform once he took the helm. Some Trump pals took it from there.
The suit was quickly followed by investigations from the offices of Republican attorneys general Ken Paxton of Texas and Andrew Bailey of Missouri, probing Mr. Musk’s claims that the group had manipulated data in its research about X and suggesting donors in their states may have been misled.
But, wait, there's more. Just this past May, the Federal Trade Commission, headed by Trump appointee Andrew Ferguson, began an investigation of its own into the role Media Matters played in attempting to dissuade advertisers from working with Twitter/X. Needless to say, the legal bills have racked up.
Here's the thing, though: if Media Matters was making an impact at all, in any way, the donors would be lining up with their wallets open. The fact that donors are shying away means the group is a big, fat failure. Even hard-left donors can only take so much; if they're not getting a good return on their investment, that wallet is going to close up tight.
And that seems to be the trend these days with the left. They blew a cool $1.5 billion on Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in 2024, and for what? Unlimited cackles and jazz hands? These donors seem mightily unimpressed with the progressive movement circa 2025, judging by the dismal fundraising numbers reported by the Democrat National Committee this week. Maybe funding Boomers to show up at the protest du jour isn't scratching the donors' itch?
The apparent pending demise of Media Matters also shows the decline of Hillary Clinton's influence in progressive politics. The "smartest woman in the world" and her pantsuit cabal blew through gobs of cash over the years only to end up in the history books as the first woman to be defeated by Donald Trump. That's gotta sting.
For a group that thought of itself as a righteous slayer of right-wing “misinformation,” it's a glorious twist that Media Matters may now be undone by their own ineptitude. And as they twist in the wind, there's only one thing left to do…
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) July 25, 2025
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