Posted on 07/29/2025 8:29:04 AM PDT by Twotone
Biden’s broadband plan wasted billions, favored political allies, and failed rural voters. Trump scrapped it — and Democrats are furious.
President Trump has consistently applied one simple litmus test to any government program: Does it work?
If so — a rare occurrence — he keeps it. If not, he either ends it or reforms it. Intentions, noble or otherwise, count for nothing. Execution is everything.
For Americans, this is good news. For bureaucrats who enjoy wasting taxpayer dollars while pretending to serve the public, it’s a nightmare.
From zero to nowhere
If you need an example, just look at the Trump administration’s recent decision to overhaul the Biden administration’s ill-conceived Broadband Equity and Development program. As with anything with the word “equity” in the name, this program was a rat’s nest of inefficiency and corruption hiding beneath the rock of good intentions.
The program, launched in 2021, promised to provide $42 billion in subsidies to expand broadband internet in underdeveloped areas. This sounds good in theory, especially for rural voters who historically have voted for President Trump.
How many people did this program actually connect to the internet? Zero — yet another example of a government program that failed to execute on its lofty goals, wasting taxpayer dollars in the process.
The reasons for this failure are multifaceted. First, the program was burdened with woke mandates and entrenched political favoritism. Instead of targeting the most effective solution for rural areas, it prioritized fiber — literally the least efficient internet technology for rural residents — which can cost more than $100,000 per household. This made it impractical for rural America, where the internet infrastructure is desperately needed.
Meanwhile, the best solution — satellite internet, which can cost just a few hundred dollars per receiver — was passed over. Why would the Biden administration prioritize the more expensive, inefficient option? Simple: The fiber industry is aligned with pro-amnesty and diversity, equity, and inclusion agendas. The industry’s political ties to leftist causes won them a sweetheart deal at the expense of taxpayers and genuine competition.
The Trump administration took one look at this deal and decided enough was enough. It has since restored fair competition and saved taxpayer dollars. In the words of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the administration's new reforms will ensure the BEAD program “will deliver high-speed internet access efficiently on a technology-neutral basis, and at the right price.”
Screaming cronies
Predictably, the Democrats cried foul. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) led the charge, conveniently throwing out her anti-corporate bona fides and becoming the fiber industry’s best friend. She signed on to a letter with 21 House Democrats making the allegation that “any objective assessment of the technologies available to provide broadband would conclude that fiber optic technology far exceeds any other in its capability to provide future-proof speeds and network capacity.”
This claim is absurd — and not merely because most of the signatories are from big cities, completely ignorant as to what works in rural America.
Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), or anyone who isn’t blinded by political favoritism or corporate cronyism.
Ocasio-Cortez’s letter is also a complete non sequitur. It would be one thing if the program had been destroyed — but it hasn’t. It’s simply been reformed to allow every potential internet provider to compete, unhinged by political agenda and favoritism. That’s it.
Trump restores the free market
If fiber and broadband really are superior, they should have no trouble winning in a fair competition. But they won’t, because their strategy has always been cronyism, not competition.
President Trump saw through that playbook, and with any luck, red states will follow suit. Only then will these industries be forced to wave the red flag, which has been their banner all along: the red flag of communist cronyism.
This “rural broadband” hoax has been perpetrated numerous times going back 15 years or more. Usually via the USDA’s “rural economic development” meddlers. The best way to serve rural areas then was via satellite and now it is via Starlink satellite at a fraction of the cost. There is not one “underserved community” that needs government help - maybe finally this joke will be ended.
Satellites work great as long as the sky is favorable.
DemonicRAT litmus test: Does it launder money?
I know Trump and Elon Musk are at odds with each other but Starlink would be a significantly better option for rural broadband than any wired connection and much cheaper
Fiber optic is far cheaper than satellites. Karl Denninger over at MarketTicker.org has written on this.
I will say I was waiting with baited breath for Biden’s rural internet, and never saw anything. We were considering Starlink when one of the local cable companies came through and extended coverage to our neighborhood.
We’re using their service right now.
Fiber optic is not affected unless the storm takes out the electric.
Which happens.
No system is 100% reliable.
Reliability costs
I even remember it from back in the Clinton gore era. Like electric charging stations and windmills… another government scam filing the pockets of the nomenklatura…
Will Joe take to the Sunday shows to condemn this move, or is too far gone?
Interesting that I have fiber optic Internet service at our cabin in northern Minnesota despite being 20 miles from the nearest town of size and being located on an unimproved road by a lake. However, at home in a suburb of the Twin Cities, I cannot get direct fiber optic service. One reason is that more than a decade ago my community adopted a franchise system for cable TV providers which left my community with only two less than par options and shut out new competitors. Finally another provider is coming breaking the current government created oligopoly. More evidence that competition works and governments don’t.
Fiber optic is regularly savaged by sloppy work crews digging without calling to have utilities marked. My fiber was out for a day for that very reason.
I have had a good 1 Gbps symmetric fiber since 2019. In the last year. Google installed their services right next to my existing service. I wired my house with CAT6 including all the way to the fiber drop. I put in a small UPS for the POE power to the fiber interface. I upgraded my router and router UPS. Aside from the physical damage by the street repair crews, the service has been outstanding.
Google has deployed in my city just north of Pocatello. They offer up to 8 Gbps service. I have a router that can handle 10 Gbps on the WAN port. My CAT6 between router and fiber drop is inadequate to handle the 8 Gbps and the rest of my internet network and switches are 1 Gbps/CAT6. Only a few of the newest devices have 2.5 Gbps interfaces. The Google offering is overkill for my household.
I too was considering Starlink when I was given the opportunity to move to a rural town. But too many trees would have blocked it. There is fiber there in the town, however, the property owner wouldn’t allow it to be connected to the unit. Instead they favored an AT&T/T-Mobile connection instead.
And when you REALLY want weather data ... the only weather data you get is that the weather is blocking your satellite connection. But as one who lives "out there" ... that's my problem, not the taxpayers'.
When will he end the Obama Phone program?
This is actually the biggest problem - old government regulation and restrictions that set up all kinds of bizarre chokepoints.
> Satellites work great as long as the sky is favorable.<
I’ve had Starlink at our Honduran property for 6 months. We have heavy showers there on a regular basis. Starlink goes from 400+ mbps in clear skies to 190 mbps during heavy rain. I was pleasantly surprised. Only $54 USD monthly.
Conversely, the fiber optic was out at least once per month for $115 USD.
EC
Mediacom just came through my rural “underserved” neighborhood and laid cable. One of the workers told me it was a state grant. They seemed to be in a major hurry and got the cable run very quickly and then...disappeared. This the second time someone has done this. I found coax cable buried in my yard and asked a long time neighbor. He said they come in, laid the cable, and were never heard from again. I’ve got T Mobile home internet that I’m totally satisfied with and if I change it will be to Starlink.
We have been on Starlink for at least 3 years and couldn’t be happier!
I wonder who owns Mediacom. I’d bet some DNC connected person who got paid plenty to lay cable, but not to actually connect anyone.
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