Earlier on Friday, Digital Journal reported that in a memo, the publisher of Stars and Stripes (which now publishes online as well as in print) was ordered to present a plan that “dissolves the Stars and Stripes” by Sept. 15 – including a “specific timeline for vacating government-owned/leased space worldwide.”
Although the budget cuts for the iconic newspaper that has been around since 1861 was first proposed by Mr. Trump’s Pentagon in February, the Pentagon waited until this week to push the matter of closing the paper down, reports the New York Times.
Trump choose today to try and regain some of his popularity, which has been taking a beating due to a news story about his disparaging remarks over dead soldiers. He tweeted: “The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch. It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!”
Trump’s tweet comes amid allegations he called service members killed in World War I “losers” and “suckers” during an event in France in 2018. The comments were first reported by The Atlantic and confirmed by The Associated Press.
The United States of America will NOT be cutting funding to @starsandstripes magazine under my watch. It will continue to be a wonderful source of information to our Great Military!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 4, 2020
Trump has spent most of today trying to shore up his crumbling popularity – saying often that he is a staunch supporter of the military. “I’ve done more for the military than almost anyone else,” he said Friday in the Oval Office.
The Pentagon had no immediate comment on Trump’s tweet or how it may affect Esper’s plan to ultimately shut down the paper, even though a defense official told NBC News that Stars and Stripes is no longer a good business model, and most military members get their news in other ways.
However, on Friday, Stars and Stripes provided figures that showed the tremendous growth in readership they have had during the past year, particularly during the coronavirus crisis. Stars and Stripes is averaging 2 million page views more than the same time period last year, which it said “speaks to the value Stars and Stripes has to the military community.”
“No other organization was covering the effect of COVID on the military to the extent Stars and Stripes was, and our readers found tremendous value in it,” the publication said, citing the fact that digital subscribers grew 432 percent over the last year and email newsletter subscribers grew 320 percent.
