Trump Is Ending Fast Internet Service to Rural Areas and Guess Who Benefits?
How many of us depend on the internet in our everyday lives? Certainly, if you work in an office, you depend on the internet for spreadsheets, payroll, documents, and records. If you have a child in school, they will use the internet for homework. Even housewives use the internet for household management. It has become a necessary part of our lives.
Most of us who live in rural areas already have a difficult task of enjoying the fast internet that our big city friends have. Well, here it is, folks. Trump thinks providing poor and rural Americans with high-speed internet is “racist” and “woke.” He has decided to end the Digital Equity Act, Biden-era legislation that aims to expand high-speed internet across the country. This will let Robert Aderholt off the hook. He has been promising District 4 fast internet service for over twenty-five years and has not delivered.
In Trump’s own words from his fast internet service on Truth Social, he wrote, “I have spoken with my wonderful Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and we agree that the Biden/Harris so-called ‘Digital Equity Act’ is totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL. No more woke handouts based on race! The Digital Equity Program is a RACIST and ILLEGAL $2.5 BILLION DOLLAR giveaway. I am ending this IMMEDIATELY, and saving Taxpayers BILLIONS OF DOLLARS!”
Isn’t this a little bit nuts? We have never had a person in the Oval Office who uses social media on the internet more than Donald Trump. First of all, the Digital Equity Program Act does not explicitly mention race. It says that “people” can not be blocked from using the Act “on the basis of actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, or disability.” This language is straight from the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This law provided many red states with grants to create and implement plans to make internet access more accessible. These plans have already been approved in conservative states like Indiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, and Kansas. Internet access is a massive barrier to education, opportunity, and upward mobility. This legislation attempted to remedy that for people everywhere, especially in regions that went heavily for Trump. How is that a racist, and woke handout?
Trump is going to withhold Federal funds from this program that has been authorized by Congress during the Biden Administration, which would provide digital skills and workforce training, along with high-speed internet access to areas that do not have access to this service, which also includes tribal areas. This will cut off millions of dollars destined to reach many of his own voters, most especially in rural Alabama, where Trump reigns as their “god.”
Who stands to benefit from this mess? Wait for it…..Elon Musk. Van Feinman, who headed up the so-called BEAD program for the last three years, urged governors across the country to lobby their congressional delegates in Washington to stop the Trump administration from implementing plans he said could have “deeply negative outcomes” for American homes and businesses.
The BEAD program, which stands for Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment, was passed with bipartisan support in 2021 and aimed to connect tens of millions of underserved homes and communities in rural America to high speed internet.
In administering the program, the Biden administration called on states to favor a certain kind of broadband technology, fiber, because it provides reliable and affordable service to consumers.
Howard Lutnick, the Commerce Secretary, has said he wants to re-evaluate the BEAD program and make its technology “neutral”. That change is likely to favor Musk’s company, Starlink, which owns about 62% of all operating satellites. It would be far less expensive for communities to be connected to high-speed internet service through satellites, but most experts agree the service would not be as fast or reliable as fiber, and would cost consumers more.
The buildout of fiber networks across rural communities was also expected to create tens of thousands of jobs. Some investments, like the creation of AI data centers, are also reliant on states having fiber connections.
Musk has expressed disdain for the BEAD program and once told voters before November’s election that he thought the program should be brought down to “zero”. While the program has also been criticized by some Republican legislators for being too bureaucratic, it has been widely seen as a plus for rural states like Alabama.
Lutnick’s call for a review of the program has left states “in limbo.” In particular, three states, Louisiana, Delaware, and Nevada, have already had their statewide plans to spend billions of dollars in BEAD funding approved. They are now waiting for the federal government to release the funds, which may not be forthcoming.
This could already be in the works, however, in those three states, if not for the Trump administration’s delays. Feinman suggested it was not too late for US states to lobby the administration to tweak the program, like abandoning labor and wage-related provisions, but leave the most significant aspects of it unchanged. He said in his letter that the administration had not yet made decisions about whether states had to scrap plans they had for the buildout of fiber optic networks in their states and start fresh, or whether they would be allowed to proceed. This seems doubtful now that Trump has decided to cut the funding.
The story gets better. Trump is in Saudi Arabia as we speak, and guess who has made a deal with the Saudis? Trump administration officials have reportedly been pressuring countries facing U.S. tariffs to approve satellite internet services offered by Elon Musk’s Starlink to help grease trade negotiations. This further underscores the conflicts of interest stemming from Musk’s proximity to the White House.
The documents do not show that the Trump team has explicitly demanded favors for Starlink in exchange for lower tariffs, but they do indicate that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has increasingly instructed officials to push for regulatory approvals for Musk’s satellite firm at a moment when the White House is calling for wide-ranging talks on trade.
Surprise, surprise: another Trump move that directly benefits Elon Musk, the guy who spent $260 million to buy himself a president. Musk has been given the keys to the federal government and he along with Trump are rigging the government for themselves. They are doing it right out in plain sight and no one is stopping them.
Lynda Kirkpatrick
Marion County Democratic Party Chair
House District 17 State Democratic Executive Committee, Alabama Democratic Party
Vice Chair, Alabama Democratic County Chair Association District 4
Alabama Democratic County Chair Association Communications and County Engagement