Trump has closed down the Voice of America, the government-run radio service that has brought news to 420 million listeners around the world since 1942, during World War II. Although he appointed Kari Lake, a Trump ally and election-denier who lost races for Governor of Arizona and the U.S. Senate, to take charge of Voice of America, her assignment just disappeared.
The Washington Post reported (with an emphasis on Kari Lake’s tough luck):
During his first term, Donald Trump accused Voice of America of speaking “for America’s adversaries — not its citizens.” Over the weekend, he essentially dismantled it.
Late Friday, Trump issued an executive order that directed VOA and an array of federal offices to “be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.” About 1,000 journalists were placed on indefinite leave. Those who showed up to work to broadcast their programs were locked out of the building…
Voice of America delivers news coverage to countries around the world where a free press is threatened or nonexistent. At its start, VOA told stories about democracy to people in Nazi Germany. VOA and affiliates such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia are designed as a form of soft diplomacy, a way to tout the United States’ free-press values in countries where antidemocratic forces prevail.
Who benefits by closing the VOA?
Russia. China. North Korea. Iran. And every other authoritarian regime.
Tough luck for Lake but good news for repressive dictatorships.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It seems Trump’s technicians were busy over the weekend. So much democracy to kill, so little time. CBK
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This is want Fascist did in Germany and Italy during the 1920s &30s. This is what the dictator does in North Korea today. This is what Putin does in Russian today.
This is not about cutting the budget. It is about hidden the truth from our Military Service Members.
Trump is just following the examples of his heroes. He cannot stand for the truth to be told to the world. He is only satisfied when he can keep people blind and stupid to actually what is going on in the United States and the rest of the world.
Next he will have Pete Hegseth shutting down American Forces Network (AFN) and the Army, Navy, and Air Force Times newspapers. These newspapers are on line and are a good sources of what is going on with the military in Europe and Asia. We have relatives serving this country in Europe and it is interesting to read what is going on in their area.
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The only media Trump likes are those that stoke his ego
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From Christopher Steele’s book “Unredacted” written before the 2024 election. Steele reports one of his intelligence sources repeated what the Kremlin insiders were telling him.
” Putin considered that a Trump victory would enable the final negotiation of a new bilateral relationship and a revised international order on Russia’s chosen terms.”
Trump and his “advisors” or better labeled his HANDLERS are Putin’s agents. They are dismantling democracy across the globe wherever they get a foothold. I am afraid that we are next on the list.
There was a reason Steele’s dossier was discredited and buried in the media. Steele explained in detail that Putin has dirt on Trump and his handlers and is using it as leverage.
I highly recommend this book, and it is time to bring his dossier back to life
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Christopher Steele? You mean he of the completely debunked “dossier”? You’d be better off believing Tom Clancy novels.
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dienne77 wrong again.. Putin’s puppets tried to debunk him. Are you a Putin Puppet?
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Russophobia is soooo twentieth century. Get with the now!
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James,
Russophobia is not passé for the people of Ukraine.
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Diane,
I think there are some Russian Bots commenting on this page. I would check the IP addresses of those who comment in favor of Putin’s puppet, especially those without a WordPress profile.
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As per usual, one is suspected of being a bot when posting a comment expressing suppor for diplomacy, de-escalation, and detente with Russia. Today I’m called a bot or a Putin puppet. During the 1950s/1960s, I’d probably be called a peacenik! (BTW, I’m a retired public school teacher living in California!)
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James,
I don’t think you are a bot or a Putin puppet.
However, as you know well, I disagree with you about Putin. I think he is a clever, brutal dictator who wants to reassemble the USSR.
He has said that the breakup of the USSR was “the greatest geopolitical disaster of the 20th century.”
I don’t think so. People in the former Soviet satellites are now free to travel and lead normal lives. Albania used to be a completely closed country under its horrible dictator Hoxha. Airplanes had to divert to avoid violating its air space.
Now Albania is a normal country. Albanians travel freely. In the apartment building where I live in Brooklyn, the superintendent is Albanian. He brought his family with him. He takes them skiiing. He leads a good life.
Our local pizza place is owned and run by Albanians.
I traveled in Russia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, and other Soviet satellites in the 1980s. Life under Soviet domination was horrible for everyone but the Communist Party elite. No food on the shelves in grocery stores. No free press. No free speech.
I don’t know why you think “Russophobia” is wrong. I am not Russophobic. But I am most certainly dictator-phobic.
I hate men like Putin who want total power over everyone. I hate that he invaded Ukraine. I hate that he murdered anyone who dared to oppose him. I hate that he murdered Navalny.
I hate that Trump kisses his ring. Trump has criticized everyone imaginable, federal judges and Taylor Swift. But he has NEVER criticized Putin.
I wonder why.
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De escalation with Russia?? How about de escalation by Russia??? Or how about Russian detente?? Your “with” instead of by Russia is telling.
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Putin must be high-fiving his staff.
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I am reasonably confident that in The Kremlin when talking about Trump, his court and supporter base the term ‘polezniye duraki’ will turn up – ‘Useful Fools’
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I used to listen to VOA when I was in the Peace Corps in Borneo back in 1967-68. I had a battery shortwave radio. The school where I was teaching only had electricity for several hours at night. I used to sleep on the cement floor of my on campus house. It would get very hot in the tropics.
Every day Trump or Musk do something horrible. I’m glad that people are protesting at Tesla dealerships and that Muskrat is finding out that his dealerships are losing money in different countries around the world and that his stock is down 35%.
How sad that we elected a narcissistic, sociopathic, demented, pathological liar who loves destroying our country.
My brother may have learned the hard way that cutting between 80,000 to 85,000 jobs at the Veterans Administration will affect his health. He worked in Germany for two years in the army and is a retired veteran.
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I wonder if your brother will blame poor health care for vets on Trump? Or someone else?
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Probably my brother will find a way to blame Biden. ???
It’s amazing how Trump lovers never blame Trump for anything. I know that my brother listens to Fox ‘news’.
I listen to The Daily Show on TV. It’s amazing to hear Fox newscasters change what really happens. How do they live with themselves?
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Trump blames everything on Biden. He keeps complaining that Biden left him a very bad economy. A bold lie. The Economist said Biden’s economy was the envy of the world. Trump is consumed with envy.
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“It’s amazing to hear Fox newscasters change what really happens. How do they live with themselves?”
Because they are not “newscasters”. They are entertainment as FuxNews stated in court that they told lies about the 2020 election ““Fox has admitted to telling lies,” John Poulos, Dominion’s CEO, said at a news conference after the trial ended.” To believe that they are newscasters is to believe absurdities and is risible and ludicrous.
FuxNews worships Mammon and will do whatever it takes to grab as much mullah as it can.
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We are watching the dark works of evil creep into the soul of our nation. We need to resist and bright light to our neighbors. Now is not the time to shut down.
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If Kari Lake is supposed to be the Voice of America, maybe we should shut her down so she can be put in charge of something else, like the Office of Censorship.
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The rest of my thoughts are here..https://rlratto.wordpress.com/2025/03/18/the-dark-works-of-evil/
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I often listened to the Voice of America when I was living and traveling abroad (alone) as a young adult, because it was such a reassuring way for me to keep in touch daily with my country and my people –especially after war broke out when I was living in Israel in 1973. What a HUGE loss this will be for many folks across the globe!
These days, I’m often inclined to hear in my head, “What on earth are they thinking?” However, beyond their clear desire for more money, power & prestige, I’ve come to believe that very little thought actually goes into most of the many outrageous decisions they make today. And I think that prestige in the eyes of poorly educated MAGA loyalists & other authoritarians is all that matters to them now. I suspect this is how they will ultimately alienate increasingly larger swaths of their cult though, like vets stationed abroad and farmers whose contracts to supply food to schools were terminated…
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I keep wondering how long it’s going to take for people to realize that this administration cares more about billionaires, who are in a race to become the first trillionaire, than average citizens. I wonder especially about folks like me who are on poverty level Social Security Retirement Income (SSRI) and, after our rent is paid each month, are not even thousandaires.
MAGA is clearly aiming to do away with Social Security (as well as Medicare and Medicaid), because billionaires like Musk don’t like having to pay the employer contribution to SSRI. It’s even worse for people who get SS disability income: In my neck of the woods, they’re just hundredaires BEFORE they pay rent. And now “disability” is a MAGA banned word!?!
Does no one care anymore about aging and disabled parents and grandparents, who really can’t work anymore due to their declining health, dwindling strength and decreasing abilities? Not all families are able and willing to help (including mine)! What a selfish, heartless, money grubbing, abysmal country we have become!!! I see no reason why anyone from other countries would be interested in hearing VoA today.
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Actually, how self-centered and heartless we really are first hit me years ago after I learned about Compassionate Leave & Bereavement Leave in countries like the UK, because that was news to me since they’re not mandated here. See: https://www.aihr.com/hr-glossary/compassionate-leave/ In fact, paid leave or even vacation time for employees are not federally mandated in the US either, so they’re up to the states. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_annual_leave_by_country Sadly, I believe that goes to show this is a country that values employers much more than employees, and lacks regard for work-life balance –other aspects of our system which are very poor models for the world. I think we should have learned by now from countries with politicians who care about their citizens more demonstrably than their own personal pocket books.
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