Editorials & Other Articles

Zorro

(16,559 posts) Thu Dec 12, 2024, 12:52 PM Dec 12

With Kari Lake as Voice of America head, Trump now has his MAGA propaganda arm

Objective reality had a good run here in America, but it’s largely out the window now. President-elect Donald Trump has picked serial liar and sycophant-on-steroids Kari Lake to be the next director of Voice of America, the nation’s largest and oldest international broadcaster.

Lake is best known for losing the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial race more times than anyone thought possible. She lost, claimed without evidence the election was rigged and then appealed her loss multiple times at every level of state court, losing each time. It’s possible she’s still out there losing that election, or she may be finding a way to continue losing the 2024 U.S. Senate race she recently lost but did not concede.

This all begs the question: How will she find the time and the lies necessary to turn VOA into the propaganda arm of the Trump administration?

Kari Lake heading VOA? She's the literal opposite of accurate and unbiased.

Per its federal charter, “VOA news will be accurate, objective, and comprehensive.”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAAA!! Might as well toss that in the nearest Trump-brand toilet. The next time Lake is accurate or objective will be the first, and putting her in charge of this American institution is like putting … well, it’s like putting Kari Lake in charge of VOA. There’s no hypothetical more ridiculous-sounding than that.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2024/12/12/kari-lake-voice-of-america-director-trump/76937488007/

3 replies

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Highlight:

With Kari Lake as Voice of America head, Trump now has his MAGA propaganda arm (Original Post) Zorro Dec 12 OP

Shades Of Tokyo Rose.....nt global1 Dec 12 #1

VOA is resisting this appointment Tweedy Dec 12 #2

Kari Lake latest losing candidate set to join Trump's second term team LetMyPeopleVote Dec 12 #3

global1

(25,982 posts)

1. Shades Of Tokyo Rose.....nt

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Thu Dec 12, 2024, 12:56 PM

Dec 12

Tweedy

(1,231 posts)

2. VOA is resisting this appointment

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Thu Dec 12, 2024, 01:02 PM

Dec 12

Because VOA is firewalled by law from political appointments like this one.

Bless VOA. Somehow I doubt our wingnut heavy SCOTUS will care about that law— probably claim there is a “major question” about it that the republicans invented yesterday or some such similar nonsense. Bless the VOA anyway for standing up for what is still truth, justice and the American way.

A VOA not firewalled from petty politics and wingnut retribution agendas is a not a Voice of the free world at all.

LetMyPeopleVote

(156,236 posts)

3. Kari Lake latest losing candidate set to join Trump's second term team

Reply to Zorro (Original post)

Thu Dec 12, 2024, 01:14 PM

Dec 12

As Trump chooses Kari Lake to lead the Voice of America, a larger pattern is coming into focus: The president-elect is picking a lot of failed candidates.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3ld4g33nlnc2m

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/kari-lake-latest-losing-candidate-set-join-trumps-second-term-team-rcna183937

Exactly eight years ago this week, there were reports of concerns among Voice of America officials that Donald Trump — in his first go-around as president-elect — might try to politicize the network’s coverage. Several years later, federal investigators determined that Michael Pack, a Trump-appointed official who helped oversee the VOA, did abuse the powers of his office.

Pack, it’s also worth noting, faced complaints from more than 30 whistleblowers during his tenure.

It’s against this backdrop that Trump is president-elect again, and he has someone new in mind for the network. NBC News reported:

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he wants ally Kari Lake to be the next director of the Voice of America, a federal network that’s part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. ... Lake said on X she was “honored” by Trump’s announcement. “Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America’s achievements worldwide,” she said.

As NBC News’ report added, “The VOA’s stated mission is not to promote America’s achievements; rather, its website says it is ‘committed to providing comprehensive coverage of the news and telling audiences the truth.’”.....

As for Trump’s motivations, The New York Times published a related analysis that noted, “It’s a surprising development for a political figure who has long deployed the word ‘loser’ as an insult, and who tried to overturn the 2020 election rather than admit he lost it. But some of these Republicans lost their races in part because of their support for Trump — which means losing can make for winning politics in Washington when loyalty to Trump is the coin of the realm.”

All of which suggests the so-called “Team of Losers” list might yet grow longer.

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