Donald Trump’s longstanding contempt for Voice of America broadcasts is largely rooted in false claims. The president, however, acted on his misguided grudge and signed an executive order on Friday that effectively eliminated the federal agenda that oversees the VOA.
It was, by any fair measure, a shocking move. As The Washington Post noted, Voice of America existed “to counter authoritarian propaganda for foreign audiences with independent news.” That, evidently, is no longer in line with the White House’s international goals.
Steven Herman, a longtime Voice of America correspondent, published a “requiem” over the weekend, writing, “To effectively shutter the Voice of America is to dim a beacon that burned bright during some of the darkest hours since 1942.” The Post’s Dana Milbank added in his latest column, “Adolf Hitler couldn’t silence it. Joseph Stalin and his successors, right up through Vladimir Putin, couldn’t silence it. Mao Zedong and his successors, through Xi Jinping, couldn’t silence it. Ruhollah Khomeini and the ayatollahs couldn’t silence it. But Donald Trump has just silenced the voice of freedom.”
And China couldn’t be more pleased. NBC News reported:
Chinese state media are celebrating President Donald Trump’s move to gut Voice of America and other U.S. government-funded news outlets that push back against authoritarian regimes. … The government of China, where media is tightly controlled by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, has long criticized coverage by VOA and other U.S. government-funded news outlets. In an editorial Monday, the state-backed nationalist tabloid Global Times called VOA a ‘lie factory’ with an ‘appalling track record’ when it comes to China-related reporting.
This wasn’t exactly a surprising reaction. Given that Voice of America existed “to counter authoritarian propaganda for foreign audiences with independent news,” it stands to reason that it was unpopular with officials in Beijing.
What is surprising, however, is the frequency with which China celebrates news out of the White House.
The Chinese government, for example, is eager to capitalize on the international tumult created by the American president’s tariffs and trade war. NBC News reported, “Even as it faces a slowing economy, China appears to be making a strategic decision to present itself as a global stalwart amid a world in turmoil as Trump upends international trade and long-standing alliances, eroding U.S. prestige and creating an opportunity for China to fill the void.” China had reason to celebrate Trump turning against Ukraine. China similarly cheered when Trump gutted the U.S. Agency for International Development. It reached a point recently that Politico published a report that described the Republican as “the U.S. president China fantasizes about.” If you voted for the GOP ticket last fall because you believed Trump’s rhetoric about “getting tough on China,” I have some very bad news for you.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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