Those who watch Donald Trump’s Q&As invariably pick up on one of his go-to tactics. A reporter will ask a good and fair question that the president doesn’t appear to like, and instead of responding with something substantive, he’ll respond, “Who are you with?”
At that point, the journalist will respond by identifying his/her news organization, leading Trump to immediately and reflexively reply, “No wonder,” as if he’s proven some unstated point about independent news organizations asking questions that bother him.
At that point, the Republican will either move on — as if his childish rejoinder has sufficiently ended the matter — or he’ll respond in a way that suggests he considers the line of inquiry illegitimate.
It’s happened many times, including last week at an Oval Office event in which a reporter from Voice of America received the “who are you with?” treatment.
The snide exchange was uncalled for, but it was in keeping with the president’s longstanding disdain for VOA. When Trump tapped Arizona’s Kari Lake to be the next director of the Voice of America, many assumed that the network would continue, though it would be overhauled to be more overtly partisan.
Those assumptions weren’t quite right. As The Washington Post reported, the president late last week signed an executive order seeking to eliminate several additional federal agencies, including the one that oversees the Voice of America.
The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) — the parent of VOA, Office of Cuba Broadcasting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia — is an independent agency established by Congress. In 2020, Congress passed a law intended to limit the power of the agency’s presidentially appointed chief executive. More than 1,300 journalists, producers and staff at VOA received an email saying they were placed on administrative leave Saturday, VOA Director Michael Abramowitz wrote on his private Facebook page.
In that same online message, Abramowitz also wrote, “[T]oday’s action will leave Voice of America unable to carry out its vital mission. That mission is especially critical today, when America’s adversaries, like Iran, China, and Russia, are sinking billions of dollars into creating false narratives to discredit the United States.”
It’s a key detail: As the Post’s report added, VOA exists “to counter authoritarian propaganda for foreign audiences with independent news.” That, evidently, is no longer in line with the White House’s international goals.
Indeed, it’s worth emphasizing that while the gutting of the VOA generated headlines, it was not the only affected outlet: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty also lost its financing, and Radio and Televisión Martí, which promotes democracy to Cuba’s population, put its staff on administrative leave.
“These media outlets have been a beacon of truth, democracy, and hope for millions of people around the world,” the European Commission said in a statement to Politico. “In an age of unmoderated content and fake news, journalism and freedom of press are critical for democracy. … This decision risks benefiting our common adversaries.” The Washington Post’s Max Boot added, “There is a sickening symmetry to President Donald Trump’s actions: While undermining U.S. democracy at home, he is also trying end U.S. government support for democracy abroad. His victims range from a leading human rights organization to the U.S. government networks that beam factual information to victims of oppression around the world.” What’s more, it’s worth emphasizing that the policy took effect quickly. This isn’t a situation in which the administration began a lengthy winddown process, assessing the policy implications over time. Rather, this is an instance in which Trump signed an order on Friday, and within two days, democracy-promoting networks were dark — for the first time in more than 80 years. 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.” Whether Trump considers this a negative or a positive is not clear.
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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