From the very first day that Donald Trump reoccupied the White House, he has orchestrated an assault on the free press and any journalistic effort to report the truth about him. There is nothing that irks him more than accurate reporting of his wrecking of the economy and his contempt for the Constitution.

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Trump’s anti-media crusade has taken the form of banishing news outlets like the Associated Press from all presidential events, and stacking the White House press corps with sycophantic Trump-fluffers…

SEE ALSO: Trump Declares Himself King of the White House Press Corps, Will Now Decide Who Can Question Him

The Trump regime’s campaign to undermine the free press is not limited by international borders. He put one of his most fervent cult devotees, Kari Lake, in a position to control the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which oversees multiple broadcasting networks that inform people in countries that have no other source for reputable news. The networks under the auspices of the USAGM include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Free Asia (RFA), Radio Television Martí, the Middle East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), and the Voice of America (VOA).

Now David Folkenflik is reporting for NPR (an American public broadcaster that Trump is trying to defund) that “Kari Lake says OAN’s far-right coverage will fuel Voice of America.” Folkenflik writes that…

“Senior presidential adviser Kari Lake appears to have resolved any doubts about what she wants to do with the Voice of America. Lake seeks for it to look and sound a lot like the far-right One America News Network.”

[Lake said that] “the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is excited to announce a partnership with One America News Network (OAN) to provide newsfeed services to USAGM networks, including Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), Radio Martí, and Voice of America (VOA). […] I can ensure our outlets have reliable and credible options as they work to craft their reporting and news programs.”

The notion that Lake can ensure the VOA outlets of “reliable and credible options” by teaming up with one of the most dishonest purveyors of ultra-right propaganda would be laughable if it weren’t so harmful. And since she has already put the staff of VOA and the other USAGM networks on indefinite leave, OAN will be the only source of news for the these networks.

The “quality” of reporting by OAN is notoriously untrustworthy. After all, they hired former GOP representative, MAGA Matt Gaetz, as a primetime host after he crashed and burned as Trump’s attorney general nominee. And they have been the subject of massive defamation lawsuits, one of which they already settled, admitting that their reporting was false.

MORE HERE: OAN Concedes that ‘There Was No Widespread Voter Fraud’ to Settle Defamation Lawsuit

VOA insiders are justifiably appalled. Their White House bureau chief, Patsy Widakuswara, said that “Congress mandated VOA to report reliable and authoritative news, not outsource its journalism to outlets aligned with the president’s agenda.” And the former CFO of USAGM, Grant Turner, said that “Kari Lake providing One America News Network to our global audiences makes a mockery of the agency’s history of independent non-partisan journalism.”

It is entirely understandable that honest journalists would be disgusted by Trump and his lackey, Lake. But it is not unsurprising that the Trumpists would exploit and abuse their power to spread their disinformation to the world. They are already doing it here at home. Fortunately, however, they are losing in the courts, and in the court of public opinion. But we must remain vigilant and resolved to resist the totalitarian Trump agenda if we are to prevail.

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