Trump destroys VOA

I don’t understand why Trump has destroyed this valuable non-partisan agency. He didn’t contest the court order to resume operations, he just ignored it with no consequences,

From the New York Times article below:

Although the Trump administration did not appeal the judge’s order, it kept most of the news organization’s staff on paid leave.

Voice of America now provides news in only four languages and has radio broadcasts in only one country, Afghanistan, according to court filings. That is a significant reduction from February, when it had around 1,300 journalists who broadcast in 49 languages to an audience of over 360 million worldwide.

The Trump admin just fired most Voice of America employees.

— Politico (@politico.com) 2025-06-20T17:37:12.366Z

Bonkers

— Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) 2025-06-04T20:54:12.096Z

Analysis: Voice of America is off the air for now, having been gutted by President Donald Trump, but it may soon return — partly as a vessel for one of his favorite MAGA propaganda outlets.

— CNN (@cnn.com) 2025-05-07T15:15:45.448Z

A few days before Trump would leave office, Voice of America hosted then-Sec'y of State Mike Pompeo for an event.

A VOA White House correspondent had the temerity to ask Pompeo a few simple questions.

The retaliation was immediate https://t.co/fEpCTSSwl9 pic.twitter.com/8eXIecONV7

— Bluesky Gruesky (@BGrueskin) May 21, 2023