The US’s foreign broadcasters may soon be forced to become pro-Trump propaganda

If Trump’s first term is any indication, outlets such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe will face political inquisitions

The agency which oversees them,
the United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM),
has a budget of nearly $1bn
and reaches 420 million people weekly in over 100 countries
– numbers that make America’s biggest domestic radio and TV networks look like small fry.

These outlets have long been a target for conservative critics who have felt that they are insufficiently patriotic or too kind to America’s adversaries.

But during his first term, Trump attempted to weaponize the networks in an unprecedented way,
turning them into propaganda outlets for his administration and its brand of far-right politics.

And his recent nomination of former Arizona gubernatorial candidate #Kari #Lake to head Voice of America suggests he wants to do it again.

Trump’s attack on the public broadcasters began in his first term when he sent conservative journalist #Jeffrey #Scott #Shapiro to be a senior advisor to the Office of Cuba Broadcasting,
which oversees Radio y Televisión Martí.

Shapiro accused the director of the office, the award-winning Puerto Rican journalist Maria Gonzalez, of being a Cuban spy
and forced a spurious security investigation to be initiated against her.

When Gonzalez later resigned her post, Martí’s coverage began to reflect far-right themes,
including calling George Soros a “a non-believing Jew of flexible morals”
and decrying the “Islamization” of Europe.

The same problems occurred on an even bigger scale when Trump appointed #Michael #Pack,
an ally of far-right figure Steve Bannon, as the head of the entirety of USAGM.

Pack forced out or initiated spurious loyalty investigations against journalists and executives,
and he also sought to influence coverage in the newsroom in a pro-Trump direction.

As a result, many journalists at Voice of America feared for their livelihoods and began to engage in self-censorship.

Like Shapiro, Pack also accused the journalists he oversaw of being spies,
and during his tenure he refused to renew the visas of foreign reporters working at Voice of America.

Because many of these journalists had reported critically on their own countries’ regimes,
they faced persecution if forced to return home.

But Pack shrugged off the idea that he had any responsibility for the safety of the brave journalists who made the existence of his agency possible.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/dec/19/us-foreign-broadcasters-trump?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Donald Trump’s foul-mouthed migrant rant captured in private pitch to donors

Donald Trump unleashed a foul-mouthed tirade about undocumented #immigrants and predicted that this “could be the #last #election we ever have”
if Kamala Harris wins during a private fundraising dinner this summer.

The Guardian obtained a 12-minute recording of a speech that the Republican presidential nominee gave at a dinner on 10 August in Aspen, Colorado,
where attendees were required to donate anywhere from $25,000 to $500,000 a couple.

Trump devoted most of his address to #border security and #immigration, recycling xenophobic claims now familiar from his rallies.

“Radical leftwing lunatics” want people to come in from #prisons, mental institutionsand insane #asylums, he asserted without evidence, adding that the US was harbouring “a record number of #terrorists”.

The former president insisted that “smart, very streetwise” leaders of Venezuela and other South American countries were sending murderers and drug dealers to the US to reduce their own crime rates, relieve the burden on their prisons and save money.

Trump cited a false example of 22 people he claimed had come to the US after being released from prison in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. -- “We said, ‘Where do you come from?’ They said, ‘Prison’.
-- ‘What did you do?’ ‘None of your fucking business what we did.’ You know why? Because they’re murderers.”

The candidate added, “I hate to use that foul language”, apparently recognising that his use of the F-word went further than his campaign rallies. -- The Congolese government has said there is no truth to Trump’s statements.

The candidate went on: “These are the toughest people. These people are coming in from Africa, from the Middle East. They’re coming in from all parts of Asia, the bad parts, the parts where they’re rough, and the only thing good is they make our criminals look extremely nice. They make our Hell’s Angels look like the nicest people on earth.”

Studies show that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than native-born Americans.

Trump flew to Aspen on a Gulfstream G-550 jet once owned by #Jeffrey #Epstein, the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender, after his own private plane – a Boeing 757 known colloquially as Trump Force One – encountered engine trouble.

The dinner was held at the $38m home of the investors and art collectors John and Amy #Phelan.
Guests included the casino mogul Steve #Wynn, billionaire businessman Thomas #Peterffy, Texas governor Greg #Abbott, Florida congressman Byron #Donalds, Colorado congresswoman Lauren #Boebert and former Colorado senator Cory #Gardner.

Trump, who instigated an attempted coup on 6 January 2021 and has claimed that his Democratic rival Harris poses the true threat to democracy, used the exclusive event to warn of dire consequences if she becomes president.

“Look, we gotta win and if we don’t win this country’s going to hell,” he said.
“You know, there’s an expression, this could be the last election we ever have and it’s an expression that I really believe, and I believe that this could be the last election we ever have.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/04/trump-fundraiser-recording?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other