• by George Simpson , Featured Contributor, June 18, 2020

The heads of four thinly disguised U.S. propaganda organizations overseen by the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) were all canned Wednesday night by newly Trump-appointed CEO Michael Pack. 

The heads of Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Open Technology Fund were all shown the door. Many fear that That Idiot in the White House intends to turn the agency into a political arm of the administration.

As early as 1949, Radio Free Europe was transmitting “news” into Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, under the guise that governments controlled the local press and limited its coverage, and it was important for their citizenry to hear the “truth” from the United States. Naturally, the CIA was involved in its launch and had influence over its operation for about 30 years.

These days the USAGM also streams TV and internet content (in addition to radio).

That Idiot in the White House has bashed the organization for a long time, calling it a propaganda arm of China, and has worked relentlessly to get one of his own lemmings to take over the top spot.

Mission accomplished. 

As we have seen already from the leaks from John Bolton’s new tell-all, That Idiot has no shame in using any means to stay in power, including begging the Chinese to buy more farm products so he can win the support of farmers in the upcoming election. And thanks to Twitter (and Fox), he appreciates the power of direct control of news.

The organizations that make up USAGM claim there is a strong separation between its journalists and management, assuring that their news is in no way compromised. Clearly, they have not been paying attention the last four years, as That Idiot has made it his policy to lie about nearly everything that happens within national and foreign policies. If they think for a moment that he won’t impose that dishonesty and lack of integrity on their operations, they might want to all resign in the next day or two.

Now the rest of the world will learn that the U.S. has already triumphed over the pandemic, is on course for a fabulous financial future, and has done more for people of color in the past four years than at any time since the Emancipation Proclamation.  We have successfully sealed our borders to the murderous families of Central America, built a military that can actually win something, and are now best buds with Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin. There is not a Democrat in Congress (or the media) who is not a subversive traitor — and Finland is now part of Russia.

That Idiot in the White  House is nearing 20,000 times he has lied to the American public, yet his supporters care not, are willing to contract COVID-19 for a chance to see himself in person (after of course celebrating Juneteenth with all of their black friends).  There is no reason to believe that the administration won’t treat overseas audiences with the same contempt.