Trump’s Second Chance: Dismantling USAGM and Ending Its Propaganda Machine
The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is not a journalistic entity—it is a state-run propaganda machine, manipulating public perception while pretending to be an independent voice. What began as an effort to counter socialist propaganda during the Cold War has now metastasized into the world's largest disseminator of socialist and anti-American narratives. The agency, which once defended American values, now actively undermines them, promoting ideologies that seek to erode national identity, sovereignty, and the foundational principles of freedom. USAGM has become a weapon wielded against the very citizens funding it, pushing globalist messaging while silencing dissent.
USAGM does not merely shape global narratives—it dictates them. Instead of acting as a beacon of free speech, it functions as an Orwellian enforcement arm, ensuring ideological conformity under the pretense of fighting “disinformation.” Worse still, it collaborates with major technology platforms to suppress voices that challenge its preferred narratives. Through shadowy partnerships with social media companies, USAGM has inserted itself into the digital town square, deciding what is acceptable discourse and what must be silenced. The result? A censorship regime that would make totalitarian governments envious.
When USAGM was focused on promoting American ideals—democracy, freedom, and resistance to authoritarian rule—it was widely supported. However, over the past four years, the agency has shifted into an unaccountable force promoting anti-American narratives. It has abandoned its mission of spreading truth and is now a megaphone for radical globalist priorities, systematically working to censor conservative and nationalist perspectives while amplifying leftist and socialist ideologies. This transformation has turned what was once an asset into a direct threat to the principles it was meant to uphold.
To understand how deeply corrupted USAGM has become, one must examine its history. Created as the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), it oversaw outlets like Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), originally serving as a counterweight to Soviet influence. But instead of dissolving with the fall of the USSR, it expanded, taking on new, more insidious objectives. Under the Obama administration, it was repurposed as a tool for combatting so-called “fake news” and “foreign propaganda,” which conveniently aligned with a broader effort to control information in the digital age.
The first Trump administration, recognizing the existential threat posed by USAGM’s unchecked power, attempted to reform it. Michael Pack, appointed as CEO, sought to restore editorial independence, root out entrenched ideological operatives, and hold the agency accountable. But the resistance was fierce. Pack’s efforts were met with lawsuits, media hysteria, and an entrenched bureaucracy determined to maintain its grip on power. The courts intervened to protect the very bureaucrats who had weaponized the agency against the American people. In reality, Pack’s attempt to clean house was not an authoritarian purge—it was a necessary corrective to an institution that had long since gone rogue.
The opposition to Pack’s reforms exposed USAGM’s true nature. Despite its claims of championing press freedom, it actively fought oversight and resisted any attempt to hold it accountable. When Pack tried to freeze funding for the Open Technology Fund (OTF), which had been redirecting taxpayer money toward left-wing activist projects, the backlash was immediate. The agency, originally created to fight censorship abroad, had become one of the most powerful forces of censorship itself. Under Biden’s leadership, the effort to reform USAGM was reversed, reinstating the very forces that had turned it into a propaganda arm of the globalist elite.
The Open Technology Fund, ostensibly dedicated to circumventing censorship, is just another arm of the same corrupt machine. While it claims to help dissidents in authoritarian states, it has been caught steering funds toward projects that serve leftist political interests. Its tools, while useful in theory, can just as easily be used for surveillance, manipulation, and suppression of free thought. The supposed champions of internet freedom have become its greatest enemies.
USAGM’s partnership with major tech platforms is perhaps the most damning evidence of its transformation into a force of repression. While it masquerades as a neutral entity, its real mission is to control information flow. By collaborating with platforms like Twitter (before Elon Musk’s takeover) and Facebook, it has inserted itself into the content moderation process, ensuring that conservative and nationalist viewpoints are throttled, shadow-banned, or outright removed. It is no longer a government agency working to promote free speech—it is a censorship cartel working to eliminate dissenting voices.
The question is not whether state-funded media should exist, but whether an organization so deeply compromised can ever be trusted again. The truth is evident: USAGM does not serve the American people. It serves itself and the elite interests that benefit from controlling the flow of information. It is propaganda disguised as journalism, censorship masked as fact-checking, and soft authoritarianism cloaked in the rhetoric of democracy.
USAGM’s continued existence is a direct threat to free speech, free thought, and the integrity of American media. In an era where information is both the battlefield and the weapon, the agency has chosen to be a bludgeon for the globalist order rather than a defender of truth. Trump recognized this danger in his first term but failed to fully neutralize it. Now, with a second chance, he must not let this corrupt institution continue unchecked. USAGM must either be completely dismantled or radically reformed to realign it with American interests. The time for half-measures is over—this is a battle for the very foundation of free expression. If Trump fails to act decisively, USAGM will remain a weapon against the American people, reinforcing the very forces he was elected to defeat.
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