Author: Reporter

When Donald Trump seized the presidency for a second time, he found a news establishment on its heels but not completely flat on its back. Last year’s presidential campaign suggested that many traditional outlets are not depended upon, or trusted, nearly as much as they used to be. Some face leadership transitions and financial problems. Incoming power brokers, and their supporters, seek and receive information on friendly turf. Yet as with most times of transition, opportunities abound for new voices to emerge. When Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg wanted to publicize Trump-friendly policy changes in January at the social media...

It is called the Voice of America, a storied news outlet that has promised “the truth” since it first broadcast stories about democracy into Nazi Germany during World War II. Now, it is the voice of a country in which a majority of voters chose Donald Trump, a man famous for insisting the truth is what he says it is, to once again be president. What VOA will tell the world about the United States and democracy during a second Trump administration depends heavily on the convicted felon elected to run the country. Trump has jolted foreign leaders with...

For decades, right-wing conservatives in Congress have talked about the need to cut government deeply while giving tax breaks to the rich, but they have always pulled back from mandating specific reductions, fearful of voter backlash. Now, Donald Trump’s administration is trying to make major cuts in government through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, run by the South African oligarch Elon Musk — an initiative led by an unelected businessman who is unlikely to ever run for office and was appointed by a termed-out president who no longer needs to face voters again. The dynamic of...

Hey, America: Give the Statue of Liberty back to France. So says a French politician who is making headlines in his country for suggesting that the U.S. is no longer worthy of the monument, which was a gift from France nearly 140 years ago. Raphaël Glucksmann, as a member of the European Parliament and co-president of a small left-wing party in France, cannot claim to speak for all of his compatriots. But his assertion in a speech recently that some Americans “have chosen to switch to the side of the tyrants” reflects the broad shockwaves that Donald Trump’s seismic...

The Trump administration’s decision to expel the South African ambassador is its latest move against a country it has singled out for sanctions and accused of being anti-White and anti-American. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X that Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was “no longer welcome in our great country” and said he was “a race-baiting politician” who hates America and U.S. President Donald Trump. Rubio’s post did not explain what was behind the decision but linked to a story by the conservative Breitbart news site. The story reported about a talk Rasool gave on a webinar where...