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...