Kari Lake, Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media, announced mass layoffs within her agency Thursday to rein in the agency’s “out-of-control” waste while also complying with an executive order from President Donald Trump.
A news release that Lake included in the post claimed 1,400 positions had been eliminated, representing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March. Lake called it a “decisive action to effectuate President Trump’s agenda.”
“Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America — part of a long-overdue effort to dismantle a bloated, unaccountable bureaucracy,” Lake added. “For decades, American taxpayers have been forced to bankroll an agency that’s been riddled with dysfunction, bias, and waste. That ends now.”
Trump Admin Senior Advisor @KariLake announces mass terminations at US Agency for Global Media⤵️
“USAGM now operates near the statutory minimum; lean and focused. This is a clear example of responsible government—cutting waste, restoring accountability, and delivering on the… pic.twitter.com/MpO2YOcIOF
— Kari Lake (@KariLake) June 20, 2025
Groups like Voice of America and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting will be directly impacted by this action.
Lake had also wisely terminated a wasteful 15-year lease costing nearly $250 million earlier this year, “for a Pennsylvania Avenue high-rise that has no broadcasting facilities to meet the needs of the agency and included a $9 million commission to a private real estate agent with connections,” according to the USAGM website.
Trump ran on radically reducing the size of the federal government, specifically media initiatives like these. Lake’s actions also mirror the president’s desire to withdraw federal funding from National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service.
These organizations have been exposed as purveyors of leftist propaganda, using taxpayer funding to attack the views of at least half the country.
Do you support this move?
If that wasn’t bad enough, Lake’s team determined the USAGM had been producing a “product that often parrots the talking points of American adversaries.”
Only in the backward world of liberalism and bloated government would it make sense to create superfunds that work against the interest of your country, and then never question where the money is actually going.
Perhaps a Justice Department investigation is warranted as well — or a special prosecutor tasked with looking into government waste.
The Department of Government Efficiency has already exposed how corrupt elements have dumped billions, if not trillions, of taxpayer dollars into ventures that produce few tangible results.
Lest we forget, the national debt clock is a ticking time bomb, and has now surpassed $37 trillion.
Institutions like the one Lake is rightfully dismantling should be the first to go.
Despite this being a no-brainer, the public should expect further court challenges, like the one launched earlier this year, after Trump and Lake attempted to shut the apparatus down entirely.
The Trump administration must stay the course, continue cutting funding, fight in the courts, and carry out the will of the people.
Sadly, the USAGM is just a drop in the bucket.
But if the executive branch can begin making these cuts stick, then there’s hope for bringing our fiscal crisis under control to avert a major financial — and cultural — disaster.
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