The Trump administration has shuttered a number of federal agencies, and ordered another tranche closed last Friday.Among them was Voice of America a news outlet founded to help the Allies fight the Nazis that still publishes and broadcasts today. Or did, until Saturday, when its employees found themselves unable to go to work. The media remarked on the loss of Voice of America, but it didnt quite cause the stir that firings at USAID or the Department of Education did, and thats perhaps because it does not broadcast inside the US. Americans can visit its website for news, but cant hear it on the radio or see it on television. However, as Gabrielle Berbey who, along with her colleagues at Today, Explained reported on the death of Voice of America explains, the outlets shuttering provides a helpful way to understand the Trump administrations approach to governance. I spoke with Gabrielle about this, and more our conversation, edited for length and clarity, is below.What is Voice of America? Why is it important? Voice of America is the largest and oldest US international broadcaster; it was established in 1942 to fight Nazi propaganda via shortwave radio. By the time World War II ended, Voice of America or VOA had 3,200 programs around the world in 40 languages. Its operated since then, with a mission to continue combating authoritarian propaganda and to spread US values throughout the world. Today, its a part of United States Agency for Global Media, or USAGM, which also includes other US media you may be familiar with, like Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Mart. And though most USAGM outlets started on the radio, today they broadcast on television and publish online as well. USAGM has offices and journalists all around the world, reporting from and for places that otherwise might not have access to media beyond state-sponsored media, or that may not have much media infrastructure at all, places like China, Iran, and Afghanistan. And in many places, USAGM outlets are the main and sometimes only voice combating the state-sponsored media narrative.Interestingly, VOA does not actually broadcast in the US, which is why I think many people, especially people who are younger, dont know what VOA is. But its played an important role for the past 80 years and this is the first time its gone radio silent. Why did it go radio silent?On Friday, the Trump administration issued an executive order that essentially put the employees of several agencies on administrative leave. As a result of that order, everyone who works at VOA and Radio Mart were put on administrative leave, and outlets like Radio Free Europe lost funding. And that effectively shut those outlets down. Why did Trump do that?The Trump administration was very critical of USAGM and a Voice of America even in its first term. This term, Trump selected Kari Lake who was the former, failed GOP gubernatorial and Senate candidate for Arizona, a fierce Trump loyalist, and former media professional herself to run Voice of America and serve as a special adviser to USGM. She went in reportedly really wanting to lead VOA, and to enact sweeping reforms to the organization. That wasnt necessarily seen as a bad thing. Some sources I spoke to for this story even some former VOA journalists said theres valid criticism that the VOA produces US propaganda, and some questioned whether essentially combating propaganda with propaganda, was the right use of US soft power. So there was some openness to changes.But there were also concerns. A VOA journalist Steve Herman, who was the White House bureau chief was put on leave, and another involuntarily reassigned. So the reforms seemed like they might be drastic, but I dont know if people expected a complete shutdown. For a time, it seemed like there might be a divide in the Trump administration. On one side, Trump adviser Elon Musk and special UN envoy Richard Grenell were tweeting how we dont need Voice of America anymore, and how it should be shut down. And on the other side was Lake, who responded to these tweets by defending USAGM and arguing that there was a place for Voice of America.In the end, Lake backed the decision to shutter the outlets the termination notices of some of the grants had her signature even if she previously said that she was interested in saving it. Theres probably a mix of reasons why USAGM and VOA were targeted. One, the Trump administration is trying to make sweeping cuts through federal agencies, and weve seen agencies like the Department of Education and USAID targeted that dont align, or supposedly dont align, with the administrations worldview. And you could put USAGM in that category it has been criticized by Trump-aligned figures as putting out fake news. There could also be a foreign policy element to it as well; weve seen Trump try to make some big resets on that front.Some of the USs adversaries have cheered the demise of USAGM, right? Has that changed the Trump administrations stance at all?I dont know that weve seen many minds being changed in the Trump administration, but yes, we have seen the Kremlin and Russian propaganda rejoicing that Trump had gutted Radio Free Asia, Radio Liberty, and Voice of America. Chinese state media called Voice of America a dirty rag that the Trump administration was getting rid of. That response reflects the fact that USAGM outlets really were a way for the United States to insert its narrative into those countries, often in a way that was critical, or designed to make people question, the state-sponsored narrative.Without these outlets, the US has lost a way to combat disinformation. And some people are losing access to news. I talked to one former VOA journalist during my reporting who remembered listening to VOA from Poland in the 1960s when he was a kid. He said that he would get American music and American news on VOA and that it would be his only source of information from the outside world. And thats still the case for some people, even today USAGM reached some consumers in poorer and more rural areas that lack media infrastructure altogether; this was their source of news. Broadly, what can we learn about the Trump administration from these cuts?The Trump administration is really looking for ways to make long-held far-right beliefs policy. With VOA and USAGM, theres a cultural element, where theres this culture war against the so-called mainstream media. USAGMs outlets are a part of that media, and while the Trump administration can only do so much to independent outlets it doesnt like like restricting White House access it can shut down VOA.But thats just one piece of a larger puzzle. Theres the push for government efficiency and cutting waste that we talked about a little before and its easy to see things you dont like (aka fake news) as waste to cut.And theres also a big foreign policy realignment happening. Theres this idea of America First that we need to pull back on the world stage and focus on the homefront, that taxpayer money shouldnt go to other countries, it should only be used domestically. We saw that with shutting down USAID, and we see that here.So this is really emblematic of the larger vision for the realignment of the government the Trump administration seems to have.This piece originally ran in the Today, Explained newsletter. For more stories like this, sign up here.See More: