The MAGA cable channel Real America’s Voice was forced to rebrand after it discovered that President Donald Trump would “confuse” it for another network.
Real America’s Voice host Gina Loudon revealed to Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Kari Lake Wednesday the real reason behind the TV network’s 2020 revamp.
“Real America’s Voice” host Gina Loudon revealed the real reason why the network changed its name. Dominic Gwinn/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images
“Fun little fact, that I’m not sure I’ve ever even told you, is that when I first started working for Real America’s Voice, it was just called America’s Voice,” Loudon told the former Fox News anchor. “And I asked President Trump if I could come to the White House and talk to him about it.”
Loudon said that she and right-wing journalist John Solomon, who helped craft Trump’s Ukraine conspiracy that falsely accused the nation of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, “made their pitch” for what they saw as “our vision for Real America’s Voice.”
“We were rebranding at that point from America’s Voice to Real America’s Voice because I kept hearing President Trump kind of confuses Voice of America with America’s Voice, and obviously those things were not related at all,” she said.
Trump would get “America’s Voice” mixed up with Voice of America, the federally funded network he has sought to dismantle. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
According to Loudon, Trump would get the right-wing outlet mixed up with the government-funded radio network, Voice of America (VOA), which Loudon claimed produced content that was “destructive to this nation.”
“It was confusing at the beginning, and thus we rebranded to Real America’s Voice,” she continued. “And President Trump definitely knows the difference at this point, but it was confusing.”
Trump signed an executive order in March against the network, which he dubbed “The Voice of Radical America,” the White House stating that this order would “ensure that taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.”
In defense of the president’s decision, the White House cited articles VOA had written, like “What Is ‘White Privilege’ and Whom Does It Help?” and a 2020 lawsuit that claimed that the network had “been infiltrated by anti-American, pro-Islamic state interests” and that its message “had been compromised in a manner that was biased toward the Islamic state factions in Iran.”
As a result, over 85 percent of VOA employees, meaning around 1,400 staffers, have been put on leave since Trump’s executive order went into effect in March. Many have since sued Lake and the Trump administration arguing that the massive cuts were unlawful.
Loudon noted Wednesday that VOA’s content was what spurred the president to call Lake, “one of his most trusted” friends, who would “come in and to upend this, and reinvent this whole thing.”
“What a great name, Voice of America,” Lake remarked. “Unfortunately they haven’t been telling the true story of America, putting [its] best foot forward to the world.”
“This is an outlet that only puts out news to the world, it’s not meant for people here in America. It’s to push out what America is about and America’s story to the world, and they haven’t been doing that,” she said.
Trump appointed former Fox News anchor Kari Lake as Senior Advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Caitlin O’Hara/AFP via Getty Images
Lake added that “I believe that what the president has called for, which is to eliminate the agency, is the right thing to do.”
Trump originally appointed the election conspiracist, who has previously denounced the “fake news” for spending “the last eight years lying about President Donald Trump and his amazing patriotic supporters,” to lead VOA in December.
Though that position ultimately fell through, Lake’s role as senior advisor at USAGM has allowed her to make significant changes to VOA, like having it partner with conservative network One America News (OAN), which has spread disinformation about the 2020 election, to distribute its programs.
“This is an enormous benefit to the American taxpayer, who is the sole-source of funding for USAGM’s news outlets, which broadcast only to international audiences,” she wrote in an X post announcing the new partnership.
“In my current role as Senior Advisor to USAGM, I don’t have editorial control over the content of VOA and OCB programming, but I can ensure our outlets have reliable and credible options as they work to craft their reporting and news programs,” she said.
🚨ANNOUNCEMENT🚨
“United States Agency for Global Media (USAGM) is excited to announce a partnership with One America News Network (OAN) to provide newsfeed services to USAGM networks, including Office of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB), Radio Martí, and Voice of America (VOA).
This…— Kari Lake (@KariLake) May 7, 2025