Donald Trump's remaking of the federal government into a fascist personality cult continues apace. Surprising exactly no one, NPR reports that two of Trump's new political hires have compiled a confidential "report" on Voice of America's (VoA) White House Bureau Chief Steve Herman, accusing him of being unfair to Donald Dear Leader in his reporting. They presented their report to VoA acting director Elez Biberaj "for action."
Oh, and this is almost certainly illegal, not that anyone in Trump's fascist little cult gives a damn. Government political hires are barred from politically influencing VoA reporting, which a retaliatory report against Herman charging him with thought-crimes for not liking Dear Leader enough would seem to violate. The two Trump hires, Frank Wuco and Sam Dewey, wouldn't talk to NPR about their "report," though the agency apparently sent out one of the usual spokestoads to explain why this was actually no big deal.
Trump's new explicitly partisan enforcers for Voice of America and the federal agency that oversees it, the U.S. Agency of Global Media (USAGM), have been making names for themselves with similar insertions of their own political goals into VoA reporting. Trump's new USAGM CEO, Michael Pack, is a Steve Bannon-associated hack who has earned the ire of even the agency's previous Republican hires. NPR has previously reported that Pack "openly broods over questions of loyalty" in his agency, and he is described as—go figure, for a Bannon-linked Trump hire—something of an obsessed and "paranoid" lunatic.
What's been clear in every agency, from William Barr's Department of "Justice" down to this trio of minor but devoted crackpots, is that Trump hires based on a willingness to break laws on his behalf. That a given federal worker might be protected by law from being retaliated against for political reasons does not enter their heads. It is not a concern. Trump has pardon power, and seemingly every low-tier sycophant in his orbit appears to genuinely believe that Trump will use his power to reward them, personally, for tearing up the place—and that Trump will be in office forever, thus solving all problems that may crop up down the road.
We'll see.