Donald Trump's pick to lead the federal government's international news agency is an unhinged conspiracy theorist who lashes out at the press, hobnobs with far-right and antisemitic extremist outlets, and has criticized Fox News as “a globalist network.”

Trump announced Wednesday that he wants Kari Lake, a former TV news anchor who was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate and governor in Arizona over the last two election cycles, to serve as the director of the Voice of America in his next administration. VOA claims a weekly international audience of more than 350 million people across TV, radio, and digital platforms; U.S. officials say it promotes democratic values, including the free press, and serves as a counterweight to foreign propaganda.

It’s unclear whether Lake will ever actually ascend to the VOA post. It is unusual for a president to name someone for the position and there are statutory and bureaucratic guardrails that could stall or prevent her installation, as CNN’s Brian Stelter noted.

But Trump’s selection of Lake — who he asserted will “ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media” — is a nakedly partisan assault on journalistic values that demonstrates the level of fealty he expects from the press.

Lake’s 2022 gubernatorial campaign was a Fox-fueled fever dream. An obsequious backer of Trump and supporter of his election fraud lies, she campaigned alongside MAGA extremists and drew support from figures linked to QAnon and white nationalism.

She habitually attacked reporters during the campaign, describing them as “the right hand of the devil” and running an ad in which she said “it’s time to take a sledgehammer to the mainstream media’s lies and propaganda” before smashing several televisions depicting cable news hosts, whom she accused of following “a communist playbook.” On Election Day, she promised journalists that after she won, she would “be your worst fricking nightmare.”

Lake lost. But in true Trumpian fashion, she spent the next two years claiming the governorship had been stolen from her, even as courts savaged her complaints. 

As she prepared to run for Senate (even as she claimed to be Arizona’s rightfully elected governor), Lake expanded her attacks on the press to Fox itself. “Fox has proven that they are a globalist network,” she said on its competitor Newsmax in July 2023, adding that Fox supported the “uni-party swamp.” Speaking at this year’s Republican National Convention, she continued to go after the “fake news” for “lying about President Donald Trump and his amazing patriotic supporters.”

What type of media does Lake prefer? She is a friend and supporter of Laura Loomer, the deranged pro-Trump sycophant; praises the “massive following” of a QAnon show; embraces antisemitic streamers who sympathize with Nazis and claim that Jews are “taking over the world,” control the media, and “control us”; and cozies up to Brenden Dilley, the far-right podcaster who heads Trump’s “meme team.”

Lake would replace the journalist Michael Abramowitz if she actually becomes head of VOA. Abramowitz previously served as head of Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that supports journalists and human rights advocates, after more than two decades at The Washington Post. But Trump wants U.S. journalists pumping out propaganda, and Lake represents his bid to get it.