‘President Trump seems to be having a bit of a time figuring out the right patronage job to give Media Research Center chief Brent Bozell for his quick flip in 2016 from denouncing Trump’s candidacy to enthusiastically endorsing it — which extended in 2020 to promoting his bogus conspiracy theories about election fraud and inventing its own conspiracy theories to support it (not to mention having his own son invade the Capitol as part of a riot). For the 2024 election, Bozell’s MRC privileged Republican lies, peddled false right-wing narratives and gave Trump a pass to exploit military families for political gain.
That dishonesty helped Trump win, and he was eager to reward Bozell for his partisan work. So in January, Trump nominated Bozell to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which operates governmental media efforts such has Radio Free Europe and Voice of America. Running what is effectively a propaganda operation would seem to be a good fit for Bozell, who is well-versed in peddling right-wing propaganda. Unfortunately for Bozell, Trump decided to dismantle VOA for no real reason.
So Bozell’s nomination to head the agency was withdrawn, and he was given a new mission: to be U.S. ambassador to South Africa. That seems like an odd fit until you remember that, as Talking Points Memo documented, Bozell was part of a right-wing coalition in the 1980s to support South Africa’s apartheid government and to oppose the African National Congress’ efforts to end the racist regime, as well as denouncing Nelson Mandela after his 2013 death. Meanwhile, Trump is slapping punitive tariffs on the majority-black South African government while building so-called refugee centers for white Afrikaners.
Will this nomination last, or will Bozell be shuffled off to a different location to cash in on his loyalty to Trump? We shall see.