Yes, we do have a weak-kneed journalism establishment, and they do bear a lot of responsibility for what has happened to us. But some of us let it happen. Some of us wanted it to happen. And some of us don't yet understand what's happened, and don't care. In any event, the warnings were, and are, out there for any motivated citizen to read. Nobody depends on the New York Times or CBS news for their main perspective on world events. It's 2025.
Count the media in the same league as Congress and quit worrying about where they are, what they're thinking, who is controlling them and move on. Please.
I became very disillusioned with Margaret Sullivan's latest Substack post where she seems fixated on the idea that public editors and ombudsmen are the solution to the problem of media cowardice.
And this was what made me cancel my subscription: "But what to do? I’ll leave you with this thought: The only thing that really matters now are elections, both next year and in 2028. Short of revolution in the streets — highly unlikely — voting is the only way out of this metastasizing mess. That and some enlightened leadership."
Elections are our only hope? That's ridiculous. No one ever voted out a dictator. And why is revolution in the streets "highly unlikely"?
Agreed! Unfortunately when the Democrats call it like it is, an authoritarian regime, critics accuse them of just being bad losers after the election. Why do we forget that the MAJORITY of those who voted did NOT vote for Trump!
Find these words have been resonating for 217 days.
“History may not repeat the exact same events, but the same patterns tend to emerge over time, if you don’t learn from it.” ~ Mark Twain
The normalization of Nazi behavior was a systematic and multi-faceted process that gradually made extreme ideology and horrific policies palatable and acceptable to many Germans. Rather than being an overnight shift, it was a methodical dismantling of democratic institutions and social norms, replacing them with a new reality centered on Nazi values.
This process involved several key strategies:
* Controlling the flow of information: Under Joseph Goebbels's Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, the Nazis seized control of nearly all media, including radio, newspapers, and film. They suppressed independent voices and saturated the public with pro-Nazi, antisemitic, and nationalist messaging. Propaganda was used to disguise political aims and depict Germany as a victim to justify aggression.
* Indoctrination of youth: The Nazis understood that controlling the education of the young was key to their long-term goals. Through compulsory Hitler Youth membership and a revised curriculum in schools, they taught racial ideology and nationalist doctrine to create a generation loyal to the Nazi cause.
* Creating a "people's community" (Volksgemeinschaft): The regime created mass organizations for different parts of society, such as workers and women, to foster a sense of connection and allegiance to the Nazi government. While promising to unite Germans, this strategy simultaneously excluded anyone deemed "non-Aryan," including Jewish people.
* Enacting laws to legalize persecution: To avoid the appearance of lawlessness to order-minded Germans, the Nazis wrote their discriminatory and oppressive policies into new laws. Examples include the "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" and the Nuremberg Race Laws, which stripped Jews of their rights and institutionalized Nazi racial theory. This legal veneer made persecution seem legitimate and sanctioned by the state.
* The banality of evil: As detailed in Hannah Arendt's work, the Nazis enabled atrocities by breaking down the process of genocide into small, seemingly benign tasks. People who simply focused on their specific roles within the system could morally disengage from the horrific outcomes. This created a system where ordinary people could become complicit without feeling direct responsibility for the larger, morally reprehensible actions.
* Framing terror as justified: The Nazis used fear and terror to control the population, but framed their violence as a necessary measure for social order and national security. The actions of the SS and other police forces were used to suppress dissent and intimidate anyone who opposed the regime
This slow and deliberate normalization process illustrates how a society can gradually accept extreme and heinous acts. As noted by Hannah Arendt, the tendency to adopt judgments without critical thinking allows evil to flourish and become "the new normal".
The banality of evil, a term coined by the German-born American philosopher and theorist Hannah Arendt, which I read decades ago, brings me to a new understanding today.
The idea of people getting so wrapped up in propaganda and a sense of doing what they are programmed to do, rooted in living from paycheck to paycheck, disconnected from society, and just making it through the day so they can provide a good life for themselves and those around them, is at the heart of my fear.
Evil deeds are committed not because we, the mass of ordinary people, believe in evil but because an idea, purely evil in origin, is manipulated by a political regime and whitewashed to a point where such thoughts are not questioned. Nazi Germany serves as the prime example, where the greatest evil was not what the Nazis did, but rather “what people ‘DID NOT’ do by passively following orders.”
This is roughly Arendt’s definition of the banality of evil…
The Russian regime slaughtering Ukrainians is happening because of the deeply rooted propaganda of Putin, a modern-day example of the banality of evil. The same goes for Netanyahu on the continued annihilation of Gaza the banality of evil. Does anyone wonder why there was a double Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza killing 20 people including journalists and health workers. The five journalists worked for international media outlets, including the Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye.
The National Guard has been “deployed” to Los Angeles California. “Deployed” to our nations capital Washington DC. And now being “deployed” to Chicago then to Baltimore and onto New York. Our own military forces “deployed” on our land against our own people. All under the guise of what is absurdly called “Law and Order”. When was the last time the military was taught to fight crime, or to investigate crime? What is our military trained to do? Let this fill the air as a thought bubble above your heads. Anyone can try to justify the abductions of human beings from our streets placed in detention centers under horrific conditions because of the color of their skin or because you feel that immigrants have unjustly caused you some harm. It’s incredible to do so but have seen it with my own eyes and ears. The absurdity is beyond consciousness. Guess what that is the same premise that Hitler and his regime got away with when demeaning the Jews. Let alone all the other assaults made these past 217 days on universities, journalists, media, law firms, judges, political opponents, museums, history, education, social services, healthcare, on and on can go.
We have long passed the tipping point not just internally but with foreign affairs… when a government at one time was rooted in freedom, democracy, and free-thinking/free speech switches sides in the middle of a war, from Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, it’s time to panic. The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with a card game. It has everything to do with an evil country Russia invading another sovereign country’s territory that history shows nothing good comes from invasions. When our leader of our country at one time that was rooted in freedom, democracy, and free-thinking/free speech does not condemn the continued slaughter and starvation that is occurring in Gaza by Benjamin Netanyahu. Again its way past the time to panic. The condemnation that should be made is not anti-semantic it’s the difference between good versus evil. The crime being unleashed by Netanyahu is what occurred to his ancestors in Germany staring in 1933.
For all of us once the individual ceases to think, they follow the crowd and accept what comes their way, like all their comrades. The most dangerous evil is one that’s seen as trivial.
My mind becomes overstimulated, silence is hard to come by as the days unfold in my mind. Lost in thought, perhaps despair, anger and disgust… or perhaps in the resolution that we all need to wake up. It’s been way past time for all to wake up.
The voice of this silence belongs to the incredible Hannah Arendt. Her words float above us, whispering in the void:
“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind
CULTURE IN THE THIRD REICH: DISSEMINATING THE NAZI WORLDVIEW
I don’t generally doubt you, but according to Jay Kuo, the regime actually is not ignoring every court order. Which shows that our efforts in court matter.
Of course they matter. Everything matters. Resistance matters.
But the fact of the matter is so far The Supreme Court never went home in June and continued cranking out opinions on unargued cases before the Court without standard deminimus explanation. We have a very serious situation on our hands.
Sadly, it won't happen. Their owners are too concerned about their bottom lines. Their strategy -- obvious to anyone paying the least bit of attention -- is to placate Trump. Don't ask questions he doesn't like. Don't call him out. They expect to be punished if they do -- exactly as we told them he would do it he were re-elected. They shrugged their shoulders. Now their goose is cooked.
YOU are the new journalism. Heather Cox Richardson is the new journalism (a title she disavows; she's a trained historian, after all, but she's practicing journalism even so.) Aaron Parnas is the new journalism. MeidasTouch is the new journalism. Along with dozens of others. People who don't have FCC licenses. People who don't have corporate backing.
You could do us all a great favor by highlighting the best of the bunch, as well as traditional outlets, if any, that are still doing their jobs.
But corporate owned legacy media -- NYT, WaPo, the Networks, Cable News -- have lost all credibility. I only pay attention to them to the extent that they are filtered through independent voices like those mentioned above.
You need to start worrying (if you are not already) about your personal safety and freedom. Trump's stormtroopers will be coming for you soon. The Fourth Reich is here, and anyone who think Trump will allow the elections in November 2026 to proceed normally is a naive fool. Martial law is coming before then.
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." - Voltaire
I recommend that people read Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception. Basically, Trump and the people behind him are following the model of Weimar jurist Carl Schmitt. His most famous dictum is "He is sovereign who declares the state of exception." "Sovereign" = the unitary president. Schmitt wrote the justification for Hitler's Enabling Act. And he is a hero of the Federalist Society. This is not news to the media; as Dan points out, they simply choose not to acknowledge it. The question now is: How do we get out of this? And what kind of society do we want to be after this is over?
David French has a very interesting opinion piece in the NYT about Article II, which made Trump's usurpation possible:
Meh, Article II didn’t make Trump’s usurpation possible. Article II is nothing but words on paper, and the unitary executive theory is actually a totally modern invention that requires its proponents to ignore portions of the constitutional text that plainly contradicts the theory and makes some of its specific tenets utterly nonsensical. It survives and has risen to prominence not because of Article II, but because people and institutions in this country have allowed it to become prominent.
As Justice Learned Hand once said, “liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.” The spirit of liberty is good and dead in the hearts of far too many people in this country, and a critical mass of Americans will no longer recognize any legitimate check upon an ideologically friendly executive’s actions. The authority for this theory of executive power is based on a warped and bad faith reading of the opening provision in Article II, which they simply interpret in a manner consistent with their already existing ideological beliefs and theories of executive power, to expand the presidents authority and infringe on the powers of all other branches, the states, and reject any other possible limitations on the executive, even those limitations expressly stated in the Constitution.
For instance, unitary executive theory proponents assert that the president’s Article II duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” entails an exclusive discretionary power to decide which laws to enforce or not to enforce. However, while some degree of law enforcement discretion is inherently part of a presidents authority, the scope and nature of the take care duty is clearly not a matter entirely subject to presidential discretion, as he must “take care” that the laws are “faithfully executed” and thus has duties to act in good faith and execute the laws where the context and circumstances of such deprive him any discretion and refrain from outright violations or disregard of the laws, authority, or frameworks established by Congress.
Under this correct reading of Article II, the “take care” clause doesn’t let loose the president to command the actions any executive branch employee to violate the law or control the executive subject only to his discretion, when Congress is expressly authorized and empowered to pass laws on various areas provided for congress to legislate under Article I, including to structure the executive agencies and departments, for the the executive to oversee in accordance with the laws and parameters provided by Congress. The President does not have the authority to command executive branch employees to violate the law or the authority granted to them by Congress, and his take obligations are more analogous to an oversight role over all executive branch employees, rather than the command structure embraced by Trump and the unitary executive clowns. Either or both Congress and the Courts should prevent the president from abusing his authority under this absurd reading of Article II, but both have abandoned the spirit of liberty themselves and willingly forfeited their constitutional powers over to Trump, and have essentially endorsed the unitary executives absurd theory of power. They are the ones who ultimately make this possible, not the language of Article II.
All good ideas for journalism. Another good idea for journalism is to explicate for the American public the difference between the common good (ie the lives of its citizens) v. the good of corporations and their bottom lines. The way corporations have captured both government and news media is the reason people are not getting the right information and the tools for taking responsive measures to the authoritarianism threatening them.
I nearly burst into tears reading a Wired Magazine report about DOGE six months ago when the reporter used this phrase: "the significance of this fact is this.....". It had been so long since any news report has bothered to break down an event in this way. This is how Trump has been allowed to intentionally misrepresent the significance of facts and have everyday people swallow that misrepresentation whole.
Journalists must stop this ridiculous posture that there is some prime directive preventing them from explaining why a fact or event is a bad thing for us.
I already see a new media emerging on places like Substack and YouTube. A lot of people started doing commentary, and in this they were not so different from what happens pretty regularly on MSNBC. But now some of these outlets are actually starting to break news.
Right now these these channels are obviously very diffuse and don't have anything like the money that the Washington Post and the New York Times have. But I expect that they will increasingly displace traditional media, especially if traditional media can't bring themselves to report what is plainly obvious to everyone. You cannot be the "paper of record" If you refuse to report the biggest story of the century.
Not denial, complicit.
Yes, we do have a weak-kneed journalism establishment, and they do bear a lot of responsibility for what has happened to us. But some of us let it happen. Some of us wanted it to happen. And some of us don't yet understand what's happened, and don't care. In any event, the warnings were, and are, out there for any motivated citizen to read. Nobody depends on the New York Times or CBS news for their main perspective on world events. It's 2025.
Count the media in the same league as Congress and quit worrying about where they are, what they're thinking, who is controlling them and move on. Please.
I became very disillusioned with Margaret Sullivan's latest Substack post where she seems fixated on the idea that public editors and ombudsmen are the solution to the problem of media cowardice.
And this was what made me cancel my subscription: "But what to do? I’ll leave you with this thought: The only thing that really matters now are elections, both next year and in 2028. Short of revolution in the streets — highly unlikely — voting is the only way out of this metastasizing mess. That and some enlightened leadership."
Elections are our only hope? That's ridiculous. No one ever voted out a dictator. And why is revolution in the streets "highly unlikely"?
They’re in compliance — huge difference.
Agreed! Unfortunately when the Democrats call it like it is, an authoritarian regime, critics accuse them of just being bad losers after the election. Why do we forget that the MAJORITY of those who voted did NOT vote for Trump!
Brilliant commentary, your commentary should be widely distributed. Who are you?
Dan Froomkin is a Washington DC journalist with standards! Now positioning himself as observer critic and prescriber of the right ways forward
Find these words have been resonating for 217 days.
“History may not repeat the exact same events, but the same patterns tend to emerge over time, if you don’t learn from it.” ~ Mark Twain
The normalization of Nazi behavior was a systematic and multi-faceted process that gradually made extreme ideology and horrific policies palatable and acceptable to many Germans. Rather than being an overnight shift, it was a methodical dismantling of democratic institutions and social norms, replacing them with a new reality centered on Nazi values.
This process involved several key strategies:
* Controlling the flow of information: Under Joseph Goebbels's Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, the Nazis seized control of nearly all media, including radio, newspapers, and film. They suppressed independent voices and saturated the public with pro-Nazi, antisemitic, and nationalist messaging. Propaganda was used to disguise political aims and depict Germany as a victim to justify aggression.
* Indoctrination of youth: The Nazis understood that controlling the education of the young was key to their long-term goals. Through compulsory Hitler Youth membership and a revised curriculum in schools, they taught racial ideology and nationalist doctrine to create a generation loyal to the Nazi cause.
* Creating a "people's community" (Volksgemeinschaft): The regime created mass organizations for different parts of society, such as workers and women, to foster a sense of connection and allegiance to the Nazi government. While promising to unite Germans, this strategy simultaneously excluded anyone deemed "non-Aryan," including Jewish people.
* Enacting laws to legalize persecution: To avoid the appearance of lawlessness to order-minded Germans, the Nazis wrote their discriminatory and oppressive policies into new laws. Examples include the "Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" and the Nuremberg Race Laws, which stripped Jews of their rights and institutionalized Nazi racial theory. This legal veneer made persecution seem legitimate and sanctioned by the state.
* The banality of evil: As detailed in Hannah Arendt's work, the Nazis enabled atrocities by breaking down the process of genocide into small, seemingly benign tasks. People who simply focused on their specific roles within the system could morally disengage from the horrific outcomes. This created a system where ordinary people could become complicit without feeling direct responsibility for the larger, morally reprehensible actions.
* Framing terror as justified: The Nazis used fear and terror to control the population, but framed their violence as a necessary measure for social order and national security. The actions of the SS and other police forces were used to suppress dissent and intimidate anyone who opposed the regime
This slow and deliberate normalization process illustrates how a society can gradually accept extreme and heinous acts. As noted by Hannah Arendt, the tendency to adopt judgments without critical thinking allows evil to flourish and become "the new normal".
The banality of evil, a term coined by the German-born American philosopher and theorist Hannah Arendt, which I read decades ago, brings me to a new understanding today.
The idea of people getting so wrapped up in propaganda and a sense of doing what they are programmed to do, rooted in living from paycheck to paycheck, disconnected from society, and just making it through the day so they can provide a good life for themselves and those around them, is at the heart of my fear.
Evil deeds are committed not because we, the mass of ordinary people, believe in evil but because an idea, purely evil in origin, is manipulated by a political regime and whitewashed to a point where such thoughts are not questioned. Nazi Germany serves as the prime example, where the greatest evil was not what the Nazis did, but rather “what people ‘DID NOT’ do by passively following orders.”
This is roughly Arendt’s definition of the banality of evil…
The Russian regime slaughtering Ukrainians is happening because of the deeply rooted propaganda of Putin, a modern-day example of the banality of evil. The same goes for Netanyahu on the continued annihilation of Gaza the banality of evil. Does anyone wonder why there was a double Israeli strike on a hospital in Gaza killing 20 people including journalists and health workers. The five journalists worked for international media outlets, including the Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye.
The National Guard has been “deployed” to Los Angeles California. “Deployed” to our nations capital Washington DC. And now being “deployed” to Chicago then to Baltimore and onto New York. Our own military forces “deployed” on our land against our own people. All under the guise of what is absurdly called “Law and Order”. When was the last time the military was taught to fight crime, or to investigate crime? What is our military trained to do? Let this fill the air as a thought bubble above your heads. Anyone can try to justify the abductions of human beings from our streets placed in detention centers under horrific conditions because of the color of their skin or because you feel that immigrants have unjustly caused you some harm. It’s incredible to do so but have seen it with my own eyes and ears. The absurdity is beyond consciousness. Guess what that is the same premise that Hitler and his regime got away with when demeaning the Jews. Let alone all the other assaults made these past 217 days on universities, journalists, media, law firms, judges, political opponents, museums, history, education, social services, healthcare, on and on can go.
We have long passed the tipping point not just internally but with foreign affairs… when a government at one time was rooted in freedom, democracy, and free-thinking/free speech switches sides in the middle of a war, from Ukraine to Vladimir Putin, it’s time to panic. The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with a card game. It has everything to do with an evil country Russia invading another sovereign country’s territory that history shows nothing good comes from invasions. When our leader of our country at one time that was rooted in freedom, democracy, and free-thinking/free speech does not condemn the continued slaughter and starvation that is occurring in Gaza by Benjamin Netanyahu. Again its way past the time to panic. The condemnation that should be made is not anti-semantic it’s the difference between good versus evil. The crime being unleashed by Netanyahu is what occurred to his ancestors in Germany staring in 1933.
For all of us once the individual ceases to think, they follow the crowd and accept what comes their way, like all their comrades. The most dangerous evil is one that’s seen as trivial.
My mind becomes overstimulated, silence is hard to come by as the days unfold in my mind. Lost in thought, perhaps despair, anger and disgust… or perhaps in the resolution that we all need to wake up. It’s been way past time for all to wake up.
The voice of this silence belongs to the incredible Hannah Arendt. Her words float above us, whispering in the void:
“The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind
CULTURE IN THE THIRD REICH: DISSEMINATING THE NAZI WORLDVIEW
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/culture-in-the-third-reich-disseminating-the-nazi-worldview#:~:text=Music,-Link%20copied&text=In%20music%2C%20the%20Nazi%20cultural,party%20and%20its%20ideological%20tenets.
Conformity and Consent in the National Community
https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/conformity-consent-national-community#:~:text=While%20the%20Nazis%20were%20clear,and%20conformity%2C%20persuasion%20and%20dissent.
NAZI PROPAGANDA
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda#:~:text=The%20Nazi%20regime%20used%20propaganda,targeted%20persecution%20and%20mass%20murder.
The Reconstruction of Justice in Post-Nazi Western Germany
https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/justice-in-post-nazi-western-germany#:~:text=Like%20so%20many%20authoritarian%20regimes,destroying%20a%20democratic%20justice%20system.
I don’t generally doubt you, but according to Jay Kuo, the regime actually is not ignoring every court order. Which shows that our efforts in court matter.
Of course they matter. Everything matters. Resistance matters.
But the fact of the matter is so far The Supreme Court never went home in June and continued cranking out opinions on unargued cases before the Court without standard deminimus explanation. We have a very serious situation on our hands.
Thank you. That is well-observed. Alas.
We still have the state governments.
Sadly, it won't happen. Their owners are too concerned about their bottom lines. Their strategy -- obvious to anyone paying the least bit of attention -- is to placate Trump. Don't ask questions he doesn't like. Don't call him out. They expect to be punished if they do -- exactly as we told them he would do it he were re-elected. They shrugged their shoulders. Now their goose is cooked.
YOU are the new journalism. Heather Cox Richardson is the new journalism (a title she disavows; she's a trained historian, after all, but she's practicing journalism even so.) Aaron Parnas is the new journalism. MeidasTouch is the new journalism. Along with dozens of others. People who don't have FCC licenses. People who don't have corporate backing.
You could do us all a great favor by highlighting the best of the bunch, as well as traditional outlets, if any, that are still doing their jobs.
But corporate owned legacy media -- NYT, WaPo, the Networks, Cable News -- have lost all credibility. I only pay attention to them to the extent that they are filtered through independent voices like those mentioned above.
Thanks for always hitting the nail on the head.
Mr. Froomkin,
You need to start worrying (if you are not already) about your personal safety and freedom. Trump's stormtroopers will be coming for you soon. The Fourth Reich is here, and anyone who think Trump will allow the elections in November 2026 to proceed normally is a naive fool. Martial law is coming before then.
"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." - Voltaire
one of your best, thanks...
I recommend that people read Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception. Basically, Trump and the people behind him are following the model of Weimar jurist Carl Schmitt. His most famous dictum is "He is sovereign who declares the state of exception." "Sovereign" = the unitary president. Schmitt wrote the justification for Hitler's Enabling Act. And he is a hero of the Federalist Society. This is not news to the media; as Dan points out, they simply choose not to acknowledge it. The question now is: How do we get out of this? And what kind of society do we want to be after this is over?
David French has a very interesting opinion piece in the NYT about Article II, which made Trump's usurpation possible:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/opinion/trump-constitution-unitary-executive.html?unlocked_article_code=1.g08.Gw0G.WDAV6x_LlLXi&smid=url-share
Meh, Article II didn’t make Trump’s usurpation possible. Article II is nothing but words on paper, and the unitary executive theory is actually a totally modern invention that requires its proponents to ignore portions of the constitutional text that plainly contradicts the theory and makes some of its specific tenets utterly nonsensical. It survives and has risen to prominence not because of Article II, but because people and institutions in this country have allowed it to become prominent.
As Justice Learned Hand once said, “liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.” The spirit of liberty is good and dead in the hearts of far too many people in this country, and a critical mass of Americans will no longer recognize any legitimate check upon an ideologically friendly executive’s actions. The authority for this theory of executive power is based on a warped and bad faith reading of the opening provision in Article II, which they simply interpret in a manner consistent with their already existing ideological beliefs and theories of executive power, to expand the presidents authority and infringe on the powers of all other branches, the states, and reject any other possible limitations on the executive, even those limitations expressly stated in the Constitution.
For instance, unitary executive theory proponents assert that the president’s Article II duty to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed” entails an exclusive discretionary power to decide which laws to enforce or not to enforce. However, while some degree of law enforcement discretion is inherently part of a presidents authority, the scope and nature of the take care duty is clearly not a matter entirely subject to presidential discretion, as he must “take care” that the laws are “faithfully executed” and thus has duties to act in good faith and execute the laws where the context and circumstances of such deprive him any discretion and refrain from outright violations or disregard of the laws, authority, or frameworks established by Congress.
Under this correct reading of Article II, the “take care” clause doesn’t let loose the president to command the actions any executive branch employee to violate the law or control the executive subject only to his discretion, when Congress is expressly authorized and empowered to pass laws on various areas provided for congress to legislate under Article I, including to structure the executive agencies and departments, for the the executive to oversee in accordance with the laws and parameters provided by Congress. The President does not have the authority to command executive branch employees to violate the law or the authority granted to them by Congress, and his take obligations are more analogous to an oversight role over all executive branch employees, rather than the command structure embraced by Trump and the unitary executive clowns. Either or both Congress and the Courts should prevent the president from abusing his authority under this absurd reading of Article II, but both have abandoned the spirit of liberty themselves and willingly forfeited their constitutional powers over to Trump, and have essentially endorsed the unitary executives absurd theory of power. They are the ones who ultimately make this possible, not the language of Article II.
All good ideas for journalism. Another good idea for journalism is to explicate for the American public the difference between the common good (ie the lives of its citizens) v. the good of corporations and their bottom lines. The way corporations have captured both government and news media is the reason people are not getting the right information and the tools for taking responsive measures to the authoritarianism threatening them.
I nearly burst into tears reading a Wired Magazine report about DOGE six months ago when the reporter used this phrase: "the significance of this fact is this.....". It had been so long since any news report has bothered to break down an event in this way. This is how Trump has been allowed to intentionally misrepresent the significance of facts and have everyday people swallow that misrepresentation whole.
Journalists must stop this ridiculous posture that there is some prime directive preventing them from explaining why a fact or event is a bad thing for us.
I already see a new media emerging on places like Substack and YouTube. A lot of people started doing commentary, and in this they were not so different from what happens pretty regularly on MSNBC. But now some of these outlets are actually starting to break news.
Right now these these channels are obviously very diffuse and don't have anything like the money that the Washington Post and the New York Times have. But I expect that they will increasingly displace traditional media, especially if traditional media can't bring themselves to report what is plainly obvious to everyone. You cannot be the "paper of record" If you refuse to report the biggest story of the century.