You can't cover Washington accurately and not mention white supremacy

Media fails to sufficiently call out the racism that permeates Republican rule

It’s becoming increasingly clear that white supremacy is one of the core animating principles of the Republicans who control all three branches of government.

Consider the headlines over the last few days:

• Six right-wing Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared sympathetic to the view that white voters are being discriminated against by measures intended to assure Black voters equal representation.

• The Trump White House is considering an overhaul of the refugee system that would favor white people.

• Leaked messages exposed racist chat among young GOP leaders.

Also consider that the ever-more-brutal assaults and abductions by federal agents, in the name of immigration enforcement, have been almost entirely directed at Black or brown people. (While sweeping up at least 170 U.S. citizens, according to ProPublica.)

And don’t forget the stream of white supremacist propaganda from Trump’s own mouth, calling Black people “low IQ” and complaining about white victimization.

We know all these things because we read and hear about them in the news, which is good.

And yet, the coverage is falling terribly short.

Mainstream journalists are not using the proper terms – like white supremacy, or white Christian nationalism, or white ethnostate. It’s rare that they even use the word racist. They are not connecting the dots and explaining how white supremacy underlies many different Republican policy goals, from immigration to voting rights to dismantling the safety net. And they are not reminding the public of how white supremacy is antithetical to core American values including equality and pluralism.

The New York Times, to its credit, hinted at the problem in its Thursday print edition, leading with two chilling articles: “Supreme Court Appears Skeptical of Key Provision of Voting Rights Act” and “Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People.”

The facts were clearly laid out, but neither article even used the words “racism” or “white supremacy”, much less contextualized these views as grotesque violations of basic moral values.

In the article about refugee policy, one critic was quoted as saying that to the Trump administration, the only “true Americans” are white people and Christians. But there was no subsequent paragraph explaining why that’s so wrong.

As usual, all that context is left for the reader to bring to the story. And perhaps many readers do that. But it should be spelled out so that everyone fully understands. The dots should be connected so that everyone gets the full picture.

Meanwhile, signs are that corporate media is going to pay even less attention to the various Republican crusades against the marginalized going forward. The Wrap reported that NBC News caved to anti-DEI pressure from the Trump administration and eliminated its teams dedicated to covering issues affecting Black, Asian American, Latino and LGBTQ+ groups on Wednesday, as part of a cost-cutting layoff. That’s going in the wrong direction.

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See also: “Mainstream media inches closer to addressing Trump’s racism,” May 22, 2025 and “Political reporters are actively covering up Trump’s racism,” January 30, 2025.