Yesterday, I wrote about Barton Gellman’s article on The Atlantic website titled “Trump’s next coup has already begun.”
“There is a clear and present danger that American democracy will not withstand the destructive forces that are now converging upon it,” Gellman writes. "Our two-party system has only one party left that is willing to lose an election. The other is willing to win at the cost of breaking things that a democracy cannot live without.
“We face a serious risk that American democracy as we know it will come to an end in 2024, but urgent action is not happening,” Richard Hasen, a professor of law and political science at UC Irvine is quoted in the article as saying.
Why?
Well, when it comes to people like me who were trained as journalists, Gellman says in an NPR interview:
"You're accustomed, as a mainstream journalist, to not taking sides in a political dispute and not being for or against any political party. But what we're for as journalists is truth. And what we're for as journalists is democracy. We are unambiguously in favor of our democratic system and of allowing the people to choose their own leaders.
"And the conundrum is that right now we have a political party that is bowing to authoritarian forces, that is systematically lying about the political process, about the election process itself. And so we're not — I'm not trying to advance the interests of the Democratic Party in my reporting.
“There is a clear and present danger that American democracy will not withstand the destructive forces that are now converging upon it,” Gellman writes. "Our two-party system has only one party left that is willing to lose an election. The other is willing to win at the cost of breaking things that a democracy cannot live without.
“We face a serious risk that American democracy as we know it will come to an end in 2024, but urgent action is not happening,” Richard Hasen, a professor of law and political science at UC Irvine is quoted in the article as saying.
Why?
Well, when it comes to people like me who were trained as journalists, Gellman says in an NPR interview:
"You're accustomed, as a mainstream journalist, to not taking sides in a political dispute and not being for or against any political party. But what we're for as journalists is truth. And what we're for as journalists is democracy. We are unambiguously in favor of our democratic system and of allowing the people to choose their own leaders.
"And the conundrum is that right now we have a political party that is bowing to authoritarian forces, that is systematically lying about the political process, about the election process itself. And so we're not — I'm not trying to advance the interests of the Democratic Party in my reporting.
"But we have only one party right now that is small-D democratic. We have only one party that is prepared to lose a legitimate election and another one that's prepared to win by sacrificing the essential elements of democracy. And so I am calling out the mainstream of the Republican Party for its lies and for its election subversion in a way that tonally is different from what I could have imagined writing 10 or 20 years ago.”
"If [our democracy] is to stand, its defenders have to rouse themselves," Gellman says.
I believe in balanced reporting and journalism that’s as objective as possible and is fair to everybody. I hope that’s been clear to those of you who’ve been reading this blog over the years.
Authoritarians tend to be impatient with balanced, objective and fair journalism. President Trump certainly was.
I came to Washington many years ago to work for a Republican member of the House of Representatives. The depth and breadth of the chasm between the party then and now is beyond my ability to describe.
This blog is all about what it means to be a citizen in this democracy.
For me, that means it’s time to change my “mainstream journalist” approach. For example, I rarely run opinion articles because there’s no on-one-hand-and-on-the-other-hand balance. But mainstream journalism isn’t calling out the Republican Party as seems to be critically needed right now, and I’ll be running opinion pieces and other work by people who are.
If you come across articles, studies or reports you think our fellow citizens need to be aware of, please send them to me.
"If [our democracy] is to stand, its defenders have to rouse themselves," Gellman says.
I believe in balanced reporting and journalism that’s as objective as possible and is fair to everybody. I hope that’s been clear to those of you who’ve been reading this blog over the years.
Authoritarians tend to be impatient with balanced, objective and fair journalism. President Trump certainly was.
I came to Washington many years ago to work for a Republican member of the House of Representatives. The depth and breadth of the chasm between the party then and now is beyond my ability to describe.
This blog is all about what it means to be a citizen in this democracy.
For me, that means it’s time to change my “mainstream journalist” approach. For example, I rarely run opinion articles because there’s no on-one-hand-and-on-the-other-hand balance. But mainstream journalism isn’t calling out the Republican Party as seems to be critically needed right now, and I’ll be running opinion pieces and other work by people who are.
If you come across articles, studies or reports you think our fellow citizens need to be aware of, please send them to me.
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