The press must get across to American citizens the crucial importance of this election and the dangers of a Trump win. They don’t need to surrender their journalistic independence to do so or be “in the tank” for Biden or anyone else.
It’s now clearer than ever that Trump, if elected, will use the federal government to go after his political rivals and critics, even deploying the military toward that end. His allies are hatching plans to invoke the Insurrection Act on day one.
Through the time, the media has changed. No so long ago, it was to inform the population of what was happening outside. The news freedom is important at this point. It allows everyone to build an opinion, and it’s a counter power to the state. The last decade saw a radical change in how we use the media. It’s for a good part of them about making money. Where money was critical to inform the population, this same money became critical to make profit. Internet accelerates the movement with the clicks and the views. The run to maximize the profit coming from the media ruined the quality of the articles behind the motto “more and shorter”.
I have little doubt that the country will end up as some version of Trump’s authoritarian state. The question is the timing.
I actually think that our best chance of avoiding it (in the long run) is another Trump victory. He will make those changes so abruptly that people will react far more strongly than if we slid into an authoritarian state gradually. I mean…think about the possibility of Trump having won in 2020. The DNC would have to accept that they need to nominate a truly progressive candidate, and people would be demanding change immediately. Instead, we’re justifying Biden/Harris again because they’re not Trump.
