In the early 70’s, I produced and directed a daily talk show for the ABC station in Baltimore that reached into Washington DC. Like many talks shows of that era, we delighted in poking the Nixon Administration. On one occasion, after exposing an FBI screw-up, we received a call from the White House asking for copy of the show. The tone and timing of the call spoke volumes. As calls from the White House weren’t common I went upstairs to the executive offices and asked the VP what to do. He raised his eyebrows for a second or two, then told me to call back, tell them a copy of the show would cost $5000 and that a machine to play it on would cost over $100,000 (this was before VHS, DVD’s, or thumb drives). I called the White House and left the message, saying we’d make the copy once we heard back. We never heard back.
46 years later, when Trump first got elected, I worried. I was never a fan of Hillary Clinton, but Trump’s lies, narcissism, and ignorance seemed far scarier. When the Washington Post ran the slogan “Democracy dies in Darkness” in every paper, I was encouraged. The media will keep Trump in check, I thought. But, over the next four years, as Trump continued, unabated, the Washington Post’s reporting on his 30,000 lies had dwindling impact. Everyone became inured to it.
Now, 54 years later, as I watch Trump assembling his Cabinet of Sycophants, some of whom know even less about their area than Trump does, I see a horizon filling with darkness.
Just one recent example: Trump sued ABC for allowing George Stephanopoulos to call him a “rapist” on the air. He has since threatened to revoke licenses of broadcasters he deems too critical of him. He also appointed Brendan Carr to chair the outfit in charge of broadcast licenses, the Federal Communications Commission. Carr wrote the FCC chapter of Project 2025 and has criticized NBC and CBS for supporting Kamala Harris. Which may explain ABC’s $15 million dollar capitulation to Trump before the suit got to court.
Freedom of the Press, meet Freedom of the Lawsuit, wielded by the most powerful man in the country.
Which leaves us with the other two pillars designed to check presidential power and, when necessary, stop it: Congress and The Supreme Court.
We all know where the Supreme Court stands. Which leaves us with Congress. Oops!
But wait!…The Senate, with “advice and consent”, has to approve many Presidential Appointments. And it has a history of standing up to Presidents (remember McCain’s tie-breaking thumbs-down vote that saved ObamaCare?).
Maybe, when the White House calls, 51 Senators will not just snicker at the incompetence of Trump appointees, but actually have the courage to advise against some of them. Maybe that courage will inspire the Mainstream Media to, not just take back the mantle of keeping the public informed with real, verifiable, double-sourced facts, but stand up to Presidential power and autocracy. Morning, noon, and night. Every day, every week, every month.
Just as the authors of the Constitution intended.