We have become an authoritarian state, and our top newsrooms are in denial
14 days ago
- #authoritarianism
- #media-criticism
- #political-crisis
- The United States is described as having become an authoritarian state, with evidence including armed soldiers patrolling streets, abductions of immigrants, and attacks on election integrity.
- Political opponents are targeted, federal judges' orders ignored, and educational institutions coerced, with key government functions politicized and degraded.
- Trump's rhetoric includes serving an unconstitutional third term, with no guardrails in the executive branch, Congress, or Supreme Court to oppose him.
- Media organizations are criticized for not calling out the situation clearly, instead presenting it as normal politics rather than evidence of a corrupt dictatorship.
- Historians and media figures like Garrett Graff and Rachel Maddow have labeled the current state as authoritarianism or fascism, comparing it to historical precedents.
- Democrats, including the DNC chair, are increasingly blunt in calling Trump's regime authoritarian and fascist, urging media to recognize and report accordingly.
- Calls for a new kind of journalism that contextualizes events as part of an authoritarian state, monitors election integrity, and covers resistance movements.