As Election Day 2024 nears and almost certainty Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee, New York and DC corporate media and their progressive pundits and apostate conservatives have begun to hammer incessantly the belief that he is a threat to democracy.
That only Joe Biden and Democrats stand in the way from America having their last Election in 2024. Besides the lunacy of that statement, another humorous fact is how diabolically and desperately they are working overtime to keep third party candidates off the ballot, but that is a column for another day.
Regarding Trump and his perceived dictatorial ambitions, the evidence put forward by these self-proclaimed Guardians of Democracy is often flawed and leaves much to be desired, as they are too quick to jump from his intentions to the conclusion without showing how America’s institutions would crumble along the way. Some of the reasons for such omission have to do with poor judgment, but one in particular is cynical: The best pieces of evidence for how American institutions would allow presidential overreach come from both the Barack Obama and Joe Biden Administrations.
DREAM Act, legislation to give legal residency to those who came to the United States illegally as children and due to no fault of their own, became a signature issue for the Obama administration. Setting aside the merits of this policy, President Obama repeatedly stated that he had no authority to give them legal status, and Congress must pass legislation to that effect. Congress never did, so Obama used his infamous pen and phone to illegally DACA, having himself acknowledged that it would be illegal. Mainstream media celebrated this unlawful action and to this day remains a policy—for reasons that have to do with media complacency and the incompetence of the Trump administration to remove it. But one thing remains clear: Obama broke the law, acted like an authoritarian with no regard to the separation of powers, and got away with it while the mainstream media cheered.
During the current administration, this pattern has been repeated. Biden has ignored Congress several times to reach beyond its legal and Constitutional powers. Despite the end of the pandemic, Biden used emergency pandemic powers to advance progressive policies. Everybody agreed that extending the eviction moratorium beyond the pandemic was illegal, but Biden did so, nonetheless. Everybody agreed that forgiving student loans was unlawful, but he forgave them anyway to get the young voters to the voting booths ahead of the midterms. Each time, the mainstream media rushed to his defense in defense of those policies. Whether these are good or bad policies is a matter of opinion and judgment. That Biden was acting lawlessly was a matter of fact. But journalists, not having the facts on their side, deliberated over those policies, instead of reporting the facts.
Similarly, these writers warn that Trump erodes trust in our institutions and weakens the Constitutional guardrails against tyranny by doing so. Yet, when the courts issue opinions against Democrat and progressive preferences, especially on cases that have to do with abortion and race, they rush to undermine the courts, calling our jurists Trump judges and justices, and even going so far as to endorse court-packing. Seems sort of dictator-ish, doesn’t it?
Biden’s disgraceful acts go beyond policy overreach. From a court ruling, we now know that he censored information about Covid by threatening tech companies. As Americans were fighting for civil liberties against lockdowns, the administration was using the federal government to control the spread of information.
Recently subpoenaed emails show that he pressured Amazon to remove books that were not consistent with its Covid policy. Since then, the Federal Trade Commission, which has adopted an unprecedented partisan bent and influence during the current administration, has been punishing Amazon with antitrust lawsuit after lawsuit. Even if Amazon wins in court, these lawsuits will come at great financial and operational costs to the company. Such policies would make Xi Jinping beam with pride!
These actions go beyond the pandemic to serve woke policies as well. Recently, a Texas physician has claimed that the federal government is retaliating against his blowing the whistle on gender transition practices for minors using lawsuits without basis, which no mainstream newspaper has reported on. He also used the FBI to threaten parents attending school board meetings concerned with the progressive indoctrination of their children. Seems Putin-like does it not?
There is a revolving door that connects Democratic politicians to progressive activist groups. Left-wing nonprofits feed Democratic administrations and legislative offices and hire progressives who leave those jobs. In doing so, both sides keep a strong tie, influence each other, and coordinate actions. The Southern Poverty Law Center is one of the most famous progressive groups that influence the administration today and, in turn, carries its water. Margaret Huang, their president, has bragged about its ties with the administration.
One of the most effective groups that enraged the administration by organizing the school board meetings against woke curricula was Moms for Liberty. Biden’s Department of Education has been concerned with the group’s success. As a result, the Southern Poverty Law Center designated it as a hate group, which has made it a target for left-wing attacks and harassment.
The administration is also going after the businesses it has political differences with. The most famous anti-woke businessman is Elon Musk. Brendan Carr, a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission, recently explained that a host of federal government agencies, from the Department of Justice to Fish and Wildlife Services, have been looking into Musk’s businesses to find causes for lawsuits just because they do not like his politics. His commission, run by Democrats, created a new rule so it could rescind a $1 billion contract from Starlink—and did not apply it to any other company. The project is now costing American taxpayers four times the amount.
The corruption goes the other way, too. Not only is the media not reporting on Biden’s abuse of the federal government’s powers, but they are also repeating the administration’s talking points—too often per the administration’s request.
The New York and Washington, DC media use the economic numbers provided to them by the administration to portray a positive picture of the economy without also covering the bad numbers. The reporters ask pre-agreed questions during the president’s few public appearances. This is a repeat of behavior from the Obama years to the point that his influential adviser, Ben Rhodes, once said that journalists “literally know nothing” and would repeat whatever he asked them to say.
The Biden White House has also threatened to expel unfriendly reporters from the press poll under the guise of maintaining a “professional manner.” For two years in a row, only reporters who give friendly coverage were invited to its Christmas party, which is more than a social gathering but also an important function for reporters to establish sources and dig for new stories. It has frequently tried to coerce reporters to give the president praising coverage, most recently scolding them in an email for how they covered special counsel Robert Hurr’s report which included references to Biden’s mental decline.
None of this is to excuse Trump’s behavior and rhetoric at times or to suggest that journalists should pull their bunches. Rather, it is an appeal to treat everybody like they treat Trump. The relationship between journalists and power—Republican and Democrat alike—should be adversarial. A paranoia about power is what has kept and will keep our republic free. A free press that keeps a cynical eye on all politicians will bring the best out of them, but this is missing. Instead, we have a press that is so scared that Trump’s return to the White House would lead to authoritarianism that is letting Biden off the hook when he acts like an autocrat. He is everything they claim Trump to be.
We get it. You think Trump is bad. But you will have more credibility with us, and we will begin to trust you as honest brokers, when you also find the occasional courage to say that Biden falls short of the Abraham Lincoln standard.
Note: the opinions expressed herein are those of Chuck Warren only and not his co-host Sam Stone or Breaking Battlegrounds’ staff.
