In recent weeks, I have used this golden opportunity to offer commentary on a valued regional public radio network mainly to talk about journalism. I’m comfortable with that because it has been my professional focus for a half-century. And it’s a vitally important topic: I’ve always said that a journalist’s goal must be to give people a true sense of what lies beyond their own view – the news they didn’t see, the experiences they didn’t share, the thoughts that might expand their own. That truth-telling, I believe, is the fuel of democracy, because it gives us the information that we need to cast our votes thoughtfully, and the empathy and understanding we need to fully participate in our society.
But I’ve got to be a bit more direct today, because as much as I believe that good journalism can make a difference, it’s inadequate to the crisis facing America today. We are losing the country we love, folks – and if we each are not doing everything we can to change this trajectory, the stability that America gave so many hundreds of millions of us over the past 250 years and the hope it offered the whole world for much of that time will be gone.
It's polite to say, “If you don’t agree with me, I respect that.” But, frankly, I don’t. I’ve got to say that if you don’t agree with me, you’re not paying attention.
I was moved by the essay written last week by Garrett Graff, a noted young journalist and historian from Vermont – a piece that drew a lot of attention, with the provocative headline, “America Tips Into Fascism,” with the subheading, “Today is different than before.” He says the line has been crossed, that all the warnings that Donald Trump might be moving toward authoritarianism are inadequate – that, in fact, it has happened.
The evidence that Garrett Graff cites is overwhelming.
A leader narrowly elected -- thanks to manipulative right-wing media, I’d say – has now moved federal troops under his command into the streets of the nation’s capital. Other cities – only those led by his political opponents – are in his sights for military occupation. And he’s using federal agents to seize people off the streets without clear charges, often making it impossible for them to get legal counsel, and deporting them to foreign prisons.
He is purging the government of people who have tried to uphold the law, firing officials based on who their friends are, launching criminal investigations into former public officials who have spoken out against him – including his two predecessors from another party.
He is refusing to spend money Congress has authorized and appropriated by law – shutting down entire departments, turning others into ideological wastelands where expertise is evicted and ignorance is elevated.
He is trying to manipulate the electoral system to dilute the votes of people who might support the opposition party.
He is taking bribes: What else can you call it when the leader of the company that was the world’s largest last year presents him a sculpture with a 24-carat gold base, or when a foreign government gives him a multi-million-dollar jet, or when our largest law firms have to pledge hundreds of millions of dollars of free representation for the leader’s causes to avoid a federal attack on their firms’ ability to operate?
He is attacking higher education, because independent thought or centers of excellence undermine his authority – and making it clear that deviating from his views puts universities’ funds and their very existence at risk.
He is telling museums that they must not present unvarnished stories of our history and schools that they must present his own, skewed take on reality. He is punishing journalists who are insufficiently obsequious.
In short, Donald Trump is right now the authoritarian leader we have worried might someday appear in America. Here he is. Now.
We cannot be shrinking violets anymore – none of us. America has meant too much to all of us to let this happen.
Look, if you disagree with me, I hope you’ll do exactly what I’m now telling everybody else to do – namely, get involved. Connect with grassroots groups working in your community, or national organizations fighting for democracy. Send money if you have it, or use your energy if that’s your asset. Organize for the next election. And don’t just listen to me and other people in the media: Talk to everybody you can about what’s happening to our country. Your voice can matter.
I’ll get back to talking about journalism here next week, I’m sure. And to be clear, I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m just telling you that this nation is in an emergency. Right now. And I think it’s your job, and mine, to save it.
Rex Smith, the co-host of The Media Project on WAMC, is the former editor of the Times Union of Albany and The Record in Troy. His weekly digital report, The Upstate American, is published by Substack.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.
