Stop the Presses

03/31/2025

Did the Times give us Trump in 2016? Quite possibly.

Did the Times give us Trump again in 2024? I won’t go that far, but it certainly didn’t do enough to warn the public about the danger of a dictatorship.

The Times has been somewhat better since Trump’s inauguration, closing the barn door after it helped let out the horse. It has recently published strong articles about Team Trump’s lawlessness and lies, saying explicitly that the Republicans show “a disregard for the rules” and “are using false claims to justify their policy changes.” Reporter David Fahrenthold and his colleagues have aggressively debunked bogus information from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

That said, many of the old bad habits remain. Threats to invade other countries are described euphemistically as desires ”to expand America’s footprint.” Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, a professional liar, is called “steely and unflinching.” Trump’s address to Congress is credited with “game show flair.”

When I go off about the Times, people argue that it doesn’t matter – that the voters who gave us Trump don’t read it. But the Times influences how other media handle stories and what they consider important. For that reason, people who never read the Times are influenced by it.

With the Washington Post’s owner destroying his newspaper’s credibility in fealty to Trump, the Times has become even more important, which means its failures are more damaging.

The Times may not care about being on the right side of history, but if it doesn’t get on that side soon, it may become a relic of history itself.