Mainstream Media Discovers Authoritarianism Is Bad, Sometimes
Newsweek, like many mainstream outlets, signals alarms about Donald Trump jeopardizing 'US society,' as reiterated by an unnamed 'top judge' in their piece. It’s a convenient narrative, as if the concept of a US leader undermining democratic norms is a novel phenomenon. One might wonder where this collective consternation was when previous administrations, under the guise of 'national security,'
routinely sidestepped civil liberties or launched military interventions based on dubious intelligence, actions that arguably threaten society's foundational trust far more profoundly than a politician's rhetoric. This selective outrage serves as a masterful deflection. While the media focuses on Trump's bombast, they often downplay or ignore the systemic threats posed by unchecked corporate
power, financial institutions, and the military-industrial complex—influences that quietly erode 'US society' through lobbying and policy capture. When powerful figures threaten the established order, even if that order is fundamentally flawed, the alarm bells ring. When the actual pillars of power erode public welfare for private gain, the silence, strangely, is deafening. Perhaps 'threatening
society' only counts when it's politically inconvenient for the status quo, not structurally destructive.