So glad you are on the threats in store for journalism in this country. Patel is a screaming warning bell, but we can’t say we didn’t see this coming. The press needs to buck up the spines of R senators to demand FBI vetting across the board and to vote against dangerously anti-Constitutional candidates whose names Trump puts out there.
Pardoning Hunter was a brave moral act by his father who can see not only the malicious prosecution of his son already accomplished but the ongoing fervor of persecution coming at him as retribution for whatever Trump imagines his father has done. Bravo, Joe. Taking the heat so his son is spared it.
Humbug. Trump's cronies in Justice would've just sought to delay sentencing past Jan. 20. Rules and norms are only any good when everyone agrees to abide by them. Trump and his ilk have signaled unmistakably that they will not be abiding by them.
As I read this column, my overwhelming feeling is it's too late. Too late for mainstream media to change course meaningfully, too late to win back disillusioned readers/viewers. If they couldn't summon the courage to cover Trump accurately before the election, when all was still possible, then why would it be different after the election, when their own personal safety, job, or finances might be threatened??
I take your point, of course, but am unwilling to throw in the towel. Also, there’s enough really good work out there to provide encouragement— and we have to try to preserve it.
I agree, Claire. I think we must fight, but we probably cannot prevent many appalling results of his craven, disordered, narcissistic mind ... and lust for total power.
Regarding Hunter Biden's pardon, Joyce White Vance says in her newsletter today that:
"My office would not have brought these charges, and other former federal prosecutors feel the same way. Former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted, 'Here’s the reality. No US Atty would have charged this case given the underlying facts.' Barb McQuade posted on BlueSky, 'Pardon of Hunter Biden is in the best interests of justice. Based on the facts, most federal prosecutors would have declined to charge him.' Former Delaware U.S. Attorney Charlie Oberley said he would not have indicted the case."
I agree 100%. This has always been a political rather than a legal issue, and with Trump returning to office, there was a very real chance he'd add new charges to feed his rabid base with fresh blood. If Biden had skirted typical legal practice, I'd be upset with him. He did not. He just called this out for the human sacrifice it has been and would continue to be.
Unfortunate use of the past tense. THE PUNDITS do that dumping, and they do it because they are morally stillborn and incapable of (or unwilling to engage in) contextual accuracy.
I sent this as an email with a screenshot (as the visual juxtaposition was jarring), but I saw two back-to-back headlines, one from the NY Times and the other from PBS Newshour. See if you can guess which is which.
"Kash Patel Would Bring Bravado and Baggage to F.B.I. Role"
"Trump taps 'deep state' conspiracy theorist Kash Patel to lead the FBI"
The Onion Editors are feverishly reaching out to WAPO's Alexandra Petri, out on maternity leave, asking "How can we continue with satire and irony with the reality incoming? What are we to do?"
It is as if Peter Baker does not understand what an authoritarian government does. The criminal justice system only works if you have honest and truthful prosecutors and cops. Cash Patel and Pam Bondi are the type of people who would suborn perjury and plant evidence to convict an innocent man. Patel was angry that the special prosecutor would not pursue charges related to Burisma. I am sure he would “find” the evidence. We are dependent on the Republican Senate to prevent us from becoming Russia or going back to the Jim Crow South. Didn’t Peter Baker live in Russia during its slide to authoritarianism?
I believe Peter Baker is smart but wonder if he is too dense to be able to see and accept what is happening and what the Trumpist intentions are. possibly he knows and can see but is cya.
Susan Glasser is pretty clear eyed about the threat of Trump. Does her husband disagree with her or does the NYT require their reporters to mute the alarm? Hard to say but I agree that he is a smart man.
If I'm Joe Biden, and see the vengeful bloodlust of Trump47's soon-to-be empowered justice department coming after one of my kids, for whatever Hunter did, I pardon immediately. The way Trump pardoned Jared Kushner's felonious father, and last week had the chutzpah to name that former jailbird, Charles Kushner, ambassador to France. Give me a break with the "no one is above the law" stuff. We're in a different country now. The abuse of power? I'm afraid we ain't seen nuthin' yet.
I agree. Joe is POTUS but also a father. He has to protect as many people and institutions and countries (UK) as he can before he heads into retirement.
Thank you, Margaret, I’m not sure if my first comment went through, but I will make amends. This heralds the beginning of the end of freedom of the press. And possibly the demise of democracy as we know it. I don’t know anyone who wants to live in a autocracy, which is the direction we may be headed.
I was speaking to a friend of mine from Germany, a few days ago, who told me that her mother lived in Germany during Hitler’s reign. Her mother said that the beginnings of the loss of their freedom and their place in the world, began with very similar circumstances that we are facing now. The rest of the world is watching us, and we, our world leaders, and information is one of the most important tools to deal with the lies of the Trump machine. I will send this to my contact list as well as our local politicians, newspaper, and Chamber of Commerce. I can guarantee you it will not be received well because we are a red state, but I really don’t care. This is important information. Thank you so much Kelly McCurdy.
On the Hunter Biden pardon, I see the NYT is up to their usual tricks today with a short article claiming that it was "the judge, not political pressure" that "scuppered the plea deal." The judge goes unnamed in the article, and in fact you have to click on a link, then another link in the second article to find the judge's name, and then another link to a third article from 16 months ago to discover that the judge is -- you guessed it -- a Trump appointee. No "political pressure" needed when the foxes are guarding the henhouse. Why did the Times not find this "news fit to print"?
The judge did her job in finding out that the parties disagreed on the terms of the deal. Were the terms vague so the special prosecutor could prevent malicious prosecution in the future without incurring the wrath of MAGA?
"The parties" being Hunter on one side, the prosecutor on the other. Note that, as the NYT never mentions, the special prosecutor was also a Trump appointee. Biden was arguably right when he tried to depoliticize the Justice Department after Trump's ongoing efforts to corrupt it during his first term, but in my view he made a fatal mistake by not first firing every Trump appointee he could and replacing Republicans (who are all tainted by Trumpism at this point) with independents or Democrats in all leadership positions. In the end all Trump appointees tend to deflect away from justice and towards the interest of Trumpworld.
Re: the pardon, it seems to me that media coverage will be very telling. I'm certainly not suggesting that it ought not to be covered, but if there is wall to wall coverage of it as a huge scandal (I'm not even going to get into the actual merits here) that drowns out what meager coverage of the dangers of Trump's cabinet picks we are already getting, it will be incredibly telling and troubling about the media's plan for the next four years. As I've seen some put it, a lot of what we're seeing from Friedman, et al, is a kind of pre-obeyance to the dear leader in advance. And unlike what the feckless Washington Post says, that's how democracy dies. Thanks for your continued work, Margaret.
[[if there is wall to wall coverage of it as a huge scandal (I'm not even going to get into the actual merits here) that drowns out what meager coverage of the dangers of Trump's cabinet picks we are already getting, it will be incredibly telling and troubling about the media's plan for the next four years.]]
This right here. I no longer give a damn what most pundits think about anything, because most pundits have shown that they have a higher bar for Democrats than for Republicans and most pundits have shown that they either don't recognize or don't care that Republicans no longer abide by the rules and norms that politicians of both sides customarily have abided by. Let them clutch their pearls and collapse onto their fainting couches for all I care. I hope the couch legs break. Our pundits are morally stillborn.
I would have been extremely angry with Biden if he had not pardoned his son. After all we've taken from Joe Biden, how dare we insist that he live out his final years without his remaining son, who was railroaded in a farcical attempt at nonpartisanship. Donald Trump already set enough dangerous precedents with his transactional pardons the last time around and will continue to operate in a pay-for-play fashion, regardless of what Biden does or does not do.
Hunter Biden had agreed to a plea deal that he and most Democrats, including the president, apparently could live with. But, no, the Republicans got greedy and wanted MOAR, so they torpedoed it, another classic case of Republicans effing around and finding out. Political persecution is exactly the kind of thing the pardon power was created to prevent or undo, and the president's use of it here was perfectly appropriate.
The NY Times could have done so much more during the election process. Their silence is now what may well shutter them as well as many others critical of dear donald. This was all so clear - and they chose sanewashing. This is now an “I told you so” moment - tragically. Kash Patel will be ruthless.
Regarding Hunter: If these were normal times, I’d say the pardon was a mistake. Given the history of the case (going back to Trump’s appointment of a special prosecutor to ‘get Hunter Biden’), the fact the few if any tax cheats who have paid back taxes and penalties nor gun purchasers who’ve lied on applications but have not used the gun to commit a crime ever do time, AND the fact that Trump made ‘prosecuting the Biden crime family’ a central campaign promise — the pardon is nothing other than reasonable. Biden, in fact, should pardon every member of his family, including himself, along with patriots like Jack Smith and Liz Cheney and the entire Jan 6 committee, who have literally put their lives on the line by challenging Trump. Trump has promised retribution, he has promised politically motivated prosecutions and now, with the Kash Patel nomination, he has 100% demonstrated serious intent. As you have so eloquently explained in this piece — These are not normal times. (And Biden is not ‘setting a terrible precedent’ when Trump has already done much worse!) Who has the right to criticize anyone, let alone Trump’s stated No. 1 enemy, from protecting themselves and their family?
Personally, I believe legacy media will continue its 8-year downward spiral, with occasional hard-hitting pieces to preserve the veneers of legitimacy.
We need these limited forays into truth, which will aid independent journalists in preserving an accurate historical record.
Expecting more is an exercise in futility. Legacy journalists and their editors have shown us who they are.
Legacy media cannot survive without the eyeballs that let it sell advertising at volume. Does not happen anymore because we all are our own editors and publishers now, and the advertising is coming to our eyeballs through all of our screens. There’s no money in it and no demand for legacy media. We killed it ourselves. So Now we’ll have to do it ourselves on platforms like this.
[[Also in the Times, this euphemistic headline: “Trump’s Choices for Health Agencies Suggest a Shake-up Is Coming.” The sub-headline mentioned “ideas that are outside the medical mainstream.” Y’think? Author and scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat expressed her objection: “Shake-up is hardly appropriate for the engineering of mass sickness by withholding vaccines and reducing insurance coverage so few can get medical help.” Language needs to be much stronger and more direct, especially in headlines and news alerts since that’s as far as many people ever get.]]
Here is the language that journalists need to be using: REPUBLICANS WANT YOU DEAD. Why? Because when you follow all of Trump's policy initiatives to their logical conclusion, the inevitable result of almost all of them is a big jump in premature deaths. This is most obviously going to be the case in the administration's war on vaccines and other public-health services, but it manifests in everything from killing air quality regulations (increased deaths from asthma and other lung diseases) to fighting common-sense firearm regulation (duh).
So say it with me, kids: REPUBLICANS WANT YOU DEAD. Examine every GOP policy initiative and tell me that that is not the logical conclusion. Go on; I'll wait.
I agree with most of comments--it's too late for the blinkered, provincial media. The journos working now are there specifically because they can't see what's going on. (BTW, I've been hugely influenced by "Manufacturing Consent.")
Hunter Biden should be pardoned. He agreed to a plea deal that was overly strict given the circumstances, but a Trumper judge threw it out. So screw it. In true reactionary fashion, the Trumpers wet their witch-hunt pants over legit investigations while conduct one true witch hunt after another after another. Hunter has paid enough, and so have we.
In fact, Biden SHOULD start issuing pardons to everyone the fascists will go after without just cause.
MSM has failed us. Thank you for speaking up about this crisis in American democracy. Not all is lost - I am a federal government employee and many of my colleagues are resisting Trump's fascism: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/public-servant-democracy-defender-introduction
So glad you are on the threats in store for journalism in this country. Patel is a screaming warning bell, but we can’t say we didn’t see this coming. The press needs to buck up the spines of R senators to demand FBI vetting across the board and to vote against dangerously anti-Constitutional candidates whose names Trump puts out there.
Pardoning Hunter was a brave moral act by his father who can see not only the malicious prosecution of his son already accomplished but the ongoing fervor of persecution coming at him as retribution for whatever Trump imagines his father has done. Bravo, Joe. Taking the heat so his son is spared it.
Indeed Myra!! The unctuous derps of this miasma of MAGA coterie wanted blood for charging their mobbed up, career criminal, ignoble poltroon!
He should've waited for sentencing and then commuted. He could have then been true to his country, his word and his parental love.
Humbug. Trump's cronies in Justice would've just sought to delay sentencing past Jan. 20. Rules and norms are only any good when everyone agrees to abide by them. Trump and his ilk have signaled unmistakably that they will not be abiding by them.
As I read this column, my overwhelming feeling is it's too late. Too late for mainstream media to change course meaningfully, too late to win back disillusioned readers/viewers. If they couldn't summon the courage to cover Trump accurately before the election, when all was still possible, then why would it be different after the election, when their own personal safety, job, or finances might be threatened??
I take your point, of course, but am unwilling to throw in the towel. Also, there’s enough really good work out there to provide encouragement— and we have to try to preserve it.
I agree, Claire. I think we must fight, but we probably cannot prevent many appalling results of his craven, disordered, narcissistic mind ... and lust for total power.
Regarding Hunter Biden's pardon, Joyce White Vance says in her newsletter today that:
"My office would not have brought these charges, and other former federal prosecutors feel the same way. Former Attorney General Eric Holder tweeted, 'Here’s the reality. No US Atty would have charged this case given the underlying facts.' Barb McQuade posted on BlueSky, 'Pardon of Hunter Biden is in the best interests of justice. Based on the facts, most federal prosecutors would have declined to charge him.' Former Delaware U.S. Attorney Charlie Oberley said he would not have indicted the case."
I agree 100%. This has always been a political rather than a legal issue, and with Trump returning to office, there was a very real chance he'd add new charges to feed his rabid base with fresh blood. If Biden had skirted typical legal practice, I'd be upset with him. He did not. He just called this out for the human sacrifice it has been and would continue to be.
It’s unfortunate that it all gets grouped together with Trump’s ongoing disregard for the rule of law.
Unfortunate use of the past tense. THE PUNDITS do that dumping, and they do it because they are morally stillborn and incapable of (or unwilling to engage in) contextual accuracy.
+1
I sent this as an email with a screenshot (as the visual juxtaposition was jarring), but I saw two back-to-back headlines, one from the NY Times and the other from PBS Newshour. See if you can guess which is which.
"Kash Patel Would Bring Bravado and Baggage to F.B.I. Role"
"Trump taps 'deep state' conspiracy theorist Kash Patel to lead the FBI"
Not hard to guess!
The Onion Editors are feverishly reaching out to WAPO's Alexandra Petri, out on maternity leave, asking "How can we continue with satire and irony with the reality incoming? What are we to do?"
False equivalency from Peter Baker: "In pardoning his son, Biden sounded a lot like his successor by complaining . . . "
It is as if Peter Baker does not understand what an authoritarian government does. The criminal justice system only works if you have honest and truthful prosecutors and cops. Cash Patel and Pam Bondi are the type of people who would suborn perjury and plant evidence to convict an innocent man. Patel was angry that the special prosecutor would not pursue charges related to Burisma. I am sure he would “find” the evidence. We are dependent on the Republican Senate to prevent us from becoming Russia or going back to the Jim Crow South. Didn’t Peter Baker live in Russia during its slide to authoritarianism?
I believe Peter Baker is smart but wonder if he is too dense to be able to see and accept what is happening and what the Trumpist intentions are. possibly he knows and can see but is cya.
Susan Glasser is pretty clear eyed about the threat of Trump. Does her husband disagree with her or does the NYT require their reporters to mute the alarm? Hard to say but I agree that he is a smart man.
Susan Glasser is one of the stars of journalism and commentary IMHO. I don't know whether NYT pushed Peter to write what he wrote.
If I'm Joe Biden, and see the vengeful bloodlust of Trump47's soon-to-be empowered justice department coming after one of my kids, for whatever Hunter did, I pardon immediately. The way Trump pardoned Jared Kushner's felonious father, and last week had the chutzpah to name that former jailbird, Charles Kushner, ambassador to France. Give me a break with the "no one is above the law" stuff. We're in a different country now. The abuse of power? I'm afraid we ain't seen nuthin' yet.
I agree. Joe is POTUS but also a father. He has to protect as many people and institutions and countries (UK) as he can before he heads into retirement.
I love that Joe pardoned Hunter..
Thank you, Margaret, I’m not sure if my first comment went through, but I will make amends. This heralds the beginning of the end of freedom of the press. And possibly the demise of democracy as we know it. I don’t know anyone who wants to live in a autocracy, which is the direction we may be headed.
I was speaking to a friend of mine from Germany, a few days ago, who told me that her mother lived in Germany during Hitler’s reign. Her mother said that the beginnings of the loss of their freedom and their place in the world, began with very similar circumstances that we are facing now. The rest of the world is watching us, and we, our world leaders, and information is one of the most important tools to deal with the lies of the Trump machine. I will send this to my contact list as well as our local politicians, newspaper, and Chamber of Commerce. I can guarantee you it will not be received well because we are a red state, but I really don’t care. This is important information. Thank you so much Kelly McCurdy.
Thank you, Kelly.
On the Hunter Biden pardon, I see the NYT is up to their usual tricks today with a short article claiming that it was "the judge, not political pressure" that "scuppered the plea deal." The judge goes unnamed in the article, and in fact you have to click on a link, then another link in the second article to find the judge's name, and then another link to a third article from 16 months ago to discover that the judge is -- you guessed it -- a Trump appointee. No "political pressure" needed when the foxes are guarding the henhouse. Why did the Times not find this "news fit to print"?
The question answers itself.
The judge did her job in finding out that the parties disagreed on the terms of the deal. Were the terms vague so the special prosecutor could prevent malicious prosecution in the future without incurring the wrath of MAGA?
"The parties" being Hunter on one side, the prosecutor on the other. Note that, as the NYT never mentions, the special prosecutor was also a Trump appointee. Biden was arguably right when he tried to depoliticize the Justice Department after Trump's ongoing efforts to corrupt it during his first term, but in my view he made a fatal mistake by not first firing every Trump appointee he could and replacing Republicans (who are all tainted by Trumpism at this point) with independents or Democrats in all leadership positions. In the end all Trump appointees tend to deflect away from justice and towards the interest of Trumpworld.
Re: the pardon, it seems to me that media coverage will be very telling. I'm certainly not suggesting that it ought not to be covered, but if there is wall to wall coverage of it as a huge scandal (I'm not even going to get into the actual merits here) that drowns out what meager coverage of the dangers of Trump's cabinet picks we are already getting, it will be incredibly telling and troubling about the media's plan for the next four years. As I've seen some put it, a lot of what we're seeing from Friedman, et al, is a kind of pre-obeyance to the dear leader in advance. And unlike what the feckless Washington Post says, that's how democracy dies. Thanks for your continued work, Margaret.
[[if there is wall to wall coverage of it as a huge scandal (I'm not even going to get into the actual merits here) that drowns out what meager coverage of the dangers of Trump's cabinet picks we are already getting, it will be incredibly telling and troubling about the media's plan for the next four years.]]
This right here. I no longer give a damn what most pundits think about anything, because most pundits have shown that they have a higher bar for Democrats than for Republicans and most pundits have shown that they either don't recognize or don't care that Republicans no longer abide by the rules and norms that politicians of both sides customarily have abided by. Let them clutch their pearls and collapse onto their fainting couches for all I care. I hope the couch legs break. Our pundits are morally stillborn.
I would have been extremely angry with Biden if he had not pardoned his son. After all we've taken from Joe Biden, how dare we insist that he live out his final years without his remaining son, who was railroaded in a farcical attempt at nonpartisanship. Donald Trump already set enough dangerous precedents with his transactional pardons the last time around and will continue to operate in a pay-for-play fashion, regardless of what Biden does or does not do.
Hunter Biden had agreed to a plea deal that he and most Democrats, including the president, apparently could live with. But, no, the Republicans got greedy and wanted MOAR, so they torpedoed it, another classic case of Republicans effing around and finding out. Political persecution is exactly the kind of thing the pardon power was created to prevent or undo, and the president's use of it here was perfectly appropriate.
The NY Times could have done so much more during the election process. Their silence is now what may well shutter them as well as many others critical of dear donald. This was all so clear - and they chose sanewashing. This is now an “I told you so” moment - tragically. Kash Patel will be ruthless.
Regarding Hunter: If these were normal times, I’d say the pardon was a mistake. Given the history of the case (going back to Trump’s appointment of a special prosecutor to ‘get Hunter Biden’), the fact the few if any tax cheats who have paid back taxes and penalties nor gun purchasers who’ve lied on applications but have not used the gun to commit a crime ever do time, AND the fact that Trump made ‘prosecuting the Biden crime family’ a central campaign promise — the pardon is nothing other than reasonable. Biden, in fact, should pardon every member of his family, including himself, along with patriots like Jack Smith and Liz Cheney and the entire Jan 6 committee, who have literally put their lives on the line by challenging Trump. Trump has promised retribution, he has promised politically motivated prosecutions and now, with the Kash Patel nomination, he has 100% demonstrated serious intent. As you have so eloquently explained in this piece — These are not normal times. (And Biden is not ‘setting a terrible precedent’ when Trump has already done much worse!) Who has the right to criticize anyone, let alone Trump’s stated No. 1 enemy, from protecting themselves and their family?
Personally, I believe legacy media will continue its 8-year downward spiral, with occasional hard-hitting pieces to preserve the veneers of legitimacy.
We need these limited forays into truth, which will aid independent journalists in preserving an accurate historical record.
Expecting more is an exercise in futility. Legacy journalists and their editors have shown us who they are.
Legacy media cannot survive without the eyeballs that let it sell advertising at volume. Does not happen anymore because we all are our own editors and publishers now, and the advertising is coming to our eyeballs through all of our screens. There’s no money in it and no demand for legacy media. We killed it ourselves. So Now we’ll have to do it ourselves on platforms like this.
[[Also in the Times, this euphemistic headline: “Trump’s Choices for Health Agencies Suggest a Shake-up Is Coming.” The sub-headline mentioned “ideas that are outside the medical mainstream.” Y’think? Author and scholar Ruth Ben-Ghiat expressed her objection: “Shake-up is hardly appropriate for the engineering of mass sickness by withholding vaccines and reducing insurance coverage so few can get medical help.” Language needs to be much stronger and more direct, especially in headlines and news alerts since that’s as far as many people ever get.]]
Here is the language that journalists need to be using: REPUBLICANS WANT YOU DEAD. Why? Because when you follow all of Trump's policy initiatives to their logical conclusion, the inevitable result of almost all of them is a big jump in premature deaths. This is most obviously going to be the case in the administration's war on vaccines and other public-health services, but it manifests in everything from killing air quality regulations (increased deaths from asthma and other lung diseases) to fighting common-sense firearm regulation (duh).
So say it with me, kids: REPUBLICANS WANT YOU DEAD. Examine every GOP policy initiative and tell me that that is not the logical conclusion. Go on; I'll wait.
Love what you wrote. Hate, hate, hate that we are in this position
I agree with most of comments--it's too late for the blinkered, provincial media. The journos working now are there specifically because they can't see what's going on. (BTW, I've been hugely influenced by "Manufacturing Consent.")
Hunter Biden should be pardoned. He agreed to a plea deal that was overly strict given the circumstances, but a Trumper judge threw it out. So screw it. In true reactionary fashion, the Trumpers wet their witch-hunt pants over legit investigations while conduct one true witch hunt after another after another. Hunter has paid enough, and so have we.
In fact, Biden SHOULD start issuing pardons to everyone the fascists will go after without just cause.