The need for straight talk right now
Enough with soft-pedaling from the media. Clarity! Courage! The truth!
In this era, rife with lies, spin and the Orwellian manipulation of words (Exhibit A: “Department Of Government Efficiency”), we need plain language. We need wording that goes to the heart of what’s happening without soft-pedaling, euphemism or cutesy word play.
With this in mind, the first sentence in a New York Times article this weekend ticked me off. The lead article in Saturday’s print edition carried this headline: “Give In Or Fight? Elite Law Firms Split on Trump.”
It was the last phrase of its very first sentence that made me see red. “The nation’s legal profession is being split between those who want to fight back against President Trump’s attacks on the industry and those that prefer to engage in the art of the deal.”
The art of the deal? What’s going on here is more like a shakedown. More appropriate words to describe the latter response would be “those who are willing to cough up millions of dollars in protection money.”
Or, in more careful Timesian language, they could have written “those who have decided to capitulate.” (Here’s a gift link to the article.)
Trump is trying to defang those who might try to hold him to account, but he offers to ease up — for a price. One prestigious law firm, Skadden Arps, shockingly has agreed to give $100 million in pro bono legal work for initiatives backed by the Trump administration.
This is happening amid Trump’s executive orders that target law firms which employ or represent his political opponents. The orders are intended to strip those firms of clients and cripple their business by banning their lawyers from government buildings, rescinding government contracts or having the Justice Department punish those who engage in “vexatious litigation” against his administration.
His orders are outrageous, of course, and probably unconstitutional. (Federal judges already have temporarily blocked parts of them.)
First Amendment lawyer Ari Cohn tells it straight. If he were a lawyer at Paul Weiss (which has also caved to Trump), he is quoted in the Washington Post, “I don’t know how I could take myself seriously. This is absolutely shameful and spineless behavior. Pledging legal services to broadly support any administration’s agenda is gross, but especially in this very protection-racket way.”
Attorney Brenna Trout Frey, who quit her job at Skadden Arps in disgust this week, pulled no punches in her LinkedIn post: “Today, the executive partner of my former firm sent us all an ‘update’ that attempted to convince some of the best minds in the legal profession that he did us a solid by capitulating to the Trump administration’s demands for fealty and protection money.” She called the partner’s email “a craven attempt to sacrifice the rule of law for self-preservation.”
It takes guts to do what Frey did. However, it really wouldn’t take guts for the New York Times to find clear language to get the truth across in the lead sentence of its lead article. Instead, their meant-to-be-clever phrasing, using the title of a Trump book, made it all sound like a game.
Other examples abound. When Trump ordered the Smithsonian Institution to whitewash American history, the Times played stenographer: “Trump Calls on Smithsonian to Promote ‘American Greatness.’” And the Washington Post strummed it softly with “Trump wants to reshape the Smithsonian.”
We also see this throughout politics, where Republican members of Congress are averting their gazes from the national-security debacle dubbed Signalgate. I’m disgusted by the way the unqualified Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and many others, have tried to deflect blame by disparaging as sleazy Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg.
Here’s my Guardian piece from last week about Goldberg’s appropriate handling of that story, and here’s a disheartening analysis about how Trump is managing to spin that disaster of incompetence, carelessness and stupidity as the fault of the media.
Understandably, a lot of people are afraid of Trump’s recklessly wielded power and vindictiveness. And so many are buckling. We’re seeing this from university leadership, too, as I wrote about here last week, criticizing the capitulation by Columbia University to Trump’s demands.
But some are standing up for their principles, as the Associated Press is doing in court after Trump punished the global news organization for continuing to use Gulf of Mexico in its coverage, rather than his ordained Gulf of America.
The need for direct talk is why so many people admire Vermont senator Bernie Sanders for the way he’s pushing back against lies with such energy and clarity as he barnstorms the country.
“No, Elon,” Sanders raged recently. “40 percent of people who call Social Security’s 1-800 number are not fraudsters. Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme & nobody who is 150 years old is getting a Social Security check. Stop the lies. Stop the disinformation. Get your billionaire hands off Social Security.”
I find Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut another model of this all-too-rare quality. It’s a great tactic of his to travel to districts where Republican members of Congress are afraid to meet their angry constituents. People are mad, for good reason, and they want to be heard.
I have no idea whether the truth, expressed clearly and bravely will help to save us. I have no idea whether the courage to push back (as some university leaders are doing) can pull American democracy back from the brink.
But I do know that we will really be lost if everybody simply caves in fear.
Readers, here’s what you can do to help.
When you see politicians or journalists capitulating, or soft-pedaling, or appeasing, call it out. Name it and shame it. History tells us that bullies can’t be appeased. And Trump has shown time and again that, in his world, loyalty runs only in one direction.
When you see courage and directness, express that appreciation. It matters more than you might think. It’s easy, these days, to get discouraged, to want to simply keep your head down or negotiate your rights away. Please tell me if you are feeling fearful or courageous these days. (Maybe, if you’re like me, that depends on the day or even the hour.) Where do you find inspiration and hope?
Readers, thank you very much for your thoughtful comments on these American Crisis posts. And thanks for your support, whether that takes the form of reading, sharing, commenting, or subscribing. All of that — and messages like the one above from a new paid subscriber — mean a lot and keep me going.
Margaret, the NY Times is a lost cause. With Signalgate and other issues, its coverage largely comes down to "What Trump is Thinking." The most recent example is its article focused on Trump's "deliberations" over whether to fire his national security adviser. The reporters of these pieces then go on cable news to reveal Trump's "thoughts" (firing Waltz would be giving in to the media). It's like a laughably bad movie about Washington insiders.
This may be counterintuitive but I find hope in writing to my MAGA senators and House rep. I oppose their positions on virtually every issue and I politely let them know it. When they respond with pablum, I let them know that too. I doubt it makes a difference but it gives me joy that I’m participating and objecting.