The arrest of impartial journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort, in reference to an anti-ICE protest that interrupted a church service in Minnesota, is a check for the American folks. Nicely, a few of us. Many people already didn’t like what we noticed taking place throughout the nation. Many believed the un-American threats throughout the marketing campaign and voted towards this regime in 2024.
So this can be a check for the People who — after seeing regulation enforcement seemingly use a 5-year-old as bait and shoot Renee Good and Alex Pretti to loss of life — nonetheless mentioned they’re on board with every thing.
The voters who agreed with Donald Trump when he mentioned “they’re bringing medicine, they’re bringing crime” again in 2015, and had been OK with him 10 years later, popping up within the Epstein information and pardoning criminals — together with a corrupt former Latin American leader who took bribes to let 400 tons of cocaine be smuggled into the U.S.
This isn’t a check for the voters whose largest concern was the value of groceries or border safety. It is a check for the voters who used that rhetoric about groceries and the border as cowl for his or her unsavory emotions about immigrants. The identical emotions that greeted different teams — the Jews, the Italians, the Irish — after they first got here to this land. The ethnicity could also be completely different, the conspiracy theories could also be new, however on the finish of the day, it’s the same old predictable story.
So, in case you’re the sort to solid a poll simply to personal the libs, the arrest of journalists is a check for you.
On Jan. 18, protesters — believing one of many pastors at Cities Church in St. Paul was additionally the performing area director of the native Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace — entered the constructing and disrupted a service. The one purpose anybody exterior of St. Paul knew any of that is that now we have freedom of speech and freedom of the press. As a result of folks like Lemon and Fort had the braveness to be there, understanding they’d 250 years of American custom backing up their proper to do their jobs. That’s the purpose of the first Modification.
Bear in mind, if we don’t have journalists like Fort and my pal Lemon — people who find themselves keen to do the work required to doc historical past, or learn laws, or maintain elected officers accountable — then you definately now not have freedom of the press. You might have state-controlled media by means of oligarchy. Which will really feel good to some factions now, however the issue with “now” is that it by no means lasts. The Structure, although, has an actual alternative to stay round. Nevertheless it wants fixed safety.
Within the previous days, the ultra-rich used to purchase native media corporations to become profitable or for status in the neighborhood. Now it feels as if many homeowners’ objective is to manage and curb journalism. As soon as the free press is in a cage, free speech has little room to fly. That’s the byproduct of this wave of media consolidation, whether or not the billionaires who’re engaged in these acquisitions deliberate to do this or not.
As well as, traditionally journalism has been beneath assault by governments not as a result of it was a menace to society, however as a result of it threatens those that need to management society. The explanation most presidents spar with journalists is that they need to management the narrative.
Nevertheless it seems the present president needs to manage actuality.
The impulse to rewrite actuality is why Trump established Reality Social. It’s why the administration posts AI-generated images and doctored photos.
The sense that the president can create his personal reality is why at some point, the administration can defend the 2nd Modification, and the following, recommend that legally carrying a weapon is a fatal mistake. In spite of everything, if he’s free to trample the first Modification, what’s the issue with kicking the 2nd round every time he must?
Trampling the rights of the folks: that’s the check — for the rapidly dwindling minority of People who nonetheless stand behind Trump. He’s experimenting to see if sufficient of his supporters will settle for having their rights taken away as long as the theft seems to not harm them.
For the various People who’ve by no means voted for Trump, the arrests of Lemon and Fort usually are not a complete shock. Now we have seen the “Trump 2028” hats and take this thinly veiled menace towards the twenty second Modification critically.
However for the People who vehemently denounced President Obama for sporting a tan go well with, the place precisely is “arresting journalists for doing their job” on the threat-to-democracy scale? And why do you suppose Trump is doing this now?
Almost a 12 months in the past, Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi mentioned she had the Epstein consumer checklist on her desk for evaluate. Then the administration waffled and refused to show over its information. On Friday, it lastly did launch 3 million pages of documents.
And on Thursday night time, understanding that launch was imminent, the Justice Division simply occurred to arrest journalists.
That doesn’t really feel like a coincidence.
It doesn’t even really feel like politics. All of it looks like a check democracy desperately wants America to go.
YouTube: @LZGrandersonShow
