Trump’s Anti-Democratic War on Facts and Free Speech – RollingStone.com
Ashundreds of thousands of protesters shut down the streets of Washington, D.C., the day after Donald Trump's inauguration, and millions more marched all over the country and the world, America's new president sent his press secretary to attack the White House press corps and claim Trump's inauguration crowd was the "biggest ever." This strange and obvious lie was taken by some commentators to be a warning aimed at the press a defiant statement that Trump intends to propagate his preferred reality and vilify reporters who contradict it.
That may be true, but what Trump proudly calls his "running war with the media" obscures an even more fundamental threat to U.S. democracy: He's trying to silence and erase citizens who don't support his message and policies by claiming he alone speaks for "real" Americans and can tell us who qualifies as such. Attacking the press is a more palatable way to go after his real target: "We the People."
Trump told the country what he thinks of dissenters in a snide tweet in response to Saturday's massive protests, saying he "was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote?" Well, they did, as evidenced by the marchers chanting, "We are the popular vote!" past the White House. Regardless, the implication in Trump's tweet is that once you've been outvoted, you should shut up. Needless to say, that is not how democracy works.
Trump repeatedly claimed in his inauguration speech that he speaks for and will govern for "the people." He referred to his oath of office as an "oath of allegiance to all Americans." In fact, the oath he took isn't one of allegiance to "the people" he took an oath to uphold the Constitution. "The people" disagree about lots of things; the document structures how the country navigates those disagreements, and restricts what those in the majority can do to those in the minority. But Trump has made it clear he plans to justify whatever he wants to do as the will of "the people" while portraying anyone who disagrees with him as too crooked and corrupt to be among them.
Democracy requires competition among opposing ideas. There can't be a debate if those in power refuse to acknowledge facts or dissenting viewpoints. Elections have consequences, of course, but it is still the president's job to serve all the people including those who didn't vote for him, or who did vote for him but oppose particular policies (like Trump voters whodon't want him to take away their health careor defund Planned Parenthood). Trump is instead purporting to have a mandate for radical and unconstitutional acts promoting an alternative political reality in which he isn't deeply unpopular by fabricating crowd numbers, while dismissing those who've taken to the streets to express their fear and dissent in unprecedented numbers.
On Wednesday, Trump doubled down on an even more frightening strategy to deny facts he doesn't like and define anyone who doesn't support him as un-American when he repeated the widely debunked conspiracy theory that he would have won the popular vote if not for widespread voter fraud. Trump went on to call for a "major investigation" into his claim of illegal voting, for which there is absolutely no evidence.
This lie about the election represents an expansion of Trump's delegitimization campaign against Barack Obama, to new targets. Trump is claiming millions of people who voted against him are either literally not American or un-American fraudsters who voted in two states or under fake names.
This fits a pattern of trump attempting to discredit or silence those he deems enemies. After promising to release his tax returns, Trump's camp declared he didn't need to because only reporters care about them. The 74 percent of Americans who told pollsters he should release his returns, and the thousands who marched on Washington chanting, "Show us your tax returns!" or who signed the WhiteHouse.gov petition demanding transparency apparently don't count. (The petition, which is still open, quickly hit the 100,000 signatures needed for a White House response. After initially saying Trump wouldn't release his returns, adviser Kellyanne Conway now says he may release them once he's no longer under audit. Trump has refused to explain why an audit prevents him from releasing his returns, or to provide proof that he is even being audited though he will be soon, because the IRS audits the president every year.)
Trump targets individuals who question him as well. When a union leader corrected the record about the jobs at an Indiana factory Trump claimed to have saved, Trump used his megaphone to try to discredit and silence him. When women spoke out to allege that Trump did commit the kinds of sexual assaults he was caught on tape bragging about, he characterized them as lying political enemies and threatened to sue.
We can now expect official actions to keep inconvenient information out of the public sphere: The Trump administration reportedly ordered the EPA to remove its webpage about climate change and the National Parks Service to stop tweeting after it retweeted a picture comparing Trump's and Obama's inauguration crowds.
The outlandishness of Trump's crowd size and vote count claims are enough to make one wonder if he's delusional, and it's tempting to chalk up his attacks on the press to his wounded ego. But the experience of other countries suggests his campaign of disinformation and delegitimization is more nefarious. Norms protecting freedom of information, speech and the press are essential for a functioning democracy; to Trump, they are a threat. Populist dictators get away with extralegal and unconstitutional acts by claiming authorization from "the people." The first step in that anti-democratic effort is to make sure people with inconvenient facts and contrary ideas are silenced, discredited or erased. That's what Trump is doing now. Don't stop paying attention.
Sign up for our newsletter to receive breaking news directly in your inbox.
Read more here:
Trump's Anti-Democratic War on Facts and Free Speech - RollingStone.com
- Britain will lower its voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Lowering the voting age: a boost for UK democracy or a shot in the dark? - The Guardian - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- From Voices to Visions: Reflections on Climate Democracy in Practice - International IDEA - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Imagining The Path Forward for The Healthy Democracy Ecosystem - The Fulcrum - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Republicans Advance Trump Judicial Nominee Said to Have Urged Court Defiance - Democracy Docket - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- An Urgent Warning from Texas: A Conversation on Defending Democracy and Fighting Authoritarianism in the States - Center for American Progress - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- How we Treat [Immigrants] will Shape the Future of Our Democracy and Our Moral Character - The Birmingham Times - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Britain will lower its voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy - AP News - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Democracy is not theirs to dismantle. More than 120 people turn out for 'Good Trouble' protest - GazetteXtra - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Dems to Fight Texas Illegal, Unconstitutional and Egregious Effort to Rig the Elections - Democracy Docket - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Senate Advances Bill to Claw Back $9 Billion in Funds for Foreign Aid and Public Broadcasting - Democracy Now! - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Video Britain to lower voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Protecting democracy from big money: Why the UK's new elections strategy doesn't go far enough - Transparency International UK - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Election Officials Have Been Under Attack For Years. Now The DOJ Wants to Criminally Charge Them - Democracy Docket - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Pentagon to Withdraw Half of 4,000 National Guard Troops Deployed to Los Angeles - Democracy Now! - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Antithesis of democracy: Protesters gather for Good Trouble rally in Raleigh - Raleigh News & Observer - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- U.N. Rapporteur Urges Nations to Cut Ties to Israel to Stop Genocide in Gaza - Democracy Now! - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Texas Used DOJs Concerns to Justify Redistricting. Now It Says Theyre Off Base. - Democracy Docket - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Sudan, Remember Us Trailer: Watermelon Pictures Sets August Release For Doc Paying Tribute To Youthful Pro-Democracy Activism - Deadline - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Public Space Is the Infrastructure of Democracy. Its Time to Protect Our Right to Gather. - Next City - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- The U.S. Government Just Slapped The World's Largest Democracy With A Travel Advisory - TheTravel - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- History, Historians, and Democracy in the Age of Trump - Civil War Memory - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- UK to lower voting age to 16 a once-in a-generation opportunity to secure the future health of British democracy - The Conversation - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Britain will lower its voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy - MSN - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Equatorial Guinea: FAJ applauds journalists role in advancing democracy and justice at the Citizens Forum - International Federation of Journalists -... - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Britain will lower its voting age to 16 in a bid to strengthen democracy - Aurora Sentinel - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- Book review: Christianity and Democracy Today: International perspectives, edited by David P. Gushee and Paul Silas Peterson - The Church Times - July 18th, 2025 [July 18th, 2025]
- This Is the Most Inspiring Thing Ive Heard About Democracy at the Supreme Court in Ages - Slate Magazine - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Opinion | Trump Is Winning the Battle to Undermine Democracy - The New York Times - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Liberals claimed Trump would end democracy. They were wrong again. | Opinion - USA Today - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Daily Briefing July 15: Day 648 Dramatic day at Knesset leaves democracy intact for now - The Times of Israel - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Who is leading and lagging on democracy and reforms in the EUs Eastern Partnership? - New Eastern Europe - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Understanding the evolution and state of democracy in Zimbabwe: When a coup is not called a coup - Brookings - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- 'Misogyny Is a System': Julie Suk Wants to Reimagine U.S. Institutionsand Build a Democracy of Equality - Ms. Magazine - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- State Departments Restructuring and Proposed Budget Cuts Roll Back U.S. Role in Democracy and Human Rights Globally; Congress Has a Chance to Fix This... - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Court Delays Termination of TPS for 12,000 Afghans as Both Sides Asked to Submit Arguments - Democracy Now! - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Get Maine on the train for democracy before its too late | Opinion - The Portland Press Herald - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- We are ready to lead our country toward democracy and a European path - - July 16th, 2025 [July 16th, 2025]
- Mandelblit believes Israel heading toward end of democracy - The Times of Israel - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Jurists refer to the obstacle in front of peace, democracy in Turkey - - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Hundreds attend pro-democracy rally in Oceanside - Times of San Diego - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- The GOP Is Working Overtime to Take the People Out of Democracy - WhoWhatWhy - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Freedom to Choose?: Peter Beinart Slams Trump-Netanyahu Plan for Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza - Democracy Now! - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Evers refusal to fight and the fate of democracy - Wisconsin Examiner - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- What Exactly Is Required to Preserve Our Democracy? - The Atlantic - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Timeline: Tracking the Trump Justice Departments Anti-Voting Shift - Democracy Docket - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Apocalypse in the Tropics is the democracy documentary Trump doesnt want you to see - San Francisco Chronicle - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Depression due to politics? The quiet danger to democracy - University of California - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Theme Panel: Author Meets Critics: Depolarizing Politics and Saving Democracy by Jennifer McCoy and Murat Somer - Political Science Now - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Democracy report card: Experts weigh in on where the US stands - KPBS - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- This Week in Democracy Week 25: Epstein Cover-Ups, Crypto Corruption, and Trump's Tariff Tyranny - Zeteo - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese on Israel: From Economy of Occupation to Economy of Genocide - Democracy Now! - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Knesset's new law on religious courts and what it means for democracy - opinion - The Jerusalem Post - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Inequality has risen from 1970 to Trump that has 3 hidden costs that undermine democracy - The Conversation - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- How to Stand Up for Democracy: Pedro Silva on Laughter and Liberation - WORT-FM 89.9 - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- In defense of a human right to democracy: Reflections on the pending Advisory Opinion before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights - EJIL: Talk! - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- What Is the Trump Doctrine? John Bellamy Foster on U.S. Foreign Policy & the New MAGA Imperialism - Democracy Now! - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Letters: Erosion of our democracy was the work of decades of right-wing plotting - NOLA.com - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Peter Beinart on Zohran Mamdani & Why Democratic Voters Are Increasingly Skeptical of Israel - Democracy Now! - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- NAACP president says fight for democracy and justice will continue - WFAE - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Harbingers: What January 6 and Charlottesville Reveal About Rising Threats to American Democracy - Ideastream - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Perspective: Only one branch of government? Keep fighting to preserve our democracy - Northern Public Radio - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Capitol Briefs: Weed taxes, algorithm collusion and the fate of Democracy - Capitol Weekly - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Expand Democracy: Musks Third Party, RCV in NYC, and Miami Backlash - The Fulcrum - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- This Is Our Shot: A Democracy Roadshow for the American Imagination - The Fulcrum - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- The rise of Viktor Orban and the erosion of democracy in Hungary - KALW - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Harvards Fight Is a Defense of Democracy and Civic Virtue - Liberal Currents - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Members of Congress visiting ICE facilities are showing up for democracy - The Hill - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Irwin Cotler sounds alarm on erosion of Israels greatest protection its democracy - The Times of Israel - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Georgia: how democracy is being eroded fast as government shifts towards Russia - The Conversation - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- CONNECTIONS: We shouldn't be surprised that we still have to fight for democracy even after 249 years - The Berkshire Edge - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Depression Due to Politics: the Quiet Danger to Democracy - University of California, Merced - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Democracy v. Plutocracy: Breaking Up is Hard to Do - KPFA - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Indefatigable leaders of Indivisible Sagadahoc fighting to save democracy - The Portland Press Herald - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- More on the Abrego Garcia Case: Some Good News for Democracy, Despite the Government's Best Efforts - Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- AI, Fair Use, and the Arsenal of Democracy - RealClearDefense - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Opinion - Members of Congress visiting ICE facilities are showing up for democracy - Yahoo - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Democracy isnt dying in darkness. Its being killed off in plain sight. - Inquirer.com - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Letters: Valuing democracy and a nation of laws - Westerly Sun - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- MK Gilad Kariv on the fight for democracy and Reform Judaism in wartime Israel - Haaretz - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]