The Supreme Court Decision Is Not Just a Threat to Democracy, But to the Free Press

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | July 2, 2024 |

By Dustin Rowles | Politics | July 2, 2024 |

The majority of the mainstream media is not sugarcoating yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling on Presidential immunity. The opinion writers on most of the major newspapers have rightfully concluded that the decision gives the President the powers of a King and poses a real threat to Democracy if someone like Donald Trump is elected. It means concentration camps, deporting millions, prosecuting political opponents, firing everyone in the federal government who is not sufficiently loyal, pardoning the Capitol rioters, and ultimately replacing the two oldest members of SCOTUS, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, meaning five members of the Supreme Court would be appointed by Trump, and that’d be six if something befell one of the younger members.

Even Axios, a centrist news organization, writes, “You might like this or loathe this. But it’s coming, fast and furious, if he’s elected.”

I think there’s a real fear in the media of what a second Trump term will mean, because Trump has repeatedly called the mainstream media the “enemy of the people.” The Supreme Court’s ruling gives Trump the political freedom to turn into a Putin-like figure capable of silencing his critics with impunity. A second Trump term is not good for the media. A second Trump term not only threatens Democracy; it threatens the free press.

The right-wing media — which already functions as Trump propaganda — may not mind another Trump term, but every other news organization to the left of Fox News has reason to worry about their future. This is a far different situation from the first Trump term, where the mainstream media could generate clicks by sowing division. Under a second Trump term, sowing division would not be allowed. The news media would turn into stenographers, reporting what the Trump Administration told them to report, like the Japanese media in Tokyo Vice.

That’s bad for business. That’s bad for Gannett, Murdoch, Bezos, the NY Times, Axios, CNN, Politico, and everyone else who reports on politics (my guess is that entertainment outlets will be able to continue sowing discord because Trump is a messy bitch who loves drama, as long as it doesn’t involve him). It’s not just bad for business; there’s a very real possibility that journalists themselves could face jail time for going against the Administration. It’s insane to me, in fact, that one of the few editorials supporting the Supreme Court decision comes from the Wall Street Journal, whose reporter, Evan Gershkovich, has been arbitrarily detained in Russia for over a year because he dared to write critically of the country.

Of course, I hate how the real threat that Donald Trump poses to both democracy and the free press will invariably turn Democrats against each other. A poll out yesterday showed that 75 percent of Americans don’t believe that Biden has the mental fitness to serve, while 50 percent of Democrats want Biden to be replaced on the ticket. The other 50 percent say, “Shut up, Bedwetters, polls don’t matter.”

Again, that’s why I am suggesting we all unite behind Kamala Harris, either as the Vice President likely to replace Biden in the event that he cannot finish out his term (a real possibility according to additional reporting from yesterday), or as the most likely nominee in the (unlikely) event that Joe Biden steps aside. Realistically, she’s who we are voting for, either way, and the most comforting thought I’ve had in a week is imagining how she would reshape the Supreme Court.