The filling of the 24 news coverage has hardened a lot of people against the media. They see trash used to fill time, every election is like a play by play sports event. Print is the only decent media left and so few people read anymore.
3
Partisan moment? >Movement<. The progressive movement will end in riot and bloodshed following the President's re-election.
I am amazed that progressives do not promote Trump for his ending wars, raising up minorities and desire for a greater America.
Validate
Your
Protected by the Very Instrument,
Rights
the
Progressives Want to
Destroy.
So, Carry.
And encourage responsible folks to do the same.
Please continue doing what you do Maggie and Michael.
Your articles are my immediate go-tos when I want to know the latest as to what Trump is doing and not doing.
There are a good number of articles on the Times that make me just want to hit cancel on my subsrciption... but then Maggie and Michael step in with great journalism and remind me why I subscribed to begin with.
/two-thumbs-up
7
Pretty scary about all the new Republican judges or is it? I bet there is a study showing the history of verdicts rendered that were obviously driven by a judge with conservative stances. Is there?
2
I get the point that the GOP has stacked the deck by having not only Donald Trump nominate a quarter of the appellate level judges in the US but that Mitch had slow walked such appointments when Obama was president.
My understanding of the constitution is that it does provide an answer to the dilemma of the Heritage foundation selections.
Certainly congress can dissolve and reorganize the federal judiciary going so far as to set the number of SCOTUS judges. Just because FDR got his nose nipped when he tried to pack the court eight decades ago doesn't mean that the GOP 'gaming of the system" will remain the fact.
In fact inertia is probably the main reason that FDR lost and there has been little in the way of reform of the structure of the federal judiciary. All the concern about institutions and their 'breakdown' actually make a 'remake' of the federal judiciary more likely.
I would also like to clarify that you folks fail to give old Newt of the Georgia Sixth district his due as his bomb throwing from the back-benches and its relative success in shaking up the Democratic power structure (especially after Tip O'Neal's resignation) was key to increasing partisanship.
Heck, before Newt started working to force 'liberals' out of the GOP, preferring to focus the conflict on social issues like abortion and states rights accompanied with the occasional, but mandatory dog whistle, there were Republicans worthy of respect.
One wonders if any are worthy today.
11
The deep and pervasive corruption of Donald Trump has been treated like a bed time story by a self-conscious media. Why not put the stark misuse of the highest office of the land clearly in front of the public? Why all the pulled punches? Showcase the facts - the rest will follow.
KC — Boston
Thank you KC, what I have been trying to say for a few years
4
It is a fact that judicial rulings can create and nullify law. Consequently, control of the ideology of the US court system is of paramount importance.
Like a relentlessly metastasizing cancer, since 2000, extremist right wing social philosophy has spread in our court system to the point where it has been menace to the republic. Not to mention republican's packing of the Supreme Court.
“If the Senate confirms a batch of nominees now working their way through the approval process, a quarter of the nation’s 179 appeals court judges — those sitting just below the Supreme Court — will be appointees of Mr. Trump.”
5
Curious, McGahn, unlike the rest of the Trump administration has been quietly effective, and so has moved the needle in terms of the future of our country. In this regard, he is unusual, I think, or perhaps unique. He isn't a clown, didn't draw a lot of attention to himself--and managed to leave without the usual Trump residue of scandal, corruption, hubris, and pathetic posturing. He's the one the democrats ought to be going after...
15
Thanks to both of you! And I can't thank Maggie enough for her indefatigable tweeting -- if I could only read one account to keep up with the news, it would be Maggie's.
8
FDR and LBJ both greatly upended the country with the respective New Deal and the Great Society programs, both of these having significant and far reaching ramifications extending into the present, arguably mostly for benefit all things considered. Trump in his pledges to bring change to our political system also been the architect of upheaval, with this resulting in malevolent, vile and divisive consequences here and abroad. Having not given much thought to the matter because of the daily press Trump manages to generate it is sobering and concerning that perhaps one of the most damaging consequences of this administration may be McGahn's quiet maneuvers to ensure one of Trump's promises to stack the courts with judges who would be inclined to do his bidding and sadly this shall be Trump's odious legacy. This aside it is beyond comprehension that any of our elected legislative personnel cannot endorse impeachment and removal from office given the blatant and obvious actions involving the quid pro quo affair - not "fake news" or witch-hunt but clear undeniable objective facts reported by credible high level government officials.
21
@Horseshoe Crab -
Since the year 2000...."there has been an election settled at the Supreme Court, a terrorist attack that killed more than 3,000 people, a lengthy war overseas, and a fiscal crisis. All of that has eroded trust in institutions. So has the proliferation of partisan media, allowing readers to choose the news they want to hear."
And all of those things listed could have been avoided with wise leadership... Yet, one important event left off that list of national crisis since George W. Bush & the new GOP entered the White House in 2000...
- Donald Trump became President.
...can anyone imagine two people more different than Trump-Obama, thus that gives some insight into the width of the chasm separating the American people voting.
And if we thought Bush Jr./Cheney and the new GOP were bad last decade, deadly so..., get a load of the lineup the GOP has planned for the next 2020 decade...
4
I would add that when Maggie Haberman accurately identified the problem with the proliferation of partisan media, allowing readers to choose the news they want to hear and Trump pouring accelerant on it (as an element of the erosion of institutions, specifically media), that is only half the problem with media and how Trump plays to them. The other half is that beyond the partisan coverage, media is treating hard news subject as entertainment and even running teases to promote it. The game show hosts at CNN are promoting a subject as important as impeachment in the same manner as TMZ teases celebrity interviews or scandals, Fox and others will likely retreat to their corners and do even worse when ringmaster Hannity and other weigh in. I would speculate more partisanship in the near term unless the public realizes that Zucker, Murdoch, and others are getting even richer by hooking them and feeding them an information diet that doesn't contain the minimum nutritional requirement for an adult living in a democracy.
24
After Trump will bring the real problems. In 2020 or 2024 a Democrat will be elected and begin the attempt to undo some of the damage. But, as Bannon points out, all those conservative judges will be standing in the way for the next 30 years. So, all the while the most urgent issues of climate change, immigration, health care and income inequality will NOT be addressed adequately and the country will in effect be in its second Civil War, with guns or no.
What happens when Americans feel there is no hope?
23
@paulyyams
America already is fighting its second Civil War: this time it is for the soul of the nation and about slavery - of everyone but the oligarchs.
4
@paulyyams
Lots more suicides, I presume. Or perhaps that will occur on the planetary level.
@paulyyams ...you noted: "What happens when Americans feel there is no hope?"
My reply is what do people do when they are hungry; they eat.
And what do thousands of years of human history tell us to expect; the people will rebel.
Partisan attacks will lead to violent confrontation; this is why democracy is so precious.
Democracy when done right, saves millions of lives.
2
As much as Trump mocks the failing NYT you sense that he has a hidden respect for this pillar of American journalism and one of its most able reporters Maggie H. He would love favourable coverage. And he would get if he would just put what is good for America ahead of what is good for Trump.
15
@Milton Lewis Tend to disagree sir - Trump has no respect for the Times, the Washington Post or CNN and I doubt for Ms. Haberman. Like most despots and dictators he seeks to destroy the free press.
3
@Milton Lewis Oy! When pigs fly!
2
@Milton Lewis
He's only interested in how many times his name is mentioned in the New York Times. Trump has such limited understanding of how a free press is supposed to work that it's highly unlikely he has any respect for the Times or any other paper that dares to publish stories that don't reflect well on him or his administration. Never mind that the stories are factually accurate.
4
I watched The Weekly on McGahn and was amazed and educated. If you haven't watched it you really should. Journalism and its best.
5
The deep and pervasive corruption of Donald Trump has been treated like a bed time story by a self-conscious media. Why not put the stark misuse of the highest office of the land clearly in front of the public? Why all the pulled punches? Showcase the facts - the rest will follow.
40
@KC You allude to a sense of resignation in the face of incessant feeds on twitter, the receptacle of his mendacity and savagery.
3
@KC
I don't see what you see here.
The reality is... Trump thrives on journalists getting just one tiny little fact incorrect of out of context.. and he is a master of making mountains out of mole hills in this regard.
As such.. careful, considered, provable, accurate journalism is required when reporting on Trump... lest he weaponize anything that can be even remotely cast as inaccurate. Heck.. even the clearly accuate will be castigated by him as fake news.
1
@KC They aren't out to deliver facts, they just want eyeballs to drive revenue. Beyond the partisan coverage, media is treating hard news subject as entertainment and even running teases to promote it. The game show hosts at CNN are promoting a subject as important as impeachment in the same manner as TMZ teases celebrity interviews or scandals, Fox is even worse!
3