How Much Regard Does Trump Have For The Constitution?
I keep wanting to tell journalists— virtually all of them— that they’re making a big mistake by constantly whining about how Trump and congressional Republicans want to jail journalists. Because they feel it’s horrific— which,I readily admit, it is— they think everyone thinks it’s horrific. They’re wrong most Americans are cheering Trump and the GOP on. Thing is, while journalists understandably view threats against press freedom as existential and alarming, they fail to recognize that large swaths of the public have been primed to distrust and even disdain the media, thanks to years of deliberate rhetoric labeling the press as “enemies of the people.” By emphasizing the threat to journalists, journalists risk further alienating those who see media criticism as justified, or even overdue.
Polling confirms the disconnect between many Americans and media trustworthiness. According to a Gallup/Knight Foundation poll, a significant 61% of Americans believe news organizations do not have their best interests at heart, suggesting deep-seated skepticism about media alignment with public values. Additionally, nearly three-quarters of respondents said most national news organizations prioritize their business interests over reporting the truth. These findings reflect broad dissatisfaction across the ideological spectrum, although for differing reasons: conservatives often cite perceived bias against their views, while liberals critique a lack of advocacy for social justice causes.
Further insights from Pew Research highlight that while most Americans desire accurate news, 80% think financial and corporate interests unduly influence media content, compounding distrust.
Obviously, jailing journalists sets a dangerous precedent that affects everyone's freedom, including the public's right to information. Historically, suppressing the press has led to broader authoritarianism, resonating beyond their profession, as is apparent in countries ruled by authoritarians most admired by Trump, like Putin and Orbán.
Yesterday, in a column, By All Means, Jail My Colleagues, Mr. President!, Andrew Egger looked at where this could be headed. “A remarkable number” of congress members, he wrote, are taking the news that Señor T wants to see their colleagues who served on the January 6th Committee put in jail enthusiastically. James Comer (R-KY), more a moron than a fascist, told Egger that “With politicians, if you’ve used a congressional committee and you’ve lied and tried to set people up and falsely imprisoned people, then you should be held accountable.” Another idiot, although more in the Nazi direction, Tim Burchett (R-TN), told him that “If they broke the law, then they should [be imprisoned]. Now we know that they’ve manipulated evidence, so— if that’s the case, then absolutely.” And the dumbest member of Congress and an outright Nazi Lauren Boebert (R-CO), said “It’s not looking good for them. You know, they’re asking for their preemptive pardon. So it kind of sounds suspect and guilty. I think anybody who has politically imprisoned American citizens and completely ruined their lives needs to be investigated.”
A thirst to see one’s colleagues imprisoned does not make for the most congenial of workplaces. One has to imagine that the next session of Congress could turn cantankerous quickly, owing to Trump’s insistence that the lawmakers who investigated him be jailed— and his repeated lies about their conduct. January 6th Committee Democrats were quick yesterday to deny that they had done anything untoward: “There’s nothing we did as a January 6th Select Committee that violates the law,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who chaired the committee, told NBC News.
For months, Trump has falsely claimed that the January 6th Committee criminally destroyed records in an attempt to bury facts that would exonerate him. (As fact checks have repeatedly shown, Trump’s claim is a totally baseless— a funhouse-mirror distortion of claims made back in 2023 by House Republicans who were then already investigating the work of the January 6th Committee and who were crabby that, for instance, they were only being provided with transcripts of depositions rather than video footage.)
For the most part, House Republicans who spoke to The Bulwark were careful not to actually say that they believed, like Trump, that the committee had destroyed evidence. But they were comfortable entertaining the possibility it had (despite those fact checks) and content with the idea of prosecuting lawmakers if they did. “I haven’t kept up with the January 6th stuff like other people,” Comer said. “I don’t know exactly what Trump was referring to. But I have two years of experience working with one of the January 6th Committee members, and I can tell you he’s been nothing but completely dishonest.”
Comer’s shot was aimed at Rep. Jamie Raskin, the ranking member on the Oversight Committee. (Raskin’s office did not return a request for comment.) It’s the committee which Comer chairs and on which Boebert and Burchett serve. That those three lawmakers showed comfort with Trump targeting the January 6th Committee members underscores the degree to which partisan affiliations now overwhelm institutional prerogatives.
The Oversight Committee exists specifically to provide congressional accountability and scrutiny to the actions of the executive branch. But none of these Oversight Republicans had an issue with Trump vowing open retribution against House members who performed that sort of accountability work during the last Congress.
When I asked Comer whether he was worried about the chilling effect of the president accusing an entire House committee of collective crimes, he dodged: “The media has been wrong on so many things. Russian collusion, the Steele Dossier, Hunter Biden laptop, no evidence of wrongdoing of Biden crime family influence peddling. The American people are sick of it and they want people held accountable.”
Boebert wasn’t worried either: “I don’t lack confidence” in the House’s ability to do oversight, she said as she hopped into her car.
Not every House Republican The Bulwark spoke to endorsed Trump’s modest proposal of jail for the J6 committee. But none were willing to publicly criticize it either. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), considered one of the more bipartisan remaining members of the House, declined all questions about Trump’s interview in a sequence of terse monosyllables. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)— typically as good for a soundbite as any human in Washington— smirked and ignored The Bulwark’s question as she walked to the House floor.
A nominal opposition party that was largely clueless as to how to deal w/ Trump when he was out of office now appears to be even more clueless as to dealing w/ Trump's pending return to office. There's no coherence, there's no comprehension, and there's no coordination. Their sole justification for existence was to serve as a bulwark against Trump regaining power. Now that they failed in that "effort," there's precious little evidence that they have a clue as to how they can at least manage damage control.
Sad thing is, we'll suffer the consequences of their fecklessness, collusion & ultimate incompetence far more than they will. Who said life was fair?