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There’s a right way and a wrong way to cover Trump’s authoritarianism. Here are two examples.
Richard Engle calls it what it is, and describes some of the tactics.
Not complicated, but Engle deserves a lot of credit for this.
Not complicated, but Engle deserves a lot of credit for this.
This article describes the tactics too - accusing Democrats of a coup and treason, talk of civil war and fake news - but never calls it what it is. Not one use of the word ‘authoritarian’ or its synonyms.
washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
When Timothy Snyder says “listen for dangerous words”, Trump’s talk about treason and civil war are exactly what he’s talking about. Here it’s reduced to “rhetorical heavy artillery”.
washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
washingtonpost.com/politics/trump…
The closest the article comes to calling this what it is. But there’s a word for “l’ état, c’est moi”. Autocracy. 
One way reporters can work in words like ‘authoritarian’ is by quoting experts. Greg Sargent does this well. And this article does quote a few experts. Here’s what we get. Trump’s a great storyteller.
No, Trump isn’t creating his own turf. Authoritarianism has a simple, well-known playbook and he’s following it to the letter.
And that’s one of the biggest problems with the mainstream press’ general unwillingness to call Trump an authoritarian. The public needs to be informed that their president* is following a simple, dangerous playbook.
The Post article is far from the worst offender on this. Here’s a more egregious example.
Mainstream news articles/reporters who call Trump what he is are few and far between. It’s one of the biggest ways they’re complicit in this. Going back to before the election - this was obvious from the start of his campaign.
Maybe they’ll change. I wouldn’t count on it. It’s up to us as citizens to spread the word to our friends, relatives and co-workers. Work it into conversations. Find the good articles, books and tv clips out there and boost the hell out of them.
