The New York Times Isn’t Serious About Restraining Executive Abuses

The New York Times editorial board calls for responding to Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office by “build[ing] a coalition of Americans who disagree about many other subjects — who span conservative and progressive, internationalist and isolationist, religious and secular, business-friendly and labor-friendly, pro-immigration and restrictionist, laissez-faire and pro-government, pro-life and pro-choice — yet who believe that these subjects must be decided through democratic debate and constitutional processes rather than the dictates of a single man.” It’s a noble ideal and one that I could get behind if sincerely pursued. But both the messenger and the message are wrong.

The Times opens with the sort of hyperbole its readers demand: “The first 100 days of President Trump’s second term have done more damage to American democracy than anything else since the demise of Reconstruction.” I guess we have officially moved on both from the claim that January 6 nearly toppled our democracy and the contention that Georgia’s 2021 voting law (which is still in effect) represented “Jim Crow 2.0.”

About the Author

Dan McLaughlin

Dan McLaughlin is a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute.

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The New York Times editorial board calls for responding to Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office by “build[ing] a coalition of Americans who disagree about many other subjects — who span conservative and progressive, internationalist and isolationist, religious and secular, business-friendly and labor-friendly, pro-immigration and restrictionist, laissez-faire and pro-government, pro-life and pro-choice — yet who believe that these subjects must be decided through democratic debate and constitutional processes rather than the dictates of a single man.” It’s a noble ideal and one that I could get behind if sincerely pursued. But both the messenger and the message are wrong.

The Times opens with the sort of hyperbole its readers demand: “The first 100 days of President Trump’s second term have done more damage to American democracy than anything else since the demise of Reconstruction.” I guess we have officially moved on both from the claim that January 6 nearly toppled our democracy and the contention that Georgia’s 2021 voting law (which is still in effect) represented “Jim Crow 2.0.”