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By Amanda Katz
Sulzberger examines the examples of Hungary, India and Brazil, where strongmen have tried with some success to crack down on independent media. But his real point is about the upcoming election right here in the United States, in which one candidate (Vice President Kamala Harris) is generally pro-free-press and the other (former president Donald Trump) is, well, not.
This piece is fascinating in that the Times’s news side has been and remains careful not to put an outright thumb on the scale in this election, to the point of frustrating a readership that often feels the paper is too guided by right-wing framing. (Mass deportations as a way to free up housing, anyone?) So Sulzberger has some tricky work to do here. He notes that he is “not advising people how to vote.” But, he adds, “the weakening of a free and independent press matters, whatever your party or politics.”
Chaser: Speaking of press freedom, our Pulitzer Prize-winning contributing columnist Vladimir Kara-Murza, recently freed in a prisoner swap after more than two years in Russian captivity, wrote passionately last week about his release and the political prisoners left behind.
Too cozy by half
Say what you will about Ginni Thomas, the right-wing activist and Jan. 6 booster married to Justice Clarence Thomas: She knows the value of a thank-you note. Unfortunately for her, however, the person weighing in on her recent all-caps rave to a conservative organization with frequent cases before the court is not Miss Manners but Ruth Marcus.
“Thomas’s email was not just some generic note of appreciation,” Ruth writes. “It was to praise First Liberty for its fierce, and deep-pocketed, fight against … wait for it … proposals to reform the Supreme Court and strengthen ethics enforcement against the justices.”
As Ruth has noted with exasperation before, the Thomases have reaped extraordinary and undisclosed financial gifts and favors from wealthy conservatives, including ones with an interest in Supreme Court decisions. “So much for separate careers,” Ruth writes. “Now, we know, Ginni Thomas is a behind-the-scenes player seeking to frustrate any changes — and a grateful (‘THANK YOU SO, SO, SO MUCH’) beneficiary of First Liberty’s efforts on the Thomases’ behalf.”
That’s one unholy alliance. Jim Geraghty points to another: He wants JD Vance to stop hanging out with bad influence Tucker Carlson before he gets himself in some real trouble. “No self-respecting pollster, focus-group conductor or campaign strategist would recommend the GOP nominee for vice president laugh it up with a Putin-adoring nutjob conspiracy theorist in a key swing state about six weeks before Election Day,” Jim writes. How about you focus on your homework and maybe winning some swing states, young man?
Bina Venkataraman argues that one way to improve the upcoming Harris-Trump debate is simple: add an ASL interpreter. Okay, so the assignment might not be as fun as translating John Legend covering Prince at the Democratic National Convention, but it would “add an extra layer to the performance, including to a subset of often-neglected viewers,” Bina writes.
Smartest, fastest
- Mike Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, writes about the “intensely private place” that is Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, an area containing the remains of troops who died in Afghanistan and Iraq, and how Trump’s recent thumbs-up photo op there violated its spirit. “To intrude upon that scene — to visit politics upon it … is to betray the very nature of Arlington. It is to mock the apolitical nature of our military and to dishonor the sacrifices made by those who rest there,” he writes.
- On the local beat, Marc Fisher hits Dupont Circle to explore the anti-loitering tactics stores are using to try to drive away panhandlers. Turns out it works on prospective customers, too!
- For the “Impromptu” podcast, columnists Ted Johnson and Shadi Hamid team up with author Richard Reeves to discuss the modern crisis of masculinity and the two very different models being offered by the Trump-Vance and the Harris-Walz camps.
- Housing researcher Kevin Erdmann argues that, though those burned by the Great Recession might be hesitant, it’s time to loosen mortgage lending standards again.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
Today we can say
Vote for a free press this fall
Next year? Maybe not.
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Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/compliments/complaints. See you tomorrow!
