Truths from Jennifer Rubin’s column in the Washington Post on September 29, 2021:
MAGA cult-followers and right-wing media also pose a fundamental challenge to our democracy by deliberately sabotaging the economy and refusing to hold responsible those behind the violent insurrection at the Capitol. But before people give up hope, there are several measures that can address the threat posed by irrational, self-destructive forces.
First, the media can stop enabling Republicans by retiring the pretense that the GOP is a normal, credible and patriotic party. Consider the framing of questions that so many in the White House press corps have adopted. If the president’s plans are so popular, why can’t he get Congress to go along? (Um, because they operate in the right-wing media bubble and fear his plans might deliver for ordinary Americans?) Why has the White House failed to get everyone vaccinated? (Because MAGA leaders are sabotaging vaccine mandates and right-wing media hosts shovel disinformation into their viewers’ laps?) Why is the president incapable of unifying the country? (Because Republicans refuse to put country above party?) The entire assumption that President Biden is a failure because he cannot get unreasonable Republicans to become rational is misguided.
The media’s obligation is not simply to record what Republicans say, but to inform Americans if what they are saying is demonstrably false. It is not to decry “stalemate” or “dysfunction,” but to explain which party is causing it.
In the context of ongoing voter suppression, media coverage has generally been unclear and unenlightening. The voting restrictions are not “strict”; they are designed to keep people from casting ballots. The entire notion of “voter security” is a canard; there was no demonstrable fraud in 2020 and many of the measures passed by Republicans (e.g., curtailing early voting) have nothing to do with security. Language matters, and the use of deceptively neutral descriptions (“tighten voting rules”) benefits the party seeking to undermine democracy.
Second, Democrats must project a greater sense of urgency about the fate of our democracy. They cannot rally their base and keep disaffected Republicans on board if they allow a senator or two to prioritize the filibuster over preserving our democracy. The White House must unequivocally condemn Republicans for unanimously refusing to even debate voting rights bills and for unanimously opposing a measure that would preserve the treasury’s credit standing. Being deferential to politicians who operate in bad faith is no way to mobilize the electorate.
Finally, it is time to reconsider not merely reform or elimination of the filibuster but structural defects throughout our constitutional system that, for example, deprives the residents of Washington, D.C. of the right to vote. It is untenable for a minority-elected president and a Senate representing a minority of the population to stack the Supreme Court with “partisan hacks” enjoying lifetime tenure.