The Maine Idea: While others fail, voters must do their jobs

When I was a young journalist, the first lesson I learned was the distinction between news and opinion.

Opinions were confined to the editorial pages. The news pages were for reporting the facts — and if we were doing our jobs, conveying the truth.

It was a hard-won distinction. In the 19th century, newspapers that served as political bulletin boards were party organs, devoting to celebrating the virtues of one’s own candidates and disparaging the others.

It got rough, most notoriously campaigns between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, with scurrility unmatched at least until the advent of Donald Trump.

By the 20th century, with much wider readership, the separation between news and opinion was established. Richard Nixon was driven from office in 1974 precisely because readers trusted the Washington Post’s reporting — denounced by the president but confirmed in court.

That was then. Today, billionaire publisher of the Post, Jeff Bezos, following the example of the billionaire Los Angeles Times owner, halted development of endorsement editorials and insisted the paper not endorse anyone.

Bezos explained his reasons in a column ranking among the most disingenuous ever appearing in a major newspaper. Because “the media” isn’t much trusted, he said, newspapers shouldn’t have opinions about candidates.

The Amazon founder has forgotten the most basic rule in a crisis, one next week’s election clearly presents: Just do your job.

The reason “the media” isn’t trusted has nothing to do with endorsement editorials, which if well done are decidedly helpful, but because the template for social media became Fox News — established as a Republican propaganda arm — and not the Post or The New York Times.

Readers and viewers don’t know what or who to trust because separation between news and opinion has nearly collapsed. Rather than reestablish that vital standard, Bezos opts to abandon opinion writing altogether.

As we confront the arduous, daunting tasks of choosing a president and our representatives in Congress and state legislatures, too many others have abandoned their posts.

As the former president destroys one legal and constitutional boundary after another, aided by the nation’s highest court, the establishment press has effectively normalized his behavior.

Thus we have forgotten how Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell upended norms to keep an Obama nominee off the Supreme Court for nearly a year, then whisked a Trump nominee onto the court eight days before the 2020 election, which he lost.

The resulting court overturned a constitutional right to abortion two generations of women had relied on but greatly expanded firearms rights as schoolchildren nationwide are terrified by the prospect of more classroom shootings.

Turmoil resulting from the court’s heedless decision-making was only the warmup for its worst ruling to date: that four years after his assault on the election results, Trump’s trial must be delayed because presidents have immunity for “all official actions.”

Nothing in the Constitution supports this finding; its clear text and historical meaning demonstrate the opposite. Not only are presidents subject to impeachment, they can face criminal charges as well.

The Constitution’s authors disagreed about many things, notably slavery, but they were unanimous that no president could exercise king-like powers and is not above the law. That unanimity has been shattered.

With the failure of so many institutions to do their jobs, it falls to voters to make the right decision on Nov. 5. They aren’t getting much help.

There are two issues most Republicans cite for supporting Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris: inflation and immigration.

The burst of inflation succeeding the pandemic worldwide ended two years ago. A universally predicted recession supposedly necessary to resolve it never happened.

Instead, the economy is the best it’s been in any presidential year in decades, with low inflation, near-record low unemployment and solid wage growth among blue collar workers who’ve rightly felt abandoned in recent decades. No, it wasn’t “better under Trump.”

On immigration, GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson took dictation from candidate Trump, killing a bipartisan bill that would help “secure the border.” Trump preferred to slam immigrants and pretend things are out of control.

Instead, through executive action, President Biden has reduced unauthorized crossings to pre-pandemic levels, without separating children from parents or demonizing ethnic groups, as Trump did as president.

As we used to say, those are the facts.

In the end, Kamala Harris sides with our allies, not with Vladimir Putin and Russia. She respects the electoral process — all we have standing between us and one-man rule. She represents America’s aspirations and hopes for the future, as Trump manifestly does not.

It’s not too late to get this right. Supporters of democracy, and believers in the republic, can still prevail.

Douglas Rooks has been a Maine editor, columnist and reporter for 40 years. He is the author of four books, most recently a biography of U.S. Chief Justice Melville Fuller, and welcomes comment at drooks@tds.net.

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