There are two primary ways to criticize Donald Trump’s presidency right now. They aren’t mutually exclusive, but they’re at odds. And both are showing up in the editorial pages of the nation’s newspapers.
Consider Trump’s insistence that the only reason he lost the popular vote in November is that millions of votes for Hillary Clinton were illegally cast. He demands a full investigation. Some see this as a golden example of a president ruled by vanity and delusion. Others warn that he’s giving cover to Republicans who want to rewrite voting laws and disenfranchise a big chunk of the Democratic electorate. My own view is that whichever argument is true—or truer—we do Trump a favor he’s done nothing to earn by construing any idea that pops out of his head as shrewd, or even coherent.
Individual op-ed columnists already say what the more decorous editorial pages seem unwilling to. I wonder if and when the shift will come—from the media objecting institutionally to individual policy positions, to their objecting to the broad sweep and authoritarian tone of the Trump administration, to their declaring Trump a menace in office who needs to be removed.
