Corporate Media Is Obeying in Advance

When President Joe Biden pardoned his son Hunter Biden of tax evasion crimes for which no non-famous person would ever be prosecuted, every newsroom in America treated it like Christmas morning had come at Super Bowl halftime during Mardi Gras.

Editors and producers at newspapers and television networks produced the kind of round-the-clock coverage more appropriate to a nuclear explosion than a Sunday night statement from the White House. Correspondents pulled in at the last minute, issuing frantic BREAKING NEWS bulletins, full of breathless pronunciations of how “extraordinary” the pardon was.

CNN reported on how conservative media covered the decision, staged panels to debate whether it was good or bad, and invited individual senators to share their thoughts. Pundits from both sides of the aisle wrung their hands and clutched their pearls at this violation of the sacred norms of government.

“This is a gift to Donald Trump,” moaned the Michael Bennet, the Democratic senator from Colorado, who dubiously asserted that the president-elect would have been reluctant to pardon friends and allies had Biden not done it in this case.

Trump has, in fact, already promised to pardon the January 6 insurrectionists, many of whom are still sitting in prison for their attack on the Capitol. During his previous four years as president, Trump pardoned numerous friends, allies, and political supporters, including his daughter’s father-in-law, Charles Kushner—himself convicted of tax evasion, as well as witness tampering, making illegal campaign contributions, and, according to evidence uncovered by prosecutors, pressuring his brother-in-law to keep silent by hiring a sex worker to lure him into a hotel room, secretly recording the sexual encounter and sending the video to his sister. Kushner is now in line to be ambassador to France. 

The president-elect has pardoned war criminals, tax dodgers, gamblers and campaign contributors, and none of those pardons was deemed “a gift to Joe Biden” or a blow against the rule of law.

The New York Times alone ran more than 25 stories about the Biden pardon, including a full printing of the pardon declaration, numerous op-eds, “expert” analyses, and an interview with Hunter Biden’s former girlfriend. Meanwhile, a government newsletter reported that Trump was ignoring transition law as he prepared to take power, and the newspaper, outraged over the rule of law, reported nothing about it. 

Most of the Times coverage was of the ponderous “What hath we become in this dark hour?” variety, focusing on President Biden’s reversal: He had once said he would not pardon Hunter and now he had. 

Quoting the movie Sicario, Times columnist Ross Douthat griped that “this is the land of wolves now,” saying Biden had betrayed voters who were all, presumably, outraged by this “moral failure.” 

The focus on Biden’s previous statements obscured the real reason for his pardon of Hunter: Every single one of incoming President Donald Trump’s law-enforcement cabinet picks has promised to punish Hunter Biden to the fullest extent the law allowed—and even beyond.

Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead the FBI, said Hunter Biden was guilty of failing to register as a “foreign agent” before doing business with overseas companies. Patel’s possible counterpart at the Department of Justice under Trump, Pam Bondi, said she would, if confirmed, continue to go after Hunter Biden as well.

Kristi Noem, Trump’s proposed head of Homeland Security, accused “the three-letter agencies” (DOJ, FBI, and CIA) of a sweeping coverup of Hunter Biden’s “illegal activities,” adding that “hundreds of people” were involved.

Speaking of the CIA, Trump tapped Tulsi Gabbard—the former Democrat, former congresswoman from Hawaii—to lead national intelligence, overseeing all 18 of the country’s intelligence agencies. Gabbard has been—you guessed it!— at the forefront of efforts to continue going after Hunter Biden, saying his prosecution was timed to help his father’s party. 

Gabbard is a particularly egregious example. She met with and praised former Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad, blamed NATO for Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and parroted Russian propaganda about the war. Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Gabbard was “likely compromised” by Russian intelligence.

As with the other potential appointments, Gabbard, too, is obsessed with the president’s only living son. And neither Gabbard, nor any one of these people is qualified for their prospective roles. Patel has been haunting the right-wing podcast circuit for years promising retribution against Trump’s political enemies. Noem’s state has faced more threats from the weather than from terrorists. Gabbard has never managed or directed a large organization nor worked with intelligence agents directly nor legitimately. 

Yet their transgressions, their fixations, their bizarre assertions of loyalty to Trump and hatred for his opponents have been normalized by the media, just as they normalized Trump during his presidential campaign and indeed his first term as president. Now that he’s been elected for another term, he’s expected to nominate even more dangerous and unqualified people for critical roles.

But few of these potential appointees are being scrutinized with the same energy by the press as the president who pardoned his son from charges that “came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election … There has been an effort to break Hunter—who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me—and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here.”

And neither Gabbard, nor Pete Hegseth, Trump’s not-yet-booted nominee for Secretary of Defense, have been subject of the same feeding-frenzy energy as former Congressman Matt Gaetz, who withdrew his bid to be considered for attorney general over accusations of paying for sex with teenagers. 

Hegseth, still in the running for his job, has been named a violent drunk and rapist by more than one woman—his own mother once had even called him out for mistreating women at one point (even though she’s now supporting his bid)—and had to quit two nonprofits he ran because he kept getting intoxicated and assaulting sex workers. 

It’s as if there’s a limit to how much outrage makes the news, and Gaetz has used it all up. It’s as if the material facts of every appointee’s unsuitability don’t exist once they reach a critical mass of incompetence and criminality.

This isn’t only on the press: Congressional Democrats can raise a louder alarm. Even though the opposition party will be in the minority when Trump takes office, it will be by the slimmest of margins, and they can—and should—recruit a handful of Republicans to push back. Trump comes into office a lame duck and should be reminded of that fact at every turn, while lawmakers who hope to have careers beyond the next four years can leverage their votes against him. 

As of right now, many Dems are capitulating by participating in Trump’s transition process, and Republicans are abdicating their responsibilities entirely. 

Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville even said “it’s not our job” to vet Trump’s nominees for high office, despite the Constitution’s literal contradiction of that assertion. “That’s more the Democrats,” he said when reminded of the Senate’s duty to “advise and consent” to the president’s choices. 

“Who are we to say that we’re a better picker of people than Donald Trump?” Tuberville asked on CNN. 

Every institution in the United States, from the corporate press to the so-called Deep State to the elected officials of both parties, failed to prevent Trump’s last rampage through the country. This time there are even fewer guardrails; many anti-Trump Republicans retired or lost elections to more radical counterparts. 

Civil servants whose years of experience likely ameliorated damage to the country’s basic functioning four years ago are now trying to protect themselves from the incoming wave of MAGA purges. Last time the Trump team’s ignorance may have protected certain roles; next year there will be no such excuses. 

If ever there was a time for the corporate press to reorder its priorities, it is now. 

They can’t keep holding Democrats and their families to the highest standards while Trump can surround himself with rapists, spies, traitors, and frauds without comment or question. 

Editors and producers at the major media outlets can’t continue to pretend some of Trump’s nominees are more horrifying than others. The effectiveness of their pushback depends on whether they can keep up the pressure at a volume that demands response. 

Gaetz’s withdrawal from the process shows that it’s possible to hold the incoming administration accountable. Americans should demand the same level of pressure for each and every single monster Trump wants to put into office, and the media should summon the same level of coverage as if it’s Biden pardoning his son all over again.