Speaking truth to power
Leading and reporting in an authoritarian age
Join us today, Thursday, June 19, for two Live conversations: At 10:30 a.m. Eastern, we’ll be speaking with New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander, fresh from his detention by Trump security forces. Then at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll talk to journalist, former ABC News anchor, and new Substacker Terry Moran. Watch on desktop at The Ink or join us from a phone or tablet with the Substack app.
Laying it on the line
What role should a public servant play in these times? One trying to work on behalf of their constituents rather than against their interests, that is?
When New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander was arrested by DHS agents while escorting families to immigration court, he was answering that question.
As Ezra Klein wrote about the video of Lander’s arrest in The New York Times yesterday:
Watching it, I was gripped by two thoughts. First, we are very far down a very dark path when ICE agents are arresting elected officials. (The Department of Homeland Security says Lander was “arrested for assaulting law enforcement and impeding a federal officer,” a lie so brazen, given that this is all on tape for everyone to see, that it makes the whole episode even more chilling.) And second, Lander sure looked like the kind of guy you’d want in charge at a time like this.
Lander joins a growing list of Democratic officials who’ve become targets of the Trump regime’s authoritarian attack on its elected opponents: In April, a Milwaukee judge, Hannah Dugan, was arrested and charged with obstructing federal agents. In May, Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested while attempting to inspect an ICE facility; New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver was charged with assault for attempting to aid Baraka. And in Los Angeles last week, California Senator Alex Padilla was handcuffed and briefly detained after questioning Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Republicans have dismissed all five as lawbreakers or accused them of indulging in political theater. But Republican elected officials aren’t the target audience — rather, Lander, Padilla and the others are exhibiting (and going beyond) the willingness to fight that voters suggest they want from Democrats, by putting themselves physically on the line as the millions of Americans who got out in the street this past weekend did — offering the social proof that it’s possible to oppose authoritarianism.
While Republicans may not be ready to hear the message, these actions send a strong signal to their fellow Democrats. As Ned Resnikoff of Public Comment posted:
Lander and Padilla have set the standard that absolutely every Democratic politician should meet or exceed if they don't want to get primaried.
And that’s perhaps the job now. As Mayor Baraka told the press following a mid-May hearing:
“History will judge us in this moral moment. These people are wrong. And it’s moments like this that will judge us all — as cowards or, you know, as heroes.”
Brad Lander, for his part, plans to return to immigration court — and to continue his campaign to replace Eric Adams as mayor of New York City.
We’ll talk to Brad Lander at 10:30 a.m. Eastern today, here on Substack Live. We hope you’ll join us.
Truth and consequences
“I don’t think you should ever regret telling the truth. And I don’t,” journalist and former ABC News senior national correspondent Terry Moran told The New York Times last week.
This past December, after ABC reached a $16 million settlement with Donald Trump, ending a libel suit over anchor George Stephanopoulos speaking imprecisely of a jury’s finding in E. Jean Carroll’s suit against the president, Trump promised to continue his campaign against media outlets: “We have to straighten out the press. Our press is very corrupt, almost as corrupt as our elections.”
Trump, who’d called the press the “enemy of the people” during his first term, has made good on that threat. From restricting AP News’ access to the Oval Office to dismantling Voice of America, he’s stopped journalists from doing their jobs and cut off audiences from critical information. He may be close to settling another major lawsuit with CBS News.
So it was unsurprising that after tweeting that Trump and Stephen Miller were “world-class haters” and incurring the wrath of the White House, Moran was let go by ABC.
There’s certainly some disagreement over whether Moran’s post deserved discipline of some kind — he was working as a reporter, not an opinion columnist. But that line is a lot less clear in the social media age. As journalist and media critic Margaret Sullivan wrote:
I’m amazed that Moran posted what he did. It’s well outside the bounds of what straight-news reporters do. It’s more than just calling a lie a lie, or identifying a statement as racist — all of which I think is necessary. Moran is not a pundit or a columnist or any other kind of opinion journalist. It’s hard to imagine a news reporter — say, David Sanger of the New York Times, or Carol Leonnig of the Washington Post, going that far. They may write an analysis piece that isn’t “just the facts” of hard-news reporting, but that’s about it…
A larger question is whether we are now in such a different era, because of Trump’s march to autocracy (see above), that traditional reporters should have the license — even the encouragement — to say whatever they wish, in whatever way they wish.
But while the specific roles of journalists may be in as much flux as the news industry overall, their role for the public remains calling things what they are and holding power to account — and plenty of veteran television and print journalists clearly feel the same way. And many of them are looking for new outlets that allow them to tell the stories they want, where their previous employers had been unable or unwilling. Moran now joins journalists such as Jim Acosta and Joy Reid, who are now writing independent newsletters (like the one you’re reading right now).
Will the press fight or fold? What will it even look like in the future? Can the new independent media hold power to account where the legacy press can’t — or won’t?
We’ll talk about all of that with Terry Moran at 12:30 p.m. today, on Substack Live. We hope you can join us.
In the meantime, visit the links below to read some of our recent coverage of Brad Lander’s campaign and the role of the press in the Trump era:
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Live conversations today!
Join us today, Thursday, June 19, for two special conversations: At 10:30 a.m. Eastern we’ll be speaking with New York City Comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander. Then at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll talk to journalist, former ABC News anchor, and new Substacker Terry Moran.
To join and watch, download the Substack app (click on the button below) and turn on notifications — you’ll get an alert once we’re live, and you can watch, chat, and even participate in the conversation during our Book Club meetings from your iOS or Android mobile device. If you’re using a computer, you can also watch (and ask questions in the text chat) on our homepage.
I think in this time of darkness anyone who can speak out against what the Trump administration is enacting should speak out. Politicians need to make strong statements against cruelty. And reporters can no longer adhere to the traditional ethos of objectivity or neutrality. At this moment, speaking truth to power out weighs impartiality and we can’t afford anything less if we want to hold onto any chance of surviving as a democracy.
I’m very much looking forward to hearing reflections of comptroller Lander. Or Superman as I call him. As he was being assaulted, and his clothes pulled away, I visualized the mild mannered Clark Kent giving way to able-to-leap-tall-faux-law- disenforcement agents… bursting out of his shirt transforming into that familiar Superman red body suit, magic cape majestically lifting him out of their claws! Speaking for Truth. Justice. And the American way??? Oh my. What has it become???
I’m so sorry I’ll miss the Terry Moran interview chat. I’m a follower and supporter of his new endeavors. Landed on his feet quite nicely I’d say! Talk about Speaking Strength to Evil Powers…. 💪🏽💪🏽💪🏽. I’ll miss the broadcast because I’ll be working through all of this with my trauma- informed, PTSD specialist, retired Army veteran who served in war torn countries… A SUPERWOMAN in her own right, therapist. There is this grief we all deal with in different ways , ‘midst the growing Hope being an active part of something like THE INK Community. Bravo and thank you Anand, et al. Onward! ♥️💪🏽