The hosts and panelists of MS NOW’s “Money, Power, Politics with Stephanie Ruhle” reacted Monday to the Trump administration’s recent subpoena of New York Times reporters, calling it an “all-out assault” on American democracy.
On Saturday, the Trump administration subpoenaed New York Times journalists Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, Tyler Pager and Eric Schmitt after they reported on safety concerns regarding a jet intended to serve as the president’s new Air Force One. The subpoenas were delivered by the Justice Department just days after the New York Times published two articles centered on the Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8 meant to serve as President Trump‘s primary presidential plane.
“It’s an all-out assault on the Fourth Estate,” panelist Eddie Glaude said of the subpoenas. “Any institution, any individuals that seek to hold Donald Trump accountable are subject. They are in the crosshairs. For me, this is one of the critical, critical moves on the part of the Trump administration.”
“Not only are we going to be inundated with disinformation, but we’re going to be inundated in such a way that we can’t acquire the resources to hold people accountable in power,” Glaude continued. “So go after reporters, go after news agencies and the like. This is just simply the latest instantiation of Trump’s ongoing assault on the very foundations of American democracy.”
You can check out Glaude and co.’s full comments yourself in the video below.
CNBC contributor Dan Nathan called the aggressive legal action against the Times a symptom of Trump’s adherence to the “politics of grievance.”
“Here’s an organization that is obviously not well-liked by the president’s base, and that is not going to get too much better. They actually cheer this on. They actually look at the New York Times as some sort of propaganda engine for the Left,” Nathan said, concluding, “The process is the punishment, and it is the sort of intimidation tactics that you would expect by an authoritarian state.”
Ruhle, for her part, questioned whether the Trump administration’s actions will dissuade aspiring journalists from pursuing careers in the field.
“The power of the pen is real, but it is fraught,” Ruhle remarked. “How much harder does it make it for reporters to do their jobs, for people to want to become journalists? To think, ‘I don’t just have to pay off my student loans, but do I have enough money in my bank account to pay a lawyer if I need to defend myself for doing my job?’”
“If you’re going to be one of those people who are going to be spilling ink and trying to kind of bring truth to power, then you better have the backing of an organization like the New York Times,” Nathan responded. “If you’re just kind of one of those keyboard warriors, you have a Substack or you’re trying to kind of break news for a smaller progressive organization, you should be worried. Because, again, they can make examples [of you].”
