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

Opinions were limited to the editorial pages. The news pages were intended to report the facts – and if we were doing our job, to convey the truth.

It was a hard-earned distinction. At 19^th century, the newspapers that served as political bulletin boards were party organs, dedicated to celebrating the virtues of its own candidates and denigrating others. It was difficult, especially the campaigns between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, with unparalleled scurrility at least until the advent of Donald Trump.

Around the 20^th century, with a much wider readership, the separation between information and opinion was established. Richard Nixon was forced out of office in 1974 precisely because readers trusted the Washington Post’s reporting – denounced by the president but upheld in court.

That was then. Today, the Post’s billionaire publisher Jeff Bezos, following the lead of the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, halted the development of supportive editorials and insisted that the paper would not endorse anyone. Bezos explained his reasons in a column ranked among the most misleading ever published in a major newspaper. Since we don’t really trust the “media,” he says, newspapers shouldn’t have an opinion on the candidates.

Amazon’s founder forgot the most basic rule in a crisis, as next week’s election makes clear: Just do your job.

The reason we don’t trust the “media” has nothing to do with supportive editorials, which, if done well, are decidedly useful, but because the model of social media has become Fox News – established as a Republican propaganda arm – not the Post or the New York Times.

Readers and viewers no longer know what or who to trust, as the separation between information and opinion has almost collapsed. Rather than reinstate this vital standard, Bezos chooses to abandon opinion writing altogether.

As we face the daunting and daunting task of choosing a president and our representatives in Congress and state legislatures, too many others have abandoned their positions.

As the former president destroys legal and constitutional boundaries one after another, with the help of the highest court in the land, the establishment press has effectively normalized its behavior.

So we’ve forgotten how Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell upended norms to keep an Obama nominee off the Supreme Court for nearly a year, then took a Trump nominee to court eight days before the election of 2020, which he lost. The resulting court struck down a constitutional right to abortion relied upon by two generations of women, but dramatically expanded gun rights as the nation’s schoolchildren are terrified by the prospect of more shootings in class.

The turmoil resulting from the Court’s reckless decision-making was just a warm-up for its worst decision yet: Four years after its attack on the election results, Trump’s trial must be delayed because presidents benefit immunity for “all official actions”. Nothing in the Constitution supports this conclusion; its clear text and historical significance demonstrate otherwise. Not only can presidents be impeached, but they can also face criminal charges.

The framers of the Constitution disagreed on many points, including slavery, but they were unanimous that no president could exercise royal powers – is not above the law. This unanimity was broken.

With so many institutions failing to do their jobs, it is up to voters to make the right decision on November 5. They don’t get much help.

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

The global inflationary surge that followed the pandemic ended two years ago. A recession universally predicted and supposedly necessary to resolve never happened. Instead, the economy is the best it has been in a presidential year in decades, with low inflation, near-record unemployment and solid wage growth among blue-collar workers who have , rightly, felt abandoned in recent decades. No, it wasn’t “better under Trump.”

On immigration, Republican Party Chairman Mike Johnson submitted to candidate Trump’s orders, rejecting a bipartisan bill that would help “secure the border.” Trump preferred to criticize immigrants and pretend the situation was out of control.

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

As we said, these are the facts.

Ultimately, Kamala Harris sides with our allies, not with Vladimir Putin and Russia. She respects the electoral process – everything we have between us and one-man government. She represents America’s aspirations and hopes for the future, which Trump clearly does not represent.

It’s not too late to do things right. Supporters of democracy and believers in the Republic can still win.

Copy story link