First we had months of Mueller-gate; now we’re in the midst of Ukraine-gate, but sometimes it seems the real story is not the story of democracy in peril but the manner of telling the story — the incessant, repetitive talk on CNN, FOX, and MSNBC.
Yes, actual reporters have done admirable work following the tangled web Trump and his minions weave. But most of the 24/7 cable news is devoted to talking heads talking about facts already known. And yes, the attempted Ukraine shakedown is a big story of a shockingly crude abuse of power.
Without a whistleblower and other insiders who came forward to corroborate and elaborate his story, however, 100% of Americans would never have learned about the corruption in the shadows, and over 50% would not be ready to impeach a president for the high crimes of extortion, abuse of power, and obstruction of justice.
So, if Ukraine came to light only by chance, how many other atrocities are still hidden in the dark interior of Trump’s maladministration? Instead of spending so many hours opining in front of cameras shouldn’t a lot more reporters be busy on the crooked-chief-executive beat?
There’s a reason they aren’t. Talk’s cheap. Literally. Build a set, point a camera, spew verbiage. Shoe-leather reporting by contrast is expensive and time consuming. That’s not appealing if the goal of a news organization is the to cut costs, maximize profits, and attract eyeballs by flashing “Breaking News” on your screen every twenty minutes.
Newspapers (remember them?) used to be able to afford investigative reporters who would spend weeks or even months chasing a complicated story or putting flesh on the bare bones of a tip or a rumor or an inkling. A few big city papers, a few magazines, a few shows on television can still finance the occasional scuba dive to the bottom of the swamp to collect evidence, though not enough to drain it. Most don’t even put a toe in the muck.
We know that the Trump swamp, or more properly sewer, is filled with slimy creatures. Once in a while one swims into view — a Pruitt, a Zinke, or a Whitaker. Many highly placed administration figures charged with regulating departments are, in fact, committed to deregulating them. Though their ostensible job is to maintain government programs, they were hired because of their known zeal for dismantling them.
Thus, Trump has created a conflict-of-interest cabinet that includes Sonny Perdue at Agriculture, Wilbur Ross at Commerce, Betsy DeVos at Education, Rick Perry at Energy, Ben Carson at HUD. Anti-government Ideologues, lobbyists, industry shills, vulture capitalists, fossil fuel stooges. Are they pursuing the people’s business or their own self-interest? We haven’t a clue except for the rare leak or slip-up.
Michael Lewis, who has written so may best sellers that he can afford to spend a year not just visiting the swamp but chasing Nessie if he wants, got the bright idea of peaking inside a few government departments at the time of the Trump transition. We get to see what he saw inside parts of Energy, Commerce, and Agriculture. It’s not a pretty picture.
In “The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy,” he found ill-informed appointees hostile to the agencies they were entrusted with. Vandals were being sworn in to preserve, protect and defend what they have plotted for years to demolish. This seemed pretty scary since these departments had the responsibility to ensure the safety of the foods and medications we consume, predict extreme weather events that could kill us or destroy billions in value of homes and infrastructure, and find black-market uranium before it could fall into the hands of terrorists.
Over the last three years, some of the vandals were so obviously corrupt or incompetent they had to take a hike. Once in a while a scandal too big to hide has emerged at Veterans Affairs or Defense or EPA. Some horrors are blazingly obvious under Trump lapdogs like Bill Barr at the Justice Department, Steve Mnuchin at Treasury, and Mike Pompeo, the former Congressman from Koch, at State.
Yet the maladministration continues. In part because the conniving is underreported or ignored. And what we can see is probably just the tip of the iceberg. God knows what has happened, since Lewis poked his nose inside a few departments in 2016, in dozens of obscure corners of the government.
We shouldn’t have to rely on whistleblowers to risk their jobs and subject their reputations to smear campaigns, cyber attacks and possible physical danger in order to discover what corruption is afoot in the government of, by, and for the people.
Yet without daily in-depth coverage, the perversion of the intent of Congress and the betrayal of the public interest can continue apace. This holiday season every charity and good cause will be seeking a donation. I encourage my fellow Americans to give themselves and their democracy a gift.
Subscribe to a newspaper. You can now get the Washington Post or The New York Times online for the price of one Starbucks coffee per month. If there’s still a newspaper worth the name where you live, get it. Give a buck to watchdog groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center or the ACLU. Some magazines — like Atlantic, New Yorker, Mother Jones — still rake a bit of muck.
PBS is worth supporting for Frontline, Independent Lens and Nova. Also take a peak at Real Clear Investigations, ProPublica, BuzzFeed, and the Dig Deep series on investigative journalism at BillMoyers.com.
What we don’t know can hurt us. A lot. Help keep the reportorial cops on the beat. Remember, if we can’t read all about it, they can probably get away with it.