"These are three news stories that came to my attention over the last 24 hours.
I think they tell us a lot about the current, degraded state of public life in America.
First, the Boston Globe organizes a media protest against the Trump administration’s “assault on the press.”
....To listen to our heroic journalists, you might think that Trump is sending secret policemen to cart them off to prison.
No such thing, of course.
Rather, Trump is saying things about left-wing press outlets that are nowhere near as nasty as what they have been saying about him since before his inauguration.
Democratic Party journalists declared war on the president, and they now pretend that his fighting back is somehow an infringement of their rights.
...Next, on a similar theme, we hear from Dani Rodrik, a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School. Rodrik is concerned lest educational institutions “normalize” historically low unemployment, steady wage increases and a pro-America foreign policy:The Trump administration confronts universities with a serious dilemma. On one hand, universities must be open to diverse viewpoints, including those that conflict with mainstream opinion or may seem threatening to specific groups. …On the other hand, there is the danger of normalizing and legitimizing what can only be described as an odious presidency.
It requires a peculiar sense of self-worth to think that your approval is needed to legitimize a president who was elected by the American people. Left-wing academics may think that ordinary Americans don’t notice their arrogance, but they are mistaken.
How, exactly, does Rodrik propose to avoid “normalizing” and “legitimizing” a Republican president? Academic institutions should have nothing to do with anyone who serves in the administration, just as restaurants shouldn’t serve them:Read all!Those who serve with him are necessarily tainted by the experience. Trump’s close associates and political appointees are his enablers….The stain extends beyond political operatives and covers economic policymakers as well. Trump’s cabinet members and high-level appointees share collective responsibility for propping up a shameful presidency. They deserve opprobrium not merely because they hold cranky views on, say, the trade deficit or economic relations with China, but also, and more importantly, because their continued service makes them fully complicit in Trump’s behavior. Trump’s immediate circle and senior appointees…should not be accorded the degree of respect or deference that their seniority and government positions would normally merit. We do not, after all, have a normal administration that can be served honorably..."
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