Asymmetric War

The Trump regime has created an asymmetric political conflict. It routinely ignores long-standing norms and, at times, the law itself, testing how much it can get away with before anyone successfully pushes back.

Trump threatens to use the power of government to take 6ABC off the air and our response is… a call to make a public comment telling the FCC they must respect freedom of the press rights. I guess this stalls the regime for a little while with uncontrollable laughter.

Public comments have their place, but it’s hard to believe they will deter officials who have repeatedly shown they’re willing to disregard established legal and democratic norms.

The Environmental Protection Agency itself has proposed eliminating public comment requirements for many new industrial facilities, including numerous data centers. As NBC News reported, that tells us something about how this administration values public participation.

When one side treats laws, norms, and oversight as obstacles to be bypassassed while the other responds primarily through procedures that depend on respect for those same institutions, the playing field is no longer level.