"This is deadly serious. This is Mussolini," said Barry McCaffrey.
The retired general and former joint commander for Latin America was reacting to Benedict Donald's edict that all federal agencies should cancel their subscriptions to The Washington Post and The New York Times. Talking heads have generally either just tut-tutted or made jokes about it, but we cats agree with McCaffrey: This is the President telling people what they can and cannot read.
So we're hoping that leaders across the departments and agencies manage to slow-walk their responses to this hissy-fit command. In the meantime, we have a suggestion for the newspapers in question: Beef up your coverage of the federal government.
Back in their financial heyday, newspapers from around the country assigned reporters to their Washington bureaus, with highly specific beats. Leading papers from dairy and farm states would cover the Department of Agriculture, for example, and those from mining states would be stationed at Interior. Detroit papers, covering the auto industry, wouldn't miss a briefing at Commerce or Labor. And so on.
Times have changed, and too many newspapers can no longer afford all this. But the digitally successful (not "failing") New York Times, and the Post, backed by the billionaire Bezos, surely can.
When faced with autocrats, newspapers have to punch back. Aggressive journalism is the best revenge. We cats PURR.
IMAGE: Humphrey Bogart in "Deadline USA," in which the resourceful editor of a soon-to-be-shuttered paper brings down a gangster. Good viewing in the Benedict Donald era.
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