Compass Rose

This is excellent reporting. Not because we don’t know this, but because @peterbakernyt here does what so few of my colleagues in the legacy press do: Speak the truth about what is happening in our country in plain English. The ability to recognize that 2+2=4 is the essential characteristic of good journalism in America today. “Nearly 250 years after American colonists threw off their king, this is arguably the closest the country has come during a time of general peace to the centralized authority of a monarch. Mr. Trump takes it upon himself to reinterpret a constitutional amendment and to eviscerate agencies and departments created by Congress. He dictates to private institutions how to run their affairs. He sends troops into American streets and wages an unauthorized war against nonmilitary boats in the Caribbean. He openly uses law enforcement for what his own chief of staff calls “score settling”against his enemies, he dispenses pardons to favored allies, and he equates criticism to sedition punishable by death.” nytimes.com/2025/12/21/us/po…