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Recently, I started writing to you on Mondays about the biggest democracy news of the weekend. Typically, this involves some outrage by the administration or a significant court development. This weekend, however, the biggest democracy news took place not in a courtroom, but in a ballroom in Washington, D.C., and in scores of soirees celebrating the media.

The White House Correspondents' Dinner’s stated purpose is to raise money for scholarships and recognize the genuine talents of its members. In recent years, however, the dinner has largely become a forum for the D.C. elite to celebrate themselves.

During the Clinton, Bush and Obama presidencies, the coziness and inside jokes between the media and the White House raised eyebrows but were largely excused as a harmless, if cringeworthy, tradition. This year, however, the event was different.

This weekend exemplified just how diminished the legacy media has become in the age of Trump. He has mocked them, dictated their access and replaced them with right-wing outlets. In a final act of disrespect, he even pressured them to cancel their entertainment while his administration largely boycotted the event, instead throwing their own events and parties.

Trump came into office attacking the media and has never stopped. Indeed, just last week, the Department of Justice stripped journalists of protections from subpoenas. Yet, in his keynote address, the head of the Correspondents’ Association went out of his way to emphasize that the assembled media are not “the opposition.”

Since Trump’s reelection, we have seen a steady decline of legacy media and a rapid growth of independent outlets. Those who cover the news industry tend to focus on the former — for understandable reasons — but disconnecting it from the rise of independent news sources misses the bigger story.

The public is tired of media outlets treating politics and democracy like a sporting event with two equally meritorious sides. They don't want to consume media produced by people who fail to view themselves as avowedly pro-democracy, and in opposition to those trying to destroy it. Legacy media isn’t declining because people no longer value news; it’s because they value it more than ever.

That's why readers are willing to pay more for the content of a single independent journalist or commentator than they are for an entire newspaper subscription. It’s why YouTube news creators and podcasters are attracting audiences in the millions — and growing. And it's why Democracy Docket has more than tripled its audience size since Election Day.

I did not attend any of the weekend festivities. I have no interest in sitting in a room with people who believe their job is to stay neutral while the administration is deporting two-year-old American citizens. I do not want to share cocktails and canapés with those who will not stand up, full-throated, against attacks on law firms, universities, nonprofit organizations and, yes — media institutions.

I did not start Democracy Docket in 2020 to be part of a club or attend parties. I founded it to reject false neutrality and to be unapologetically pro-democracy.

If that is what you value as well, I’m glad you found us! To our premium members, thank you for your continued support. To our free subscribers, we hope you enjoy the work — and consider upgrading if you can.

The Weekend’s Topline

Across industries, Trump’s attacks on democracy have taught us an important lesson: smaller is better. Small law firms have resisted Trump’s efforts more aggressively — regardless of ideology — than large ones. I suspect that small liberal arts colleges will also weather this era better than large research universities. And, of course, smaller independent news outlets are outpacing the declining legacy giants.

I expect this trend to continue for the next three years. It has the potential to reshape many industries—and society itself. Pay attention. 

Heroes of the Weekend

When the lawyers at Democracy Forward and the ACLU brought their first lawsuit challenging the illegal removal of migrants to a Salvadorian gulag, too many on the left stood back. They worried that this was the wrong fight to pick, that it was playing into Trump’s hands. Since then, public opinion polls have proven this concern wrong. The American people may want more controls on immigration, but they also support due process and rule of law. 

For being willing to lead in this fight, Democracy Forward and the ACLU are worthy heroes.

Siren of the Weekend 🚨

New reports suggest that children who are U.S. citizens are being illegally deported. A Trump-appointed federal judge in Louisiana wrote that there is a "strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process."