How the NY Times, Washington Post and Politico Pave the Way for Tyranny

Anticipatory Obedience

In his book On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder describes “obeying in advance” as the key ingredient in a free society becoming a tyranny:

After the German elections of 1932, which permitted Adolf Hitler to form a government, or the Czechoslovak elections of 1946, where communists were victorious, the next crucial step was anticipatory obedience. Because enough people in both cases voluntarily extended their services to the new leaders, Nazis and communists alike realized that they could move quickly toward a full regime change. The first heedless acts of conformity could not then be reversed.

Here in 2024 United States, the election hasn’t even happened and major media outlets have a monthslong track record of obeying in advance of a possible tryrannical regime. It takes the form of serious reporting of absurd claims, applying different standards of outrage and condemnation to campaign rhetoric, filming an empty podium for an hour rather than giving that space to another …