Toward the end of the 2016 campaign for president, Donald Trump said that the election was rigged or the election was rigged if he did not win. This view actually turned out to be a projection of his own campaign efforts to “rig” the election with the help of Russian security services that may have interfered enough in the toss-up states to help him win in the electoral college.
Trump went on to say the same thing during the 2020 campaign. This time he lost by millions of votes and a 306 to 232 electoral college score.
He then projected his loss onto his opponent and gave birth to the ‘Big Lie’ that said that the election was stolen from him. Most of the Republican Party bought into his lie and supported it to the point of causing its followers to create a violent insurrection designed to revoke the certifica- tion of Joe Biden as the duly elected President of the United States.
To this day, at least one third of the voters in the country believe the lie and are encouraged to act on it by extreme right wing activists and pundits including the powerful FOX television news network that has, until very recently at least, made it its business to be the unofficial voice of the former President and his followers.
The media in the United States, with the exception of FOX and other outlets that agree with it, stepped in to investigate, find out and report the Big Lie as just that. This give and take on the part of reporters and commentators of every kind together with the courts has served to clarify the truth of the vote.
The process of clarification has gone a long way in defending the democratic institutions that guarantee the foundation of our liberty. What happens however, when the press and its activities are stopped and its voice silenced by government control of the media and publishes only its side of the story?
That is what is being done by the Russian press that accompanies the invasion of Ukraine. It started with President Putin inventing the Big Lie that accuses Ukraine of being led by Nazis that seek to do Russia harm. When you mention Nazis in that part of the world you are playing
on the fears caused by the German invasion of World War II. Putin’s projection of that fear reflects his own desire for an excuse to invade and dominate Ukraine as part of building a new empire.
This time there is no free press to tell the truth to the Russian people. President Putin has made sure that the only media telling the story belongs to the state.
In the case of the United States, the free press has survived Trump’s attempt to denigrate it to the point of allowing him to stay in power. The institution held fast against the criminal behavior that is now the subject of much litigation and many tell-all stories and books.
There are lessons to be learned in looking and compar- ing a tyrant and a tyrant wanna-be in their relations with the press. The best lesson however, has to do with the essential role the press plays in keeping freedom alive.
In the case of America, it also validates the genius of insisting on having the Bill of Rights beginning with the First Amendment to the Constitution. In the case of Russia, Putin’s denial of a free press could lead to World War III.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of la Voz bilingüe. Comments and responses may be directed to news@lavozcolorado.com.
