CNN senior media analyst Brian Stelter was on air last week, flapping pages around and insisting that President Donald Trump's executive order to defund PBS and NPR was illegal. As our own Warren Squire reported earlier, over the weekend, both Katherine Maher of NPR and David Brooks of PBS laughably claimed their outlets are "straight down the line." In early March, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan told Maher that in the D.C. area, "editorial positions at NPR have 87 registered Democrats and 0 Republicans." Bill Maher even weighed in, saying, "Give me a break, lady! I mean, they’re crazy far-left."
We're not sure where in the Constitution it says that the federal government has to fund NPR and PBS, but Stelter is back with a piece in which he argues the press needs to do "a better job of incorporating Constitution 101" into their coverage.
Right now newsrooms need to do a better job of incorporating Constitution 101 into their news coverage. (And while we're at it, maybe "Schoolhouse Rock" needs to make a comeback.) https://t.co/cqSIg2OxAD pic.twitter.com/15EeX3iPiT
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 5, 2025
What are the concrete differences between democracy and autocracy? Why did the US founders set up a system of checks and balances? Is the system working as intended? Why exactly are Trump's power grabs unprecedented? What does it mean that Congress has abdicated its power of the…
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 5, 2025
… purse? All of these questions require some unpacking, some explaining, to answer. But it really is a public service to do so.
Yes, why did the founders set up a system of checks and balances when unelected judges can block the agenda of the president at every step? Why exactly are activist judges' power grabs unprecedented?
Just anecdotally, I've noticed a real hunger for stories that explain what Trump can and can't do. Many, dare I say most, American news consumers could use a refresher course about the co-equal branches of government.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 5, 2025
Recommended
The other day @charlie_savage wrote that "the sheer volume and intensity of the power grab President Trump has undertaken in the first 100 days of his second term — an assault on legal constraints untethered to any equivalent catastrophe — is unlike anything the United States has…
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 5, 2025
… experienced."
That's precisely why civics needs to be baked into news coverage.
Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said last week that school children "will be taught civic values for schools that want federal taxpayer funding," which Jemele Hill said "should frighten everyone."
Stelter writes on CNN that "some judges have been doing their part."
They can start with begging for forgiveness for a decade+ of attacking checks on separation of power, delegitimizing the courts, and celebrating the executive abuses of Biden and Obama. https://t.co/kkhUkyrjSf
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) May 5, 2025
Will they start Article II with the fact that all executive power is vested in a President?
— Sean T at RCP (@SeanTrende) May 5, 2025
Brian Stelter is the gift that keeps on giving. If there is a take that defies belief in terms of double standards and complete lack of self-awareness, he will be sure to make it.
— Barbara (@Barbara_Clemns) May 5, 2025
I can’t for the life of me even begin to imagine why Americans who watch CNN every day don’t know about the separation of powers.
— Fiddle Elphier (@FiddleElphier) May 5, 2025
Maybe newsrooms could start by discovering the First Amendment and repent of their regime propaganda and support of censorship!
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) May 5, 2025
Like we wouldn't remember when you hosted a little WEF panel about banning free speech. pic.twitter.com/Gm9noTNkky
— Tony Kinnett (@TheTonus) May 5, 2025
This sudden revelation is super convenient....too bad there was no interest in it (or anything vaguely resembling journalistic objectivity or integrity) prior to Trumps re-election 🙄
— CarolinaConservative3 (@1776Carolina3) May 5, 2025
Newsrooms need to study the Constitution, not just the part of the First Amendment they like.
— Richard DeCamp (@richdecamp) May 5, 2025
“We are not just going to be waiting for legislation in order to make sure that we're providing Americans the kind of help that they need. I've got a pen, and I've got a phone. And I can use that pen to sign executive orders and take executive actions and administrative actions" pic.twitter.com/6wNjLnXgYf
— Noodles Now (@Noodles_Now) May 5, 2025
Imagine posting this after having worked for CNN.
— WhiskeySilverball (@WhiskeySlvrBall) May 5, 2025
Suddenly, Stelter is concerned about executive overreach and the separation of powers. He's correct on one point — the media should do a better job of educating people on what the president can do.
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