Adam Johnson is co-host of the Citations Needed podcast and author of “How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza,” which is available now.
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which → need → Gaza
Agents from the Department of Homeland Security on Monday raided the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar ostensibly in connection with a criminal investigation into her childhood immigration to the United States.
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Agents → raid → States
The raid was signed off on by a federal judge, apparently after a “back-and-forth” with federal law enforcement, and has been condemned by civil rights groups as highly suspect.
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raid → sign → groups
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump’s targeting of Omar escalated even further as federal agents issued subpoenas to many of her relatives, including her sister Sahra Noor, and the Wall Street Journal reported the Trump administration’s ultimate goal is to strip Omar of her citizenship and deport her.
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goal → escalate → her
This obscene abuse of power comes after years of Trump targeting Omar with threats, racist smears, intimidation, and calls for her deportation.
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Trump → come → deportation
But with rare exception, the response from the mainstream media’s pundit class has been largely muted, with the vast bulk of the coverage coming in the form of he said/she said, down-the-middle reporting.
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she → come → reporting
This is in stark contrast with how elite opinion-shapers responded with uniform outrage in the days after Trump’s also dubious raid on John Bolton, his former national security adviser and a neoconservative commentator, in August 2025.
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shapers → respond → August
Both are part of a consistent pattern of Trump weaponizing the Department of Justice to attack his perceived enemies, yet only the latter solicited widespread media condemnation.
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latter → weaponize → condemnation
The very day of the Bolton raid, we saw scathing editorials from the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal.
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we → see → Times
Over the next week, each of these newspapers also published separate pieces from their opinion staff opposing the raid, casting doubt on its legitimacy, and otherwise leveling outrage at the obvious power grab.
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each → publish → grab
The raid was explicitly condemned in Politico, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, which published four different indignant columns.
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which → condemn → columns
The raid on Omar’s home has thus far received zero of the above media interventions.
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raid → receive → interventions
The Atlantic did run an article on the Omar raid but it was equivocal and Both Sides in its tone.
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it → run → tone
(A similar Both Sides column The Atlantic published about the Bolton raid was not included in our list of opinion pieces expressing outrage over the Bolton raid.)
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Atlantic → publish → raid
This is in stark contrast to the breathless tone of outrage leveled at Trump when his DOJ targeted Bolton last year.
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DOJ → level → Bolton
“It is clear that Mr. Trump and his appointees,” the Times wrote in August 2025, “are perverting the justice system to serve their political interests and intimidate their critics.”
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Times → write → critics
“FBI raid targeting Bolton crosses a line in the Trump revenge campaign,” proclaimed the Trump ally–owned Washington Post.
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Post → target → campaign
Even the right-wing WSJ editorial board, typically a staunch backer of Trump, got in on the fervor under the headline “Trump’s Vendetta Campaign Targets John Bolton,” which made clear “that second-term success for the President includes retribution.”
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includes → get → retribution
The Journal not only didn’t publish an editorial or column opposing the Omar raid as they did with Bolton, they published a column by assistant editorial page editor James Freeman endorsing it and using tabloid innuendo to cast aspersions on Omar.
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they → publish → Omar
This isn’t to say the mainstream press hasn’t reported on the Omar raid.
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press → say → raid
The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal all ran articles, and analysis, on the raid, but — unlike with the Bolton case — they have published no opinions expressing outrage and demanding recourse for the obvious authoritarian power grab.
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they → run → grab
Omar is considered “far left,” Bolton is squarely in the center-right of elite Washington consensus.
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Bolton → consider → consensus
The reality is it’s almost certainly a combination of all these factors.
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it → ’ → factors
Writ large, Bolton is a member of The Club, and Omar isn’t.
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Omar → writ → Club
A similar dynamic of asymmetric In-Group vs. Out-Group outrage could be seen during the early months of Trump’s first term when the media spilled oceans of ink lamenting Trump’s determination to intimidate the press and lock up reporters.
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media → see → reporters
Yet this same press almost entirely ignored his DOJ’s absurd prosecution of two independent reporters, Aaron Cantu and Alexei Wood, for covering the January 20 unrest during his 2016 inauguration — a case that was found to have no merit.
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that → ignore → merit
Ultimately, the city of Washington, D.C., was, despite the lack of any sustained media attention, forced to settle with a payout to the persecuted reporters.
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city → force → reporters
As a rule for U.S. media, the consistent application of principle — as high-minded and lofty as they may appear — takes a back seat to class solidarity.
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they → appear → solidarity
As a direct result, her outrageous persecution by Trump is noted and perhaps critiqued around the margins but is not a source of widespread, sustained outrage and condemnation.
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persecution → note → outrage
This distinction is reserved, very clearly, for those in The Club.
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distinction → reserve → Club
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
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WE → ’ → ?
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
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seeing → see → government
Court orders are being ignored.
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orders → ignore → ?
MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies.
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loyalists → put → agencies
The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse.
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Department → strip → purse
News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.
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that → challenge → investigation
Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.”
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many → cover → power
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world.
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Intercept → cover → world
We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
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we → understand → democracy
We’re independent of corporate interests.
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We → ’re → interests
…and 22 more, not listed.
The Aporia
