When silence isn't golden

When I worked at a trucking magazine, Trump was President. I never had an opportunity to report on him, but shortly before I started, his apearance in one of the trucks we provided on the White House lawn became iconic.
Not everyone I worked with supported him, but I remained neutral, happy to have a job. Besides, what harm could he really cause? Look at him playfully mock honking, as excited as an eight year-old skipping school.
Flash forward to 2024. The world is aflame with wars and hunger and deforestation. Here in Connecticut, I worry about actual flames as wildfires blaze east of Hartford.
This is no time for silence.
When a famous science journalist I know spoke out against Trump and his followers, she was canned. Her carefully worded apology to readers made me want to scream, "Nooo! You were speaking the truth!"
For Trump 2.0 is not a cute photo op, whether he poses in a garbage truck or the fry station at McDonald's. Since we first saw him take office in January 2017, he has been multiply criminally convicted, demeaned women and minorities, cozied up to dictators, misogynists (hello, Elon) and bigots, and pretended to give a microphone a you-know-what.
Imagine such a person as your school principal, running the manufacturing plant or law firm. Done laughing? The thought is absurd. Now that King Tru-- I mean President Elect Trump -- is rejoining us, do we once again ignore his lack of clothes? For the Emperor has never had them -- you have just been afraid to say so.
Journalists must remain impartial, but as humans are we supposed to sit back and accept facism, criminality, cruelty, racism and misogyny? No. Morally, my science journalist example was a paragon, not a pratfall, in her rightful messaging. One cannot support those who would vote for an evil orangeman just because they want eggs to cost two bucks again.
Silencing brilliant journalists such as Laura Hellmuth or while we are talking, Olivia Nuzzi, will not reflect well in the light of history.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, 2017 Pentagon

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