In January 2018, we began the year with the first deep look at the insurgency bubbling up across the country, and the steps — both overt and covert — Democrats back in Washington, D.C., were taking to tamp it down. As good journalism often does, the story begat tip after tip, and we learned that what was happening was far broader than even we understood. In the spring and summer, we turned our attention to an obscure race playing out in the Bronx and Queens, where Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a bartender and former Bernie Sanders organizer, was challenging the man expected to be next in line for the House speakership. The shocking result has reoriented our national politics.
Candidates Who Signed Up to Battle Donald Trump Must Get Past the Democratic Party First
By Ryan Grim, Lee Fang
Secretly Taped Audio Reveals Democratic Leadership Pressuring Progressive to Leave Race
By Lee Fang
A Primary Against the Machine: A Bronx Activist Looks to Dethrone Joseph Crowley, the King of Queens
By Aída Chávez, Ryan Grim
Dianne Feinstein Withholding Brett Kavanaugh Document From Fellow Judiciary Committee Democrats
By Ryan Grim
Donald Trump, Brett Kavanaugh, and the Rule of Pampered Princelings
By Naomi Klein
Minnesota Attorney General — Now Democratic Frontrunner for Governor — Relied on Government Employees for Campaign Work, They Say
By Rachel M. Cohen
Beware the Race Reductionist
By Briahna Gray
Here Is a List of Far-Right Attackers Trump Inspired. Cesar Sayoc Wasn’t the First — and Won’t Be the Last.
By Mehdi Hasan
Fox News Is Poisoning America. Rupert Murdoch and His Heirs Should Be Shunned.
By Peter Maass
IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.
What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government.
This is not hyperbole.
Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under 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.”
The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.
We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.
In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.
That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?
We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?
Contact the author:
Latest Stories
Voices
We Need to Kick Prediction Market Betting Out of Journalism While We Still Can
Treating journalism like a casino will harm reporting — and erode democracy.
The War on Immigrants
Who Decided to Indict Kilmar Abrego Garcia Over a Years-Old Traffic Stop?
A DOJ prosecutor insists he charged Abrego based strictly on evidence of human smuggling. A federal judge seems skeptical.
Voices
How Trump’s America Produces Normie Assassins
The only extremism would-be assassins like suspect Cole Tomas Allen share is an extreme response to Trump’s deranging politics.