In a major foreign policy speech in 2007, as he ran for president, Joe Biden offered a critique of Bush-era “war on terror” policies, including torture and the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program. Biden said that “although there is a place in the war on terror for rendition to justice, where a suspect is sent to another country to face trial, the use of extraordinary rendition, or rendition to a country that we know uses torture, is out of bounds and counterproductive.” He described the CIA’s program of “extralegal kidnapping” and torture as “anathema to our national values.” Biden called on President George W. Bush to “close the black sites that are a black stain on the name of America, and close Guantánamo and bulldoze Abu Ghraib to the ground.” Without mentioning his own early support for housing prisoners at Guantánamo and denying them prisoner-of-war status, Biden declared that “nations around the world view Guantánamo not as a facility necessitated by the war on terror, but as a symbol of American disregard for the rule of law.”
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
Midterms 2026
Sunrise Movement Backs Saikat Chakrabarti, Progressive Firebrand Behind the Green New Deal
The former AOC staffer is an at-times divisive figure known for provoking the political establishment. Sunrise argues he’s needed in Congress to take on Trump.
Trump’s War on ISIS Is Failing, No Matter How Gorka Spins It
Despite rising terror attacks in Somalia, Trump counter-terror czar Sebastian Gorka is taking a victory lap.
License to Kill
Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ Supercharges Violence in the Americas
The Trump administration’s aggression in the Americas has resulted in cartels fragmenting and embracing new strategies.