By the mid-1980s, the Reagan administration was coming under pressure over its support for the apartheid regime in South Africa, with growing calls in the United States to impose economic sanctions. President Ronald Reagan resisted these calls in the name of Cold War realpolitik, and Joe Biden emerged as a prominent critic of the U.S. approach, helping pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986 over attempts by Reagan to veto.
During a 1986 confrontation at a Senate hearing with Secretary of State George Shultz, Biden described the Afrikaner regime as a “stupid, puppet government” and called for the U.S. to decisively shift support to the opposition, despite the perception that Afrikaners were an ally against the Soviet Union during this period. Although he had taken part in trips to South Africa during the apartheid period, Biden has been criticized for fictionalizing an incident in which he said had been arrested while attempting to visit an incarcerated Nelson Mandela.
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
Indiana Banned Press From Executions for “Dignity.” It Actually Serves Repression.
There’s no dignity in secret executions.
Unmasking ICE
ICE Should Show It Hasn’t Been “Infiltrated by Violent Extremists,” Senator Urges
Spurred by The Intercept's reporting, Sheldon Whitehouse calls out DHS for recruiting materials celebrated by white nationalists.
The Intercept Briefing
The Right’s “Election Fraud” Cry for Midterms Previewed in Primaries
Spencer Pratt’s pratfall in LA, Graham Platner’s victory, prediction markets, and other takeaways from the California and Maine primary elections.