NYT Publisher Warns Trump Using Authoritarian Strategies to ‘Increase Attacks’ on Press in Second Term

New York Times Publisher Attorney General Sulzberger warned that former President Trump could use authoritarian methods to undermine the press if he returns to the White House.

In an op-ed published Thursday in The Washington Post, Sulzberger detailed how authoritarian leaders around the world have found ways to silence the media to limit their control over their power, then wondered whether Trump might be inclined to adopt their methods if he returns to power.

“That’s not a crazy question. As they seek to return to the White House, former President Donald Trump and his allies have said they intend to step up attacks on the press, which he has long derided as the ‘enemy of the people,’” the publisher said.

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New York Times Publisher Attorney General Sulzberger warned that former President Trump could adopt an authoritarian strategy of attacking the press if he returns to the White House. ((Photo: Monica Schipper/Getty Images))

Sulzberger began his lecture by outlining the strategy that leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán use to silence media critics.

He wrote: “After several years out of power, the former leader returns to office on a populist platform. He blames the media for the coverage of his previous government that cost him re-election. He says tolerating an independent press that focuses on truth-telling and accountability has undermined his ability to steer public opinion. This time, he is determined not to make the same mistake.”

Sulzberger continued, noting that such a leader would undermine the press in a democracy, saying they would use “bureaucratic tools such as tax laws, broadcast licenses, and government contracts” while rewarding friendly media by “propping them up with state advertising revenues, tax breaks, and other government subsidies.”

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“In a matter of years, only enclaves of independence remained in the country’s news media, freeing the leader from perhaps the most difficult obstacle to his increasingly authoritarian rule,” the publisher said, adding that “this is the short version of how Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, effectively dismantled his country’s news media.”

He wrote that “a weakened press made it easier for him to keep secrets, rewrite reality, undermine political rivals, act with impunity — and ultimately consolidate unchecked power.”

Sulzberger predicted at the time that Trump would make the same case, stating, “By the end of his first term, Trump’s anti-press rhetoric — which had fueled anti-press sentiment in this country and around the world — had quietly turned into anti-press actions.”

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Sulzberger believes that since Trump is a fan of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he may want to use the European leader’s strategies to attack the press. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

The publisher pointed to Trump’s sympathy for Orbán as further evidence that he would be willing to support such a plan.

“His actions will likely be based on his open admiration for the ruthlessly efficient play of authoritarian leaders like Orbán, whom Trump recently met at Mar-a-Lago and praised as an ‘intelligent, strong and compassionate leader,’” he wrote.

The author reminded readers that as publisher of the Times, he had pledged not to abandon “neutrality” and not to oppose Trump’s reelection. Still, he said, “I feel compelled to speak out about threats to a free press, as my predecessors and I have done for leaders in both parties.”

Later in the same column, he argued that Trump had also helped “encourage” authoritarians around the world to attack the press.

“It’s only been eight years since Donald Trump popularized the term ‘fake news’ as a bludgeon to dismiss and attack journalism that challenged him,” Sulzberger said, adding: “That term, coming from the president of the United States, was all the incentive potential authoritarian leaders needed. In the years since, some 70 countries on six continents have passed ‘fake news’ laws.”

Elsewhere, the publisher noted that numerous U.S. presidents — both Democratic and Republican — have had contentious relationships with the press, although they have continued to “consistently defend and expand protections for journalists.”

He said Trump is an exception among American leaders in the past 100 years in this regard, adding: “For the last century in the United States, Trump has distinguished himself by his aggressive and sustained efforts to undermine a free press.”

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