U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media as he flies from Florida to Washington, aboard Air Force One, U.S., October 19, 2025. REUTERS Elizabeth Frantz
New York Times Columnist Jamelle Bouie says President Donald Trump likes to project the image bullying strength at all times, whether it’s against Democrats, critics, or the news media. But the president’s effort to steamroll independent media on Thursday may number among the recent examples of overreach that’s currently knocking Trump off his spin.
“One point I’ve tried to make over the last year is that the Trump administration has a starkly unsophisticated vision of power,” said Bouie. “Where a subtler president might cajole and persuade, President Trump demands and threatens. He prefers subordinates to partners and tries to dominate his opponents rather than de-escalate a situation or find a mutually beneficial solution. He rejects persuasion altogether. If he wants something, he takes it.”
The only thing Trump and his allies know how to do, said Bouie, is “use the coercive force of the state.” But, when met with resistance, defiance or indifference, the go-to move is always “to apply more force, in hopes of forcing their opponents to bend the knee.”
“One reason the president is constantly threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act against protesters is because he sees it something like an ‘I win’ button — a move that guarantees instant victory because it represents overwhelming force,” said Bouie.
But look no further than the arrest of independent journalist Don Lemon for an example of blunt force failing to connect, said Bouie. There is little chance Lemon’s arrest will lead to a viable prosecution for example. Multiple judges have already spurned the pleas of Trump’s politicized Justice Department to pursue the case. Rather, Bouie says the arrest was meant to “send a message to other journalists to watch their words and their movements or face punishment.”
“But here, again, the White House does not seem to understand the limits of repression,” said Bouie. “In the same way that the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti only galvanized more Americans against the president, the arrests of journalists will likely further convince many ordinary people that the most reasonable response to Trump administration is opposition.”
This, said Bouie, leaves the White House “caught in a spiral of its own making.”
“The more it tries to repress and dominate its opponents, the more it loses ground with the public, and the more it loses ground, the more it leans on force and threats of force to save face,” Bouie said. “Eventually, the president and his allies will find that few people fear either his bark or his bite.”
New York Times writer Michelle Cottle added in a separate Saturday podcast with Bouie that Trump’s ever-faithful Republican Party also appears to be catching splash damage from their boss’ aggressive behavior.
“For the longest time Republicans have been operating on the assumption that their only risk politically to their fortunes is if they don’t back Trump enough. In this case, they are seeing from this public reaction the potential downsides to having hitched their wagon to this authoritarian nightmare,” said Cottle. “And so you do see people in Congress pushing back.”
Read Bouie’s column at this link.