Hey Reddit! David French and Michelle Cottle here. We write for New York Times Opinion and have offered commentary on President Trump’s appointees, his damage to foreign policy and the first months of his second term.
From David French: I joined Times Opinion in 2023 and write about law, culture, religion and conflict. I like to explore the story behind the story. What are the reasons for American polarization and dysfunction? Why do so many Americans feel lonely and anxious? Before journalism, I was a commercial litigator and then a constitutional lawyer. My most recent book, “Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation,” outlined the dangers of polarization and the need to engage with people who have opposing viewpoints. You can subscribe to my newsletter here.
From Michelle Cottle: I joined The Times in 2018 as the editorial board's national political writer after reporting on the nation's capital as a contributing editor for The Atlantic. Before that, I was a senior writer at National Journal specializing in long-form profiles. I recently reflected on Mitch McConnell’s legacy, as well as the state of American politics. You can read my latest work here.
We are looking forward to answering your questions starting at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, March 6.
We're writers for New York Times Opinion who have been closely following President Trump’s second term. Ask us anything.
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36 comments
Was it worth it?
Donald Trumps foreign politics seems rather destructive. What do you think his goals are? Are recent events supposed to help the US take on China? The US seems rather isolated rn.
Why has The New York Times continually been normalizing Republican Party behavior – from your coverage of the Iraq War to the portrayal of Trump’s presidency?
Why is the media not reporting accurate information?
Major media sources, including the NYT, have been criticized for “sanewashing” Trump. I personally believe this criticism is well justified, and I’ve mostly stopped reading the NYT because of it. How do you respond to the criticism that by soft-pedaling Trump’s rhetoric and describing his actions using the vocabulary of normal political discourse, our media has helped enable a nakedly authoritarian and racist administration?
For what journalistic opinions would you expect to be fired or asked to resign?
Why did the NYT decide to sane wash Trump prior to the election while holding Biden and Harris to much higher standards? How do you plan to regain the trust of readers (former and current)?
Do you feel the traditional media did it’s job before and after the election?
What’s his end goal?
Thoughts on Ukraine and backing away from our staunchest allies?
How likely do you see the defunding of medicaid, ssa and medicare? if so, when?
What do you think is the most harmful or dangerous thing that Trump or his new administration has done so far in this term?
Why is there a paywall for NYT? Is capitalism perhaps not the best system for journalism?
Do you feel there are things you can’t write about, which are directly caused by the actions of the new government, that you could have analysed prior to Jan 20th? You don’t need to say what they are.
Why aren’t yall calling him a convicted felon in every article? Why aren’t you putting it front page that he’s a criminal every day? Why are you even reporting anything that he does? Why are you validating him?
Your assessment of whether Trump is compromised by Russia. How you came to this conclusion.
I heard some discussion prior to Trump’s inauguration from some commentators saying some of Biden’s actions were unlikely to be reversed (antitrust enforcement, dispersed subsidies, etc.)
These all seem naive now with the rampant use of impoundment and unexpectedly weak Republican opposition in the Senate, would you disagree with that?
Also, there has been some chatter of Democrats refusing to vote for a clean extension CR, because of it being complicit in DOGE and whatnot, thus thrusting the government into a shutdown. Do you think they’ll actually do it, and do you think it’s a bad idea.
Why do you insist on sanewashing the worst of Trump’s behavior and then simultaneously hold Democrats to an insane standard?
Where does the NYT recruit talent now that local journalism is mostly dead? I mean, my perception is that there is no longer a “minor leagues” of written journalism where a journalist could move up from Topeka —> Sacramento —> Miami —> NYT anymore.
And if you do have to bring in someone who has built their own readership via a substack (or similar), they come into the NYT not as the new kid who is just damn happy to be there, but someone who will have some clout from Day 1. Am I missing things?
Or how does the NYT manage their journalists when some of them have their own independent followings and “name”. I would imagine in 1985 and editor could change assignments if a particular journalist was troublesome……because the NYT would always have a seat at the White House press briefings and always have a built in readership…….but now there is no guarantee of a seat or even readership. So a journalist with clout can just leave and run their substack again?
What do you do? Just overpay them to keep them inside the NYT umbrella?
Do you anticipate future attacks on freedom of the press by the Trump Administration? Is there fear in reporting on this administration by NYT or other Press/News Organizations? Is there a risk that News Media will become consolidated under the State?
Why do you refuse to write about Trump’s mental illness? You normalize his bad behavior by constant coverage of his actions, which are maniacal and abnormal, but report nothing about his malignant narcissism personality disorder.
Why do you severely limit comments on the few stories/opinions for which you allow SUBSCRIBERS to provide feedback? Do you discriminate against subscribers who do not “upgrade?”
Why don’t you hire Robert Reich to fill the void left by Paul Krugman? Or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?
Scrolling through the NYTimes – especially Opinion – is a parade of bad news and lamentations. Many of the comments on these articles are also highly negative.
Do you find it draining to write mostly about dysfunction, anxiety, and the sad state of politics? How do you cope? Do you all ever discuss the possibility of writing positive or action-oriented pieces?
Trump cut off all aid to Ukraine.
He’s actively pursuing regime change in Ukraine.
He cut off all intelligence to Ukraine.
At what point do we strongly consider that Trump is either a Russian asset or actively seeking to support Russian interests?
We’re running out of alternative explanations for these behaviors.
How do you explain or describe the base of his support that seems immovable regardless of his actions or the circumstances? What changes among voters have occurred that have allowed a convicted felon to be elected when this was unthinkable not that long ago?
You’ve been asked a couple times already about why you have sane washed Trumpism, but conversely your outlet has applied a double standard to Democrat politicians. For example, your outlet harped on Joe Biden’s age and showing signs of cognitive decline while wholesale ignoring Trump showing similar signs such as slurring his words, engaging in incoherent babble sentences that are completely incomprehensible at times (What the hell was up with transgender mice), and more recently he was seen dragging one leg and being left a bruise over a simple hand holding.
This issue was not limited to Biden and Trump’s age. You also ignored much of Harris’ policy that she laid out as it relates to elder care being covered by Medicare/aid, going after price gouging, tax credits for first time homebuyers and business owners, there’s more and your paper kept pushing the narrative that the people didn’t know her policies when she was crystal clear on what they were. Trump, however, didn’t elaborate on any single plan when prompted and even said ,”I have concepts of a plan” when he was asked to elaborate on replacing the ACA.
This is a repeated pattern of coverage by your outlet and I believe that you’re doing so because Republican politicians have accused you of doing the opposite and so you’re ‘both sides’ method of coverage has led to distortion of outright facts and has allowed multiple conservative politicians to engage in willful and malicious deception.
What steps will you take to correct this pattern?
I know you’re not an editor, and perhaps you’ve felt this frustration with headlines too, but I was wondering if you have some insight: does anyone who handles that ever take any time to read a headline from the perspective of someone who knows *nothing at all* about the given situation?
Editors have to be aware that so many people only read headlines, likely all the more so when it’s a paywalled news source, but it seems so many headlines are written where they’re only even sniffing at accuracy if you already know what’s going on and can parse the ambiguity (and/or unearned credulity to right wing positions) of how it’s written. I’ll give a quick example: across news orgs in the last month or so, there’s scores and scores of headlines written about Trump where it will be said he turned or flipped on something he in fact did not turn or flip. It’ll be about something he has always been saying he would do, something he has always supported.
“Trump’s dark anti-Ukraine turn” was one I read recently, I think from the WaPo. In order for that headline to even *make sense,* there would need to be a time when he supported Ukraine so that he could turn from that position. Which is a lie. This is the guy whose first impeachment came from denying military aid to Ukraine to try to extort them to say they’re investigating Biden. If he’s simply further down the same path he’s always been facing, **how can he turn?** Those headlines function off of implying a rational and sane Trump who has just now suddenly made some about face, but that didn’t happen. And to tie it back to my original question, if you read a headline like that, with no deep knowledge of the issue or the ins and outs (and exercise I wish editors would try) is it not expected that one of the takeaways is then the implication that there is a sane Trump and he’s only now gone off his rocker? I think that just fuels less-informed people feeling that those who are trying to be more accurate about Trump are lying about him, or at very least some shitty both-sidesism, and he always benefits from that.
With belligerent the Trump administration is to the free press and how billionaires who own it are now bowing to him, how does NYT thread the fine line of telling the truth and angering the current administration?
I dumped my Washington Post subscription months ago. I barely read the Times anymore, but my wife loves the games. Should I keep the subscription for her? Or is there some hope that the Times will get better?
Many people I know have stopped consuming news since the election since it is too painful. Is this a large scale trend you all see or is this just anecdotal? How do you strategize to win those readers back?
For those of us who have given up hope and see this downward spiral as impossible to correct, how would you challenge their view point and encourage them to reengage with a system and political party that has seemingly shrugged and given up?
What the deal with a third term. Can he do that?
What actual effect do you think the NYT has on hardcore MAGA supporters? Do you ever feel like you are just writing into the ether?
At what point will you take the threat of Trump’s vengeance tour of America seriously and start taking these threats to your country seriously?
Is there growing backlash amongst the Democratic caucus about how leadership is responding to Trump?
Is there growing backlash amongst the GOP over the DOGE cuts and Trumps actions based on the limited feedback from Town Halls?
Why did you choose to normalize Trump when it was obvious who he is and what he is planning to do to our republic?
What can be done to push back on the WH attempt to quash reporting that doesn’t agree with them, in the WH press pool like the banning of the AP, from the briefings?
How much do you use gen AI tools in your work, especially writing? Do you see the potential? What about the limitations?
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