Turning media into a fourth branch
Historically, the foundation of our democracy has been built and inherently depends on a system of checks and balances among the three equal branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial.
The bricks of this foundation may be crumbling, thus damaging this system and threatening the future of our democracy.
Donald Trump’s presidency has reminded us that the chief executive has substantial rhetorical powers — often used for negative as well as positive ends. The persuasive impact of the bully pulpit may be more ubiquitous and pronounced than at any other time in the country’s history.
Moreover, Trump has demonstrated the rhetorical capacity of the nation’s leader to circumvent and minimize the other branches of government, keeping those arms of government from operating effectively as the framers of the Constitution intended.
For example, Trump dramatically showed us how a president can exploit mass and social media to ignore and neutralize legislative and judicial actions by directly speaking to the public. This maneuver undermines the checks and balances established by the Founding Fathers. This has been Trump’s modus operandi on almost every important issue since assuming office. Arguably, he used this strategy on numerous occasions to escape accountability.
Sadly, we have witnessed this even more vividly during the last few weeks with the president’s unprecedented and reprehensible effort to undo the results of the legitimate 2020 election in which he was defeated decisively.
To be clear,we should remember that he is only the most recent and egregious example of this rhetorical tendency. Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton also employed this method of speaking directly to the public to achieve their intended objectives.
What this suggests is that presidents in the 21st century may be required to have the rhetorical savvy to utilize the media — both social and mass — to get elected and govern effectively. The public may now expect that to be successful, the president must have a significant media presence — and that without such a communication footprint his or her rhetorical power is diminished.
The implications of this go well beyond the ability of individual presidents to do their job and convince their relevant audiences. This new conception of the presidency might portend a more permanent and dangerous change in the nation’s system of checks and balances.
My fear is media, which traditionally have been portrayed as the “fourth estate,” perhaps are de facto becoming the fourth branch of government — they don’t simply advocate and frame issues for the public but operate as part of the functioning of government.
If this is the case, the future of the nation’s great experiment in democracy may be in peril.