MEDIA: Stop Sugarcoating It — Trump Isn’t ‘Pressuring’ Lawmakers, He’s Threatening Them

July 3, 2025

By Brian Hews

Memo to the political editors at the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, and every outlet still pretending we’re playing by 1990s political norms: 

Donald Trump is not “pressuring” Republican lawmakers. He’s threatening them. Harassing them. Intimidating them. 

And calling it anything less is journalistic malpractice.

For the past several weeks, as Trump rages about his legal troubles and plots his revenge campaign against the rule of law, he has been targeting members of Congress with thinly veiled threats. If they don’t do what he wants—whether it’s defunding the DOJ, impeaching Joe Biden for breathing, or helping him duck accountability—he unleashes the mob. He posts their names. He directs his followers to “remember” them. He lets the MAGA base know exactly who needs to be primaried, shamed, or harassed into submission.

That’s not political pressure. That’s a gangster move.

Yet time and again, legacy media softens the language. Trump is “applying pressure.” He’s “mounting a campaign.” He’s “trying to influence.”

No. He’s coercing. He’s bullying. And in alot of cases, he’s putting people’s lives at risk.

Let’s be honest: if anyone else acted like this—any mayor, governor, or even a union boss—they’d be slapped with lawsuits, ethics complaints, or criminal indictments. But Trump does it, and suddenly it’s just colorful “political theater.” It’s not. It’s authoritarian behavior. And when journalists use euphemisms to describe it, they normalize it.

The same media that spent years wringing its hands about “both sides” and “civility” is now acting like Trump’s campaign of threats is just another quirky tactic from the guy who just “breaks the rules.” In doing so, they are actively undermining democracy.

How many Republican lawmakers have said privately that they’re terrified of what Trump and his base might do to them or their families if they speak out? Plenty. But most won’t say it publicly—because they’ve seen what happens when you do. Ask Liz Cheney. Ask Adam Kinzinger. Ask any election official in Georgia or Arizona who needed security escorts just to certify the results.

And what does the press do? They write that Trump “exerts influence.” Influence? Influence is what a lobbyist has. What Trump does is menace, extort, and incite.

If we had a functioning adult press corps, that would be the lead. Instead, we get headlines that treat Trump’s threats like a PR strategy. “Trump pressures GOP over DOJ cuts.” No, he threatens GOP lawmakers with political violence if they don’t sabotage the Department of Justice. See the difference?

Big Media likes to claim it learned its lesson after January 6. But clearly, it didn’t. It’s still laundering Trump’s behavior through the language of normal politics—polishing up his threats so they look like strategy, not sedition.

Enough. Call it what it is. Trump isn’t “pressuring” Congress. He’s terrorizing it. And if we can’t even say that out loud, we’re already halfway to losing the republic.