January 21, 2026

Earlier today, a frail, sickly Donald Trump took the stage at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Most of the speech was standard fare — false claims of credit sprinkled between personal grievances and outright lies.

Imitating an aging mob boss, he once again threatened our allies and praised our enemies. When it was over, the legacy media played their familiar roles as stenographers for Trump, while the corporate CEOs in attendance looked relieved to have the speech behind them.

As usual, there was virtually no mention of the most important moment of the speech. After rambling about NATO, Trump said this:

“The 2020 U.S. presidential election [was] rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out. People will soon be prosecuted for what they did. That's probably breaking news.”

For once, I agree with Trump: This should be breaking news — just obviously not for the reason Trump is implying. Yet it is barely being treated by the legacy media as news at all.

Think about that. Not only is Trump repeating a lie about the conduct of the 2020 election, but he is also announcing — at an international conference — that his administration will soon prosecute his political opponents for having defeated him in an election.

And he has already taken the first steps to do so. In Georgia, the Department of Justice sued Fulton County demanding they turn over 2020 election documents. Many of the 2020 conspiracy theories revolve around Georgia — after all, it’s where Trump asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes, enough to reverse his loss in the state. 

Meanwhile, in Florida, Trump ally Mike Davis said that a grand jury has been impaneled to investigate what he called a decades-long conspiracy against Trump. The grand jury will consider charges against Democrats. 

Trump’s revenge tour has already hit the road — and they’re playing the greatest MAGA hits. To win the midterms, Trump needs to sow doubt in free and fair elections and intimidate Democrats from fighting back. That means launching investigations, seeking criminal charges and suing state and local officials who are just doing their jobs. 

In Davos, Trump didn’t hide the ball — he painted a clear picture of his authoritarian power grab for international allies. 

Now, imagine if the leader of another NATO country gave a speech declaring that they intend to prosecute their political opponents for defeating them at the ballot box. Imagine if that leader had recently called for the cancellation of upcoming elections and expressed regret for not seizing ballot boxes in the past.

Finally, imagine if that country’s largest media outlets were ignoring the story as their owners paid millions of dollars to curry favor with the leader.

The largest news outlets in this country would describe that behavior as authoritarianism. The corporate-owned media would smugly report on how much stronger and more principled they are than their counterparts abroad. We would be assured that this could never happen here because our media holds power to account and reports without fear or favor.

For years, we have been lectured on the importance of major news outlets — about how their integrity prevents our democracy from dying in darkness. Yet Donald Trump just stood on a well-lit global stage and declared his intention to abuse the criminal justice system to destroy electoral democracy in the United States. Where are these major outlets now? 

For years, I have warned that we cannot entrust large media corporations with the role of protecting the First Amendment or democracy itself. Their interests are too often compromised by the financial holdings of their owners. Their business model depends on selling advertising to other large corporations — many of which have their own incentives to please Trump.

I started Democracy Docket in 2020 in response to forces that were already in motion, knowing they would only grow worse. From the beginning, it has been committed to filling the void left by an increasingly hollowed-out legacy media. It is not beholden to any corporate board; it has no venture capital or private equity investors. Its only loyalty is to facts, democracy and its subscribers and members.

We are in a democratic crisis that the legacy media refuses to acknowledge. Its near silence today as Trump announced the prosecutions of those who fought his unconstitutional power grab is a symptom of a much deeper disease plaguing our media ecosystem.

If democracy is to endure, it will not be because the corporate media finally found its backbone. It will be because independent journalists, supported by engaged citizens, refused to let authoritarianism advance unchecked. Democracy Docket was created for precisely this moment — and its mission has never been more urgent.