Regardless of your placement on the political spectrum, I assume it’s been difficult these past couple of weeks to keep track of and digest President Donald Trump’s deluge of executive orders as he re-enters office.
But that’s the reaction he wants.
People are scrambling to simultaneously wrap their heads around his sweeping immigration overhaul, dramatic tariff discussions, and calls to take over Gaza.
Additionally, many people, including myself, are still trying to understand Trump’s war against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and political moves emphasizing his climate crisis denial — all the while his administration, in the background, chips away at information access.
Even with so many outwardly facing, steadfast actions, it feels like some things by this administration are intentionally being done more under the radar. And further than that, it’s not being fully picked up and analyzed by the news media.
This inundation creates a perfect space beneath the rug, under which relevant and life-changing stories can be swept.
Basically, the Trump administration is censoring vital public information that mentions concepts and identities that contradict new federal policies.
And it’s part of the authoritarian recipe for success.
China has engaged in censorship and information control about select topics and events, Russia scrubs news that contradicts the state’s agenda — the list goes on, all in the name of sociopolitical stability and national security.
But this information-centric phenomenon hasn’t been widely argued to be for the betterment of American lives. The narrative doesn’t seem to be one of protection, as little to no profound narrative from the White House nor mainstream news media has been provided.
What does this mass deletion include? Well, The New York Times listed the more than 8,000 web pages that have been taken down since last Friday, as researchers and nonprofit newsrooms jump to salvage what’s left, but this is just a cursory look at a metastasizing mess.
The main, overarching pieces of information being purged include: Spanish-language versions of White House news and the U.S. Constitution, LGBTQ+ information, and climate data/facts.
These are all symptoms of the larger ailments but should not be ignored.
The White House shut down access to a Spanish-translated version of the U.S. Constitution and to all information from the White House website, including through its social media account. This bars over 40 million people who speak Spanish in their U.S. homes from having access to review their Constitutional rights and everyday federal news.
It’s a symptom of Trump’s larger immigration crackdown and over-arresting of Spanish-speaking and Latinx individuals for deportation. This more general topic is what’s grabbing headlines. This is what Trump wants you looking at.
The CDC was told to remove information regarding “gender ideology,” which advocacy organizations say is a constructed and harmful term to assert LGBTQ+ people are following an ideology rather than expressing intrinsic identity. This led CDC members to start rip down from websites critical, verified resources — for providers and patients — on specialized care for LGTBQ+ individuals, especially relating to suicide, racial disparities, and HIV, which disproportionately affects gay and bisexual men.
This is a symptom of the administration’s canceling of federal DEI policies and executive orders prohibiting the recognition of transgender people, especially in sports. This more general topic is what’s grabbing headlines. This is what Trump wants you looking at.
Lastly, but surely not least, several federal departments have gutted or downgraded climate crisis related pages. Some researchers were astounded to find their carefully selected research was taken down. Scientists are bracing “for the worst,” as they fear a lack of education on the dire state of the climate crisis will only perpetuate its effects.
This is a symptom of Trump’s continued climate change denial, in line with moves like pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement. That’s the more general topic that’s grabbing headlines. This is what Trump wants you looking at.
See the pattern now? We’re seeing a mass deletion of data and resources that’s under the guise of larger, flashier policy changes. This collective striking and hiding of information is malicious, yet quiet, info scrubbing.
Yes, it’s obviously being used to further push Trump’s agenda, but it’s innately more interconnected than his bigger policy pushes: these specific moves collectively mean access to critical information we used to have is gone.
People who will in the future need this information for their rights, health, and even studies of the world around them — people who largely come from marginalized and minority communities — simply won’t be able to.
And that’s what’s terrifying. As a young, yet devout (and for the sake of transparency, queer) journalist who scours news sources on the daily for everything from international news to hyperlocal stories, it’s astounding to me that such a violation against the American people can crawl by without a deeper analysis.
This lack of information will eventually sway how the major policies, the full ailments themselves, will play out.
Journalists have discussed the individual symptoms, their larger ailments, but what does this say about a larger informational pandemic?
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be calling on the Freedom of Information Act just to get basic medical care.
At the end of the day, this transcends partisan lines. Conservatives can rejoice in an ‘ignorance-is-bliss-like’ trance and cheer on Trump following through with his campaign promises. Liberals can sit and mope at the cable news, apathetically scroll through news feeds, and rant angrily about how this never should have happened.
But the fact is, access to necessary and reliable information is at stake now in what is supposed to be the freest nation in the world. We’re on the precipice of losing further fundamental freedoms via an inability to know what’s true, false, and actually going on around us every day.
And what better way to garner power and control than to warp reality.
Sam Barney-Gibbs is a political journalist who previously interned for the United Nations and was an award-winning reporter and editor-in-chief for his college multimedia news organization. He graduated summa cum laude from Lehigh University, having studied journalism, international politics, political theory, and philosophy. He is currently and happily a Newsletter Editor for Smerconish.com!
