Stop Pretending Both Sides Are the Same
False Equivalence Isn’t Fairness. It’s Enabling Fascism.
Every so often, I'll see a political pundit do something I absolutely abhor. They’ll use a shortcut to create a pseudo form of journalistic neutrality through “both sidesism” or “what aboutism.” They'll compare Medicare-for-All (or any policy they view as leftist) to something they believe to be equally polarizing on the right — say for instance, the January 6 insurrection carried out by Trump extremists.
They don't do this in jest. They're not making a point about the absurdity of it all. Instead, they treat it as a serious example of how 'both sides have gone too far.' Every time it happens, I'm reminded of how this country — and perhaps more so, the elite voices in media who help shape national narratives — have lost the plot.
There is a belief, dangerous in its simplicity and corrosive in its consequences, that America’s central political problem is ideological polarization. That we are a nation of extremes, pulled too far left and too far right, with the solution lying somewhere in the safe, temperate middle. I write about this often because this mythology, and its widespread acceptance, is incredibly destructive.
Admittedly, it's a comforting thought, one that appeals to centrists, moderates, and editorial boards across the country. But like a lot of comforting thoughts, it wilts under scrutiny.
What exactly are these two extremes we’re being told to weigh equally? On one side, we’re told, are those who want universal healthcare, free public education, stricter environmental protections, higher taxes on billionaires, and strong unions. That’s the supposed “far Left.” On the other side, we have those calling for mass deportations, virtually no taxes on the ultra-rich, abortion bans, book bans, the erasure of LGBTQ rights, white Christian nationalism (the soft pink underbelly of white supremacy), unrestricted gun ownership, and the rollback of civil liberties. That’s the MAGA Right, and quite honestly, not even the far right.
Let’s set aside partisan loyalty for a moment. Let’s even set aside the overused and often misapplied terms “liberal” and “conservative.” Instead, ask yourself plainly: if these are the two “extremes,” which would you rather see taken to its logical conclusion?
What a Progressive America Would Look Like
Let’s start with the Left. In a country governed by its most maximalist social democratic ideals, you might encounter large, unwieldy bureaucracies. Perhaps some inefficiencies. Taxes would be high, especially for the ultra-wealthy. The government might be a bit slow to act in some instances given its size, burdened by regulations meant to ensure fairness. But in this version of America, everyone has healthcare. Education is a public good, not a lifelong financial burden. Housing is affordable. Workers have power. Civil rights are not only protected but extended. The wealthy still exist, but they don’t write the laws. The environment is preserved as a matter of survival and justice. People live longer. They’re safer. They’re freer.
This isn’t a utopia. There would still be flaws, debates, and conflict. But the problems are the kind that democracies can live with: inefficiency, overreach, too much caution. These are the consequences of trying too hard to help too many people.
We’ve seen glimpses of this vision before. The New Deal, the Great Society, the Civil Rights Act. None of these broke the country. In fact, they helped save it from collapse and expanded the promise of American democracy. And in countries that have gone further than we have — Sweden, Germany, Canada, to name a few — the result is not tyranny. It’s stability.
In Sweden, citizens enjoy universal healthcare and free college while boasting some of the highest life satisfaction scores in the world. In Germany, apprenticeships and strong labor laws create pathways to prosperity for workers. These aren’t radical ideas; they’re proven policies.
So instead of clinging to the illusion of the middle for its own sake, how about we encourage people to develop a belief system rooted in values and informed by evidence? Let that guide where you end up on the political spectrum. The goal shouldn't be to land in the center — it should be to land where your principles take you. That might be the middle on some issues, the left on others. But it will be yours — and far more honest than the pretense of neutrality.
The Authoritarian Right’s Endgame
Now, consider MAGA Trumpism taken to its full conclusion.
Imagine a country where immigrants are rounded up en masse and deported (no longer hard to imagine, huh?). Imagine citizens being caught in those roundups, citizens being stripped of their citizenship. Imagine journalists and media organizations criminalized for telling the truth. A country where public education is gutted, where abortion is not just restricted but punished. Where science is ignored, elections are doubted, and violence against political adversaries is normalized. Where corporate interests run unchecked, and the environment is treated as disposable. Where religious fundamentalism influences public policy (at the taxpayers’ expense). Where civil rights are an afterthought, or worse, a target.
This is not a slippery slope argument. We’re already partway down the hill. State legislatures have banned books and punished teachers. The Trump Administration is violating due process and sending detained migrants to prison camps around the world. Police have brutalized peaceful protestors with impunity. Women in some states travel hundreds of miles for healthcare that was available just a few years ago. LGBTQ youth are being legislated out of existence. Elections are treated as optional, only valid if your side wins.
This isn’t conservatism. It’s authoritarianism in drag. And it’s not hypothetical.
As historian and leading scholar on authoritarianism Timothy Snyder warned, “Post-truth is pre-fascism.” And false equivalence is its enabler. When you equate universal healthcare with fascist violence, you don’t sound reasonable. You sound complicit.
We’re already living in a post-truth era, where lies about stolen elections and vaccine conspiracies are mainstream, not fringe. This erosion of truth is a precursor to authoritarian rule — and history has shown us how that story ends.
Democratic Decline by the Numbers
The numbers bear this out. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2024 Democracy Index, the United States is no longer considered a “full democracy.” We now rank 28th globally, placing us behind countries like Estonia and Chile. The V‑Dem Institute, another respected global monitor, has warned that the U.S. may soon be reclassified altogether if authoritarian trends continue. A landmark 2014 study by Princeton political scientists Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page drew an even stronger conclusion: The United States is no longer a democracy — it is an oligarchy. The study found that the preferences of average Americans have “near-zero” impact on policy outcomes while the wealthy and well-connected effectively shape legislation. These aren’t outlier assessments. They’re canaries in the coal mine. In the 2023–24 school year alone, over 10,000 books were banned in 29 states, with nearly 16,000 total bans since 2021, many targeting BIPOC and LGBTQ+ literature. That is not cultural nuance. It is cultural purge. Republicans refuse to see this mountain of evidence as troubling, because it's largely their side doing the perpetrating.
Complicity in Blue
However, MAGA extremism does not thrive on its own. It is aided by complicity. Sometimes that complicity comes wrapped in red and sometimes it comes dressed in blue. Corporate Democrats who triangulate, delay, and dilute in the name of pragmatism are not harmless. They are helping. Every time they scold progressives for being “too idealistic” or vote to confirm judges and cabinet members who will uphold or execute unjust laws and policies, they grease the skids for the far right. They lend credibility to the idea that moderation means moving right. And they demoralize the very base needed to stop this slide.
Senator John Fetterman has proudly voted to confirm conservative judges to lifetime appointments, even as they chip away at civil rights. He’s echoed right-wing talking points on immigration, called for harsh crackdowns on crime, and most strikingly, offered unflinching support for Israel's assault on Gaza — even in the face of overwhelming civilian death and international outrage.
This isn't a one-off. It's part of a pattern in which some Democrats adopt conservative framing in an attempt to look 'tough' or centrist. And it’s not limited to Fetterman.
Sen. Cory Booker has had his moments of resistance, headline making bravado. But his work that doesn't make the news or go viral is often in service to big pharma and the donor class.
Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries flush with millions in AIPAC cash have slow-walked the party into critical condition, while appeasing wealthy donors.
This is not bipartisanship. It's not political savvy. A charitable description is enabling, a more accurate one is a continued betrayal. It’s one of the reasons we’re here. Some of these officials punch left faster than they’ll name the danger on the right. It is a cowardice that history will not judge it kindly.
Complicity Dressed in Silence
Consider Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the progressive stalwart who dazzled Americans with her intellectual takes on structural inequities and economic populism. We've heard little from her since her presidential bid, which is unfortunate given her platform and relatively safe seat. And her relative silence, feels like a retreat into the comfort of "centrism," politics, which again, sounds reasonable, but is truly harmful. Conviction has not been found in Sen. Warren during this administration. Instead she projects the essence of progressivism, while protecting the status quo in practice. Quite the opposite place you want to be if your personal brand and mission is staked on structural change.
Why White Moderates Still Cling to the Center
There is a racial dimension to all of this that cannot be ignored. The concentration of political and economic power in this country is not race-neutral — it is overwhelmingly controlled by wealthy white men whose grip on power is reinforced by both explicit policy and unspoken social norms. This isn't just about income inequality or corporate influence; it's about the racialized architecture of American power. From voter suppression efforts that target communities of color to law-and-order politics that criminalize Black and brown lives, the preservation of the status quo is deeply tied to white supremacy. To pretend otherwise is to misread the moment and underestimate the forces we’re up against.
There is a reason so many white moderates continue to parrot “both sides” rhetoric — it offers comfort. It preserves a self-image of rationality and fairness while avoiding the discomfort of taking sides. In Letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. warned that the white moderate, more devoted to “order” than to justice, posed a greater threat to Black liberation than overt racists. The same is true today.
False equivalence offers privilege a place to hide. If both sides are bad, then no one is required to act. And for those whose identities or livelihoods are not immediately under threat, that illusion is seductive. But make no mistake: that comfort is built on a racialized status quo that continues to benefit white Americans while endangering everyone else.
When white moderates choose neutrality, they are not simply opting out — they are sustaining a system built on racial inequality and selective violence. And as history has shown us, systems of oppression never stop at the margins. The costs are not abstract. They’re already being paid — and eventually, they’re coming for all of us.
What Ethical Journalism Looks Like
The press cannot afford to play referee while democracy burns. Ethical journalism in this moment means calling out lies as lies. It means describing fascism as fascism, not as “economic populism” or “culture war rhetoric.” It means platforming truth, not giving equal time to delusion. It means understanding that neutrality is not false equivalence. Objectivity is based on facts, not equal time.
Journalists don’t need to be “balanced” between two arbitrary sides, they need to be accurate, factual, and unflinching.
What You Can Do Right Now
We must go beyond critique and demand systemic reform:
Restore the Voting Rights Act
End gerrymandering
Expand the Supreme Court and hold the Court accountable to stringent ethical standards
These aren’t extreme ideas — they’re the democratic infrastructure we need to survive. Stop the repeating false equivalence and whataboutism. Call it out in your conversations and online. Pressure your representatives to reject AIPAC money or vote against extremist judges. Join or donate to organizations resisting authoritarianism.
Thankfully, we are not without models. The Squad, a congressional coalition made up of outspoken progressives, has refused to compromise their values, calling out injustice even when it’s unpopular. Grassroots organizations like the Sunrise Movement and Indivisible continue to organize, educate, and resist. Their clarity should be our compass.
I know I’m preaching to the choir. MAGA won’t read this. They’re not the audience. You are. Which means this isn’t about changing their minds. It’s about giving you the courage (and ammunition) to speak plainly. To reject the narrative that both sides are to blame.
We have to stop treating this as an ordinary disagreement and start treating it like the existential threat that it is. This is a push to act. Talk to your family, your neighbors, your co-workers. Help people see the endgame. We don’t win by staying quiet. We win by making the stakes plain.
Neutrality in the face of authoritarianism isn’t wisdom. It’s surrender.
We don’t have to choose any extreme. But if we must travel down one path or the other, let’s make the obvious choice. Be kind to one another, if you can. But be resolute and uncompromising with the elected officials who have the power to push us toward democracy — or bury it.
Share this if you’re tired of pretending both sides are the problem.