AP Photo/Alex Brandon April Ryan, of American Urban Radio Networks, raises her hand to ask a question of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders during a press briefing at the White House democracy_rules.jpg C onservatives who should be appalled by President Donald Trump’s anti-media attacks have responded instead with a collective shrug. Never mind that Trump has taken steps to block publication of a critical book, assures a typical Wall Street Journal editorial —he would never follow through, and the courts would never go along. The Journal likewise brushes off Trump’s threat to “open up” the libel laws as “familiar and feckless bluster.” Trump may brand journalists “the enemy” of the American people and hand out “fake news” awards , goes the argument from the right, but his actions matter more than his words. This sanguine take on Trump’s campaign to demonize the news media overlooks the real-world damage it inflicts on journalists, both at home and abroad. Trump’s words...

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speak to reporters on December 13, 2017. democracy_rules.jpg A fter a grueling year in the political wilderness, Democrats see a ray of hope as they close out 2017, celebrating electoral wins in Virginia and Alabama, and honing their midterm attacks on the GOP’s wildly unpopular tax bill. But lest Democrats wake up to a giant hangover next year, they would do well to make a few New Year’s resolutions before ladling out the holiday punch. Above all, they should take care not to fall into the same traps that have snarled the GOP. Democrats have assailed President Trump and his allies for tearing down democratic norms, spreading falsehoods, and catering to elites. But progressives have struggled with their own destructive impulses, sounding troubling echoes of the disruptions on the right. Intra-party feuding, “antifa” violence, overwrought hyperbole, and secret political spending...