I get that the Trump administration’s flood the zone strategy means a lot of things are newsworthy right now. But I’m still surprised and disappointed at how few op-eds (or guest essays if you prefer) and editorials I’m seeing that support the CFPB. While print publications have significant limits on what they can publish because printing stories costs money, online publications have fewer such limits, and even print publications run online-only stories. I don’t think it’s because op-eds aren’t being submitted; I’ve been trying to find a home for an essay I’ve written and have found no takers. Maybe my draft isn’t that good (though I think it’s one of my better op-eds and I’ve published plenty of op-eds in the past), but it’s not just my essay that isn’t getting published; there just seem to be very few appearing anywhere. The Hill ran conservative law professor Brian T. Fitzpatrick’s piece, We don’t need the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — we have courts a few days ago so you would think they would be interested in presenting the other side, but no; not only did they reject my piece, as far as I can tell, they haven’t run any piece defending the CFPB (if I have missed something, please let me know). A few pieces have appeared, including one in the Washington Post, but for the most part, it’s been crickets. This isn’t just a story about consumer protection; it’s also about the rule of law and whether the Trump administration is being honest with American consumers and the courts. The media is letting American consumers down. We need it to do a better job.
UPDATE: I am told that Time magazine and the Detroit Free Press have run opinion pieces supporting the CFPB. WSJ ran a piece by Senator Dodd and Representative Frank supporting the CFPB: Trump Harms Consumers by Weakening the CFPB.
