parentheticalaside:

I’ve been reading a book about America, Russia and China and one of the things that has become clear to me is how they (Russia and China) can leverage our openness as their propaganda. For example, they used Jan. 6 to great benefit — “This is what democracy leads to!” — but to me that transparency has always been a great strength. The fourth estate is so crucial to democracy, along with the First Amendment. We can’t hide our weaknesses behind state-run media; we have to reckon with it — sloppily and insufficiently and usually too late — but it’s known. That is something I’m proud of, not something that tells me democracy is bad.