Today, the Daily Herald editorial board joins more than 200 similar boards at newspapers across the country in a cause we've been championing for years -- the protection of America's free press against an unprecedented assault from the highest office of the nation's government.

Consider this description from one of our first editorials on the topic in December 2016: "Why we're saying (that the press is under assault) -- why it needs to be said, why it needs to be shouted unapologetically -- is because it's dangerous.

"It undermines our democracy. 

"It allows those in power to say, 'Ignore the facts no matter what the facts may be.'

I met Tom Korologos in 1970. I was doing interviews for my dissertation on congressional staffs; he was the top staffer for Wallace Bennett, a veteran Republican senator from Utah. Tom not only granted me an interview but also gave me a ton of time and valuable insights. He knew and loved the Senate, knew and loved politics. He has had a remarkable career in Washington, serving several Republican presidents and also working as a top official with the provisional authority in Baghdad and as ambassador to Belgium. If you asked me to name veteran pols who understand how our government and politics work and should work, he would be high on the list.

That makes my disappointment with him even more painful. Korologos, along with former Ronald Reagan national security adviser Richard V. Allen, wrote an op-ed for The Post last week with advice for their fellow Republicans, headlined “Memo to GOP: Forget 2016. Start thinking 2018 and 2020.” The op-ed conceded the presidential contest to Hillary Clinton — and proceeded to give advice on how to combat the incoming president and regain the party’s mojo.

As one of his first official acts, the new Republican governor of Illinois, Bruce Rauner, issued an executive order this week that would weaken state unions by barring them from assessing fees on some of the workers they represent in collective bargaining. Worse, the damage from the order could reach far beyond Illinois.

At issue are so called “fair share” fees. In a unionized workplace, a union must extend collectively bargained pay raises and other benefits to nonmembers. The nonmembers — about 15 percent of unionized state employees in Illinois — do not have to pay union dues or contribute to the union’s political activities. Instead, under the law in Illinois and in many other states, they must pay the union a fair-share fee, which is less than full dues, to cover the cost of collective bargaining undertaken on their behalf.