News Recap - End of the Line

Individual-1

Michael Cohen, Trumps former lawyer, was recently charged with federal crimes in relation to campaign finance laws he broke for hush money paid to Trump's mistresses. In the court filings, that were largely redacted, a person referred to as "Individual-1" showed up. Unnamed due to legal reasons, this person was pointed out as a co-conspirator and in fact the instigator of the crimes committed. This mysterious person is undoubtedly Donald Trump. This means that the current president of the United States committed a felony. Trump is a criminal, according to his own Justice Department.

The Mueller investigation is closing in on Donald Trump. These hush money payments probably have nothing to do with Russian collusion. Michael Cohen might have other information on Trump's possible crimes in that regard though. Trump Tower Moscow, a Trump Organization project that was recently brought back into the spotlight, is a possible point of collusion. I think Trump's connections to Russia are more financial than political in nature. I think Trump has been doing money laundering for Russian oligarchs for decades.

Will all of this criminal activity catch up to Trump? I'm not sure. Seeing how much he has gotten away with so far makes me doubtful. Still, Trump's actions are so heinous that it would be a embarrassment in front of the whole world if he got away with all of it. It would be a spit in the face of democracy, and an excuse for dictators worldwide to tighten their grip on power. Will the new House of Representatives ruled by Democrats change things? Only time will tell.

Autocrats

Trump talks about fake news, but around the world something far more very dangerous is going on. This excellent article by The Washing Post explores how autocrats are making their return.

Leaders in many countries are taking control over media and the press. In the soviet days, this was done by simply occupying the offices of media organizations and forcing them to sing the party line. Nowadays things are done in a more concealed, legal way. Rich government leaders purchase media outlets and systematically drive coverage that is favorably to them. They may not even need to directly threaten to fire people, just hire loyalists and have an unspoken mutual understanding of interests.

Leaders are also abusing the freedoms of the European Union. In an attempt to follow the path of least resistance, instead of fighting to change their oppressive government, dissatisfied people just leave their country behind. The EU also provides a good cover and an excuse for politicians. They can't be blamed for a lot of things, as long as they play by EU's rules. They can also blame the EU for problems, when convenient.

Many reasons, including the increase in immigration, have given foothold for far-right politicians around the world. These far-right figures play on people's fear, anxiety, economic hardship and even personal insecurity. Fearful and insecure people look for strong leaders to protect them. For this reason, many of these leaders act as tough as possible. Unfortunately, brutality is not a winning strategy for world peace.

Conclusion

For this news recap, that is probably my last, I wanted to highlight the corrupted power structures festering around the world. I see this as the largest threat to democracy in my lifetime. It is a gloomy, but a cautionary message about the changes in our society and culture.

When Trump's reign begun, I hoped that the predictably disastrous presidency would scare people from trusting leaders like him. It seems that the opposite has taken place. Trump-like figures have surged in popularity worldwide. He changed the expectation of what is acceptable, and in countries without robust checks and balances, autocrats can turn the dictatorial dial further.

Media plays an important part in all of this. "Knowledge is power" has always been true. The game has changed though. You don't really hide things anymore. Instead, you obscure things and feed so much information to people that they can no longer tell what's true and what's  not.

George Orwell and Aldous Huxley both wrote books on their respective vision of a dystopian future, Nighteen Eighty-Four and A Brave New World. Social critic Neil Postman compared these two worlds in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death. I want to end on this quote from the book:

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egotism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that our fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.

Thanks for reading!