The past weeks I have been reading a lot about Trump and the US. Many Americans are concerned.
While there have been various funny things said and while Trump gives us heaps of stuff to make fun about him, his work and his various actions, there are some serious concerns. I have selected some articles here, that will sheed very diffrent lights on the phenomena. Some of the views are totall opposed to each other. So please read yourself and try to make up your own mind.
So here is my Reading List:
In the Atlantic Magazinbe David Frum (March 2017 Issue) argues that Trump will not built an authoritarian state. He will just be someone who wants to make a lot of money and thus open a East European style kleptocracy: „Donald Trump will not set out to build an authoritarian state. His immediate priority seems likely to be to use the presidency to enrich himself. But as he does so, he will need to protect himself from legal risk. Being Trump, he will also inevitably wish to inflict payback on his critics. Construction of an apparatus of impunity and revenge will begin haphazardly and opportunistically. But it will accelerate. It will have to.“ How to built an Autcracy
The Article is really worth reading.
In The Monthly, an Australian Magazine, Robert Manne collects all the konwn connections of Donald Trump to Russia and it’s intelligence services. The article is a rather cool and well written, it provides a comprehensive overview of all allegations in the press about the russian involvement of Trump and his allies so far. From Michal Flynn, WikiLeaks, Steele dossier, 19% share in Rosneft, Paul Manafort, Carter Page and the Republican activist Roger Stone,…: „The Muscovian Candidate? Donald Trump and Russia“
There is an intresting discussion on how planned and competent the Trump administration actually is. Are things like the Muslim Ban the opening shots in a coup d’etat? Yonatan Zunger claims so in a widely shared piece on medium. He is a google privacy egineer.
Reading the same tea leafs, political scientist Tom Pepinsky, which I met once in Freiburg, comes to a totally diffrent conclusion: „I am equally taken by the argument that everything that Zunger identifies is evidence not of a deliberate planning by an aspiring authoritarian, but of the exact opposite: the weakness and incoherence of administration by a narcissist.“ Trump is simly weak ruler. See also this Post of his blog on the use of Media by narcissts and authoritarians.
Comminb ack to Yonatan Zunger: He explains in another bleak post on medium, what are the three scenarios for the Trump presidency and none of them look good. The Washington Post has an entire section on his „cult of the paranoid medium post“ and why we shoudl never retweet.
Why was the Immigration Ban so badly executed? Malevolence and incompetence or malevolence or incompetence? Was it simply security theatre for the base? Asks in the Washington Post.
An intresting pick on the developments in the US is provided by http://www.electoral-vote.com/ they do not lonly count votes or polls but also give backgroudn news.