New York Times (April 10)
“Mr. Trump has spent his career in the company of…grifters, cons, sharks, goons and crooks. He cuts corners, he lies, he cheats, he brags about it, and for the most part, he’s gotten away with it, protected by threats of litigation, hush money and his own bravado.” Not, apparently, much longer. “Mr. Trump now has real reason to be afraid. A raid on a lawyer’s office doesn’t happen every day.” In fact, it only happens when investigators have real “reason to believe they’d find evidence of a crime there and that they didn’t trust the lawyer not to destroy that evidence.”
Tags: Bravado, Cheats, Cons, Crime, Crooks, Evidence, Goons, Hush money, Lawyer’s office, Lies, Raid, Threats, Trump
The Economist (December 9)
“Under President Jacob Zuma, the state is failing. Contracts are awarded through bribes and connections; ruling-party members murder each other over lucrative government jobs; crooks operate with impunity.” South Africa’s “people deserve better” than the Zuma corruption or his wife who now seeks to replace him as President. “The rainbow nation still has the potential to be a beacon of prosperity and good governance in Africa, but memories of its hopeful birth are a melancholy counterpoint to its dark present. The best chance for recovering that optimism is a victory for Mr Ramaphosa.”
Tags: Africa, Bribes, Connections; Ruling party, Corruption, Crooks, Failing, Governance, Impunity, Ramaphosa, South Africa, Zuma
