The Guardian (October 17)
“If Brazil’s recent decline could be plotted in the falling popularity of its presidents, Michel Temer represents the bottom of the curve.” Overall, his popularity now sits at 3%, but “among under 24-year-olds, Temer’s approval hit zero.” Brazil’s president “has been charged with corruption, racketeering and obstruction of justice.” He may conceivably “escape impeachment, but the ongoing political crisis undermines democracy and opens the door to authoritarian hardliners.”
Tags: Approval, Brazil, Corruption, Crisis, Democracy, Impeachment, Obstruction of justice, Popularity, Racketeering, Temer, Zero
The Week (August 1)
“President Trump’s approval rating has sunk to historic lows,” but this is not the most salient point. “The politically relevant, and profoundly disturbing, fact is” that after six months of unremitting chaos, lies, ignorance, trash-talking vulgarity, legislative failure, and credible evidence of a desire to collude with a hostile foreign government to subvert an American election, President Trump’s approval rating is astonishingly high.” Over one-third of Americans apparently like “what they see and hear from the White House….That is simply stunning — and reveals just how precarious American democracy has become.”
Tags: Approval, Chaos, Democracy, Disturbing, Election, Failure, Historic lows, Ignorance, Lies, Precarious, Trump, Vulgarity
The Economist (May 13)
The jury is still out on whether “the sacking of James Comey” was incompetent or malign. “Is the administration chaotic and unworthy of its place in a mighty tradition, but more farcical than corrupting…? Or is Mr Trump, who has just become the first president since Richard Nixon to fire a man who was leading a formal investigation into his associates, and perhaps himself, a threat to American democracy?”
Tags: Chaotic, Comey, Corrupting, Democracy, Farcical, Incompetent, Investigation, Jury, Malign, Nixon, Threat, Trump, U.S., Unworthy
The Economist Times (April 1)
“Most worrying for America and the world is how fast the businessman in the Oval Office is proving unfit for the job.” It is a relief “that the main victim” of President Trump’s “slurs has so far been the tweeter-in-chief himself.” And this is also “testament to the strength of American democracy. But institutions can erode, and the country is wretchedly divided…. Unless Mr Trump changes course, the harm risks spreading.”
Tags: Businessman, Democracy, Harm, Institutions, Oval Office, Relief, Risks, Slurs, Trump, U.S., Unfit, Victim
The Economist (July 23)
Since the coup in Turkey, two things have become clear. “First, the people of Turkey showed great bravery in coming out onto the streets to confront the soldiers; hundreds died…. Opposition parties, no matter how much they may despise President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, united to denounce the assault on democracy. Better the flawed, Islamist-tinged strongman than the return of the generals for the fifth time since the 1960s. The second, more alarming conclusion is that Mr Erdogan is fast destroying the very democracy that the people defended with their lives.”
Wall Street Journal (April 14)
“Social media companies quickly are becoming the dominant news providers for many Americans and citizens across the world. The implications of this revolution are significant for how we understand the information ecosystem and our democracy.” Facebook has become far and away the most common source of news in the U.S., followed by Twitter.
Tags: Democracy, Dominant, Facebook, Information ecosystem, News, Revolution, Social media, Twitter, U.S.
New York Times (January 6)
Turkey’s President “had already built a disturbing record as an authoritarian leader willing to trample on human rights, the rule of law and political and press freedoms,” but this week he hit a new low when citing Hitler’s Germany as precedent for expanding his powers. “Erdogan has fallen far from the days when he could be regarded as a respected leader of a Muslim-majority democracy and a trusted partner in the region.”
Tags: Authoritarian, Democracy, Disturbing, Germany, Hitler, Human rights, Muslim, Press freedom, Rule, Turkey
Chicago Tribune (December 3)
“The drama never ends for Argentina, land of failed expectations and the setting for a great Broadway musical. Next week, a new leading man steps into the role of president with a chance to fix the broken economy and set a positive example for South American democracy.”
Tags: Argentina, Broadway, Broken, Democracy, Drama, Economy, Expectations, Musical, President, South America
New York Times (October 15)
“India is a vigorous democracy that has sent an orbiter to Mars. Yet its children are more likely to starve than children in far poorer nations in Africa. In a remarkable failure of democracy, India is the epicenter of global malnutrition: 39 percent of Indian children are stunted from poor nutrition.”
The Economist (June 13)
In Turkey, voters sent a “signal to Erdogan.” They showed “they prefer liberal democracy to Islamist autocracy. But they have made it harder to form a government,” which is creating some uncertainty. President Erdogan’s future is also uncertain. Though “his march towards one-man rule has been checked, it is premature to write him off.”
Tags: Democracy, Erdogan, Government, Islamist autocracy, Turkey, Uncertainty, Voters
