Washington Post (September 27)
“In the case of Ukraine, the president is accused of using the awesome power of the United States…to serve his personal political gain. Sadly, this is part of a pattern of violations of democratic norms.” While “Trump is a particularly egregious example” he fits a “global trend” of misbehavior that extends to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Hungary’s Viktor Orban.
Tags: Democratic, Duterte, Egregious, Erdogan, Hungary, India, Johnson, Misbehavior, Modi, Norms, Orbán, Philippines, PM, Political gain, Power, Trump, Turkey, U.S., UK, Ukraine, Violations
The Guardian (July 26)
“The political sphere, so dull and grey a few years ago, is now populated by preposterous exhibitionists. This trend is not confined to the UK – everywhere the killer clowns are taking over. Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage, Donald Trump, Narendra Modi, Jair Bolsonaro, Scott Morrison, Rodrigo Duterte, Matteo Salvini, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Viktor Orbán and a host of other ludicrous strongmen – or weakmen, as they so often turn out to be – dominate nations that would once have laughed them off stage. The question is why? Why are the technocrats who held sway almost everywhere a few years ago giving way to extravagant buffoons?”
Tags: Clowns, Dull, Duterte, Erdogan, Exhibitionists, Farage, Johnson, Modi, Orbán, Political sphere, Preposterous, Salvini, Strongmen, Technocrats, Trend, Trump, UK
