For me, the demarcation point was the 2000 election, when the highest court stopped the vote recount in Florida and gave the election to Bush. That set the stage for the Trump Era, when judicial appointments take on the patina of bribes to vote a certain way and for the Congress to abandon its constitutional oversight (see Iraq War). All roads point to the Republican Party as being at the heart of what preceded and what followed.
18
There was a day last week when the American president had dinner with a murderer from North Korea while his daughter and son-in-law were having dinner with a murderer in Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, congressional Republicans were castigating the president's former attorney for telling them exactly what the president is.
America will either put an end to Trump, or accept that it is no longer the light that was "America".
97
Mr Friedman
Please explain to me how BRAZIL is “drifting away from democracy”?
Thanks
WithTrump in the White House, the rich can finish plundering the country, and they will be happy to do so.
7
That Trump is morally bankrupt is not news. There is a straight line to be drawn between that and the loss of American influence in the world. This vaccuum will be filled by other liberal democracies in the European Union and the UK (who are facing their own pressures from forces in line with Trump's nativism and warped views) and middle level powers like Canada (if Trudeau can repair the trouble he is now in and win the next election) and some South American countries.
Another corollary of Trumpism is that Americans, like it or not, are being held responsible for voting for him and supporting him. It will take a very long time to repair the damage this ignoramus xenophobic, sexist, racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic idiot has wrought. His silence on these issues is consent and agreement. He seems unable to call out these evils when he sees and hears them, even from fellow Americans, perhaps especially from fellow Americans, and from despots everywhere. Even murder is okay when Saudi Arabia is responsible.
America has held itself as an example for the world, sometimes a little too smugly and with deliberate lack of acknowledgement of its own failings, but now it is proof of how low things can go and still be acceptable to a large proportion of the electorate.
We can only hope the various investigations will finally convince these people of his amorality and feckless inappropriateness for public office.
4
The failure of democracy can be quantified by its injustices, a few of which Friedman cites, but many more are ignored, such as the extermination of Muslims in the Middle East over the past decades. Or the lies of politicians, especially involving wars of extermination of civilians, such as the Vietnam and Iraq Wars.
Of course the injustice of governments vary over time, sometimes much worse such as the Holocaust, sometimes less, such as Trump aiding and abetting the Yemen crisis. It's been said, and it's still correct, "Even if God were to magically create an ideal government, such as those of Robert Nozick's and John Rawls', no force in the universe could prevent it, over time, from committing serious crimes against society."
If as Friedman believes, the current increase in its evilism is due to Trump, the ebb and flow of its evilism, catalogued in the history books, will afflict us and our descendants, with the persons or factors blamed by columnists varying in the future. Why not blame Trump? He's the villain of this decade, especially if all you read is the NYT.
6
Fractal self-similarity organizes natural systems scale-independently. It must have been like this on Easter Island when its population badly overshot its resources.
Fox may be the trumpeters but who is the choir? Yes, Mr. Friedman, you have it right. Now it’s a case of wakening the dumbed down American voter. Trump wasn’t elected in a vacuum. Good luck!
5
"He made our country great again."
"He got our economy going again."
"He made us proud of our country again."
"He's getting rid of unwanted immigrants."
"He's getting rid of undesirable people."
"His cronies are criminals and sociopaths but that doesn't matter because everything else he does is acceptable."
Who is He?
No, not Donald Trump.
Yes, Adolph Hitler!
Are we staggering toward a majority in our nation that is so afraid of anyone who looks, thinks, believes or acts differently than themselves that they will accept tyranny?
"Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are bound to repeat them."
4
Except for the fact that Erdogan took over in 2014, and defeated a coup attempt in 2016, to enshrine himself in the president-for-life role (if that's an accurate description), meaning Obama would be "responsible" for it as much as Trump. And China's "president" Xi took over the leadership of a one-party, authoritarian regime that has been in place for 70 years, or something like that, so Trump, no more than Obama, is to blam for that. This is why there's fake news.
1
We don't need to be geniuses to guess that all the dictators are really mad and saying bad words after reading this so good, so good, so good, column. Wonderful! It is a real honor to be insulted by them or their helpers. The opposite would be really shameful.
Gosh, Tom Friedman---thank you for this column. You’ve reminded me to get the CD of “Anything Goes”, one of Cole Porter’s most witty Bwy shows.
These songs are so much fun they take your mind off our current political troubles here and abroad.
Of course, some of its famous songs can sure be related to today’s politics and personalities, depending on your political views and loyalties:
Song List:
I Get a Kick Out of You (or-- I’d like to kick you out of office)
You'd Be So Easy to Love (or despise)
You're the Top (or the bottom)
Friendship (or antagonism)
All Through the Night ( all thru 4 years)
Anything Goes (until we restore limits)
1
Correlation is not causation. In fact, if you enlarge the set of nations enumerated herein to include Canada, Britain and France, all of which are undergoing concurrent political but non-rightist upheavals, an alternate interpretation of global tumult is suggested: all of it is part of a vast influence operation by fraternal networks intended to shake things up worldwide.
And still, after all this time, no signs of empathy/compassion or humility from Trump. After all this time! He emboldens all who subscribe to an absence of such emotions, not just his base who emerged from the woodwork and assembled together once Hillary accurately identified them as deplorables, but including self centered foreign leaders with such Milan lack of character and integrity. Mr Friedman gets it right again,
1
Permit me to alter a quote from the article.
“They will define who he is, what is America, what is America in the eyes of the world and what is Democracy in the eyes of the world.”
How many people in the world yearning for freedom and wanting to come here feel a part of themselves highly depressed at this moment. Contrary to 40% of ignorant and incurious of the population in this country, people who have a strong desire to emigrate to this country bring a vitality to counteract the impotence of these 40%.
Why white collar criminals, ideologues and tyrants aren't dealt harsh lawful penalty when the Common Good catches up with them is a recipe for disastrous history repeating itself.
I hope no one including Democrats operating in the name of reconciliation intends to pardon Trump. My wish is that himself, his family and all the low-life and enablers surrounding that sordid man are dealt harshly so that there will be an unmistakable message sent to the world that we will reclaim our country back and that there will be at least one country who always wants to breathe freedom and hope. If this happens we will, over time, bring all the good souls of this Earth back together.
There will always be a fair amount of losers in this country and they can rejuvenate themselves and join us or rot in their desperate selfish lives. Actions and ideological attitudes, both good and bad, have consequences.
1
It's not just foreign autocrats who believe "anything goes" now. It's the 88% of Republican voters who continue to approve of Trump's Way. Nothing he does fazes them. Obeisance to Putin? Trashing rule of law? Executive overreach (after they spent 8 years swooning in horror over Obama's relatively minor efforts)? His war on science and the environment? Blatant corruption? To everything they say "No problemo."
At least Trump's misrule has cleared up any confusion people might have had about Republicans calling themselves "conservatives." They are obviously not, in any sense of the term that would have made sense to, say, Eisenhower, or Teddy Roosevelt, or Lincoln.
With 97% of elected Republican politicians white men and 87% of the rank and file non-Hispanic whites, the GOP is now a white nationalist party that serves such people on social issues while servicing a few hundred oligarchs on everything else.
1
Excellent discussion of macro situation -- frightening. Seemingly as important, Trump has now become a role model for many Americans. Lying, cheating, stealing, etc., anything goes.
3
This article of Friedman very concerning what is the reality today. Or simply the truth about our democracies health.
But let's do not forget the one factor.
These gloomy assessment is true who was born and alive between 1940 and 1990. Simply called cold war era.
The generation which was born after 1990 , this article is not resonating, Why ?
Because our time become history and that lessons are slowly fading from collective memory.
Let's take this simple example . Philippines. in 1980's we saw Ferdinand marcos regimes collapse and democracy arrived, in less than 40 years collective memory of dictatorship lost its horrific reputation and Duterte become president. Even though He stated that he will be murderer and elected.
We the generation who appreciates democracy is also fading away, democracy is fading away, Let's hope world doesn't go another global scale war for stupidity of supremacy, nationalism, or ideology.
In the anything goes world people gather and pay good money to listen to this President riff for nearly two hours and thirty minutes. The indoctrination continues.
2
"Leaders around the world have learned that they can do as they wish without the U.S. calling them out."
"...it’s obvious that none of them, none of them, ever bothered to ask themselves before their respective moves, “But what will the Americans say if we do this?”"
Dear Thomas,
"Calling them out" will do what for us? With your vast experience, please tell us which president -
• has ever changed China's ability or decision-making process to do whatever they want within their own borders
• changed the process by which Egypt chooses its president
• changed any country in the Middle East into a stable democracy
• rescued kidnapped Nigerian girls with a hashtag
• stopped any nuclear weapons program within Iran, North Korea or Israel?
Thomas, if you were President, what would you DO about any of the things you're complaining about?
1
Re: "[M]aking an alliance 'with a racist party is one of them. Because when you do that you actually inflate them and send a message about what kind of speech is permissible.' You may think that 'they are just a means to your ends,' adds Halbertal. 'But in the end, they will control you, they will dominate your identity,'” This is what has happened to the Republican party in the United States. Once the Republicans started to absorb the Dixiecrats, after the civil rights legislation was enacted in the sixties, they started down the road to their eventual ruin as a mainstream party. Trump's rise and dominance are a symptom of the moral rot in the Republican party, but it started a long time ago.
1
My wife and I are 70 and we shake our heads in disbelief and dread at the damage Trump is doing nationally and internationally. His performance at CPAC was, as many pundits said, “unhinged”. He violates all the norms of democracy, decency, and integrity and yet his base, including a very high percentage of evangelicals, remain solidly behind him, laughing and cheering. This reminds me of a quote that seems to apply:
“It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a sick society.”
— Jiddu Krishnamurti
52
Mr. Friedman, ordinarily I am relatively quick to add a comment to a piece. Sir, your article left me in a state of sobering silence.
I have a bucket full of hypotheses as to our nation arrived at this disastrous time in our short history when "anything (does) go." I tried and failed to choose even one of my hypotheses that leaves me with a definitive answer.
I am left placing my faith in the power of 'The Rule of Law' because;
"Having the Rule of Law is part of what defines free nations. It is the Rule of Law more than any other concept that separates the free world from dictatorships."
Maybe "all things (do) happen for a reason" and this darkness is being squeezed out of the woodwork where it has been festering for a long time.
This is one of the most important columns written by anyone recently, out of all the well-spoken columns saving our sanity. All this should be taken very very seriously -- our moment in history will have long-lasting ramifications in so many nations. Thank you, Thomas Friedman.
3
It simply defies belief that MAGA supporters could witness democracy in retreat across the globe due to Trump’s autocratic rhetoric and conduct, and could simultaneously believe that Trump is somehow making American democracy stronger or better.
Sigh.
Then again, this assumes that there exist MAGA supporters who expose their eyes and ears to more than just the State TV known as Fox News.
Deep sigh.
Of course just because MAGA supporters are doubtlessly exposed to Trump’s autocratic behavior does not mean that they’ll recognize, much less admit, that the very foundations of American democracy are presently being eroded before their very eyes.
A tear.
6
Tom Friedman, you are right and it is indeed a very sad situation.
Once can hope that the Democratic Party can find a centrist candidate to run against Trump and bring back sanity to the US and the rest of the world.
4
This is the first time in America’s history that despots, strongmen, dictators and the like have a willing partner in the Oval Office. I am mortified and horrified. The envelope of doing acts and taking gambles once thought impossible by this group has been stretched like never before. And the world is a far more dangerous place than ever before. There are a group of people in our military and security services that are quietly and vigilantly doing their part to hold the line on these dangers. I hope and pray they will always succeed.
2
Hope and prayers is the strategy used for gun control and it has not stopped the carnage. We need better strategies for change. Voting is a good one to start with.
Trump uses all the practices from The Cruel Autocrats Playbook, but chiefly the one that says, "Deny, deny, deny." Apparently, he believes that all one has to do is deny knowledge of any misdeed, and one cannot be held accountable for it.
He honors dictators who also employ these practices. His claim that he believes Salman and Kim Jong re the Khashoggi and Warmbier murders is an example. However, Trump uses denial in virtually every corrupt and mendacious act in his repertoire - and there are so many!
Here's my question: If so many terrible things are going on under this administration, and Trump has no knowledge of any of it, doesn't that make him totally incompetent? And isn't that the perfect reason to impeach him?
70
Americans take our liberty for granted. Think for a moment what the world would be like had we not won WWII. If the anything goes attitude Tom described prevailed, Hitler would have run rampant over Europe, Jews would be extinct, and we would have amended our own constitution to repeal the First Amendment and elected our own president for life.
We are paying the price for a lack of understanding of history and the failure of education in general.
4
Before anyone reading this article and contemplates slitting his/her wrists, please consider this: everything mentioned here - I mean EVERYTHING - is nothing new. It is certainly not new pre-World War II, and it is not new even in what Mr. Friedman would consider the golden age of international relations, i.e., the post World War II world order. After WWII we have had a string of anti-democratic incidents done in our name. To name just a few: the CIA-sponsored overthrow of Mohamed Mozadegh in Iran, the sanctioned killing of president Diem of South Vietnam, the coup and murder of Salvador Allende, again with the help of the CIA, the support of dictators all over Latin America (Nicaragua, Guatemala, Argentina, Brazil go name a few). In short, to portray America as heretofore a paragon of pro-democratic virtue standing as an exemplar to the rest of the world is naive at best - and Mr. Friedman knows it.
America, to the rest of the world was not about democracy. It was about power, protection, trade, and MONEY. Let us not, therefore, weep in our breakfast cereal when we listen to the news in the morning - it's just another day.
1
All this chaos happens when people allow the concentration of power and unlimited financial resources in a hands of few corrupt, drunken with absolute power characters.
When I first came to America in 1980 there were no mention of billionaires in american cultural lexicon, even in a trashy show like "The Life of Rich and Famous".
In a span of two decades it all changed because of the government policy, constant lobbying, bribes, corporate donations filling the pockets of sold out greedy, amoral politicians who were happy to oblige and let all the regulations loose.
So income inequality as of today is grotesque to the point of insanity. It was coming to roost for decades and been on display in every corner of the world.
Again excess of money in politics, creates insatiable greed and corrupts our political process. It's all greatly distorted.
The Chameleon-in-Chief during his campaign was ask, if he was in favor of raising taxes on a rich, he said yes, including myself.
What he did, he cut more taxes on the rich including himself.
Is he accountable...what a strange word "accountability" it's concept practically faded in government's operations.
No one was hold accountable for 2008 market collapse, not one of the billionaires was sent to jail for ruining lives and safety of millions of people.
And we continue the same vicious cycle of no accountability.
And now we all paying the price for having trump and the whole branch of our government just like him...unaccountable.
4
The depressing and dangerous trend Mr. Friedman describes is accompanied by the world's transition into what Shoshana Zuboff and others describe as surveillance capitalism. Both phenomena are fueled by a world populace driven by consumerism, materialism and political complacency. In short, it can only get worse. So buckle up mates, we're in for a ride that is sure to end in horror and disgust. But at least we can be distracted by new and needless gadgets along the way. Pathetic is probably too weak a word to describe humanity. For it is not apathy that allows dictators, autocrats and surveillance capitalists to get away with their dirty deeds and to prosper; it is cowardice on both an individual and grand scale.
Unless and until we the people get up and fill the streets and demand change every day until we get it, this will only get worse, and fast.
Don't think that's right? Just imagine all that is going on right now by the Trump administration and the Koch brothers et al. to tear apart and destroy our government - the fabric of our society. Imagine how much there is that we don't know about because there is so much going on at once and there are not enough investigative reporters, whistle blowers and unafraid good guys to expose and eliminate this cancer.
The power of fear and money can and must be broken. It's time for some billionaire hurt.
Few weeks ago, An American friend asked me: what’s like having a civil war? I told him, it’s like five times worse than ww2 and Vietnam combined - because in civil war your enemy isn’t a different country , but your next door neighbor.
1
It used to be with hints of scandal we'd write you off as a vandal, but Donald knows, anything goes.
Electorates can change direction with Muscovite misdirection, oh Putin knows, anything goes.
(Dear Lord, I might have to rewrite the whole song for 2019...)
Trump may have added gasoline to the conflagration, but he did not start the fire. Most of the current autocratic regimes came into power during the incompetent George W administration or the cowardly Obama administration. Duterte, Erdogan, Maduro, Kim Jung Un, came to power in the 8 years of Obama. Obama always responded with indecision, delay, and inaction. Always too little and always too late. Always way behind the curve. Putin stole another Russian election, jailed opponents, invaded Crimea and hacked the US elections. The best Obama could do was give him a "reset button". Assad jumped right over the famous red line and "the junior varsity" ISIS took control of half of Syria and Iraq while Obama stood on the "right side of history" and did nothing. The global retreat from democracy and rule of law began years before Trump. Trump just brought it to America.
@CDG Maybe it's time to rewrite "We Didn't Start The Fire" along with "Anything Goes."
The other reason they have no fear of America under trump is that many of our enemies have blackmail material on him. This is not an exaggeration. His campaign let it be known that any and all contributions to his inauguration would be looked on favorably by the next administration. Just one example is a state owned Venezuelan company who gave him $500,000 for his poorly attended party. Saudi Arabia is clearly in deep with the trump family (Jared and Ivanka) and could expose him at any time. Why should they be worried about killing Kashoggi? And well do I really need to mention Putin?
America is being blackmailed because our president's greed knows no bounds.
2
The piece references the “stress of globalization” and how nationistic thugs are exploiting it to gain and remain in power. Until a significant transfer of wealth from the world’s tiny and obscenely rich plutocracy to the struggling masses occurs, autocrats will rule the day.... perhaps Marx and Eugene Debs are poised to stage a comeback.
"Anything goes." How true. Just look at the last 70 years of the GOP. What was an Eisenhower and Taft Party of bankers , rich investors and rich country clubbers, took advantage, under Nixon, under his "Southern Strategy", of racist bigots, then evolving the strategy to include rigid Christian Evangelicals, the anti abortion crowd, nihilists, government haters, gay bashers, and tightwads who will do anything to legislate away taxes.
The GOP USED them. Now? Where's Jeb Bush, who represents those investor class originals? In the trash heap of US political history. We have now BECOME, in the majority, racial bigots, hateful evangelicals. gay bashers and the tax complainers and cheats. They ARE the GOP today. Just take one look at the attendees at CPAC, Tom.
As they say, be careful what you ask for. It is right here, now.
2
Many of the world leader's that the author excoriates were initially empowered by the tide of leftist liberal globalists that rewarded leader handsomely as long as toed the globalist line. Because of President Trump, those globalists are losing ground, and as their influence recedes the leaders that were paid for by the global elite are now exposed for what they are.
Mr Friedman is at it again. You left out Saudi Arabia from your list of rulers manifesting “anything goes” authoritarianism in the age of Trump while doing some sort of somersaults to get to Iran. Perhaps one could say it’s just an oversight on your part, but given that the current Saudi regime typifies the subject-matter you are writing about, if nothing but for its unusual closeness to this administration and its brazen murder of journalists and Yemenis. I was wondering whether that wonderful late-night dining with the Saudi prince still bearing its intended corrupt fruits in Mr Friedman’s psych.
I have lost all respect for Mr Friedman as an independent thinker after the episode of him essentially serving as mouth-piece to Saudi prince in the early period of Trump presidency. And he still can’t completely wash off those corrupt seeds that the Saudi prince planted into him.
Mr Friedman, how is Iran benefiting more from the absence of America’s moral leadership under Trump than Saudi Arabia?
1
This is what voting for Jill Stein and Ralph Nader achieves in the end. Please vote, and please don't waste your vote. Democracy isn't democracy without intelligent voting.
6
An American friend asked me: what’s like having a civil war? I told him, it’s like five times worse than ww2 and Vietnam combined - because in civil war your enemy isn’t a different country , but your next door neighbor.
The test for Democracy will be a long and troubled path.
People around the world, just like here in America, are becoming terrified that the world they knew is disappearing.
America is a land of immigrants and everything was fine until "different" immigrants began to arrive.
Here, we seem to be most frightened of Latinos, followed by Muslims.
In Europe, refugees from the Middle East seem to frighten the most and then immigrants from Africa.
The rapid influx of peoples which "look different" frightens the already "settled in" immigrants from generations earlier.
These frightened people are easily herded up and led by those of reinforce these fears.
America used to be that "beacon in the storm" which kept the light of Democracy aglow -
But now, we see Trump leading the world pack of haters.
With the American Beacon dimming, it is just a bright green "GO" for other dictators around the world.
These issues will get worse - very much so -
A strong engine to this massive population distribution will be Global Warming.
All of a sudden, when it's far too late, the terminally greedy and stupid will "sound the alarm"
1
Trump is a symptom of where American politics have fallen. Our politics can best be described as leading from behind. Leadership is anticipating what public opinion wants, not what is right. Reagan gave Americans the freedom to be greedy, racist and lazy; Clinton let polling dictate policy decisions; Bush2 allowed for more ignorance and paranoia; Trump is the logical conclusion - we have ceded our better angels to greed, hatred and laziness.
American leadership is dead.
2
The hypocrisy here is unbelievable. Mr. Friedman has for years been sweet for China because their centralized power allows them to get things done. He turns a blind eye to its gulags, racial and religious discrimination and organ harvesting. Now he says trump doesn’t care— about what? Hungary. The Philippines? Save it man.
An old Dutch saying , "The thugs rule the world".
We need a few more Friedman Units and then Bush/Cheney will be able to sort it all out.
This piece is classic Thomas Friedman. Overall an excellent discussion, but hidden within there is a subtle message. Friedman is remarkably consistent in his lambasting of the Netanyahu regime in Israel while at the same time promoting the regime's party lines aimed at demonizing Iran.
"Iran has been deeply complicit in the ethnic cleansing of Sunnis in Iraq and Syria, in the use of poison gas by Syria’s regime and in the crushing of Lebanese democracy through its proxy the Hezbollah militia."
I have not seen evidence of such claims, but Friedman presents them as absolute truths. On the other hand I am aware that Iran has been instrumental in the fight against ISIL, has fought against the concept of regime change in Syria by foreign powers, has helped Yemenis fight against Saudi ethnic cleansing, and has supported Hezbollah in their fight for Palestinian human and legal rights.
2
The world is turning into a cesspool of doom....check.
If Thomas Friedman is scared of what is happening in our world, then I am scared, too. I have lived a long time and I have seen our country go through some bad times. I was born just before the second world war began. I don't ever recall feeling so dejected about our country and the rest of the world. I feel as a previous writer did that the picture of our leader hugging the flag was the scariest and stupidest display I have ever seen. He is bereft of any sense of morality and his followers seem to love him. I shudder every time I hear him speak. I believe that Michael Cohen got it absolutely correct when he admitted to being a fool for following this man and he indicated that the people he was speaking to were also fools.
1
Mr. Friedman, in regard to Mr. Netanyahu's Israeli policies, you seem to be on the same page as Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar. Even with your gray hairs though, it seems you still do not feel safe to stand up for Rep. Omar while she is being wrongly pigeonholed as an anti-semite, despite the fact that she is actually taking issue with American support of a Netanyahu-ized Israel, the policies and platform of which you and many other Americans are also rightly alarmed about.
NY Rep. AOC has no PhD, no Masters degree, no Law degree, no published book or even article. But look how quick she is to stand up for what is right, and how quickly (and smoothly, intelligently, and diplomatically) she stepped up to defend Rep. Omar. The Republicans cannot catch her. The Democrats should at least try to catch up to her.
What's your excuse, Mr. Friedman?
1
And you want a child to make responsible, educated choices?
Let’s add them up.
6 paragraphs criticizing Israel
2 paragraphs criticizing Iran
1/2 paragraph sort of criticizing Saudi
1 paragraph criticizing China
1 paragraph criticizing Egypt
2 paragraphs criticizing Uganda
And barely a mention of Myanmar, Syria, Russia, Turkey, Philippines, Venezuela and North Korea. I guess Mr. Friedman regards democratic Israel as the worst country in the world. Shame on him and The NY Times.
1
@Padraig Lewis
Only your true friends have the guts and concern to criticize you when it's needed.
I write regularly, to the Times, to condemn the kind of casual, and overt, anti Semitism that pervades our country. And to support the right of all Jewish people to believe in and stand by Israel. But when the elected leader of Israel joins forces with racist bigots, for whatever reason, my faith in humanity is deeply shaken. I am thoroughly irreligious, but I know who my enemies are and who hate me for my Jewish taint. I am personally ashamed of Bibi's actions.
Dear Editor,
Mr Friedman “The Trump Musical: ‘Anything Goes’“ writes “Leaders are grabbing power for life, murdering or jailing even the mildest of critics and shamelessly building coalitions with openly racist and bigoted parties” and blames it on President Trump. But most of the leaders claiming power for life have done so under President Trump, including in China, Russia and the Philippians.
Mr. Friedman uses a disproportionate part of his column to criticize Prime Minister Netanyahu for affiliating with a racist party to try to win an election. I agree that was a terrible decision but Mr. Netanyahu is “ not grabbing power for life” the presumed subject of this piece, but rather is trying to win another four- year election while facing possible indictment. It will be up to the citizens of Israel in the election in April to determine whether Mr. Netanyahu’s tactic will work and the attorney general and the courts to assess whether Mr. Netanyahu should go to jail. Comparing this situation in democratic Israel with the dictatorships he rightly condemns is irrational and shows, to Mr. Friedman’s shame, his blind singleminded approach to Israel.
When I was a small boy, I would visit my grandfather in Brooklyn, and we would attend his place of worship, The New York Public Library. There, he could troll through archived issues of The New York Times, The Herald Tribune, The London Times and other western newspapers. A Ukrainian refugee university law professor become American janitor, his fealty to the principal of a free press was undimmed by the harshness of his circumstances. "This" he would say raising his index finger for emphasis "is what makes America great! No government propaganda machine, no party line, no censorship! I would rather be a janitor in New York than a professor in Communist Lviv!"
I wonder what he would say today.
101
@Nestor Repetski
What a great comment, I, also came from Ukraine, Kiev.
So much changed here, not for the better to say the least.
Well, good luck to all of us and keep fighting.
Hope Trudeau won't be corrupt like the rest of them.
5
@Nestor Repetski this makes me proud and breaks my heart at the same time.
5
@Nestor Repetsis Just like my grandfather from the Ukraine would have done -- he would spin in his grave to see this amoral, narcissistic, ignorant disgrace to America and this catastrophe to liberal democracy.
7
I don't disagree with what Friedman has written here, I just don't think he goes far enough. Any moral authority the US had has been largely a figment of it's own imagination. Anyone familiar with our real history of genocide, slavery, and global exploitation for profit, which is most of the world, already knows this. The only difference I see is that most of the world was willing to play along with our delusion for most of the decades post-second-world war. and now they're not playing along anymore. Largely because, as Friedman points out, they don't have to.
1
The US is no longer a reliable trading or treaty partner.
The blame for the irreversible damage to the prestige and reputation of the US in order of precedence:
1) GOP voters
2) GOP senators and representatives (who GOP voters elect repeatedly)
3) individual-1
One day individual-1 will be gone. If this was the only problem area, the US and the world could wait out this nightmare, maybe make a partial recovery. But the problem lies with the 60+ million who will continue to elect hugely wrong politicians to positions of power. The entire world knows this, Pax Americana is over.
2
I think Mr. Friedman and many authors of comments to his editorial give too much credence to your president's amorality and its effects globally. To be sure Trump's America is no longer "the light on the hill" but as a citizen of Canada I have to ask the question - was it ever? Under many other presidents and their administrations the United States throughout history has in fact supported many dictatorial regimes as long as they were seen as beneficial to your country. There are too many examples to choose but it must be remembered that the USA interfered in a democratic process in order that the Shah could sit on his throne,
at one time your government propped up dictatorial regimes in Central and South America to protect America business interests and in this regard perhaps your country's stalwart support for Battista in Cuba is the best example. Others would include but are not limited to Mubarak, Nasser, Saddam Hussein, Marcos, Noriega, Allende and the list goes on.
I will grant the USA's lofty ideals but it has always been the practice of "doing what we say, rather than doing what we do".
4
It's true that Cole had the best words. And that's even more impressive when we consider that he and Irving Berlin were really the only ones, among the big dogs of the American songbook, who wrote both music and lyrics.
Agree when "Americans" is replaced with "the EU and America".
Remember, the US had to force European companies present in Iran with sanctions on their US business, otherwise the US policy change in Iran would have been completely ignored and ineffective.
On climate change, the rest of the world is not following the shameful example of the US either.
So, a little modesty is in order.
That said, trade dependencies (like energy between Russia and EU), economic sanctions, embargoes, developmental and humanitarian aid have all been powerful tools in maintaining post WWII world peace.
It's a real shame that Trump is throwing away the perhaps biggest benefit (soft power) of a global free trade policy in favor of a military hawk strategy that only benefits the weapons industry.
1
What I say here will doubtless make many scream. There is one person in public life today who stands out fearlessly for those values that Trump et alia scorn: President Macron. Just read what he wrote about his vision for Europe.
2
And it isn't only Trump. Do the audiences at his rallies remind us of those in Reifenstahl's "Triumph of the Will"?
2
it isn't just rally audiences where people don't pay to get in.. People pay good money to spend three or four days a year at C-PAC, hooting, jeering and belittling American values and democracy.
1
Other than being a better role model and speaking out for democracy, what should the US do? Obama spoke against Syrian use of poison gas, for example, but had few other options. In Europe, from North to South and East to West, people are voting for right wing politicians. Populism is a form of democracy, and it is a double-edged sword. In places with no or weak democratic institutions, dictators emerge who remain in power as long as they take care of the men who run the military and state security apparatus. And even in once prosperous countries, like Venezuela, these strong men rule at a huge cost. But what should the US do, invade Venezuela? Overthrowing dictators sounds good, but where has it worked? And where have sanctions worked to change regimes? So yes, the US should not abandon its role as the leader of the free world, but it cannot coerce others to follow.
Most countries are really hurting from aging demongraphics - spelling intentional. Trump is just the symptom of our broken Lobbyocracy. Until we get money out of politics and restore our own democracy, progress will be slow both here and overseas. Hopefully, the women in Congress and the new generation are starting to repair our self-inflicted damage.
2
Yes, Republicans lack spine. Fox spreads the lies. The world has embraced its dark side and the demons have come out to roam.
But journalists have come forward too, sometimes at genuine risk to their own lives. They form an articulate, informed cadre of opposition to trumpism. Not the least is Tom Friedman. We can't afford not to listen to him and to the rest of them.
And youth are watching. They see what is happening and have begun to realize what is at stake. Alexandria Occasio-Cortez and Beto O'Rourke are just the tip of a giant iceberg. More will come. Trumpism will have its day. But reckoning will come afterwards. Can't come too soon.
2
I have one serious problem with this column - It's True! More people need to share the same problem and care about it.
2
Great column. This shows why we can never have another TV president - or anyone - who has NO CLUE of the job's scope - domestically, internationally, culturally. There are so many layers to this job. Trump is in way over his head - but politically literate people knew that from the get-go. His supporters and Fox News propaganda machine turn a blind eye because they're getting what they want - 24-hour entertainment. Shallowness begets shallowness. But it's a highly complicated world.
2
And yet Howard Schultz is rising to be the spoiler. Another politically clueless rich man out for himself.
So, we are now witnessing the profound global effect of an absence of honest and ethical leadership in America. Donald Trump’s behavior is giving license to the world’s despots to perform whatever crime or corrupt act they can imagine. Trump’s lack of moral character clearly demonstrates, by omission, the power of the office of President of the United States to positively impact the political world order. Is this how you “Make America Great Again”? I think not. It certainly isn’t how you “Make the World Great Again”!
2
Friedman is decidedly wrong when he says Iran "gets away with it" because all attention is focused on MBS's murder of Kashoggi. Just tell that to John Bolton, Jared Kushner, and the Abominable Showman himself. They don't miss a chance to demonize Iran--which is indeed, a bad actor in several important regards. But they do have free elections, a thriving literary and cinema culture, and a youthful population with freedoms the Saudis--women in particular, of course--can only dream of. The nuclear agreement strengthened the hand of moderates; undoing it only encourages the militant theocrats in efforts at destabilization.
2
During the Cold War, we had an unfortunate tendency to support dictators based on their willingness to align with us against Russia. Now, we support dictators based on their willingness to say nice things about Trump and rent rooms in his hotels.
4
I think what leaders and citizens around the world has concluded is that America is no longer to be trusted. Even if Trumps goes the global community now know that the US can elect this kind of very poor leader. And the American people won't go away; even if a minority of the American electorate voted for Trump, the US constitutional system make it possible to choose the worst candidate (with a little help of the Russians). "Sad" to quote an illiterate real estate magnate turned political leader.
1
I hadn’t noticed that the words to “Anything Goes” are such an excellent fit to today. Well noted!!
1
Please please please......enough with the self righteous older brother; only I can do this attitude of Americans. This stuff has been going on forever and if there´s an uptick of authoritarianism and impunity, doesn´t mean it´s because of you. Trump only reflects the narcissism of the US regarding the rest of the world.
Golden rule about dictatorship the people get the leader in the end. Leadership is reversed by people. Power for short period of time, not power for ever.
To anyone who still think more voters is going to solve the Trump problem: It's like trying to bail out the Titanic with teaspoons. Won't work. With so much anger, Democrats still could not take back the Senate in 2018. How much more angry must Americans get before they get a collective breakdown?
Democracy is the Titanic. It's already doomed, same all over the world. Facts & evidence talks louder but Americans don't listen. Democracy through the voting booth is a joke, look at Turkey, Philippines, Indonesia, Hungary, etc. What are all the best & brightest political science professors doing? Come up with an overhaul plan already.
1
Remarkable comparison. I love the musical...and the lyrics work so well today. It was thought to be fun and funny at the time...but like most art...it has an underbelly of concern.
Franklin was one thing. His work - as what would now be called the work of a social democrat - is all aces. As Democrats go, we could all benefit from remembering. What's happening today with Mr. Trump has to stop, Not everything goes.
I’m truly sorry to have to disabuse you, but ‘America, the word’s most influential democracy’? Such a narrative about itself falls increasingly flat the more we get to see the corruption which underlies it. How about the world’s most influential kleptocracy? Maybe that would be more accurate.
2
Be "fair & balanced" on this. Am a huge Obama fan, but when he drew his own red line about Assad using poison gas on his own citizens then took no action when Assad did exactly that, that was when the shady actors on the world's stage knew the US wasn't going to intervene no matter what a dictator or regime did to its own citizens (or entire region in Iran's case).
Trump accelerated it, but this recent US retreat from the world's stage began with Obama and Syria.
The following is from the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948. Read it and weep, folks. This is what we used to stand for:
"Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations...."
More than ever, our nation needs to elect a strong, resolute and fair Democratic president in 2020, along with control of both houses of Congress. That is the only certain way out of our national nightmare.
1
There is a common theme underlying the erosion of democratic norms around the world and the rise of authoritarian regimes: Personal wealth. Without exception, and in full replication of the Trump presidency, the power gained by these men (not a woman in the bunch) translates directly into personal gain.
Trump is the shining example of what can be gained by illegitimately acquiring and holding onto power. Imagine the opportunity the leaders of marginally democratic nations see for themselves when the president of the United States, ostensibly the leader of the democratic world, views his office as his own personal power and money ATM. He is the quintessential role model for the absolute corrupting influence of power. And let's not forget the reinforcement of this model by his supporters at his never ending campaign rallies, and his enablers in the Republican party. Autocrats around the world can clearly see that a corrupt leader supported by a corrupt legislature is a smooth pathway to riches and power for all.
Somewhere in the dim flicker of history there are tales of comeuppance for these kinds of leaders. Every revolution ever spawned was in response to this type of corruption. The downfall of every empire was predicated on the gross disregard of the citizenry by leaders who saw themselves as supreme in every regard. The arc of corrupt leadership bends inexorably toward self destruction.
5
Long before Trump, America cited other reasons to do the same things.
We supported outright dictators of the extreme right, because they were anti-communist in the Cold War. Of course, that just put the communists on the side of not-right-wing-dictator, where we ourselves should have been. It was an own-goal.
We had gave many nations exceptions to all usual rules. Some were Cold War. Some were just politics.
This article mentions the rightward shift of Netanyahu. That has been the direction of shift in Israel for a long time. The key moment was probably the assassination of Rabin, well before this opening to the extreme.
All that time, American Presidents did not ever stand up to Israel, and the very few slight gestures that way were penalized heavily, as when Poppy Bush merely held back loan guarantees being used to build settlements.
It was not just Presidents. Congress wallowed in it too, as for a recent example when it used Netanyahu against Obama.
It was not just Israel. The US strongly supported the right wing in South Korea until it was overthrown, and now is openly uncomfortable with the more democratic government (that seeks peace). The US has always overlooked some very strange goings-on in Japan by a party that almost never lost. Those are two countries with major American bases and lots of troops. And speaking of parties that can't lose, there is also Mexico right on our border.
Our problem needs deeper reflection. It is self defeating, as well as wrong.
4
First Khashoggi is tortured and dismembered by the Saudis at the direction of the Crown Prince, MBS.
And Trump does nothing.
Now American citizen, Dr. Walid Fitaihi, is being detained and tortured by the Saudi Crown Prince, MBS.
And Trump does nothing.
Meanwhile son in law and Trump's designated middle east "peace maker", Jared Kushner, hobnobs with his new BFF, Crown Prince bin Salmen, in Saudi Arabia and he does NOTHING to facilitate the release of our U.S. citizen Dr. Fitaihi.
This should be elevated to an international crisis!
10
Does anyone know where I can find a “Republicans for Voldemort” bumper sticker? It may have seemed a bit harsh in the Bush years, not so now.
5
Trump's flag hugging along with the look, smile or smirk on his face was really weird. He reminded me of a kid hugging a toy but not with the same love a kid would do it. It was like he is saying "it's mine". No sir, it is not.
4
Greed and self interest seem to have become the predominant forces currently driving the human species. What a truly tragic commentary on the world we are leaving our children and grandchildren.
2
my sister wonders why i am so passionate about the fear of direction my country is going. i am losing touch with her, and this saddens me more than anything else. i have children and grandchildren, she has a dog. that about says it.
1
How is the current regime "protected" by Fox?
1
All this is no surprise to those familiar with President Trump's history. He seems to be in in way over his head. Imagine a less intelligent Michael Corleone running the country. He is I believe doing his best to lead the country according to his idea of what type of country the USA ought to be. His voters likely expected no less. On the campaign trail :"I liked the old days when hecklers were carried out on stretchers." Speaking to law enforcement "it's a good thing to rough em up when putting suspects in the squad car" The first presidential pardon went to ex Sherrif Frank Rizzo. Need anyone say more to explain US policies.
2
Some 90% of Republicans and about 46% of the electorate support Trump. So the problem is Trump? He's the symptom. America is the problem.
11
Before worrying about how to lead other countries, we should first get a sense of where it is we're going. Trump's election confirms that something has gone horribly wrong in American society--something no one will be able to ignore regardless of who wins elections. Why should other countries want to follow us when we appear to be on a path toward civil war?
229
@John Chenango - yes, however, Trump's election has shown how Americans of a certain age, having grown up in a certain era that had its own special political events, have taken control. This age-group came of political age in the late 1980's and 1990's, and are defined by ideas and happenings from that time.
See the irrational dislike for Hillary and anything Bill Clinton.
Once this specific age-group is displaced from power I believe America will revert to its former decent position. Both older baby-boomers and younger millenials have better political notions that this Trump-led cohort of middle-agers.
9
@John Chenango
Stop with the Civil War histrionics. Seriously. It's an attempt to make us afraid to do what's right. We will follow the law and go where it leads us.
8
@RB
blaming trumps election on gen X is about the most rich of all the explanations heard to date, but no, the tea party crowd that created the wave trump rode to the White House is solid boomer, and so is the majority of that "base" he clings to
4
Listen up now. My sister and I already came up with the idea of Trump, The Musical. We nixed the idea because there's a never ending supply of Trump quotes for songs and the audience would be dead before it ends.
Democracy is in a poor state around the world today, and the Trump administration has certainly made things worse. But let's keep the record straight: in almost all cases, things were already bad well before the 2016 election. The Obama administration refused to call what happened in Egypt a coup, and couldn't stop Erdogan's reaction to the coup attempt in Turkey. The EU hasn't been able to moderate the extremism in Poland and Hungary; indeed, the core members have their own issues to deal with. And the four countries mentioned are places where things had previously been looking up! Far worse examples exist in Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Phillipines, etc. Put against the back-drop of resurgent and expanding China and Russia, and things look dire.
Point is, illiberalism and anti-democratic forces have been building steam for years. We should brace ourselves for the long-haul, as a single US presidential election is unlikely to cause massive change...even in the minds of tens of millions of Americans, for that matter.
2
Every day the World Bulletin News reaches this desk, where it is perused with one eye open, the other closed with a sting. This morning it was the ongoing atrocities committed under the Israel Prime Minister's Office against those living in Gaza.
The 'Sparrows of Gaza' are grown now when the Hamas were named as the chief culprits and inciters of bringing violence to the peaceful borders of a Land that became Israel after WWII.
Congress issued a few years ago an invitation to Prime Minister Netanyahu to visit our shores, without the consent of the former president, and eventually they meet at The White House, where tall and somber, leaning far back in his chair, the president is staring at the prime minister as if he were a serpent on the rock. One senses he would like to keep his hands in his pockets so he does not have to go anywhere near him. The 'Anything goes' Policy had not been implemented yet.
America is now sliding into a retreat, where acts of violence are on the increase since our current president is sitting in his office, reminding himself that he is the very best of leaders, deserving of a place on Mount Rushmore; while the world struggles to follow his lead; struggles because there are a few good men and women ready to testify that we can set matters right, but only if we care about understanding that the 'Anything goes Policy' has failed.
It fails here, and it fails on a global scope when Law & Order turn to ashes, scattered to the whims of winds.
5
"When America, the world’s most influential democracy, has a leader without shame, who is backed by a party without spine willing to prostitute itself to Trump no matter how low he goes — and both are protected by a virtually state-run network without integrity, called Fox" This is a fairly damning statement published in one of America's flagship daily publications, written by a globally known and mostly respected Pulitzer prize winning journalist. And yet, it seems, it doesn't register one iota on the hearts and minds of at least 40% of our fellow citizens. Not even rejection, rebuke, or any other reaction. How does that work?
4
While our showboating president fiddles on the roof, let’s hope that his administration ends like “Titanic.”
3
Other than reading the N.Y.Ts op/ed section thumbing through Facebook pages watching our favorite t.v. pundit so we can feed our self righteous indignation what are any of us doing to save the beautiful experiment in democracy that allows us the freedom to do so?
1
At nearly 70 — and no grandchildren (thank goodness) — you can count on my participation, as we said back in the day, “come the revolution.” As I write this I realize the risk I am taking. Consider it Proof of my commitment. Scary, ain’t it?
“Netanyahu forged a political alliance with an openly racist, anti-Arab party.”
What’s wrong with being anti-Arab? What good have Arabs brought the United States? From the murder of Robert F. Kennedy, to fabricated gas shortages of the 1970’s and price-spikes of the 2000’s, to 9/11 and its permanent alteration of society, to global terrorism and its quick ascent to being the norm. Random violence as the norm. We can thank Arabs for that.
Let’s look back on the modern Arab’s entry into Western society- we can start with Munich 1972. Munich is the first modern terrorist act, orchestrated and carried out with the concept that violent force, the threat of murder with no willingness to compromise, is a legitimate option. Arabs have the distinction, among mankind’s many cultures, of tolerating extremism. That is, it is endemic to Arab culture, and only Arab culture, and fostered through upbringing, the notion that sometimes violence and extremism is necessary to achieve sacred goals. Arabs have cornered the market on fanaticism and have earned any resentments others may now hold towards them.
Here in New Jersey, where there are large concentrations of Arab population, (Paterson and Clifton) there are high incidents of government and tax fraud. Food stamp fraud is rampant in Paterson. Incidences of EBT fraud brought against merchants are invariably of Arab descent. Can we name any great Arab-American philanthropists? Can we name even one? Any hospital wings?
2
But... but... her emails!
Right?
6
"This is what happens when people think America isn’t looking, doesn’t care or worse, has a president, himself having uttered over 9,000 lies and misleading statements, who has zero moral authority to call out others."
And what exactly happened when the US "called out" Saddam Hussein?
You seem to be under the illusion that pre-Trump US was a defender of democracy and decency. But do you have the facts to back up this ridiculous claim?
With the US, the things which came first were American power and American tolerance of abusive allies. The majority of the 9-11 hijackers were Saudis but it was Iran we went after.
The US is a good country in many ways. But it is hardly so good that it can teach other nations how to be good. Other nations do not need not to be told not to use nuclear weapons on civilians or not to defoliate forests. It is the US which needs that lesson.
1
Although Cole Porter is one of my favorite song writer, quoting his lyrics doesn't excuse the lack of any facts in your opinion piece. Where are the facts to support your argument. You make assertions but don't back them up with data. Netanyahu? Do you think whatever it is he may have done has anything to do with Trump? Or China mistreating their citizens. Seriously?
As for the 9000 lies, I've examined some of the lies in these lists, and they are mostly situations where Trump used hyperbole or espoused a view that progs disagree with. And citing WAPO? Sort of incestuous don't you think. I love it when the lib media simply references their own stories or those of kindred spirits to provide evidence for whatever position they take.
We have known for decades the United States was always the glue that held the world together. Our leadership hopefully made the world a better place.
Right now the dictators are on full display because they see in Trump themselves. Trump is a traitor but what gives the world hope is that they see the American People fighting back.
Trump will be gone and all of us will recapture our decency and who we have always been . The GOP lack of leadership will also be gone
A lot of work is in front of us but as usual we will embrace the challenges and be better Americans and help make the world a safer place for future generations.
4
cast a vote for one with his character, one with his previous business behavior, one with no governing experience, to our highest elected office, and expect this. if nothing else, trump has exposed the prevalent hypocrisy, racism, and cruelty of the gop. little consolation if civilizations crumble without the previous moral force that the usa once directed.
3
Maybe we're just seeing things as they really are for the first time in a long time.
Let's be honest, does anybody in the US care about what is going on in Cambodia or the Philippines? Are human rights in China really worse now than 20,30,40,50 years ago.
What is the real efficacy of "calling them out" if Trump did so? Bupkis on toast would be one answer.
Trump has forced those of us who still cling to a dream of a civilized world to view things in the harsh light of reality, not through a gauzy fantasy.
Yes, it's as bad as we think it is, maybe worse, but it has always been so.
1
Be that as it may, Tom Friedman, but I worried more about "Everything Gone" when the Dems were presiding. Yes, we do have turncoat GOP's too....
More spending charged to our posterity is highly contagious, as we will all be judged as "Politically Incorrect" by our grandkids.
1
The US was not asleep, we are a willing participant. Instead of naming the names of these tin pot dictators, and trump wannabes, investigate the 80+ or now by some estimates the 40+ people that control 50% of the worlds wealth. I am sure Putin and Jinping belong on that list. With the Saudis and other royal families. By the time Trump leaves office he will be on the list finally and will not have to lie about it. With the full suppot of the Republican party.
1
The FBI asked National Security Advisor Michael Flynn if he told the Russian ambassador during the presidential security period that Russia should not retaliate against the United States for sanctions imposed by the Obama administration until the Trump administration had time to review them. Flynn answered: “Not really. I don't remember. It wasn't, 'Don't do anything.’" That statement, which the Special Counsel Roger Muller judged as misleading, is the only “crime” so far attributable to the Trump administration.
No one has been charged for a crime committed as members of the Trump campaign.
George Papadopoulos was not a member of the Trump campaign when he made misleading statements to FBI agents during a post-election interview about his lawful but unsuccessful efforts rho set up a meeting between Trump and Putin. Roger Stone was not a member of the Trump campaign when he lied to Congress about his contracts with WikiLeaks, which—if they actually occurred—were not unlawful.
If the Federal Election Commission agrees with the Southern District of New York that Michale Cohen made an excessive campaign contribution when he paid $130,000 hush money to Stormy Daniels, the FEC could force the campaign to return the money, but it won’t agree. The canceled checks and wire transfers Cohen presented to the House Oversight Committee proves no campaign money was used to make the hush money payments.
And he's not going to leave the White House willingly after he loses the 2020 election because once he steps outside the grounds he'll be arrested. This will be when 'anything goes' ends and he'll be able to grab the state flag of whatever prison he's sent to. Flag grabbing is sort of like groping. He's perfected the moves.
1
I would disagree. There is a general crisis in the way democracy has been (mal)functioning and in the way it is negatively perceived by many people who live in democratic countries. There is a growing wish for a strongman solution to inequality and stagnation. And then there is America’s waning power on the world stage which is irrespective of Trump, started before him, and will likely continue after him. Duterte and Orban came to power during Obama’s tenure. Netanyahu has been around for longer. Bouteflika in Algeria is a zombie yet still in power. As for Putin his star was rising when Obama was president. And so on. Trump is flailing around but it’s not one man, even the president of the US, who can make much of a difference when power is shifting in the world and democracy is seen as incapable of solving issues that, rightly or wrongly, are seen as vital. America’s power is not what it was. The fact that our democracy is also in a serious rut only makes matters worse but is not the cause of everything else.
You forgot lazy. He's just not interested enough to mount a foreign policy that takes thought and work. It would infringe on executive time and golf.
2
Nonsense.
America is not nor was it ever meant to be a democracy liberal or illiberal or otherwise.
America is and always been a particular kind of republic. America is a divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states. The Founding Fathers intended that white Anglo-Saxon Protestant men who owned property were divinely naturally created equal with certain unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And they only trusted those men to directly vote for and elect their Representative in the House.
That is why Al Gore and Hillary Clinton were not President. That is why a half million people in Wyoming have as many Senators as 39.5 million Californians. That is why federal judges are appointed for life by an Electoral College President and the Senate. That is why the size of the House and Electoral College is capped to the disadvantage of more populous states.
With 5% of humanity the 2.3 million Americans in prison are 25% of the world's total. And 40% are black. America spends as much on arms as next 8 nations.
While in foreign affairs America has long favored autocrats, dictators, generals and tyrants as allies everywhere except Western Europe, the English speaking nations and Japan. America allied with the Soviet Union during World War II. America allied with the Shah of Iran, Saudi royalty. Augusto Pinochet, the Ngo brothers, Ferdinand Marco's, Israeli leaders, Mobuto, Brazilian, Central American and Pakistani generals.
6
The global initiative is what....what did you write....:
about Anything Goes...just GRAB WHAT YOU CAN...????
NOPE...just think that this is going to go way down the tubes.
and why...well Tom Friedman...we the people...and I think that
I might write we the people is the smallest typeface possible..because ...we the people those who want to have the
popular vote count so that we the people are not represented
by the cooked into the books...of Citizens United and the
obsolete Electoral College framework...that we the smallest
most now insignificant people who try to get those we want to
run our federal government...elected.. we the people have
a few voices representing us now: Bernie Sanders...and hopefully Bill Weld and hopefully the Governor of Washington
State...what does it matter nowadays anyway what so called
Party they represent...we are not voting for a political party
anymore...that is the majority of the entire electorate...we
are voting for someone in the Executive Branch who really does represent us...and not the media driven by commercials
or corporate interests...we are voting to have someone we
actually want to be President; and whom we actually want to
be our representatives in Congress and in the Supreme Court
we want to get rid of : Citizens United...and The Electoral College.
So Tom Friedman...just absorb these two facts...no more
gerrymandering of our lives by Citizens United and The
Electoral College..
and we want our votes to count...OK???
2
I read about the leaders of other countries declaring themselves leaders for life and my first response is that our congress and our people would never let that happen here. My next thought is of how the Republicans in congress, specifically McConnell, have shown a willingness to subvert democracy at every junction. If he is willing to stonewall and deny a duly elected President a legitimate appointment to the SCOTUS, I have no doubt he would allow 45 to declare himself president for life. The corruption in the Republican party is so entrenched and so criminal I no longer will be surprised at any move they make to stomp on the constitution and on the people of the USA.
4
Yes, but ... It's not really as though the U.S. was such a shining example abroad before. Although the U.S.'s own democracy has been fairly robust, the U.S. backed many dictators and coups in Latin America and other places, in the name of anti-Communism or just profit.
6
Remember back in the day when we really were the shining light on the hill? When we could be counted on to stand in solidarity with the other democratic nations of the world, when our leaders would demonstrate righteous outrage at assaults on democratic principles?
Now we walk away from the western democratic alliance as though it was of no more importance to democratic stability than a bowling club. We even pick fights even with Canada, declaring our own closest ally a national security threat. And we look the other way when foreign dictators attack our people and our most foundational democratic institutions. Kim Jong Un responsible for turning Otto Warmbier into a vegetable? “He said he didn’t do it.” Mohammad bin Salman responsible for dismembering a Washington Post journalist, a frontal assault on our freedom of the press? “He said he didn’t do it.” Vladimir Putin responsible for trolling voters, hacking political parties and otherwise interfering with our presidential election, the most foundational of all democratic institutions? “He said he didn’t do it.”
And to what end? We are not just greenlighting foreign dictators to impose their will on their own people, we are weakening the alliance standing between Putin and expansion of his power to the lost states of the old USSR. And most frightening of all, we are softening the ground for an authoritarian regime right here in America.
And we were once the leader of the free world.
12
There's several good points in this column, but it seems like a pretty forced argument. Maybe it doesn't help that Friedman starts talking about Trump's alleged influence of "anything goes" by citing the latest misdeeds of Hun Sen, who has been in Cambodian leadership since the Khmer Rouge, for god's sake, and has been PM since 1985. And Netanyahu may be finally headed into decline with the (long overdue) recommendation that he be prosecuted, so if we're lucky he won't be dictator for life.
I think it could be argued that the global rise of fascist, strongman leaders may have been part of what helped Trump get elected. I don't think it's necessary to risk flattering Trump to make your point here.
1
Reading most comments, my fear grows that we have created a willing scapegoat in Trump, and that attacking him will satisfy our cravings for a solution. But, we have to take a longer view--both backwards and forward: The situations Friedman describes evolved under both Democratic and Republican administrations, with both parties owing their souls to high rolling donors. We have to stop looking for a savior. One man or woman won't suffice. One party won't suffice. There are, and have been, major and serious issues in the US, and these should not be viewed through political party lenses.
Immigration, affordable healthcare, affordable college tuition, failing inner city schools, failing infrastructure--we all know the list. Call your representative TODAY and ask him or her what they have done TODAY on any one of these. if you were their supervisor, wouldn't you ask for an accounting? As long as we are still able to show up at our local representative's office, we should take advantage of it. Instead of marching in the streets wearing funny hats and carrying clever signs, march into your rep's office, by YOURSELF. It will show you are serious.
5
Some of Trump's supporters like to say that God made him President. Maybe they are right. Maybe God did so, not as cruel joke on us, but as part of his plan to remind us that "...it is not even for man to direct his own step."
Maybe, for all our knowledge, brilliance and intelligence, we do not know what we are doing. Maybe we are just passengers on this ship called Earth whose path has already been charted.
If all this is true, then what do we do for the remainder of the journey? Do we love one another or do we destroy each other?
Someday historians will say, "They gave it away. They had it, and they gave it away. They let self-serving political leaders tell them consistently how bad they had it, they unquestioningly believed that story, and they gave it away."
7
Friedman makes what I think is a very erroneous presupposition. His presupposion is that America has truly significant influence over what occurs in the rest of the world.
It’s true that America has vast military might compared to any other country but this military might is meaningless in the majority of geopolitical interactions.
Trump is certainly not helping matters, but I think that even if Hillary Clinton was president, democracies around the world would still be in decline and autocrats would still be steadily tightening their grips on their countries.
I think we need to concentrate on trying to put our own house in order. This, in itself, will be an incrediblely difficult task. In the end, the rest of the world will do what it wants to do no matter what actions (short of war) that America takes. To think anything different is a fantasy.
4
Remember, Rex Tillerson promised the world this approach, in almost precisely these terms. Immediately.
3
My main beef against Trump is not that he is corrupt, profiting from the office, a liar, a misogynist, a philanderer, a climate change denier, a narcissist, or a racist. It’s that by being all of these things, he makes the world much less a safe place for my daughter.
I was born in the early 50s. I remember during the Cuban Missile Crisis asking my father whether we needed a bomb shelter. I made the decision not to have a child until the threat of the Cold War becoming WWIII was greatly reduced. My daughter was born in the early 90s. The world looked like sanity would prevail. I knew that there were still terrorists around, and even 9/11 did not make me feel like the world was going to hell. As this article shows, it seems to be headed that way now, and one of the main reasons is the con man living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C. There are other causes (like his base who cannot see the forest for the lies), but he is an enabler for so many dangerous things.
I am not worried about myself, I’ve had a good enough life. But my daughter should still have the majority of her life ahead of her and what seems to be on the rise scares the heck out of me, for her sake.
241
@AS Pruyn Same age. Same fears. The rot in this country will outlive me, but my fear is for my children and grandchildren. I am ashamed that I have not done more to combat what we have become.
11
Mix fear with ignorance and you have the recipe for where the world is going....the US seems to have a head start.
Since few people know or understand history , get ready for for more unsettling times.
108
@ZEMAN historical ignorance is indeed a very dangerous issue for this country.
5
Another something to blame on Trump. And CO2 is forever. We are doomed.
5
Without the GOP-controlled Senate, Trump would be well on his was back to his Manhattan Tower. The NYT magazine profile of Lindsey Graham, breathlessly gushing over his newfound buddy in the Oval Office signaled that the road to shutting down the "anything goes" culture is at the ballot box. Graham may be there for life, but many other senator/lapdogs aren't as secure.
6
President Truman had a sign on his desk "The Buck Stops Here." Trump's sign must read "Anything for a Buck" and the whole world knows it.
23
Scary, but good stuff, sir. The trump/trumpists refuse to acknowledge any responsibility for the world. Trump, in particular's attitude, is "I don't care, we're not paying for anything." Other than that, anything goes.
The domestic side of this issue is the one that scares me, thinking more short term. Having an anti-hero hero in the whitehouse is affecting behavior of kids down to kindergarten. People are angry and ready to fight all the time. A soulless leader is sucking the humanity out of our country. And a party that only cares about being in power has empowered this man by letting him do whatever his toddler brain wants to do.
The GOP had better get their heads out of the ground, or wherever they are and start setting some boundaries. They had better realize how important this country is and that democracy requires care and feeding.
11
Now tell me again why we are calling out Sen Omar again?
7
Our government is bought and paid for by the 1%.
They could care less if the little people arguing about abortion or Israel or Healthcare costs. They are laughing at us while Trump hands over to them the wealth of our country.
10
This is one of the most upsetting things about the Trump presidency: Because he speaks and acts in our name, he is turning us into something we don't want to be.
If we can't even say a word of protest for a murdered journalist hacked into pieces or a young man tortured to death, who have we become?
13
I think Cole Porter is turning over in his grave to read his lyrics being used by a Times pundit to describe his hyperbolic views of what is happening to our country. I used to admire Tom Friedman, read his excellent From Beirut to Jerusalem and thought him an excellent analyst of what was happening in the Middle East. But recently his train of thought seems to have run off the tracks of rationality, and he’s become Chicken Little or the Pied Piper leading his many respondents here off the cliff of reason and into the abyss of hyperbole. So people like Larry Diamond, Mashe Gessen and H Rap Brown are the folks we should be listening to? I dont think so.. Our republic and its ideals are as strong as ever, despite all the bickering in Washington. If the Dems would only let up in their useless determination to impeach the president, and let him do the job the people elected him to do, we’d be in much better shape. Yes, there are thousands of people trying to break through our southern border. Yes,China’s trade practices have hurt the US and need to be changed. Yes, we should be trying to keep our lines of communication as open as possible with North Korea. Yes, we should be seriously dealing with plans to end our too long involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yes, we should be focusing on modernizing our aging infrastructure. Yes to dozens of other problems that daily confront our nation, while the Congress is obsessed with investigations.
4
And I presume you were as outraged by the years of obsessive investigation into the travesty that was Hillary and her emails?
2
Excellent, disturbing column. Please go have a conversation with your fellow columnist, Ross Douthat, about the culture problem he should focus on... the one where the party of liberty, law and order, and western democratic values stands by - even encourages - this global descent into darkness.
4
To take this music metaphor quasi-seriously: Trump presents himself as an “artist.” He sees his efforts as President as “self-expression.” The world is his oyster and, by being a big grain of sand, he’s trying to create a “pearl,” that he will of course keep himself to put with his other treasures, like the “donations” to his inaugural fund, where, as in a gallery, he was on “display.”
To the European art worshippers, of course, he’s “kitsch.” To his American political base, he’s “blockbuster.” To talented working artists, people who make things in factories and industry and in society generally, he’s a horrifically bad artist and a man of no character whatsoever. I may have shifted from metaphor to analogy here, but no matter—he remains a very bad, quite inferior, artist. Even in the world of art, a larger world than we usually imagine,“anything goes” is bad art.
2
"Leaders are grabbing power for life, murdering or jailing even the mildest of critics and shamelessly building coalitions with openly racist and bigoted parties." And trump is no exception, even if he is called out within America. What will tyrants around the world say and do when trump becomes president for life in 2020 with the complicity of the Republicans and Russians. If McConnell can steal a SCOTUS he can edit the Constitution to fit trump's ego.
"Netanyahu forged a political alliance with an openly racist, anti-Arab party." I assume Aipac, like trump, fully endorses this new low in political alliances and will twist congressional arms for unquestioned support or be subject to accusations of being anti-Semitic. How is this any different to trump's alliance with all those fine people who chant "Jews will not replace us"?
The Otzma Yehudit is proof that the narrative of blaming Palestinians for refusing to accept Israel's right to exist is backwards. Actually, it is worse than backwards. It is Israel that refuses the Palestinian state the right to exist and is actively destroying it, because it can with US tax dollars. Both narratives are the reality amongst the few extremists in both countries spoiling the peace that could be had for both sides. The friend of my enemy is still my friend?
At this point perhaps MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) of the Middle East is the only quick solution for the region. Let them go MAD amongst themselves and leave us out of it.
1
America doesn't have a Cole Porter today, Dr. Tom. Brilliant allusion to that song from 1934, the heart and dust bowl of the Great Depression in America and the world. 85 years later, "Anything Goes" is alive today in Trumpian America.
George Orwell's "Animal Farm" from 1945 -- the year World
War II ended, when the whole catastrophe of Fascism and authoritarianism fell -- is alive today in our sick culture and society.
America is taking a beating from our 45th president, his Republican sychophants and his ignorant loyalists. Trump's most admired foreign leaders are authoritarians. We (and our planet) are sick body and soul.
3
The US is essentially back to normal, which isn't good. Except for the brief support for the Arab Spring under Obama, which gave us a pointless overthrow of Gaddafi, the US has always picked winner and losers with little care for human rights.
More money, more greed, more power, more immorality, more disintegration.
Maybe the love of money is the root of all evil after all.
4
As the world politic thus fractures, I await with trepidation for Russia to reveal its endgame.
In what sense is the Trump presidency even an "administration"? He has Fox News talking heads popping in and out, the man himself is just a doddering cable junkie and more than that, a junkie for narcissistic adoration, and Ivanka and Jared will check in once ski season is over.
And there are a couple random old names like Bolton and Pompeo.
But really, is this even an administration?
The White House is currently an assisted living facility for a rich and corrupt old man in deep denial about what his life is amounting to.
Of course anything goes elsewhere, when at home Trump is acting out his one man interpretation of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
We do not have a fully functioning government, which makes the neo-confederate and Reaganite wings of Republican Party more than happy. But the world needs a much more fulsome and engaged US. If this was just about us, I could maybe laugh. But history will not long abide our trifling.
4
When Al Gore lost, the environment lost and as of today, is losing badly.
When Hillary Clinton lost, the world order lost and as of today, is still losing badly.
So as an optimist, in my head I hear the wise words of Tom Petty:
"Baby, even the losers, Get lucky sometimes"
While our showboating president fiddles on the roof as he pursues James Buchanan as our worst chief executive, let us hope that his administration ends the way “Titanic” did.
You forgot to mention...keep an eye on world's largest democracy, India. Ignoring it, at your own peril, because of its sheer population size and economy.
2
@petey tonei
And Albania. Never forget Albania.
It’s gratifying to see Fox “News” starting to get called out for what it is: A propaganda arm of Trumpworld. Why hasn’t this happened sooner, and why isn’t Fox “News” (or Trump TV, as Chris Hayes calls it) being called out by many more legitimate news organizations? And why isn’t Rupert Murdoch being called out by name, since he is the money and power behind this propaganda machine?
3
@Mark Great point, Mark. I don't understand why investigative journalists at the NY Times and Washington Post seem reluctant to touch Murdoch. He and his sons should be called to testify before Congress to explain their Russia connections and the role of Fox News as a defacto arm of the Trump administration.
Trump’s routine is more Vegas burlesque act than a musical. While dictators gut democratic necessities like a free press, our president was rehearsing his Whatever Happened to Baby Donald routine for the DC “conservative” oddity festival, mugging and vamping for the cameras and approaching the American flag like some drunk creep.
A No Help Available sign is on Trump’s front door at our White House until he gets evicted.
4
And let us not forget #45's best buddy, Vladimir Putin, who has committed just about all of the crimes Tom Friedman mentions here on his own people, then added some extra-judicial and extra-lethal ones of his own, just for good measure in his oligarch-ocracy. #45 will continue to greenlight sadism and larceny globally and at home, with Mc Connell, Mc Carthy and the GOP cheering him on. Incisive column, Tom, for our deeply troubled times.
1
Mr Friedman-and when the norms of decency and morality were destroyed with impunity by the Bush administration and its wars, where were you? When the American people were lied into a bloody war in Iraq that enriched oligarchs including members of the president's circle, where were you? Mr Friedman-I lived in the middle east during the Reagan years, as did you-I don't recall hearing your voice decry the corruption and lies of those years either. During the Obama years, when you treated the hatred of Obama as if they were serious policy disputes rather than racist claptrap and fascism, why did you not raise your voice then? No sir-you- and others like you-played a role-a significant one, in bringing us to this moment.
2
In years to come no one will use the term Ponzi to describe a con game. It will be a trump.
It will take years to recover from this administration and we may never recover our standing in the world. The principals that my father fought for and so many died for in WW II are just being ground into dust.
3
"Good's bad today / And black's white today"? Is that so?
How's this?
"Woe unto those that call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness. . . . ."
Yes. The moral balance of the United States (at the moment) is utterly deranged. Our President--why waste words? We know what he is--those of us, that is, who are not bigots or hypocrites--or. . .or--
--profoundly deluded. Misguided.
This has happened before.
To persons laboring against the hideousness of slavery--and later against the hideousness of Jim Crow--it must have seemed that way:
That is--
--America was morally askew. Perverse. Obstinate. "Eyes they have but see not. Ears they have but hear not. The heart of this people is waxed dull--"
Okay. What to do?
Bear witness. As you have done, Mr. Friedman. Call out the venality, the corruption, the downright FOLLY roiling the waters through which our Ship of State (painfully, clumsily) is making her way.
"Agitate!" exclaimed an ageing Frederick Douglas when asked by younger black men what they should be doing. "Continue to agitate!"
This when America lay torpid, lifeless during the Gilded Age.
This is now the Age of Trump. And a Republican party bereft of wisdom--decency--compassion.
DON'T knuckle down. DON'T just take it. DON'T remain silent.
Agitate! Continue to agitate!
What else can we do?
Oh yes!
Vote.
For Democrats.
6
If you don't think the same was happening during the Obama administration you are insane. Bush fought against it, Obama did nothing but speak against it and watch it happen. Trump just says, it is their business not ours. Is he right? Maybe, maybe not, but it is a justifiable stance. Can you force freedom on people? We did not do so well in Iraq, and we are not doing that well in Afghanistan.
1
Perhaps Mr Trump would be better served by drawing then redrawing Red Lines in the Sand
1
As disturbing as these international trends are, they point inevitably back to our own country, where it seems the GOP has decided they will simply not respond to demands for accountability from their Democratic counterparts and will run the country any way they like, Constitution be damned. As Michael Cohen expressed at his hearing, what guarantees do we have that Trump will leave office peacefully if he loses in 2020? Who among us can't hear Sean Hannity loudly screaming that the 2020 election was rigged if Trump loses, even while our erstwhile president declares yet another state of emergency, this one to ensure he remains president for life?
3
This horriblizing is inaccurate and a disservice.
Marcos in the Philippines was a monster for years and that was when America ruled supreme. Central and South America was completely ruled by fascist dictators. Spain and Portugal were dictatorships of decades standing. On and on and on with unspeakably bad governments most of which enjoyed enthousiastic American support in the name of anti-communism. That assured they could do their worst to the people while using American aid, weapons.
The communists were doing all their worst again when America was Friedman's glorious standards setter.
Friedman is spouting sensational nonsense. The good ole days were by far by far worse.
2
I wish Mr. Friedman would cut back on his quotations from other people to back up or illustrate his points. The result is often, as in this case, like a term paper.
You've said it all: civilization ain't what it was: the ignorant mob seems to
prevail. Crazy climate change and anti human rights win.
America.....as.moral policemen? The annihilation of indigenous
peoples, the brutal horrors of slavery and this latest refusal to assist millions who lost everything in the rigged set-em-up 2007-08 plan to enrich the coffers of the banks. No. I rather think we have been the worlds prime example of how to shred a decently thought-out Constitution and diminish and destroy the road to Democracy !
1
Yes Tom, but you forgot about the "Trump bump" and the 400 billionaires in America.
Isn't that what is MOST IMPORTANT?
That "creative class" with whom you are so enamored and pretty much everything else comes second?
Probably the best thing you’ve written since From Beirut To Jerusalem. Welcome back.
1
Oh, I see. Now it IS America's job to police the whole world? Can you make up your minds? What happened to "Bush lied, people died!" and a million other articles about how the US should not be the world police. Oh... Trump is the president. Now it makes sense!
1
Perhaps you missed the slogan “Make America Great Again.”
Words like “Love,” “Great,” “Terrific,” drip from the President’s lips like so much hypocritical honey.
“Great” can be a relative rather than an absolute, if everywhere else is worse.
Instead of MAGA we require a rallying cry with true meaning - BAB: Bring America Back!
I wonder how many of the people outraged (and rightly so) by the outrageous trump have shared their feelings with their representatives in Congress?
Hammer on them!
@Robert FL when you have all republican senators and representatives, a republican governor and chambers of congress, it does no good to "share my feeling" with them. they are bought and sold, straight down the line. it's like living in a fantasy world, the harm they do.
1
While I completely agree with your assessment of Trump's "foreign policy", plenty of atrocities have occurred in the world when we had sane and involved presidents. Let's not fool ourselves. We can only do so much, and the rest of the world knows what they can get away with, at all times.
26
@Susan
And we Americans need to stop pretending that we are as exceptionally good as we proclaim.
The U.S.A. has committed a lot of atrocities.
5
@Susan
"Let's not fool ourselves."??
We have. And we are. That's the point of the column.
5
America is the world's most influential democracy?
Twice in my lifetime, the fake "Electoral College" has elected a President who was defeated in the popular vote. The results were and are disastrous. Need I recount the useless prolonged wars, the Great Recession, the continuing social neglect, and the preposterous runup of the national debt?
The majority of the members of the Senate are elected by 15% of the population. The result is Congressional dysfunction in addressing the social and physical infrastructure needs of 100% of the nation. America is governed more by Presidential directive than Congressional law.
Some democracy! Some example! Some global watchdog!
1
And yet Trump has the slavish support of GOP Senators, House Members and other elected officials and the adoring support of 90% of Republican voters. Why is that? The former are concerned about re-election to a very cushy job more than about good governance. The latter have fallen for a con man who has promised them a return to something that never existed. Obviously not re-electing either Trump or these GOP elected officials is needed. But that still does not cure what gave us Trump, and we do need to cure it because it is a cancer eating away at our country.
5
The United States, which has led the world since the end of World War II, is not the country that the rest of the world wants to follow today. Our government has needlessly killed many people in Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and elsewhere. Iraq, the only secular Arab State, was destroyed by American bombs and incompetent postwar mismanagement.
The flood of Muslim immigrants to Europe is a direct consequence of our actions in Iraq and policies in the Middle East.
Closer to home, we have deposed the democratically elected President of Chile, Allende, supported military governments in Argentina, vilified Cuba, and utterly failed to provide adequate assistance to Haiti, Puerto Rico, and other Caribbean islands following severe hurricanes.
Our nation’s insatiable demand for drugs has destabilized societies in Colombia and Central American countries and now we turn our backs on families fleeing their homelands.
We threaten our major trading partners Mexico and Canada and our traditional allies in Europe.
Here the rule of law applies only to the poor and people of yellow, brown, or black skin. Human rights? Healthcare? Gun violence? Dark money? voting rights? Majority rule? Republicans follow the law only when it suits them and ignores it when it threatens their continued power.
Burning fossil fuels that cause Climate Change will destroy habitats for humans and other creatures. The United States alone stands outside the Paris Accord.
Why should anyone anywhere follow?
4
Following up on one example by Mr. Friedman, “In Uganda, 74-year-old President Yoweri Museveni got age limits abolished…after sending troops onto the floor of Parliament to beat up opposition lawmakers objecting to the move.”
From Human Rights Watch: “Violations of freedom of association, assembly, and expression continue in Uganda. Authorities have yet to effectively investigate a November 2016 military assault in Kasese where over 100 people, including children, were killed.” Even though Uganda has removed the death penalty for gay people, its laws are still Draconian.
From our Department of State: “The United States provides significant development and security assistance to Uganda, with a total assistance budget exceeding $970 million per year. The U.S. government plays a key role in supporting the professionalization of the military…”
Many of the other countries mentioned by the author are as bad or worse than Uganda, yet we continue to give them financial and military aid. Hard-working Americans, whose tax dollars pay for this aid, should ask why.
4
Okay, I'll bite:
There's nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get children
In the meantime, in between time
Ain't we got fun?
"Anything Goes" and "Ain't We Got Fun" are lighthearted observations about their times. Unfortunately, they both suggest that there's no use in trying to change things, so just enjoy what you can. I hope that's not what Mr. Friedman is suggesting.
1
The consequences are not only going to be felt in foreign policy. A friend of mine just talked her college age son out of pursuing a career in the U.S. military on the grounds that current US leadership is not moral. She is not unpatriotic, just unwilling to trust her son's life to such leaders. Forget foreign countries, the U.S. government is slowly losing the trust of it's own citizens.
326
@Marni My distrust is not of the US Government in general, but of the current nascently dictatorial Trump regime, it's enabling RepubliKKKan party lackeys in congress, their billionaire owners, and the hateful rubes they've huckstered into worshipping at their feet by saturating their brains with a constant stream of Faux News propaganda.
The whole objective of the right wing leadership has been to destroy the effectiveness of the federal government and then sell people the idea that it doesn't work. No, the bicycle doesn't work well when the aforementioned are constantly putting sticks in the spokes.
44
@charles doody I agree. The sad part is it's somewhat working.
8
@Marni Have you not noticed that it is Trump who wants to bring the troops home and is far less bellicose than his predecessors?
Re: 'Anything Goes'
As we see the autocratic tinpots around the globe such as Putin in Russia, Orban in Hungary and Erdogan in Turkey to name a few wielding power it should bring to mind a most pernicious occurrence in the post-war world. And it is that the rise of 21st century dictatators has been aided ironically by the trappings of 'democratic' government. In that scenario checks and balances are given short shrift since the prime concern of those illiberal governments is to simply do whatever they need to do to stay in power. 'Democracy' then puts the sheen on their transgression. It is lace-curtain stuff.
Consequently in those ostensibly democratic countries we see virtual control of media, the judiciary , the election process and a penchant to use laws to simply further schemes for increasing the power of the illiberal elite. Perhaps the biggest political challenge of the 21st: halting the erosion of democracies around the globe. History has shown that the encroachment on liberties will make a price to be paid for the future. And those with a democratic bent need to pay attention.
1
Friedman makes huge presumptions here; that the United States of America is the leader of the free world, that the US is a model democracy for the world to strive for, and that because of being this role model, the US is the ultimate judge and jury.
There was a time when all this was true. Today it is not. And no amount of military and economic power is going to change that.
It is not the Trump Administration to blame. The Trump Administration is just a symptom of the disease that started many years ago. The repression and casualties of current day dictators is far overshadowed by what the US was responsible for in South America and Central America, let alone in Vietnam. The US democracy has been corrupted by permissive rulings on campaign financing and by the Citizens United ruling. Congress no longer represents the will of the American people.
Trump has exploited and expanded the loopholes created by those that came before him. The American problem goes far deeper than the Trump Administration.
273
America is not the top dog by a list of criteria- including medicine.
14
@Greg Perhaps, but not to be flip, so what? Fixing history is an impossible feat. We need to stop making things worse for the world. When America was part of the world the other countries at least knew we were watching, there were things not done because these countries at least considered that the US and its allies would react.
In just over two years any good that the US could do with its attention and weight, and yes, even moral values, is wiped out. The GOP has become an enabler for not only Trump, but dictators and bad intentions everywhere.
46
@Lynn Fitzgerald There is a distinction between "Healthcare" and "medicine". Our doctors and nurses are certainly at the top of the list. Our healthcare system is what is at the bottom.
18
Looking at this from a neighbors point of view, all of what is now happening with American politics makes me wonder in what way America has become great again
255
@michel paradis
It hasn’t. But if you repeat a lie often enough some people will believe it.
11
@michel paradis--you're not alone; we wonder the same thing
13
@michel paradis - It's not Make America Great Again. It's Make America Selfish Again. "What's in it for me?" is the vital question that applies across the board to Trump and his base.
11
Put succinctly, moral bankruptcy has consequences. The Trump administration’s ethical failures affect each of us day-in and day-out and spread like a cancer across the US and around the world. The moral blindness of Trumpian politics impairs our ability to think clearly and act in ways that serve others in honorable ways. It undermines positive concepts of leadership and dehumanizes each of us as well as the institutions that once effectively sustained our communities and nation. It jeopardizes the very stability of our natural environment and future.
Our dismal circumstances require new forms of moral courage from each of us. We must work collaboratively to create alliances locally and nationally that will seek positive ethical solutions to the challenges we now face. Thanks to Thomas Friedman for illustrating the frightening consequences of an “anything goes” ethos. We can’t let it bring us down.
4
Anything Goes will continue, not just because of Trump. We need to get rid of McConnell and most of the Republicans in the Senate. Without that result in 2020 we will not move the needle towards a more humane country.
19
What's scary is how much of this I didn't know, despite reading the news every day. Maybe I spend too much time ranting about Brexit and Trump - I seem to have got tunnel vision.
As a European, I wonder at the phrase "Europe silent". Maybe our politicians are also too busy ranting about Brexit and Trump.
9
@Lesley,
This is known as cold comfort, but you are hardly alone in feeling a sense of not being informed on our global state of affairs. A commentator two years last or more, ventured to be prepared for a 'Ruler', and that it would require wisdom to go about our daily business in conformity with our nature.
Less focus on the caprices of Trump would help, and if Europe appears to remain 'silent', it may very well be to stay united and go forth, against the winds of dispersion and destruction in the midst and currents of volatile political climate changes at the dawn of this early century.
Wow, as if I wasn't depressed enough. This article sent me into the dumpster of life. The trend towards authoritarianism has been on the march for decades as judicial systems have failed to protect people. Also, how can people find the time to protest or keep aware of politics when they are being worked to death and worrying about paying their bills 24/7? We used to have more hope when our politicians had compassion and cared about protecting the people instead of doing the bidding of their corporate donors. We have become a very frightened and angry populous because our safety nets are disappearing quickly. The integrity of our world leaders is in the toilet. Many are openly criminal including ours. The world is moving downwards at lightning speed. Leader's know that by creating chaos and division keeps people off balance and frightened. It also keeps them in power. Leading by chaos has become fashionable in Democracies around the world. This will not end well.
30
@Phil M
Thanks Phil,
I didn't know what to write and you wrote it for me.
I remember when every Friedman column lauded Saudi prince for their vision. I used to respond with the appropriate allegory from my people's Holy book.
My comments were seldom printed as over and over again I told the story of Korach and his sons.
This time Moses isn't coming back from Sinai to save us. It is 2019 and we know or at least some of us know there is no magic and there are no miracles.
I am more angry than depressed and at 71 I have had a most interesting life. My grandchildren deserved better and my country tried but failed to be a voice of reason but the headlines last August read Canada stands alone.
We are, I fear, coming to join you.
3
Seeing Trump disrespectfully mocking the American flag while simultaneously jeering to his frenzied mob of idolators should remind one of Samuel Johnson's
famous quote from Boswell's Life of Johnson that goes as follows...
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
In it Boswell points to Johnson's salient characteristics of true patriotism which is rooted in passion for country and never in a false patriotism.
It is just plain weird that his followers see this man as a super Patriot.
Scoundrel seems much too kind.
283
@Jerald Weinstein
Idolatry works both ways. Trump has his frenzied supporters, yes. But it is his deference and reverence to autocrats around the world that has caught everyone's attention and has lessened severely America's moral clout as the world's watchdog. Without exception, Trump has kind words for every dictator/strongman he has ever met - Putin (who can possibly forget Helsinki), Kim, Xi Jinping, Dutarte, Duda. And Trump's leanings have encouraged an upsurge in populist fire burners elsewhere. Brazil's new leader is Trump 2.0. Look at Italy, where the recently installed government has copied Trump's playbook on immigration word for word. Trump respects power and those who yield it, no matter to which end.
26
@Jerald Weinstein--Thank you for pointing out what no one else has. I was shocked when Trump grabbed the flag and hung on with that awful smug look on his face. It was clearly intended as a mocking and contemptuous gesture. It was the most blatant display of the scorn he feels for his country that I've witnessed. Yet, the crowd cheered. Trump's patriotism has always seemed tenuous, something he pulls out when it suits him to, along with his "religion." Starting with his draft dodging, up to this most recent insult, Trump is our least patriotic president, yet he has convinced the base of the opposite. Now, with his contempt for our traditions and our system of government and even what our country stands for, he is getting more and more blatant. I half expect him to tear the flag down and trample it to the cheers of a crowd one of these days. Horrible. Horrible.
229
@Rick Morris
"lessened severely" heck no... "vanished altogether" would be more appropriate
4
What has come first the chicken or the egg? Was it Steve Bannon and company or Russia itself, sensing this new and ruthless global paradigm, who mentored and lavished praise over the perfect patsy, Mr. Trump, so as to walk our nation along a road to perdition? Or were those dictators-in-waiting influenced by the crippling of our democracy via an amoral and corrupt "president" and a spineless, cowardly GOP legislative branch? As Thomas writes, and like teflon where nothing sticks, "anything goes." (How Cole Porter must be rolling over in his grave.)
Let us not forget North Korea. As Mr. Trump has gotten so lost in those lies of flattery and praise, it was reported just this evening that Kim is likely at it again in building platforms to fulfill his lust to be a nuclear power. Foolish man, that Trump. The US walked away from Hanoi with absolutely nothing to protect our national security. All this while Trump rants, "Terrorists from our southern borders." I don't know what it will take to rein Trump in. Certainly, we can not rely on his Republican colleagues in Congress or, for that matter, almost 40% of the populace who insist on believing he is the Savior himself who can walk on water. I can not speak for the world, but I can speak for my country. We can not let this ominous insanity orchestrated by a questionably sane man continue.
23
What Mr. Friedman has pointed out is so depressing. I keep asking myself, Why don't our elected representatives stop this? Of course I know the answer but it's difficult to understand how ALL the Republicans continue to allow it. Isn't there ANYONE there who sees what the rest of us see and can still stand by without a peep?! We hear that in private they know but won't do anything when it counts. Whatever ever happened to statesmanship? Profiles in Courage? Ha! So Depressing.
20
We all need to make Trump go.
By vote, by impeachment, or by 25th Amendment. Whatever. Just anything to make him go.
7
@Glenn Ribotsky
And how do we get rid of Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republicans? Trump's aiders and abetters.
We need to keep hammering away at the worldwide devastation caused by Trump's actions. At this point, there is no alterative. But the more significant concern must be our nation itself. Listen to Trump's recent CPAC speech and then tell me how Trump's poll numbers increased the next day? America cannot impede the growth of intolerant, authoritarian, racist dictators in other nations when it is incapable of curbing the same behavior within its borders. A saddening, growing hatred of anyone different has enveloped our country. I fear it will culminate in yet unseen horrors. The answer will not be found at the polls. Perhaps we will not witness social and political change until the nation either collapses or sinks into an even more fearsome abyss. I don't foresee better days ahead.
8
@Disillusioned Agreed, and even worse.... this is not a temporary situation. Once democracy is gone from these other countries/allies there is no seemingly realistic way for it to return during our lifetimes.
7
Have we in America ever lived in a democracy? I personally think not. @Mike M
The article is fine.
But any article referencing both Trump and classic musicals should be compelled to give a nod to Randy Rainbow. Google him. Now!
1
Trump carries on all for his own financial enhancement. He lacks the intelligence, education, understanding and human compassion to see the enormous damage he has done to our democracy and to the entire world. This man is totally void of any moral or ethical consideration. What may be even worse the party behind him has totally lost its democratic way and conscience.
11
James Bond had a license to kill. The Trump voter and the Republican Party have given Trump a license to lie and be corrupt. The story of Trump and the source of his powers are his enablers. And they are legion.
It is the same in other countries. Laws and common decency are trampled by men with an insatiable lust for power and money.
In America where did we believe that unbridled capitalism eventually would lead. Trump is the Gordon Gecko of our time.
8
not only does he not call them out on these murders, he is complicit in the murders. He was far too casual and cavalier about the Jamal murder at the hands of Salman. He and Jared have some answering to do and trump has decided the UN and The Hague don't matter on the world stage.
6
Authoritarian leaders across the globe, including Trump, bully their own people, opponents, etc. - and sometimes do worse, of course. Many Trump supporters apparently admire his bullying style and like being on the side of the bully, even when Trump attacks infant refugees, a dying senator, prisoners of war, and others weaker than he.
Are his admirers themselves bullies? Wannabe bullies? I hate to think of what these bullies are teaching their children. I'd love to know what's going on in classrooms. I fear this country is raising a generation of children who will grow up to bully their in school, work, families.
2
The problem is that a large swath of Americans embrace lying, indecency, and racism. Just watch them at Trump's rallies. They could care less about America's standing in the world. They are as self-centered as their hero, the rest of the world doesn't matter.
8
America is often resented around the world for being, in the eyes of others, a nation of know-it-alls, people who believe they can do anything and for our nation's willingness to send troops and bombs into many countries. To a degree, this is a game. "Let the American's do it", let them pay the heavy price and, hey, let's have fun jumping all over them.
America is also resented when it doesn't take action, when we let events spiral out of control and insist we can't be everywhere doing everything. Why don't the American's step in?, is the question. What are they waiting for?
It is true that, like it or not, for better or worse, America is the one essential nation in the world. It won't always be this way, but America's technological, economic and military leadership, along with our sheer size and our willingness to spend heavily when it seems to have been required, have stamped a necessary role for the country over decades.
Trump is utterly ignorant of the role the U.S. has played, just as he is ignorant of how the government he pretends to lead operates. His former chief of staff, John Kelly, said Trump regularly insisted on trying to do things that the government is not allowed to do. No wonder, he has no experience in government and little knowledge to go on.
We sit on a precipice every day, one crisis or bad decision away from massive disaster.
This grave danger should be above politics and an urgent matter for serious concern among all patriotic citizens.
5
" Character is destiny " Things will not end well for Donald Trump. What is problematic of course, is how much damage will have been done to the American nation and the world in the interim. There is no adjective to adequately describe the perfidious political cowardice and cynical complicity of the Republican Party, in the malignancy that is the Trump presidency. Trump's endemic cowardice, and fear of personal confrontation is made manifest, when you analyze his personal dealings with corrupt dictators and autocrats. The House hearings have the potential to provoke the end of this national nightmare.
3
Aren't we witnessing this Trump effect within America as well as across the world? The Southern Poverty Law Center noted a spike in hate crimes after Trump took office. In our local high school a kid posts a hateful video which goes viral while he and some other students claim they thought it was a joke, was funny. Letters to our local newspaper as well as state-wide newspapers are often angry, uncivil, rude, and unashamedly riddled with prejudice and denial of evidence. And then Trump goes off in his unscripted and unhinged way at CPAC--anything goes, indeed.
7
America, the greatest country in the world, now has a criminal syndicate masquerading as a government. Until now I never understood how it is possible for one evil leader to bring down a country and its people.
6
Well well, ouch. Couldn't agree more with (most of) the comments. That said, I have this nagging feeling that pretty much all of the twists and turns and energy which have brought us (yes I'm Canadian but permit me...) to get to this point are the result of not talking about the elephant in the room. It's not Trump. It's not the honest "deplorables". On a good day it's not even Mitchell McConnell. Follow the money, folks. The idolatry of an ideology that pays to reap a profit. If there isn't a change to the "me before you" option, Trump stays. The minute he's no longer useful to others, he's gone. Follow the money.
7
Thank you for succinctly and powerfully reminding us Mr. Friedman of the transnational havoc that Trump is encouraging. The malevolent consequences of this Fake President’s antidemocratic words and actions are now also infecting the world. How can we permit this dangerous actor to remain in office? It is a clear moral imperative that America proceed to remove him from the Presidency. Impeach, Convict, Remove; Indict, Convict, Jail.
3
Dear Republican members of Congress,
if you don’t act soon to control this President, you will go down in history as the people who allowed this “person” to end our nations reign as the paragon of democracy and justice. Shame on you all!
6
To all Democrats: Please stop the untimely drift to the far left. Please! Instead, focus all of your energy, effort, ideas on moderating that tendency and laser focus on beating Trump in 2020. Every D candidate needs to understand that Trump and his sycophantic, spineless Rep enablers are destroying America - and now, to Mr. Friedman's point, the world as well. This cancer on America has to be stopped AT THE BALLOT BOX.
Ironically, it will be the Dem's responsibility to make America great again in 2020 after Trump, Mitch, Ryan and co have destroyed its institutions and the rule of law and made a mockery of our Constitution. Their defeat in 2020 should be JOB #1 as the old Ford commercial said.
If not, I'm afraid we're looking at 4 more years of this decline. I don't want to find out - how low we can go.
America needs this. The world needs this. Let's focus!!!
3
@sfd,SPOT - ON !!!
I blame religion.
Two thousand years of christianity gave us Donald Trump.
The theocrats are walking all over the Constitution to have their version of Sharia Law.
The founding fathers knew, without a doubt, that government and religion cannot be mixed in together.
It is truly stunning that all of Trump's enablers don't realize they're going down with everybody else.
10
Sadly, it's laughable to think that our president cares at all about democracy or human rights. He only cares about himself and how he can profit personally.
5
Long before Trump, any indignation expressed by the US on human rights was tinged with hypocrisy, but the dynamics of the Cold War still gave us leverage by virtue of the humanitarian and military aid we could offer - strings attached. We will not have any moral authority until we put our own house in order, and that means nothing short of a revolution, setting an example. It looked for a while like Obama would be that shining example, but all we accomplished was to elect a black corporatist instead of a white corporatist, for variety's sake. Those crying for "moderates" in 2020 are just propping up our own petty dictators among the plutocrats. Look at how deep their supposed concern for human rights extends when it comes to stateless giants like Google, Apple and Facebook. They are perfectly willing to prostitute themselves for market share anywhere, especially in China, yet receive the most obscene tax benefits from their supposed "home" base, America.
My dear Tom,
As soon as Majority Leader McConnell emasculated Mr. Obama by not bringing his Supreme court nominee Judge Merick Garland for a vote in the Senate and the American people did not revolt; the day Donald Trump started the Birther movement by declaring Obama an alien, and the Republicans remained quiet, I guessed this day was coming.
On top of that, right now the Democratic party is veering so leftward, that we will hand the Presidency back to Mr Trump . Instead of a consensus of one lmiddle of the course leader like Clobuchar, Hickenlooper, O' Rourke or Biden, we have a resurgence of Sanders and the like. It is like Hillary all over again!
God Bless America! God bless the citizens of the world!
1
@Rasika The left is the answer. Proven around the world. Health care...America living in the dark ages.
What the world needs is a standard way of electing democratic leaders with a highly educated and rigorous vetting process. Period.
Maybe through the UN we can do this. One country after another can adopt this hyper effective voting process.
You can’t elect a corrupt leader is they are a naked candidate and the voters truly educated in which candidates is healthiest for their future prosperity.
It comes down to tight elections. Get someone great in power... someone willing to show their leadership nakedly with as much oversight as the public wants to show zero corruption.
Find the people without corruption. Vote them in.
With a locked in process like this, we don’t need to be the watchdog for the world. The world can work like a well tuned clock all by itself.
American voters were uneducated last election and we didn’t have naked candidates.
Always vote the best into office. That’s the key. Then bring in A.I. into governance to fine tune it more.
Where are the Roosevelts and Churchill’s of our day-where are the Ronald Reagan’s and the Margaret Thatchers? Our great democracies have been an inspiration to the world.We do not police the world but serve as an ideal, a guidepost. At the moment our country cannot lead because Trump is a disgrace to his office and has no reverence for our Constitution.We need to reclaim our democracy and lead- anything goes is not good enough! We are better than that sloppy standard.
1
Not only has Trump excused, nay encouraged, despots around the world, he has also shown them how easily he himself can be manipulated. Kim Jong-un sent him a few nice letters while continuing to build his nuclear arsenal. Trump accorded him international recognition with not one but two summits; cancelled joint military exercises with South Korea and gave him a pass for murdering Otto Warmbier. The Saudis gave Trump a golden sword. He gives them arms and U.S. Air Force support for their war in Yemen and excuses the murder of Adnan Khashoggi. Need I go on?
1
Trump likes dictators because that's what he not-to-secretly would like to be - and he has a good shot at it. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, Trump secretly knows that they can be led around like bulls with nose rings - only instead of bullrings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a linguistic "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
We have not only lost the moral high ground—Trump willingly and eagerly gave it up. Then, when bad behavior by autocrats and strongmen started getting worse he claimed it was not our business and, instead, we should focus on how our long-time allies were bad people and taking advantage of us. And then he started abandoning international treaties and courting the worst head-of-state thugs—Putin, Kim Jung-un, Bin Salman, Duterte, to name a few. All “good guys” he said.
It is utterly amazing how Trump has squandered, perhaps permanently, decades of United States world moral and ethical leadership. I’d like to think this is a Trumpian problem, to be resolved once he leaves office. But a third of the country seems to think cavorting with and encouraging murderous despotic thugs is fine. It seems Trump is not by himself on his own little immoral, unethical island.
1
The Democrats have their own problems, but the moral collapse of the GOP has been stunning to behold. Future historians are going to eviscerate the likes of Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham, Devin Nunes, etc. The blatant corruption and cynicism on display are an extraordinary byproduct of the GOP’s decision decades ago that they would do *anything* to maintain power in an era where demographics and public attitudes were not on their side. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, court packing, obstructionism, mind boggling hypocrisy, and an appalling willingness to embrace and transparent & dangerous fictions in order to serve powerful mega-donors and interest groups like the NRA and religious right. The result is a party that is so cynical and corrupt in its methods that it’s willing to overlook transgressions that would have been unthinkable in previous generations. They’re not only the patsies of an incompetent and unethical boob, they’re his willing tools. Shame on them for their complete and utter cowardice in the face of things they know to be wrong. They should all be hissed to the grave.
5
It's the American people and democratic institutions that voted Trump into office, albeit not the majority of Americans. If the Russians swayed the elections, then Trump is an illegitimate president and needs to be removed. Let's hope and pray the next election removes this ugly and immoral stain on our country. It's quite stunning that we are stuck with this demigod until the next elections.
When Michael Cohen recently testified before Congress, he said one of his biggest fears and motivations was that, should Trump lose in 2020, he would not permit a peaceful transition of power. Ludicrous? Far-fetched? In a normal world of law, standards and ethics, the thought of the President of the United States of America invoking some manner of martial law would, on its face, appear beyond the pale; however, in an environment where “anything goes,” I am reminded of the title and thesis of Peter Pomerantsev’s book “Nothing is True and Everything Is Possible,” about the surreal demise of Putin’s Russia. As we have seen in three short years, when spineless enablers, sycophants and toadies allow chaos, mayem and dissonance to unrule the day, another old saw comes to mind: If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.
Some 50 (?) years ago, William F Buckley (who I usually disagreed with) said something that made sense: our government should deal with all rational governments. No matter how evil (and there are many evil ones), as long as the regime is rational, we must deal. Talk is cheap, and the moralistic scolding that many of our leaders of the recent past have engaged in is just so much sanctimony from a nation (us) who has often behaved not much better than who we scold. Most of the sanctions we impose are, like talk, also cheap - they don't hurt us. We could sanction Saudi Arabia (for the Kashoggi killing and the Yemen atrocities), but that would hurt us more than sanctioning Iran - so our hypocrisy is plain for the world to see.
1
With two more years of Trump, "anything goes" will worsen. This is just one of many reasons why the next president of the United States has such a daunting job before them: undoing the damage done.
This pathetic, uncaring child who would be president has awakened the dark ages and the price is simply awful.
2
How far we have fallen in the world since the presidency of Mr. Obama during which we could hold our heads high as a model for sanity and anti bigotry. Now we have a man who will not show us his tax returns or even his school records, has mocked women, religious groups, racial groups, the disabled and lied himself to the presidency.
And worst of all 40 percent of the population thinks this is just fine and disregards facts as so much junk that distorts their twisted vision of the world. President Obama is not perfect, no one is, but is it to much to ask that we have a president worthy of respect and deals honestly with others?
2
I think Americans, like the British before them, have learned that being policeman of the world leads to casualties.
1
Among those complicit in the race to amorality and immorality but absent in Friedman's commentary is a significant segment of America's populace who enable Trump and support all those Republican Congressmen who enable all his lies, shameful and illegal behavior.
The soul of America is sick and this country is in deep trouble.
1
And then there's the Trump soap opera, Making America GRATE Again, showing on intl. television since 2016, featuring the most unethical, dishonest, duplicitous cast of characters you'd never want to see. Vulture capitalism is among its oft repeated themes, only one of numerous corrupt plot lines. Beware anyone associated with this series - actors, writers, advertisers. You could get slimed.
1
Trump's basic goals/needs in life are to cater to the extreme part of his base, be obsessed with his ego and make money above country, his family or even humanity.
1
Possibly one of the biggest export products of this administration is the blatant disregard for the truth. Trump claims he invented the term "fake news". In reality it is just a tactic from an ancient book all dictators have used.
Combine the lies, lack of respect for facts with the incredible lack of knowledge and preparation with which the president interacts with the international world and you have a recipe for disaster. Trump has the finest intelligence services to his disposal, yet he dismisses them because he trusts his gut.
Anything goes can be translated into Trump (and his gut) being played for the useful fool he is.
1
"This is what happens when people think America isn’t looking, doesn’t care or worse, has a president...who has zero moral authority to call out others. When it comes to being a global watchdog that tries to enforce some basic norms of decency, America under Trump is out to lunch."
Just wondering if anybody else views this attitude as one of insufferable cultural arrogance. The world is going to pieces because the incomparably wonderful and utterly essential Americans have lost their way. Without us to guide them with our sterling example -- and perhaps occasionally nudge the recalcitrant -- the benighted peoples of the earth are doomed to eternally wander in darkness.
The harm goes beyond merely being comically puerile. An assumption of moral superiority offers a too convenient justification for interfering in the affairs of other countries. Bringing civilization to backward peoples was the public rationale for the British colonial empire, and American imperialism has always cloaked its predations in an aura of selfless humanitarianism. Lest we forget, the Iraq war was to liberate its oppressed citizens from the demonic Saddam; Bush and Cheney fully expected the invading American troops to be showered with rose petals by the grateful masses.
Oil? You don't say? Guess what, Laura, Dick says there's also some oil over there.
I find Trump as loathsome as the next guy. But if his boorish antics punch a hole in the balloon of American arrogance, it may prove worth the pain.
I detest Donald Trump and his greedy, spineless allies ...
and yet I don’t think America should define itself as a “watchdog” for democracy around the world.
Let’s think about what’s happened in the last fifty years when we “watchdog” other nations. We generally march in to defeat Communist Socialist Evil Doers (as defined by guys like Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Dick Cheney). So. Here comes the Vietnam War, the Iran-Contra flap, our CIA’s involvement in Indonesian politics, which helped oust Sukarno and empower the future dictator, General Suharto, and, then, the Iraq War. And more!
We are deluded if we believe that the USA can always be trusted as a champion of universal civil rights and democracy.
That’s just not how the game is played.
In the summer of 1787 a group of erudite, wise, selfless men wrote the Constitution creating the first democratic republic in recorded history, which truly placed governance of The People, for the benefit of The People, in the hands of The People.
In the fall of 2016 a small misinformed, foolish, angry portion of the US population placed governance of the nation in the hands of Donald Trump, a liar dedicated to himself, willing to abuse others for his own benefit.
The "election" of Trump was a sad insight into and reflection on an uninformed/misinformed group of voters, but it was not catastrophic in itself. The authors of the Constitution foresaw the danger of a demagogue and a misled public; they designed the Constitution to deal with such mistakes.
But the Founding Fathers did not foresee a Republican Party which would, with intention and determination, undermine the Constitution. Their treason may be catastrophic.
Make no mistake, Republicans in Congress are committing treason. They pretend to be conservatives perusing conservative principles, but in truth they have no principles; they are defending and supporting their president who is an un-indicted felony criminal, a con artist, a racist, a self-serving authoritarian wannabe despot.
The Republican Party, in whole, is a blight on our democratic republic. They have been eroding our democratic principles, they have been working against the governance of The People, for the benefit of The People.
Republicans must go.
3
@JABarry, very well said and I think if we don't get rid of the Republican majority in the Senate, keep the House and take the White House back from Trump and His criminal enterprise we can kiss it all goodbye ! May God help us.
1
Mr. Friedman. I know you are a student of history, you were one year behind me at Brandeis where I was a history major. You did not offer an answer to the basic question. Given today's state of affairs, what comes next? Is it time to get involved, starting with changing the politics at home, or should we escape to bunkers?
Democracy is never the favorite form of government of despots and minority parties that need to cheat to gain power, but that's just too darn bad. America will correct it's mistake; The GOP is on its' way to extinction and Trump is greasing the skids.
The most important thing for us is to organize and mobilize people to vote in 2020. Only ballot counts.
1
And through it all Republicans led by Mitch McConnell will do absolutely nothing but embrace Trump ever more tightly.
Maybe it's Trump and other rich and powerful people and companies' way to create war and famine in all these countries. It's not just the destruction of democracy. They are setting the groundwork for millions of people to die from climate change and the wars that will ensue. His Racism and their's harkens back to the days of eugenics.
Like W before him and his wars of choice, trump is fundamentally changing what it means to be America. And not in a good way.
Do we see a pattern here folks?
1
This is what happens when the leading nation implies whatever chaos, the USA is not ... interested all that much.
The lack of moral concern is ... ugly. I perceive this happening, and it means a more dog eat dog reality is being subjectively interpreted. Moral model
behavior is getting ... "gone."
There really is abandonment of.... human brights.
In my opinion civilization is being extenguished before my eyes.
Thanks to the appendix Electoral College which shirks it's constitutional
responsibility by appeasing the mob, which isn't what our celebrated
founders had envisioned.
DJT's popularity seems to be around 46%.
Prolonged shutting down the national government and declaring an emergency doesn't seem to stjck.
I predict his renomination and reelection.
Hopefully I'm merely paranoiac.
This guy has turned folks to the nutty right.
The reactionary White House "anti global warning" conference is an
example of foolishness The GOP will be regretting ... to infinity.
Make sure your progeny understands what is now known as "climate change."
DJT vs civilization, and me and ye fail along with the planet's goodness
perhaps 6 more excruciating years
About the livin' end was the New Yorker article about how symbiotic Trump and Fox news are.
I don't how many gajillion times I and others have expressed wonder and awe about how the Trump fans can be so misinformed, so angry and bitter to the degree that schadenfreude against the liberals is more desirable than health care or taxing the wealthy appropriately. The answer is: It's all Fox and Winger radio.
The ultimate, here, in the United States of "anything goes" may be a President with an entire news and broadcasting giant pulling his every string. It is as perverse as it is traitorous.
And then you read that the Federal Trade Commission won't bust fake and foreign Made In The USA labeling. We are in serious trouble as a society.
2
Attending a business conference overseas and am stunned by how much the USA stature has fallen. I stand tall in my citizenship, but am unable to defend our president, or our abdication of responsibility and duty in the world. The American consumer is our biggest asset and its painfully clear to me that China, SK, UK and the broader APAC region are quickly surpassing us.
I cant imagine myself saying this, but I fear the US decline is now largely irreversible under current leadership. Hope that the States that put this casino-con President in power are happy - enjoy the fast food, scratch-off games and talk-show TV lifestyle - perhaps it’s truly you that are having the last laugh...
TF paints a pretty picture that could be expanded into a mural depicting the many precipices at which the world now stands. The thinnest of many threads and veneers are really getting very thin.Diamond's book describes an emerging perfect storm all capped off by Trump world.
Enough of the metaphors. What are the most likely outcomes 5 years out?
1
I should have waited to read this article in the afternoon or evening. Nothing should be this depressing first thing in the morning.
1
I agree with everything that Friedman said in this article. Yet I must admit that I am tempted to vote for Trump in 2020.
I would vote for impeachment if Democrats were to collaborate with moderate Republicans to convict Trump once impeached.
But if it comes to choosing one of two extremes, open borders versus building a wall, I will choose building a wall.
And the partisanship of American politics makes it likely that if Trump is not impeached, the choice in 2020 will between two unacceptable extremes.
Thomas Friedman seems totally unaware of two books, which appeared in 1968 and 1972, the Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich and Limits to Growth by the Club of Rome.
These books predicted widespread starvation due to population growth. These authors were considered crackpots by politicians on both left and right. The editors of the NY Times have ignored their message for 50 years!
But there argument was robust. It's just that it applied to the third world, not America in 1968.
If you want to see the effects of population growth visit Lagos or Kinshasa or Mumbai or Dhaka, or maybe Mexico City. And increasingly Los Angeles.
If it is true that Republican tend to deny global warming, liberals like Friedman and Krugman and Kristoff deny that we live on a finite planet and resources are limits.
Yesterday the NY Times led with a story about illegal immigrants being denied medical care while in custody.
Yet many communities in Trump's middle America have no doctors at all.
The malevolent love affair of Donald Trump with autocrats of every stripe does send a clear message at home and abroad, as Thomas Friedman aptly writes, of “Anything Goes.”
This not simply a passive abdication of American moral authority by Trump, which gives tyrants a license to do whatever they wish.
This is an active incitement by an American president for authoritarian regimes to do the worst things imaginable.
One of the clearest examples is the behavior of Donald Trump’s compadre, Benjamin Netanyahu. The connection with the Israeli Prime Minister is very fitting.
In 1995 Netanyahu, head of the Likud Party, incited Israeli right-wingers to assassinate Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin for involvement in the Oslo peace process, which contemplated returning much of the West Bank to the Palestinians.
If Donald Trump is not stopped, America and the world will be even more dangerous than they have become in the past two years.
Too many Republicans are compromised. I hope that one of the many, many, many justifiable investigations now occurring will demonstrate just how many skeletons - of men, women, children and animals - these people have been hiding. Their ethics are in the toilet. They are bad, greedy and sometimes evil people, and I am certain they've got a lot of really ugly secrets and that some of them are in the Enquirer vaults. I want all the rocks turned over. Maybe the sheer volume of horrors exposed will wake up at least some of their heretofore fooled voters.
Scenario that could happen:
In November 2020, Trump loses a closely contested election. Or it is two close to call.
They next morning, he tweets to his multitudes of followers: “come and help me” or something similar..
Then several million show up and camp around the white house.. this time, the crowd counters agree it is a big number.. a lot of them have guns.. the local dc authorities are powerless in the face of such large numbers...
You finish the scenario... the possibilities are sickening.
The principal destabilizing influence on democratic countries over the past 2-3 decades has been immigration. The influx of lower cost immigration has marginalized the lower middle class and poorer workers. They have responded by supporting racist ideologues who promise to improve their lives. Liberals have not responded well to this well to their peril.
The malevolent love affair of Donald Trump with autocrats of every stripe does send a clear message at home and abroad, as Thomas Friedman aptly writes, of “Anything Goes.”
This not simply a passive abdication of American moral authority by Trump, which gives tyrants a license to do whatever they wish.
This is an active incitement by an American president for authoritarian regimes to do the worst things imaginable.
One of the clearest examples is the behavior of Donald Trump’s compadre, Benjamin Netanyahu. The connection with the Israeli Prime Minister is very fitting.
In 1995 Netanyahu, head of the Likud Party, incited Israeli right-wingers to assassinate Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin for his involvement in the Oslo peace process, which contemplated returning much of the West Bank to the Palestinians.
If Donald Trump is not stopped, America and the world will be even more dangerous than they have become in the past two years.
“Monkey see, monkey do!” Was almost a childish game when I was born in 1938. Today, it’s no longer a game! It’s reality.
But what is causing this to happen all over the world? It’s not just Trump like Tom says. It’s all pretty simple in my opinion. It’s instant gratification, caused in part by the internet. No real need to use “Time” to think things out! If something feels good, just do it, without having to worry about consequences.
Years ago, our parents were the guardians of controlling our boundaries, followed closely by society and our government. In the 60’s, things started to change, and in many cases, for the better! If a little freedom from the pack feels good, then let’s go all the way, and that’s exactly what has happened to all of us. Time has always been a great “governor” in the past to check our speed down the highways of experience. Remove that, and we go off the cliff.
When does all of this end? When we go off that cliff and have to start all over again, unless one very brave soul rescues us.
Who is going to be that brave soul? If not YOU, then WHO???
1
"When it comes to being a global watchdog that tries to enforce some basic norms of decency, America under Trump is out to lunch — and a lot of people have figured that out, and so anything goes." Pretty funny, this. Journalists scream bloody murder every time Trump threatens action against the most egregious example of tyranny, Venezuela. We don't hear a peep from the Democrats and the 2020 candidates such as Bernie who refuse to condemn the thug Maduro even though thousands are fleeing, hundreds starving, and his only allies are North Korea, Iran, Russia and China. Where else would you like Trump to intervene? Yemen? The Senate blocks Trump and wants US out now. Who cares the consequences? Let Iran take over, says Pelosi. Foreign policy cannot be run by a mob of party opponents aided by partisan journalists.
I would suggest that the best music and musical for these times is "Urinetown". It was/is a great satire on capitalism, social irresponsibility, corporate mismanagement, and our legal system. Dark, but so are these times.
1
Let's face it, America is no longer the world's policeman, having willingly abdicated that title in its incredibly swift, perilous and unchecked race to the bottom, sadly and ironically led by a grifter whose mantra was Make America Great Again. What's even worse is that this 'leader' of the former free world, this con artist, allowed himself to become the puppet of his country's sworn enemies, aided and abetted by his hypocritical, sycophantic and complicit supporters.
Let's all hope we won't won't have to hear and endure a four-year encore of 'Anything goes.'
Vote.
142
All Democrats and like minded Independents must focus on the defeat of Trump in 2020. Issues that divide the most progressive and the centrists must be put aside, because NOTHING is as important as getting rid of Trump. If there is cohesion and focus, they will not only defeat Trump, but likely control the senate and the house.
The effort must start now!
3
Values, culture and leadership. They are crucial in every organization. And they are critical in the world. I fear that US abandonment of our values and our leadership will result in a new culture domestically and internationally that we will sorely regret.
1
These examples of autocratic, dictatorial leaders around the world -- who rose to power through strongman words and tactics and are now oppressing and suppressing their people -- should serve as a cautionary tale to Trump supporters, including and especially those in Congress. When you give up power to people who have shown they will stop at nothing, don't be surprised when they won't stop at YOU. The "foot hold" you give them will eventually turn into a "neck foot."
4
We're living in an increasingly zero-sum, transactional world. Trump clearly envies Putin, said to be the richest man in the world since installing his kleptocracy. Exhibit A is the secret nuclear know-how sale to Saudi Arabia, being handled by the son-in-law whose family company is being propped up by Saudi money. Nuclear power for "electricity"? In a desert country, where the sun shines almost every day, and winds howl across the sands? That insults the intelligence, at least of those still possessed of same. Masha Gessen, in a recent New Yorker article, characterized the Trump regime as most closely resembling the mafia. And with each day's breaking news we see just how accurate that portrayal is. This is democracy succumbing to crime syndicates.
7
Maybe it was naive to expect America to protect democracy around the world. Could the lesson be that people around the world will have to fight for democracy, sometimes at great cost. That we better learn to think like the great leaders we say we admire (like MLK and Mandela).
2
as we observe the rise of dictators and 'presidents for life', doesn't it occur to anyone that we may well be heading there ourselves. does anyone believe that the current republican party would take a stand if trump, by executive order, cancels the 2020 presidential election?
6
Even as disturbing to me is the thought that humankind is not really interested in the good of all, but can respond so easily to the baser instincts of nature.
6
War used to be the way to purge governments of their desire to control others. In the present age, however, I believe the process will be quite different--more a series of civil (uncivil) wars, some of which will spill over into other countries. But the days of armies vs armies are over. We should expect riots, vigilante "justice", squads (private armies), assassinations and general civil unrest to increase, as people's delight in attacking each other on social media begins to fade, due to disappointing results. After all, as H. Rap Brown said "violence is as American as cherry pie".
3
We are in this predicament because we have almost completely ignored our democracy. Almost no one is in the schools promoting democracy, showing kids what they have in democracy, showing them why they want to avoid in autocracy. And then we completely ignore the adults. In our insanely market driven society, we pay scant attention to the most important sales pitch, we simply fail to sell democracy. And that is just the start, we all need to be involved in learning every day how to live democracy. Then we can truly begin to talk to the rest of the world.
40
@Judith MacLaury
I completely agree. Civics education is given in depth only in some private schools. How do we expect our democracy to thrive without an educated citizenship.
Mandatory voting in Congressional and Presidential elections, expand absentee voting and a national holiday call Citizenship Day . Also, mandatory Civics classes starting in 4th grade.
Add mandatory foreign language and geography classes and we are on the way to an informed citizenry.
Another disturbing reality of Trump's political ascendency and not touched upon in Friedman's otherwise fine article, is the reactive formation of equally ill-informed far-left opposition parties, politicians and public voices whose aggressive intolerance for the democratic principle of compromise for the benefit of the common good, mirrors the corrupt forces they claim to be fighting against. Think of Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar with their empty, demonizing messaging and personal invective via Trump's favorite medium, Twitter; and all, of course, masquerading as progressive politics. We've seen the tragic results of this situation play itself out throughout the previous century, the most barbarous in history. For me, the poet WB Yeats, in his "The Second Coming", captures our political and cultural moment far more convincingly than does Cole Porter.
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
15
@RMW wonderful post by RMW
@RMW
Once again "False Equivalency" rears it's ugly head. Freidman presents us with a litany of the horrible changes that are going on in the world because our withdrawal from the global community and Trump's inability to call out dictator soulmates, like Kim, Putin and MBS. RMW would have us believe that AOC and Omar's comments are having the same effect. That's not apple and oranges that's tank vs. bicycle.
1
@Julio Cruz
False equivalency? Tank vs. bicycle? Remember, if you can, some of the world's outsized freedom fighters, past and present, Lenin, Mao, Castro and Ortega among them. It was after they vanquished their country's respective dictatorships when they instituted more brutal ones of their own, founded upon the suspension of individual civil rights, mass executions, gulags, and torture. For every Nelson Mandela there's a hundred small, vicious, mutilated souls waiting in the wings to seize power. Our crop of current, far-left progressives gives me little faith to believe that any of them possess the intelligence and largeness of soul necessary for what our democracy requires. Especially so today.
Trump may be the biggest paper tiger we have had as president in quite some time.
1
The 2018 US election applied the brakes. The 2020 election must be the one that reverses direction.
There will be much focus on presidential candidates, but congressional seats are as important, in some ways more important.
The US will lead the world no matter what. Let us endeavor to lead it toward peace, justice, and a sustainable environment.
Nobody stays home in 2020!
33
@Ralph Averill
“The US will lead the world no matter what.”
Just because the US has led the world for the entire life of most people alive today that is no guarantee this will continue in perpetuity. Our present leadership is doing the best they can to end our leadership.
@Fed up
What I meant was the US has the greatest power to affect the world. We will lead it towrd the light or toward the dark, but lead it we will. Let's choose the light.
Yes. We have a ruler who has neither ethics nor morals, whose only goal is "Trump wins." His admiration of strongmen (because he thinks he is one or aspires to be one - who knows?) gives a blessing to brutality. His own verbal brutality in the form of bullying, name calling, and encouraging fist-a-cuffs from his fans further suggests to the world that anything is fine with him. He, too, is a brute.
All of that is ungirded by the fact that the people who elected him are xenophobic and isolationist ("America first" and "take care of our own" and stop or greatly diminish foreign aid and "build that wall" and limit even legal immigration etc.).
Trump & his base want to turn their backs on the rest of the world except maybe to try to make a little money (or a lot of money). We not only aren't the leader of the world, we aren't even a good, participatory follower. Donald Trump - making America irrelevant.
51
@Anne-Marie Hislop: Right on,Anne-Marie. Excellent comment, as usual. Write on!!!
2
That Kin business still works. I know every time one of my grandchildren asks for money for first, last and security so they can move once again in a search for that pot of gold.
Sticking with the Cole Porter theme, whose music I love, I am quite sure that Trump believes that Cole’s tune, “You’re the Top”, was meant for Trump.
10
Friedman is perfectly correct in noting that "Anything Goes" is a result of Trump speaking a thousand lies and looking askance whenever and wherever a lie is uttered.
But Trump is just the cherry on top of the rancid ice cream underneath - the 38-40% of Americans who continue to support him. And that is the sad and scary part of the story that is left unsaid.
124
@chickenlover: I don't enjoy repeating myself, but didn't the same kind of support create the Germany of the 30's?
We are experiencing re-run of the history we don't know.
24
@chickenlover
That 40% may have had a legitimate conservative backbone at one time but if you listen to Rush, watch Fox, or now just watch the GOP in action, you’ll see that they are being fed a steady diet of untruths and ‘curated content’ (my gracious way of describing the severely slanted, omitted, and otherwise incendiary content) that can only produce the outcome we’re seeing:. It’s as heartbreaking as it is predictable. It’s like a deal with the devil that once you open the door, you become poisoned to the point where there’s no way out and nothing else to do besides try to defend yourself, a self you don’t even know anymore. Sad!
7
@chickenlover
Actually it's now 46%, believe it or not.
1
All the more reason why the Democrats need to nominate and elect a Presidential candidate who can effectively promote democracy around the world.
25
Michael Cohen told us that Trump saw his campaign as a massive infomercial for his brand. He never expected to actually win the election.
Trump caters to autocrats because when he sees them it's equivalent to looking in the mirror. He is one of them. Trump only cares about his own personal needs; he does not care about America and Americans. He would rather be spending his time wearing a shirt with the presidential seal while playing golf in Florida.
Trump kowtows to Russia because of his massive financial debt to Putin. He acts "tough" with China on trade, but when China's biggest bank threatens to withdraw from Trump Tower, suddenly Trump and China are talking again. North Korea is somewhat different. Trump flatters Kim Jong-un with "love letters" because he craves the Nobel Peace Prize. He throws Otto Warmbier's parents and South Korea under the bus in an effort to satiate his pathological obsession for the Nobel. He fixates only on his own personal needs. Everyone and everything else are expendables to be tossed by the wayside. After all, Trump's racism and spite compel him to quest after anything Obama had and to compulsively destroy Obama's legacy.
The only redress for our current "anything goes" political culture is to ensure Trump is ousted by November 2020. Someone like him has never had any business being President of the United States. The United States will never reclaim leadership status in the world until Trump is no longer in the Oval Office.
74
@Blue Moon
For some reason, this guy sitting in the White House thinks that such single-minded self interest is the mark of a successful businessman and he throws himself into the role with abandon...
Having bombed out of the American business community, he's taken his role models (and his liquidity) from those countries with the most autocratic governments, completely tone-deaf to the qualities that built the most solid producers in our society.
He's a cardboard cutout floating along on a media current of sand, filling his days with kerfluffles and when the noise settles down at the end of the day, I think he knows it. So many missed opportunities, so much wasted time.... might as well find a stage to strut around on and an audience to play to.
What else is there?
Why ask?
And with such a man at the head of the world's most influential government, why should anyone in this world's governments question their own ethics?
19
In the two years Trump's been president, I don't recall any quote of his containing the words "human rights". That's because it's not part of his world view, which rewards ruthless autocrats with praise, and looks upon democratic allies with scorn.
Basic human rights are meaningless to him, and totalitarian governments around the world are taking his cue.
51
Trump, Bolton, Pompeo, have shown that they have no respect for laws, rules, regulations. The United Nations, established international law, rules of the WTO, are some of the few they regard as limitation of US power and influence. Bush showed them the way, with his war of choice in Iraq. Now other countries are free to attack their neighbours and annex their land with impunity, as long as you pretend to be an ally of the US, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia. If you oppose US power and influence in any fashion, such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela, you get sanctioned.
The return to a rules-based society is what this planet desperately needs.
18
I was surprised that Mr. Friedman did not pick up on the analogy between Netanyahu’s adoption of extremism “You may think that “they are just a means to your ends,” and the Republicans and their tolerance of Ailes, the NRA, the Tea Party, Fox Propaganda and now Trump. Courting racism, exclusionism and authoritarianism (cloaked in evangelical disguise) to remain in power in the face of changed demographics, they have made way for these forces to dominate us and the world’s perception of us.
The only way to restore the appeal of our constitutional system is for the system itself to purge itself of this aberration. So, mainstream journalists: cheer for Mr. Nadler and the Dems and stop lamenting the disappearance of the “moderate Republicans” of yesteryear who got us into this mess by making a bargain, however small at first, with the Devils who have distorted us.
34
An entire world of chaos... all part of the grand scheme designed by Bannon and acted upon (without any self-restraint whatsoever) by Trump.
The consequences we see now are surely just the tip of the iceberg. I don't know if - perhaps beginning in 2020 - you can put any, some, or most of this back in the bottle but if we can't the legacy of immoral, chaotic, and intentional destruction of the moral code and institutions to preserve and promote decency, humanity, and democracy will surely claim millions of lives and the health, wealth, and well-being of future generations.
27
We have our own despot refusing to obey laws, consolidating power, getting rich at our expense, changing foreign policy to suit his business and family profits. trump's dismissal of Congress requests for information is another constitutional crisis in the making. McConnell is complicit, the courts have been stacked.
Meanwhile the democrats dance around the 2020 election as if it's going to happen as scheduled.
Time to wake up to our own problems.
44
In the short term, nothing good will come from this. "anything goes" is not a new phenomena in the political scene of the modern world. We saw it both before and after the world wars, and in parts of the world, after the collapse of the U.S.S.R. It occurs when large political entities like the U.S.A. give away their power, or have it taken from them. The void created by the stability we provided most of the Western world post WWII gave great economic growth fruition. It stabilized a system of trade and growth that benefitted us for many decades. Now, our protective umbrella has been withdrawn. Like the collapse of the Czar and Kaiser, the world has been thrown open. NATO is gone. The United Nations is meaning less. What will arise from that we do not know, but we do know that Trump has started a revolution.
10
In a milder form, perhaps, this Trump phenomenon also affects a country like Japan, where democratic institutions including courts are rather weak from the beginning. First of all PM is emboldened to assert himself against other authorities which were usually paid respect to. I suspect, in the culture where the employees are judged by their ability to suspect their bosses' intention, the bureaucrats and prosecutors are the first to be obliged to follow Abe. Then the mass media. (Japan is ranked 67th, worse than the US, according to the world press freedom rank by Reporters Without Borders.) We need someone who can preach our PM on democracy!
7
The Republicans love Trump.
80% approval rating. When he loses the election what makes you think he will leave? Republicans have proven without a shadow of a doubt that cheating to keep power is 100% in their playbook. They have control of the Whitehouse and the Supreme court using crooked tactics. This isn't going to end well.
80
The Music Man is my musical analogy to Trump, about a huckster who snows a small town into buying musical instruments while all the while he’s planning to grab the dough and beat feet. Only thing is, there’s redemption at the end. With Trump, the redemption is due us, once he’s tarred, feathered and run out of Dodge.
51
Yes, yes. The best analogy. Why don’t some/many of the blue collar voters whom supported DT realize how DT shook down many trade folk hired or contracted for his construction needs and bullied them and reduced their invoices by half or more with no financial ability to sue. I just don’t get it. And, though Burt Lancaster’ character reminds me most of DT, DT is no Burt Lancaster, - please explain DT voter ?
15
@Lynn Fitzgerald
The stock market is doing great, and if you read today’s NYTimes front page, you will see that we are being invaded on our southern border, just like Trump has been saying.
I cheer for the Fox News team, and my team is winning. That’s your explanation. In my gut, Trump feels good. I don’t involve my brain too much, because I end up confused and less happy. Your alternative facts are unpleasant. “Everything is as it should be, and life is good” as Joseph Stalin would often have people repeat.
All good points. But there is another reason many people in the US feel paralyzed. We are in the midst of a great course correction in our view of our own past behavior. This is undoubtedly a much-needed correction: slavery, conquest of Native Americans, suppression of women etc. -- this is part of our national story. But this revisionist moment leads many to say "who are we to tell anyone else what to do?" I think that's misguided. Our willingness to revisit our own past should empower us to say "we haven't always been perfect but what's happening in Country X is wrong." That's not hubris, it's putting our values into practice.
32
Corruption always ends in disaster. Not always for the rulers, but always for the ruled. When two morally crippled “leaders” with access to nuclear weapons play childish brinksmanship games, odds are it ends badly. No Nobel Peace Prize, just destruction.
The New Green Deal will have to wait. Our priority must be simply surviving the next two years.
31
Despite being a liberal, I feel liberalism and welfare state made people care only for privileges without responsibility. Those who opposed Social security in the Roosevelt era, did for this reason only that once people have the state instead of their own kin, to save them from old age problems , we will only have tyranny, not democracy. if your kin are unreliable, why would the state be?
2
@S Ramanujam
Since creating Social Security there has been a lot more democracy and a lot less tyranny in America. This is not a direct result of Social Security, but the social safety net has been helpful in "civilizing" the US, Europe, and now China, India and other countries.
People have had "kin" since the first families walked out of the caves or jungles or wherever, it did not stop religious bigotry and violence, racial discrimination and violence, and if anything, it only aggravated such domestic divisions and discord. Creating a social compact resulted in better comity and in development of institutions, more charitable work and more invention, innovation in everything from making food to music to art to spacecraft.
98
Social Security is the single greatest public program in the history of the US. It's not an entitlement, it's our own money. Social Security has helped to pull millions and millions of elderly people out of poverty. It's not the state doing anything other than collecting our money and giving it back to us later. Pick another program to put down. Social Security is the best!
203
That’s an outdated outlook and misunderstanding of families and human nature. Roosevelt understood that even good hard working people don’t save or don’t fully imagine the process of old age and the need to save money for eventually retirement. SS is a safety net and for the woman whom didn’t work back then and that saved SS Account world save them from poverty and homelessness. And, that money comes from my EARNED paycheck, so hands off, its MINE and I earned it.
48
We're living in such strange times. Would it be cynical or optimistic to suggest that the reason Mr. Trump is nice to authoritarian regimes is their long-standing philosophy about extradition to the U.S?
He does know, roughly, how this all ends. Maybe he's scouting out a Baby Doc-like retirement haven somewhere that wouldn't ship him back here.
31
Mr Trump appears to be out of touch, but he is a reflection of many, if not the majority.
We, like most in the world, have been deluded since birth by a bevy of mythologies supporting the lies men in control have told us, their subjects, for millenia.
Few among us may accept the truth of this remark, for in so doing will have to face facts which leave no room for the pantheon of invented gods those in power have used to groom us, their subjects, into a state of subservience.
How this simple truth is avoided speaks to the fear our awareness of death has brought to this branch of the animal kingdom.
It is, in a word, unreasonable that anyone be subject to authoritarian rule, yet throughout the world millions allow those in power to control them with words alluding to an undetectable higher power.
While China receives its share of criticism for the reeducation centers they populate with those who practice supernatural belief, the fact is beliefs which are unsupportable must change if the society is to sustain itself.
As all religions allude to an illusory world I stand opposed to the acceptance of supernatural intrusions into any function of governance. Individuals can and should believe whatever they want, but governance must be supported by facts and there is no factual evidence to support any religious belief.
Among the many unreasonable pursuits we follow, religion is the least forgiving, but as noted ........
...... Anything goes.
34
What I find remarkable is how quickly conditions have changed. It was not long ago that we were celebrating the democratization in Eastern Europe, hoping for Russia, glad for Turkey, encouraged in South America, etc. Trump can't be blamed for the turn-around, nor the US, though he and we are doing nothing to reverse things and get us all back on course. At least the EU seems to be overcoming Brexit and will hold with Hungary and Poland. No matter, we should not despair but act positively as best we can.
12
Seems that among advanced countries with a long tradition of democracy and citizen protections, the USA has gone further to the Right with a deplorable percentage of loyal voters supporting an authoritarian.
Other democracies didn't go that way. In 2017 elections, France, UK, and Netherlands didn’t vote their right wing candidate/party into power. (Le Pen or Farage) even if they got more votes than prior elections. Their more moderate leaders won, and are now working through all their many problems.
The US, with its famous Constitution and Bill of Rights, put into power Tsar Trump the Terrible and his courtiers. They are under investigation for criminal activities, and as our investigations try to pick up the pieces and follow the money. Trump seems to believe Nixon’s idea that—if the president does it, it’s not illegal.
Turkey, Austria and Hungary which did go more authoritarian, did not have long traditions of democracy and human rights, and had been under rule by dictators in the 20th C.
17
"On Top Of That", Sunday, March 3, 2019
What is Social Media?
Internet Access Should Be A Right. And An Amendment To The U.S. Constitution Needs To Add Social Media To The First Amendment Of The Bill Of Rights.
Because,
All Governments Such As Local, State And Federal Are Having A Field Day With Social Media. Including Law Enforcement, Businesses And The Health Care Industry.
Therefore,
You Don't Have To Be Rich To Be Important. But You Do Not Need To Be Poor To Not Be Wanted.
3
"El-Sisi, who made this power grab after a visit from and praise by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has also arrested far more Egyptians for the mildest of criticism, and snuffed out far more press freedoms, than his predecessor Hosni Mubarak — without a peep out of America."
It's not just Trump--it's his whole administration, because anyone who doesn't play nice with him doesn't last.
Does anyone join me in wondering what Mike Pompeo, first in his class at West Point, thinks every night as he goes to sleep, after a day of promoting Trump's silence vis a vis "American values"
Something terrible is lost when the one democracy nations looked to (rightly or wrongly, at times) for moral guidance is led by someone who actually envies the world's dictators.
Tonight I heard former Trump lawyer Ty Cobb write how hard it was to work for a man who couldn't handle obstacles, making everyone's life miserable until he found a way around them.
One of Trump's "obstacles" was the expectation he'd promote American values. He could care less, and it shows: just reread this column.
148
Evil is not "new," is it? And, "Anything Goes" is a great old song, but it is not a newly minted permission slip for the mistake of an accidental presidency. The Electoral College is broken, but not even that is a permission slip for the GOP to now stage its own public funeral with Trump. I liked your column, Mr. Friedman, appreciated its concept and thought it apt, but I would like to see you tackle the issue of how most American's can remove the Trump Mafia from our government. 2020 gives them too much time to "harvest" every resource until the world is broken, irretrievably so in some ways (i.e. climate) -- and I would like to also thank you for your very fine books and columns -- cause I know it must be difficult to write about what's going on...but I hope that The Times will hold firm. I have this growing fear that justice is too slow where these criminals are concerned...and I think the American people desperately need brave journalism.
68
Thomas Friedman: All over the world we are seeing the loss of democracies and the rise of rouge demagogic leaders, all traceable to the loss of America's moral authority with the appearance of Donald Trump.
It is as if the leaders of such countries as China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, the Philippines, Turkey, etc., did not independently contribute to this worldwide rise of authoritarian behavior, but it is primarily explainable by the election of Trump.
Nonsense. Any objective observer knows that worldwide authoritarianism started to surge prior to Trump. Indeed, much of it happened during the Obama administration, arguably, because of the relative passivity and reliance by the US then on feckless international moral posturing.
5
@Leonard Miller ... This isn’t Obama’s fault. It started far earlier ... and was contributed to by George W. Bush’s administration with the war in Iraq, based on a LIE.
1
To expect Trump to push back against any of the leaders mentioned here is an exercise in futility. He covets the near total control they have that he cannot attain (yet). In essence we would be asking him to criticize his heroes.
His new term is PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT! No one should question him. No one should criticize him. Because, after all, only he alone "can fix it." Just like Putin. Just like Netanyahu, MBS, Kim and all the rest.
52
So, if Trump is removed from office via impeachment or if he is convicted and sentenced to prison after he leaves office, does he loose his Secret Service detail?
15
@solar farmer Probably not .
@solar farmer
They can all play cards in his cell.
I’d like a true answer to that question
Democrats need to realize a few realities about Trump before the primary process begins at the polls in less than a year.
Trump is possibly the most effective self promoter of any president since FDR. He is a master of branding himself and knows how to push buttons of his friends and foes alike. To him, there is no such thing as bad publicity, only being ignored bothers him.
I’m not sure if there is a Democrat on the scene right now to match Trump’s ability to attack, brand and diminish the effectiveness of an opponent in a campaign.
A democratic candidate next year better be resilient in order to withstand the personal attacks by Trump in addition to those he will use to clobber the Democratic Party.
49
@JT FLORIDA I dunno, Democrats handily won the House while Trump was busy shooting off his mouth, so there's that to consider. People, including his base, seem to be tiring of the Trump Family antics.
1
@Rupert: Trump’s latest polls show 46% favorability. While that’s outrageous to you and me, it empahasizes how tough this election is going to be next year.
He succeeds in fooling a significant plurality most of the time and despite the Korean debacle, the Wall farce, the lies and more lies, his brand is at its highest since taking office.
2
Mr. Friedman should have included Turkey in his list of countries that have run away from the rule of law and democracy. Erdogan has charged over half a million people with "terrorism" and put a hundred thousand of them in jail. He still holds elections, but the results have become predictable, a natural consequence of one man controlling all levers of power.
And yet, the Trump administration raised an objection only when an American evangelical pastor was jailed over there!
26
Erdogan has been from the beginning undermining the fragile Turkish democracy.
Presidents before Obama turned the other way because Turkey is enormous and, thanks to Ataturk, "Westernized" at least for a brief time.
No more.
I am not even sure we can count the number of teachers who've lost their jobs, or journalists and military men who've been jailed or murdered. Anyone who, you know, appreciates democracy.
In other words, as the dictators get worse, conditions get worse in the countries affected - which may be the reason that the number of refugees at the southern border is increasing.
23
To the pessimistic posters here, I wish to add a note of optimism.
Read Steven Pinker and Jon Meacham. A scientist and historian both conclude, by way of their disciplines, that the world is constantly learning, growing and getting to be a better place. We may be in an authoritarian cycle right now, but no one can claim Donald Trump has not been a great learning experience and probably the next progressive leap would not happen if not for Trump as a catalyst.
Meacham has a great meaphor. We might wish we could progress steadily down the middle of the road, but that is not how humanity works. We lurch from the left guardrail to the right guardrail and back again. It may not be comfortable or pretty, but still we progress.
35
@Jagadeesan
In keeping with the the guardrail metaphor, in addition to the lurching from left to right guardrail, let's not forget the very real possibility of crashing through the guardrail with fatal results.
1
Let's revive Ronald Reagan and see what he has to say. Milton Friedman too. Democracy 101 says nations have the right - indeed, are obligated - to take a cut of the profits of private enterprises that operate in their sovereign territory to spend on social programs for the common good and welfare of all their citizens. US domestic policy is - and always was - the first line of US foreign policy. Somebodies forgot. The most privileged people on Earth have acted well below their station for decades. So sorry I was only 12 in 1980. Cheers.
13
Egypt fell, Greece fell, Rome fell, so too America will fall. It's only our hubris which lets us think we are immune. Freedom of choice became 200 kinds of toothpaste and one source of news. The only question is how much of the world will we take with us -- and who will take over when we are gone?
55
The pendulum is swinging to the right. My question to the reader is how long will it be before it swings more to the middle? I'm almost 73 and I can't see it swinging back in my lifetime but perhaps the readers are more optimistic.
19
@Stephen Kurtz
Ah, to be 73 again. But I digress. Here is the silver lining: Trump's reign takes the sting out of the thought of death. I will have no regrets if I miss the final act of this show.
32
@Stephen Kurtz The pendulum certainly swung back to the left with the U.S. mid-term elections and the loss of Republican control of Congress. The GOP will lose the Senate in 2020 (the math is in the Democrat's favor, as it was for the Republicans in 2018) and even if Trump runs again -- not a sure bet, given his decreasing support and mounting troubles -- his base has dwindled to a hard core that won't be large enough to win without the same level of crossover voting he got in 2016.
I'm not suggesting the world is going in the right direction, but American history suggests that the U.S. pendulum will swing back ... and may be already doing so.
8
@Stephen Kurtz
In 1992 Canadian historian John Ralston Saul subtitled his NYT best selling non fiction The Dictatorship of Reason in the West. This is not a swing to the right this is the post reason world.
For years my comments on Friedman's Op-Eds were not accepted comments because I wrote what Friedman wrote today but maybe not as well. I can't help with the optimism I will turn 71 shortly and despite everything I may see the end of the last great empires.
It is not often I can comment about that nation just to your north has lost all reason. Who the gods seek to destroy they first make mad.
2
In addition to observing how fragile democracy has proven to be elsewhere, we should be concerned about how fragile it might be here. Through gerrymandering, judge/justice packing and election collusion, the modern Republican Party has shown its only commitment is to the exercise of power in service to the wealthy. Will they willingly surrender it even if they are defeated at the polls? Our military may wind up being the real guardians of democracy.
80
Netanyahu is no longer hiding his anti-Palestinian sentiments, joining with a political movement that sees Palestinians as sub-human. With Trump in the White House he need not fear any repercussions. And as far as Congress is concerned both Democrats and Republicans are piling up on Ilhan who has the temerity to speak some unwelcome truths. She needs to mature and learn to use diplomatic language so as to avoid the knee-jerk condemnation as an anti-Semite but her bluntness is sorely needed.
111
The key to civilization is ethics. Ethical societies do well. Unethical societies are failed states full of corruption and violence.
57
@richard fisher --- contemplate Rome.
3
Ethics is nothing more than forced religion.
So who are we? Is America the beacon of liberty? Are Americans the font of the lady of justice? What were those noble words of yore: liberty, equality, fraternity, and justice for all?
Or have we Americans turned into the font of liars, bullies, and bigotism? Forsooth, intolerance characterizes America’s president and its governing Republicans. The choice is plain. Who are we?
35
@Martina
No.
Yes.
That's meant to be provocative.
When my 17 year old son was inducted into the Navy he raised his right hand and swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
At the time it seemed like nice words. Now, I wonder if he will be called upon to uphold that oath.
46
Civilization and law and order are held together by very thin threads.
As America's worst spoiled brat suffering from extreme affluenza, Trump has completely ignored the rules of the road his entire life.
As Imposter-In-Chief, he has destroyed the concept of facts, truth, news and lawful behavior, not to mention America's reputation and the office of the Presidency.
It's now open season for the world's dictators, thugs, outlaws and psychopaths because there's no one home in the Oval Office.... just Donald The Menace, wannabe-dictator, a manchild with a severe personality disorder who was apparently never held as child, being cheered on by the millions of manchildren and womanchildren who appointed them as their Spoiled-Rotten-Child-In-Chief.
Welcome to Lord of the Flies, where America and its spirit rot in broad daylight.
When the rule of law disintegrates, it's no good for anyone, especially the 99%.
Let's hope we can recover from this lawless Wrecking-Ball-In-Chief in 2020.
657
@Socrates --
yes, but blame the people who voted him in, excuse everything he does and the senators, representatives, v=cabinet, big business, et al, who keep him in. He's despicable but he wouldn't be there without all the support, even if it is only 40% in the polls. They are the ones to really blame.
97
@Mauro-Yes, Trump was voted into office by a minority. Because it didn't take much to game the 2016 election. Steps included GOP gerrymandering (Operation Redmap); pouring millions of dark money into state races (Koch brothers, etc.); disenfranchising voters (Operation checkpoint, voter purging, etc.), plus Russian assistance over social media, etc. Sigh.
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@Socrates
For some time now people all over the world are frightened because of all the changes occurring and they want strong leaders. Unfortunately bullies seem strong and appeal to fearful citizens. The US is only one nation among many. It’s no longer the shining knight-in-amour and probably will never regain that position. The world changes were happening before Trump took office.
25
With Trump, all I see is "It Can't Happen Here," by Sinclair Lewis. The (now amazingly) prescient novel should be read by all. In fact, I have to think it has been read by many in his orbit, but they simply do not make the connection. Anyway, instead of "Anything Goes", I propose: "It Can Happen Here" (and it did).
86
I'm generally an admirer of Mr. Friedman's thinking, but this time he is guilty of cutting the facts to fit the theory. Trump did not cause these other nations' descent into autocracy. The authoritarian regimes in the Philippines, Hungary, and Poland, for example, all came to power before he did; some of them many years before.
Although Trump didn't cause this movement, he certainly has encouraged it.
It is deeply discouraging that we are failing as the world's moral policeman, but also that after more than 70 years of postwar political evolution, we are still needed to fill that role.
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@Orthoducks
"The authoritarian regimes in the Philippines, Hungary, and Poland, for example, all came to power before he did; some of them many years before.
Although Trump didn't cause this movement, he certainly has encouraged it."
While factually and technically correct, the author ignores the fact that these countries started to become more autocratic only during the Obama administration, not that long ago.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, Hungary and Poland became free-market, capitalist countries, like they once had been; with reasonably freely elected parliaments and prime ministers. They joined NATO in 1999. Their swings to the right, to autocracy, were a response to 1) the 2008 global economic collapse, and 2) the wars in Syria and elsewhere that resulted in migration of large numbers non-white non-Europeans to their countries.
The Philippines swing from the Marcos dictatorship to the premiership of Cory Aquino and other liberal democrats, before descending into corruption, and then dictatorship, with Duterte.
"It is deeply discouraging that we are failing as the world's moral policeman, but also that after more than 70 years of postwar political evolution, we are still needed to fill that role."
I agree with the first half of above, and disagree with the second half. What is sad is not that we're needed, but that we've squandered our leadership, and worse, not for national self-interest, but for Trump's selfish, private interest.
4
"Anything goes." Well, that is, at least for now, better than "Springtime for Hitler."
29
@John Graybeard
Just what I was thinking, John. "Springtime for Trumpsters and perjury. Winter for justice and law."
36
@Henry Hewitt
Somehow your comment made the image of Scott Pruitt doing "Don't Cry for Me Oklahoma" appear out of nowhere.
1
Trump has no rebuke of strongmen rule because he wants to be like them because, deep down, he is entirely weak. It takes a particular gullibility to believe that Kim Jong Un fell in love with you and wrote you beautiful, heartfelt letters.
148
@NM: There's nothing "deep down" about it. In fact, I'm not sure he even has a "deep down". As we used to say, What you see is what you get: WYSIWYG.
9
“ Anything Goes “ is much too light and fancy free. I suggest
“ Les Miserables” as that describes Trump and his friends and cohorts best. Making others miserable by scooping up all the graft possible, America’s new Number one export. Human rights, the Environment, Peace and Prosperity be damned.
Thanks, GOP. 2020.
44
Long ago, but not far away, an American presidential candidate declared that "Extremism in the pursuit of liberty is no vice." The easy dismissal of the other five goals listed in the Preamble (Union, Justice, General Welfare, Common Defense, and Domestic Tranquility) was only part of the threat, because the most powerful obstacle to our liberties is our other liberties, e.g., spending impulsively vs. investing thoughtfully. What we are dealing with now is Barry Goldwater's dream come true, except, of course, that only the liberty of the wealthy few is respected while the liberty of the other 7.5 billion inhabitants of Earth is flung down and danced on.
37
"China is now constructing the first truly Orwellian surveillance state.”
Come, come Tom!
Ten years ago Beijing asked people to find ways to reward the 99% of ordinary good citizens while discouraging the other 1%.
The idea was for for everyone to raise their game, end littering, oafishness, cheating, public nuisances and deadbeats without taking draconian measures.
Some tried comprehensive systems of reward and punishment and their findings are available online. Most tried eliminating pet peeves (inconsiderate dog owners were high on everyone's list).
Some results were hilarious, some disappointing, some brilliant and many are still running while being tweaked and benchmarked.
The best will parade their data in a national beauty contest late this year and, by 2021 the best regional experiments will be combined and national trials will begin to tweak them until public approval hits 90%, the threshold for introducing binding legislation by the mid-20s.
It's much more carrot than stick and, Chinese friends assure me, well suited to Chinese society (which runs on very, very different assumptions than ours).
The idea is to use social engineering to create a trusting, trustworthy, hassle-free society. The goal is for most folks will be able to borrow money or hire a car or board an airplane without being questioned or even stopped.
4
Republicans, backed by Fox propaganda, have come to see their fight with democrats as a war, and that’s why “anything goes’’. Democrats are playing by a set of far more constricting rules, as if they don’t know their opponent. As long as that’s the case Republicans will keep gerrymandering, Engaging in election fraud, and throwing ethics under the the bus in their pursuit of power.
75
"Anything Goes" is a little harsh. There ARE areas where Trump does draw the line:
Things that bother Trump:
1. Oscar acceptance speeches
2. SNL comedy sketches
3. Late night talk show host monologues
Things that don't bother Trump:
1. American citizen tortured and murdered by hostile sociopathic dictator
2. American resident journalist tortured and murdered by condo buying dictator
3. American citizen murdered by another American as part of a march led by Nazi's and other fine Trump supporting racists
Yeah. Anything goes.
456
@LTOther things that don't bother Trump
4. Separating children from their families
5. Caging children and turning away from sexual assault of these children
6. Denying humane medical care to refugees
18
@LT: This is the best, most lyrical Trump Takedown I’ve read in...well, days! Reading NYT comments is an important part of my therapy, and your comment is pure magic!
20
Two relevant things come to mind about the imagined loss of democracy, or democratic principles. One, a book entitled "Athenian Democracy: Triumph or Tragedy?", which was written a long time ago, and which exposed the myth for what it was: a "slaveocracy". Really, not much more needs to be said on that score, as the dictatorial miens of plutocrats who install, on occasion, human (sic) substitutes to do their bidding, pretty much have done away with the idea of democracy. Two, Bertrand Russell referred to a time "... after the world has been Americanized." which meant that the consumer oriented society which served as a substitute for democratic ideals would begin to develop a contagion which would improve the lot of people world-wide. Perhaps this was a short-sighted view which did not take into account an all-pervasive, enduring envy of the riches of America. The exception would be what it is that the modern dictators lust after, and how they maintain their grip on the societies which they rule. The arms trade, partly centered in the U.S., in competition with Russia provides the answer. The shameless puppet dances to the tune of the plutocrats, as he would be one himself, and enunciates the populist, demagogic myth to suit them perfectly. Mourning the loss of democratic proclivities makes no sense. A panacea? Rough to say.
2
@Disinterested Party He's mourning the loss of the time-honored practice of bona fide faux-democratic "sham elections" in which center-right/center-left puppets are (s)elected by the Anglo-American Empire to nominally rule her vassal states. Friedman is mourning the forthcoming withdrawal of the the clutches of Empire and the return or introduction of sovereignty. He says it openly (though subliminally) right here - "the number of democracies abandoning their democratic bona fides with sham elections is steadily mounting". Trump has opened the door to the cages of our vassal states - granted them the opportunity to gain or regain their sovereignty - but some of the Empire's payed off toadies aren't ready or willing to leave them yet and are still hoping for a "miracle". The Empire currently maintains military "deployments" in at least 153 countries (78% of the total, at *least*), according to the Pentagon. None of these states are fully sovereign. "Anything goes" is Friedman's jingoistic synonym for "sovereignty".
Also Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood/CIA/MI5 terrorist whom the Empire briefly installed in Egypt and proceeded to maniacally declare jihad against Syria before being summarily removed by the relatively sane el-Sisi, has apparently been written out of history -flushed down the memory hole by Friedman.
"...el-Sisi...has also arrested far more Egyptians...than his *predecessor* Hosni Mubarak".
My condolences to his family.
1
@Robert Elliot
Here!Here! The "empire" has a distinctly idiosyncratic way of pursuing its goal of world domination, something called "Strategic Island Defense", which, in marked contrast to the workings of the Chinese in the South China Sea, not only deracinates native people, but also subjects them to the criminal vagaries of the Mafia vis a vis their quarries. The former inhabitants of the Chagos archipelago are a glaring example. The sham election proposition as regards our President is probably unprovable; that is to say, if the "yuppie quants" who service Renaissance Technologies and The Medallion Fund put their abilities to the task of electing Trump in Mercer's behalf by tweaking the voting machines in the surprisingly pivotal states, which Mrs. Clinton for some reason failed to visit, to register votes cast for her for Trump, then there you have the real live sham. The image of the innocent Trump showing up at the costume party at Mr. Mercer's home is the fait accompli of the "smoke and mirrors" gambit. All else is, as John Pilger put it:"a steady stream of propaganda."
America's lack of leadership, moral clarity and Democratic principles have had a negative impact on the globe and I hope we can begin rectifying the matter in two years or less. I figure it will take, at least, a decade of solid, sane and sanitary leadership to start gaining other's trust again. I, however, have given up. I can never erase these last three years. I will never again trust or assume that the American public will do the right thing the next time we're tested. The countries and nations you point to are all somewhat authoritarian regimes and don't have the voice the American people have, the constitutional right to use that voice and laws protecting it's speech. America has, voluntarily, given back that voice. 30% are acting like a cult, 30% are reacting with disgust and 40% aren't acting at all. I hope beyond reason we can, once again, be engaged and respected on the world stage but to get there we're gonna have to save ourselves first. I implore the 40% who don't bother to vote to become involved because 2020 could be when "Everything Goes".
150
Mr. Friedman writes, "Yes, politics can be a dirty business, 'but there are sacred areas in which you don’t play politics, where there has to be a boundary,' says Hebrew University philosopher Moshe Halbertal. And making an alliance 'with a racist party is one of them. Because when you do that you actually inflate them and send a message about what kind of speech is permissible.'"
Of course Trump has played an outsized role in this deterioration of conduct of other nations. That said, who is really responsible here? That's easy - Trump voters. Cozy up to racists? Not a problem to them. After all, they are racists themselves. Religious bigots? Not a problem -- Jim Jordan, one of their leaders just sent Gerold Nadler an anti-Semitic tweet referencing "Tom $teyer".
We are now making all sorts of disgusting, hateful conduct by other nations perfectly acceptable, because Trump voters believe it is. So they have had an outsized disastrous effect -- it's not enough that they've turned this country into a racist Republic of Gilead. They've also destroyed our international standing in the world, leading to the rise of authoritarian and bigoted regimes elsewhere. And they have no idea of the damage they've caused. All they wanted was a president who told them that as whites, they were the only "real" Americans. And because of their bigotry, our nation will need decades to repair our international standing.
59
It’s too bad there is evil and oppression in the world.
In other news: the sky is blue and the ocean is wet. I’m pretty sure Mr. Trump can’t change any of those things.
@Greg
I can't argue with your facts, but do you really want to roll over and not fight back?
Speak out for what you know is justice, and VOTE!
31
@Greg
His appointees to the Environmental Protection Agency
will continue trying to change those things for him.
15
This article reveals just how fragile democratic human rights are in the world and how entrenched and prevalent dictatorial forces are. The world is like a tightly wound spring of oppression just waiting for someone or something to pop the catch and let it unwind. That someone is Donald Trump.
Once the spring has unwound, it is next to impossible to wind it back up and stuff back in its box. Usually, wars are the only way to do this, because dictators don't go quietly into the night.
In just two short years, Donald Trump has managed to undue 70 plus years of diplomacy and progress. Is that because he is so good at tearing things apart or is it because the world is so fragile. I vote for fragility.
The red hat(e) people are either oblivious to all of this or think it's cool. After all, Trump says it's great, so it must be. If the liberals say it's bad then they like it even more because they like making liberal heads explode.
The Trump experience is then not just based in hate, but vengeance. Trumpian politics is a vendetta against anything any liberal ever wanted to do. And that includes, human rights, global warming, pollution, financial regulations, civil rights, all of it.
Therefore, Trump isn't trying to blow up the world because he wants to, he is trying to blow up everything remotely associated with liberals. Which in turn is blowing up the world.
The Republicans know this and back him 100%. When do we get to put them on trial?
477
@Bruce Rozenblit In the 2020 elections - send them all back to their racist roots, and let them find other work. They are surely not working for the greater good in Washington; they are pandering to the worst in this country - yes, the "deplorables -so aptly described in the last presidential election. They are rotten to the core, applauding a clown (see: CPAC convention) who will bring us down if we let them have their way.
145
@Bruce Rozenblit I believe that these same people have been getting away with it for quite a long time. So long that the uptick is only marginally noticed by some. Republicanism has most surely been getting away with it in particular. What are our options throughout the world to call them out in the first place? Sometimes it seems as though all this has some kind of agreement at some level to go through the motions while things say the same overall. Yes, vengeance against,...what exactly? I say there is nothing (like progressive accomplishments for example) that is going along so successfully that someone (gop) eventually comes along that want to destroy it for a hobby. Like your guy with that tube radio. I have several similar stories myself.
Just mental illness, or what?
19
@sonya
Many people voted against Hillary because of her use of the phrase “basket of deplorables”. They didn’t think that many, 40% of the population, actually existed in their great country but now they want their votes back I’m sure.
11
"Anything Goes"
There's only one way to fix it. Vote.
If we, and I mean the U.S., allow Trump to be reelected the world will enter a very dark and dangerous period. Democratic Nations may disappear. So we all best vote in 2020 and vote Democrat.
262
@cherrylog754
I hope you're right but I fear it may be too late; many votes won't be counted or tallied correctly and many good people will be tricked into supporting Trump through the lies that spew from Faux News.
I will always vote for truth but there may come a point where that may not be enough and then we have only 2 animal-instinct options: Fight or flight.
4
@cherrylog754 Sure it's great to vote. Who is counting the votes?
4
Vote. Yes.
And hope that nobody cheats. (Hello, North Carolina!)
And hope that no foreign power hacks the vote (with or without American help).
And hope that the powers that be don’t simply decide that the vote doesn’t matter, they’ll do things their way.
It’s up to us to decide what kind of country we want. If we still want people to have any voice in government, we have to vote in every election - yes, even for town library board. We have to show that it still matters to us, or it will be gone. We have to show our children that it matters.
6
The truth of this, Mr. Friedman, make me want to weep.
So much lost. Nothing gained. Full recovery unlikely.
27
If one looks at the political center of the spectrum (which in actuality is quite right ) then one only look at America (as you say ) whereas any semblance of said center right has been obliterated by republicans over the last decade or so, and by this President in particular over the last 2 years.
OF COURSE the entire world is going to follow that.
I would offer a positive spin to it, and that when the political pendulum gets too far to said right, that it always comes back hard the other way. That happened after the wall street collapse of the 20's and the disparity of human rights in the 60's. It is now poised to happen with the economic disparity of our current generation coupled with this administration.
There is going to be a political course correction in America in 2 years time along with certain countries in the Middle East and many other places.
Socialism goes.
9
@FunkyIrishman
The problem with the theorem that " the pendulum always swings back the other way" is the "ratchet" effect. As has been pointed out by others (unfortunately, I cannot credit the authors of the concept), by various means, the pendulum has been attached to a ratchet mechanism, which results in "the center" always moving to the right. That pendulum never swings back all the way.
The game is rigged- even more than you might think.
8
Since Trump has no standards for his own behavior, he isn't just about to impose them on anyone else.
32
And to think of the insults Republicans lobbed at President Obama! He alienated our friends. He was easy on the bad guys. He was naive about Putin. He doesn't have a coherent policy. He was trying to turn this country into something we're not. Most ironically, from Donald Trump himself, he was "weak." Every one of those charges is true of Trump, not Obama. Naturally, Trump has no self-awareness; and Congressional Republicans have barely a peep about their Bully-in-Chief.
525
@NM
It is not about Trump. It is about the people who so easily believe his warped perception of truths.
A substantial portion of the US electorate has no moral compass. They've lost their ability to discern truth from fiction. The only cures for this ailment are to remove persistent lies from their environment (ban FOX), and strongly improve funding to public education.
But we are long past these cures (now sinecures). Insurrection, anyone?
First Target: the Senate and their Lobbyists. I'm not advising a "2nd amendment" solution. Let's start with a LOUD and IRREFUTABLE 1st amendment effort.
We must stage an all-out effort to refute the Senate's spurious (Electoral-college-based) "authority". Throw them out. They will oppose any change to the Electoral College because it keeps their status quo.
Exercise Democracy. Overthrow the Senate.
113
@Kenneth Brady
I would really like to know what percentage of Trump supporters actually believe what he says (ignorant and uneducated), and what percentage know he is a liar, but simply look the other way (well-educated). It seems the former are quick to resort to violence, and the latter have an agenda, a list of priorities where honesty, equality, and the environment appear at the bottom, if at all.
22
@NM Today- the most important agenda item for our elected Representatives is that they censure Rep. Omar for rhetorically approaching an inconvenient truth.
I have little doubt that the Dems will again cave to the Fox Feeding Frenzy.
3
Trump is what he is and what he has always been, as per Michael Cohen, “a liar, a racist, a cheat and a con man”. The Republican Party has made the choice that anything goes and turned their backs on their sworn Constitutional duties, decency, and moral leadership.
355
@Bruce Pippin Some would call it treason.
7
Yes, Porter wrote " ' Cause Franklin knows/Anything goes" as a tribute FDR's proactivism in bringing about the New Deal after the Hoover Administration's paralysis in response to the Great Depression. Nothing like FDR, Trump says and does whatever he pleases for the sake of creating division, chaos and confusion.
27
When the leader of of the most powerful nation on earth flouts rules of law, scorns reason, opens his arms to tyrants, and routinely insults standards of truth and virtue, he offers an example of approval to despots everywhere. The United States no longer holds up the torch of freedom for those huddling in the darkness of tyranny and terrorism. Today, the shadow is growing larger over us, and no one seems to know what to do.
207