Gilead
Donald Trump
Coup attempt
Fig. 1. Department of Justice photograph of seized materials, reportedly partially redacted, via the Washington Post, August 31, 2022,[1] public domain.
Chauncey DeVega, “‘They are going to convict very quickly’: Glenn Kirschner on the trial of Donald J. Trump,” Salon, October 17, 2022, https://www.salon.com/2022/10/17/they-are-going-to-convict-very-quickly-glenn-kirschner-on-the-trial-of-donald-j/
Zoe Tillman, “Trump Special Master Has ‘No Patience’ for Records Spats,” MarketWatch, October 18, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-18/trump-special-master-says-he-has-no-patience-for-records-spats
Chris Strohm, “DOJ prosecutors say there’s sufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice: report,” MarketWatch, October 19, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/doj-prosecutors-say-theres-sufficient-evidence-to-charge-trump-with-obstruction-of-justice-report-01666188831
Lindsay Whitehurst, “Testimony: Oath Keepers Ready to Use ‘Any Means Necessary,’” Military.com, October 19, 2022, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/10/19/testimony-oath-keepers-ready-use-any-means-necessary.html
Chris Walker, “Report: DOJ Prosecutors Say There’s Enough Evidence to Prosecute Trump,” Truthout, October 20, 2022, https://truthout.org/articles/report-doj-prosecutors-say-theres-enough-evidence-to-prosecute-trump/
Student loans
Fig. 2. Unattributed and undated image via James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal,[2] fair use.
Associated Press, “Justice Barrett rejects appeal over Biden student debt plan,” October 20, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/us-supreme-court-amy-coney-barrett-wisconsin-government-and-politics-business-650cf994711d429701722c97fedd2bb7
Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, “Judge dismisses GOP-led states lawsuit to block student loan forgiveness plan,” Washington Post, October 20, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/10/20/student-loan-forgiveness-lawsuit-rejected/
(dis)United Kingdom
Prime minister
Fig. 3. President Reagan on the South Lawn during the arrival ceremony of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom. U.S. Government photograph, November 16, 1988, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
I wish I could be so optimistic as Jonathan Freedland:
For one thing, in those short few weeks, [Liz] Truss may well have killed off an ideological project that has animated sections of the right, in Britain and across the democratic world, for the best part of half a century. The vision was of a low tax, low regulation society where the richest are freed to unleash their awesome talents and make themselves even richer.
According to this vision – whether you call it Hayekism, ultra-Thatcherism, Reaganism or economic libertarianism – when the fortunate few at the top soar ever upwards, some of their wealth trickles down to those at the bottom. Versions of it have held sway at different periods in Britain, the United States and beyond.
Now, though, such dreams will be branded as Trussonomics – and that label will be the kiss of death. In six short weeks Truss has discredited high-octane, free-market economics, perhaps for ever.
She tried it, undiluted, as her ideological soulmate and chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng delivered a mini-budget on 23 September that was a magnum of full-strength trickle-down served neat, a plan that read less like a fiscal programme for government than a provocatively extreme pamphlet drawn up by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) (or any of the other outrider organisations headquartered at Truss’s spiritual home, 55 Tufton Street).[3]
The answer capitalist libertarians always give when confronted with the reality that the closer we get to their utopia, the closer we come to disaster, is that we’ve never actually tried their utopia. In essence, that we haven’t tried jumping out of an airplane without pulling the cord on the parachute.
Even as all this unfolded, it was apparent that some of Truss’ capitalist libertarian (more accurately, neoliberal-in-denial) true believers are still true believers whom the Tories must somehow appease.[4]
I do think, however, that Freedland is right that Brexit has been a catastrophe and that the Tories are no longer capable of governing.[5]
Christopher Hope, “I’ve seen a WhatsApp message setting out the future Tory leadership – and it’s brutal,” Telegraph, October 17, 2022, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/17/seen-whatsapp-message-setting-future-tory-leadership-brutality/
Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot, “Liz Truss faces unrest over public spending cuts and pensions triple lock threat,” Guardian, October 18, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/18/liz-truss-faces-fresh-unrest-over-public-spending-cuts
Max Colchester, “U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss in Limbo as Her Party Weighs How to Replace Her,” Wall Street Journal, October 19, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-prime-minister-liz-truss-in-limbo-as-her-party-weighs-how-to-replace-her-11666192271
Pippa Crerar, Peter Walker, and Aubrey Allegretti, “Liz Truss’s government on the brink after Suella Braverman’s parting shot,” Guardian, October 19, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/19/liz-truss-government-on-the-brink-after-suella-bravermans-parting-shot
Chris Mason, “Liz Truss’s special adviser suspended and faces investigation,” British Broadcasting Corporation, October 19, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-63311454
Adam Taylor and Karla Adam, “To boot Liz Truss, U.K. Conservatives face short list of poor options,” Washington Post, October 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/19/liz-truss-removal-options-uk/
Eleni Courea and Matt Honeycombe-Foster, “Liz Truss quits as UK prime minister,” Politico, October 20, 2022, https://www.politico.eu/article/liz-truss-uk-conservatives-latest-resign-prime-minister/
Jonathan Freedland, “Truss has discredited high-octane, free-market economics – perhaps for ever,” Guardian, October 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/20/liz-truss-resignation-brexit-brexitism
Steve Goldstein, “U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss announces her resignation,” MarketWatch, October 20, 2022, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/uk-prime-minister-liz-truss-announces-her-resignation-2022-10-20
Camilla Turner and Nick Gutteridge, “Chief Whip Wendy Morton quits – then returns – amid reports MPs ‘manhandled,’” Telegraph, October 20, 2022, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/10/19/chief-whip-wendy-morton-quits-returns-amid-reports-mps-manhandled/
Ukraine
Fig. 4. “Destroyed Russian military vehicles located on the main street Khreshchatyk are seen as part of the celebration of the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv, August 24.” Photograph by Gleb Garanich for Reuters, August 24, 2022,[6] fair use.
Julia Ioffe, “Putin’s New Tools of Terror,” Puck News, October 18, 2022, https://puck.news/putins-new-tools-of-terror/
Paul Kirby, “Ukraine war: Russians start leaving Ukraine’s Kherson city,” British Broadcasting Corporation, October 19, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63311744
Andreas Kluth, “If Putin Orders a Nuke, Will His Generals Obey?” Bloomberg, October 19, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-10-19/insubordination-the-factor-that-may-save-the-world-from-putin-s-nukes
Uliana Pavlova, “Putin declares martial law in four occupied regions as Kyiv presses offensive,” CNN, October 19, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/19/europe/putin-russia-martial-law-intl/index.html
Ishaan Tharoor, “The uncomfortable need to talk about diplomacy with Russia,” Washington Post, October 19, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2022/10/19/diplomacy-russia-ukraine-need-nuclear/
Pjotr Sauer, “‘The army has nothing’: new Russian conscripts bemoan lack of supplies,” Guardian, October 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/20/the-army-has-nothing-new-russian-conscripts-bemoan-lack-of-supplies
When it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t make sense, and it cannot last:
Already, experts, nonprofits and even Twitter’s own staff have warned that pulling back investments on content moderation and data security could hurt Twitter and its users. With as drastic a reduction as [Elon] Musk may be planning, the platform could quickly become overrun with harmful content and spam — the latter of which the Tesla CEO himself has said he’ll address if he becomes owner of the company.[7]
You don’t cut 75 percent of the workforce at a company you intend to operate. You cut 75 percent of the workforce at a company you intend to shut down.
Associated Press, “Report: Elon Musk plans to cut 75% of Twitter workforce,” October 21, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-twitter-inc-technology-social-media-1a9005b6653b07b5764ed61053554d1f
- [1]Devlin Barrett, “Justice Dept. says Trump team may have hidden, moved classified papers,” Washington Post, August 31, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/08/31/trump-documents-removed-storage-room/↩
- [2]Richard K. Vedder, “Eliminate or Radically Restructure Federal Student Loans,” James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, September 16, 2020, https://www.jamesgmartin.center/2020/09/eliminate-or-radically-restructure-federal-student-loans/↩
- [3]Jonathan Freedland, “Truss has discredited high-octane, free-market economics – perhaps for ever,” Guardian, October 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/20/liz-truss-resignation-brexit-brexitism↩
- [4]Max Colchester, “U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss in Limbo as Her Party Weighs How to Replace Her,” Wall Street Journal, October 19, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-prime-minister-liz-truss-in-limbo-as-her-party-weighs-how-to-replace-her-11666192271↩
- [5]Jonathan Freedland, “Truss has discredited high-octane, free-market economics – perhaps for ever,” Guardian, October 20, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/oct/20/liz-truss-resignation-brexit-brexitism↩
- [6]Reuters, “Ukraine puts destroyed Russian tanks on display in Kyiv,” August 25, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/news/picture/ukraine-puts-destroyed-russian-tanks-on-idUSRTSALV9Q↩
- [7]Associated Press, “Report: Elon Musk plans to cut 75% of Twitter workforce,” October 21, 2022, https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-twitter-inc-technology-social-media-1a9005b6653b07b5764ed61053554d1f↩