Latest news with #authoritarianism
Zawya
2 days ago
- Politics
- Zawya
Tunisians protest aginst President Saied, call country an ‘open-air prison'
TUNIS: Hundreds of Tunisian activists protested in the capital on Friday against President Kais Saied, denouncing his rule as an "authoritarian regime" that has turned the country into an 'open-air prison'. Under the slogan 'The Republic is a large prison,' protesters marched along Habib Bourguiba Avenue. They demanded the release of jailed opposition leaders, journalists, and activists. The protest marked the fourth anniversary of Saied's power grab. In 2021, he dissolved the elected parliament and started ruling by decree, a move the opposition called a coup. They chanted slogans such as 'no fear, no terror ... streets belong to the people' and 'The people want the fall of the regime'. The protesters said Tunisia under Saied has descended into authoritarianism, with mass arrests and politically motivated trials silencing dissent. "Our first aim is to battle against tyranny to restore the democracy and to demand the release of the political detainees," Monia Ibrahim, wife of imprisoned politician Abdelhamid Jelassi, told Reuters. In 2022, Saied dissolved the independent Supreme Judicial Council and sacked dozens of judges, a move the opposition said was aimed to cement one-man rule. Saied said he does not interfere in the judiciary, but no one is above accountability, regardless of their name or position. Most prominent opposition leaders are in prison, including Rached Ghannouchi, head of the Islamist Ennahda party, and Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Constitutional Party. They are among dozens of politicians, lawyers, and journalists facing lengthy prison sentences under anti-terrorism and conspiracy laws. Others have fled the country, seeking asylum in Western countries. In 2023, Saied said the politicians were "traitors and terrorists" and that judges who would acquit them were their accomplices. "Prisons are crowded with Saied's opponents, activists, journalists," said Saib Souab, son of Ahmed Souab, the imprisoned lawyer Ahmed Souab who is a critical voice of Saied. "Tunisia has turned into an open-air prison. ... Even those not behind bars live in a state of temporary freedom, constantly at risk of arrest for any reason.", he added. (Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by David Gregorio)
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's Senior Moments Are Getting Worse
Donald Trump's bizarre combination of speech mannerisms, physical quirks, and garish physical appearance has over the past decade of his political career has often functioned as teflon. The president's absurdist, abhorrent political persona is endlessly mockable — as Saturday Night Live or any late-night host can attest — but it's also a key component of his increasingly authoritarian politics, and his presentation only seems to be getting worse. Trump is the oldest man to assume the presidency in the history of the United States. The man he succeeded, former President Joe Biden, had to abandon his reelection bid over widespread concern — and a wealth of evidence — that he was too old to hold the nation's highest office. Biden's apparent decline dominated the summer of 2024 and has continued to be a story into Trump's second term in office. Meanwhile, Trump's innumerable gaffes and otherwise troubling behavior — like when he cut a town hall event short to play music videos and sway onstage less than a month before the election — were largely written off as Trump being Trump. The 2024 election cycle was defined not only by Trump's scorched-earth comeback to the White House, but by a heated Democratic Party debate over Biden's age and physical decline, the gerontocracy that has entrenched itself in power, and the duty of care those surrounding a leader in decline have to advise that leader not to try to hold onto their office at the expense of their constituents. In the case of Trump, the president is not, today, the same man who first assumed office in 2017. He has new health issues, less self control, stronger authoritarian impulses, and visibly looser skin. His clear physical aging has been accompanied by a string of gaffes and senior moments that can no longer be excused by the trappings of his public persona. If the standard — as Trump has himself stressed repeatedly in reference to Biden — is that a president's cognitive decline is a disqualifier and a potential liability, it's worth taking a look at the man currently sitting behind the Resolute Desk and some of his more egregious senior moments in his second term as president. Trump told false story about his uncle teaching the Unabomber Remember when Biden told that insane story about fighting Corn Pop (who was a 'bad dude') and it produced a whole news cycle about how the aging president could be losing it? Well this should have been Trump's 'Corn Pop' moment. Earlier this month, while addressing attendees at a Pennsylvania energy summit, Trump told a bizarre story about his uncle, former Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor John Trump. '[Ted] Kaczynski was one of his students,' Trump claimed, referring to the prodigal mathematician turned hermit and serial mass murder known as the 'Unabomber.' 'That's a smart man. Kaczynski was one of his students. Do you know who Kaczynski was?' Trump said. 'There's very little difference between a madman and a genius. But Kaczynski, I said, 'What kind of a student was he, Uncle John?' — Dr. John Trump. He said 'seriously good,' he said he'd go around correcting everybody. But it didn't work out so well for him.' Basically nothing about this story — outside of Trump's uncle being an MIT professor — was true. Kaczynski was not a student at MIT. Ever. He got his undergraduate degree at Harvard, and completed his masters and doctorate at the University of Michigan. John Trump died in 1985, more than a decade before Kaczynski was caught and identified as the Unabomber. It's extremely unlikely John Trump would have known him, and there is no reason Trump would have asked his uncle about Kaczynski. Trump said he was surprised Jerome Powell, whom he appointed, was appointed Trump built a career on firing people. He loves it, it gives him a thrill. There's one man in D.C. he apparently cannot fire: Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. And it's driving him up the walls. Powell was appointed to his position as Fed chair in 2018 by Donald Trump, and ushered the American economy through the turmoil of the Covid-19 pandemic, and a subsequent period of persistent inflation that battered consumers. Despite the Fed having mostly gotten a handle on inflation, Trump has been publicly fuming (and threatening to fire) Powell for months now over his refusal to cut down interest rates — partially in response to Trump's inflationary tariffs and pinball economic policies. Earlier this month, Trump complained that Powell was 'a terrible fed chair.' 'I'm surprised he was appointed, I was surprised, frankly, that Biden put him in and extended him,' he added. Biden did reappoint Powell — but it was Trump who initially appointed him. At this point, though, it seems that blaming his predecessor is so reflexive for Trump that he's erased his own appointments from his memory. Trump dumped on his own trade deal During his first term, Trump regularly made a point of criticizing the North American Free Trade Agreement and exalted his own negotiations of a new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement as the work of a diplomatic and economic genius. Until he forgot about it. 'I look at some of these agreements, I'd read them at night, and I'd say, 'Who would ever sign a thing like this?'' Trump said of past economic trade deals in North America during his tariff frenzy in the spring. 'So the tariffs will go forward, yes, and we're gonna make up a lot of territory. All we want is reciprocal. We want reciprocity.' Other nations best beware. Negotiating a trade deal with the White House in order to avoid a punishing tariff regime may be only a temporary solution, as the president may soon forget he even signed it. Trump called the prime minister of Japan 'Mr. Japan' There are very basic expectations to being a head of state. One is remembering the names of your international counterparts, even if only for a few minutes in front of a camera. Should you forget, say, the name of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, the conventions of the English language provide several alternatives that would allow one to avoid outing yourself and forgetful or ignorant. The 'prime minister of Japan' or 'prime minister' would likely suffice. Not — as Trump chose to blurt out — 'Mr. Japan.' 'Dear Mr. Japan: Here's the story,' Trump said during a June interview with Fox News on his proposed deadlines for tariff deals with foreign governments. 'You're going to pay a 25 percent tariff on your cars.' The Trump administration ultimately did figure out whom they needed to address their letter to, and struck a deal with the Japanese government to avoid the implementation of ruinous tariffs. Trump said he's going to spend time in Florida when asked about detainees in Alligator Alcatraz During a press conference following his visit to a Florida detention center built deep in the Everglades — a location chosen for its outright hostility to human life — Trump was asked by a reporter how long he expected detainees to be held in the center before being deported. The president instead responded with a bizarre rant about how he would be spending plenty of time in Florida, how much he loved the state, and how nice it was for the reporter to think of him. 'This is my home state. I love it. I love your government. I love all the people around, these are all friends of mine,' Trump said. 'I feel very comfortable in the state. I'll spend a lot of time here.' The president added that he had a 'very nice little place, nice little cottage,' in Palm Beach — a reference to his Mar-a-Lago luxury golf club. He then bemoaned that many people were leaving cities like New York to come to places like Palm Beach and states like Florida. 'But thank you very much. I'll be here as much as I can — very nice question,' he concluded, leaving the actual question unanswered and the room confused. Trump rambles about trophy wives and yachts during West Point commencement During a commencement address at the West Point, Trump advised graduates of the prestigious military college not to marry a trophy wife. In the middle of a bizarre tangent about William Levitt — a man who made boatloads of cash pioneering the American suburb — Trump lamented that Levitt's second marriage didn't work out so well. 'Could you say a trophy wife? I guess we can say a trophy wife. It didn't work out too well,' the president rambled, perhaps amid a series of flashbacks to his own marriages. 'But it doesn't work out too well, I must tell you. A lot of trophy wives, [it] doesn't work out, but it made him happy for a little while, at least.' 'But he found a new wife,' Trump continued. 'He sold his little boat. You got a big yacht. He had one of the biggest yachts anywhere in the world. He moved for time to Monte Carlo, and he led a good life.' Trump told the same story during a separate commencement speech at the University of Alabama, discussing Levitt's marital disappointments and advising graduates that they 'have to know when your 'momentum time' is up — I call it 'momentum time.'' Unfortunately, for both the young and the elderly, taking one's own advice can often be the hardest lesson to learn. More from Rolling Stone Israel Seizes Aid Flotilla Bringing Baby Formula, Medicine to Gaza Oklahoma's Trump-Loving, Bible-Thumping Superintendent Faces Porn Probe The Democratic Party's Brand Is Cooked Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
Russia Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
‘Corrupt' Ukraine cannot be trusted – ex-Trump advisor
Kiev's recent crackdown on anti-corruption agencies is yet more proof that Ukrainian leaders are leaning towards authoritarianism and 'cannot be trusted,' Steve Cortes, a former advisor to US President Donald Trump, has said. Earlier this month, Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky moved to place the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) under executive oversight – which would essentially strip them of any independence – while claiming the agencies were under Russian influence. The move, however, prompted mass protests at home and Western criticism, with EU officials warning that they could reconsider further aid to Kiev. In an op-ed for Newsweek on Friday, Cortes, who is now the president of the League of American Workers advocacy group, described the crackdown as 'an extra-judicial attack on decency.' 'This raid reeks – and it smells like gangsterism, not democracy.' The move by Zelensky, reportedly backed by his chief of staff, Andrey Yermak – whom Cortes described as 'co-president' – shows that they 'act in very authoritarian ways themselves – and increasingly reveal to the world that they are not transparent, reliable partners for the United States.' Cortes went on to accuse Kiev of entrenched high-level corruption and argued that continued US aid is unjustified. 'It is no wonder that Americans increasingly realize that sending $175 billion of borrowed money to corrupt leaders in Ukraine is just not sound policy,' he wrote. 'Sending mountains of borrowed funds to kleptocrats actually harms America's national security, all while making our country poorer,' he said while urging Americans to stop lionizing Zelensky and comprehend the reality of Ukraine's corruption. The American people have been unbelievably generous, but our patience is wearing thin... In this case, given the latest tactics and optics of the Zelensky/Yermak regime, it becomes ever clearer that these counterparts cannot be trusted. Following domestic and international backlash, Zelensky backpedaled on the crackdown, proposing that the independence of Ukraine's anti-graft institutions be restored. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova suggested that neither NABU nor SAPO is really fighting corruption but rather are used by Kiev's backers as tools 'to control the flow of money coming to Ukraine from the West.'
Fox News
5 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Trump needs to be 'stopped' before he seizes news outlets and sells them to cronies, fired ABC journalist says
Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran worried Tuesday that the U.S. will soon lose its free press if President Donald Trump is not "stopped." Moran, who was fired in June from the network where he worked for almost 28 years after posting a scathing social media rant against Trump and White House aide Stephen Miller, discussed the state of the media with former MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Substack. Lamenting the recent CBS/Paramount settlement with Trump, and other media shakeups, Matthews worried about the implications of media outlets caving to the president's demands. "Is this going to keep going?" Matthews asked. "Or is he going to keep going from network to network, to newspaper to newspaper?… Are they willing to be what they've been or are they just going to keep groveling?" Moran made a bold prediction that there will be no independent news in the U.S. because media organizations will have their power stripped from them by the current administration. "I think they're going to, at some point, get rid of the news divisions, is my prediction," he told Matthews. "It will either be stripped from them—look, unless Trump is stopped, there's a playbook here. You see it in all the authoritarian countries." "[Viktor] Orban did it, [Vladimir] Putin did it in Russia and the Law and Justice Party in Poland — they stripped the media, the news operations away from independent corporations that will stand up and they sell them to their cronies," he continued. Moran then brought up the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigating ABC News over debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis's fact-checking of Trump during the 2024 presidential debate that he said favored his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. "Muir did nothing wrong, but because, you know, the law that governs these news operations and networks is that they have to operate in the public interest as defined by the Trump administration," he warned. "At some point, they will find a reason to strip the ownership of these things from the corporations that now own them and sell them to their cronies, unless someone stops them." The White House did not immediately return Fox News Digital's request for comment. Shortly after leaving ABC, Moran said that it was not a journalist's job to be "objective." "My own feeling is that you don't sacrifice your citizenship as a journalist. Your job is not to be objective," he told The Bulwark's Tim Miller in a Substack interview in June. "There is no Mount Olympus of objectivity where a Mandarin class of wise people have no feelings about their society," he continued. "We're all in this together. What you have to be is fair and accurate."
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Tunisians protest against President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule on July 25 anniversary
TUNIS, Tunisia — Tunisians took to the streets Friday to protest President Kais Saied , marking four years since he made moves to consolidate his one-man rule in a country once known as the birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings. On July 25, 2021, Saied suspended parliament, dismissed his prime minister and invoked a state of emergency to begin ruling by decree. Though some cheered his efforts, critics called the moves a coup and said the events marked the beginning of Tunisia's descent toward authoritarianism.
