Trump

The audacious autocrat who occupies the White House has achieved what was thought to be impossible. He has united the Hatfields and McCoys of the editorial world in opposition to his $1.776B slush fund to reward the loyalty of MAGA cult members.

The Wall Street Journal thundered that the “anti-weaponization fund” is a rotten deal that will entice the Jan. 6 rioters to apply for payouts. They’ll be eager to explain that they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and police officers suddenly began smashing their faces with their fists, noted the edit

If allowed to proceed, Trump’s settlement fund “is sure to become a highlight reel of Trump Administration payments to Mr. Trump’s friends and allies,” wrote the WSJ’s editorial board.

The New York Times editorial board questioned whether there has even been an episode of presidential corruption so blatant and threatening to constitutional order?

The fund is part of Trump’s political project of “destroying the pillars of American democracy to empower himself.”

It encourages future lawlessness on Trump’s behalf. The fund “sends the message that he will use his power not only to shield people who break the law from accountability but also to shower benefits on them,” noted the Times.

“Americans should be cleareyed about what the president is doing. He is taking their money and showering it on criminals.”

Trump’s blatant and in-your-face corruption sends the message that was scrawled on the back of Melania Trump’s jacket that she wore during a 2018 visit to a migrant child detection center: "I really don't care, do you?”

The president, who faces a supine Supreme Court and sycophantic Republican Congress, is going to grab whatever he can before he leaves DC.

Sign of these sorry political times. George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, which have worked to support justice and human rights throughout the world, will spend $300M in the US to promote economic security and civil liberties.

Laleh Ispahani, OSF’s US managing director, told the Guardian that the group’s efforts “matter most in places when democracy is under attack, when rights are being rolled back and peaceful dissent is being criminalized.”

The New York-based organization made the right decision to invest in democracy in the US before it's too late.

PR play of the week goes to Steven Rosenbaum, author of “The Future of Truth” which deals with the effects of AI on truth.

The nonfiction book contains more than a half-dozen misattributed or false quotes. Rosenbaum told the New York Times he didn’t deliberately set out to mislead readers and noted that he used AI tools ChatGPT and Claude during the research, writing and editing process.

In his statement, he said the misattributed and false quotes “serves as a warning about the risks of A.I.-assisted research and verification, that is why I wrote the book.”

The truth about AI: it’s not fully ready for primetime.