DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

The credible data that exists on crimes motivated by conspiracy theories shows a disturbing increase. Many of those charged said they had bought into Trump’s conspiracy theories about a stolen election. “Lies, lies lies: They're lying to you over and over and over again,” said Steve Girard, a Pennsylvania man who has protested the incarceration of Jan. 6 defendants. While they may have taken on a bigger role in our politics, surveys show that belief in conspiracy theories hasn't changed much over the years, according to Joe Uscinski, a University of Miami professor and an expert on the history of conspiracy theories. Russia has amplified numerous anti-U.S. conspiracy theories, including ones claiming the U.S. runs secret germ warfare labs and created HIV as a bioweapon, as well as conspiracy theories accusing Ukraine of being a Nazi state.

Persons: ”, Nash, Melissa Sell, Sell, Elon Musk, There's, Evan Hansen, Wired.com, Musk, It’s, ” Hansen, Donald Trump, Trump, Mark Milley, Milley, Laws, Vince Lynch, Lynch, Danielle Citron, Sandy, —, Alex Jones, Sandy Hook, Hillary Clinton, chemtrails, “, hospitalizations, Robert Palmer, they're, Steve Girard, Jan, hasn't, Joe Uscinski, ” Uscinski, “ Jan, Tom Fishman Organizations: WASHINGTON, U.S ., United, Big Tech, Meta, Facebook, titans, Army, University of Maryland’s National Consortium, University of Virginia School of Law, Sandy Hook Elementary, CNN, FBI, Capitol, The Associated Press, Trump, University of Miami, Twitter, United States, U.S, . Locations: Maui, Chile, America, United States, Pennsylvania, U.S, Israel, Newtown , Connecticut, Florida, California, Wisconsin, Washington, Russia, China, Iran, Ukraine, Nazi

☆ A second Trump term ‘poses a threat to the existence of America as we know it,’ says The Atlantic’s top editor
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

“We can’t participate in the normalization of Donald Trump,” an impassioned Goldberg told me by phone on Monday. On Monday, The Atlantic published a special edition of its monthly magazine focusing on what a second Trump term would look like. “And I believe that a second Trump term poses a threat to the existence of America as we know it.”It is not difficult for newsrooms to state that they are pro-democracy. That is why I am comfortable devoting an entire issue of answering the question of what a second Trump term would look like and reaching the conclusion that it would be terrible. But, he warned, a second Trump presidency could be even worse for the press.

Persons: CNN — Jeffrey Goldberg, Donald Trump, ”, Goldberg, “, ” Goldberg, Trump, …, It’s “, Donald Trump fomented, There’s, American servicemembers, John Kelly, Jake Tapper, “ There’s Organizations: CNN, The, U.S, U.S . Constitution, Trump, Democrats, Constitution, White House Locations: U.S ., America, American

☆ Elon Musk’s quest in foreign affairs plagued by his own online behavior
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Washington CNN —Elon Musk is an increasingly important player in global affairs and has been touring the world to meet with political leaders in recent months. “We can observe Elon Musk’s Twitter/X activity that he regularly consumes right-wing content and this increased during COVID-19,” Facciani said in an email. More recently, however, Musk’s ambitions have come a bit closer to earth and become far more concrete. There are many world leaders who hold extreme or far-right views, of course. Musk’s outbursts that contradict widely held international norms and values are meant for a specific internet audience that Musk mistakes for being representative of the wider world.

Persons: Washington CNN — Elon Musk, White supremacists, Musk, Benjamin Netanyahu, It’s, George Soros, Netanyahu, Matthew Facciani, “, Elon, ” Facciani, Vladimir Putin, Rishi Sunak, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he’s, Ron DeSantis ’, Robert Kennedy Jr, ’, ” Musk, ”, reactionism Organizations: Washington CNN, Defamation League, Whites, White, The University of Notre Dame, Twitter, UK, Florida Republican Gov, United States Locations: Israel, Gaza, COVID, Ukraine, Crimea, Washington, United, Russia

☆ Opinion | Why Trump Represents a ‘Trifecta of Danger’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

I asked some of those who first warned about the dangers Trump poses what their views are now. At times it seems as if he cannot control himself or his hateful speech. We need to wonder if these are the precursors of a major deterioration in his character defenses. In recent months, Trump has continued to add to the portrait Glass paints of him. At the California Republican Convention on Sept. 29, Trump told the gathering that under his administration shoplifters will be subject to extrajudicial execution: “We will immediately stop all the pillaging and theft.

Persons: Leonard L, Glass, Trump, Hitler, remorseless Trump, ” Trump, Joe Biden, Trump’s, Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey, Devlin Barrett, John F, Kelly, William P, Barr, Ty Cobb, Mark, ” Organizations: Harvard Medical School, Democrats, California Republican, Claremont, White, The Washington Post, Justice Department, Joint Chiefs Locations: Waco , Texas, California, Claremont N.H, America, The

He said he would ask Congress on Friday for a combined security funding package – described at being around $100 billion for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the U.S.-Mexico border – to help Ukraine and Israel defend themselves. Biden warned that Putin would not stop there, perhaps moving to Poland or another NATO nation and escalating the conflict. NATO's charter says that if one member nation is attacked, all of NATO will come to that member's aid. Biden called for unity in the United States, including an intolerance for both antisemitism and Islamophobia in the wake of the Hamas attack. But he said it was imperative that the United States take the lead during the separate crises he said were related by the common theme of defending democracy and the dignity of people.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Vladimir Putin's, ” Biden, Israel –, – Biden, Putin, Israel, grousing Organizations: NATO, West Bank, Hill, Israel, Republicans Locations: United States, U.S, Ukraine, Israel, America, Taiwan, Mexico, Poland, Gaza, Hamas

WASHINGTON (AP) — This probably wasn't how President Joe Biden envisioned his big foreign policy week ending. Biden on Thursday hosted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. "There’s no alternative.”Biden has stepped up his attacks on Trump's foreign policy record, casting the former president and his close Republican allies as lackeys for Russian President Vladimir Putin. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday said the U.S. has had and will continue to have “high-level” contact with New Delhi on the matter. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment Friday on the indictment.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, Donald Trump, Sen, Bob Menendez, Menendez, ”, Ross Baker, “, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Zelenskyy, ” Biden, Vladimir Putin, Putin, I’ve, Hardeep Singh, Justin Trudeau, Jake Sullivan, Narendra Modi, Richard Rossow, Karine Jean, Pierre, hasn't, Nicolás Maduro's, Barack, Trump, John Feeley, Feeley, Joshua Goodman Organizations: WASHINGTON, General Assembly, Republican, Ukraine, Senate Foreign Relations, Senate Democratic, Rutgers University, White, Capitol, Republican Party, Trump, United States Congress, Vancouver . Canadian, Nijjar, House, Indian, U.S ., Center for Strategic, Independent Studies, Biden, Associated Press Locations: Canada, India, Ukraine, Russian, New Jersey, U.S, United States, Russia, New York City, Vancouver, Ottawa, New Delhi, China, Washington, Caracas, Iran, America, Havana, Nicaragua, Panama, Miami

Neither President Biden nor former President Trump are leading their party to confront them," Romney said in his statement. Donald Trump calls global warming a hoax and President Biden offers feel-good solutions that will make no difference to the global climate. On China, President Biden underinvests in the military and President Trump underinvests in our alliances. Romney, his party's 2012 candidate for president, voted twice to convict Trump in the Senate after the House twice impeached the former president. When Romney was governor, he would speak often with Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy – the man Romney unsuccessfully challenged for a Senate seat – to discuss Massachusetts priorities.

Persons: Donald Trump, Sen, Mitt Romney, Romney, he'd, –, Joe Biden, Biden, Trump, Biden underinvests, Trump underinvests, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, ” Romney, Democratic Sen, Ted Kennedy –, Kevin McCarthy of, “, we’re, ” Sen, Steve Daines Organizations: Republicans, Republican, Trump, Washington, Democratic, GOP, Senate, Biden, Democrat, Utah, National Republican Senatorial Locations: Utah, Democratic, Massachusetts, Russia, China, Congress, Kevin McCarthy of California, Montana

☆ A Nicaraguan Novelist Betrayed by the Revolution He Helped Build
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( Benjamin P. Russell | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Sergio Ramírez has been forced into exile twice; once for his role in a revolution and once after writing, in a work of fiction, about what that revolution became. “When it comes to suppressing freedom and exercising absolute power, the distance between left and right is erased,” Ramírez said. “They want the same things.”It’s not hard to see why authoritarians of varying stripes might want Ramírez to just go away. Ramírez was an intellectual leader of the Nicaraguan revolution that ousted the right wing dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979. He is also the prizewinning author of dozens of novels, short story collections and works of nonfiction.

Persons: Sergio Ramírez, he’s, ” Ramírez, “, ” It’s, Ramírez, Anastasio Somoza Organizations: Sandinista National Liberation Front Locations: Nicaraguan

☆ Afghanistan has always been at the mercy of would-be liberators - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-30 | by ( Sola Mahfouz | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In America, I thought that I would finally learn what freedom really was, and I did feel free at first. Former President Donald Trump has attacked and incited violence against some of the foundations of American freedom — the press, Congress, truth itself. We should ask ourselves: Are we really free, or do we live in someone else’s idea of freedom, one driven by religious or nationalist myths? I feel more like an observer of American freedom than a true participant. I will only truly feel free when I can do in Afghanistan the same things that I can do in America.

Persons: it’s, Donald Trump Organizations: Taliban Locations: America, Afghanistan

☆ Opinion | Can Liberalism Save Itself?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Samuel Moyn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Yet just a few years later, Cold War liberalism emerged as a rejection of the optimism that flourished before the mid-20th century’s crises. This was a liberalism of fear, as another Cold War liberal intellectual, the Harvard professor Judith Shklar, said. In a way, fear was understandable: Liberalism had enemies. The Cold War changed all that. “We must be aware of the dangers which lie in our most generous wishes,” the Columbia professor and Cold War liberal Lionel Trilling explained.

Persons: Isaiah Berlin, Judith Shklar, Robert Oppenheimer, ” Frustratingly, Alexis de Tocqueville, John Stuart Mill, Bernie Sanders, Lionel Trilling Organizations: Communist, Oxford, Communists Locations: China, Eastern Europe, overreact, America, Soviet Union, French, Columbia

☆ With the Latest Trump Indictment, Mind These Lessons From the South - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Anthony Michael Kreis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

With her sweeping indictment of former President Donald Trump and over a dozen co-conspirators, the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney Fani Willis is now set to prosecute her case in a court of law. The indictment should be situated in the broader arc of American political development, particularly in the South. That history justifies using the criminal justice system to protect the democratic process in Georgia — a critical swing state — for elections now and in the future. The period after the American Civil War entrenched many of America’s political ills. Suffering minimal political disabilities, they could muster enough power to “redeem” Southern governments from biracial coalitions that had considerable sway to remake the South.

Persons: Donald Trump, Fani Willis Locations: Fulton County ,, Georgia

☆ Opinion | Does Free Speech Protect Trump’s Election Lies?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

But, Hasen argued:“Trump did not just state the false claims; he allegedly used the false claims to engage in a conspiracy to steal the election. There is no First Amendment right to use speech to subvert an election, any more than there is a First Amendment right to use speech to bribe, threaten, or intimidate.”Francesca Procaccini, a law professor at Vanderbilt, shares the view that in the contemporary political environment, there needs to be more regulation of speech. In an email, she wrote:The left is split on how to respond to misinformation precisely because the left is historically committed to free speech and also to uplifting marginalized voices. Now, many on the left have increasingly come to understand that speech itself (whether false speech or hate speech) is also detrimental to marginalized communities. It concluded that “states and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees (partial union dues) from nonconsenting employees.”

Persons: Hasen, Trump Will, ” Hasen, Jack Smith, Donald Trump, Trump, “ Trump, ” Francesca Procaccini, ” Procaccini, “, ”, ” Catherine MacKinnon, ” MacKinnon, misogynists, MacKinnon, Elena Kagan Organizations: “, Trump, Vanderbilt, Citizens, University of Michigan, . State, Municipal Employees Locations: “ U.S, Janus, ., County

☆ On Anti-Trumpers and the Modern Meritocracy - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-02 | by ( David Brooks | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Yet he is utterly dominating his Republican rivals in the polls, and he is tied with Joe Biden in the general election surveys. Trump’s poll numbers are stronger against Biden now than at any time in 2020. But if you are a person of color, a woman who values gender equality or an L.G.B.T. I doubt it.”In this story we anti-Trumpers are the good guys, the forces of progress and enlightenment. I ask you to try on a vantage point in which we anti-Trumpers are not the eternal good guys.

Persons: Donald Trump, Joe Biden, What’s, Marc Hetherington, Thomas B, Edsall, it’s Organizations: Republican, Biden, University of North, Republicans, Trump Locations: University of North Carolina

☆ Washington's AI discussions are focused on beating China as part of a new Cold War, says Marc Andreessen
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-24 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

AI is shaping up to be a new Cold War with China, according to Marc Andreessen. The Silicon Valley veteran discussed US policymakers' plans on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast. Washington's leaders are determined that the US will beat China in a global race to dominate AI as a new Cold War takes shape, according to Marc Andreessen. Andreessen added that Washington's policymakers said not only do they need "American AI to succeed," but that they need to "beat the Chinese." Andreessen said Beijing's leaders "view AI as a way to achieve population control" because "they're authoritarians."

Persons: Marc Andreessen, Joe Rogan, a16z, Andreessen, Elon Musk Organizations: Silicon, China, Google, Microsoft, Meta, White, Representatives Locations: China, it's, Washington

☆ Cambodia leader Hun Sen is set to win another one-sided election
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-21 | by ( Heather Chen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

“The July 23 election is just a day for Hun Sen to impose (his choices) onto the Cambodian people,” she said. A former Khmer Rouge commander who switched sides, Hun Sen has ruled Cambodia for nearly four decades. But in more recent years Hun Sen has turned increasingly autocratic – quashing dissent and jailing critics, forcing many to flee overseas. ‘Future prime minister’Political watchers say this Cambodian election will set the stage for Hun Sen’s transition of power to his son Hun Manet. Hun Manet walks past an honour guard during a military ceremony in Phnom Penh on June 18, 2020.

Persons: Cambodia’s, Hun Sen, –, crackdowns, Hun Sen’s, ”, Mu Sochua, “, …, Bridget Welsh, “ Hun Sen, ” Kenneth Roth, Hun Manet, Tang Chin Sothy, Welsh, ” Hun Manet, Markus Karbaum, ” Karbaum, Phil Robertson, Sam Rainsy, CHARLY TWO, Rainsy, Hun, ” Rainsy, “ I’ve Organizations: CNN, Voters, Cambodian People’s Party, “, Women, Veterans ’ Affairs, ” CNN, Human Rights, ‘, Cambodian, US Military Academy, West, New York University, University of Bristol, Getty, Cambodian People's Party, Cambodian National Rescue Party, Party, Human Rights Watch, Facebook, Reuters Locations: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Cambodian, Cambodia, Khmer, China, Phnom Penh, AFP, ”, Sunday’s, Asia

☆ How Serious is No Labels? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Katherine Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

No Labels is this last refuge, a resting place inside and outside the two parties and a half-finished Washington dreamscape. This fact is the firm but vibrating floor beneath the No Labels project and the panic it has produced — the recognition that we’re approaching a 2024 election that will make American voters unhappy. Unhappy enough to vote for a mystery unity ticket, only on the principle of their unhappiness? I don’t know that the electoral effects of No Labels are as clear as people say. And No Labels is here to take advantage of that sadness with a half-finished idea.

Persons: Brad Schneider of, “, Brad Schneider, ”, Huntsman, I’ve, They’re, That’s, ’, ‘ I’ve, there’s, Manchin, Larry Hogan, Biden Organizations: U.S . Rep, Washington dreamscape, Republican, Republican Party, Biden, Trump, Mr Locations: Brad Schneider of Illinois, China, Russia, New Hampshire, Atlanta, Colorado, Maryland, America

☆ Exclusive: Video-sharing website BitChute seeks to raise $10 million in new funding round
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Helen Coster | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"I’m not really raising the money just because we need the money," Wernick said in an interview. Wernick said BitChute was pursuing a combination of high net-worth individuals and venture capital funds. He has an equity stake in BitChute and is also an investor in Parler, Gab, Airbnb (ABNB.O) and Uber (UBER.N). Its investor presentation said BitChute had 218 million unique visitors in 2022, down 15.8% from 2021, with a projection of 247 million unique visitors this year. Their longer-term goal is to “decentralize” BitChute, so that it is blockchain-based and users can decide whether to have content moderation.

Persons: Jeffrey Wernick, I’m, Wernick, BitChute, Patrick Dai, Matthew Branton, cofounders Ray Vahey, Rich Jones, ’, Helen Coster, Krystal Hu, Jane Merriman Organizations: YORK, Reuters, Inc, YouTube, Thomson Locations: BitChute, Parler, New York

☆ Opinion: Why Lindsey Graham was booed by a Trump rally crowd
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-03 | by ( Dean Obeidallah | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

But what GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham was subjected to at former President Donald Trump’s rally Saturday in Graham’s home state of South Carolina was far worse than I ever personally witnessed. However, Graham soon began to grasp that a large segment of this Trump crowd — some of whom were yelling “traitor” — was not kidding around. Later when Trump took the podium, he needled Graham, saying, “You know you can make mistakes on occasion,” adding, “Even Lindsey down here, Sen. Lindsey Graham.” When the crowd began to boo again, Trump “half-heartedly defended“ Graham, according to The Greenville (South Carolina) News. When Trump declared that everyone makes a “mistake,” including Graham, it appeared that the mistake was not being fully loyal to Trump. Trump supporters boo and heckle Graham during Saturday's campaign event for the former president in the senator's home state of South Carolina.

Persons: Dean Obeidallah, GOP Sen, Lindsey Graham, Donald Trump’s, Graham, ” —, ” Graham, “, Trump, President Trump, …, don’t, needled Graham, Lindsey, Sen, ”, boo, “ Graham, “ We’re, we’re, We’re, heckle Graham, Sean Rayford, —, Vladimir Putin, he’s, “ I’m, Jason Stanley, Facebook Stanley, ” Stanley, ‘, ’, Ruth Ben, “ Strongmen, Mussolini, Putin, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Ben, Ghiat Organizations: CNN, GOP, Trump, Fox News, ABC, Yale University, NPR, KCRW, Twitter, Facebook, ” New York University, Representatives, US Locations: Graham’s, South Carolina, Greenville, Manhattan, Pickens County , South Carolina

☆ Nvidia's chips fuel A.I. — here's why the U.S. worries about China's access
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Jensen Huang, president and CEO of Nvidia, speaks during the Computex Show in Taipei on May 30, 2017. Nvidia's powerful semiconductors have taken on particular importance as their capacity to fuel artificial intelligence has become increasingly sought after. That's why the Commerce Department is reportedly considering new limits on the export of such chips to China, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. Nvidia had already created a version of the A100, its popular AI chip, that it could sell to the Chinese market. But the new limits reportedly being considered by the Biden administration would restrict even those sales without a license.

Persons: Jensen Huang, what's, authoritarians, Eileen Donahoe, Biden Organizations: Nvidia, Human Rights Council, Stanford, Global, NBC, U.S, Commerce Department, Street Locations: Taipei, China, U.S

☆ Xi faces being humiliated by his 'no limits' friendship with Putin. But he can't back out of it now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

China's Xi Jinping has formed close ties with Vladimir Putin's regime in Russia. But the Wagner rebellion exposed that Putin's authority is shakier than Xi realised, an analyst told Insider. If Russia loses against Ukraine, Xi would face global humiliation. If there are further signs Putin's grip on power is weakening, and chaos could engulf Russia, Xi faces a tough choice. "It's unlikely that Xi will go out of his way to support Putin's regime if that entails significant risks to China itself.

Persons: China's, Jinping, Vladimir Putin's, Putin, Wagner, Xi, —, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Graeme Thompson, Moscow —, Thompson, Jonathan Ward, Ward Organizations: Service, Kremlin, Ukraine, Eurasia Group, Reuters, Atlas Group, Russia, West, Beijing Locations: Russia, Ukraine, China, Moscow, Taiwan, Beijing

☆ Opinion: Why Erdogan’s win isn’t all it seems
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Opinion Ruth Ben-Ghiat | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

In the run-up to the first round of voting, Erdogan’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, tellingly likened the election to the 2016 attempted coup. Off the back of Erdogan’s win, we can expect Turkey to draw even closer to Russia, which supplies more than one-third of its petroleum and oil products. So look for Erdogan to follow whatever geopolitical path benefits his Russian patron, including continued opposition to Sweden joining NATO. Erdogan’s economic policies have contributed to horrific inflation: over 80% in October, a 24-year record, and still at 44% last month. For all his bluster about modernizing Turkey, Erdogan has created an environment of fear, hostility and economic hardship.

☆ Ted Cruz ridiculed for saying smoking is a person's 'own damn choice' while celebrating abortion restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz tweeted Saturday that smoking is a person's "own damn choice." Twitter pointed out Cruz's hypocrisy, noting that he is against choice when it comes to abortion. "Personally, I don't smoke cigarettes, but if you choose to do so, it's your damn choice!" "Now do uteruses," Brian Taylor Cohen, a political commentator who hosts the "No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen" podcast, responded to the tweet. "When it comes to rape, rape is a horrific crime against the humanity of a person, and needs to be punished and punished severely," he said at the time, according to MSNBC.

☆ Opinion | Harlan Crow Is Not a Nazi, but That’s Beside the Point
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Jamelle Bouie | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Ben Shapiro is a right-wing media personality who does not appear to have any direct ties to Crow, but he defended him all the same. Harlan Crow, by his own testimony and according to his defenders, goes to get angry. I don’t think Crow is a Nazi or an admirer of dictators and authoritarians. But I don’t think we should take his explanation for his collection at face value either. A monument to Robert E. Lee stood for Robert E. Lee.

☆ Trump and his sons say his indictment makes the US like a 'third world' country, but plenty of other democracies have prosecuted ex-leaders
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Trump and his sons are decrying his indictment as a sign the US is now a "third world" country. But other democracies across the world have prosecuted, convicted, and even jailed former leaders. Trump's sons offered similar takes, portraying the charges against the former president as a political attack orchestrated by his opponents. Trump is the first former US president to be criminally charged, and his indictment comes amid a period of historic political polarization. The researchers said that in "mature democracies, prosecutions can hold leaders accountable and solidify the rule of law."

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The indictment of former U.S. President Donald Trump sends a "terrible message" to the world about American justice and will encourage dictators to abuse power, former Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday. Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivers remarks, in part addressing his opposition to a grand jury subpoena for testimony about efforts to overturn then-President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection loss, to the Coolidge Presidential Foundation conference at the Library of Congress in Washington, U.S. February 16, 2023. Trump, who is mounting a comeback bid for the presidency he lost in the 2020 election, was indicted on Thursday in New York. Pence has joined fellow Republicans and Trump's other potential 2024 rivals in condemning the indictment, calling it an "outrage." Reporting by Timothy Reid and Katharine Jackson; editing by Rami Ayyub and Jonathan OatisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Search resuls for: "authoritarians"

25 mentions found