United States on the Path from a Flawed Democracy to a Flawed Autocracy

«A presenter on CBS’s “60 Minutes”, America’s premier current-affairs programme, told viewers that Paramount, CBS’s owner, was supervising its content and that the show’s top producer had resigned because he felt he had lost his independence. None of its stories has been pulled, but speculation has swirled that Paramount wants to ensure its merger with Skydance Media won’t be torpedoed by the Trump administration because of its networks’ political coverage. Meanwhile, Paramount was reportedly ready to settle a lawsuit brought by Mr Trump that accuses CBS News of underhandedly editing an interview with Kamala Harris, Mr Trump’s Democratic opponent last year.»

«In a sign of the White House’s sensitivity to the public’s scepticism on tariffs, Mr Trump’s press secretary described Amazon’s reported plan to display the cost of import duties against products on its website as a “hostile and political” act. We have no such plans, Amazon hastily responded. Mr Trump called Jeff Bezos to smooth things over. He “solved the problem very quickly”, said the president. “He did the right thing. Good guy.”»

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Trumpism is a form of Max Weber's patrimonialism