The Origins of Totalitarianism Redux

“Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it.” – Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

“One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a question of motive.” – Ibid.

“Under the most diverse conditions and disparate circumstances, we watch the development of the same phenomena—homelessness on an unprecedented scale, rootlessness to an unprecedented depth.” – Ibid.

“To them, violence, power, cruelty, were the supreme capacities of men who had definitely lost their place in the universe and were much too proud to long for a power theory that would safely bring them back and reintegrate them into the world. They were satisfied with blind partisanship in anything that respectable society had banned, regardless of theory or content, and they elevated cruelty to a major virtue because it contradicted society’s humanitarian and liberal hypocrisy.” – Ibid.

New York’s Attorney General Highlights Trump’s Shaky and Shady Foundations: New York’s attorney general Barbara Underwood chose Thursday, President Trump’s birthday, to file a 41-page lawsuit against the Trump Foundation and its Board of Directors (the president and three of his adult children, Don, Jr., Ivanka, and Eric). The suit is based on information gleaned from a two-year investigation started by Underwood’s predecessor, Eric Schneiderman. Enumerated in the petition is a number of alleged violations of law related to non-profit organizations dating back over ten years. Among the charges are that Trump illegally instructed the foundation to provide support to his presidential campaign by using the foundation’s name, and funds it raised, to promote the campaign. Further, it is alleged that Trump used the foundation’s charitable assets to pay off legal obligations, including $100,000 to settle claims against his Mar-A-Lago resort, $158,000 to settle claims against one of his golf clubs, and $10,000 to purchase a painting of himself to hang at another of his golf clubs.

Underwood said in a statement the investigation had revealed that the foundation was “little more than an empty shell that functions with no oversight by its board of directors.” Trump was the sole signatory on the foundation’s bank accounts and approved all of its grants. His $10,000 purchase of the self-portrait was just one of “at least five self-dealing transactions” that violate tax regulations on non-profit charities. Also, boards of directors are legally required to meet at least once annually; the Trump Foundation board had not met since 1999, and the directors did not oversee the foundation’s activities “in any way.” The lawsuit asks the court to dissolve the foundation, and order it to pay $2.8 million in restitution. The attorney general also seeks to bar the president, Don, Jr., Ivanka, and Eric from serving on the board of any New York-based charity “in light of misconduct and total lack of oversight.”

The Trump Foundation issued a statement denying the “politically motivated” charges and accusing the attorney general of holding its $1.7 million in remaining funds “hostage for political gain.” The president hit back on Twitter, calling the charges “ridiculous” and saying that “sleazy New York Democrats” were “doing everything they can to sue me.” (Underwood is a Democrat.) Trump vowed he would not settle the case.

– German Chancellor Angela Merkel is between a rock and a hard place. The future of her alliance with the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) and her Christian Democratic Union, CSU’s sister party, is at stake over the growing “how we really feel about migrants” divide. Merkel is facing increasing criticism of her 2015 open-door immigration policy, which has fueled the rise of the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. She told reporters on Wednesday it was vital that Europe have a unified immigration policy. But Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, a top CSU leader, says Germany should ally itself with Austria, which is governed by a right-wing coalition, and come up with much tougher migration and security policies. (Reuters)

– America has spent $8.6 billion since 2001 on anti-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan.But last year poppy cultivation in that country hit a record high; enough product was grown to make 900 tons of export-quality heroin. According to a new study by the office of the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction (Sigar), no program by the US, the Afghans, or by coalition partners had succeeded in causing lasting reductions in poppy or opium production. Quoting the special inspector general himself: “To put it bluntly, these numbers spell failure, and the outlook is not encouraging.” (The Guardian)

– It might have been meant as a joke at the time, but ten years later officials are still po’d at the elite Australian Special Forces troops who were photographed in 2007 flying a Nazi flag from a Land Rover Long Range Patrol Vehicle somewhere in Afghanistan. In fact, Australia’s defense forces inspector general is about to finalize a two-year investigation of the Special Forces’ secretive culture, which allegedly includes illegal killings. (CBS News)

– On Thursday, the first nationwide survey on gender-based violence was released in Mongolia. 31% of women say they have been subjected to sexual or physical violence by their partner, and 14% say they have been subjected to sexual violence by a non-partner, which is twice as high as the estimated world average and higher than almost anywhere else in Asia. But the #metoo movement is growing. After years of lobbying by activists and female lawmakers, the country finally made domestic violence a crime in 2016. (The Guardian)

– Didi Chuxing is the Chinese Uber. Didi is one of China’s most successful and valuable startups, or it was, until the shocking murder in early May of a female passenger by a Didi driver made headlines across the country. So Didi execs came up with a new rule designed to protect women: male drivers cannot pick up female passengers after-hours. Great, right? Wait. Turns out 90% of Didi drivers are men. So are women wanting to use the car-pooling service just supposed to stand around half the night until a female driver happens by? We’re not sure you guys thought this all the way through. (NYT)

– The bigger they are…the bolder the scandal. Last month, Malaysian voters ousted their prime minister, Najib Razak, who is accused of diverting $4.5 billion from a state investment fund he created in 2009 into the bank accounts of himself, his family, and his friends. Venerable Wall Street financial services giant Goldman Sachs helped him do it. Investigators say Goldman helped the investment fund — called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB — raise $6.5 billion in 2012 and 2013 through bond sales. $2.5 billion of that money was then diverted to senior officials for their personal gain while the bank pocketed $600 million in fees for its work selling the bonds. Goldman says it was “unaware of any wrongdoing,” but Malaysia’s new finance minister has every intention of getting some of that money back. (NYT)

Investigating the Investigation: On Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz released the results of his highly anticipated, 17-month-long investigation into how the FBI and James Comey handled Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Horowitz said: “This report did not find any evidence of political bias or improper considerations actually impacting the investigation under review.” However, he was much more critical of: 1) FBI officials involved in the case sending each other messages on their FBI devices “‘that created the appearance’ of political bias”; and 2) then-FBI director James Comey’s public statements about the Clinton email case, specifically, Comey’s July 2016 decision to publicly announce that he wouldn’t recommend any charges, and then his October 2016 decision to tell Congress about new emails that had been found. (CNN and Vox)

The Republican Party is Trump’s Party: Donald Trump has transformed the Republican Party; it is now the Party of Trump, and its politicians cross him at their peril, as Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina found out the hard way this week. Sanford has as conservative a voting record as anyone could imagine, but not appropriately prostrating himself before the president led to Tuesday’s surprising primary defeat. Trump wields so much power over the party that Republican lawmakers must bind themselves even closer to him in the midterms, and whatever they do, they must not second guess Trump’s impulsive policymaking, or criticize his personal conduct and use of executive power. (NYT)

• The Stanford Prison Experiment was massively influential. We just learned it was a fraud. The most famous psychological studies are often wrong, fraudulent, or outdated. Textbooks need to catch up. (Vox)
• Forty-Five Things I Learned in the Gulag (The Paris Review)
• These 40 Powerful Life Lessons Can Immediately Change the Rest of Your Life (Inc.)
• Click ‘Delete’ to Save Your Soul (NYT)
• Democrats pounce on Trump trade war in midterms. The president’s planned tariffs are making Republican candidates choose between their party leader and free-trade beliefs. (Politico)
• A New Ark: What the marsh Arabs can teach us about Noah’s flood. (Lapham’s Quarterly)
• How Christians Destroyed the Ancient World (NYT)
• As a Trade War With China Looms, the Fed’s Powell Did Not Sound Worried(NYT)
• Dealing With Impostor Syndrome When You’re Treated as an Impostor. Impostor syndrome is not a unique feeling, but some researchers believe it hits minority groups harder. (NYT)
• Why the old way of parenting no longer works (CNN)

“Men have been found to resist the most powerful monarchs and to refuse to bow down before them, but few indeed have been found to resist the crowd, to stand up alone before misguided masses, to face their implacable frenzy without weapons and with folded arms to dare a no when a yes is demanded.” – Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

Please consider making a one-time donation to Daily Pnut, an independently operated and bootstrapped publication, via PayPal. Many thanks to everyone who already supports us!