Welcome to 1933

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Donald Trump is sworn in as president today.

Welcome to 1933.

That’s the year Adolf Hitler came to power. I’m not saying Trump will be another Hitler, but there are eerie parallels to their respective routes to power that should not be ignored.

Trump’s more contemporary prototype is Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, termed “the ultimate twenty-first-century dictator.”   

An op-ed in last week’s New York Times described Orbán’s playbook:

In a second term, Mr. Trump’s actions may be even more dangerous because he is now following the playbook created by Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, who after losing and then regaining office moved his country from a democracy into an “illiberal state,” as he put it. It was one of the faster collapses of a robust democracy on record.

As we have seen in other democracies, autocracy is not built out of the whims of a leader but becomes entrenched only when it has been certified by legalism — exploiting legal means to serve autocratic ends. After Mr. Orban paid his third visit of 2024 to Mar-a-Lago in early December and after revelations that his people were involved in influencing policy in Mr. Trump’s second term, Mr. Trump’s affinity for the Orban playbook should not be surprising.

Mr. Orban used law as a weapon against Hungarian democracy. When he came to power in 2010, he unleashed a pack of laws designed to bring the courts to heel and to scare the media and political opposition into submission. He consolidated power in an ever-expanding Office of the Prime Minister, bypassing his cabinet and giving orders directly to the bureaucracy, which he had reconstructed by changing the civil service law to fire those who were not already on his team and elevate allies to key positions. His rise to power was accompanied by the aggressive use of libel actions to drain the resources of critics and to chill the aspirations of new challengers. He packed the courts with loyalists.

Mr. Trump promises to do much the same, including through his embrace of Project 2025 ideas and their proponents, many of whom are populating his administration.

Given Trump’s compulsive lying and the media ecosystem that amplifies the nonsense generated from the right, it’s important that people turn to reliable news outlets to track what’s going on. Now is not the time to tune out.

Here’s what I recommend:

• The New York Times, which unlike The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times is not owned by a billionaire intent to align with Trump and the right to protect his other business interests.
• The Guardian, which, like The Times, can be trusted to be independent.
• ProPublica, the nonprofit investigative center that does excellent work which  Investigative Post sometimes republishes.  
• The Washington Post, which, despite its recent decline under the influence of owner Jeff Bezos, still has a lot of top-flight reporters.
• Politico, a solid source of political reporting.
• The Atlantic Magazine, which consistently produces smart political coverage.
• The Intercept, which can be counted on to delve into stories most mainstream outlets dare not to tread.
• There are a number of individual reporters and analysts worth following, starting with Margaret Sullivan, who writes for The Guardian and Substack. She recently suggested others to follow.
• In terms of daily email newsletters, I’m a big fan of Muck Rack. It’s geared towards journalists, but good for anyone who pays attention to the news. 

Social media? Only if you’re diligent curating your feed.

Corporate America is backing off from diversity and inclusion programs. Axios names names. They include Amazon, McDonald’s, Walmart, Ford and Meta (Facebook/Instagram).

No one bets on sports online more than New Yorkers. It’s not even close, New York Focus reports. Nearly $58 billion in the three years since legalized in the state.

Reinvent Albany offers suggestions on how New York can cut back on corporate welfare. Who could be opposed to ending tax breaks for yachts and private jets?

Book report: If you like browsing in bookstores, The Bookshop: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss is an enjoyable read. Independent bookstores were all but left for dead not that long ago, but have rebounded of late. (Please don’t buy the book on Amazon.) My favorite local independent bookstores include Talking Leaves, Burning Books and Fitz Books.

Jim Heaney