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I don’t think Richard Nixon even comes close to the level of corruption we already know about Trump.
— Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean, in an interview with The Atlantic.
40%
Donald Trump will become president Friday with an approval rating of just 40%, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll, the lowest of any recent president and 44 points below that of President Obama. “Following a tumultuous transition period, approval ratings for Trump’s handling of the transition are more than 20 points below those for any of his three most recent predecessors. Obama took the oath in 2009 with an 84% approval rating, 67% approved of Clinton’s transition as of late December 1992 and 61% approved of George W. Bush’s transition just before he took office in January 2001.”
52%
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that 52% of those surveyed say Donald Trump’s decision to hand over control of his businesses to his adult sons and another executive “is enough” to separate his business interests from his obligations as president. A somewhat smaller share, 42%, say Trump should sell his businesses outright. However, Trump’s continued refusal to release his tax returns continues to be an unpopular decision, with 74% of Americans saying he should make the documents public, including 53% of Republicans.
To Trump’s many self-assigned superlatives, he can now add another: the sorest winner. With charity for none and with malice toward all but his supporters, he has in the past two months set a new standard for gracelessness in victory.
The new U.S. president will be operating on a very weak political foundation, is very unlikely to be able to deliver the results he has promised to key constituencies, and seems likely to take dangerous gambles in the international arena. This makes it probable that a cycle of growing disillusion, disappointment and disapproval will set in within a year.
Journalists are in for the fight of their lives. And they are going to have to be better than ever before, just to do their jobs. They will need to work together, be prepared for legal persecution, toughen up for punishing attacks and figure out new ways to uncover and present the truth. Even so — if the past really is prologue — that may not be enough.
8
Number of white men who own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population,“Inequality is so stark that a small group of men own the same wealth as half the world, say campaigners ahead of the high-profile World Economic Forum in Davos,” Sky News reports. “According to research by Oxfam, the eight billionaires, including Bill Gates who tops the list, have riches equivalent to the wealth of the world’s 3.6 billion poorest people.”
