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5 years ago I started doing a segment at 6:45am on the Australian current affairs radio show @RNBreakfast about global news.
The point was to cover stuff that was breaking during the night. It was sometimes serious but often light, weird news. In mid-2016 it started changing.
The point was to cover stuff that was breaking during the night. It was sometimes serious but often light, weird news. In mid-2016 it started changing.
Donald Trump started to dominate it, as he was doing a shocking thing each night.
To make sure I could cover him and what he was doing to America each day at short notice I started a research project that I thought would take a few weeks. It’s now been going for 4 years.
To make sure I could cover him and what he was doing to America each day at short notice I started a research project that I thought would take a few weeks. It’s now been going for 4 years.
The result, apart from around 400 Trump-related segments on @RNBreakfast, is 44 episodes of the Russia/America, If You’re Listening podcast.
So, with 4 days until the US Election, here’s my list of 15 moments of the Trump era, (so far) which everyone should understand.
So, with 4 days until the US Election, here’s my list of 15 moments of the Trump era, (so far) which everyone should understand.
The first few are from before his election.
1. The Russian hack and dump operation. In hindsight, it is pure luck that it worked as well as it did. Had the Democratic candidate been anyone other than Hillary Clinton it would’ve been much less effective. https://abclisten.page.link/bzWSd6oHzaAC1CNx5
1. The Russian hack and dump operation. In hindsight, it is pure luck that it worked as well as it did. Had the Democratic candidate been anyone other than Hillary Clinton it would’ve been much less effective. https://abclisten.page.link/bzWSd6oHzaAC1CNx5
2. The Hush Money payment. In 2016 it seemed impossible that @MichaelCohen212 would ever turn on Trump. His prosecution for paying off women who said they’d had affairs with Trump would change that. https://abclisten.page.link/diXoiGas2bDULyBs7
This one straddles his election - and contributed to it.
3. The helping hand from, and firing, of James Comey. https://abclisten.page.link/QjXiv62tWBBdjhRQ9
3. The helping hand from, and firing, of James Comey. https://abclisten.page.link/QjXiv62tWBBdjhRQ9
The rest are decisions he made as president.
4. Hurricane Maria. The devastation of Puerto Rico taught Trump that if your management of a disaster begins to reflect badly on you, you need to lie about it. https://abclisten.page.link/YxjX8TsMqjSaaC2E7
4. Hurricane Maria. The devastation of Puerto Rico taught Trump that if your management of a disaster begins to reflect badly on you, you need to lie about it. https://abclisten.page.link/YxjX8TsMqjSaaC2E7
5. Trump’s response to the rally at Charlottesville and the subsequent rise in the influence of the Black Lives Matter movement. https://abclisten.page.link/F8V4AC2jjNNpt1EC7
6. Trump’s nuclear diplomacy with North Korea and Iran, which despite a lack of results, has not led the US into war. https://abclisten.page.link/UbqrwoNUtPJrky49A
7. Trump’s attempts to impede and shut down the Mueller Investigation. https://abclisten.page.link/1ojHAJNTKwV5y88j9
8. Jamal Khashoggi. How Trump showed America was willing to overlook a horrific crime, for the right price. https://abclisten.page.link/f3eb8AXzu3U7yaBR7
9. The Child Separation Policy, which left 545 children in America unable to find their parents. https://abclisten.page.link/zrDMTZUNv98Vij1v7
10. The moment Trump almost did something about mass shootings during the implosion of the NRA. https://abclisten.page.link/4ZZzFFWpgVCMtvnLA
11. How Trump tried to use the power of the presidency to squeeze money into his loss-making golf empire. https://abclisten.page.link/Jnh3kw4qArdkoADi8
12. The years-long attempt to use corruption in the Ukrainian gas industry to destroy Joe Biden https://abclisten.page.link/f3RmGSWbwtjUUA3Z7
13. How Trump got himself impeached by (in addition to the Biden thing) demanding Ukraine help him prove a theory which exonerated Putin for 2016 election interference. https://abclisten.page.link/4VJ1pKEX2JHfZbKc8
14. The Trade War. How a lovely dinner and chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago turned Trump from a China-basher to Xi Jinping’s best friend. https://abclisten.page.link/TbPe38gQnJWVrNeH7
The 15th story is about how Trump’s attacks on the US government left them vulnerable to many threats, including a global pandemic. That story will be released tomorrow. I’ll add it here then.
