"I believe the United States is in a profound crisis. It's a deeply polarized country. One party has completely capitulated and become a servant of Trump, who has obtained unprecedented powers from the Supreme Court and is using them to undermine the rule of law."
This is the bleak picture painted by Nobel Prize winner for Economics Joseph Stiglitz , speaking at Linkontro, the event organised by NielsenIQ in Santa Margherita di Pula (Cagliari).
A situation which, according to the Columbia University economist, presents some worrying analogies with Europe in the 1930s .
"Many people in academia want to move abroad, as was the case back then, when the arrival of fascism was foreseen. This could be a great opportunity for the European Union," says Stiglitz.
Another element reminiscent of that historical period, according to the Nobel Prize winner, is the use of economic instruments to limit freedom of expression , such as the threat of revoking the licenses of television stations that broadcast certain comedians. "If you own a TV station, you might think it's not worth fighting," Stiglitz observes.
It doesn't help, he adds, that social networks like Facebook, Instagram and X "are controlled by people like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, who amplify Trump," while oligarchs like Jeff Bezos and Rupert Murdoch own the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal.
"A minority like this aims to continue to dominate at all costs and crush democracy," Stiglitz argues, also referring to possible manipulation of voting procedures ahead of the midterm elections. "But we're talking about a minority of Americans. What happened in Minneapolis, where countless people took to the streets in the freezing cold to protect strangers from ICE, is an example of this. And the same thing is happening in many cities. A man and a woman were killed for this. This is the best and worst of today's United States."
(Unioneonline/AD)
