“Fake news” is a term that has gone all around the world, one of the achievements of Donald Trump. A Who’s Who of leaders has used the term, including Putin, Assad, Erdogan, Duterte, and Orbán. At a G20 meeting in Japan, Trump said to Putin, “‘Fake news’ is a great term, isn’t it? You don’t have this problem in Russia, but we do.” Putin answered, in English, “We also have. It’s the same.”
Just two guys, commiserating over a hostile press.
Putin does not have to worry about “fake news” anymore — at least not in Russia. He has crushed out the last vestiges of independent media.
I lead my Impromptus today with this issue — with the term “fake news,” the charge of “fake news.” Why? Because, before last night’s presidential debate in France, Marine Le Pen said she hoped the debate would not be “une succession d’invectives, de fake news, d’outrances” (a series of insults, fake news, and excesses, or outrages). I thought it was interesting that she said “fake news,” in English. That is part of Trump’s achievement: They don’t even have to translate.
Here on the Corner, I’d like to take note of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader in Russia, and, of course, a political prisoner. From his cell, he communicated some messages to his team, denouncing Le Pen for her ties to Putin, and her kinship with Putin. To read about this, go here. Imagine the disgust that Navalny must feel toward Putin-allied politicians in free countries. Imagine the odor that must fill the nostrils of such a man when he thinks of the likes of Le Pen.
I recommend George F. Will, too, with a smoking column on Le Pen, France, and Putin. It ends as follows:
“Liberté, égalité, fraternité”? Many of the French are opposed to the first if it diminishes the second, which makes the third elusive. So, Sunday’s election is as unpredictable as it certainly will be consequential.
Dude can seriously write. And think. Even his enemies will allow that, as the enemies of Bill Buckley did, or many of them did. (I hear from them, even now, from time to time.)
What else in my Impromptus today? I make some remarks about Twitter. Years ago, my friend and erstwhile colleague Jonathan V. Last said to me, “Why would you want sheer malice burned into your retinas day after day?” Yes, but Twitter has its joys and advantages, as I recount in my column.
I am reminded, too, of what our late colleague and friend Mike Potemra said. He said he had come up with a new definition of depression: “a thousand commenters in your head.”
What else? What else in Impromptus? Oh, some sports, some music, some language — the usual.
Let’s have a little mail, relating to a column last week. As it happens, I discussed Mme Le Pen in that one as well. I also quoted Reagan, who liked to say, “Freedom is never more than a generation away from extinction.” I used to think that was . . . a little hyperbolic. Overly dramatic. I’m not sure anymore.
A reader writes,
Hi, Jay,
I enjoyed today’s Impromptus, as always. As to Reagan’s comment (and the topic of French politics), I was reminded the other day that Léon Blum was prime minister of France in 1938 and a resident of Buchenwald by 1943.
Yes. A very interesting life, Blum’s.
Another reader writes,
Howdy, Jay:
You quoted Daniel Hannan on the military edge free societies have. Consider, for example, the United States Marine Corps, a unique institution (other countries have marines, but they do not have the same training and function as our USMC). Sure, their formal motto is Semper Fidelis, but their unofficial motto is “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome.” Totalitarian armies are not allowed to think that way. It’s a danger to their system.
Very astute.
Finally,
Jay,
I spent the past weekend in D.C. I took the time to re-read the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address at the Lincoln Memorial. I think everyone should.
So do I. I think those addresses were written by more than human hand. Don’t get me started.
Again, today’s Impromptus is here, and thank you to one and all correspondents and readers.