By now you would have noticed that, in the US and South Africa (and elsewhere), the old rules of political engagement have been shelved.
Populists like Donald Trump, Julius Malema, Jacob Zuma, John Hlophe and far-right Dutch leader Geert Wilders thrive on insult, mockery, taunts, othering, shameless lying and name calling. It’s all deception, emotional bluster and threat – below-the-belt politics with little concern for actual governance or the rule of law in the beleaguered democracies where these individuals are finding traction.
The fake revolutionaries are all lovers of personal wealth, luxury and power at the expense of the public. Dress it up all you like, wear a suit and red tie, a uniform or combat fatigues, but these extremists travel with the same road map as kleptocrats seeking to establish fake, illiberal democracies.
Walmart politics
Trump’s supporters are not critical thinkers. They seem unable to hold two thoughts at the same time and that is why The Donald makes them feel like intellectual giants in the Make America Great Again (Maga) Walmart of Republican politics.
When the law closes in on these charlatans, they fight back, like Trump, in garbled parables and tongues. They claim victimhood, make up new words, and repeat lies hoping these grow roots as “truth”.
They set up fake media empires where new utopias are created. Here you can argue that a rifle fired above a crowd was a toy gun meant to “excite” people, as Malema has done.
In South Africa, the idiot wind that propels this type of politics is about to be turned up several notches after the swearing in of 58 MPs from the MK party who have finally revealed their fealty to convicted criminal Zuma, the apparent leader of their cult.
MK’s chief whip, the disgraced former judge Hlophe, who has asked that he be addressed as “Dr”, the only shred of dignity he can hide behind, has announced the party’s intention to “Africanise” the law.
The allegedly corrupt Zizi Kodwa, Zuma’s pitchfork-waving daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla and Gupta finance minister Des van Rooyen have all been sworn in (with mental fingers crossed).
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/GettyImages-2154370662.jpg "Former president Donald Trump speaks at a rally in the historically Democratic district of the South Bronx in New York on 23 May. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images")
New National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza, one of the most skilled politicians in the country, ended the ceremony by taking the wind out of their revolutionary sails, saying: “You can give a copy of the oath you have taken to your children so that they can say that mommy or daddy or gogo was once a member of Parliament.” Whatever that means.
Dust in your eyes (and brain)
In this world, bullshit is circulated so freely and so frequently that the mainstream media has trouble keeping up. At Daily Maverick, colleague Rebecca Davis has launched surgical fact-checking inserts, a move that is set to become a go-to in future to sift the shards of glass from the diamonds.
Shoving a microphone in front of Zuma, Hlophe and Malema and allowing them to speak unchallenged is not journalism. Those old studio interviews with political experts are not deep enough to counteract the tsunami of fantasy.
This new battle for democracy and the rule of law is going to be fought with made-up words and ideologies, as Trump and Zuma are inclined to do. Remember “meandos”, “covfefe” and “Nambia”?
The antidote to lies is immediate exposure. In just a few months, several YouTube channels have attracted millions of viewers for their ability to offer dextrous, expert analysis and commentary drawn from the finest legal minds across the US.
MeidasTouch News, a digital media venture born during the Covid-19 lockdown and co-founded by civil rights lawyer Ben Meiselas, signed up three million subscribers during coverage of Trump’s “hush money” trial, offering expert, spot-on analysis.
This author learned more about American politics and law through critically engaging with these new media channels than any other source in yonks.
MeidasTouch has generated more than one billion views on social media, exposing Trump, his enablers and supporters. The channel offers a variety of daily and weekly podcasts, including by national trial lawyer strategist Michael Popok, former chief assistant of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Karen Friedman, and Donald’s niece Mary Trump.
The intersection between law and politics will be the key to understanding and managing this new form of illiberal populism.
Young host Luke Beasley, who describes himself as “a progressive political commentator”, has 600,000 subscriptions on his YouTube channel interviewing ordinary Americans about politics, as well as surgically dissecting and exposing Maga fantasists.
In South Africa, former radio host Dan Corder has about 75,000 subscribers to his podcast The Issue with Dan Corder, and he has secured his own show on eNCA cutting through the noise in new ways.
The face of journalism is changing as rapidly as the political landscape.
#DubaiMonopolyCapital and #BellPottinger has come to town, people. This is not the time to be polite or accommodating. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35
