Leftist billionaire George Soros is calling President-Elect Donald Trump a “would-be dictator” and a “con artist” whose recent win will help empower dictators all around the world and provoke a world-wide “crisis” on democracy.
Yes, we’re talking about the same guy who thinks the United States should become “subordinated” to international bodies, was accused of widespread currency manipulation leading to a British financial crisis in 1997, and who said taking down former President George W. Bush in 2004 was the “central focus of my life.”
In a column for Project Syndicate, Soros likens Trump’s victory to the rise of “fascist dictatorships” and “mafia states,” and said that together with the recent British and Italian rejections of the European Union, will lead to increased global income inequality. Because in Soros’ world, countries like Britain and the U.S. should not be allowed to reach economic greatness. Their wealth should be redistributed and they should be penalized for their greatness in order to prevent revolts among poorer classes, he essentially argues.
Trump poses a major threat to Soros’ world vision: he wants America to unapologetically rise again as a leading world power.
Soros, a man sometimes known for his messianic self-image, prophesies that with Trump in office, “the US will be preoccupied with internal struggles in the near future, and targeted minorities will suffer. The US will be unable to protect and promote democracy in the rest of the world.”
“On the contrary, Trump will have greater affinity with dictators,” he adds. “That will allow some of them to reach an accommodation with the US, and others to carry on without interference. Trump will prefer making deals to defending principles. Unfortunately, that will be popular with his core constituency.”
Soros also expresses concerns about the potential decline of the EU under the influence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as well as the refugee crisis.
Soros says by taking their fates into their own hands, movements like Brexit and the Trump populist vote are going to “destabilize democracy” because then the world order will not be “balanced” the way Soros wants it. He ends his letter by urging his readers to save the EU so that the EU can help prevent this.
Last month, Soros pledged $10 million to help fight the rise of hate crimes he says are caused by Trump’s “incendiary rhetoric.”
“We must do something to push back against what’s happening here,” he told the New York Times, ignoring that the majority of hate crimes at Trump rallies were committed not by, but against Trump supporters, and at least 17 of the hate crimes seemingly committed by Trump supporters were hoaxes by Trump opposers.
Follow Pardes Seleh on Twitter.