“If we’re going to be buddies
– Mabel King, from ‘The Wiz’
Better bone up on the rules
‘Cause don’t nobody bring me no bad news
You can be my best of friends
As opposed to payin’ dues
But don’t nobody bring me no bad news”
Batista’s pilots
In 1959, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista was ousted by a Communist revolution led by Fidel Castro. Batista fled to the Dominican Republic. Castro’s new revolutionary government put 19 pilots, 10 gunners, and 16 mechanics of Batista’s air force on trial for war crimes. The revolutionary tribunal brought Castro bad news— Batista’s pilots were acquitted. An outraged Castro chewed out his Chief Defense Counsel, directed his Defense Minister to organize a review court, and ordered the verdict reversed. The new verdict found the pilots guilty. Lesson learned: don’t bring Castro no bad news.
Trump’ statistics
After the Bureau of Labor Statistics released numbers that put the Trump economy in a bad light, Trump raged about the bad news. On social media, Trump denounced and fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer for, he claimed, having rigged the statistics to make him look bad. President Trump chose Heritage Foundation Fellow, Trump loyalist, and January 6th participant E.J. Antoni as his nominee to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Antoni has already indicated that he will make changes in Bureau procedures intended to make its future numbers biased in favor of the Trump administration. Lesson learned: don’t bring Trump no bad news.
Authoritarians hate being brought bad news- especially by their own regimes. But being authoritarians, they just ignore what they don’t like and then rig the system to change the outcomes.
Castro would have been proud.
Sources
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/january-1/batista-forced-out-by-castro-led-revolution
https://time.com/archive/6870084/cuba-one-man-court/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg3xrrzdr0o
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3yk3m3z4o
Thanks and a tip of the hat to DonkeyHotey for the image.
