Cambridge Analytica: Killing Global Democracy for Fun and Profit, Part 2

Yesterday, I shared part one of Channel 4's appalling exposé on Cambridge Analytica, which included undercover footage of Cambridge executives bragging about their complex strategies for subverting democracy around the world.

Channel 4 has now released part two of their investigation, which reveals that Cambridge Analytica claims to have run the entirety of Donald Trump's digital campaign, and, as noted in today's We Resist thread, may have broken U.S. election law in the process.


Again, the entire 17-minute video is worth your time to watch. If I am able to locate a transcript, I will post the link. In the meantime, you can read Channel 4's summary here: "Exposed: Undercover Secrets of Trump's Data Firm."

At the link, Channel 4 notes: "As the report went on air, the firm announced it has suspended chief executive Alexander Nix, pending a full investigation."

Like this is news to them. Good grief. What deeply mendacious scoundrels.

Two additional notes:

1. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff wants Nix to testify to the House Intelligence Committee about all of this.

2. Nix has already testified once before:

Last year, the House Intelligence Committee spoke with Wylie's former boss Alexander Nix — the chief executive of Cambridge Analytica — by videoconference, as Nix is located in London.

Schiff stressed in his invitation to Wylie that his accounts of Cambridge Analytica's data operations "raise serious questions about the veracity of the testimony" Nix gave to the committee.

So, to be clear: The whistleblower Wylie has raised new questions about Cambridge Analytica's role in the 2016 election, and whether the firm broke U.S. election law while working for Donald Trump's campaign, which has prompted Schiff to want to question Nix for a second time, given concerns that he might have lied to the committee.

Fucking hell.

It's still considered bad taste to say plainly that the sitting United States president is an enemy of democracy, but he sure had a lot of help from people who hate democracy: Cambridge Analytica, whose entire business is based on subverting the democratic process; Vladimir Putin, whose hostility toward democracy is legendary (which is as succinctly as I can sum his vast autocratic resume); and, of course, the entire Republican Party, who have been endeavoring to undermine U.S. democracy for decades, as they can't win nationally on the merits of their garbage policies, so have had to resort to cheating.

Donald Trump keeps bad company for a person who claims to value democracy.

I suspect, friends, that's because he doesn't.