Why the Wilson Center Had To Go—From a Former Employee
Employees at the Wilson Center, a prominent think tank chartered by Congress in the 1960s, were placed on leave last week following an executive order ordering its closure. The reaction among much of the mainstream political class to the closure was one of embarrassment, anger, and disappointment. But in this rare instance, President Donald Trump is doing the right thing. It’s possible that he’s doing it for the wrong reasons, but it’s still the right thing to do.
The Wilson Center was part of a corrupt apparatus of American power. It may describe itself as nonpartisan or even “objective,” but it perpetuates a system, supported by both the Republican and the Democratic establishments, that promotes American interventionism and whitewashes abuses abroad.
The think tank was much like its namesake, former President Woodrow Wilson: paternalistically claiming liberal values while actively engaging in oppression. The Wilson Center has financed figures with terrible human rights records.
Take Guillermo Lasso, the former president of Ecuador. Even as he faced an impeachment process for embezzlement and corruption tied to public contracts and offshore dealings—allegations substantiated by investigative journalism and congressional inquiries—the Wilson Center continued to offer Lasso space to speak and publish, framing him as a reformer. When cornered by growing scandal and plummeting approval, Lasso dissolved the National Assembly and called snap elections, effectively terminating the investigation and preserving his i
Article from Reason.com
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