DC insider explains how Putin and Trump have changed his perspective on the 21st Century

Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is expressing concern about former President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladamir Putin and how their actions have changed his entire perspective on the 21st Century. In an op-ed published by The Guardian, Reich noted a number of critical occurrences that prove he wasn't correct about his 21st Century outlook.

From Trump being elected in 2016 to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Reich has admitted that the two presidents have shown him many political and economic belief systems are false.

"Putin and Trump have convinced me I was wrong about how far we had come in the 21st century," he wrote. "Technology, globalization and modern systems of governance haven’t altered the ways of tyranny. But I, like millions of others around the world, have been inspired by the Ukrainian people – who are reteaching us lessons we once knew."

Reich began with the continued existence of nationalism writing, "I expected globalization would blur borders, create economic interdependence among nations and regions and extend a modern consumer and artistic culture worldwide." However, Reich noted that was a misconception. "Both Putin and Trump have exploited xenophobic nationalism to build their power," he wrote.

With the evolution of political policies and technological advances, Reich was confident that those critical keys would lead to progressive changes in the world we live in. Namely, he assumed it would be far more difficult for world leaders and governments to control citizens' flow of information.

"I assumed that emerging digital technologies, including the internet, would make it impossible to control worldwide flows of information and knowledge," he wrote. "Tyrants could no longer keep their people in the dark or hoodwink them with propaganda."

He added, "Trump filled the media with lies, as has Putin. Putin has also cut off Russian citizens from the truth about what’s occurring in Ukraine."

In conclusion, Reich noted that he believes democracy will likely be inevitable. "I formed this belief in the early 1990s when the Soviet Union had imploded and China was still poor," he wrote. "It seemed to me that totalitarian regimes didn’t stand a chance in the new technologically driven, globalized world. Sure, petty dictatorships would remain in some retrograde regions of the world. But modernity came with democracy, and democracy with modernity."