Google, Trump and arrogance of power

tendency to throw his ever-expanding weight around.

Like Google, he doesn’t particularly like being criticized.

During the 2016 Republican primaries, when attacked by his GOP rivals for having once donated money to Hillary Clinton, Trump explained that “as a businessman and a very substantial donor to very important people, when you give, they do whatever the hell you want them to do.”

After Trump’s charitable foundation made a $25,000 contribution to a campaign organization linked to Florida’s attorney general, she decided not to open a fraud investigation of Trump University that her office had been considering.

Google reportedly pays academics to do research that sways the public and policymakers in its direction.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Google has financed hundreds of professors, including professors at Harvard and Berkeley, to write research papers that help Google defend itself against regulatory challenges of its market dominance.

Google’s payments range from $5,000 to $400,000. This research has been used by Google in courtrooms, regulatory hearings and congressional hearings.

Some professors have even allowed Google to see the papers before they’re published, enabling Google to give them “suggestions,” according to emails obtained by the Journal.

The professors don’t reveal in their published research that Google solicited the work, nor do they necessarily disclose that Google paid for it.

I’m not suggesting the research has been faked. But Google’s financial connection to it and the failure to fully disclose that connection raise questions about its objectivity.

Google and Trump are wildly different, of course, but they’ve been playing the same game.

Whether it’s a giant left-leaning corporation or an unhinged alt-right president, the underlying problem is the same.

The use of power in these ways imperils our democratic system. It’s morally wrong.