Nordic Ledger

Twelve weeks into Trump’s second term, chaos reigns. Promises were broken, allies were rattled, markets were shaken, and there was still no clear plan. In No Plan, Just Power , Mika Horelli argues that Trump isn’t rebuilding America but dismantling it. What drives him isn’t strategy but control. The system that empowered him is now his target.  I continue my blog, Nordic Ledger, on Substack. Please subscribe there.  https://substack.com/@nordicledger

By Mika Horelli, BRUSSELS I sent my stories by fax and dropped slides in a mailbox thirty years ago. Today, I'm watching how media morphs with its users quietly and constantly. This story is about subtle adaptation and why news won't disappear, even if its home address keeps changing. I've been a journalist for about thirty years now. Before that, I spent a decade in advertising. First as a copywriter and then as a co-founder of a Helsinki-based start-up agency, Erma & Horelli. That chapter gave me something invaluable: a practical understanding of business. I've been grateful for it ever since. We sold the agency in the early '90s as Finland's economy hit the skids. I took off to figure out what to do next. When I started reporting as a self-made journalist from Copenhagen in the mid-90s, I sent my stories via fax or dictated them to an answering machine. Someone back in Helsinki would transcribe the recordings by hand. Email technically existed, but mo...

By Mika Horelli, BRUSSELS I habitually send birthday greetings to my Facebook friends whenever the platform reminds me to do so. Often, the recipient is someone I know in real life—a friend, relative, colleague, or old schoolmate. Sometimes, the message goes to someone I've never met face-to-face but with whom I've had meaningful exchanges in Facebook comment sections over the years. Last week, however, I received a message from a stranger informing me that one of my Facebook friends, to whom I had just sent birthday wishes, had passed away three years ago. I don't know why their account was still active or who maintained it—if anyone did. Perhaps the profile continued to exist autonomously, powered by algorithms and untouched by human intervention. This wasn't the first time. I've previously sent heartfelt birthday wishes to people no longer alive. These moments make me reflect on what happens when social media platforms construct a parallel reality around us—w...

By Mika Horelli, BRUSSELS   In recent weeks, communication practices within the U.S. government have sparked both concern and astonishment. Donald Trump's administration officials have used commercial messaging apps like Signal to discuss decisions critical to national security. These discussions have included individuals with no role in government decision-making. For instance, a Signal group chat discussing military operations in Yemen mistakenly added Jeffrey Goldberg , editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. Similar incidents involving other Signal groups have since come to light.   The inclusion of external Trump supporters and MAGA loyalists in these communication channels highlights not only the administration's questionable practices but also a lack of professionalism. As is often the case with populist politics, mistakes are denied or ignored, ensuring they remain uncorrected.   Ironically, Trump himself demanded Hillary Clinton's imprisonment during the 2016 pr...

By Mika Horelli, BRUSSELS When Finland's President Alexander Stubb posed last Saturday alongside Donald Trump at his golf course in Florida, the stir caused by the image was entirely predictable. Some Finns tipped their hats to Stubb's ability to build relations with the narcissistic leader of a superpower. In contrast, others spoke of a new kind of "Finlandization," accusing Finland of again bowing down—this time, however, to the United States. Critics saw Stubb's visit as pandering to Trump during a time when the U.S. president, together with his MAGA fanatics, has openly aimed at destroying the very foundations of Western democratic values—the same values the United States once spearheaded in promoting globally. Trump's approach toward Europe, leaning openly toward authoritarianism, has never been gentle. His trade wars and his demand to forcibly acquire Greenland as if it were mere real estate are not merely isolated scandals. They represent policy...