Marcos Brindicci/Reuters
Edward Snowden has warned that a Donald Trump presidency will likely see a spike in domestic spying as “sheer authoritarianism” takes over. Speaking at a teleconference in Buenos Aires, the former National Security Agency contractor-turned-whistleblower said Trump’s win in the presidential race was indicative of a new government based on a “trust in personalities” rather than in capable leaders. “We are starting to substitute open government for sheer authoritarianism, a government based not upon the principle of informed consent granted by people who understand its activities but rather a trust in personalities, a trust in claims, a trust in the hope that they will do the right thing,” he said. New officials “who have a very different set of values and can govern in the dark” may defy the government’s earlier pledge to scale down indiscriminate spying on its own citizens. “If government does actually win our trust, because they go for some years and they do operate in a way that we should support, what happens when it changes?” he asked, referring to Trump taking over. “This is kind of the challenge that we’re facing today in the United States with the result of the last election.”