Killing the Original American Dream.

The news from the USA is getting sillier and sillier. Trump's banning of CNN and like-minded channels from the White House is the latest example. He says it's because CNN and their ilk purvey fake news and spread lies. And Fox and Trump don't?

We all know by now that journalism in the US is more about taking sides and purveying propaganda than it is about impartially reporting facts, and that's not so bad as long as people understand the fact and both sides are represented. But now Trump wants the peddling of disinformation and misinformation to be restricted to the right of the political spectrum, while keeping the left quiet and setting himself up as King of the USA and Bretwalda of the western world.

Isn't that what the War of Independence was about? And isn't that central to why Americans are Americans?

A Good Surprise and a Mind Aghast.

Well, what d'ya know. I mentioned recently that I'd written a letter of complaint to the infamous BT, and also that previous letters of complaint had gone unanswered. Today I had a phone call from a personable young chap in BT's complaints department, wanting to discuss the nature of my current issue. He listened, he understood, he agreed, and he said he would raise the matter with the relevant people. (And he apologised, in writing, for the previous lack of response.) We even had a chat about certain technological issues I've been experiencing. So let's hear it for Ashley from Tyneside. Good chap, Ashley.

 

*  *  *

So what about Trump offering every adult American $5,000 if the Republicans win the midterms? This is quite astonishing even by Trump's bargain basement standards, so I'll offer my thoughts as they occur to me (if you don't mind.)

1. It seems that Trump is becoming rather more desperate than he would care to admit.

2. I think this is the kind of thing you must expect if you put a big businessman in charge of a country. Big businessmen tend to go through life wearing polarising glasses, which see dollar signs clearly but very little else. They're also prone to the certainty that every individual has his or her price, and every situation is solvable by simply throwing money at it.

3. Trump's statement amounts to a naked attempt to buy votes. Apart from striking at the very roots of democracy, it insults all Americans by casting them as latter day Esaus by presuming they will be willing to sell their birthright for a mess of pottage.

4. Given the above, I don't see how a serious legal challenge can fail to be made.

5. Even if Trump is allowed to maintain his outlandish proposal, he has failed -- as usual -- to say how the expenditure of several trillion dollars would be financed.

6. When he made his proposal to some Republican gathering or other, the BBC reported that it was met with 'rapturous applause.' It should have been met with stunned silence. This suggests to me that the delegates at Republican gatherings come from the same litter of swivel-eyed loons as the UK's Tory faithful.

Apart from that, I don't really care. Why should I?

Understanding Donald.

I saw this morning that Trump referred to Keir Starmer's intransigence with the statement ‘we’re not dealing with Winston Churchill here.’

Well now, have you noticed that whenever anybody disagrees with Donald Trump or declines to toe the Trumpian line, his immediate response is always to hurl a cheap insult at them and imply, at the very least, that they’re ‘losers’?

I should think the psychologists must love studying him. I’m not a psychologist, but I suspect I’m not too far from the truth in suspecting that he’s a prime case of arrested development as a result of defective potty training.

The Stink in the Atmosphere.

The very air we breathe these days seems to be suffused with the name, the face, and the blathering of Donald Trump. He’s become a bad smell – incipient, intrusive, and insufferable. I for one am becoming sick to the back teeth of his omnipresence on the news pages and YouTube recommendations.

I note one historian on YouTube drawing parallels between the political situation in 1930s Germany and the USA under Trump. That might well be true, but I see relatively little similarity between Trump and Hitler.

Hitler was a leader and a bully; Trump is no leader, just a bully. Hitler had charisma (dark though it might have been) where Trump has none, except to those addle-headed Americans who count their worth in the number of guns they own, and many of whom are probably descended from good white men who once used live black babies for alligator bait. Hitler was hard-edged, where Trump is blubbery. And Hitler had excellent speech writers who could rouse the masses of whatever political persuasion. All we get from Trump is lies, threats, overinflated ego, and juvenile rhetoric dribbling from his mouth like so much regurgitated stomach bile. The only parallel I perceive between Hitler and Trump is that they’ve both been said to smell bad. I categorise Trump more in the Mussolini mould, and maybe he will come to the same end one day (although that’s unlikely unless there’s a major war which nobody with any sense wants.)

So what do I do every day when my major worldwide input comes from the BBC news and YouTube? Skip over it quickly, I suppose, picking up the basic facts, and hope there will be an end to it one day. As I said in an earlier post, I don’t have a great deal of faith that such will happen. The feeling is growing stronger that we are slipping into a darker, more dystopian place. Let’s hope I’m wrong, or in my case that I have relinquished this mortal coil before it gets too bad.

The Second Coming?

I’m sure I wasn’t dreaming when I saw the picture, but I don’t remember where it was. I’m sure it must have been either on the BBC news website or YouTube. (Standards of BBC journalism have dropped so much over the past few years that there’s not much to choose between them these days. The BBC is still a little way ahead because the standard of YouTube has also declined, but for how much longer now there’s serious talk about scrapping the licence fee?) Anyway, back to the picture…

It showed a group of Americans, mostly elderly with some wearing red baseball caps, gathered around their Messiah and apparently in a state of rapture. One of them was carrying a placard which read:

Thank you GOD

For giving us

Donald Trump

‘GOD’ was in red, to match the baseball caps I assume.

And still I’m sure I wasn’t dreaming, however surreal it appears in retrospect. It even made me laugh, which very few things do. If I might paraphrase a long-running advertising slogan used by one of the UK’s internet and phone providers:

The future’s bright. The future’s MAGA.

Or should that be something else beginning with M, like Mad, Maleficent, or Malodorous?

America's Answer to Cirque du Soleil.

I see the American political scene continues to resemble a third rate circus which can boast no more than an endless supply of clowns throwing custard pies around to amuse its eager audience – in this case the citizens of the free world.

The latest spat is between Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene (or Marjorie 'Traitor' Greene as Trump is now inclined to label her, calling on that ultra-sharp wit for which he is justly famous. It seems that anybody who disagrees with Donald these days is labelled a traitor. I suppose it’s meant to have maximum effect on a population brainwashed from the cradle to believe that patriotism is on a par with godliness, since the world 'traitor' is commonly understood to be the opposite of 'patriot'.)

Talking of godliness, Ms Greene’s response to Donald’s invective was 'I don’t worship Donald Trump. I worship God, and Jesus is my saviour.' I expect something as weak and frankly ludicrous as that was meant to appeal to the single brain cell shared by the mentally challenged denizens of the Bible Belt. Can’t think of any other reason why she would aim so low with her dish of custard.

And of course, there remains the inevitable irony: if Jesus of Nazareth was anything like the character pictured in the canonical gospels, I doubt he would have had anything to do with a firebrand Republican politician from Georgia, USA. And I expect Donald the Dunderhead would have been one of the money changers he swept out of the temple.

Pitying America.

Trump has just concluded his state visit to the UK, and while he was here he recommended to Starmer, our Prime Minister, that he should use the military to stop the influx of migrants. Trump doesn’t get it, does he?

For something like 200 years there’s been an inviolate understanding in the UK that the military is there for one purpose only: to protect the country against an armed adversary. It has no role to play in social and civilian matters; that’s the job of the law enforcement agencies.

But Trump does so love the military. He used it in several major cities recently to address the problems of crime and – heaven help us – homelessness. This must have, and certainly should have, worried a lot of Americans because the free use of military power in civilian matters is a mark of the true dictator. And now he wants to refuse licences to media outlets which disagree with him. This is truly chilling because a man who relies on the military to enforce his will, and who openly silences his detractors, is the very embodiment of Orwell’s Big Brother.

When Trump won the 2024 election I said on this blog that the man who had been little more than a laughable buffoon the first time around would become bolder the second time. And so he has, and his boldness is increasing as he shows his true muddy colours. It seems abundantly clear that America needs to divest itself of Donald Trump, but how to do that without an election, because any means which are not clearly democratic would run counter to the reason for doing it? I don’t know the answer to that, and I certainly don’t envy those better Americans who have to live with the worry of having Trump remain in office.

And of course, the real uncertainty hinges on what will happen when the next election comes around. Can we reasonably expect Trump to accept the end of his tenure gracefully? It’s going to be interesting, and I do hope that Europe manages to distance itself from American influence in the meantime.

Trump's Words.

When Trump dismisses the NFL shooter merely as ‘this deranged lunatic’, he is demonstrating yet again either: a.) His inability to comprehend the complexities of human nature (not to mention the irony of the statement in this particular case) or b.) His continued need to pander to the lowest common denominator in American society.

Or both.

You might ask: ‘Is this Presidential material?’ Does anybody still need to?

Brand Trump and Other Questions.

I read yesterday that lucky Americans who have $500 dollars to spare on something really worth having can now obtain a gold (painted) smart phone on which is printed:

 

TRUMP

 Make America Great Again

I thought it pretty amusing – just the latest reason for the world to laugh at America, especially when it came to the bit about Trump insisting they be made in the USA while the tech boys politely informed him that the USA doesn’t possess the means to do so

But then I came to the more serious aspect. This is an American President to whom holding the highest position in the land isn’t enough. Now he wants to be a brand as well. I’ve never known this before in my lifetime, and it’s another reason to ask: ‘What on earth is going on over there?’ Is it simply what happens when you allow a businessman to take over the reins of politics? Is it another step along the road towards making America a dictatorship, in spite of banner-wielding crowds explaining that America is not a monarchy – constitutional or any other sort – and they’d prefer to keep it that way? I’m curious.

I’m also led to wonder whether an American President should really be acting as a disinterested intermediary in the Israel/Iran affair, not as a partisan authority figure ordering Iran to surrender unconditionally.

And on a slightly connected theme: is it true, as was written in a BBC news feature recently, that the IDF has developed the habit of shooting near-starving Palestinian civilians queuing for flour at aid centres? If so, I’m naturally curious to know what orders Trump has given to Israel on the matter.

You know, my head is shaking so much these days that I sometimes wonder why it doesn’t fall off.

Trump's Tablets.

I see Trump is now directing his fire at America’s Ivy League universities. He says they’re not doing enough to prevent pro-Palestinian protests and are not supportive of his brand of American conservatism. Well now, what can they be thinking? And so the dear old US of A takes one more faltering step down the slippery slope to fascism.

American Conservatism According to Trump:

1. You will stand with hand on heart to recite the Oath of Allegiance every day.

2. You will repeat: ‘God bless America, land of the free where all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds’ every time you see my face or hear my name. (Although he won’t realise that Voltaire was joking.)

3 You will revere the insanely rich as demi-gods, for they are the descendants of the Founding Fathers and represent the spirit of America.

4. You will do as you are told at all times by men of wealth who wear the badge of status conferred by me.

5. Women will be treated as objects of play to suit your pleasure, for that is their purpose in life. You will only take them seriously if they are young, pretty, and reading from an autocue words written by me or which have my approbation.

6. You will have no truck with dictionaries. However I define ‘terrorism’ or ‘anti-Semitism’ shall be the new truth.

7. You will develop the habit of somnambulance at all times and remain quiet except to roar angrily at my enemies.

I didn’t make this up, you know. This is what I’ve heard Americans with brains say about America.

On Trump and the T Word.

I read earlier that a woman has been charged with criminal damage after splashing some red paint on the walls of the clubhouse on one of Donald Trumps Scottish golf courses. Donald called it ‘an act of terrorism’ and said he hoped that she would be very harshly treated.

Well, come on. Turnberry isn’t exactly a national monument, is it? And the building hardly stands out as a notable piece of architecture. Vandalising property is, indeed, criminal under British law, but it’s a pretty minor sort of criminal. It doesn’t come close to wanting to steal Greenland from the Danes, or evict the Palestinians from Gaza so he can turn their ancestral homeland into another Mediterranean playground for the rich.

And have you noticed that Trump reacts to every bit of protest aimed at him or his entourage by calling it ‘terrorism’? He’s obsessed with the word and clearly hasn’t a clue what it means. A simple definition of terrorism would be: ‘purposefully hurting the innocent with the aim of reducing their resolve or morale.’ Writing ‘go home Trump’ - or whatever it was - in red paint on the wall of an unprepossessing building is hardly hurting the innocent. And I wonder whether Trump realises that American policy has been responsible for some of the greatest acts of true terrorism the world has ever known. How many innocent people were cruelly killed or hurt by the bombing of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Dresden in 1945? There was a war on, yes, but none of them were combatants. That’s terrorism. Defacing a building or trashing a Tesla car isn’t (except to Mr Dunderhead.)

Redaction and Recovery.

I was just reading about Trump’s latest foray into absurdity with his attacks on the Smithsonian and other institutions. He says they’re giving a false view of American history, and what needs to be shouted from the rooftops is everything which can be presented as glorious or grandiose by those with a conservative mindset (or maybe that should be mind(less)set.) Oh, and run by white men of course. Everything dark or dubious must be airbrushed out so as to give a true picture.

You know, we British had a very big empire at one time, and some people still regard it as a glorious achievement. But we don’t pretend that the Amritsar massacre didn’t happen, or that the forced labour camps in India didn’t exist, or that the Croke Park massacre in Ireland is just an urban legend. If history is to be worth anything it must be on a warts-and-all basis, otherwise it isn’t worth a hill ’o beans.

I’m beginning to have a vague, so far unformed suspicion that there’s more to Donald Trump than appears on the surface. He’s too far out, too extreme, too volatile, too bird brained to be just another Republican President. He looks more like a conspiracy theory beginning to take shape, and it looks to me as though America – and maybe the world at large – could be heading for something bad and irreversible if he isn’t stopped sooner rather than later.

*  *  *

Meanwhile, a shout-out for Mark the technician at Plusnet (my ISP.) I spent an hour this afternoon wallowing in techno devices, many twisted and unruly yards of various cables, the litter of cardboard boxes, and much of it spent balancing awkward things on my lap or crouched uncomfortably under the desk where my computer lives. And at the end of it all the new device didn’t work. A further hour was then spent with Mark the technician on the phone. It was hard going but he got me there, and there was even an element of serendipity thrown in for good measure. That little story is a rare one these days.

Trump and the Grabbing of Gaza.

Now let me see whether I’ve got this right. My understanding of the Israeli hardliners’ attitude towards the Palestinians runs roughly thus:

This whole land is our land. God gave it to us thousands of years ago and so it is scared ground. That being the case, only we have the right to occupy it; you have none. That’s why we’re forcibly evicting you from the place you have called home for many centuries and making it available to proper Jews. (If I’m in error, please feel free to correct me.)

If I’m right – or even approximately so – I wonder how the hardliners will feel about having part of their sacred ground owned by America and developed into yet another Mediterranean playground for wealthy westerners. I wonder whether this was the reason for Mr Netanyahu’s visit to his pal Trump a few days ago. I suppose Mr N might well be in favour of allowing a part of what he considers to be Israeli territory to become American-owned because Israel will then have another level of security against the dastardly Muslims. And so maybe he can persuade the hardliners to agree to having part of God’s own country swallowed up by American capital. Strange world, isn’t it?

But what about Hamas and other dissident groups in the Middle East? How would they feel about it? I can’t imagine they’d be too pleased, and I feel it would be logical to expect deaths and bloodshed to follow in the wake of such a project. If Israel really wants to take the steam out of Hamas, surely it needs to reach an acceptable accord with the Palestinians, not throw stinking mud in the faces of the armed wing.

And what of the Gazans themselves? I gather tens of thousands of them died in the recent ‘war’, and those that are left are now trying to rebuild their lives. How must they feel about somebody living over 4,000 miles away seriously threatening to relocate them and turn their homes and homeland into an investment opportunity? (It’s interesting that I haven’t yet heard anybody in the media use the term ‘diaspora.’)

I think it must be obvious that this plan of Trump’s is both heartless and the height of disrespect, but that’s just the nature of Trump. I’m quite sure that he has no heart, and I doubt he could even spell the word ‘disrespect.’

And another point occurs to me: For nearly forty years I’ve been complaining about the despoliation of the Mediterranean coastline by the tourist industry, especially the northern part fringing Europe. Even the locals are now complaining about it. They want tourism rationed there, and a return to something like sanity. Now Trump wants to do the same thing in the eastern Med, just as he took part of the wild Scottish coastline and built commercially attractive golf courses on it.

But will he succeed? Personally I doubt it, but Big Capitalism is a powerful enemy so maybe he will.

A Few Titbits and Trump's True Words.

Lately I keep trying to think of something to write to this blog in order to keep it going but I keep drawing a blank - largely, I think, because my frustration with the human animal is reaching the point where I’m almost welcoming the prospect of being able to say ‘stop the world, I want to get off.’

I could write about the disturbing, almost total, dearth of bees and butterflies in the garden this summer, even on warm, dry, sunny days when their favourite nectar-bearing flowers are in full bloom. I could write about meeting little Nell in the lane yesterday evening, and of talking at length to the male half of her human hosts. He told me that a friend of his has moved to the US and prefers it there. (I didn’t argue.) I could recount how I washed and polished the Lady Clio (my latest wheels) this afternoon. It took me 2½ hours and wore me out, but she’s now spick and sparkly and a credit to the world of motor cars. I could mention the fact that I still haven’t heard the song of a blackbird or robin this year, and the belief in some quarters that birds act as messengers from the universe.

But why bother making the effort to write more than a short paragraph to cover all such minor matters when you’re tired and waiting for the world to stop?

One thing that did amuse me briefly this morning, however, was reading something Trump said to his tribe of admiring simians at some gathering or other. He referred to the shooting incident and said ‘I shouldn’t be here.’ I do believe it’s the first intelligent comment he’s probably ever uttered. Yes, I do realise he was merely milking the martyrdom cow, but it was pleasant to appreciate the irony for a few minutes.

The Fascinating Case of Donald's Little Menagerie.

I’m about to run the risk of offending those Americans for whom I have enormous respect, but a blogger has to do what a blogger has to do so here goes.

I was just reading about Trump’s little hooley in Wako, and becoming swamped with such a combination of disbelief and amusement as the day would quake to look on. His theatrical entry to the strains of Top Gun music was risible enough, but then there was the image of countless mentally challenged baboons running around shrieking ‘God! Guns! Trump!’ (and wearing T shirts and waving banners carrying the same mantra of simian aspiration.)

I have to admit here that the number of baboons present was minuscule compared with the population of the US as a whole, but they are the image of America the world sees, and so they are the image – unfairly or not – that Trump presents to the world. What sort of impression do Americans think it makes? Then again, I don’t suppose baboons care much about reputation so let’s broaden it out a little.

If the best the Republican Party can offer as a candidate in the next presidential election is a choice between Dunderhead Donald and nasty Mr DeSantis, doesn’t that rather compound the issue? And if DeSantis gets the nomination I expect the baboons will go on the rampage and a measure of carnage will ensue. And if Trump wins the nomination but loses the election to a Democrat, I expect the baboons will still go on the rampage. And if Trump wins the election the baboons will triumph and America will go even further down the hole of resembling a troubled, third world backwater. What price leadership, power, and influence then?

November 2024 is going to be interesting, isn’t it? I wonder whether I’ll be around to see it.

What's Up, Rudy?

This business of Trump and the election is becoming ever more unbelievably absurd to an outside observer. On the one hand it’s causing a shift in my perception of the so-called President. I’m now beginning to wonder whether he has some serious and identifiable metal health condition which prevents him from accepting his loss and creates delusions which are absolutely real to him. If so, maybe we should be wishing him a speedy commitment to treatment.

But what of Giuliani? Why is he still hanging in there making preposterous statements? Is he mentally ill, too? The rest of the Trump team may be excused their idiocy on the grounds that they’re merely lackeys and lackeys have to do and say whatever the boss orders. But surely, Giuliani is a man of status, so why is he not walking away from this surreal attempt at pantomime?

Maybe we need to paraphrase Shakespeare here and simply say:

O strange New World 

That has such imbeciles in charge of it

Maybe it’s as simple as that.

America: the Verdict

It’s Wednesday afternoon and the American presidential election is still undecided. It matters little now whether Trump or Biden takes the final victory because the important question has already been answered. The rational result would have been a landslide for Biden to leave Trump out in the wilderness at last, but instead it’s too close to call. The American people have spoken. It would be impolite of me to say more.

Trump and the State of America.

I was just reading a BBC News feature on the findings of opinion polls ahead of the Presidential election. It appears that, at a national level, Biden is leading Trump by something like 53:47. That troubles me.

Let’s be straight and simple here. Donald Trump is an ego-ridden, not overly intelligent, bigoted braggart and bully. His rallying call ‘Make America Great Again’ has got to be the political joke of the century because I sense that America’s reputation in the world has plummeted during his presidency. To put it simply, America has become something of a laughing stock and very many of us no longer respect it.

So the question is: why does nearly half the population of America not see this and still intends to vote for him? If it were a mere 5-10%, you could put it down to the little rednecks at the bottom of the heap who haven’t a clue what the capital of France is or how many cents make a dollar. But it isn’t 5-10%; it’s nearly half. So what does that say about Americans and American culture? You tell me.

To be honest, I’ve more or less lost interest in Donald Trump. I now find him so boring as to be supremely ignorable. But today has rekindled my interest because today America is going to show us something of significance about itself. That's why I've become a keen spectator again.

Don and the Disease.

I see dear old Donald has got Covid. Or so they say. I’d be disappointed if there’s even a single person in America who isn’t asking the question: ‘Has Trump really got Covid, or is this a lame attempt to get the sympathy vote?’

Well, maybe he has, or maybe there’s another possibility. I gather there are plenty of people of Republican persuasion who have serious misgivings about their beloved leader, and I very much doubt that Russia is the only country where political undesirables in positions of influence come to untimely ends.

Am I being unduly cynical? That’s a matter of opinion; I’m only considering possibilities. Better that than be naïve. It seems to me that people generally, at least here in the west, are becoming ever more cynical, and people like Trump are part of the reason.

Current and Prospective Nightmares.

Shall I make a valiant effort to describe today’s nightmare in detail? No? Oh good. It isn’t easy to describe the individual characteristics of every creature in a can of wriggling worms. Suffice it to say that it involved the changing of mobile phone supplier, and Virgin Media was the nightmare factory as usual. I’m changing to Plusnet. Their customer service procedures, along with their service operatives and technicians, are excellent.

This is how the days are at the moment, alas. I still have disturbing dreams at night, but they’re nothing compared with the nightmares which keep landing on my head during the daylight hours. Most days my head spends so much time swimming that it’s forgetting how to stay afloat, and the evenings are ever wan and weary. It explains why I feel scared, or at least reluctant, to get up every morning.

*  *  *

But enough of that. Let’s talk about Trump for a change. The BBC’s American correspondent described last night’s debate in Ohio as ‘chaotic.’ Well of course it was. Trump was involved, and it pleased me just a little to read that everything happened more or less exactly as I thought it would.

But at least Donald did manage to emphasise his right wing credentials, and that’s the worry. If Americans were to put him back into the White House in November, the occasional whiff of Fascism which seeps out of his Twitter account would become a full blown unwholesome smell. America would be establishing itself as a near-Fascist state run by a Fascist-minded President put there by a Fascist-minded population. In that case, I hope that we in Europe would be able to maintain as much distance as possible from the Land of the Free.

The second worry is that, no matter who wins in November, there will be a lot of ill feeling going around in consequence. The body of America is in danger of becoming a diseased mass of pustules ready to burst, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest to see a few litres of blood being spilt on the streets of American cities in the aftermath. That’s Trump’s legacy, and I hope I’m wrong.