President Biden’s Accomplishments
It’s common these days to see the rapid 2024 exit of multiple global social democrat leaders as just a post-COVID symptom of democratic impatience. But Biden achieved far more than his age-related decline obscures.
politicans
Donald Trump
Winston’s Next Job
While he scoops up behind Minister Willis’s Cook Strait ferry disaster, he’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and our primary lead on the rise of President Trump and boy does he have a job ahead of him.
President Trump makes a new Middle East Possible
U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump makes more things possible in the Middle East than the Biden administration.
END GAME
What is the game plan for the Coalition government? What characteristics can we observe and what is the “end game?”
The Left Trumped?
We woke up last week to the post-mortem on the US election. How and why Trump won, and their implications for political alignments everywhere, are front and centre. A fundamental issue, explicitly identified when Trump won in 2016, is the presence of large sections of the working class vote into the Trump camp. So why has that happened – again?
What happened?
Why did America vote for the least suitable candidate imaginable? And what are the implications for New Zealand politics?
The 2024 US Election: A No-Win Scenario
Tuesday (Wednesday in NZ) is election day in the United States of America. Where billionaires buy elections, the President is not elected by popular vote, and the nominee of the Republican Party attempted to overturn the results after he was voted out of office four years ago. Somehow, despite his crimes, Donald Trump is a coin-toss away from taking back the White House.
Seven days and counting
Please American voters do the right thing. Signed the rest of the world.
#VoteHarris
Will he stay or will he go
I can’t remember American politics ever being this weird. Donald Trump is riding a wave of support and risks being returned to the White House as President. And Joe Biden is considering his options.
Mountain Tui: Trump’s shooting reveals a hidden danger for New Zealand too
Trump’s shooting has left the world shocked and bewildered. But what, if anything, does it mean for us here in New Zealand?
Trump shot
In breaking news Donald trump has been shot in a Pensylvania. Film suggests that he is fine although suffered a wound to his […]
Should Joe Biden do an Andrew Little?
Jo Biden’s recent debate with Donald Trump did not go well.
A Trump-led Withdrawal from NATO
Just as he did in 2017, Trump is clear in 2023 that the United States should withdraw from NATO.
Should America elect a well intentioned but hapless President or an evil and dangerous President?
Robert Hur, the Republican prosecutor investigating President Biden’s retention of classified documents has concluded he should not face trial because he was “well-intentioned, but sometimes hapless and forgetful”.
What If Trump Wins Again?
New Zealand has gained prosperity over 40 years within a free flow of trade under peacetime supported by minor attacks to shipping and planes, low international trade costs such as tariffs, and confidence that international trade disputes will be settled by law rather than by might is at risk: all of that required a United States President prepared to support that.
Donald Trump indicted for trying to overthrow the US government
The question the citizens of the United States will have to ask shortly is not merely how on earth a person like this is a viable candidate for president. The question is really: how could the United States enable a sitting President to carry out this scale of crime?
The Murdoch’s very bad week
The Murdoch family’s decision to pay record damages to Dominion Voting Systems and to capitulate in its defamation case against Cricky Media suggest that they have had a very bad and a very expensive week.
Trump indicted
Breaking news that Donald J Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. More details to follow …
The 2022 midterms and what happens next in US politics
Overall, the 2022 midterms were the best for any sitting Democrat President since 1978. Whilst losing control of the House is disappointing, the Republican majority is slim. Should hardliners try to block the Biden agenda as they did with Obama, they risk moderate Republicans breaking ranks. Further, hardline Republicans overplaying their hand in Congress may scare moderate voters away from the party and at the same time motivate the Democrat base to win back the House in 2024. Add to that the prospect of Trump returning in 2024, it could be about to get very messy in the Republican Party.
Will the 1923 record be beaten?
Been watching C-SPAN in the US House of Representatives trying to elect a speaker. Last time that there was more than one vote to get a speaker was in 1923. This figures, the author of this political madness, Donald Trump seems to be a law and tax evading crook worthy of the 1920s or 1930s US.
Trump’s tax returns
One of the mysteries of the ages has now been resolved. One of the great mysteries along with who killed JFK and is there life on Mars is how wealthy is the orange one. And now we know. And it appears that he is not as wealthy as he made out to be.
Red ripple in US
Except in Florida, where Ron DeSantis led a convincing set of Republican gains, the Republican party in the US have had a disappointing mid-term election. The Democrats expecting to face a mid-term vote against incumbents, will be pleasantly surprised. There are still a lot of votes to count. This being the US, lawyers will be trying to set court dates.
Upcoming Conflict Between Justice and Politics in the United States
Unlike even Brazil’s election and transition of power, events are going to make the full restoration of functioning democracy in the United States very, very hard and starting soon.
Democracy is on the Ballot – watershed US midterms this week.
At a campaign event last week President Biden said that in these mid-term elections “democracy is on the ballot”. This is absolutely true, and the outcome will be decided by those who show up to vote.
The most important election in the world this year
With the future of the Amazon rain forest at stake the people of Brazil go to the polls today to vote on who will be their next President in an election that may profoundly affect the world’s future.
Tamaki Makaurau’s very own wannabe Trump
What started out as an ego driven campaign is now developing into full blown Trumism as Leo Molloy thrashes around attempting to court attention in the belief, Trump like, that it will convert into political support.
If not now then when?
Yet another school shooting has occurred this time in Texas with 19 children and two teachers shot. And this weekend the NRA is holding its annual Convention in Texas and Donald Trump is one of the guest speakers.
Just how gross can a anti-vaccine enema be?
Everything has been too serious recently and kind of gross.
Lets keep the gross and but go for the satirical.
Enemas! Pimples!
Remarkably Hopeful
We will probably never get over the feeling that somehow, if enough people just banded together, it would all get better again, like we did when the United Nations charter was struck.
The US withdraws from Afghanistan and the inevitable happened
The withdrawal in August of US and allied troops from Afghanistan saw the return of the Taliban in control of that country. This sadly was always going to be the outcome once the US and its allies withdrew.
Mothers of the Revolution
Saw an inspiring premiere of this NZ -made movie about the amazing women of Greenham Common at the Wellington Film Festival today. Their years-long protest led to the INF treaty, a major advance in nuclear safety, now abandoned. Well worth seeing – a timely reminder in light of today’s news about NATO moving nuclear missiles around Eastern European nations on Russia’s borders.
Highway to the Danger Zone
I never thought I would see the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of the United States military essentially being a witness against the previous President of the United States. Yet here we are.
Trump’s not so bad: the nuclear holocaust edition
An occasional series
Trump and Russia
The Guardian has reported on claims of a leaked Russian Government paper which on the face of it confirms Russian support for the Trump 2016 election at the highest level.
America’s Democratic Decline Really Matters
With the United States Supreme Court allowing individual states to choke voting rights into bare consciousness, that country is accelerating its democratic decline. That matters for every democracy including ours.
Einstein versus Trump*
Einstein tried to explain complex things and understand reality; Trump tried to explain it away and distort reality.