Put an asterisk against January 20th 2021 in your calendar. For on this day the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States of America, marks the end of Donald Trump’s presidency and his insidious enabling of the Australian Liberal/National conservative government.
The problem is the imbecilic members of this shambolic excuse for a national government, don’t realise their fortunes are about to change for the worse.
Shambolic? As I write in the COVID-19 security of Tasmania, the premier of the nation’s largest state – New South Wales – and prime minister Scott Morrison, are on leave.
This at a time when the nation requires articulate, cohesive leadership. Indeed, New South Wales is presently being led by a man, who just a few months ago, threatened to blow up his government then used mental health issues as an excuse to run away from a debacle of his own making.
Scottie from Marketing and Gladys (the ruby princess) Berejiklian have squibbed a coordinated national response to the pandemic, choosing instead their preferred tactic of vituperative partisan political insults.
Similarly, the world looks on as the same scenario unfolds in little Britain. Brazil, the Philippines, and the disunited states of America. The list of floundering states is long.
In theory this all ends with the Biden inauguration and with it the fig leaf behind which Morrison et al have hidden, falls away. After January 20th, the full extent of the COVID-19 catastrophe across a nation that once fancied itself the Leader of the Free World will be forensically displayed. What better way to destroy the Trump legacy than to tell the truth?
We watch America’s train wreck response to the disease on the nightly news, but up until inauguration day we are distracted by the daily shenanigans of the most dangerous American leader of modern times. Thankfully, once Trump is out of office, the antiseptic quality of truth might prevail. Or it may not. But if it does, the revelation will be ugly. Particularly for local Trump camp followers and enablers such as the Murdoch press, the IPA, the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust, the robber barons of Western Australia, Clive Palmer, pauline hanson, much of the back bench of the National Party and the mandarins of Sydney’s north shore and Melbourne’s Toorak.
Their props fall away on inauguration day. Snap-back tropes prove hollow, while the endless carping of small business baristas, so-called struggling farmers, tourism operators and sundry masters of the universe, disappear like so much flatulent hot air.
We are in the maw of a global plague, and unless borders can be seamlessly slammed shut for the foreseeable future, as they are in Tasmania and across the ditch in New Zealand, there is nowhere to hide. A well-coordinated federal quarantine policy might help, but I am afraid this particular horse of the apocalypse has already bolted.
And as if on cue, the mean, penny-pinching exercise of cutting back Job Keeper and Job Seeker, mean poverty for even more Aussie Battlers.
On the international front China is already sizing up Joe Biden, and Iran will surely test the mettle of Israel and the United States. Because of the clumsy lock step dance strutted by Morrison with the erratic Trump, Australia is likely to feel more of an icy chill, and possibly worse.
And so to the alternative Australian government; the Australian Labor Party, announcing it is preparing for an election. My guess is Morrison goes early, gambling on a flummoxed, fearful electorate maintaining the status quo.
So if Anthony Albanese is to emulate Joe Biden – and I believe he can – Labor’s creative policy wonks need to come out with much more than abandoning franking credits. A cohesive blueprint to deal with a post COVID-19 world, might be a good starting point. And it would be prudent for Albanese to call on the expertise of Jacinda Ardern, prime minister of New Zealand, as well as the Australian State premiers – Liberal and Labor – for a few pointers.
We all know there is nothing to be learnt from the wafer-thin legacy of the current prime minister whose only claim to fame on the international stage is a worthless trinket called the Legion of Merit, bestowed on him by Trump for… wait for it … “Leadership in Addressing Global Challenges.”
[textblock style=”6″]
Henry Johnston is an Australian author. His books, Best and Fairest and The Last Voyage of Aratus are on sale in both hard copy and electronic format.
[/textblock]
[textblock style=”7″]
Like what we do at The AIMN?
You’ll like it even more knowing that your donation will help us to keep up the good fight.
Chuck in a few bucks and see just how far it goes!
Your contribution to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
[/textblock]
