The problems with a principled stand

In the past couple of weeks, the conservative parties have retained government…

Government approves Santos Barossa pipeline and sea dumping

The Australia Institute Media Release   Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s Department has approved a…

If The Jackboots Actually Fit …

By Jane Salmon   If The Jackboots Actually Fit … Why Does Labor Keep…

Distinctions Without Difference: The Security Council on Gaza…

The UN Security Council presents one of the great contradictions of power…

How the supermarkets lost their way in Oz

By Callen Sorensen Karklis   Many Australians are heard saying that they’re feeling the…

Purgatorial Torments: Assange and the UK High Court

What is it about British justice that has a certain rankness to…

Why A Punch In The Face May Be…

Now I'm not one who believes in violence as a solution to…

Does God condone genocide?

By Bert Hetebry Stan Grant points out in his book The Queen is…

«
»
Facebook

The Trump Report No 5: What else can you call him?

Wednesday 11 January 2017

As is my habit each morning I arise at 6 am, post my daily article and then turn my attention to catching up with the news of the day. I check in on The AIMN then I read the headlines in The Australian. I don’t subscribe but it gives me an idea of what the right are saying. Eventually I get to The Huffington Post and the Washington Post to find out what’s going on in America.

The amount of headlines with the word ‘Trump’ in them is truly amazing. It’s as though America has woken from a nightmare and finally realised that it’s for real. They do have a man of doubtful sanity as their president-elect.

This headline confirms it:

‘Donald Trump has responded on Twitter to Meryl Streep’s Golden Globes speech, calling her an “overrated actress” and a “Hillary flunky”.’

Overrated, now that’s not bad coming from a president-elect who can’t even get a singer of any distinction to sing at his inauguration.

At least Streep is good at what she does, in my view arguably the best ever, and she does not claim to be something she’s not.

What she did was to show him no respect. You can call him racist, sexist, a sexual predator, a homophobe, a xenophobe, a conspiracy theorist, a bully or anything else but what he craves most is respect and that includes Hollywood. Remember his tweet:

“I should have many Emmys for The Apprentice if the process were fair.”

It seems he is going to govern in the same way he campaigned. Using Twitter to broadcast his most personal feelings to the world in the most sarcastic and insulting ways possible.

While he is doing this he is not only showing himself of for the fool that he is, he is also demeaning the highest office in the land if not the world.

Everyday there is not a blog or major newspaper I read that is not full of headlines that scream out the sheer foolishness of his decisions and his daily remarks.

Here are some examples:

“Donald Trump Denies Mocking Reporter for His Disability, Even Though It Appears He Did”

“Reince Priebus: Donald Trump Won’t ‘Meddle’ With Social Security and Medicare”

“Trump insider Jared Kushner chases a massive Chinese deal for family firm”

“Chuck Schumer Threatens Confirmation Delays For Trump’s Cabinet Picks Over Ethics Reviews”

“4 of 9 Trump Nominees Set For Hearings This Week Haven’t Completed Ethics Disclosures”

“Donald Trump Avoids Blaming Russia after Intel Briefing”

“Former CIA Director Won’t Advise Donald Trump Anymore”

“Russian Reactions to Hacking Accusations And Sanctions Follow A Traditional Pattern: Deny Then Distort”

“Russian Reactions To Hacking Accusations And Sanctions Follow A Traditional Pattern: Deny Then Distort”

“Trump to name son-in -law Jarod Kushner as senior advisor”

“The Trump’s team’s embarrassing defense of fraudulence”

“Trump advisors begin tax talks with Speaker Ryan tonight”

“Russia aimed to influence US election, top spies tell Trump – and rot won’t go away”

Director Of Government Ethics Office Is Alarmed Trump Cabinet Picks Haven’t Been Fully Vetted”

“Joe Biden Tells Trump: ‘Grow Up, Donald’ ”

“Time to be an adult”

“Kellyanne Conway Says Donald Trump Shouldn’t Be Held Accountable For the Things He Says”

I can assure that these headlines from the past couple of days are typical of the hundreds that have graced the pages of the American media since his election.

About the wall:

The President elect now says that any money spent by US taxpayers on a border wall will be repaid by Mexico. Now that’s not what he said during the campaign. Of course not. Now he just denies everything.  Trump said the media had twisted the story.

It’s a ploy. The man with no integrity is using lies all the time.

Trump said that he had approached Congress to pay the $14bn (11bn) bill for the wall project but clearly his campaign pledge was to make Mexico pay for the construction.

About Julian Assange:

2017, Trump tweets a quote from Assange about how easy it was to hack the DNC, and follows with “why was the DNC so careless?”; a clear implication he agreed with the Assange quote he just posted.  Two days later, Trump whines that the evil “media” made it sound like he agreed with Assange … which he clearly did.

About the climate:

Instead of moving on from Paris and setting meaningful targets for lower emissions and plan for just energy transitions we now have a climate denier in the White House, who ties his nation’s future to finding new ways to extract and burn carbon and an Australian government which is not a whole lot better.

Every Trump cabinet minister is also a denier. 17 of them.

About Sarah Palin:

Trump has officially announced that Sarah Palin is to become the new Science and Technology Adviser.

For too long has the Chinese narrative over climate change kept our economy in a rut. It’s time to open the pumps and as I like to say: Drill, baby, drill!”

(Sarah Palin, former Alaska Governor).

This American post is doing the rounds of social media. I cannot put a name to it because I’m unaware of  who the author is. So with apologies here it is:

“Please understand that I am not mad at you because Clinton lost. I am totally unconcerned that you and I have different ‘politics.’ And I don’t think less of you because you voted one way and I another.”

“No, I think less of you because you watched an adult mock a disabled person while addressing a crowd and still supported him. I think less of you because you saw a candidate spout clear racism day after day and still backed him. I think less of you because you heard him advocate for war crimes and still thought he should be given the reins of government. I think less of you because you watched him equate a woman’s worth to where she landed on a scale of 1 to 10 and still got on board. I think less of you because you stood by silently while he labelled Mexicans as criminals and Muslims as terrorists.”

“It wasn’t your politics I found repulsive. No, it was your willingness to support someone who spouts racism, sexism, and cruelty almost every time he opens his mouth. You sided with a bully when it should have mattered most, and that is something I will never be able to forget.”

“So in response to your post-election expression of hope, no, you and I won’t be ‘coming together to move forward.’ Obviously, the president-elect disgusts me; but it is the fact that he doesn’t disgust you that will stick with me long after the election.”

My thought for the day

Most problems that society faces arise from the fact that men have never really grown up.

PS: It’s Trump’s America now. Time to get over your attachment to facts.

 

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 gratefully accepted.

You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969

Donate Button

31 comments

Login here Register here
  1. Kaye Lee

    “Trump has officially announced that Sarah Palin is to become the new Science and Technology Adviser.”

    Surely that can’t be true???? I really hope you were joking John.

  2. Terry2

    A classic case of fake news but in this case it seems to have been done as a piece of satire.

    The fake news endorsement of Trump by the Vatican was far more damaging :

    “News outlets around the world are reporting on the news that Pope Francis has made the unprecedented decision to endorse a US presidential candidate. His statement in support of Donald Trump was released from the Vatican this evening:

    “I have been hesitant to offer any kind of support for either candidate in the US presidential election but I now feel that to not voice my concern would be a dereliction of my duty as the Holy See.”

    This got a lot of coverage on social media before the election and undoubtedly influenced some of the 165millin Catholics in the USA.

  3. John Lord

    Kaye. It is fake news. I have to admit I fell for it. It does however demonstrate the absurdity of the environment that is Trump. It is often difficult separating fact from fiction. The fact that I so readily accepted it as truth demonstrates this.

  4. Kaye Lee

    John, I would believe anything from the Trump administration. What qualifies his son-in-law for the job of adviser on anything at all let alone the Middle East?

    “Mr Kushner is a real estate executive who has pushed his family’s company into the high-stakes battlefield of Manhattan.

    As well as being CEO of Kushner Companies, he’s the publisher of the New York Observer newspaper.

    Last week, Mr Kushner and Mr Bannon met with British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson.

    They have also worked closely on issues related to Israel, including discussions over moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem

    He’s helped interview cabinet candidates, and he joined other Trump advisers on Monday night for a meeting with House Speaker Paul Ryan on tax reform. As well, he championed the pick of his friend Gary Cohn, the president of Goldman Sachs, as director of the National Economic Council.”

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-10/this-is-what-you-should-know-about-jared-kushner/8172174

    Seems he started using Trump’s win for his own advantage from the get go, meeting with Chinese property developers.

    http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/business/concerns-over-donald-trumps-son-in-laws-chinese-deals-report/articleshow/56401818.cms

  5. helvityni

    Sarah Palin as a science advisor is no bigger joke than Abbott as our PM. I will not be stunned by anything that comes from Trump, plenty of weird people in our government.

  6. Kaye Lee

    Maybe not science adviser but weird things are going on….

    “Donald Trump is considering tapping former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as his secretary of Veterans Affairs, according to two Trump transition sources.”

    After meeting with private hospital owners…..

    “President-elect Donald Trump is considering moving the Department of Veterans Affairs toward privatization, a transition team official said Wednesday, a policy decision major veterans’ groups have said they would oppose.”

  7. John Lord

    is another one that’s true.

    Vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy Jr. says Trump has named him to lead commission on ‘vaccine safety’.

  8. michael lacey

    I would prefer Susan Sarandon comments! “Fear of Donald Trump is not enough for me to support Clinton, with her record of corruption,”

  9. John Lord

    But she wasn’t any of these Michael. racist, sexist, a sexual predator, a homophobe, a xenophobe, a conspiracy theorist, a bully.

  10. Kaye Lee

    or an anti-vaxxer

  11. wam

    beauty today Lord. Lovely thought about men and the fabbott’s grown-ups in charge

    Hevltyni notice another pollie gets the treatment and surprise surprise another SHE.

    Still there is some attempt at equality.

    The ‘berk’ from 2012 gets a run in the media and that cover’s labor and men. Who heard the ‘independents’ on sunrise this morning?

    Self-regulation of entitlements. when systemic use of grey areas are flouted then flaunted from savvy politicians, like the X, releases rorts by human nature, cannot be reliable. There are many solutions that could satisfy, Alan Tudge’s reference to the welfare debacle, “make sure they only get their entitlements no more no less”.
    re-employ the AO1 clerks who approve such trips before they occur or after when the pollies apply for re-imbursement of costs PAID for by the girls and berks.

    set up a secure RO website where the federal politicians publish the previous month’s meetings when, where, how long, who with and why.

    Take up iron-bar’s $million option and watch the squeals of i pay more than him oops sorry i pay more than her.

    foster altruism in politics by being involved in selecting the candidates

    How can anyone be surprised by any trump appointment of a woman, relative, rich and right- chao, Haley, DeVos, McMahon and Conway are all worth reading about.

  12. michael lacey

    No John your right! Just corrupt !

  13. John Lord

    Michael. Wasn’t Trump.

    Jeff. Trumps words not mine.

  14. Jexpat

    John:

    You do realise that your statement about Assange was false and defamatory?

    And that Australian defamation laws are quite broad and much more favorable to plaintiffs than US laws (where CNN is currently being assesed for a lawsuit, based on this same false statement?)

    http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/wikileaks-threatens-cnn-with-defamation-lawsuit-after-assange-called-pedophile-on-live-tv/

    I would also note that any such liability here would not only attach to you personally, but would also extend to AIMN.

  15. michael lacey

    Trump is a lot of things as you well know John! Corruption would no doubt be in the mix! Hilary however has been in positions of political power for quite a long period of time whose decisions have affected many lives! We need to focus on her questionable dealings with countries in relation to the Clinton Foundation as well as major corporations! You can run a rap sheet on Trump and the Republicans need to! You should also run a rap sheet on the Democrats and Hilary!

  16. JeffJL

    Thank you for clarifying that John. I can now see how it all ties in. Not sure if I need to read more carefully or it could have been better written. I’m at 80/20.

  17. Terry2

    Michael

    I have been aware of the constant claims of wrongdoing by the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation and the Trump camp constantly using the ‘Crooked Hillary’ to very good effect. I was however surprised that on election Trump immediately dropped all references to Crooked Hillary and did not pursue the criminal enquiry that he had promised.

    I have done as much research of reliable resources as I have time for and have found very little of substance. I am however quite impressed with this article in the NY Times by Richard W Painter who was Chief Whitehouse Ethics lawyer under President George W Bush. I commend it to you and others who have been influenced by this conspiracy :

    I keep an open mind on this and related matters but I am influenced by authentic and fact-based evidence should you have any, from reliable sources.

  18. michael lacey

    Well open minds are good.
    Listing the New York Times as a reliable source?
    1. George W. Bush’s Weapons of Mass Destruction
    2. Gulf of Tonkin Incident
    3. Suppression of brutality perpetrated in Bahrain during the Arab Spring
    4. That time Fox News hired a CIA operative who wasn’t a CIA operative
    http://www.globalresearch.ca/five-times-corporate-media-got-caught-publishing-fake-news-causing-the-death-and-suffering-of-millions/5557924
    http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-new-york-times-hillarys-press-agent/5538090

    Search Results

    The ‘Post-Truth’ Mainstream Media

  19. Kronomex

    Is it my imagination, but after looking at new photos of The Donald, he seems to now look about 80 years old and he isn’t even president yet. Methinks he does not handle stress well.

  20. Jaquix

    Im severely limiting my reading by avoiding all but the occasional Trump article. Too much trash. But I do like todays CIA announcement that the Russians have something over him, possibly being involved in watching golden shower events with prostitutes, in Moscow. As an antidote to all that, I enjoyed Obamas wonderful final speech, all class. I imagine he will achieve a lot in the future, posdibly more than he could in the White House, hobbled bas he was by regressive old Republicans.

  21. John Lord

    Michael my primary interest is in Australian politics. I am doing a Trump report because I believe he is a threat to peace in our times. In so far ad Clinton is concerned I agree with Jacquix. I am yet to see or read anything that proves anything alleged against her.

  22. John Lord

    Jexpat Trumps words not mine.

  23. silkworm

    John, on rereading that defamatory bit about Assange, it still appears that you were the author of it, so I suggest you rewrite it with more clarity.

  24. Möbius Ecko

    First poll after election and Trump’s figures worst ever for a president elect.

    Not surprising as he’s backed down on just about every promise he’s made to get elected. He will be in real deep shit when the hard up workers who voted for him find out he won’t keep his promise on getting them more work and the millionaires he’s appointed bring in policies to screw them and their families.

  25. Kronomex

    Aw, poor ickle Donald, he can dish out unsubstantiated dirt on opponents but when it’s turned on him he cries and sulks like the petulant bully he is vis-à-vis the dirt file on him that has surfaced. Boo bloody hoo!

  26. David Bruce

    Interesting read John, comments too! Regardless of who won the election, the USA was screwed. Trumps’ MAGA proclamation will take us back to the cold war era.

    However, I remain optimistic for two reasons. First, I don’t expect to be here for too much longer, and second, Trump maybe the right person to make Protocol 10, Preparing for Power, come into effect. In other words, the One World Government. But he is not President, yet.

    Protocol 10 Preparing for Power has four components
    OUR GOAL – WORLD POWER
    POISON OF LIBERALISM
    WE NAME PRESIDENTS
    WE SHALL DESTROY

    Protocol 10 also introduces voting
    Voting; which we have made the instrument which will set us on the throne of the world, by teaching even the very smallest units of members of the human race to vote…

    … we must have everybody vote without distinction of classes and qualifications, in order to establish an absolute majority…

    … we shall create a blind, mighty force, which will never be in a position to move in any direction, without the guidance of our agents, set at its head, by us, as leaders of the mob. The people will submit to this regime, because it will know, that upon these leaders will depend its earnings, gratifications and the receipt of all kinds of benefits.

    As most people know, the Protocols have been discredited, but I am amazed at the accuracy of many of the predictions.

  27. Kyran

    PS: It’s Trump’s America now. Time to get over your attachment to facts.
    It’s a bit like that ‘fart in the elevator’ episode, where you try to work out whether it’s the odious smell or the extraordinary resonance of the ‘sound’ that causes offence. Or the most horrible of notions. It may just have been you in that confined space that caused the ‘offence’.
    Ok, maybe that was just me.
    “The amount of headlines with the word ‘Trump’ in them is truly amazing. It’s as though America has woken from a nightmare and finally realised that it’s for real. They do have a man of doubtful sanity as their president-elect.”

    So the ABC no longer report trump as being an international catastrophe.
    “Donald Trump’s first press conference sends Aussie dollar soaring” read the headline.
    Hmm, does Newscorpse own the ABC yet? A headline, without a story?
    My bad. They went on to explain.
    “The dollar rose a full US cent against the greenback as traders pared back their hopes the incoming President would make good on his plans to turbo-charge the nation’s economic growth.”
    Sooo, my bad. Again.
    The headline and the first paragraph would suggest that trump is trump, and he can revitalize the A$, based on nothing other than his ignorance.
    This is the same bloke who campaigned on;
    Stopping the boats, by building a wall.
    Providing Jobson Groethe, by promising relief for the wealthy.
    Being the infrastructure president.
    Thank goodness the ABC are still doing their job. Looking out for us, frank and fearless. They did go on to explain…
    “It sent the US dollar tumbling and, as a consequence, the Australian dollar soared, pushing well above 74 US cents.”
    Facts. Those nasty, pesky things that have no other purpose than to interrupt a good story.
    The ABC would surely never fall for that.
    Surely?
    Thank you, Mr Lord, and commenters. Take care

  28. Jexpat

    John:

    As I mentioned, Australian defamation law is quite broad, following the English model, so it behooves writers and publishers to understand (and appreciate the potential consequences of) legal terms like “republication,” “imputation,” and “innuendo.”

    In terms of republication, I’m not sure where you got point #2 under the “About Julian Assange” heading, but a quick search for the quote comes up only with this: https://www.google.com.au/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=aTt3WJvdCtPN8gfStbD4BA#q=%22Julian+Assange%2C+a+fugitive+and+child+molester+who+works+for+Russian+media+gets+Trump+elected+in+a+scandal+that+makes+Watergate+look+tame%22

    That looks to be defamation on its face, without evr having to reach questions of imputations and innuendo, which may -or may not- be found in the article (or other related articles) as a whole.

    In short, I’m trying to say that it would be wise for you (and other authors) to be a bit more careful and think ahead of time about how what you write can be intepreted- and also, what sources you choose to rely on or repeat.

  29. Michael Taylor

    Thank you for that, Jexpat. I have removed those sentences. They should not have been published.

    There was a rumour at one stage about Assange, but that was all. There was never any substance to it.

  30. michael lacey

    John do not disagree with you on Trump but Clinton is a problem as well and her dealings are questionable especially when putting up for executive office!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The maximum upload file size: 2 MB. You can upload: image, audio, video, document, spreadsheet, interactive, text, archive, code, other. Links to YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other services inserted in the comment text will be automatically embedded. Drop file here

Return to home page