Dangerous Trump

It is difficult to decide which of the two figures is worse.

More than 100,000 dead through the coronavirus.

One man killed by four policemen.

Both figures originate, of course, from the United States of America.

Both figures are a direct result of Donald Trump's signal failure to act as a President.

Trump has demonstrated little but megalomania, xenophobia, misogynism, antipathy, crudity, vulgarity… during his time as President of the USA. (Anyone who thought that these typical pre-president-Trump characteristics would be better controlled when he became President must feel greatly disillusioned.)

Trump has made the USA a pariah in the world.

Trump blames everyone but himself for what is happening in the USA.

The truth is, the 100,000 deaths and the death of George Floyd are direct results of Trump's bumbling non-leadership.

Trump chooses not to listen to the many experts that surround him and provide him with the information he requires to make fact-based decisions. Instead, he blabbers out his own crazy theories: the coronavirus is no more than a flu; the coronavirus problem will be cleared up by a miracle; drink disinfectant to clear the coronavirus from your insides; it's all the fault of the WHO; it's all the fault of the Chinese; it's all the fault (as is everything else) of Obama.

No, Trump, it's all your fault, with your childish, petulant Tweets, which are little more than veiled attempts to divert attention from your own errors and to target minority groups, women, foreigners, and anyone who disagrees with you.

You are supposed to be a President. You are supposed to be the President for all Americans. You are supposed to lead by example. Instead, you strut around without a mask, you go to Florida to visit a rocket launch, you use demeaning language to describe protesters against the killing of George Floyd, yet you use praise in Tweets regarding ultra right-wing protestors and those calling for the relaxation of lockdown rules.

Indeed, Trump's failure to denounce white supremacists in the USA has now led to the killing in broad daylight, in full public view, of an African American, who pleaded for his life, whilst offering no resistance. This was not just a killing, rather it was a lynching by no less than four police officers.

Trump's rise to power and his misuse of power remind me frighteningly of Hitler's rise. Hitler had the crazy idea that the Arian race was in some way superior to others. He gradually built up hatred of other races, especially the Jews, amongst his followers. He banned books and other publications that spoke against his own ideas, he surrounded himself with yes-men whose only interest was self-aggrandisement… And now we see Trump attempting to manipulate the press, belittling certain reporters, especially female ones, especially non-white ones; we see him surrounding himself with his own yes-men and one by one removing those that dare to contradict him or speak against him.

America, do you not see what this fool is doing to your country?

First the USA, now the world

There's a thing called the National Prayer Breakfast, held each year in Washington DC.

Now, the thing is, this event is really a gathering of religious leaders, who happen to be joined by high-ups in the business world and others from across the world that are invited. So it gives these fortunate individuals an opportunity to ponder over the fate of the millions of starving poor and homeless, while they stuff themselves in the luxury of the Washington Hilton.

Nothing could be more Christian.

The president of the USA attends the event, so this year Herr Trump was there and he gave one of his arm-exercise speeches.

Well, "speech" is perhaps too loose a term for the diatribe that poured forth from the orifice in Trump's orange face (that is, after he had asked his audience of so-called dignitaries, church-leaders, etc. to pray for Arnold Schwartzenegger).

Apparently the man is not satisfied with solving the problems of the USA, he is now also going to solve those of the rest of the world, as well. The language he used, the allusions he made, the lies (sorry, alternative facts) that he told, once again show the man to be dangerous.

But perhaps he is more than just the devil incarnate. Perhaps he needs help. Is he suffering from megalomania? Could Trump be mentally unstable? Should he not be placed in a mental health establishment and treated for whatever ails him?

Really, if he is allowed to continue the way he is going, then we shall end up with a real-life enactment of Dr Strangelove, with Trump playing all the main rôles.

Herr Trump

Thank you, people of the USA for dumping Trump on the world.

He's been in office for just over a week and he has even managed to exceed our expectancies.

During the inauguration, he demonstrated what a boor he is in the way he treated his wife. Does the man have no manners, no gentlemanly traits? And apart from being downright rude to the woman, he clearly said something to her that turned her pretend smile into a very real look of fear.

His first week has been marked by lies, "alternative facts" (lies, in other words), numerous decrees, and what must have been a big disappointment for him during the first official visit of a foreign head of state.

Trump lied blatantly about the size of the crowd that attended his inauguration and found the subject so important, that he even had a enlargement made of a photograph showing the sparsely attended area in front of the White House and now has it hanging in that building (perhaps he thought that enlarging the photo would enlarge the number of people. He then lied about the vastly greater turnout for the Womens March, that took place not only in Washington, but around the world. Perhaps Trolland Dump has his own size issues…

So during his first ominous week he started or put in place processes with the following aims:

• to end the semblance of decent health insurance that the people of the USA so desperately need;
• to actually build his ridiculous Mexican wall and to insult that country's people by insisting that it will be built at their expense;
• he has opened up the possibility of building huge nature-destroying pipelines across the USA (pipelines that will cross homelands of Native Americans, who really should build their own walls to stop the pipelines);
• to prevent nationals of various foreign states from obtaining visa to enter the USA;
• to suggest that Christians be allowed to enter the USA, but not Muslims (I'm an atheist, so where do I stand?)
• to indicate that he is in favour of torture and, in particular, waterboarding.

The first foreign head of state to visit Dumpy Trumpy was the UK's Theresa May. Old Donald must have got himself very excited at the prospect of meeting her, as the White House had been tweeting and sending out memos informing about the upcoming visit between Trump and, as they called her, Teresa May (note the missing "h" in the given name). If Trump had Googled this, he'd have come up with someone looking like this:

For Teresa May is a soft porn star and "glamour" model.

Instead, he got this:

Now, all this lying, pontificating, and getting rather important details wrong may seem jolly amusing and I have come across a number of television and radio programmes that have a good old laugh at it all.

But there's a serious side to it, too.

If Trump can treat his wife the way he does, if Trump finds it important to lie about small matters, if Trumps advisors are incapable of getting the name of a visiting head of state right… then there is something deeply, deeply worrying about the presidency of the USA.

And, as if that were not enough, if the president of the USA is capable of such inhumanity, such disrespect of nature, such clear religious discrimination… then there is something deeply, deeply worrying about that man.

Not only worrying, but quite frightening.

Not since the 1930s and the lead-up to the Second World War, when a little man named Adolph Hitler stirred the German people into a frenzy of nationalism, xenophobia, and religious fanaticism, has a more dangerous person held such an important position.

Please, please, if you have a blog, if you have a newsletter, if you are on social media, then help fight the hate that Trump is fermenting. Write something.

Please.

Sublime, ridiculous

Barack Obama's farewell speech as president of the good old USA on 10 January was just excellent.

He was his usual controlled, gentlemanly, presidential self and wowed his enthusiastic audience with a summing up of the achievements realised during his terms in office.

(Not least of these is the achievement to offer the citizens of the USA at least some type of social security in the form of the so-called Obamacare, a health insurance system that a supposedly developed nation should have provided its people with long, long ago.)

I'm not one for political speeches, nor for politics, nor for politicians—can't really give them the time of day, but I followed Obama's speech from beginning to end and thoroughly enjoyed it.

As my late Auntie Ruth would have said, "Sublime personified."

What a contrast to the theatricals of buffoon Donald Trump a few hours later, when he gave his first press conference as president elect. The man is clearly incapable of normal activity and how such a juvenile-minded individual (as evidenced in his "tweets") can still be considered suitable to occupy the most important seat in the USA quite simply beggars belief.

Trump's reaction to a CNN reporter's request for a question was that of a spoilt 10-year-old brat. And, unfortunately, this reaction was only one instance of such juvenile tendencies.

Some days earlier, Meryl Streep made a speech in which she chided Trump, especially for his imitation of a disabled reporter. Trump's come-back was a series of "tweets" in which he first declared that Streep was an "one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood."

Now that's very strange, for in 2015, during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, when asked if there were any actresses he liked,Trump answered, “Julia Roberts is terrific, and many others. Meryl Streep is excellent; she’s a fine person, too.”

As for imitating a disabled reporter, Trump then tweeted a denial, stating, "For the 100th time, I never "mocked" a disabled reporter (would never do that)…"

Well, Donald, that's a downright lie, for you mocked that reporter on 24 November, 2016, during a campaign speech at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and your actions were filmed.

Trump, lad, you lied.

Either that, or you don't know what you are doing for a great part of your waking existence.

Year Of The Buffoon

Let the Chinese keep their Year of the Horse, the Year of the Monkey, Year of the Rat, and all the other animal signs.

Let Al Stewart keep his Year of the Cat (and how many of you remember that?.

This year must surely be the Year of the Buffoon.

Just consider: Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, and, wait for it, buffoono supremo Donald Trump. What a set of human disasters they represent!

Then add to this sad list the names of the likes of Recip Eroğan, Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, and the ultra right-wing upstarts in Europe.

All you then need are some religious fanatics and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Oh, hang on, such religious fanatics are already present in the USA in the form of fundamentalist Christians (home teaching, anyone? Yes, the world is six thousand years old. I ask you!) and in Europe and the Middle East, Daesh, who claim to be fundamentalist Moslims, but act like no true Moslem would ever act, fill that rôle. (Personally, I think that fundamentalist Christianity, as practised in the USA, is a far more dangerous manifestation.)

Generally, the world seems to be going to pot, with ultra right and fundamentalist viewpoints gaining way too much ground, as people look for simple solutions to relatively minor problems that are blown up out of proportion, as a way of gaining support for extremist ideas and movements.

I had intended on writing rather more on this subject, but came across an excellent article that really says all I have to say, so rather than read my drivel, please take the time to carefully read Brian McNair's When Terror Goes Viral It's Up To Us To Prevent Chaos—it says it all.

(But just to finish, can you really imagine Trump as the president of the USA?)

USA

To quote another obnoxious American, "You cannot be serious!"

Still, at least we now know the real meaning of USA:

Unbelievably
Stupid
Americans

To allow a creep like Donald Trump to run in the primaries for the election of the new President of the USA is crazy enough; that such a buffoon, such a mountebank, such an obnoxious, megalomaniacal, clearly prejudiced individual can then actually gain sufficient support to win numerous primaries and to look as if he stands a good chance of becoming the Republican Presidential candidate is just grotesque (as if the Republicans were not already grotesque enough!); it is frightening, not only for the USA (the country and those Unbelievably Stupid Americans), but also for the rest of the world.

Eat your heart out, Dr. Strangelove, for here comes someone far more sinister.

Trump trumps Trump

We all know that Donald Trump is a megalomaniac fool. Yet, despite his ridiculous outbursts during the past few weeks, he has now even managed to trump himself with the totally bonkers call to ban all Moslems from entering the USA.

Yes, Donny, that’s really going to solve the problem of Daesh terrorism, isn’t it.

Do you really think that true Moslems have anything, anything whatsoever, to do with Daesh? Islam is a peaceful religion (well, as peaceful as any organised religion is) and Daesh’s use of that religion is pure and simple manipulation.

Donny, boy, your pronouncements serve only to whip up the xenophobia, the prejudice, the white power, the Christian fundamentalism that exists just below the surface of America.

Take detention and write 500 lines, “I must constantly endeavour to shut up.”

Crazy week

Really, is this the next President of the USA?

It started out when the Catalan “parlament” voted for a “democratic separation” from Spain. The motion was able to be carried because, although the pro-independence parties do not represent a majority of voters, they do have a majority of seats in the parliament (thanks to the same crazy non-proportional representation system of election as is used in the UK).
So now, at a time when Europe needs to think seriously about becoming more unified and less nationalistic, Artur Mas and his cronies have to go and stir things up, knowing full well that their posturing will very likely lead to similar demands, not only in other parts of Spain, but in other regions of Europe, too.

Then there was David Cameron’s diatribe against the European Union. Another Wally who really should know better, but is instead kowtowing to nationalistic tendencies within the UK and, more specifically, England. The really sad thing is that, if the UK government actually do decide to pull out of the EU, it will be a decision made by the UK parliament, a parliament dominated by members from England (there are 650 seats, 533 of which are for English constituencies and only 117 for the other three countries of the UK). In other words, the opinions of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland would count for nothing.

Cameron, if you’re in a club, you follow the rules of the club. Don’t mamby-pamby about old-fashioned nonsense like sovereignty and “our way of doing things.” The UK is pretty irrelevant on the world stage, so stop listening to your aristocracy, whose heads are stuck where the sun doesn’t shine, and get on with reality. This week you sounded like a little schoolboy who couldn’t get his own way and was running a tantrum because of it. Grow up.

Thank goodness that at least a few Americans seem to have come to their senses and booed that modern mountebank Donald Trump at a meeting towards the end of last week. Can you explain how a fool such as Trump can be considered as a potential candidate to lead a nation as powerful as the USA? To be the person to decide whether or not to press the button? Okay, the Americans have made some extremely strange choices in recent history, George W. Bush perhaps being the prime example, but Trump even trumps him!

Yesterday saw the terrorist attacks on innocent civilians in Paris. Responsibility for the attacks has been claimed by Islamic State. Now, no doubt, Marine Le Pen and her Front National will be spouting out about how Moslems should be deported, immigrants returned to their countries of origin, and refugees held back at the borders. All this along with strengthening of France’s own borders and stuff the rest of Europe. Nope, that’s not the way to do it, even though such scaremongering will bring in the votes of the masses. What is now required is more tolerance, better controls at the external borders of the EU (for one thing that’s a lot cheaper than having each country control its own borders), more cooperation between the security forces of EU countries and preferably an EU-wide security force. Islamic State has little or nothing to do with true Moslems; IS is just a band of terrorist thugs that has been allowed to develop since the downfall of Hussein’s Iraq regime (thanks, USA, for leaving the vacuum that was gradually filled by the fundamentalists). I might be naive, but I just do not understand how so-called powerful countries, such as the USA and its allies, are unable to simply wipe out IS.

Crazy.