‘America really needs to build a wall ... around Donald Trump’
“America needs to realy build a wall, around Trump. For if he wins or loses it just continues to expose how intellectualy, or perhaps moraly inept the USA really is. This is the man who breached one of the most fundamental foundations of democracy, the peaceful transition. Either because he refuses to publicly admit he lost or because he’s just deluded. That the political system and the nation it represents allow Trump any influence is unfathomable.”
Bring it on, said Vince:
“As a supporter of the party that defends democracy, the Democrats, I am delighted Trump is running again. Hopefully he’ll run again in 2028 and 2032 and ...”
No, said Neil:
“Armed with the world’s premier CDC he managed to totally undermine them and their advice. Over a million dead on his watch. Compare this to Australia’s management over the same period. No other western county comes close to this level of incompetence.”
John wondered:
“Who would work for Trump? He’s a control freak.”
Au contraire, said Kim:
“Typical journos, no understanding of ordinary hard working ‘Joe Blow’. l predict Trump will win in 2024 again.”
Barry said:
“The article fails to point out the disaster of the Biden administration compared to Trump’s significant achievements. Two more years of Biden’s hopeless leadership at home & abroad, further deterioration in the economy, the disgrace of the border & rising crime will see fertile ground for Trump or DeSantis to launch their campaigns for the 2024 elections.”
According to Andrew:
“The speeches and his actions are what matters. Go to a bygone era when the only thing published were the speeches and letters penned and you’d find Trump would trump. He kept his election promises. He did what he said he’d do. And he was hounded relentlessly.
“How many people would stand up to the beating he took in the media? Seriously. Think about all the claims of toxic workplaces and bullies that goes on. Now think of Trump. Whether you like him or not he went through hell during his first four years.
“When viewed dispassionately, I have empathy for what he’s been through. Doesn’t mean I think he’s a nice guy, doesn’t mean I’d say he’s a mate. But respect for what he’s had to deal with.”
Said Deric:
“Why are we constantly talking about Trump when Biden and the Dems are in power and have driven the US into a ditch in the last two years. Biden is the POTUS so it’s time to examine the extraordinary damage he has done to the US economy, his destruction of the US energy supply and his opening of the southern border that has allowed criminals and drugs to flow unrestricted into the US. Trump isn’t the problem Biden and Dems are.”
Doc declared:
“If winning is your guide, Trump had moderate success in these mid-terms. To assess them as total failure is a nonsense when one sees just how close the losing margins were. Another two years of Democrat governance, with open borders, crime and increasing poverty and high interest rates to negotiate, along with treating everyday parents defending their beliefs, as criminals and subjects for FBI oversight, then anyone but a Democrat will win next time.
“Trump’s successful policies at home and abroad can’t be denied,. Despite the derision for his personality foibles, it was Trump that forced NATO countries to at begin to act meaningfully for their own defence, That gave a modicum of preparedness when Russia invaded Ukraine.
However one regards the COVID-19 vaccines, it was Trump that got them so quickly and Trump had ventilators go from slim supply to massive production by getting non-medical businesses to tool up and produce them. People who hate never salute his successes, as though, in contrast, the current circumstances around the Western World nations don’t exist. For most fair minded people, you can hate Keating, but nobody denies him accolades for his successes.
“Yes, DeSantis has a ‘nicer’ personality than Trump. He succeeded in Florida, but surely one has to assess him more closely for policy and strength of personality to run the USA nationally and internationally. The temptation to be ‘nice’ even to friends, is not necessarily a sign of strength of character and resolve required for the job. DeSantis only gets the tick over Trump when he passes those gruelling debate tests.
“Trump’s greatest failure flows from his own mouth and computer which, on extraneous matters, have a brain disconnect and are irritating. He never learns to shut up and destroys himself, but it’s easy to forget the job he did for the middle classes and poor, for the police and people in uniform, and for Defence and US energy supply. He’s a business man, not a seat warmer.”
Les said:
“As some put it, DeSantis is ‘Trump with brains’ and he has none of the odious, toxic personal qualities of Trump. That is as good an endorsement of DeSantis as could be written.”
ChristopherE was a critic:
“Trump’s address was better than most of his recent efforts.Trump’s announcement of his candidacy was claimed by him, in advance, to be ‘perhaps … the most important speech in the history of the United States’. This set the tone.
“It was in fact replete with the usual self-aggrandisement, hyperbole, victimhood, half-truths, deliberate falsehoods etc, which are now so expected of him as apparently not to warrant comment. Were you to believe him, during his Presidency the US reached the apex of its military and economic dominance, achieved unparalleled peace, internal security and harmony etc but has since collapsed into ruin.
“What is perhaps most disturbing, beyond this wholly misleading account, is the level of extreme nationalistic rhetoric. It made direct and repeated appeals to patriotism, love of the US, restoring the greatness and glory of America. This is not the US as collaborative leader of the free world.
“There are enough people of common sense and goodwill in middle America, that it doesn’t seem (to me) to be critial whether it is the Republicans or Democrats who are in power. But given the level of division in the US and the consequent political dysfunction, the presence of aggressive autocrats ruling in China and Russia (North Korea, Iran, Turkey) and other threats to world stability from internecine wars, extreme weather events, environmental degredation etc, what is required is for the US parties respectively to put forward a person of character, vision, integrity and leadership, able to meet the crises to come.
“That requires as a start Republican and Democrat leaders to support a younger and more centrist candidate. And it excludes Trump.”
Pila pondered:
“DeSantis may well make a better president than Trump. But let’s first see how he does in the primaries against Trump.”
Neville had a chuckle:
“Banner at bottom of front page of New York Post: “Florida man makes announcement, see page 26’. Classic.”
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Claire Lehmann suggested that humungous hubris and overreaching of the alpha tech bros – Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Bankman-Fried – was proving their downfall in modern day versions of Greek tragedies. Said Slartibartfast:
“These high-profile examples are just a sample of the well educated, accomplished people who succumb to imaginary glory. King Cnut in 1016 tried to turn back the tide and his name became a watchword for hubris. Leaders of today still seek to turn back tides, be it the climate or pandemics, and drag us all down in the wake of their failures. That millions follow blindly in their wakes shows that such delusion is highly infectious; the pandemic of gullibility which threatens us all.”
HHH huffed:
“I think it’s ridiculously premature to be making these kind of judgements about Elon Musk only a couple of weeks after the takeover. If anything, all the so called ‘chaos’ is just Elon hitting the ground running. He knows to be successful he has to effect a massive change of culture at Twitter and he is not wasting a second in making that happen.
“All the whining from the entitled fools who earn multiples of the average wage, yet believe it is a massive injustice that they no longer get their lunch paid for too. A company that dominates its category yet has never been able to make a profit. A bunch of people whose life experience is limited to say the least, yet they believe they know best as to how everyone should think and behave.”
Quoth Kathryn:
“Twitter is an ocean of left wing hate. Even moderate lefties like Leigh Sales & Lisa Millar get attacked for being prepared to interview conservatives in a not-extremely-aggressive way. Conservative users are continually attacked and abused en masse, and many are banned by activist Twitter staff that allow pretty much any vile comments from the viscous left. If Musk can’t bring back balance to Twitter, then let it sink.”
LM said:
“What makes Twitter valuable is the fact that celebrities and leaders in business, politics, and academia are on the platform, and often converse with each other in public view. Take away this community, or alienate them to the point of no return, and Twitter ceases to have value.
“Many would say Twitter lost much of that value when ludicrously pampered employees were given free rein (and seemingly encouraged) to censor celebrities, leaders and all other users under the guise of stopping hate speech and misinformation, but which so often ended up just being speech they hated and information they didn’t want the public to see.”
Ben wondered:
“Any chance Musk buys ABC? My Xmas wish!”
Chris commented:
“Excellent article – particularly in relation to Musk’s approach to Twitter. He can fiddle with the features all he wants, but when disabled users leave the platform because he fired the team whose role it was to make the site accessible, and minorities leave because the moderators have all been sacked and the site is awash with racial abuse, and the rest of us leave because there’s nobody there to delete pornography and child abuse materials, the site will have no value, regardless of how slick the user interface is.”
Greg begged to differ:
“I am taking bets that in a very short time that Musk will be turning a profit. Sacked 3/4 of his work force (huge saving on wages) and told the remainder of workforce that he expects them to work long hours and be productive. Also cancelled the free lunches for employees, saving $15 million.”
Chris countered:
“He’s up against it though – the annual loan repayments are $1 billion, more than the site has ever made in a year, and it’s likely that a lot of the advertisers who’ve paused their spends won’t return, particularly the companies like GM who are direct competitors with Musk and don’t want to subsidise his businesses.
“There’s been some ‘creative accounting’ with SpaceX buying advertising packages on Twitter – I can imagine the US Government, SpaceX’s primary source of funding, may be concerned if any more taxpayer funds find their way from the space program to social media.”
From Tony:
“Claire, you have drawn upon hubris as a theme in ancient Greek plays. I suggest that, in addition to classical literature, another more recent discipline also has relevance – economics.
Milton Friedman popularized the expression ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch!’ Yet many of these platforms appeared to provide such an experience.
“Consumers seemed blissfully unaware of the origins of this expression. The ‘free lunch’ refers to a once-common tradition of saloons in the United States providing a ‘free’ lunch to patrons who had purchased at least one drink. Many of the foods on offer were high in salt (e.g., ham, cheese, and salted crackers), so those who ate them ended up buying a lot of drinks.
“Similarly, users of social media often had free access without being aware that data was being collected on their preferences and related information creating profiles that were available for commercial or other purposes. And/or alternatively the platforms drew upon advertising. In some cases, as with news, the platforms also drew upon external sources without compensation.
“So the consumer appeared to have a free reign (with some arbitrary limits) while paying nothing. It was also easy to establish bogus accounts to try and manipulate or influence opinion. The ‘twiterrati’ could spend inordinate time venting without charge and feeling relevant and important.
“As laws around commercial obligations and privacy have tightened and the costs need to be managed, then revenue streams have also required changes. Hence, Musk is now considering a user pays system. I welcome these developments as consumers are compelled to consider what really gives them value for money, while the platforms must consider what services are attractive in the market, be more transparent in their finances and accountable to fee paying users for what they offer and their conduct!”
John summed up:
“It’s a prime case of nominative determinism: Sam is the man who fried his bank.”
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Everybody loves good neighbours. Which is just as well because Neighbours is back like a prematurely killed-off soap opera character – finding a new home for 2023 four months after its heavily promoted finale. John compared:
“US soapie Days of Our Lives started in 1965 and is still running, although it too has recently moved to a streaming services (after 57 years). It’s clocked up about 14,500 episodes.”
David was delighted:
“Superb news for the Australian TV and film industries: suddenly the opportunities for career development almost double. It’s a bald fact that in Australia the two big soaps – Neighbours and Home and Away – each provide roughly 35-40pc of the employment for writers, cameramen, sound crews etc etc. This will secure the future of the media industry for a generation.”
Patricia was nonplussed:
“I’d rather watch grass grow.”
Old Salt exalted:
“Hooray! I can listen to Blue Hills at lunchtime and Neighbours at teatime. The world has got back it’s mojo.”
Zeno of Citium reckoned:
“Maybe SAS Australia could use Neighbours reruns in the capture and torture stage of the show.”
Last word to Chris:
“Hope the Neighbours can afford energy and don’t have their house repossessed.”
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