Looming Truss Disaster and Trump Raid

Looming Truss Disaster

There seems little doubt now that Liz Truss will become the next Tory Prime Minister when the party ballot results are announced next Monday. Enough has been said about her personal failings, which are many. Most of all, she is a very poor communicator, the sine qua non of being a good politician. She inherits an economic situation as bad as if not worse than that in the Great Recession. She’s inclined to appoint a Cabinet of fanatics and headbangers. Her success is a measure of ambition over talent. It’s hard to see how she doesn’t crash and burn, yet such are the vagaries of the Westminster FTTP system, she may do better than expected at the General Election.

She needs to hit the ground running on energy prices. Her mantra of tax cuts over ‘handouts’ just won’t cut it. Everyone in the UK will be hit by the insane rises in electricity and gas; there’ll be no sparing the middle-class Conservative voter. Accordingly, a shock-and-awe approach is required from Day One of her assuming the reins of power. Any economic measures will need to exceed expectations, as Alistair Darling has said. There will be oven-ready plans for her to do this. She really doesn’t have a choice. She’ll earn some much-needed political capital is she acts quickly and decisively.

On foreign affairs, she’s already tried to pick a fight with Macron. He was having none of it, and there’s a shrug of the shoulders approach now from Brussels and the great European powers. She’ll get a strong rebuff from the US Congress on her shenanigans regarding the Brexit protocol; there is strong bipartisan support for the Good Friday Agreement on Capitol Hill. She’ll remain strong on Ukraine, and continue the Johnson line. But apart from that, expect a dumb Little Englander stance for the next two years, where playing up to the xenophobic right-wing tabloids is considered more important than British strategic national interests. She’ll take the populist road over the high one any day.

Always beware the zeal of the convert. Truss, once a Liberal Democrat firebrand, has become a swivel-headed populist loon. Her tenure in 10 Downing Street can’t end quickly enough. During the Brexit & Johnson years, the question of many commentators’ lips was ‘how low can you go?’. Unfortunately, we’re about to find out. Hold no expectations of Liz Truss as Prime Minister other than the worst, then you won’t be disappointed. You can’t trust Truss.

Lock Him Up!

The FBI raid in Trump’s Xanadu complex has presented many questions. What was the former guy doing with classified materials? Had he tried to barter or sell the documents to foreign agents? Did the tip-off about the material come from someone in his inner circle? And, above all, will Trump finally be indicted, be brought to justice, and eventually be prevented from running in 2024? Whatever the answers to all of these is, it should come as zero surprise that the Lord of Trash has his garbage chronicles continued.

Let’s look at the compelling reason for prosecution should the evidence be shown to be compelling (which it appears to be). The simplest grounds for dragging Trump before a court and putting him on trial is the age-old maxim that nobody should be above the law. If the American Revolution is to have any meaning, it should be an end to the divine rights of kings. There are some uncomfortable parallels between a monarch and a US president such as the powers of pardon. But the notion that a POTUS cannot be held accountable in a court of law for their crimes is repugnant to any constitutionalist. There can be no compromise on this, he’s already used up seven of his nine lives.

Yet, the naysayers warn of a Civil War should 44 be hauled before a judge. Domestic right-wing terrorism is already taking place in the US; look at January 6^th. Yes, there is the very real risk of escalation. Does that mean that the judiciary should give in to intimidation? If so, then the rule of law itself is called into question. The US can either be a country where the law can be applied without fear or favour to all, or not. It’s time to let the heavens fall where they may.

The GOP is so far steeped in Trump fascism that they will be stoking up tensions, urging that the dollar-store Mussolini be exempted from any judicial actions. They’ll see his fabrications and evasions as truth knowing full well the lies they are. This a very dangerous time in the US. The Republican Party in ditching Liz Cheney showed there’s no room for dissent. Those who deny how much democracy in the USA is on a knife-edge need to wake up. The hour glass may be running out.