American Politics – Page 12

Politics in anxious times.

January 30, 2019 by Peter Lowry

If prime minister Justin Trudeau had his druthers, he would not want an election this year. It is simply bad timing. Canadians are anxious. It is not any one thing. The world is just not behaving as it should. Not even the weather is acting as normal. People are concerned. There is that clown in the White House in Washington. You can hardly blame everything on him, even if you would like to.

And what can you count on? The stock market is just perverse. The Brits are stupidly leaving the European Union and do not admit why. The rich are getting richer and the rest of us are getting poorer. And have you seen the price of bread recently?

People are pissed. They are looking for scapegoats. They hardly need another stupid politician to get in their way. Justin Trudeau and his little friends have worked their hearts out for our approval. Sure, they blew a few promises. Yes, you will be using first-past-the-post voting in October. Maybe they did save the North American trade agreement from that terror Trump. Who knows?

But do not ask for the right to die in a frivolous manner. There is more than one way to default on a promise.

The liberals are going to spend the election telling us how well the economy is doing and how much they love the middle class. The opposition are going to tell us, it can be better. The liberals will tell us what a great job they are doing for the environment. The opposition will tell us the environment is just fine, thank you. The liberals want a price on carbon. The opposition will tell you it is just a tax grab.

But why did the liberals buy the Trans Mountain pipeline to ship highly polluting bitumen from Alberta to countries that do not care about pollution?

The liberal cabinet spent an expensive weekend retreat in Quebec recently planning their messaging for the campaign. The message is ‘vote for us and take another selfie with Justin.’

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Wishy-washy on the Wall.

January 22, 2019 by Peter Lowry

It is beginning to look like there is some daylight between president Donald Trump and a faction of his Republican followers. It happened last Saturday during Trump’s speech to save his wall. He was using people already in the U.S. to trade for the $5.7 billion he needs for the initial parts of his wall. He was offering a stay of deportation for the DACA people (Dreamers) who know no other home than in America.

And, as expected, the Democratic leadership in Congress told Trump to ‘Get stuffed.’ Not that anyone can be proud of their stance while hundreds of thousands of American government employees continue to be unpaid. Mr. Trump continues to hold these people up as hostages.

But that is Mr. Trump’s choice. He has chosen to make the government employees suffer while he petulantly demands that the American taxpayers pay for his ill-considered wall. He promised that wall to his claque of followers in the 2016 election. He even promised them that it would be at no cost to Americans. He, somewhat stupidly, promised those people that the Mexicans would want to pay for the wall. Since then, the Mexican government has made it very clear that they do not pay for obscenities such as walls.

In this current Trump fiasco, he is going tit-for-tat with a very experienced politician in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She has even disinvited him to make the customary State of the Union address to congress at the end of the month. His only response, so far, is to cancel the Air Force jet that was going to take Pelosi and a House of Representatives delegation to the Middle East.

And so, it continues: Mr. Trump would rather play childish games. He would rather have close to a million government workers and their dependants angry with him for keeping their paychecks from them. At one time, he had almost 63 million Americans vote for him. He keeps finding ways to cut down that number of supporters.

And, even worse for Trump, he is angering his extremist supporters who want him to start deporting the DACA people right away. They think he is going soft on them.

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Mr. Trump as a savant?

January 14, 2019 by Peter Lowry

The other day, reading something from a forgettable writer, I started out laughing at the presentation of U.S. president Donald Trump as a savant. Please understand that a savant is someone with debilitating mental problems or deficiencies but also has one or more remarkable skills. In Mr. Trump’s case, I would suggest his skills are like those of a stopped clock. He can get it right, once or twice a day.

But when the writer suggests that Trump got it right to withdraw all American troops from Syria, he seems as lost as Trump. I do not care what Trump’s advisors said as to why the Americans should stage the withdrawal; Trump was signing a death warrant for the Kurds.

And no matter how Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin handle it, genocide is a crime against humanity. They must think they can back the Kurds into the hands of the remaining Daesh fighters in Northern Syria and claim it is the Daesh that did the dirty deed. Trump is helping by pulling out the witnesses for them.

The writer goes on to claim that Daesh only exists as a result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. This is wrong as Daesh (under the ISIS name) was already pledging support for al-Qaeda, three years before President George W. Bush made the mistake of invading Iraq again.

What the writer really proves is that he does not understand Mr. Trump. In fact, Mr. Trump frustrates him. He claims Trump does not read and insults him unnecessarily by saying he does not think.

Maybe Mr. Trump thinks too much. As an insomniac, he seems to do his most irresponsible thinking early in the morning, when he feeds his more ridiculous thoughts to his followers on Twitter.

But he is certainly no savant. What he is good at are those things that made him very successful in his father’s business. It is a business that attracts the showman type, the bluffer and the consummate liar. Trump is just your garden variety womanizer and con man. His very serious weakness is his narcissism.

Mr. Trump represents a real and present danger to the United States of America in its foreign relations. He is a child playing with grenades. The country can eventually recover most of its reputation and regain some of its leadership among nations. It can hopefully fix the weaknesses in its political structure that allowed him into office.

But the next two years in Washington will not be fun.

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Would a gold piano sound tinny?

December 31, 2018 by Peter Lowry

Most commentators write a recap about the preceding year on New Year’s Eve but I only thought back a week to an ‘oops.’ I realized that this Canadian missed the Monarch’s message to the Commonwealth. It is with fond memories I note that mother used to always insist that her brood gather round the radio for it on Christmas morning.

My first recollections of this go back to King George VI struggling with his stammer. You could hear his consort, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), in the background helping him.

Googling Queen Elizabeth II and her speech this year was a bit of a disappointment. It seems that many of the ungrateful in the United Kingdom complained about the opulence of the gold piano behind her. They thought it was incongruent with a speech about the struggles of the poor and despondent around the world.

But I am sure there were some positive parts to the speech. Queen Elizabeth has had a good deal of time to perfect the genre over the years. She records the speech weeks ahead though as she has other duties on Christmas and Boxing Day. On Christmas there was the traditional sighting of royals as the young ones traipsed down the road to the local church while the 92-year old Queen came in one of the royal limousines.

It seems as though the young ones have already taken over the public interest in the Brit royals. Kate and William, along with Meghan and Harry have become the Brit version of the American Kardashians. Would you believe there is an entire industry built around the royal gossip produced for people who really need to get a life.

But all this silly gossip passes and becomes of less interest in Canada and other Commonwealth countries. It is of dying interest in Canada particularly as more and more we have to pay attention to what is happening to the south.

When Pierre Trudeau compared Canada’s position as sleeping with an elephant, he had obviously never met someone such as Donald Trump. We are beset today in trying to sleep with an insomniac who is the Twitter King and who plays at his own fantasy Game of Thrones.

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Mr. and Mrs. Trump go to war.

December 29, 2018 by Peter Lowry

In the last half of the 20^th Century, Hollywood star Bob Hope was famous for his Christmas shows for American military. These shows took place in areas of conflict where Americans where deployed around the world. Hope’s compensation was that he could edit the recordings of the shows and run them as television specials.

His formula was a variety type show of musicians, dancers, comics and always a particularly voluptuous Hollywood star. My favourite was when he took Rachel Welch, a lady who could just stand there and you could appreciate her. It was Hope’s contribution to the American service men’s morale.

It was obvious the other day that Donald Trump was also aware of Hope’s formula. He took his wife Melania to Iraq to meet the troops. It guaranteed him a positive response from the men. He might be on the outs with his generals but he was appreciated by the rank and file who got selfies with Melania.

Trump might have got a mixed reaction to his speech though when he told the troops that he intended to bring them all home. His line was that “We’re no longer the suckers, folks.” And he told them that he is committed to bringing them all home despite the advice of the experts.

To placate the service people he was talking with, he told them he had no plans to leave Iraq. He told them Iraq was a good staging point if at some later date, America went to war with Syria or Iran.

He told the troops that the United States cannot continue to be “the policemen of the world.” Trump said, “It is not fair when the burden is all on us.”

You have to figure that Mr. Trump’s words were annoying to the Arab countries as well as allies who have backed up the United States over the years.

The Trumps’ visit to the Iraq airbase was kept secret until Air Force One returned to the relative safety of Washington.

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For want of a wall.

December 24, 2018 by Peter Lowry

About a quarter million Americans can now be classified as slaves. They are not being paid for their work. They have to do their jobs anyway. You will understand this better when you realize that they work for an organization that has Donald Trump as its chief executive officer. These people all work for the Trump Administration.

Mind you it takes more than one party to create an impasse. The Senate had a money bill to pass and then for president Trump to sign. Mr. Trump said he would only sign it if it included $5 billion for his wall to keep the Spanish-speaking hordes away from the purity of the United States of America.

The Bigot-in-Chief had promised his ignorant followers that he would build a wall across the south of the country. It was the cornerstone, so to speak, of his campaign for the presidency. At his rallies, he would have them all screaming “Build the wall!”

This type of impasse could not happen in Canada. In Canada the supply of money to the government administration is provided by what are called supply bills. If one of these bills is defeated in parliament, the government that proposed it is considered defeated and the problem of money is handed to the Governor General (representing the Queen). This worthy then makes the payments to the civil servants and either calls on someone else to try to form a government or calls for a general election.

Regrettably, the people who wrote the American constitution did not think of this. Since many of them were slave owners anyway, they did not worry very much about people being paid. And they only allowed the administration to be changed every four years. They did allow for impeachment but they hardly made it easy.

And that is why for want of a wall, a presidency can be lost. The question is though, can those American government employees afford to wait two years for their paycheques? (Translation note: Americans call them ‘paychecks.’)

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Who’s left at the Trump White House?

December 23, 2018 by Peter Lowry

OK, so it is hard to get good help these days. The problem is that the revolving door they put on the employee’s entrance at the White House is getting far more traffic than even president Donald Trump’s detractors expected. The question is, is the atmosphere just getting more toxic or has that ship of state sprung too many leaks. Is that ship sinking?

And it is not just rats that are deboarding. The one group that the Incompetent-in-Chief had shown some respect for was the military. Even these people are going AWOL. When the secretary of defence says something akin to “I’m out of here,” you know that president Trump is in trouble. General Jim Mattis was about the last guy left who gave any touch of class or sanity to the Trump board of directors.

General Mattis had the good grace to resign with time for president Trump to choose a successor and (maybe) have the candidate confirmed by the Senate. He made it clear in his resignation letter that he disagreed with Donald Trump and his version of the truth.

He told the president that America’s strength was based on its relationships with its allies. He said the allies should be treated with respect and the country’s leadership has to be clear-eyed about the threats to America. While he was obviously very concerned about the president over-riding the concerns of his advisors and pulling America’s 2000 troops out of Syria, those concerns could also apply to allies such as Canada and Mexico.

America’s military leaders were very concerned about their troops who were supporting the Kurds in the battles with Daesh in Syria. There was no confirmation whatsoever of Trump’s claim that Daesh was defeated. It also left the Kurds at the mercy of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and his friends in Russia. The military analysts and many others believe that al-Assad will retaliate against the Kurds in an outright attempt at genocide. Without the Americans there, it will be without witnesses.

With the departure of General Mattis, it is felt that there will be no adults left in the administration. This will become clearer as Trump tries to find a credible replacement for Mattis.

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Imperial Trump is the problem.

December 20, 2018 by Peter Lowry

The Emperor of Twits was using his Twitter Throne to criticize the Fed last week. It seems that president Trump is unaware that he might just be the problem and certainly not the solution to the turmoil over interest rates and the tumbling of the markets.

The leader of the free world be damned. This guy is just not worth the worth the trouble he causes.

But here he is criticizing the Fed for even thinking of raising short term rates in an unstable situation caused by the U.S. Incompetent-in-Chief. Only an ignorant egomaniac would want to have a trade war with China. Only a nincompoop would slap tariffs on his country’s best customer and friend in the part of Canada—claiming it is to ensure national security.

It was good that the official spokesperson for the Fed only huffed and declared that Fed decisions are based on economic analysis only. In as much as Mr. trump has no clue as to the subject of economics and thinks that analysis is only used for blood tests to check and make sure you have not picked up a social disease.

Trump has been heard to say that the Fed is a bigger problem than China. Neither listen to him anymore. Neither can trust him.

And neither do Canadians. It is extremely difficult for the Bank of Canada to keep on top of the interest rates problems because of the erratic situation in the United States.

But Canada’s problem is also compounded by the wishy-washy handling of Trump by Canada’s prime minister. Mr. Trudeau has absolutely no understanding of how to deal with Mr. Trump.

Emperor Trump certainly does not understand diplomacy. He thinks Justin Trudeau is obsequious and always wanting something. Trudeau does not realize that Trump thinks as a developer, always looking for the advantage. Trump does not want to deal honestly. He bluffs, he lies, he postures and good luck if you do not lock up your daughters when that dirty old man is around.

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Pompeo’s Rebellion.

December 8, 2018 by Peter Lowry

It makes you wish you were there to see the look of astonishment on the European’s faces as American secretary of state Mike Pompeo explained his version of Donald Trump’s ‘Brave New World.’ It happened last week in Brussels. It might have contradicted the agreement Mr. Trump made with China’s president Xi Jinping a few days before in Argentina but since nobody on the Trump team ever talks from the same play book, why start now?

Pompeo pompously postulated that in Donald Trump’s world, no bilateral or multi-lateral agreement between the U.S. and other nations is sacrosanct. It seems as head of this brave new world order, Mr. Trump can change or jettison agreements with other countries at will. (And he does, as Canadians have discovered.)

Mr. Pompeo explained that this onerous role Mr. Trump has taken on for himself is fitting in a new liberal(?) world order. It seems Mr. Trump can unilaterally decide which agreement or treaty should or should not be honoured.

The Europeans are still mulling over president Trump dumping the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal made by a Pompeo predecessor, former secretary of state John Kerry. The European Union has strongly supported those two agreements and feel betrayed by the Trump’s cavalier and unilateral decision to end American participation. In a speech in the United States recently, a European Union spokesman said it was more like a “rule of the jungle replacing a rule of law.”

What Pompeo was really doing in his speech which, at best, drew some polite applause, was to criticize the European Union as a supranational body interfering in the wishes of member states. He mentioned the UK’s Brexit as an example of the problem—which surprised the Europeans who knew far more about that situation than did the American.

In Pompeo’s pompous ‘Brave New World of Mr. Trump’ there is one constant impediment to this world of liberal co-operation and vision: Mr. Trump himself.

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American capitalism betrays us.

November 27, 2018 by Peter Lowry

Since 1908, when Sam McLaughlin started building auto bodies in Oshawa for William Durant’s Buicks, Canada has been part of what became General Motors. Through good times and bad times, in World Wars and in boom times Canadians have supported GM. Today, we stand betrayed.

The relationship was always a consideration through the Auto Pact and the first Canada-U.S. free trade agreement and then the North American Free Trade Agreement. We always trusted General Motors. It was always a consideration. We willingly put up the loans that GM needed to survive the American debacle of capitalism in 2008.

We should have been alerted when General Motors did not take up all the incentives the previous Ontario government was offering for the development of electric cars. To now say that Canada cannot be part of the electric trend is insulting.

But we know that American capitalism is uncaring. American industry is an oligarchy without morals. It cares not for honour.

American capitalism funded Donald Trump as president. American capitalism and American politics share an unholy corruption that works against the real needs of the American masses.

And America is a land that insults and belittles its neighbours. It is a land that references its Gods but is steeped in bigotry. It is a land that corrupts politicians, police and parsons. It is where lawyers are amused by the overwhelming corruption.

Canadians spent a long time struggling with the confusion of negotiating a better free trade agreement. They were dealing with public servants who also had to struggle with their own leadership.

But the point all along was that such a deal has to be based on fairness, not greed. It must be based on honesty, not advantage. It needs to be based on all parties building something better together.

But General Motors’ oligarchs have wiped away the frosting on the cake. They have told those Canadians: Fuck you.

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