You get the feeling that there could be another boring book by Lord ‘Cross-the-Pond’ in this. Yes, Conrad Black came out of seclusion on his Toronto estate the other day to promote another book that will look good on your coffee table. He told the news media that his raison d’etre for the lordly appearance was to defend his pal Donald Trump. He managed to both insult and needlessly flatter his Global News interviewer while name-dropping throughout an argumentative interview.
Black’s text for the interview was that his close pal Donald Trump is not a fascist. He actually appears to believe that the pompous ass is going to be a very productive President of the United States. In a rapid series of name-droppings, Black explained that his good friends, the Clintons and members of the Bush dynasty had raped and pillaged the scene in Washington for much too long and his pal Trump would certainly fix things.
The interviewer (Toronto-based newsman Alan Carter) remained stuck in the groove that Trump might be a fascist. He did not seem to understand that one takes considerable risk in arguing polemics with the likes of Lord Black. Wiser heads in discussing the Trump phenomenon see him as more of a laissez-faire capitalist than a fascist.
Trump’s only serious fascist trait has been in the use of the big lie as introduced in the 1930s by Hitler’s information minister Doktor Josef Göebbels. President-elect Trump seems to have cottoned to the idea that if you tell an outrageous lie often enough, some people will eventually accept it as the truth.
Oddly enough the counter point to the Conrad Black interview was the earlier interview on the Global Television Focus Ontario program with Doug Ford who has also just published a book on Ford Nation in memory of his brother Rob. Doug Ford comes across as something of a rube in comparison to Lord Black. You get the feeling that both of them should jump with both feet into the Conservative Party of Canada leadership.
You want redemption, Conrad, there is your chance.
You want redemption Doug, there you go.
Oh poop, we forgot the citizenship problem. To our knowledge, Conrad is still not a Canadian.
Oh well, he could get a work permit as a temporary foreign worker and act as Dr. Leitch’s campaign manager. If that did not stir the pot, we would at least be assured that her literature is grammatically correct.
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Copyright 2016 © Peter Lowry
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