Wednesday 14 June 2023

Trump/Johnson - the saga goes on

The United States arrested former president Donald Trump yesterday on espionage charges. He was arraigned in Miami, beginning a legal process that can only end with his imprisonment as far as I can see. Scenes outside the courthouse were chaotic, although the numbers of Trump supporters turned out to be less than feared, probably a result of the jailing of so many 6 January insurrectionists. Naturally, he immediately went out and condemned the affair as an attack on him by a corrupt government.

The case against him is as watertight as you could ever hope for, the jury won't have to do much in the way of interpretation. It's illegal under US law to possess classified documents, we know he had documents because there are photographs (and he doesn't deny having them) and they were classified. Not much room for deliberation there. It's all in the indictment released a few days ago.

Also, we are likely to see the Standards and Privileges Committee report on Boris Johnson later today and that will show Johnson was guilty of misleading MPs when he was prime minister. You might laugh at the idea that he ever told the truth at the despatch box other than by accident, and think the long drawn-out process involved in showing just one relatively minor example of his congenital mendacity, was a bit of a waste of time, but this is how democracies work.

And just like Trump, when faced with solid, unarguable facts, Johnson condemns the privileges committee and called on its members to "publish their report and let the world judge their nonsense."

He says "They have no excuse for delay. Their absurdly unfair rules do not even allow any criticism of their findings. I have made my views clear to the committee in writing - and will do so more widely when they finally publish."

Neither will ever accept their own guilt no matter how compelling the evidence. More worrying is the number of their supporters who won’t accept it either, preferring the damage they’re inflicting on the reputation of their respective parties and the nations they represent. It's worse across the Atlantic where 80% of grassroots Republicans think Trump is being persecuted.

However, a growing number of senior Republicans are finally starting to come out against Trump. Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, and federal prosecutor who challenged Trump in 2016 has severely criticised him, calling Trump a three-times loser, 

Nevertheless, it seems certain that Trump will be the Republican candidate in 2024, an election in which the entire future of American democracy - and perhaps the free world - will be at stake.

I have always argued that we in Europe have been fortunate to live in safety and security sheltered by America’s military might and restrained democracy. If US taxpayers hadn’t been willing to fund the defence of Europe, Russia would have occupied most of it and the same could easily apply in the future to Taiwan and elsewhere in Asia with the rapid rise of China as an economic and military superpower.  We should all the grateful because it was that role that 'Made America Great' and which Trump now threatens to destroy.

He must not win.

Here, Johnson’s supporters accuse parliament and the committee appointed by MPs of effectively pursuing a vendetta against him. The report on his misleading of the House is expected to be published later today and it will, by all accounts, deliver a scathing verdict against him. 

Quite apart from his blizzard of lies, his resignation Honours list continues to fill the headlines. It appears that he had also pressed Rishi Sunak to give Stanley Johnson - his father - a peerage after his nomination was blocked by the HoL appointments committee. He made his brother Jo a life peer in 2020.

If he had continued in office, the whole Johnson family could have been ennobled. 

This is just how banana republics and dictatorships act. A strong leader gets into power and simply sets about enriching themselves and their relatives at public expense.  I honestly never thought it could happen here - and thankfully it hasn't but no thanks to Johnson.

Not only was he the worst and most inept PM in history by a country mile, but he was also the most corrupt and irresponsible one we have ever known.

There are indications that the S & P committee's decision on Johnson was unanimous and that they are also now considering charges on others - like Andrea Jenkins - who have impugned the integrity of its members by describing it as a kangaroo court.

By-election campaigning has started in Uxbridge and Selby but not yet in Nadine Dorries's constituency of mid-Bedford because she has not yet resigned her seat, perhaps she's changed her mind and still believes there's a way into the House of Lords, or she simply wants to damage Sunak and her own party by stringing the process out as long as possible. Who knows?

I note forecasters are suggesting Selby, with its new boundary,  will switch to Labour which would be a fitting epitaph for Adams who has spent 13 years inflicting the maximum possible damage on his constituents, the region, and by his unwavering support for Johnson, on his party and country. 

We are well rid of Nigel Adams. Uxbridge also looks a lost cause for the Tories.

The shocking events in Nottingham yesterday have already been seized by the hard right and commentators on GB News are claiming the attacker wasn't white:

GB News - Britain's answer to Fox - has already reported the attacker is a black immigrant and this no doubt will be used to whip up their supporters.

Sickening isn't it?

Posted by at