I was born just after the Second World War and thought I had lived through some pretty extraordinary times. Atomic weapons, the space race, Kennedy’s assassination, moonshots, the collapse of the Soviet Union, personal computers, the rise of the internet, social media, 9/11, and so on. Yet despite all that, I also believe we have enjoyed a long period of relative stability compared to what came before. Britain, America and the EU seemed to be impervious to episodes of violence and chaos that periodically broke out elsewhere. The collective West could always be relied on to elect governments of generally serious men and women with a bit of gravitas, moral fibre and respect for the law, both national and international. We sniggered at the petty dictatorships and corruption that bedeviled the less developed countries in Africa and South America.
That changed in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump. His second term is now just a month away and it promises to be even more outlandish than the first.
Check out this headline from Channel 4:
Trump’s threats to seize Panama canal overshadowed by Gaetz report www.channel4.com/news/trumps-...— Channel 4 News (@channel4news.bsky.social) 23 December 2024 at 18:46
This is from the president-elect of the United States. It smacks of Britain’s rush of blood to the head in 1956 when it joined France and Israel in seeking to recover the Suez Canal from Egypt after President Nasser decided to nationalise it. At that time, it was pressure from the USA that forced us to withdraw.
Now, they are thinking of doing exactly the same.
In a separate social media post he also said that the US "feels that ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity." He has also suggested recently Canada should become America’s 51st state and his team has discussed a ‘soft’ invasion of Mexico to take out drug cartels. Note these are all US allies and friends.
His attack on Panama for 'ripping off America' is deeply ironic anyway. Americans taught me that pricing was a matter of charging clients what something was worth, what people were prepared to pay. It had zero connection with what it cost to produce, provided the difference between the two was sufficiently positive. This is how unicorns are made. Microsoft, Intel, Apple, Google, Tesla, Nvidia, etc have all got very big and very rich by doing exactly what Trump complains of. He is not a real businessman.
Elon Musk isn't claiming $56 billion from Tesla because of any undercharging, believe me.
If going around the southern tip of South America costs shipping businesses an extra $50,000 in fuel and crew costs, charging $40,000 (I don't know the real figures) to pass through the Panama Canal is still worth it, regardless of how little it costs the canal company.
Stunning though the idea of the USA taking back the Panama Canal by force is, even that has been “overshadowed” by something else, the Gaetz report. You might wonder what event could eclipse US threats to invade a sovereign neighbour might be. Enter Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz was Trump’s first choice to be Attorney General, America’s senior law officer. He was a US House of Representatives member for his native Florida until he resigned a few weeks ago, just after Trump picked him as AG. This came just days before a Congressional committee was due to release a report on Gaetz following an investigation that began in April 2021.
He, and Trump I assume, thought the report would be buried and Gaetz would be able to head the US Department of Justice. Not so. The allegations were so serious the cross-party committee decided to publish their report anyway.
They say he regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity and once did so with a 17-year-old girl. He used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions, accepted gifts above permissible amounts. Gaetz also "knowingly and willfully sought to impede and obstruct the Committee’s investigation of his conduct" and they conclude he "acted in a manner that reflects discreditably upon the House."
You can read the whole 42-page report HERE.
Let me also say that none of this is new. It has all leaked out into the press over recent months and Trump and his team couldn't have been unaware of what Gaetz had been doing but they picked him anyway. What does that say about Trump's attitude to the law?
And even more gobsmacking is a report from US Senate Committee on the Judiciary published three days ago about widespread corruption in the Supreme Court. There are fourteen findings, all damning, of which this is No 4:
"Justice Thomas has accepted lavish gifts from billionaires with business before the Court for almost his entire tenure as a justice. Since his confirmation to the Supreme Court in 1991, Justice Thomas has accepted millions of dollars in gifts from wealthy benefactors, several of whom had business before the Court, and nearly all of whom first met Thomas after he joined the Court. The number, value, and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history."
I emphasise the last sentence because Thomas is still a sitting member of SCOTUS.
And the committee has this to say about another Republican member of the court (Finding No 11):
"Justice Alito has created the appearance of impropriety in several instances that necessitate his recusal in specific cases under federal law. On several occasions, Justice Alito or his wife have engaged in conduct that created an appearance of impropriety. This included the display of flags associated with [in support of] the January 6 insurrection outside their homes and his interview with an attorney who had a case pending before the Court. Despite the appearance of impropriety, Justice Alito refused to recuse himself from cases concerning the 2020 election and January 6 and the case involving the attorney who interviewed him."
These issues have been around for at least 12 years but the Chief Justice John Roberts has refused to address them. The committee asked Roberts to appear before them in April 2023 but he refused, instead sending a copy of a nonbinding “Statement on Ethics Principles and Practices” that, according to the committee, the justices only "purported to follow."
They said: "Over a year and several additional exposés later, Chief Justice Roberts continues to refuse to act or to appear before Congress to take any responsibility for the impropriety he has let persist in the highest court in the land."
This is the court Trump will be able to appeal to in all of the many legal challenges that are expected when he takes office and starts implementing his extreme agenda. Worrying isn't it?
Finally, Merry Christmas to you and yours, and all good wishes for 2025.
I'll be back on Friday.
