Friday, 20 December 2024

Starmer's hopeless task and Trump chaos begins in the US

Last week I wrote that Labour's incredibly unambitious Brexit plans to 'reset' our relationship with the EU made no sense for several reasons, not least because the right-wing media will attack them mercilessly whatever they do. I noticed that Peter Foster at the FT has now come to the same conclusion after seeing The Sun's hysterical headline on Monday: SAVE BREXIT Brussels plotting to make UK GIVE UP sovereignty, secret papers reveal, as Sun launches campaign to stop Brexit betrayal.  Their story came from the FT's reporting of a 19-page draft paper setting out the EU's negotiating position for the start of talks with Britain in the New Year.

Foster tweeted:

Oooooh. It’s a plot. 😱Those “secret paper” that were…checks calendar…written up in the FT 9 days ago. Serious point: whatever Labour does re EU reset, it will get this puerile reception on the Right. So. If you’re gonna cop the flack anyways, why not get something meaningful for your troubles??

As he put it, why not get something worthwhile, something that would actually make economic sense, if you're going to 'cop the flack anyway.'  Quite.  Starmer's position wouldn't be rational even if you were trying to advance a policy in which you genuinely believed but to do it in support of your opponent's key agenda plank is really inexplicable to me.

The Sun's article begins: "A FRESH Brussels plot to have Britain surrender our sovereignty once again is laid bare in secret papers — fuelling mounting fears the Government will unpick Brexit."  It is puerile stuff.

If Starmer thought he could somehow buy a better reception from The Sun/Mail?Telegraph/Express by sticking to his pathetic red lines in the face of opposition in his own party ranks, British industry and even among the population at large, The Sun's ridiculous headline ought to convince him it is a hopeless task.

Trump

In the US, we are getting an early taste of the chaos to come under Donald Trump's second term which is due to begin in earnest on 20 January. All discretionary American government spending is to be stopped later today after the House of Representatives failed to pass a compromise spending bill negotiated by Republican speaker Mike Johnson. 

This comes after Elon Musk, who is supposed to identify huge spending cuts in a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, called the bill "criminal" and often referenced "false statements about the bill" in dozens of posts on Twitter, according to the BBC.

Musk, who is now being openly referred to as President Musk, something bound to upset Trump, together with JD Vance and Trump himself said in a joint statement they wanted streamlined legislation without the Democratic-backed provisions that Johnson had included to win cross-party support.

They also called for Congress to raise or eliminate the debt ceiling, which determines how much the government can borrow to pay its bills. Now this is rather odd, since Musk is charged with cutting government expenditure by about 30% which, assuming taxes stay the same, means the need to borrow and add to the USA's massive $36 trillion debt pile is reduced anyway. 

Another compromise is on its way I assume to avoid a damaging shutdown of the American government from tonight..

More worrying is the way media outlets are fawning over Trump and playing down his plans to go after his political enemies. Trump appeared to suggest that the Department of Justice should investigate the former Republican Senator Liz Cheney, daughter of George Bush's VP, Dick Cheney.  She chaired the Congressional 6 Jan Committee and Trump tweeted:

Donald Trump is going full fascist trying to intimidate Liz Cheney in an unglued post at 3 AM.

She is now in the cross hairs after a new report by Congressman Barry Loudermilk pressed the FBI to launch an investigation into her and all the committee members. She responded with this:

See below for my statement in response to Chairman Loudermilk's "Interim Report":

You can see how easily the slide into authoritarianism gets underway. Once you have subverted the institutions of government to the will of one man, it becomes impossible to relinquish power for fear that they will all be turned against you.

I can't help but think the GOP and America will regret ever backing Trump.

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