Trump’s first week has been a whirlwind of chaos. I thought his first term was totally off-the-wall stupid but now by comparison it looks like a model of coherent thinking and competence. He's pardoned most of the 6 January rioters and fired prosecutors in the Department of Justice who managed the investigation against the rioters! He's withdrawn from the World Health Organisation and the Paris Climate Accord. He's ended basically all the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Programs across government and plenty of other stuff, too. Each time he does something outrageous, we become slightly more inured against what he’s doing, more numbed towards the abyss we’re sinking into.
Think about it, he’s pardoned those responsible for breaking into the Capitol building on 6 January 2021 and violently assaulting police officers, damaging property, and attempting to stop a US president being confirmed by their democratically chosen representatives. Now he has fired some of the prosecutors involved in the cases and launched investigations into others.
The whole issue has been turned on its head. The guilty are innocent and the innocent are guilty. None of it makes any sense unless you’re a MAGA halfwit and have been captured by the cult.
Looking at what he’s done over the last seven days, you might be surprised to learn that his approval rating among American voters actually increased by 9 points! He began with -3 and ended the week at +6. Polling shows 47% of US voters approve of what he’s doing compared to 41% who don’t. Whatever we think of him, his supporters are happy. This should inform Starmer about the future of US-UK relations and raise serious doubts about the ‘special relationship’ being of value to us.
Polling here shows every constituency in the UK would prefer to have a closer relationship with the EU (46%) than with the USA (21%). It is becoming impossible to understand why Starmer doesn’t read the writing on the wall. Brexit has damaged this country and will continue to do so. The majority know it and Trump is making abundantly clear that he is no friend of democracy or Europe.
Trump doesn’t differentiate between friends and enemies. There is only him and his immediate needs. There is no long-term plan for anything because he is only interested in this minute, this hour, this day. When he’s asked a question, the answer depends on how he feels about the topic at that moment in time.
Europe is now being besieged from both sides and Starmer should have the courage to do the right thing, set the rejoin ball in motion as soon as he can.
Forever Chemicals
Among the insanity Trump has unleashed is the news that he has withdrawn a plan to set legal discharge limits on so-called forever chemicals known as PFAS or per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances. These are widely used but persist in the environment and some are known to be harmful to human and animal life. For others, we just don't know if they're harmful or not. There are at least 8,000 different compounds under the PFAS label.
In contrast, we in the UK and the EU have adopted the 'precautionary principle' so hated by Brexiteers, and set limits to curb the use and control the quantities entering the environment. For 20 substances, the EU is in the process of adopting a standard of 0.1 micrograms per litre in drinking water. There is ongoing work to develop a methodology and assessment approach for setting more limits. You can read more on the UK government website HERE.
Instead of joining in, America under Trump is burying its head in the sand, just as it does over climate change despite extreme weather patterns becoming increasingly common just as scientists have predicted. These people will happily destroy humanity for the sake of a few bucks.
Artificial Intelligence
You may have read on the BBC today about this new Chinese AI app, Deepseek, which is creating panic among US investors who have thrown billions of dollars into the tech giants and start-ups only to see some Chinese researchers achieve excellent results for a mere $5 million, chicken feed to most of these businesses who only deal in billions.
Worse, they have released it as an open-source application so developers can access the code for free and improve it as they want. A report in Axios describes it as "an extinction-level event for venture capital firms that went all-in on foundational model companies."
One result is that Nvidia, a US company that produces AI chips, saw nearly $600 billion (BILLION) wiped off its stock market value, double the previous record for a one-day sell-off.
Trump had announced a $500 billion investment programme only last week for AI infrastructure in the belief that the USA was well ahead in the AI race. It turns out now that China has punctured all the tyres on America's juggernaut. What a turn-up, eh? Is this Karma? I do hope so.
