WAIT FOR IT

There is an article by Robert Shrimsley in the Financial Times magazine of 11^th August 2023 entitled “Trump case shows American needs some special verdict options” which is well worth a catch up. Unfortunately I cannot give you a link, as to subscribe to the FT requires a £55 per month commitment. Not on my list of priorities, but if you can locate a copy of the mag or are already a subscriber, have a look.  

 

Mr Trump is yet again capitalising on his notoriety to gain vast amounts of news coverage without spending any electoral donations for adverts. Rather he is, I assume, using the money to cover his mounting legal expenses. He keeps himself in the public eye by swanning around the country, proclaiming his victimhood of multiple witch hunts and outrageous weaponizing of Justice Departments in New York, Washington DC and Georgia. He rails against judges and anyone he perceives as an enemy, including any and all opponents for the office of President of the United States. He relishes his lead in various polls of nominees for Republican Party candidate, even although a national poll shows the majority of American citizens have an unfavourable view of Mr Trump. Nonetheless other polls show that he may well have an edge in certain states, where there to be an electoral choice between himself and Joe Biden. Why this is so is the great tragedy of the current electorate in the United States. Unfortunately every network will give him world wide coverage, at no charge, despite the ramifications.

 

There should be no contest. Mr Trump is a contemptable blowhard, a serial liar and a psychotic narcissist of the first order. His go-to response to any question he interprets as critical is to insult and attempt to demean the questioner. He refuses to engage in any way with the difficulties of the American people, but constantly repeats his mantra of stolen election and his status as arch victim. He identifies his base, not as individual citizens, but solely as blind supporters of himself. He claims they are him. He sees himself in them, not as individuals but as an extension of his narcissism. He looks at them as if looking into a pool of water.

 

That the Republican Party has reduced itself to such a pool is the shame of every thinking individual in America. That there is, in effect, no real Republican Party as a thought-provoking, civilised, adult, traditional party, representing the true conservative opposition, or, at least that section of American citizens who favour what they believe to be limited government and individualism, traditional family values, capitalism and American exceptionalism. They are on the whole strongly religious but not necessarily fanatical. They also believe in compromise and the multi-party system. It would appear that these Republicans no longer exist in the American landscape. Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney and newly- awakened ex-governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie may in some way qualify, but they seem to be a very small minority in the face of MAGA thuggery.

 

The choice for America is glaringly obvious to the rest of the world. It is painfully agonising to watch, from this side of the Atlantic Ocean, the tortuous machinations of a great nation on the verge of total collapse and ruination as a result of an unfortunate choice.

 

We have seen in the United Kingdom, what an unfortunate choice can do to a nation. The separation from the European Union is an equally glaring catastrophe, the result of which has yet to be fully realised by still quite a number of people. Realisation is coming, but oh so slowly. That the catastrophe for the United States will have such an impact of the rest of the world is more than somewhat worrying.

 

So we all continue to live in limbo for yet another year. It will be the year of the Dragon. It is usually considered to be a year of transformation, growth and abundance. In Chinese mythology the Dragon is a yang symbol associated with the element of fire. Its positive energy is expected to intensify during this time, bringing about positive changes and opportunities for everyone. We will have from the 10^th February 2024 to the 28^th January 2025 to find out wether the ancestors will be kind to us. We can but hope.