Don't let the bully win

Quite disgusted with the Times Radio discussion on whether the Trump state visit should be concelled and whether the UK should be responding in kind to Trump tariffs. The great minds discussing this, which include Andrew Neil, seem to think only about the economic consequences of responding, in a very coldly objective way, ignoring the aggression towards Canada and Greenland/Denmark and the despicable kidnappings that the USA has been inflicting on any suspected of being a foreigner.

I don't know how the rest of the country are feeling, but I feel very strongly that we should not be giving an inch to Trump, even if the economic consequences of responding are bad for the UK. It looks cowardly and selfish to play the "we're all right Jack" card negotiating independently on tariffs. We whould be standing with the EU, with Greenland and Canada, and hitting Trump where it hurts.

I am appalled at these people talking as though they can ignore the threats against Canada and Greenland and the EU - let alone the way that Trump has messed with Ukraine.

It is tempting to believe that Trump simply forgot in some demented way which side he was on, when he befriended Putin and attacked Zelensky, but I think it is all part of the same Putin playbook - keep the country on its toes never knowing what you are doing, until they capitulate because they can't cope with the chaos any more.

Our country needs to find its backbone, cancel the visit and apply reciprocal tariffs to the US - and begin to support Canada, Greenland and Ukraine and develop much closer reciprocal relationships with the EU.

Here's what a USA Nazi taught me....

It seems that Donald Trump's gang of thieves have taken a few leaves out of the Boris Johnson book of plausible deniability and in defiance of parliamentary rules in both our countries have adopted the habit of discussing policy on bombing other nations on Signal, which can be set to disappear quickly and leave no trace of conversations which are supposed to be held in secure places using government messaging services which do leave a record of the decisions made.

The world has been stunned by the revelations in the Signal group which exposed US plans for bombing Yemen. Leaving aside the stupidity of first, doing that, and then, adding a journalist to the chat to eavesdrop on the whole discussion, in particular, European press is all shock and awe over the hatred of Europe expressed there. Having encountered a US Nazi last year, I can give them some insight into their thoughts.

The first revelation for me was that the US right equates any left leaning tendency or policy with communism. And the second was that they think the US fought on the wrong side in World War II, and should have joined the Nazis to eradicate communism. Yes, really.

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. There was definitely a touch of hurt bunny about feeling that white men are the victims of current society, unfairly criticised and blamed for everything. So in a stream of consciousness I heard that countries in the rest of the world ought to be grateful for the civilizing effect of being conquered by the western world; the wholesale murder of First Nation peoples simply didn't happen, and if a few had, that was the cost of the gift of civilization, and that the rise of the federal government in the US was just communism by a different name.

Among other opinions expressed was that the Biden administration had facilitated the ingress of Mexicans in order to gerrymander the election, that any form of social support was communism and evil to boot, and that natural selection ought to be invoked so that those born disabled or mentally handicapped should not be encouraged to live.

That they have adopted the fascist playbook quite so comprehensively was a surprise. I came to the conclusion that the far right in the States was assuming that any kind or compassionate solution to any social problem was communism, and from that stemmed a dislike of almost all European governments. We're all communists now.

Of course, excepting Russia, which they seem to associated with the strength and dedication to capitalism that many of them attribute to the Nazis. Yes, they see that as a good thing.

There have been many commentators, particularly those on the moderate right, who have cautioned against the use of fascist and Nazi terminology to categorize the Republicans currently in power. They dismiss those who liken the current cirumstances with the 1930s. They see no problem with the weakness which was demonstrated by Schumer when he caved instantly to the requests for the Democrats to assist the Republicans in getting measures through Congress. I'm sorry, but I think it is entirely appropriate to fear for our safety and our world. And it scares the hell out of me.

Robbie Burns wrote "Oh would some Power the gift to give us, to see ourselves as others see us!" I think I'd be asking at the moment for a different gift: for the ordinary Americans who voted for Trump the gift to see Trump and his administration as they really are. Maybe that's been granted, in part, with this leak.