I am indebted to my beloved Eliza for the title
If some of the characters played by John Wayne and Sean Connery had jointly produced an offspring it might have been Donald Trump. Wayne diving off the submarine he commanded while shouting loudly “Take over, Larry” and Bond “Stirred not shaken” fit the behemoth politician who thought he had everything. The difference is that Wayne and Connery will last. It now looks as though Trump won’t. Reports of his neanderthal behaviour certainly will.
Who would have thought a Biden exit (Bixit?) could create such upheaval in the Trump Half? How might we have guessed that the shrinking violet of Kamala Harris could blossom so brightly to push out of view the gloom of Mexican Border memories? What expectations did we have that the VP nominated by Trump would turn out to be a blustering amateur courtesan? As former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson once said “A week is a long time in politics”.
The race is not over and the Tote will not be paying out until November. Can the dawn of reason and hope sustain until then? The answer lies almost totally with the man Trump. He has obviously been caught off guard to be muddling up his Black and Indian biases with cat ladies. He was preparing for a triumphal march, perhaps even a ride on a donkey, into his kingdom. That has been blown away in the soot of old age and the creaking of floorboards of excess.
Now he has to face not so much his Maker as his Breaker. The bonds of Mar-a-Lago are less secure than they were. ‘Make America Great’ was fine until someone asked Great What? Not, presumably, the Great Mistake of appointing JD Vance as proposed Vice-President. But let’s not be beastly about the young man. I’m sure he has a great career ahead of him. Well, he does have one behind him, anyway.
If a change of presidential opponent causes such appalling chaos and confusion, what would be the consequences of a major upheaval by a hostile world opponent? Navigating the route to the White House is understandably complicated but it pales into insignificance when pitted against charting today’s South China Sea. The Nuclear Button may now be better secured against casual or accidental pressing but a Trump administration is a roller coaster aggressor.
World trade is not a toy. It has become the basis of a form of economic war. This conflict has two purposes – to disrupt supplies and to enhance sales. Juggling the two is a feat of sleight of hand they don’t teach at Yale. It is more mathematical than political. Numerate advisors need to be given attention in such a game not brushed under the fairway turf. Handicap applies to more than the number of times you may hit a ball.
The United States is full of good and sensible people, some of them my cousins and their offspring. The voting system is distorted by the quirky definitions between State and Federal. All the world’s democratic systems need a new wash and brush up and America would be a wonderful place to start. It is certainly ripe for it. Will it do it? Not a cat lady’s chance in hell. The entrenchment of The System is as lasting as the Philadelphia Phillies.
Which is a pity since the future of democracy is the future of a happy, fulfilled life. Nobody wants to deprive future generations of that, I imagine. But the sands of time flow slowly and each step is an effort of will and courage.
One good step is about to be taken.
Kamala Harris is about to become President of the United States of America.
God Bless America.
Good morning
John Bittleston
Do tell us if you think otherwise, please, at [email protected].
06 August 2024
