I don't know which politician, trump or morrison, is worse.
The one with no friends who uses anger, hatred, racism, greed, tweets, republican enablement, supporters hardships, lies, arrogance and stupidity to guide his policies.
Or the one who says "Pray for Rain".
Actually...
19
"Morrison...is never able to convincingly explain how he reconciles his Christian values and the role he plays in dooming children to offshore detention centers"...
This is typical of so-called christians on the far right. They pick and choose those parts of the old and new testaments that suit their narrow, exclusive vision. They interpret any passage in the bible through the filter of their view of their self-importance.
17
"..Trump has admitted he feels 'amazingly alone' in the midst of all his scraps with allies and snarls with undermining advisers."
Mr. Trump is "amazingly alone" because he is up to his neck in the swamp he was supposed to dry up and he is feeling that sleaze is coming up further every minute. Ask Mr. Mueller about the sleaze and he will be pointing to Michael Cohen and those doing business with him.
And it should be no surprise that everyone is moving away from Mr. Trump. When you are drowning in the swamp and panic is taking over, you are bond to pull under anyone who gets close to you.
15
Trump for all of his ignorance of history does get human nature. And what he knows is that most people have a price. Most people would be willing to sell their soul (or the future of the planet) to live better now. Trump knows those people are out there across the world, even in places like Australia. So we will continue to go down this road of mortgaging the future for a tax cut and for the chance to keep more of our wealth rather than share a little with the needy masses we don't know or care about.
Trump just mines the lowest common denominator in Man, his/her inherent greed. And sadly Trump knows that there are a lot more of these amoral greedy people than there are Mother Teresa, willing to sacrifice, types. Can the moral, decent people around the world hold off this assault against civilization? It's doubtful in the short term and maybe the only real hope for a change is for Trump and "leaders" like Morrison to self destruct on their own. It is a much better thing in the long run to root for them to fail now and suffer the consequences so that we all have a brighter future, or any future at all for that matter.
8
Buyer Beware, Mr. Morrison.
7
Mr. Morrison lost any credibility when he said Trump is someone who's not going to waste a day.
13
Scott Morrison will be known by the company he keeps, criminals and wannabe despots, forever.
8
In Australia we have had quite a few changes in our Prime Ministers recently. This is not a bad thing, because none of them have been particularly outstanding , and is a reflection on the lack of talent.
The talent pool on both sides of Australian politics is dry. It is regrettable that the quality of people entering Australian politics is quite low, and there are a number of reasons for this phenomena.
The Liberal Party of Australia has slowly over the past couple of decades been altered so that socially conservative and religious devout have taken over. Certainly , a number of them see the rise of Trump as a vindication of their own philosophies and a successive policy trajectory for themselves.
They have not quite realised that they are not representative of the vast majority of the Australian population that is not predisposed to the politics of extremes.
An election will be held in 2019 and there will be a change in government. For it is a truism in Australian politics, those who cannot govern themselves, cannot govern the country.
15
Fascinating vignette of trump’s Aussie admirer, Maureen. As for a friend for trump, at breakfast last week, someone had a copy of the NY Post with an article about trump’s insults to Jamie Dimon. “Trump has no friends,” I commented. “He has me!” Someone blurted out. So trump has one other friend.
“...and a cabinet adorned with a Jesus shrine and a biblical proverb to “Trust in the Lord.””
Trump has one of these votives to himself. They’re for sale in the trump tower. All those visiting trump heartlanders buy them ant set them up in their homes.
3
Figuratively speaking, Trump has a dog...and that dog is his base. And they are lap dogs for sure. He throws them an occasional bone and then ignores them knowing they'll return his affection because even beaten dogs are faithful. Morrison is a fluke and will last as long as his predecessors...as in a short spell. Then he'll be left in the dust...
2
The title "Trump Finally Makes a Friend" is misleading. Mr. Morrison may have similar views of "foreigners" that Mr. T does but that hardly qualifies as a "Friend". Mr. Trump's previous friends like Mr. Cohen, Mr. Manafort, Mr. Arpaio, Mr. Stone, Mr. Sessions and more recently Mr. Graham, are not really friends. Friends are people that you like and they like you. I bet that there is not a single person in his sphere that fits that category. I suppose Melania sort of likes him, but probably has a backup plan. He gets support by exploiting human behavior's most difficult flaw, hard wired prejudice and fear of the other. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, does not define friendship. Mr. Trump may be the most lonely guy in the world. He has no friends and nobody likes him unless he gives them some bone of fear of hate to chew on instead of trying to inspire them to be better people.
6
The other, better advice about friendship is: If you want to have a friend, be a friend. It's what dogs do even for undeserving people, and why people tend to like dogs. People who can't learn to be a friend have only dogs for friends...unless they are so mean and selfish that even dogs don't like them.
1
If he wants to get to know Trump better, he could read Fear. It is a faithful account of interactions with the president.
13
Morrison, another hypocritical 'Australian Pence', wearing his religion as a proud sign of intolerance towards his fellow men and women that may think, and act, differently. Freedom from religion ought to be the duty of any secular government worth it's name. The Aussie's lack of feeling towards the least fortunate remains a thorn on their side; and in this, they may be in unison with despicable Trump.
10
Traveling in Japan a few months ago, I ran into several Aussies on holiday, each quite nice, each completely enamored with Trump.
When confronted with the question of Russian interference in our elections, they said they didn't believe it for a minute.
When asked about Trump's tendency to play to racist instincts, they said they didn't care about that--it was just politics.
They would fit quite well in today's Republican Party.
7
We've been trying to "look through the dust" for the past two years, only to find that there is nothing but more dust.
11
The Aussie edition of the well respected Guardian online has a cartoon series "First Dog On The Moon" which allows outsiders access to inside politics in an hilarious fashion.
1
Pence's attraction to Morrison was predictable. Pence is far scarier than DT as he and his wife actually have long- term, deeply held beliefs that parallel the Alt right. Unlike Trump, whose allegiances are strictly for his self interest, Pence has held his extreme belief cards close to his chest and that makes the possibility of his rise to POTUS very unsettling.
11
From this distance, Turnbull looks like what we used to call a conservative, whereas Morrison is another fascist, which today we call "conservative". The entire Western world is in danger of sliding into fascism. If we survive and there is still freedom of thought, there will be a big academic political science industry in fully understanding how this happened. You can say all you want about globalization. The reality is that the supposed sufferings of the people electing fascists are nothing compared to those of the public in the Weimer Republic or in the U.S. during the Great Depression. The Germans of 1933 were wrong but they really were in distress. The Americans of 1932 chose right, despite being in distress. Why are people everywhere in the West choosing fascism with so little reason to do so? We think we understand it, but do we?
7
Sociopaths take comfort from their own kind. We know the characteristics of that severe personality trait disorder. An inability to empathize, to tolerate a negative comment, to lie and make the lie truth by whatever means necessary, and when in power to make all the rules, including for Duterte,who murders at will and for Trump, who bragged he could shoot someone and get away with it. The Australian version may be a wannabee, but is not a willabee, as yet. Duterte has no ability to project his power beyond the Phillipines, while our version could destroy the world for a lie. What have we done? Less than sixty days to what might be the last chance to correct the problem and restore some level of sanity to our government. Not Voting Is Not An Option!
5
Trump and Morrison represent the dark sides of human nature and opportunism.
The racial climate in rural Australia is like this - a couple adopted children because the natural parents had been murdered by a despotic regime.
The couple decided, for the sake of the children, to move to an urban area. The children had been born in Vietnam.
Trump and Morrison chime in on "others' with tweets or statements, they are no more than Mafia keyboard/lectern figures, and likely share common bone spurs.
1
In liberal democracies, government is about problem solving.
But, vote the right-wing into government office, and look what happens to problem solving.
Morrison: “I just don’t think it’s relevant to the discussion about how we’re helping farmers” and urged drought victims to “pray for that rain”)
Yes, in lieu of policy and planning, the right-wing solution is to pray. Rick Perry had Texans pray for rain to chase away the drought several years ago.
Here in the current wild-fire West, Utah's Governor Herbert's solution to the forest fire "problem" was to ask us all to pray to end the wild fires (most of which are started by people).
Utah icon Mitt Romney is running for the Senate, and he offered another solution to the forest fire "problem": Cut down the trees, which could all be done for free by the big lumber companies.
Never mind that tourism is a big business here, and the national parks are so popular in the summers that highways to the parks look like the roads into big cities at rush hour. Many Americans of modest means may hunger for their nature experience with their kids.
But the key question for right-wing and Republican-style politicians is: Who is government for? The People? Or the already Rich, Big Business, and Big Polluters?
A second question is: How should a government solve problems? Policy, planning, funding, expertise? Or pray, and hand over public sector responsibilities and assets to the private sector?
We get decide on Nov. 6
13
Sorry to see the Aussies have taken a bite of Trump’s crazy apple. It’s ironic, too, they’re taking a hard line against refugees when their country was founded as as refuge/prison for those who had no other place to go.
12
Trump and Pence should move to Australia and get thrown out of office at the next turn around. They could take McConnell with them.
Just saying . . .
8
Another place off the list of countries we could escape to.
7
Well, look at it this way. This friendship won't last long. (Think Trudeau and Macron.) According to my relatives in Australia, neither will this Prime Minister.
7
They both ‘get it’ all right. Just lie to those toward the bottom who are feeling left behind and convince them that those actually at the bottom are the cause of their problems, as well as the ‘elites’ who favored those on the bottom. And if the liars just happen to be the elites themselves, well, some people were left behind for a reason.
4
It's good to be reminded that other nations have small, petty, mean-spirited little men leading them too.
26
Morrison won't last long. He'll either be dumped by his party or Labor will win next time, and like Trump, Morrison's obnoxious views will drag his party down for years to come.
3
“Stop The Boats” must leave First Nations folk in Australia as gobsmacked as “Real Americans” leaves Miwok folks. Granted there is a history that is unlikely to be undone, but for Morrison to engage in the bigotry of his xenophobia is staggeringly hypocritical.
3
“We look through the dust.” But when you look through the dust around DJT, all you see is more dust. Endless, choking dust. The biggest dust storm in history.
7
Trump is “not going to waste a day...”
Seriously? He’s wasted an entire Presidency. It’s all he’s really good at!
16
Don’t worry... ScoMo and his band of merry political murderers will be thrown on the scrap heap at the next election. They’re all completely out of touch with reality - which is one reason he may admire a tRump. They’re kindred spirits, both inhabiting fantasy lands of their own making.
5
Like the voters, like the government!
We sent our children to fight and die for our economic benefits all over the world during the last century! We saddled them with colossal national debt! We want the benefits we are not willing to pay for, thus there are the chronic trillion-dollar-large yearly budget shortages. We are too lazy to parent our kids so we buy a TV set and a smart phone and let the global corporations pay for the shows and ads that install into them the wrong moral values. We are “too smart and noble” to work hard and tediously so we have exported the entire industries to China and Mexico as if they would work for us for a handful of dollars eternally.
“Holier than you” attitude is not appropriate for the voters who reelected a president after having sex on the Resolute desk in the Oval Office of the White House while on a phone call with the House Speaker and on taxpayer dime with an unpaid intern…
Whom do we blame for all of this? Donald J. Trump and his voters?
We don’t have the problem with 50% of the voters or just 1% but with all of them.
We are the problem!
2
After reading article describing Australia’s affection for Trump’s psycho approach to governing, I removed visiting Australia from my bucket list. “Down Under” is now designated appropriately.
5
What is the worst problem for the wealthiest Americans, the famous one percenters, including Donald J. Trump?
Themselves!
They are saddling self with the enormous social responsibility. Why are they doing it? To justify their enormous wealth and ability to exploit the entire society.
They claim it was their brilliance, leadership and intellect that made the entire society prosper and enrich!
What’s wrong with that? Nothing at this very moment if you adhere to the short-term worldviews.
What’s really wrong with it? Everything!
The life is a pendulum swinging left and right. It’s convenient to take the credit for success when the economy is at the very peak, but when you accept such responsibility, it stays with you afterwards when the economy wildly swings into the Great Recessions and Depressions, if the stock bubble bursts or the Social security funds and the retirements saving are decimated.
Those who pocketed all the profits during the bull market are going to be directly responsible, by default and personal admission, for the colossal national debt, the export of the American industrial base overseas, for the extremely high cost of the health care, Medicare and Medicaid crippling the US economy, for the chronic trade deficits syphoning off the national wealth, for the ads that led to the drug and alcohol addictions and widespread obesity epidemics.
Those are the problems created by greed that will have the lasting long-term consequences.
3
The “double blow” of Woodward’s book and the NYT op-ed are meaningless commercial stunts until the sources come forward and are accountable. Right now they are noise that does nothing to inform. The journalistic community seems more obsessed with reliving the glory days of Watergate than with meeting its constitutional obligation to the American people.
1
"The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's." ~ Mark Twain
"If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man." ~ Mark Twain
""If a dog will not come to you after having looked you in the face, you should go home and examine your conscience." ~ Woodrow Wilson
And a favorite:
"The more I see of men, the better I like my dog." ~ attributed to Frederick the Great
"Nuf said.
19
Important to remind that unlike Americans, Australians do not strictly speaking elect their Prime Minister; they vote for their local member of parliament and the party that has a majority forms the government, with the party's leader becoming the Prime Minister. Scott Morrison was not elected, but became Prime Minister after Malcom Turnbull, the previous PM, was "deposed" by the right wing of his party. Accordingly, Scott Morrison does not have a mandate from the electorate, which he can get only by calling for new elections.
Therefore, when he states "We don't want all this political correct nonsense ...", Morrison is not speaking on behalf of a majority of Australians - only for those in his electorate who voted for him. The jury is very much open as to whether Australians want a Trump/Pence style government. An indicator that they don't might be the outcome of same sex-marriage debate that raged last year. By a two-third majority, Australians confirmed in a postal survey that they were in favour of marriage equality - leading to its legislative enactment. Morrison, as a nay sayer, was in the minority.
Not losing hope that common sense, decency (as opposed to the hypocrisy of people who intern refugees and marginalise minorities) will prevail Down Under.
157
Just what we need in this world, another Trump and Pence combination. Thank god that Australia has more frequent changes of leaders than we do. And no Electoral College to mess things up.
Until we here in the U.S. get rid of religion in our politics, think Mike Pence et al, and the Electoral College we will be mired in this mess we are in. Separation of Church and State is what we were founded on. And the fact that is not paramount in our Government is adding to the problems we are facing by impinging on our freedoms.
The Electoral College has cheated the voters twice in recent history. It is precisely why we are in the mess we are in
These two issues should be National Ballot issues because neither the Congress or the Supreme Court are living up to their responsibilities.
16
“We look through the dust.”
Exactly. Trump is just a distraction, who throws up a lot of dust to hide the looting and pillaging of the public by his backers.
23
The next Federal election in Australia is due in May 2019. Eight months. A bit below average for recent prime ministerial tenure in Australia, but about average for anyone who reports to Trump.
Next May, the Australian electorate will turn to Labour, headed by Bill Shorten. ScoMo will be gone. Don't bother learning his proper name.
65
I'm beginning to think that the parliamentary system that Australia and England have is a better system than ours. They can vote out a prime minister at any time. Imagine if we could do that? Trump would have been gone long ago. Pence would be out of the picture, because there's no vice prime minister, so the spot would have gone to other Republicans in leadership positions. We could have gone through McConnell, Ryan and maybe would have settled on McCain, until his death. Bernie Sanders and John Thune (R-SD) have consistently polled as the most popular senators, so maybe one of them would have stepped into the leadership role. Regardless of who it was, we'd be better off than we are now.
47
@Ms. Pea, this only happens when there is a caucus revolt and a leadership challenge. Otherwise, the party in power has absolute power
2
If you want a friend we Aussies make good ones. Just ask general Mattis. But don’t think that just because Morrison likes trump the rest of us Australians do. Morrison and his Conservative party are both political road kill. They are supported by a minority of Australians and Morrison himself doesn’t have the full support of that minority. He’s about as out of touch as you can get. All that’s left now is to hold a federal election so we can shovel Morrison’s political carcass into a bag, along with a lot of his party members. With a federal election due by next year Morrison has a political life of less than a year.
154
@Dave Thought so. Thanks for verifying what I had already perceived about you Aussies. I just had a comment to my comment of yesterday from one of your fellow citizens. He said pretty much the same thing. It seems that you are far ahead of so many of us regarding global warming, human rights, and religious, ethnic, racial, and LGBT acceptance. I would imagine you are also not misogynistic as too many of our men, particularly Mr. Trump, are. Have you thought of dual citizenship here in the states? Seriously. Think about it...especially when we hopefully - soon - send The Donald, his Cabinet, and Republican Congress packing!
3
Having visited Australia several times, I’m saddened to see that the scourge of Evangelicalism has taken root there. Australians only need to look to the US to see the damage that religion of greed, intolerance and bigotry can do to a country.
226
@Sterling
They sent us Murdoch, who enabled this scourge
5
@Sterling
Interesting observation. Can you posit why?
Sterling, don’t fret about us too much. Religion is rapidly dying in Australia.
1
Prime Minister Morrison is unmistakably far right, but he still knows better than to take for granted that ideology will keep him in Trump's good graces.
Despite his specious compliments about Trump, who is the farthest from practical and who wastes inordinate amounts of time on inanities, Morrison has undoubtedly studied Trump enough to know that flattery means everything to him, and that even mild criticism elicits eruptions.
Trump is no student of history or psychology, but Morrison has done his homework about Trump.
72
Maureen, I love your columns but this one doesn’t get it.
Morrison skated through to the top job and inherited a party riven by personal feuds and ideological tension, mostly over what to do about climate change. Coming from a presidential system, it’s understandable that you didn’t understand the nuances of our parliamentary one.
Morrison has to appease the conservative faction (by making noises about immigration and the climate, but notably NOT lowering the numbers or dumping the Paris commitment).
As for locking up children in offshore camps, they are not “immigrants” as that term is usually understood; their parents made the desperate, dangerous - and expensive - gamble that they could sneak in by illegal boat entry.
There is strong bi-partisan support for the government’s harsh but effective policy to “Stop the Boats”. It saves lives.
And finally, as a medium power at the “bottom of the world” as you so aptly put it, Australia has to make the calculated decision that it must maintain friendly relations with the U.S. at all costs. Morrison was following that policy, which has landed us in trouble in the past, most recently the disastrous decision to support Bush to invade Iraq. He was “saluting the office, not the man.”
102
the man is the office.
8
@Will Liley It is not "illegal" for refugees to enter Australia or any other country by boat or other means. They are permitted to enter without prior authorisation because this right is protected by Article 31 of the 1951
Refugee Convention to which Australia is a signatory.
67
@Roger B
True for those who are genuinely seeking refuge, but just because someone pays a people smuggler a vast sum to be put on a boat and go to a more desirable place than whence they came, this does not of itself make them a refugee. Like it or not offshore detention has so far proven the most effective way of minimising the loss of life from these dangerous voyages whilst maintaining a framework to determine who is genuinely a refugee.
1
I agree with other commenters that Scott Morrison is adept at reading Trump and flattering him, to curry favor for himself and for Australia.
If we want the best leaders in other countries, particularly ones that will not be trussed up in self-imposed straitjackets by the likes of Trump, we Americans should also "look through the dust" and elect a better president.
105
The GOP are a combination people like Manafort or Trump who are pompous, arrogant, corrupt, concubine for money of olychorchs/plutocrats and live life of money over country. While the other half, now a majority of them are dumb deplorable fools who worships these guys. This is why we have the Trump debacle. Let us hope the rest of the GOP stooges who enabled the most corrupt administration in modern times goes the same way.
43
What an idiot. How idiotic for Australia to have this character as PM. Down Under is now also upside down and inside out in its politics and government.
30
Trump wannabe Doug Ford. (Part One of Two))
It is fair to say that Canadians hate Trump. We hated him before his stupidity with NAFTA and Tariffs.
But in Ontario we had a Liberal government that was very, very unpopular. It is fair to say that Ontario would elect an idiot or a genius, provided it wasn't Liberal Katherine Wynne.
Canadians have a weird election system with the worst of the UK and the US.
In the UK, the PM is chosen and requires the most votes of their party MPs and MPs must tow the party line.
In the US, the President nominee is chosen after primaries and those in Congress do not have to tow the party line.
In Canada, the leader is chosen at a party convention where the person who has the most delegates (many of whom just bought party memberships) becomes leader. As long as the leader has a majority or minority government, they stay as leader. There is strong party discipline.
If they have a majority of MPs elected, it can be close to a dictatorship.
So the Ontario PCs chose an idiot Dough Ford as leader. Doug and his brother hadn't been treated nicely in municipal government in Toronto.
Ontario voters knew they were electing an idiot, but they didn't know how idiotic Ford would be. Voters might have liked the vague promises For made on smaller government. He certainly wasn't specific when running for leader or in the election.
He certainly didn't say anything about the size of Toronto council. In Canada, very few cities have any charter.
7
@sheldon And how do you explain the election of the late Rob Ford as mayor of Toronto. As Toronto expanded rapidly to take in suburban areas, the downtown elite became outnumbered by newcomers, primarily immigrants who settled in Toronto but in its outskirts. They detested the downtown elites and listened to someone who promised to lower their taxes and listen to them. You sound exactly like one of the disgruntled downtown Toronto elites.
2
A con is a con is a con. The world round, or upside down.
Seriously.
41
@Phyliss Dalmatian Bigly.
4
Maureen Dowd seems to have all the answers and knows how everyone should think and feel. Except she doesn't. Can we do better than Trump? We can, and we will. We have already done better than Clinton.
7
Well heck, I give them credit for not even pretending to be followers of Christ anymore. Just using the moniker to score points and use as a shield, a cudgel, a get our of jail card and even a crying towel as needed.
Nothing says Jesus, like hating upon immigrants and sojourners. It only goes on for like 20+? phrases and aphorism in their so called good book about such travelers, but heck, that is just their lord and savior talking.
Or as said in the Disney version, "...more like guidelines."
May Trump and Morrison enjoy their vile hate and bully boy cowardliness together in hypocrisy splendor.
Ha, ha...look Scott Morrison's itching like mad. Lay down with dogs...get up with fleas Scotty.
As it says in his good book...or maybe not.
But context, interpretation and biblical pedagogy is obviously just a scam.
Mans/women's second oldest profession/grift.
11
I am a Trump supporter, but I find this part rather amusing Ms. Dowd:
I wonder if, like Karen Pence, the devout Morrison was bothered by Trump’s flouting of the Commandments. (Thou Shalt Not Covet All the Playmates and Porn Stars at a Lake Tahoe Golf Tournament.)
8
@Robert Curley Jacobs Those of us who don't like Trump, who comprise the majority of this country, aren't amused in the least by Trump's hypocrisy, amorality, incompetence, and pathological lying. Millions upon millions of us will be expressing our lack of amusement by voting Democratic this November, so that Trump can be held accountable for shredding our Democratic norms and standing in the world.
12
Morrison is just the latest in a long line of backstabbing , lying , cheating ' Liberals ' , unelected , unloved by the electorate and soon to be replaced , this happy clapper should enjoy his moment in the sun the Brucelanders are not happy ...
26
So we have hypocrites who covet political expediency. Two peas in a pod. Didn't need a whole column for something so obvious.
10
Found it!
https://youtu.be/ihd7ofrwQX0
Julia Gillard in the Australian House of Commons on sexism.
5
@John Lister John, if I may quietly and politely point out that in Australia, it is the House of Representatives.
2
Again I anxiously have read the latest Dowd piece and find myself again pleased but wishing for the “Full Dowd”,
3
Crocodile Dundee here must find the DC Swamp appealing while "Down Under" must generate special images for DJT.
And I used to so love Australia.
In fact they will get rid of this idiot because their form of government allows it.
Too bad we don't have a vote of no-confidence to fall back on, but seriously, Mitch McConnell would probably make himself God. Scratch that. He's already done that and he's done it for life.
6
He sounds as vapid and opportunistic as the man he admires. Things should go swimmingly until Morrison takes a bit of attention away from our baby-man.
12
Aussie PM Scott Morrison will very likely soon learn (in the words of Tony Schwartz, who penned "The Art of the Deal" for Trump) . . .
"'People are dispensable and disposable in Trump’s world.' If Trump is elected President, he warned, 'the millions of people who voted for him and believe that he represents their interests will learn what anyone who deals closely with him already knows—that he couldn’t care less about them.'”
The New Yorker, July 25, 2016
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-...
38
Reading this column after your previous one on New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Adern I feel like it's going from the sublime to reading about the ridiculous Maureen.
I hope Australia comes to its senses and follows enZed's lead. With many Australian friends I will never tar them all with the same feathers as their idiot politicians just as I don't hold the majority of Americans to blame for Trumpism but I pray as an atheist that the world comes to its senses soon before Mother Earth boots us off.
11
A “friend” Ms. Dowd? Surely, you mean yet another “victim” in waiting of our amoral Narcissist-in-Chief, incapable of having a friendship relationship. In due time, P.M. Morrison will get the full Trump Treatment. I hope that he at least owns a good dog, perhaps an Australian Shepherd.
5
What on earth is a Jesus shrine, Maureen? I thought I knew all the forms of religious art. Never heard of anything like a Jesus shrine, and anyway, Peneostals are in that neck of Christianity that is extremely suspicious of art.
9
Message from Oz.. This bloke is a flash in the pan and will be cactus very shortly..
19
I've been living in Australia for almost 4 years and he is the 3rd PM since I've been here. He has more in common with trump as neither is very popular. Morrison won't be PM long. He'll be out in the general election next year.
One thing I have found is the majority of Aussies I have interacted with (friend, family, colleagues) think Trump is a moron. He has made the US the laughingstock of the world. I'll admit, though, I'm a bit envious of the Australian way. Imagine if we could get Trump out with a leadership spill???
38
@Karen Depends on who you are talking to I guess. I was in Australia and New Zealand for three months earlier this year and found widespread admiration for Trump in Australia (not NZ however). If you run in liberal circles, you will not find Trump admirers, but that tells us nothing about the country at large.
2
This guy Morrison seems like he'd be at home wearing a red baseball cap, ahootin' an' ahollerin' at a Trump revival meeting in Nowhere, Idaho.
26
Maureen Dowd Word of the Week:
soi·gné
/swänˈyā/
adjective: soignée
dressed very elegantly; well groomed.
"she was dark, petite, and soignée"
14
@KV
"Soigne" and "soignee" are both adjectives. The former is the masculine form, and refers to a man; the latter has the feminine ending, and so refers to a woman. It means "cultured," in manner, carriage and dress. There will be a quiz next period. Merci bien.
4
I think Australia is a wonderful country with many highly accomplished scientists and terrific people. At the same time, I can't forget that the most disgustingly rude racist tourist I ever met was an Australian being really insulting to the Polynesian crew of a catamaran on which he and I were passengers. Aussiland can come up with some really ignorant doozies: no less Canada. Have you heard the one about the Canadian premier who decided to radically diminish the number of electoral divisions in the country's biggest city in the middle of a municipal election campaign? And when the court slapped him down, he decided to use the notwithstanding clause of our constitution to override the court despite being advised by a constitutional expert that the council resulting from such a disrupted municipal election campaign could potentially have any of its new municipal statutes overturned by the courts? Yet the guy just can't wait to get his way legally by waiting until after the election? Talk about being an idiot!
15
And all because he's mad at how they treated his brother, who was so far of the rails he couldn't hear the train's horn.
2
Is Mo going to stay in Australia? These Aussie essays have turned things upside down. We have a real problem here with that traitor Trump and Mo writes about drivel.
6
An unelected Prime Minister!
An unelected Executive Branch!
An unelected Judicial Branch!
Australia is a "Fake Democracy"!
4
Every time you write something about Trump my skin crawls remembering how you demolished the Clintons to the point we have Trump. You are complicit in this nightmare in which we now dwell.
72
@Barbara Franklin There's nothing sadder than people still mired in the past. I've seen many people here condemn Ms. Dowd for not jumping on the Clinton bandwagon like everybody else on the New York Times did, but I've never once heard anybody convincingly challenge the facts that Ms. Dowd observed. It's the job of columnists to give us the truth as they see it. Maureen Down does that very well, whether she's talking about the Bushes, Clintons, or the Trumps. It's time to move on and nominate a Democratic candidate who is respected by independent swing state voters.
@Barbara Franklin
Thank you Barbara. Dowd also skewered legitimate President Obama many times for being 'cold' and who knows what. He , who was probably the best president of the last 50 years.
17
Donnie The Mad One doesn't need a new playmate, he needs to be in a mental health center, under guard and heavily sedated.
Besides, his last Playmate, Ms. McDougal, got him into all kinds of trouble.
I can see Mikey Pence and Scotty Morrison hanging together. Mikey can hardly wait for Donnie to choke on a piece of chocolate cake. He could finally have the Christian-shariah law he loves, complete with Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell as cabinet members.
71
He’s a fellow evangelical who has no problem with paying offf porn stars and one who throws red meat to his base. See? Australia can do stupid things too!
48
Good to know that America is not alone. In electing an idiot whose every instinct is to turn Christianity on its head.
Funny how Christians so willingly condemn nonbelievers, be they Secularists, atheists, humanists -- all going to Hell, because we don't believe in what they profess to believe in. Funny how Christians are so comfortable being inhumane to desperate people fleeing oppression, be they immigrants by land or immigrants by sea. Funny how Christians use their religion to justify electing men who mock the very life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
So if I said, "I am a devout Catholic running for president of the US. I will make capital punishment mandatory for anyone crossing our borders illegally. As Moses divided the Nile, I will separate the races by force of federal law. As Jesus walked the earth as a man, I promise to punish women who get themselves pregnant outside of marriage."
On such a platform I would be assured of the support and vote of every good Christian. I could join the ranks of Trump, Pence and Morrison.
Just like Trump and all Republicans, Christianity would be my path of choice to abuse people; but in the end, isn't religion, every religion, just a means of subduing your fellow man. Has that not been the sad history of religion? To invoke god to rally support of the sheep, to get an advantage over others, to get what it is that YOU want? All in god's name and so easy to justify your inhumanity to your fellow man.
198
@jabarry, Morrison was not elected; In the Westminster system, which Australia inherited from the UK, the leader of the majority party is the Prime Minister. The elected Prime Minister was Malcom Turnbull, whom a group of right-wingers got rid off. The next parliamentary election, which cannot come soon enough, will tell whether Australians want a Trump heading their government.
Hint: Morrison might ensure that Labour (similar to the US Democrats) regains power after 5 years (and three conservative prime ministers), even though the popularity of the leader of the Australian Labor Party is even lower than that of the current PM.
4
@jabarry. I’m not religious, but even I recognize your depiction of Christianity as cherry-picked history and a swamp of ideology. Get off it. Do some open-minded work. You’ll truly benefit from it.
4
Evidently there are mis-guided, ignorant people everywhere.
6
Thanks for bringing us that important news from Australia.
Must have been a slow news day.
Also, thank you for writing a singular snarky column about Trump. No one else has done so recently at the NYT.
I sure do miss the fact that Obama was welcomed at the latest Parisian bistros, and Trump is not.
Of course, there was that awkward moment when all the world leaders marched arm-in-arm down the Champs D'elysee following the murder of the editorial staff of the satirical French publication Charles Hebdo (the one too dangerous to re-print in the NYT)...
Except for Barry Obama who did not go to Paris cause he was playing golf in Honolulu because after all, wasn't Charlie Hebdo kinda a "workplace accident" instead of Islamic fascist murder of journalists? I guess Barry was not invited to march in Paris, that must be it.
Well, anyway, I kinda miss Obama. After all, he could even pose with the very Rev. Louis Farrakhan.
Can Trump do that?
4
@Jubilee133
The question was asked and answered. Obama did not want to insert himself into a tragic situation; he is a known celebrity President, and he would have been the center of attention. He exercised his usual thoughtful good manners and declined to attend. He would have been more than welcome, Jubilee 123. as he is wherever he goes, unlike Trump who stays home rather than confront angry crowds.
23
Maureen,
How can you write about Australian prime ministers--in two articles no less--without mentioning Julia Gillard, the sane, witty one (look her up on YouTube), who happens to be the woman?!
5
Morrison is either real dumb or oblivious to Trump’s callousness. Maybe both?
10
Perhaps Trump should pack his bags and move down to Australia. I for one would not miss him. I am tired of his sorry lies and ignorant tweets.
10
What's the point of any of her "columns"? Trump didn't understand a common term the Aussie used showing once again his complete ignorance. And clearly the Aussie is so busy being PM he hasn't bothered to read anything substantial about DJT.
8
Boring -- we have a lunatic of our own, no need to read about Australia's nitwit.
35
I get it; you went to Australia on summer holiday.
Were the established main stream media and columnists enablers of an unqualified madman for president over a fully qualified woman? Shame on you.
7
Donald doesn't even know the meaning of "rubbish"?!
10
If nothing else, it's somewhat comforting to know that it's not just Americans who can elevate an idiot to the highest office in the land. Well, um, then again, maybe it's really, really cold comfort. Who's up next, Boris Johnson?
8
Did I read correctly that Donald doesn’t know the meaning of ‘rubbish?’
It’s staring him right in the mirror. And it’s time to take all that rubbish out to the trash.
22
Sure, find the one world leader who praises Trump. Just as this columnist praised him while watching him spaghetti and meatballs. Because she would praise anyone, no matter how vile, if he or she were running against Mrs Clinton. What a pathetic column this is. Keep looking: maybe you'll find that Trump has two friends.
15
Maureen, what a lousy column. Where is your typical insight into Trumpian tweets and White House whisperings ? Conversations with the latest Australian PM ? Boring.......
8
" I really don't care, do u?"
12
Scomo is living on borrowed time. Pinning Australian flags on his cabinet mates and wearing a baseball Capp just reminds thinking Australians that the man is a hypocrite and a anti climate science moron. We will be rid of him at the next election. A minority government would be better than the rabble we have now. Trump is welcome to the guy.
6
All these holy people are getting on my nerves. Praise Jesus and lock up the kids!
Enough.
22
Maureen. You just can’t get your knives sharpened with Trump like you could for serious leaders like the Clintons or Obama. Why is that?
46
Cynics doubt people are as virtuous as the seem or say; they know power corrupts. All rational ADULTS are cynics--Ms Dowd obviously.
Her Trump cynicism is aimed at those who dismiss him and Trumpies as a short run aberration--a stock market correction--rather than a profound degeneration of the entire electorate--and the "Free World's" delusions about the wonders of "democracy"--as it sinks into feudalism, tribal and religious war.
This proves that we do not need to feel ashamed about Trump . There is enough craziness and stupidity around the World . There is no need to feel isolated .
1
Trump wannabe Doug Ford (Part 2 of two)
The province can do whatever it wants. In Toronto, we went from a government of the city and more local governments to only a city government.
Ford decided to trash the size of Toronto wards. The size of council was 44 wards and would go up to 47 wards.
Ford decided, almost certainly for reasons of pique to reduce the council to 25 wards. So far, so good, even if you didn't like the result.
Then the idiot showed how stupid he was. When he passed the law changing the size, it was after the campaign was underway. Nominations had been closed and the election scheduled for October 22.
Last Monday, an Ontario Judge said that Ford couldn't do this, for two reasons that violated s.2 of the Canadian charter. The first was that you can't change the rules during a campaign. Two, that the smaller number of wards resulted in ineffective government. The first is simple and would be held up on appeal. The second, very unlikely.
Then Ford had a temper tantrum. There is a section of the charter that let's a provincial or federal government override the section 2 rights. It has never been used by Ontario. When it has been used, it has never been used for anything like this. Any such law has a sunset of 5 years.
But that doesn't end the story. It is back to the courts looking for a decision outside those parts of the charter.
God, this is so embarrassing.
7
I thought Putin was Trump's friend. Does he have another one now? Come home Maureen, there's stuff happening here. Maybe you heard down under that Manafort has rolled on Trump? Or that Kavanuagh is going to be seated come hell or high water before the mid-term election, no matter what he did or didn't do, or whether or not he lied under oath?
We've got enough to worry about without worrying about Australia's Pentecostal Prime Minister imposing his religious values on the citizens of Australia, or any kind of pseudo friendship he has with Trump. Let the people of Australia sort that out. We have our plates overflowing here.
25
Morrison is just like the American GOP. They conveniently look past the lying, racism, sexism, and idiocy of Trump. Insane.
9
what? no Hillary?
21
trump never had a better friend than you Maureen. It's now your legacy.
38
It appears that our infantile president has found a playmate.
7
You're terrible Maureen! (er - that's a "Muriel's Wedding" reference, not an honest assessment. Cheers.)
How embarrassment! ScoMo's the most unlikely and un-Australian Australian prime minister since.....er.....the one before last! How embarrassment!
2
Figures that our Rubbish president would not know what a rubbish golfer would be.
Hopefully they will both be gone soon.
9
Everywhere, the morons are rising to the top. Another mop-headed narcissistic fool, Boris Johnson, may well be the next Prime Minister of the UK.
10
Ms. Dowd has become quite proficient at threading the needle. While Times commenters vent about how awful Morrison is, I have little doubt Trump has this column proudly hanging over his desk.
www.newyorkgritty.net
3
Donald Trump is a garbage magnate. Imagine that.
What’s happened to Australia? They used to be a nice, good country.
Guess they’ve been Trumped. Sad.
6
He is a deluded fool, another demagogue with red meat for his base. What a pair!
3
"The People Who Feel Left Off the Gravy Train" are mostly hurting still and they are about to be visited by a world of pain.
Widening income gap. A debt so huge that could not be truly imagined. No health insurance for a growing number of them. And a slow dawning awareness that President Grifter is both Con Artist and Moron.
What an awakening, not at all like the one the Buddha had.
17
If America has led allies to victories in was and new nations toward democracy and equal rights, rock and roll, and belly fat, why couldn't it lead their own governments toward Trumpism's cynicism and flimflam? MAGA: Make America Grate Again. It did, and it does.
That's a good reason to flog the Grasping Oligarchic Profiteers in November.
4
I have a vision of special hell like Sartre's "No Exit," -- The two Donalds are there, Manafort, Flynn, & Cohen.
It is a badly run down 50's strip motel & road-side attraction on a road where no-one ever comes by. The attraction is a seedy miniature golf course that is decaying into unplayable. Donald Trump Sr lies about his score, no one else plays it. There is nothing else to do. The others have tried to walk away, but the road goes forever into nothing, and they have all come back.
One day in eternity a car drives up, chauffeured by the Devil. A bewildered ScoMo gets out, stretches his legs ... the Devil assures him that this is his place.
ScoMo says "but I don't play golf, and I never stole millions and lied about taxes ... I never groped women or paid off my adulteries to hush them up."
The Devil says "these are your people Scott, the only ones who you looked up to. Here's your membership ..." and he hands Scott a clump of coal and drives off to infinity.
17
Unmerited and almost unlimited power do isolate a person. Only by recognizing others as our equals in importance can we truly get close to someone. For the most glorious example of this: Watch a video of "The Marriage of Figaro" composed by Mozart in the 18th century. Count Almaviva has unlimited power over his estate and all who live there by accident of birth but no real friends: Well the Countess loves him but that's an historical accident of the 18th century. Enjoy!!
1
Another nation has malcontents who find solace in con men demonizing immigrants, Bible thumping, homophobia, and global warming denial? Isn't that comforting! England sent boatloads of convicts to the U.S. and Australia back in the colonial days. I think those convicts' progeny have now risen to their political zenith in both nations.
9
Pentecostal.
Wouldn't this make him comfortable with people who jabber nonsense and adept at handling snakes? It's destiny.
Just don't let Donald see those big, manly hands.
3
Speaking of golf this "Prime Minister" says: ~" ...And I said ‘No, no, no, it means I’m not very good at it.’ He’s passionate about it. He knows all the Australian players.”~
If only one could substitute the "passion" trump has for golf and "what he knows" with the terms "global threat of poverty" or "international trade" "or domestic violence" or any number of serious foreign and domestic issues. But not trump....he plays golf and that is what this "Prime Minister" sees as trumps "passion".
I wonder if Mr. Morrison knows that trump cheats at golf, and drives hid golf cart up onto the putting green, among other things.
6
"Donald was not a dog fan," says Ivana. He's not even a dog. Any attempt to claim to the contrary is a massive insult to canines.
The same should be said of 5th and 6th graders, toddlers, pigs, snakes, sharks, mafia dons, and a host of other living things to which the president has been so cruelly likened.
Yeah, among many other presidential victimizers, I'm talkin' about YOU, James Mattis. Not to worry though. Your "Get out of jail free" card is in the mail.
4
Here is my comment, a Trumpism(?), no comment except to say I like Australians and Australia, and sometimes silence says it all.
1
I am usually a fan of Maureen's articles, but this one, I'm sorry to tell you Maureen, is shallow and misleading. the minute Scomo starts to actually behave like King Donald, he'll be out on his ear. I think most Australians are grateful that 'Voldemort' Dutton (the right wing candidate) didn't get elected. He is a real 'friend' of King Donald, not a pretend friend. Scomo was at least acceptable by the 'left wing' of the governing party. The only reason Scomo is a mate of the erratic and unhinged King Donald is that our defence depends upon it. Anybody, from meet either major party, who is elected to be p.m. of Australia will always declare to be a faithful friend of the US president. Scomo's Christian Pentecostal faith is an aspect of his humanity and sanity, but like American evangelicals it is disconnected from reality. Besides, a PM has no capacity to make executive decisions and has to bring his whole cabinet with him.
13
@Rodney Marsh...What is it that you are defending yourself against that requires a continuing alliance with a country like the US? Wouldn't your northern neighbors like India, Indonesia, China and Japan be more natural partners? Surely the penguins in Antarctica aren't a threat.
1
The good people of Australia are not as clueless and feckless as those of us here in the US. Morrison better enjoy it while he can, because his leadership won't last very long.
9
Actually stumpy has another friend....
My incontinent neighbor with dementia loves his hair and says she'd vote for him under any circumstances.... unless he goes bald...
There are so many others out there, just like her.... so reach out, stumpy.... just don't lose those curls and waves...
14
Looks like there are as many clueless and ill-informed Aussie voters as there are here in Murica.
4
Phrases like "I just take people as I know them", "We look through the dust" are the coinage of charlatans
19
Australia got its big break as a penal colony. How appropriate that Trump would think he's found a home there.
27
I guess if happy clappers like ScoMo did not have religious faith to hide behind, they would be forced to admit that they are truly motivated by pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth. Yes Trump knows people have been left behind, and so fooling some of the people all of the time, he parlays this truth into enlisting them in self enrichment and enrichment of his class. It is said FDR was the enemy of his class. As for Trump and his acolyte ScoMo, like the devil, they quote scripture like a scholar.
What would Australia be without hordes of migrant ships filled with exiles who no one wanted (read: prison boats filled with bad, though skilled, hombres in the 1780's)? Um, it's kind of how the island was populated. Were Sir Joseph Banks and Lord Syndey alive today, they'd die again from the irony of any Australian trying to keep any purportedly unsavory character off of New south Wales. Especially a Morrison.
19
As an Australian who has been living and working in the USA for the past 18 years, I still closely follow the silliness that is Australian politics. The recent promotion of the racist Morrison to the position of prime minister is something that indicates that the Liberal party has drained itself of talent in the same way that the Republicans have practiced undemocratic anti-intellectualism. In both cases it is the fear of the unknown and immigrants that must share the brunt of their callous stupidity. What Maureen forgot to inform her readers is that prime ministers in the Westminster system of parliament are not elected by the people. They are elected by the members of the ruling party. So while Trump represents the cynicism of the Republicans and the stupidity of 40% of the US populace, Morrison mainly represents the detritus that constitutes the Australian liberal party. Most Australians, including Liberal voters, are embarrassed by this clown and it is a sure sign that the Liberal party is in the process of self immolation.
13
It's a big world-Trump bound to find his soulmate.Laughable "We look through the dust" line when Morrison commenting on non issue of Trump's immorality. Recalls screwy ending "Some Like It Hot"-"-well nobody's perfect!"
1
Now, in the times like this Ms. Dowd , it is a non story.
With the nyt’s “ anonymous “ op-ed , and “ Fear”, Bob Woodward’s damaging book of trump you had to find someone who likes him in another parts of the World ?
Folks in trump’s cabinet calls him a fool behind his back , he can’t even pronounce “anonymous “ when English is the only language the President speaks.
6
Of course Trump feels alone. He has driven away so many people through insulting them, blaming them for his own mistabkes, and lying to them. Why anyone still works for him, I cannot understand.
5
Given that Australia is one of the best NATO members outside of the US, we should be pleased. The Aussie's get it. Most of the rest of the world does not - including the NY Times.
@Keith
Except that Australia is not a member of NATO.
Get it?
5
@Keith
“Australia is one of the best NATO members outside of the US..”
Just what part of the North Atlantic do you think Australia might be found in, Keith? But not to worry, your knowledge about NATO, including who is, and who is not, a member is certainly equal to your President’s. You can be proud of that.
1
Australia is not a member of NATO. Given that you are unaware of that fact, I'm curious exactly what you think they "get right," and whether that belief also bears any relationship to reality.
9
When you're that far down, you're already below even Dante's 9th circle of purgatory. Just the type of company Donald Trump deserves. Devilish Don is way "down under" consorting with fiendish friends bellowing his fire and brimstone while tweet-taunting all those of goodwill. The devil may have his day, but in the end which is near will not have his way.
Actually Trump has two loyal mates from down under : The joker you just mentioned in your article and the infinitely more dangerous Rupert Murdoch. They make a fine troika of bigots.
18
Ha, peas in a pod!
2
At times I think the whole world has gone crazy with this anti-immigrant, alt-right stuff.
15
The root cause of the problem is religion.
12
@Mike...Over population is caused by religion? Interesting.
It’s getting awful hot and dry down under. How’s the Great Barrier Reef mates, all dead yet? I get the ant immigrant sentiment, there’s just too many darn hungry people on our only planet. But it’s not their fault, they just want to be free. Go solar.
3
Mutual admiration society sharing a plate of bigotry crudities . I do agree we should all have Easter hat parades and Christmas plays , parades for everybody , the freedom to celebrate all ethnic holidays , except for a nudist parade although I think there is a naked day in New York ? As for dogs ,they should all growl at Donald since there are really no ugly dogs but ugly humans , him being one of them .
4
Remind me to strike Australia off my list of possible "escape" counties.
3
In our country the voices of reason are being driven from the public square by the voices of faith.
1
Donnie has a friend. All that's left now is to find out what crime Scott is going to plead guilty to.
3
Someone shoulda warned you, Maureen.
Australia is a wonderful place, but there are extremely dangerous, poisonous creatures hiding there — some in plain sight — that are unlike anything you've ever seen before.
Excluding Donald Trump, of course.
2
Trump has no friends, just accomplices and victims. Often Trump's accomplices morph into victim-hood when they're sullied by Federal indictments/convictions, have their reputations permanently sullied, or get targeted by imbecilic Twitter barrages.
5
Let’s not forget that it was the oppressed who came to America, and criminals to Australia.
2
@D Priest
The puritans came to what would become America. "Criminals" were sent to the future Australia.
Australia got the better deal.
4
@D Priest
The first convicts came to Australia in 1788 because the usual dumping ground for them, the American Colonies, became no longer available after 1776. Until then, The American Colonies took 50,000 British convicts.
In any case, most of these "convicts" were people oppressed by the British ruling class and sentenced for stealing handkerchiefs, loaves of bread, or the occasional sheep to stop their children starving.
6
A real piece of work down under. Mini Trump.
Droughts down under and floods around the world with rising sea levels, but just ignore and pray. Morrison and Pence will lead us after Trump is impeached. Resist and Vote!
18
Ask him if he's seen On The Beach.
2
Seriously, Maureen? must be a slow news day. Don't get me wrong, love the Aussies, have a lot of friends from there and been there a few times. But can't really take them seriously...its a small country, the equal to an American #3 state. Trump won't even show up at the #1 State, California. We don't like him out here, but I hear he's big in the Central Valley, home to his BFF's Nunes and McCarthy. Better than going to Australia, its a long long flight.
The way the Australian foreign policy is headed they will soon become a Chinese colony. Most Aussies don't know it yet but they better take Mandarin classes to talk and serve their new masters...
1
Oh well, I was ready to emigrate to Oz. Guess now it has to be Sweden. I can get used to long winters. Hopefully, The Blue Wave
will really materialize and we can , atleast ,put a brake
on the lunacy.
3
@Alan Maurer
ScoMo is more like a mild version of Ted Cruz than another Donald Trump. He and the LNP will be out of government before the end of next May. Our progressive Labor Party has learnt the lesson of its last disunited time in office having stuck fast to its leader - Bill Shorten - since then. He's low on charisma but his team is behind him and their policy proposals are sound and popular enough. It's worth recalling that Australia's politics is quite a bit to the left of the US's - though not as far as Sweden's - even with an LNP government. If you like Florida's weather, the north coast of New South Wales or south-east Queensland will suit you fine.
4
President Trump has admitted he feels "amazingly alone". If you figured out the scam halfway through a rally, you know how that feels.
4
He looks forward to dust. He will be the dust.
1
So what do politicians think? That because God eschews politics, He want them to into it for Him? Uh..the reason God avoids politics is because it is nonredeemable. He can regenerate individuals, but not political parties. The surest was for a person to drive a wedge between them and God, politics.
Is Scott Morrison original? Meaning, is he derived from the original stock of prisoners who were sent off to Australia as punishment?
5
Well, so much for my plan to move to Sydney to escape Drumpf and his band of GOPhers. Then again, I should've thought it through more deeply. Commonalities, however, are there!
- Australia started out as a penal colony
- The U.S. started out as a band of religious oppressors escaping religious oppression, supplemented by slaves and indentured servants.
- Both nations speak a variant of English that neither understands when spoken by the other, and the language of the common Mother Country might as well be Mandarin to both.
- Australia has a plethora of sharks swimming offshore. America's sharks swim in D.C. (Although handcuffs are becoming tres chic there these days.)
- But more to the point, both nations' political leaders are fruitcakes. (I'll bet, though, that an Aussie aunt Myrtle doesn't whip up 50 pounds of fruitcake to send to her shrieking relatives every Christmas!)
4
If you interview a newly ascended politician, you get empty pablum like you got from Morrison. No one is going to go on record as a critic of Trump after watching their colleagues--such as Trudeau or Merkel--being punished after standing up to Trump in the mildest possible way. Their countries are punished more than they are punished as individuals. Therefore, it would be irresponsible for Mr. Morrison to say anything other than what he did.
Ms Dowd, this was a poor investment of your time and our time as readers.
3
Ms. Dowd writes: "Morrison...is never able to convincingly explain how he reconciles his Christian values and the role he plays in dooming children."
Easy, like Donnie, he takes Jesus literally when he said, "Suffer the little children."
7
It's pretty difficult to figure out how 'refugees' from Afghanistan find their way to Australia without ever entering another country. Saudi Arabia is practically next door. Why doesn't anyone complain that they never take refugees? Even Moslem, Arab refugees. Australia has the right to limit immigration. And being a refugee does not mean you get to go to whichever country you happen to prefer. And the Saudi's won't take you, no matter what.
I have relatives in New Zealand. I get a three month visa each time I visit. I love the country, it's pretty much like Northern California, without all the people and all the violence. But they won't let me stay there. When I retire, I'd love to stay for two or three years. I would have a place to live and wouldn't be a burden on the State. New Zealand won't let me do that. It's their country, it's their right. Six months, max, and I've got to leave.
Countries have the right to limit immigration. The way to stop illegal immigrants, who come primarily for better pay and working conditions, is to start fining and imprisoning employers who knowingly hire illegals.
6
Trump gives aid and comfort to the worst of the world.
5
Maureen Dowd has been visiting us Down Under to give some speeches and write some articles at a time when our political leadership has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. She brings objectivity to the task and, as a local, it is acutely embarrassing to read. She's on the money though (I regret to say). Having said that, we have a national election due within the next seven months and the chances of a new government being elected are high indeed. Maybe Maureen can come back and see how we look then.
6
Trump is so ignorant about the rest of the world, that I’m surprised he hasn’t congratulated Scott Morrison on building that “Great Barrier Reef” he heard was constructed to keep out the immigrants and “Make Australia Great Again.”
If Trump ever does visit Australia in search of companionship, and on the off chance that ScoMo is still in office, perhaps the Indigenous Australian Peoples could be persuaded to take him on a very long “walkabout,” (no golf cart allowed).
12
The executive power in Australia is not elected!
The legislative leader is not elected!
The Judiciary are not elected!
"Fake Democracy"!
1
@alkoh
Our parties choose their leader and leadership team!
Our people choose if they become the government!
Our "legislative leader" (same person as the "executive leader") is elected! (To be a member of parliament anyway.)
Judiciaries are not usually elected in a democracy! (Why the hell should they be?)
Parliamentary Democracy! Westminster System!
4
@alkoh, I suggest you Google "separation of powers". That will explain why countries using the Westminster system (e.g., U.K., Canada, N.Z., Australia) have an unelected judiciary.
2
The most accurate statement in this article is Maureen’s observation that Australians refer to Pentecostals as “Happy Clappers”.
That got me smiling.
We are a disrespectful bunch.
As for the rest: meh.
You cannot learn the nuances of a country’s politics between LAX and SYD.
3
It should come as no surprise that the Trump malignancy is spreading as long as some humans are governed by their brain stem instead of higher centers of thought.
3
Scott Morrison is the Mike Pence of Australia. With any luck, Australia will have yet another Prime Minister next year.
14
A Conman is a Conman the World around. But WE have the BEST Conman. God help us.
Seriously.
10
I love PM Morrison's Trust in the Lord motto, and then the call to pray for rain. Apparently the lord isn't trustworthy enough without a reminder.
His "love for all men" maiden speech to parliament is in stark contrast to his treatment of refugees.
Just another hypocrite.
No surprise in his fanboy approach to Trump then.
5
Cut the man a break, Mo…
Given half a chance, he’d have his Minions and Mnuchins on a jet to the hottest place down under, offering a non-profit partnership to build casinos on other people’s sacred aboriginal land…
His generosity in such relationships is legendary – lending his good name to the cause of people everywhere winning, expecting zero in return…
And, of course, for the simple joy of meeting new dealers and making new marks in a place where people don’t already know him…
Just needs to figure out how to convert $24 dollars into Australian currency and cop $1 of beads from the local dollar store…
And if roulette wheels spin in the other direction, below the Equator…
5
Sorry Maureen - but Trump has lots of friends. Anywhere rightwing extremists, white supremacists, and proto-fascists are gaining power, Trump is their guy, their role model.
So don't expect ScoMo to be alone for long. Steve Bannon is running around Europe right now helping them all organize into a League of Their Own. ScoMo's invitation is probably already in the mail.
And don't forget Vlad - Trump's BFF.
4
Morrison's admiration for trump will come as a surprise to many Australians as will the fact he is a happy clapper. But not to worry, he will go down as one of the country's shortest serving PMs, as there has to be an election before next May and people are ready with baseball bats in hand and can't wait to be rid of his rabble of a government.
4
So Australia’s Prime minister wants to mimic Trump and his policies?
I already see his slogan:
Make Australia an Island Again
10
As a former American who has lived in Australia for 45 years, this article made me feel like puking. PM Morrison is a fraud - he was an abject failure as a minister in different portfolios, his "prosperity gospel" fanaticism has no time for empathy or understanding of others, and his colleagues regard him as a dunce. The grotesquely divided Liberal Party is headed for electoral disaster in the next Federal election due in no more than nine months. A Labor government will be dealing with Trump then, not that ignoramus Donald even knows where Australia is on a world map.
10
I bet Trump has forgotten his name already.
4
Morrison needs to practice putting his thumbs together with his index fingers. And he needs to open his eyes a bit: The guy he wraps his political future around is a man that is, one after another, told to stay away from other people's funerals. And his role model has to cancel his visits to other countries and send a proxy because the citizens of those places loathe him. And if Morrison can't tell the difference between a little dust and mud covering the windshield, perhaps Morrison should call it a day. Hmmm. One thing is certain... he will be able to watch his future flash in front of his eyes by watching the U.S midterms.
9
While I'm interested in some things Australian, and while Ms. Dowd did her best to put some lipstick on Morrison, it just wasn't enough to make him seem the least bit interesting. There's still no there there.
If only Morrison and Trump could really pal it up and hang out more with Philippine leader Duterte then you'd have something
to shout about: The Three Amigos (New & Improved)!
6
Pity that Trump isn't coming to Australia. Had ScoMo invited him to speak in Parliament - as Dubya did - it would have put several nails in the coffin of the Australian Coalition Government in one hit.
Still, Pence's presence might be almost as good; When Dubya's VP Dick Cheney visited Australia, the Howard Coalition government was defeated not too long afterwards.
7
Trump doesn’t care about globalism. He’ll glad make money off of rebranding products made overseas and hiring cheap immigrant labor.
He only cares about exploiting white spite.
That’s all Trump ever was about.....nothing more.
All efforts of conservatives and liberals to develop a convoluted ‘theory’ of Trumpsterism dance around the race resentments is the core of his attraction to frustrated white voters.
7
I don't know whether to feel better or worse.
In the misery loves company category, it seems our mates down under have also been fooled.
That's the better.
It took a threesome to fool us - a seasoned pro, a russian to run interference, and a born again christian sidekick to hustle the marks.
Mr. Morrison, a fast learner, did it in less time and all by himself.
That's the worse.
2
Trump has already made another friend: Netanyahu.
They are very much alike and equally bad for their countries.
14
Now I have a better understanding of 'Trump, the Boomerang President'.
Ms. Dowd, now that Pandora's Box is wide open, and on your travels to Paris, perhaps you might consider giving your readership a view of The Gabrielle Russier Case. It swept the Press in France fifty years ago and took the country apart. Timely, it might clarify our justice system in today's governance.
Yes, Morrison is an embarrassment. Not as embarrassing as Trump, but still embarrassing.
7
At least the Aussies are smart enough to rid themselves of the leaders they do not like faster than we are able to do it in this country. This dipwit downunder will be dispatched with in a year. Wish I could say the same about ours.
5
Send them both to a deserted island so that they can revel in their admiration of themselves. It can be called Hypocrisy Island.
4
It's a minor point but this Pence guy is annoying. He appears to be a world class nerd. When Trump is removed from office we will probably have to put up with 24/7 bible thumping. I'm pretty sure that Trump picked a cipher like Pence as VP so he wouldn't have to share the spotlight.
6
See through the dust, indeed. If Morrison is like most recent Aussie Prime ministers, he may not only see through the dust, he’ll probably be eating it fairly soon, too.
8
Trump and Morrison are two peas in a pod with one notable exception. Morrison will eventually be voted out of office. Trump will be ousted from office.
31
He made a friend? How earth did that happen. Will wonders never cease. Of course this friendship won't last very long. trump will flip flop on this as he always does on most issues.
5
After quoting the old gag, "If you want a friend in politics, get a dog," you write, "In the Trump era, we can rewrite the maxim to be: If you want a friend in politics, get an Aussie."
I know the play on words must have seemed irresistible, but it's a bit rough on Australians generally. This is one of my long-standing complaints with American journalism: a weakness for clever turns of phrase regardless of splashing mud on undeserving people or even muddying the waters of the writer's own discourse. I had to read on to satisfy myself that you were not characterizing a nationality in the form of its national leader.
The "too good not to use" plague in journalism, like the punning-headline plague, has abated somewhat as Time magazine has passed its heyday, but it still has a way to go.
13
They have new prime ministers at least 6 times a year. Let's see how long this one lasts.
3
@mtrav As noted above, its how we know when to change the batteries on our house fire alarms. Not even worth noting this buffoon's name. We've got the baseball bats out and ready for the impending election and he won't survive.
1
Yes, of course, one step begins the longest journey. But the apt adage in Mr Morrison's case appears to be "de minimis, non curat lex."
A recent Australian Fire Service advertisement reminded people that as they had just had a a change of Prime Minister that it was time to change their fire alarm batteries. Scott Morrison is a Pentecostal, who claims to believe in a compassionate and forgiving God, yet is unable to exercise the same compassion for a refugee woman in a detention centre, who was raped by guards and wanted an abortion. Australia’s offshore detention system is synonymous with abuse and is a humanitarian disaster, costing more than $3 billion since 2012. Children have been abused; women have been raped; the most desperate have set themselves on fire. As with Evangelicals in the US, compassion and love are in short supply with how they treat their fellow human beings. Which may explain why the latest Australian Prime Minister sees a lot he can like in Trump.
56
@Michael All reasons why it is a waste of time even learning this buffoon's name. He will very soon be consigned to the dustbin of history when we have our impending election. In the meantime, to our kiwi friends over the ditch, look after your sane PM, JD, to remind us here down under that we just have to look across at you to see there is light at the end of the tunnel.
What a laugh! He has no trouble drawing at least 10,000 fans at a rally. Hillary's campaign stops often had more reporters and campaign workers than fans.
1
@Norm
10,000 people at a rally in Phoenix? That's 0.6 % of the Phoenix metro area population. That doesn't sound like a raging endorsement to me.
3
@Norm
So you think these are all reporters?
https://www.ibtimes.com/election-day-pictures-2016-photos-presidential-c...
2
@Norm In an alternative universe where Trumpster Divers reside. Your version of reality is somewhere between delusional and self-aggrandizing.
4
Two things struck me: First that Trump actually knows who 50 of Australia's top golfers are. I didn't know he could hold on to any "Facts". Secondly, that the Australian leader is so naive. Doesn't he read??? If Australia is using the US as a template for their future, they are in BIG trouble.
7
My number one rule in deciding whether to support a candidate: if more than twice in any speech s/he mentions that s/he “prayed on it”, spouts quotes from the Bible or the Ten Commandments, references “finding Jesus” or referring to “my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”, talks about bringing back Christmas or how often s/he goes to church or makes reference to their Bible study group, I vote for the other guy.
And for the record, I am not an atheist. I am just sick and tired of hypocrites.
43
“Amazingly alone.” That may be the most human quotation I’ve ever heard attributed to Donald Trump. Amazingly, it makes me want to hug him. He just doesn’t seem like a happy man. And yet, I completely despise him and what he has wrought.
30
@Boring Tool He IS a happy man as he daily creates havoc across the globe w his immoral, illogical and detrimental tweets and lies that spare no one as he praises himself in any way he can think of and at anyone's expense. But I understand your comment, but the thought of hugging him is totally repulsive to me. I doubt if Melania even wants to. Meanwhile, he is totally responsible for his aloneness because he is the ultimate narcissist shunning all good and good people for his own glorification. His party knows this even if his base does not. But they have consciously sold their souls to the devil while trump is so mentally deranged he has no awareness of it.
4
Every so often, the Australians come up with a saying that's pretty great - This time it was "happy clappers", although for some reason I can't see many US Pentecostals being very happy, what with all the abortions and gay marriage. Maybe a few more Supreme Court justices will spin them up?
4
@John Archer
Maybe I’m not getting the meaning of happy clappers quite right, but I have to say that most of the evangelicals and Pentecostals I read about seem spiteful, angry, and judgmental rather than happy and glory glory hallelujah types.
4
Dogs have masters.
Cats run their own show.
A couple of shelter cats would be better for DT. They’d have a big house to roam and are aloof. Donald, who?
9
@kat perkins - cats would not be preferred by T. He would think they know something he doesn't and they're holding out on him.
12
@willw - Funniest reply I've read. I love dogs but cats would make better presidents.
@kat perkins
There's a Portuguese proverb that states that you can trust anyone who likes any two of these three (in any combination); Children, cats, music.
Trump has children, but what about the other two??
(Historical note: FDR had cats and children).
1
sounds like trump's american supporters. they all see what they want to see, and disregard the rest.
12
Advice to the sane and sound amongst our American friends. Don't waste time bothering to remember this current Prime Ministerial aberration's nickname etc. He won't be there long enough. The man is a buffoon - leading a government considered to be all shopfront with no product. Fortunately our impending federal election will see him and his self-styled 'muppet show' fade over the horizon within a few months.
Australia has been saved from catastrophe by the underlying strength of our institutions - this fact is what differentiates us from your very critical existential situation in the US. Our institutions will see us survive what is now the tail end of a leadership convulsion which has been precipitated by a decade of petty egos driven by discredited ideological neoliberal extremes with no thought for our national interest nor a vision for our sustainable future. No true leadership there.
What is heartening for us in Australia is our clear-eyed cynicism with respect to Trump's puppet master, Steve Bannon's attempt to sow his toxic populist nationalism here. Gratifying at these times to see we are actually paying attention and that enough of us are determined to fight to restore the civility, competence and compassion currently so diminished in our polity.
17
Thanks Maureen for you always accurate assessment of Australian politics.
Personally I can't wait for an election to vote out the liberal party. Geraldine
3
The global playbook from the right has to been to upend the middle class across the globe. The way they are doing that is by either war, or crashing the economy.
What that has caused is massive upheaval around the world as people scramble to get away from violence, failed states, or acute economic hardship.
Then ''leaders'' use the tired tropes of ''us vs. them'' and that the borders need to be closed, (except for the privileged or the ones that are wiling to work for slave wages) and new trade deals that are going to bring back prosperity to the whites. (those tariffs are all but new taxes that are crushing the base)
So, for the moment, there are a few populists that have cravenly taken power, but their time is soon coming to an end. Give it a couple of election cycles and then the political pendulum will be swinging back quite forcefully.
The new American President will say ''g'day'', be pleasant diplomatically, but will be diametrically opposed to everything this guy stands for. (if he lasts that long)
1
Great stuff, this! A shame the Aboriginals didn't have the wherewithal to stop the British from stealing (sorry, we must say "colonising") their country. Or (dare I say it?) that the Native Americans didn't manage to hold off the invading Europeans way back when. As a working-class Brit I also feel strongly about a millenium of Norman domination of my homeland - almost glad I'll be dead when they celebrate a thousand years of their rule in 2066.
As you hint in the article, neither Mr Morrisson nor Lord Trump are likely to understand any of this ...
5
I assume that "We look through the dust" is Australian slang for "We see what we want to see".
6
Trump is being played like a fiddle. Nobody can actually claim to be a 'friend' to such a massive ego. Everything, eventually and forever, is about Trump.
22
Please don’t assume that because we are nice to the President we are being anything other than polite and acting to preserve our own interests. A trade war with China, our biggest export market for minerals, could be a disaster.
5
Praying for rain is not really a substitute for a government policy when you've got a drought.
29
Like Pence praying on the HIV epidemic in his State when Governor of Indiana.
6
Aren't leadership “spills” the usual means of politicians gaining office? Bill Clinton eased into power after Ross Perot tossed a wrench into the mix. George W. Bush was only elected because Ralph Nader took votes away from Al Gore. Hillary was favored to win in 2008, but Obama came out of nowhere. Trump is now president solely because he isn't Hillary. What's new?
8
Wrong! Trump is president because Bernie gave republicans lies about Hillary credibility.
4
These types of articles are hilarious. Trump didn’t take the job to make friends, he took it to clean up a big mess. That big mess included corrupt politicians and federal employees from both parties who are being purged. Trump has more allies around the world than the Aussie, they are just being quiet.
People who think Trump may be at odds with his cabinet or AG are being played by a psy-op. Things are getting done.
Always remember whoever is president has ALL the information on everyone through the NSA. Get ready for some fireworks this fall. The Emergency Broadcast System is being tested next week for a reason.
8
@JOSEPH
Yet Trump continues to attack allies like Canada and fellow NATO members, while being incredibly cordial to Russia.
In terms of getting things done, Trump has not persuaded Mexico to pay a single cent for his wall. Despite having a majority in both houses of Congress, Trump has been unable in 20 months, to repeal and replace the ACA with something much cheaper and with much better healthcare.
Trump’s tax returns, unlike every other President since the 1960’s, continue to be kept as a state secret. If they were a positive for Trump they would have been released, yet Trump’s financial details including the source of his funding and his donations, remain hidden from public examination.
Even though Trump supposedly only picks the best for his team, he has had a very high turnover of staff, with several under suspicion of improper behaviour.
Trump’s allies are being tested by Trump’s chaotic approach to governing. He takes more notice of nations like Israel and Saudi Arabia, than long standing allies who have spilt blood fighting US wars.
The American people will give a judgement on Trump’s Presidency in November. If he loses at least one House of Congress, it will make governing much more difficulty, and mean his government will be under much more scrutiny.
20
@JOSEPH and you think the NSA gives T everything they have? He surely won't know what he has no clue to ask for.
There'll be fireworks this Fall when Trumpy will be led out in handcuffs. It'll be like New Years' Day celebrations all over again.
1
The reference to the commandments brought to mind the two Trump deeply subscribes to: I am the lord thy god and, thou shalt have no other gods before me.
50
Just being intuitive, but could our Donald be upset about the Aussies calling McDonald's, Maccas. He needs to get things straight with the down under Croc crowd.
But, that shouldn't be too, difficult! Although I think DJT's faith centers around his own personal deification. Whatever is left of his political base is either Russian or Evangelical! The latter group has one major belief in common with Australia's, Big Guy.
They are firm about their beliefs not ending where someone else's begin. The geopolitical link- A country can have Freedom of Religion, but not Freedom from Religion!!!
Good of you to keep us informed about the other side of the world. It's still important. Excellent writing. Learned a new word.
3
As always, America exports the worst of what we have to offer.
13
Okay, Maureen, I do not know how to put this without alienating the average Aussie, but this guy sounds a bit like a wing-nut. Maybe he will actually turn out to be a good leader. But the previews are not exactly 5 star, are they. What I can't figure out is how this Scott M even got elected. Mr. M does not sync with my perception of an Australian. But then again, look what we did to ourselves. Or rather Russia did to us with our "help." The odds are that if Australia went through 6 prime ministers in 10 years, Morrison should start packing now. I just don't see these folks Down Under being as fanatical and ignorant as so many of us Americans have been these last long, long 20 or so months. In the mean time, as we await both Trump's and Morrison's just deserts - hopefully we win that contest first - I would advise that we keep the two away from each other. This planet can not take much more...
14
@Kathy Lollock Worry not, Kathy. No offence taken. Morrison was not elected by Australians. Instead the hard right conservatives of our governing party (our equivalent to your Republicans but not so craven) dumped their leader - our former PM, Malcolm Turnbull - and replaced him with Scott Morrison (our Westminster system of government does not have us electing our leader directly - we elect the political party and its leader becomes the Prime Minister, just like it happens in the UK). Main reason - ideological resistance to climate change, despite the nation experiencing one of its most punishing extreme droughts yet again.
How's climate change denial going for the good folks in California after your horrendous fires, are the Carolinas just loving hurrican Florence etc?? High time we all rose up against these denialists, who are backed by the fossil fuel industries, and demanded support be switched to plentiful sustainable renewable energy resources like solar, wind and tidal power. It's about to erupt here so watch this space and join us.
5
@Cass Phoenix We sure need folks like you here! Fortunately, I live in Deep Blue CA and it is all about saving our planet...from global warming to human rights. My city of Santa Rosa was horribly affected by our Fire of 2017. And now, so many in 2018. I can not speak for the Carolinas, but we are determined to fight - and win - when it relates to all things Trump. Horrible man...
Australia ranks second only to the US in Western genocide, ongoing racist cruelty, religious myopia and climate change denialism. I'm not surprised that Australia now has it's own, albeit more boring (read: Pence-like) leader. Until these two nations deal with their histories (genocide, both; slavery, Jim Crow, US) - and reckon with their futures (climate change) - the macabre walk of the lemmings will continue.
38
@Tony Cochran
Australia is too like the US, and too influenced by the US, but it's much less religious than the US, and it's further down the road with dealing with its unpleasant history than the US. We have a bi-partisan plan to "Close The Gap" between indigenous and non-indigenous life outcomes for instance. We never had slavery or anything like Jim Crow here. We did have a Carbon Tax briefly - and our progressively-run states are investing heavily in renewable energy like California is.
68
@GRW
"We never had slavery or anything like Jim Crow here."
Not slavery, no. But may I suggest you watch the movie, "Rabbit Proof Fence"?
So some people have been left off the global gravy train? I think we all get it. Just like Trump and Morrison. But, "getting it" isn't the same as resolving it. And what is Trump's solution? Bring back family farms? Sounds great but how? Soybean tariffs don't help the cause.
Mandating coal usage sounds like big government and expecting customers to pay more for a dirtier product is a fool's errand. We definitely could benefit from more and better teachers in public education but Republicans across the nation can't seem to find the funding for that because they are too focused on cutting taxes for the wealthy and attempting to legislate morality.
Trump and Morrison are today's equivalent of the snake oil salesmen of days gone by. They talk a good game but that's it. Ask them a question and they deflect and distract.
11
Fortunately ScoMo is only going to be PM for a very short period of time. We have a Federal election coming up, and the Liberal Party is headed for a landslide loss. ScoMo is unlikely to even survive as leader of the opposition.
His attempts to make changes to the freedom of religion laws in Australia are doomed to failure as they'll never get through the senate.
24
He sure does have another friend in far away India. I am not sure though whether like likes or opposites attract.
1
I had had a very high opinion of Australia until now. Deeply disappointing. They (like we) are so much better.
16
There’s a big difference: no-one in Australia voted for Scott Morrison to become Prime Minister, unlike around 48% of US voters voting for Donald Trump. There is a similarity, I believe: they’ll both be out of office soon.
And one other big difference, thank God (pun intended): Australia is a very non-religious country.
3
I'm sorry but the only friend that Trump has is the one that he sees in the mirror.
19
@BTO
From what has been printed, it appears that Trump does not have any friends. Really. He has immediate family, and that is all he has. A man with no friends is not a man to trust; there has to be a reason he has no friends. Perhaps it is because he is self-centered, lacking in loyalty to anyone outside of family, generally uninformed and not interested in information. He ignores his daily briefings, so it is unlikely he knows what is going on outside his private golf club. All we really know about this vapid individual is that he likes cake with two scoops of ice cream, and french fries.
112
World Without End. The time has come for another species to take control of this planet.
8
And so what? The Aussie PM will be gone soon, like his predecessors, what he has to say about Trump has no meaning compared to what most of the world and its democratic leaders think of our criminal president.
7
By some coincidence Rupert Murdoch was in Australia at the same time as the latest political blood bath.
Looks like the US citizen had decided that the then current Australian PM, Malcolm Turnbull had to go.
I am sure that Mr Murdoch was well aware of the views of Scott Morrison about POTUS and had his support.
The chaos in Australian politics is driven by overseas influence.
We have a lot in common.
100
"By some coincidence ..."
"We have a lot in common."
Using coincidences as "evidence" shows that you "have a lot in common" with conspiracy theorists.
1
Please take Murdoch back. His network, Fox, has caused immeasurable damage to the U.S.
1
Trump and Morrison are both so nineteenth century in their love of coal. Morrison even went as far as flourishing a lump of coal in parliament.
31
"Morrison even went as far as flourishing a lump of coal in parliament."
There is more to the story than that.
MPs Tim Watts and Adam Bandt subsequently "flourished" solar panels, leading Speaker Tony Smith to warn everyone about using "undesirable prop[s]".
2
I cannot wait for the general election next year, I say bring it on. Too bad Trump isn’t visiting I was looking forward to protesting with my son and whoever else who could make it. Climate change is real!
84
@SN
Even if it is real the US is not a major culprit. Meanwhile true believers drive 30K miles a year and wouldn't even dream of setting their thermostats to 78 summer and 68 winter. If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a huge village to cover Al Gore's carbon footprint.
3
@Norm
Oh boy. The US is responsible for 26% of historical emissions - ranked #1 easily. It is also responsible for 14% of annual emissions now - ranked #2. It is also one of the top few highest emitters per capita. Plenty of "true believers" take steps to reduce their carbon footprint, but the bulk of the work to combat AGW must be done or be assisted to be done by governments.
"Thou Shalt Not Covet All the Playmates and Porn Stars at a Lake Tahoe Golf Tournament."
Aw, come on Mo. Trump's taste in women is a big step up from Bill Clinton. It is one of Trump's better features.
13
@Mark Thomason
I don't know about either Trump or Clinton's taste in women, but I have serious doubts about the good taste of any woman who would bed either of them.
11
@Mark Thomason
Ok Mark, now let’s compare their taste in cabinet officials.
No? How about their VP’s?
2
@Mark Thomason Considering how much $ Trump had to pay for his 1 night stand (w/ Daniels), he's still more pathetic than Bill in that department.
6
"Even though Australia did not get rocked by a recession like the U.S. did, Morrison says some people feel forgotten, left off the globalism gravy train. “And that’s what we get. The president gets that. I get it.”"
I can't speak for Morrison, but if Trump "gets" it, he sure doesn't show it. I'm constantly trolled by Trumpists who tell me how much much Trump is helping the little guy after years of Barack the Imperial.
Are we discussing the same man? He might have nailed the angst of the forgotten as a campaign issue, but when his first major legislation was a huge tax cut with 80% percent of the (permanent) benefits going to mega-wealthy individuals and corporations, how is that helping the little guy who was lucky to register $10 more a week (for 6 years) in his paycheck?
As for little guys living in blue states, I'm waiting for a collective primal scream on April 15,2019 when most popular deductions disappear.
Morrison sounds like the evil twin of both Trump and Pence. He nails the anti-immigrant thing, while brandishing the evangelical thing (telling people to pray for rain instead of fighting global warming is so Mike Pence), and more than makes up for his lack of Trumpian acerbity, with the oiliness of Pence.
But I guess when you have few friends, beggers can't be choosers.
324
@ChristineMcM -- He understood it to campaign about it. Democrats didn't, and denied the whole thing -- and too many still do.
Now he hasn't DONE anything about it, in fact he pandered to the exact opposite. But he did see it.
14
@Mark Thomason: This was a main point of my comment, that Donald Trump did understand and campaign on the anger and dejection of a middle class long ignored by our unholy partnership of government and big business but then proceeded to do absolutely nothing for the people he promised to help against global economic forces. Sure, he opened re-opened a coal mine or two, and made a show of having Carrier keep jobs in Indiana (Carrier has since done what it wanted to do, and moved some of those "saved" jobs to Mexico anyway. Why so many of these left-behind supporters still support him continues to baffle me to this day--unless Trump's daily rage-tweets of anti-immigration rants, obsessive attacks on his Justice Department and Hillary Clinton, and pursuit of conspiracy theories keeps them happy despite their economic decline.
14
@ChristineMcM Countless studies have been published or discussed (e.g. Jame Woods piece in October Vanity Fair; many others too) indicating that the closest correlation for Trump support is racism. The average Trump voter does pretty well financially ($75,000 annual income on average - I forget the study last year) - which isn't to say there aren't a lot of unemployed Trump supporters. But it's all about fear; esp. fear of loss of status.
2
Australian PMs come and go faster than the speed of light and if they pal around with trump that's neither here nor there. Maureen gave only a single passing and casual mention to the only Aussie who counts in trump world and that's Rupert Murdoch, whose stake in American TV in his early days here was illegal for a foreign national. So Congress made it legal by passing a law specially for him to get expedited US citizenship.
Like trump, his loyalties are undivided - 100% to his own benefit, to the satisfaction of his vanity and to the advancement of his own wealth; and zero to the United States. trump's frequent appearances on Murdoch's network raise one this question: who's the puppet and who pulls the strings? My money is on trump as the puppet all the way, a role he also plays to Putin. If either Murdoch or Putin dumped him, there would be nothing he could do about it.
213
Murdoch used to control and still does Australian politics through his publications and media. perhaps he thought he had bigger fish to fry fry, in the UK and in USA.
3
These two really seem like men at work. (Trump never wastes a day? Well, he’s wasted more than a few of mine.) I hope this kangaroo court of theirs doesn’t boomerang on them and take the lot of us down under.
67
Be it Myanmar, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Syria, Russia, some African nations, Mike Pence, George Bush, et al, it all comes down to RELIGIOSITY. Religions, and the factions thereof, are the demonstrated enemies of the people. Only the free press can save us from our ignorance.
348
@Frank Jasko
The press cannot save anyone from anything. Print edition newspapers are on life support throughout the country. The AJC in Atlanta cost almost $700 a year and they are a day or two behind Drudge. The weather statistics are riddled with errors. Very little information is available for the previous night's games. Their Opinion pages has removed big name columnists. They had to throw in the E-edition for no extra charge to compensate for their dreadful print edition.
3
@Frank Jasko
I agree that religiosity is to be feared when given the power to take away individual rights (clearly happening in the U.S), but to clarify, Iraq was a secular country, Syria is lead by a leader of a minority religious group and is actually a very tolerant country by religious standards (unless soon taken over by one of the fundamentalist groups waiting for a power grab) and Russia has always taken pride in its 'irreligiosity'.....So it looks like the free press isn't doing its job by making some of these things more apparent
1
Free Press? Not in America. It is privately owned and paid for by those with their own agendas.
6 prime ministers in 10 years, flagrantly anti-immigrant! Are you sure Trump doesn't have another friend in the new prime minister of another "ally,"--Italy? And Italy is so much closer and has US nukes.
35
What happened to sanity in Australia?
53
What happened to sanity in America?
4
What happened to sanity in Australian politics?
In brief: every time an Australian Prime Minister tries to restrain the coal industry and deal with global warming, they get rolled. The main puppeteer pulling the strings is Rupert Murdoch – but there are other billionaires and other factors.
Tony Abbott (who used to write Murdoch editorials) was rolled by Malcolm Turnbull in 2015 because his incompetence was beyond belief. But Turnbull, who does know about climate change, was too impatient for the job so did a deal with the extreme Right of the Liberal Party, which meant that the Right stopped any of the mild reforms he was trying to get through. Turnbull’s popularity was based on knowledge that he has some competence, so when he started making irrational decisions his poll ratings fell. After he finally managed to get a minimal policy to deal with climate change through his party room, the Right got rid of him before anything could be enacted. Scott Morrison is so utterly incompetent that he is widely regarded as a Temporary-Place-Holder. The by-election for Turnbull’s seat will happen on October 20. This is a safe seat with a 17% margin. The Liberals have nominated a fundraiser from the other side of town, a former ambassador to Israel. The word is that he will lose to a local lesbian activist, Dr Kerryn Phelps, whose campaign is to put the Liberals last.
In Australia we’ve stopped watching political drama, because compared to reality, its too tame.
@Renee Hiltz,
It's still there, just waiting to kick ScoMo's lot out in the Federal Election next year (must be held by May 2019).
Bush had his “poodle dog” Tony Blair onboard for his fiasco in Iraq but at least GW was a loyal friend.
Morrison has a difficult challenge with Trump as he should want to avoid being called “ Trump’s Aussie Shepard”. Trump demands loyalty but no reciprocity when his ‘friend’ is in trouble.
Look what happened to Cohen, Manafort, even Jarrod when he reportedly lamented that” Ivanka could have married Tom Brady and I got Jarod.”
The new PM Morrison should remember to avoid a bromance with Trump. It won’t last.
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So we in the U.S. aren't the only crazy ones? That's wonderful to hear, mate. Kindred spirits! But I doubt this Aussie truly measures up to our esteemed leader in terms of total ineptitude. And is he as racist as Trump, or as mean-spirited toward immigrants, women of color and football players who kneel? And how does he feel about locking up children in cages and conspiring with Russians? This is a high bar.
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@Peter Erikson... well, since you ask... Australia has had an 'off-shore' indefinite detention policy for any migrant or refugee who dares attempt entry by boat.
Look up "Nauru" and "Manus Island" in relation to this. I actually think Trump might be getting his ideas regarding immigration from Australia.
Sadly, the majority in Australia approve of this off-shore indefinite detention policy, as it has been adopted by both major parties as a 'vote winner'.
Australia is inherently racist, sadly. Though there only seems to be major objections to boat arrivals - come by plane and you don't get the same treatment.
The detainees do have a choice: they can go back to where they came from. Obviously that doesn't hold a lot of promise for someone fleeing Syria.
We haven't had any kneeling football players at this point. Indigenous Australians die in police custody fairly regularly, but it gets scant attention.
Australia is not a bastion of liberalism. It more resembles a giant trailer park.
Cheers, from Australia.
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Morrison's "We look through the dust" may prove, in the light of history, to be the most poetic, concise and morally aberrant summation of cynical alliances with Donald Trump (And bonus points for being a "leader" from another country.).
Regarding Trump's domestic fundamentalist Christian support, I have yet to find a "We look through the dust" justification for suborning evil in the Christian Bible.
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So the Australian voters will support a "pro-Trump" party in the next election? Wow.
That would make Australian voters fairly unique in the world.
Of course, there is Hungry...
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@Bob
Hungary
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@Bob The opinion polls suggest that the government will lose the next election in a landslide.
The government is not pro-Trump. It is a faction-ridden rabble, with a few Trump supporters but certainly not a majority. There is agreement with Trump on a couple of issues and a general desire to maintain good relations with the US.
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@Bob
Don't recall seeing that anywhere ('Australian voters will support a "pro-Trump" party ').
The Coalition of Liberal/National Party is going to crash and burn in the Federal Election next year.
Indeed, there is a by-election in former P.M. Malcolm Turnbull's seat in 4-5 weeks, and despite it being supposedly safe for the Liberals, well, who knows? If they lose it, there goes their one seat majority.
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Scott Morrison is the accidental Prime Minister. His LNP coalition government continues to struggle, well behind their ALP opposition. Morrison’s government continues to help fossil fuels rather than encouraging renewables. Last year Morrison brought a lump of coal into Parliament, and then spruik as to what a great source of energy it is.
Scott Morrison cherry picks his data. He talks over those trying to conduct an interview. As Treasurer he fought a Royal Commission into Australia’s Banks. He opposed making it a law that financial advisers had to work in the best interests of their clients.
After a few months of good economic data, debt and deficits were no longer the main issue. Morrison wanted sizeable company and income tax cuts, and relied on trickle down economics to pay for his proposed tax cuts.
Morrison has to get on well with whoever is the US President. He does not have to be part of the Donald Trump cheer squad. Australia was going to have a visit from Trump in November, but now VP Pence is coming instead. Had Trump visited Autralia there would have been several hundred thousand protestors letting Trump know we do not like his policies, and we do not like Trump.
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@Barry of Nambucca - could you protest Pence instead of Trump? Pence is most likely behind,or involved in, many of the policies which Trump endorses. Thank you!
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@Barry of Nambucca
I hope you don't like Pence much either. He is as bad as Trump, just more civilized about it, doesn't Tweet, and listens to "Mother" (his endearing term for his wife. I wish those several hundred thousand protesters make a difference in your country and ours,
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As an Australian I am deeply embarrassed by Morrison's comments about, and support for, Trump. It's ok though. He only became PM by accident and won't see it through the next election (2019). Australians are fed up with his party so his time is limited.
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@Marcelo
As an Australian I say good on Scott Morrrison for sticking up for his faith and our American ally.
Western civilisation and Christianity is under attack from without and within and desperately needs some western leaders to defend it.
Those who think otherwise should be careful what they wish for.
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@Marcelo. You are so fortunate that you can rid yourself of your “happy clapper” in only a year, our nightmare has been a daily horror show since January 20, 2017.
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Trump has friends. His body is home to thousands of germs. His gut contains bacteria that helps him stay healthy and digest his food. What more does he need? He's pushed away every ally America had before he came into office. He's lied to every one, insulted them, cheated them, and then said he didn't do it. If that's his definition of friendship I'd hate to be his enemy.
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@hen3ry
Thank you for understanding the viewpoint of the disillusioned US allies. The US and Canada were friends allies for my entire life. President Trump has decided that Canada is taking advantage of the US and he has threatened ruination of Canada in NAFTA negotiations. His "facts" are distorted at best. He also called our Prime Minister weak and dishonest. A friend and ally has your back, not his foot on your head. I hope we can get off this difficult and harmful path since we could all benefit with good will, cooperation and respect, just as we have in the past. And if this happens, I will be happy to stop my boycott of US goods and travel.
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@Dale
I have way more loyalty towards Canada then I will ever have to trump and his kind. I have spent my summers in Vancouver BC, Vancouver Island is a favorite and my winters at Whistler. I have always encountered some of the best humans while traveling in Canada and will always think of you as family. Please don’t give up on all of us because of vile trump. I wish we had your prime minister.
With friends like, we’ll, you know, it will end before tee off time!
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Mr. Trump, the rest of the world thinks you’re a rubbish president. As the meaning of that phrase is ambiguous—in your mind, anyway—I suggest you look it up.
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@NA Give Trump a handicap for being a rubbish president. Narcissism is par for the course.
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Morrison will eventually roo the day he spoke well of Trump.
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@Herman Krieger
Very clever, changing "rue" to "roo" when it's about Australia. Nicely done, as we say on the golf course.
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nup = he does not care = it is just words not probably what he really thinks. Herman Krieger
@Herman Krieger Wow. Who knew scores would recommend "roo?"
If you want Trump to be your friend lavish him with praise.Remind Trump of his greatness. Never ever criticize him. Morrison is off to good start.
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Donald Trump does have friends:
Mitch McConnell
Paul Ryan
Lindsey Graham
Devin Nunes
Kevin McCarthy
Chris Christie
Rudy Giuliani
Leslie Moonves, as he said about Trump: "It May Not Be Good for America, but It's Damn Good for CBS."
Rupert Murdoch
Neil Gorsuch
Brett Kavanaugh
Kanye West
Sean Hannity
Vladimir Putin
And finally, George W Bush, who just announced he is campaigning and raising money for endangered Republican candidates, thereby ensuring that Trump's scandals will continue to be covered up by a Vichy-Republican party:
https://www.vox.com/2018/9/12/17850382/bush-midterms-census
Trump only needs a handful of complicit "friends" to keep him in power, and the quislings listed above are more than happy to prostrate themselves to keep Trump in power.
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@V, George W Bush clearly has a stake in Trump. His former team member John Bolton inserted himself into Trump national security team just so they would never question George W Bush's role to start a unfunded and unfounded Iraq war and still spend his days painting as though nothing ever happened to hundreds and thousands of people who used to live in an ancient civilization that had once seen its glorious days.
Trump has himself expressed he was against the Iraq war but he now seems to go along with Bolton to abolish the international crimes tribunal so that Bush-Cheney are never ever questioned by anyone in the international community.
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V,
Did you note that GB the Lesser is campaigning for everyone, BUT, Rafael Edward Cruz.
Dang! Does nobody like that guy?! Ha...ha...
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@V. Interesting bunch of trump torch throwers, but you forgot a few other characters in his World!
Kim Kardashian
Sarah Palin
Teddie Cruz
Rand Paul
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Let me point out that the Australian Labor Party (ALP) has a current polling of about 55 to 46 of the "Republicans" aka the Coalition, still in power (by one seat). The polls are fairly accurate because Australia has compulsory turn-out for elections. That puts the onus on the Australian Electoral Commission to enrol everyone eligible to vote, and to set electoral boundaries purely on population changes. For five years this coalition has held power and the polling has been in the ALP's favour. It is calculated on a "Two Party Preferred" basis: that is, counting the likely preferences going to either of the two main parties from the smaller parties. Unless PM Morrison finds another ugly "wedge" - something on which to hang the Coalition's relentless politics of divisiveness, the ALP will take power by at least May 2019. In contrast, the Coalition's main policies (very Trumpish) are disliked by up to 60% of the electorate.
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"...Morrison says some people feel forgotten, left off the globalism gravy train. “And that’s what we get. The president gets that. I get it.”"
Yes, con don read the economic malaise of much of the electorate accurately, and used it to his advantage. Con artists are adept at reading people and situations. But he has no real concern for, or intention to help these people. It is all about enriching himself and his wealthy cohort first and foremost.
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@Mary Ann Donahue
Yes. Remember after the Republicans rammed through their tax cuts for the wealthy, Trump called out to his rich friends at Mar a Lago, “You all just got a lot richer.”
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@Mary Ann Donahue - Indeed. It's what con men do--they recognize what people, their marks, want to hear and use that knowledge to their own advantage. What's so discouraging is that so many Americans were unable to recognize that Trump is Don the Con in 2016. It's even more discouraging that so many still don't see it.
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@Mary Ann Donahue
"Yes, con don read the economic malaise of much of the electorate accurately, and used it to his advantage."
Nope, con don isn't capable of reading let alone such radical thoughts as identifying economic malaise, his only driving factor is does it make him and his family a dollar?
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Add Morrison to all the far right leaders biding their time with Trump in hopes of a Pence presidency (Pence himself topping the long list).
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What is surprising is that Canada hasn't followed the same story arc as the other former British colonies - not that the US and Australian leadership is aligned. Had the UK not had a woman as Prime Minister, Trump would have had two friends.
Australia did produce Rupert Murdoch and he's had his hands all over the media everywhere, especially in the UK, US, Canada, and his native land.
Here, in the US, we have many more oligarchs than anywhere else, except for Russia. The more prominent ones have had a mucky hand in our politics and media for a very long time. They didn't expect Trump to be the phoenix that rises out of the ashes (https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-1Dt), but here we are... Trump may have a friend now, but let's not kid ourselves... Those who stick with Trump were usually paid to come for the ride. So far, one by one, they're jumping off the runaway trolley.
All these sinners we have in office, you have to wonder and hope that, once deposed, will be the catalyst for progressive change. After all, we can't go much further to the right, can we?
---
Notes On David A. Graham's: We're Watching an Antidemocratic Coup Unfold
https://wp.me/p2KJ3H-37g
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@Rima Regas LOL Wonderful line! "Had the UK not had a woman as Prime Minister, Trump would have had two friends."
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Cannot express how much Murdoch is despised in Aus = all very happy that he has been an American for years. The domination of large and small newspapers here is outrageous = ok's by conservative governments - think when Aust Labor Pty gets in there will be some sort of action to change this. @Rima Regas
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@Rima Regas
Murdoch has no media presence in Canada.
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The thing is, Trump doesn't make friends. He's constitutionally incapable. Trump has transactional relationships, and the second that things aren't going his way, or he finds it convenient to finger a scapegoat or a foil, Trump will train his sights on anyone. Even the people that Trump admires and is agreeable to - say Putin, Duterte, Erdogan - aren't in close contact with him. It's easier to take Trump from a safe remove than from close-up.
Friendships require reciprocity and consistency, which are impossible for someone so self-centered and inconsistent as Trump.
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@NM This is an aside, but I believe Trump's relationships with women are likewise "transactional". This extends to his seeing his own daughter as an object of lust.
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It's probably worth noting that the current government is not in favour at the moment with the electorate, so it is likely that Morrison and Trump also share similar popularity figures too.
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You flew to Australia for … this? Yer a betturrr man than I, Gunga Din. What does one do for the 22-24 hours (including connection) that it takes someone to fly from D.C. to Sydney, then another hour’s flight from Sydney to Canberra? Figure out the most propitious time for a column by Kevin? Have a SERIOUS nicotine fit?
On 26 April 2018, there were 1,369 people in offshore detention facilities in Australia. This included 87 women, seven children and 1,275 men. (https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/getfacts/statistics/aust/asylum-stats/.... This is a “problem” we might lay on most typical midsized-to-largish American cities, so long as we were willing to tolerate demonization by the New York Times.
Morrison likely will be one of the few successful Australian PMs. An evangelical with a sense of humor and another of tolerance for the idiosyncrasies of other political figures is one to cherish. Pence thinks so, too.
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@Richard Luettgen: Sometimes you have to just buckle down and bear the pain if you want to be able to casually drop that you were in the prime minister's office. Perhaps Mo whiled away the hours making a list of other names/places she hopes to drop in future columns? Remember the scene in "Annie Hall" where Woody Allen tells someone he's arguing with "Well, that's funny, because I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here"? I think of it every time Mo crows about her travels in rarified company.Why, you'd think to read her that she flitters from salon to boardroom to chalet to castle then back through war rooms and super double top secret wine cellars and such! She probably thinks this song is about her. I agree with your opening sentence, why bother? In fact, I mentioned my concerns to Bill Gates, Paul McCartney, Barry (you know which one) and Michael Avenatti as we sat in the Davos airport bar, waiting for my G650 to fuel up and take on a fresh crew. The oysters were to die for. Did I mention John Travolta was our captain for the flight to Saint Tropez? But I digress.
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@EricR
Funny, but as a general matter I'm pretty loyal to Maureen, as I've been reading her for so long. On a long business road trip to Pittsburgh, when all I could get on the radio was Rush Limbaugh, who was tearing into her, I had to turn off the radio in protest.
@Richard Luettgen: Criticism isn't disloyalty, but you're in some rarified company with that misperception. I certainly feel your pain when it comes to listening to drug addled fringe maniacs spouting conspiracy theories in between commercials for their overpriced health aids and what remains of their sponsors' products. Over the years I've learned a lot from Mo, including some really good 3 dollar words. But for some time now she's been doing stuff more appropriate for People magazine or the Post's page 6 than the NYT. I miss the good old days when I had to look up "contubernal" and "pandiculate".
I’m detecting a pattern here. I think it’s that cuckoo birds of a feather flock together. Clearly the Australian prime minister is as clueless and deluded as our own dear leader, if on slightly different wavelengths, and that produces a certain camaraderie that bonds them together. But when their heads spin, I wonder if Mr. Morrison’s goes counter clockwise?
Maybe when they're finally flushed out of office, we'll find out.
I can imagine sensible Australians wondering if there’s something about devastating climate change that produces not only once-a-century storms every twenty minutes, but also generates a wave of political and voter insanity that somehow puts the loopy in power.
There’s something quaint about Morrison’s idea of protecting a former British penal colony from hordes of migrants. I’ll bet that slogan appealed to the Aboriginal people, who probably couldn’t have agreed more. It’s just a couple of centuries too late.
Morrison and Pence are clearly soul mates, and it sounds like a match made in heaven. Literally. I’m sure they were both tickled pink that a rugby player promoted the idea that gay people should burn in hell. If there really was a hell for people who deserved it, I’m not sure they’d be quite as tickled. They’d be steamed. So to speak.
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@gemli
Australia has had a lot of froot loops at the helm. One visit to Canberra will out that.
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@gemli: The phrase "Dodos of a feather flock together" came to mind as I read this column. I was about to post it when I saw your most excellent comment. Clockwise or counterclockwise, I'm looking forward to these two loons respective swirlies.
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We do know Dishonest Don does not like dogs, I suspect dogs do not like him either. I do not follow Aussie politics, from what I have seen and heard of them, they have been our friends and supporters for many years.
Their ancestors were deported from Britain, ours just left for pretty much the same reasons, they could not get along there, they disobeyed the prevailing mores. Religion seems to have a way of energizing people to make those who do not believe their way believe or else. The Sumerians and Babylonians did the same, if you did not sacrifice to their god, they had a way to make you do so. We know the Romans were quite good at this, and the Puritans were not friends to the Quakers or other heathens like Lutherans.
Now we have this Pentecostal who disdains immigrants from Asia, is it Buddahphobia, or Islamophobia, but of course he is a good god fearing something or other, using Jesus as if Joshua on Nazareth would justify such behavior. We don't know if he had a dog, but if he did,they probably loved him, can's say much for present day evangelicals, sinning is what others do.
I see Maureen has taken up my use of Donald the Mad, as far as I know, I have been the only one using that on these forums until now. But looking at a picture of Honest Abe made me think of Dishonest Don, but of course mad men are dishonest, just more sneaky about it.
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@David Underwood: "Sinning is what others do." Love it! And "freedom of religion" has generally come to imply "I'm free to practice my religion but you're not free to practice yours (especially if you're an atheist!)." Are orthodox Jews now compelled to shout "Merry Xmas" to all and sundry and/or to gratefully accept such benedictions from the most sarcastic of pseudo-Christians? What say you, Mr. President? We don't want to prolong that war on Xmas now that you've declared victory over the heathens.
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I was born into and raised in an Orthodox Jewish home. If someone says "Merry Christmas " to me, I respond:"Merry Christmas", with a smile. It's the easiest way to respond, and one that will not offend the person whose greeting is well intended.
As for Trump , the most befitting prayer of which I can think is the one recited by Tevye on Fiddler on the Roof :"God Bless the Czar and keep him far away from us."
Australia works for me.
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@DJS
I was born and raised on a Reform Jewish home, my mother was a radical and married a Scotch Irish man. My great grandmother played the organ in the Anglican church in the small town in California where she was born. Merry Christmas means just that, have a great holiday. Let people enjoy their holidays, no matter what religion. It hurts nothing as long as they do not try to make you do it. Ever notice how many Yiddish expressions are used by people who do not know what they mean?
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Maureen, Maureen, "down under" where you’ve been,
You’ve set your vitriol to work,
No heartless slashes did you shirk,
And on ScoMo justifiable spleen.
Maureen, Maureen, your rapier is keen,
Slicing him from head to his socks
His head it seems is full of rocks
With such a dolt you cannot be too mean.
Maureen, Maureen, this Aussie is obscene,
He cottons to the dumbbell Don
Australia can’t be Erewhon,
The pickings must be very very lean.
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He wont care = pretty laid back in Oz you know. Politics is taken with a dose of salt and a sort of pox on all your houses. @Larry Eisenberg
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