No More Great Again
Our government meets the worst people.
No more great again
No more great again
Got big crime in DC at the White House
Songwriter: Neil Young.
First, the Minister of Defence, Judith Collins, met with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who is keeping the homeland safe by rounding up people who look a bit different or have left-wing views and locking them up or deporting them without trial.
Next, she met with Pete Hegseth, the self-styled Secretary of War, who seems rather keen on attacking other countries without any actual declaration of war.
His primary concern is that American generals are physically fit, all the way up to, but not including, the Commander in Chief, whose fitness seems substantially overstated in his glowing medical reports.
Then, across the Atlantic, our Foreign Minister has taken the opportunity to meet with Nigel Farage, whom he seems to hold in high regard as the source of his policies and much of his rhetoric.
Now, to top it all off, our Prime Minister is going to meet the man himself, President Donald J Trump. A leader who is making his one-time land of the free one of authoritarianism and growing tyranny at home, a danger to his neighbours, and has created turmoil in world trade with his tariffs.
So why are our political leaders lining up to meet some of the world's worst people? It’s not about trade; we’ve seen with 15% tariffs that there is no special relationship there, despite our purchase of multi-billion dollar helicopters and our refusal to do the right thing over Palestine.
It can’t be all about the photo ops. Can it? Would these people have lined up to meet Hitler? Seems pretty likely to me, considering how the people they’re meeting are already behaving and what their intent looks to be.
Kristi and Jude.
For once, we can be pretty sure that Judith left the “Talofa” greeting at home; she’d probably have been arrested and ended up in a concentration camp for suspected non-Americans, and people who say that the rule of law is worth holding on to.
Judith tweeted about meeting her new bestie from what appeared to be a nightclub…
Kate interpreted Judith’s tweet; she said her words were intended as sarcasm, but I’m not so sure:
People smuggling - can we improve the profits for key stakeholders?
Transnational crime - can we negotiate a bigger cut?
Progressing a NZ ‘Pirate of the Year’ award for the US Coast Guard commander
I posted:
Who the hell are these people representing us? Here’s Judith Collins with Kristi Noem, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security, dog killer, and the enthusiastic fascist running I.C.E.
Eliot wrote, “That’s the infamous animal murderer that Judith was meeting. Kristi Noem is a big fan of the American Gestapo, ICE, and helps with its direction.”
In case you’re not familiar with Ms Noem, here’s Judy’s buddy Kristi comparing Antifa to ISIS—that is, peaceful anti-fascist protesters opposing the regime with the terrorist organisation responsible for destroying the World Trade Centre.
Tina wrote, “This is Judith, no filter, just 100% unadulterated 'Crusher Collins', she’s always been morally corrupt. “Dirty politics”, anyone?? Even after being outed in the book...she’s still here!! WTAF!”
It’s a good point, perhaps somewhere in America, a political writer is saying, “OMG, have you seen this Crusher person our leaders are meeting with?”
Pete and Judy.
Kevin asked, “Where’s Crusher off to next? A quick cuddlefest with Netanyahu?”
It wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t good either. Here’s our Minister of Defence enthusiastically meeting Pete Hegseth to try to sell him weapons.
Judith tweeted, “Excellent meeting with excellent friends.” Excellent friends? Really?
Chris said of the meetings, “We’re obviously being lined up to become America’s 51st state. Makes sense if you think about it. We have a strategic position in the South Pacific and politicians who suck up big time.
Seriously though - anyone with a flicker of a doubt about the true intents of this government should look at those photos and realise where we are heading! Two of the most obnoxious figures in the US Government, with our Minister of Defence right in there.”
Collins posted on Facebook, “US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and I had a great meeting and an even better laugh together. The Pentagon is an incredible building full of amazing leaders.” With a very enthusiastic photo.
Collins said of the meeting:
“We talked about the Seahawks we are buying; we talked about some of the issues we have in relation to foreign military sales rules and the [Information Technology Agreements] to make sure we can try and get through those and make it easier for New Zealand businesses to do business with the US.”
Lathee said, “This is getting really nasty. Do we really want to be producing weapons? Is that who we are? She is absolutely dangerous.”
Hmm, hold that thought, Rocket Lab/BlackSky are already selling weapons and become rather quiet when asked whether Israel has utilised their weaponry to murder Palestinians, which is a pretty strong indication that it has.
Michele said, “Just shows how National are aligning with Trump,” and Louise added, “They seriously would sell us down the river along with their souls to line their own pockets!”
Nigel and Winston.
Next up, Winston was off to the UK to take part in the highly prestigious Oxford Union debate, which was exploring the moot that “Courts Now Undermine Democracy”, and it’s not hard to guess that Peters was for the affirmative.
Winston began by saying, “This is a crucial debate because we live in testing times. Trust in core democratic institutions is in sharp decline across Western democracies. The mystique that once shrouded long-standing institutions such as presidencies, prime ministerships, legislatures, as well as the courts has lifted, leaving them diminished in the eyes of those they serve, the people.”
Gee Winston, what might be causing people to lose such confidence?
Perhaps ask Judy about her new friends and the way they have diminished the independence of the courts. Although, of course, that isn’t what Winston had in mind, he believes that those other branches of government should stay out of the way of elected politicians and leave them to it.
Quoting his namesake, Peters said, “Winston Churchill put it best when he said that ‘democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time’.” Dangerous territory diplomatically, as the regime across the pond seems intent on giving another form of government a good try.
If you want to, you can read Winston’s full speech here. Realistically, it probably wasn’t him who wrote it; he had other things to focus on.
Like meeting his hero, Nigel, a leading figure in Brexit, responsible for the rise in anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK, and the source of much of Winston’s material.
Donald and Christopher.
Then this morning, we had the following headline in the Herald, warning that Christopher Luxon is about to meet someone even keener on handshaking than he is:
What could possibly go wrong? A man that you can’t say ‘no’ to, negotiating with a man who couldn’t even say ‘no’, to Winston or Seymour?
But don’t get too worried about what Luxon might give away, beyond our integrity on the world stage, which is already waning.
According to the Herald, “Luxon could soon come face-to-face with the US President, with Trump expected to be present in Malaysia and South Korea. Schedules are still up in the air, meaning there’s a chance the two leaders could miss each other or only have a brief exchange.”
Front page news, and there isn’t even a meeting scheduled, just the possibility that they might run into each other.
Mr “Isn’t it great?” was only seeing the upside and said of the meeting, “It is about building the relationship. We are good partners to the US.” Before adding that we have “our independent foreign policy”. Yeah, right.
Christine and Nicky.
Nicola Willis was also in Washington last week, but at least she wasn’t meeting with the Americans to discuss attacking anyone, including left-wing protestors.
Nicola wrote, “Met European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde in Washington, DC to discuss how countries can manage inflation and support growth.
These global decisions affect New Zealand’s economy, the 1 in 4 jobs our exporters create, and ultimately the money in Kiwi families’ back pockets.”
Whereas the people Judith met are terrifying individuals who seem to have been appointed primarily for their willingness not to question the boss, Christine Lagarde is actually there on merit, and quite frankly, having someone explain managing inflation and supporting growth to our Finance Minister seems like quite a good thing.
As for the rest, it is a sad indictment that we are meeting so enthusiastically with members of the US government who are busy dismantling all that is decent in the US, and a man who has poured petrol on the hatred of immigrants to the UK.
Other countries have managed to get better trade deals without kissing the arses of fascists and racists - why can’t we?
Have a good Sunday, folks. If you can afford a couple of dollars a week to subscribe to Nick’s Kōrero, it would be greatly appreciated. I’ve lost quite a few subscribers recently due to hard times, so if $8 per month or $80 for a year is manageable, I would love to have your support. ❤️
Ngā mihi,
Nick.
To end today, here’s Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts with Big Crime. This post is public so you’re most welcome to share it. 🙂
Thanks, Nick.
It seems each of the leaders of the CoC has taken on one aspect of Trumpism.
Winnie on immigration, David on the neoliberal wet dream, and Luxon on general incompetence.
How to make us a target written by J Collins .