The Trumpton follies
By contrast to Trump, there is nothing by way of unseemly language in the public banter of our own politicians
Anthony Scaramucci addresses media at the White House podium. PHOTO: REUTERS
It is reasonable to say that there has never ever been an American presidency like that of President Trump. It has been unconventional from the outset, with daily twists and turns and a shower of tweets as a running commentary on his days in the White House. The expectation was that once in the Oval Office the Trump style would become more presidential, measured and restrained, but it has not proved to be so and recent events in Trumpton have made our own current political reshuffle look like little more than a bit of a tiff in the kindergarten.
The latest casualty is the White House communications director, Mr Scaramucci, who had been in post a scant 10 days; and who was fired by the incoming chief of staff, John Kelly, six hours after he took up his new post. It appears that Mr Scaramucci’s obscenity-laden rant in the course of an on-the-record conversation with a The New Yorker journalist was a cuss too far even for President Trump. He now joins a growing flock of headless chickens that for whatever reason have gone to the guillotine that is a fixture in the approach to the seat of American power.
By contrast there is nothing by way of unseemly language in the public banter of our own politicians, who are being for the most part gentlemanly and ladylike as the deckchairs on the ship of state get a reshuffle. There is no chaos at the top as in Washington — and let us not forget that America is a nuclear-armed state currently led by a man whose grip on reality may be perceived by some as tenuous — and the retrograde electoral feudalism that serves as democratic process hereabouts manages to get through a bit of a crisis without getting blood on the carpets. There is no suggestion here that a claque of barking-mad politicos are about to get a bit daffy with the nuclear buttons, and we do wish the same could be said for the other side of the Big Pond. We watch with interest as the fledgling American state goes through some Technicolour growing pains.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2017.
The latest casualty is the White House communications director, Mr Scaramucci, who had been in post a scant 10 days; and who was fired by the incoming chief of staff, John Kelly, six hours after he took up his new post. It appears that Mr Scaramucci’s obscenity-laden rant in the course of an on-the-record conversation with a The New Yorker journalist was a cuss too far even for President Trump. He now joins a growing flock of headless chickens that for whatever reason have gone to the guillotine that is a fixture in the approach to the seat of American power.
By contrast there is nothing by way of unseemly language in the public banter of our own politicians, who are being for the most part gentlemanly and ladylike as the deckchairs on the ship of state get a reshuffle. There is no chaos at the top as in Washington — and let us not forget that America is a nuclear-armed state currently led by a man whose grip on reality may be perceived by some as tenuous — and the retrograde electoral feudalism that serves as democratic process hereabouts manages to get through a bit of a crisis without getting blood on the carpets. There is no suggestion here that a claque of barking-mad politicos are about to get a bit daffy with the nuclear buttons, and we do wish the same could be said for the other side of the Big Pond. We watch with interest as the fledgling American state goes through some Technicolour growing pains.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 2nd, 2017.