Too much information, 'Lord Copper', and not enough knowledge

When it comes to current affairs I have never, in my 78 years, been so well-informed.  Quite apart from the daily and weekly printed products produced by latter-day 'Lord Coppers' which are available to me at my local newsagent, there is also this 'internet-thingie' which puts Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Timbuctoo et al before my very eyes at the click of a button.  It is all quite amazing and no doubt it is also, in the words of Sellars & Yeatman, "A Good Thing" but, after ploughing through it all, do I really know what is going on?

Take for example, 'Trump Brouhaha #7,396' which has erupted everywhere following one of his pet Generals being caught out telling 'porkies' to the FBI.  Yes, we all know, ad nauseum, that it has happened but what does it mean?  Neither do we know, exactly and precisely, what was the nature of the 'porkies' and in what context they were told and why the hell the FBI was asking in the first place.  Of course, this being a 'Trump Brouhaha', it is impossible to gain an understanding of its intricacies because the man himself is, shall we say, deeply idiosyncratic.  To add to the inherent confusion, the entire Washingtonian establishment, Republicans, Democrats, media, commentariat and 'Uncle Tom Cobbley and all', appear to be suffering with St. Vitus dance syndrome!

Still 'n' all, as they say 'over there', if you look long and hard enough you will find the odd gleam of knowledgeable gold.  For example, in today's Daily Mail you have the wise words of Max Hastings, a man with the skills and knowledge of an historian.  In his article he deals with yet another 'Trump Brouhaha' - I forget the number, there have been so many! - which covers Trump's decision to republish with approbation on 'Twitter' some unintelligible dross issued by a British fascist organisation snarling and dribbling its usual hatred of all Muslims.  Cue: entry by 'St. Margaret of May' telling him that he was "a very naughty boy"!  Again, and absolutely true to form, an unrepentant 'Donald' simply doubled down on his opinions.

So the question arises, what does all this actually mean, and fortunately Mr. Hastings explains it:

What a nightmare for any prime minister! The leader of our closest ally chooses not merely to blow a kiss to a British far-Right anti-Muslim group, but then to insult Theresa May for deploring his gesture, as she was bound to do.

It is impossible not to be dismayed by President Donald Trump’s behaviour, which is unworthy of the head of state of the world’s greatest democracy.

But we should ruefully acknowledge that he treats this country no worse than any other nation on the planet, friend or foe. His own cabinet experiences the same level of manners every day.

But, as Mr. Hastings reminds us from his historical knowledge, no-one should be surprised that a POTUS treats this country with either indifference or contempt because virtually all them have done exactly that, unless of course, national interest (theirs not ours) requires a different tack.  It is we Brits who refuse to acknowledge this with our daft belief in "hands across the sea" and all that guff!  Obama hid his contempt and indifference because he was a professional politician but Trump is an amateur who breaks all the rules by 'telling it the way it is'.  We should get real!

 

Comments

[Whitewall]

Britain has a political party named "Britain First, an anti-Muslim group"? Is this Nigel Farage's outfit?

[Bob]

David, you're becoming too cynical when you try to equate Mrs May and Trump in any way whatever. Maybe you should spend less time reading "news". See a play. Listen to music. Take a walk. You'll feel better.

[Pat]

Mr. Farage is a member and was the leader of UKIP, which does not accept ex members of Britain First, or various others as members.
Britain First managed to turn out 9 people for a rally recently- they are insignificant.
More interesting to me is why the actual videos weren't covered by say the BBC without any other involvement. If the behaviour depicted is not typical that could easily be corrected with video of Muslims helping the disabled or supporting gay pride marches.
If it is typical we are being lied to.

[Whitewall]

Pat, thanks. Videos...people are getting in all sorts of trouble over videos in the last several years it seems.

[Whitewall]

videos-Trump

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/12/trump-the-ultimate-talking-head.php

[JK]

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2017/11/27/what_elites_still_dont_understand_about_populism_135619.html

Don't David, read so much into it as Bob has.

[jimmy glesga]

Whitewall, Trump upset the leftie liberal mob who let Islamic terrorists onto our shores. We are supposed to take it and not complain when our people are slaughtered. We live in strange times. Perhaps it was a waste of time being born. I note Israel is still fighting on all fronts.

[Whitewall]

Jimmy, we do live in strange times where tectonic plates are shifting all over the world. Odd people are at the helm of several countries around the world and no one is more odd than Trump who did just what you say. Still, sometimes there is just no reason to do some of what he does.

I hope you watched the video link above as it is quite funny!

[Cuffleyburgers]

Max Hastings is quite right about the so-called special relationship.

i beg to differ that May had to express an opinion on Trumps retweet. She could kept her trap shut?

Or she could have used some diplomatic boiler plate such as friends sometimes have different opinions.

I can und rstand some Americans being a bit embarassed about Trump. But I'm afraid I'm rather embarassed by T May and her bunch.

One last thing, obama may have been civil enough to Cameron, and sucked up to the queen, the preeminent statesman in the world. But he never made any attempt to hide his contempt of the UK.

[AussieD]

But he never made any attempt to hide his contempt of the UK

Sent back the bust of Churchill as I recall reading somewhere. Not very polite.

[Loz]

Pat,

"Mr. Farage is a member and was the leader of UKIP, which does not accept ex members of Britain First, or various others as members".

Lipstick on a pig argument that, and smudged lipstick too.

Farage himself welcomed ex-BNP supporters. A third of BNP supporters decamped to Ukip, and that made Nigel Farage feel "proud" ...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/10735155/Nigel-Farage-I-am-proud-to-have-taken-a-third-of-the-BNPs-support.html

Ukip might reject card carrying fascists - although not all of Ukip, this leadership candidate was happy enough to take them in ...

https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/political-parties/uk-independence-party/nigel-farage/news/79823/raheem-kassam-former-members

- but all Ukip agrees to take voting fascists.

Ffs Kippers, wipe of the smudged lipstick, it's toe-curlingly embarrassing, we know who you are!

SoD

[David Duff]

"we know who you are!"

No you don't, SoD!

[jimmy glesga]

Loz, The Labour Party welcome all sorts of lefties nowadays. And the left traditionally have a murderous record on stifling democracy and locking people up for various reasons.
It is not surprising the united left and their media went on a frenzie over a 6 months old tweet. It is becoming labourious listening to the daily attacks on Trump. I am now warming to the man..

[Michael F Adams]

One of many reasons O'boy was so utterly despised in much of America was his rudeness to Britain,that CD of his speeches to HMQ was just about the last straw. It was widely repeated that the reason he hated the British was that they had interfered with the African slave trade, which had so greatly enriched his farther's Kenyan tribe.True or not, it made sense.

President Trump, in reaching out to an out-of-favor British faction, was rather artless, but most definitely NOT intentionally snubbing Britain,

[Loz]

"President Trump, in reaching out to an out-of-favor British faction, was rather artless, but most definitely NOT intentionally snubbing Britain,"

An out-of-favor British faction?

Is that what they call it now, after all these years?

SoD