Tag: Donald Trump
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A zombie doctrine and a crisis in Venezuela
There’s been much talk, since Donald Trump kidnapped the President of Venezuela and declared that he would ‘run’ the country, of a reassertion of the Monroe Doctrine. This set me thinking about what exactly is or was the ‘Monro Doctrine’, and how it’s related to Trump’s actions. To begin with, there’s something odd about linking…
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The war on fonts
The Trump administration has just opened a new front in its intensifying war on the rest of the world. It’s a typographical war, and it concerns a common font called Calibri. Personally, I’m quite fond of Calibri, and use it pretty much every day of the week. But, from the perspective of the Trumpists, it…
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A new Thrasymachus
What is justice? For the current President of the United States of America, the answer to that question is directly and exclusively linked to another – who holds power over others? In his White House dialogue with Volodymir Zelinskyy on 28 February, Donald Trump told him ‘you don’t have the cards right now’. It follows…
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Welcome back, Benito
On 20 January Donald Trump, having been sworn in at the start of his second term as US President, outlined in his acceptance speech his mission for the next four years. Simply, he would put America first. He blamed ‘the radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens’ for the broken…
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What happens when a politician lies?
A few years ago, the answer to that question would have been obvious. If the lie came to light, and was serious enough, he or she would have been in grave trouble – and might even have had to resign. Today the answer would be – precisely nothing. This is so common that almost nobody…
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A waxwork opens an embassy
Like many people – or at least like many non-Londoners – I was only dimly aware that the American government was building a new UK embassy in London, when Mr Donald J Trump kindly drew our attention to its imminent opening. According to a recent tweet it seems Mr Trump was planning to come and…
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The new eschatology
As 2016 comes to an end the heavens are full of what Flann O’Brien’s great scientist De Selby called ‘black air’. A long night, it appears, is about to fall on two continents. In the United States a plutocratic bully and egomaniac with the crudest social and political attitudes is about to take power, unrestrained…