Chomsky on Trump

[LeMartinPecheur]

Trump will run America like a business enterprise. If something isn't profitable, it will have to go!

The poor and many of the terminally ill aren't profitable. QED?

[teamsaint]

The poor and many of the terminally ill aren't profitable. QED?

Plenty of poor people in American prisons, which can be quite profitable?

[Conchis]

The poor and many of the terminally ill aren't profitable. QED?

Exactly. They will go to the wall - or be given a 'licence to expire.'

[french frank]

But TTIP did not benefit Europe - it benefitted no-one but the multibnationals whose profits were protected at the expense of national governments. It was opposition from the French particularly that sank it.

It wasn't so much a defence of TTIP as to point out that a US-UK deal stood very little chance of being better/different as far as the UK was concerned.

[Richard Barrett]

It wasn't so much a defence of TTIP as to point out that a US-UK deal stood very little chance of being better/different as far as the UK was concerned.

TTIP would have been bad for Europe. One of the silver linings of Brexit was that any comparable deal between the US and the UK would be back to square one and (hopefully) take years and be derailed along the way, just like TTIP was. However, Trump sees that the May government is desperate to get any kind of trade deal with the US so he'll put her at the front of the queue for something that will make TTIP look tame. Obviously May et al aren't in the least concerned that this will involve handing over the NHS to US corporate interests, and creating the possibility for multinationals to sue any future UK government that tries to renationalise anything. As I said, Brexit and Trump is a poisonous cocktail.

[french frank]

However, Trump sees that the May government is desperate to get any kind of trade deal with the US so he'll put her at the front of the queue for something that will make TTIP look tame.

Yes. And certainly yes as far as the NHS is concerned. I would expect the same negotiators who were pressing for that with the EU (and not getting it) to be negotiating with the UK. And some UK politicians will not be against that privatisation.

[Pianorak]

. . . Obviously May et al aren't in the least concerned that this will involve handing over the NHS to US corporate interests, and creating the possibility for multinationals to sue any future UK government that tries to renationalise anything. As I said, Brexit and Trump is a poisonous cocktail.

I suppose everybody is allowed one mistake. But isn't it time to admit Brexit was/is a monumental mistake and that it's time to pull the plug on that one, especially after Trump's inaugural speech yesterday? Remember: America first!

[Richard Barrett]

Remember: America first!

Exactly. Anyone who thinks a trade deal with Trump is going to be good for anyone but Trump and his friends hasn't been paying attention.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Make America great again.
Make Britain great again.
Make France great again.
Make Germany great again.

Sounds ominous to me.

[french frank]

Wait - you forgot Make Russia Great Again.

Make America great again.
Make Britain great again.
Make France great again.
Make Germany great again.

Sounds ominous to me.

[P. G. Tipps]

In a sane, sensible world Brexit would now be dead in the water before it even got a chance to swim.

Suddenly, Europe now finds itself trapped between two wholly self-interested, narcissistic bullies and this is the very time that it should be uniting not dividing.

Far-seeing Europeans have always seen the likelihood of this happening at some time which was the whole point of moves towards an United States of Europe in the first place.

Mrs May and the Tory Party (with the usual honourable exception of Ken Clarke) clearly live in a dream world imagining the UK can turn the clock back to the days of Empire. Most of the Labour Party now seems to have hoisted the white flag and are prepared to succumb to the 'will of the people' rather than being guided by their previously oft-stated personal convictions.

Apart from the SNP and some associated smaller parties who have their own separate political agendas, the Lib Dems are the only group prepared to stand up to this naive, self-defeating populism at the moment and I applaud them for it. I never thought I would ever say that!

Sadly, I fear the damage has already been done and the UK, at best, is now destined to be a miserable little client-state of the US instead of an important major member of a strong and self-reliant Europe.

In fact, as some warned before the Referendum, a 'No' vote might well result in the disintegration of the UK itself and who would confidently bet against that now?

Brexit Means Decline & Total Irrelevance ...

[ardcarp]

In a sane, sensible world Brexit would now be dead in the water before it even got a chance to swim.

Are the words Brexit and Trump interchangeable?

[Beef Oven!]

Exactly. Anyone who thinks a trade deal with Trump is going to be good for anyone but Trump and his friends hasn't been paying attention.

What? I haven’t taken my eye off this for weeks.

[Lat-Literal]

I learnt two things this week which I feel sure most people still do not know. One, Trump has been made bankrupt four or six times depending on viewpoint. Two, under existing EU legislation, the UK could tell all EU immigrants to leave the UK after being here for just three months. That doesn't suggest to me (a) Trump is a great businessman and (b) UK governments have been terribly constrained by the EU on immigration. Clearly post-truth is not an especially new phenomenon. I was flabbergasted when I heard both these things.

[jean]

I think Trump's bankruptcies are widely known of, but we are usually told that bankruptcy in the US doesn't mean what it does here.

What the difference is supposed to be, I'm not sure.