Yes You Can - Lie Your Way to Power

During his campaign Trump lied every time he opened his mouth but in the world of post-truth politics none of his supporters care!

He has insulted, Mexicans, muslims, blacks, latinos and women. He has incited violence from the gun lobby at his rallies, he cast doubt on the electoral process, saying that he would not accept the result if he lost, and he repeatedly accused Hillary Clinton of being a crook. He sacked his campaign managers when they tried to advise him. He has promised things that will never happen and probably not said what he really wants to do.  But his supporters don’t care!

What he has succeeded in doing is to ride a wave of anti-establishment discontent among the poorer paid resulting from their declining wealth due to globalisation and the closing of traditional industries.  So in protest they have elected an unscrupulous billionaire to represent them who will cut taxes for businesses and the rich, do nothing for the lower paid and dismantle healthcare reforms.  

This is just like Brexit, where labour voters in the north of England voted for the "Leave" liars because they could see their real incomes falling and public services disappearing. In a master stroke of populism the brexiteers blamed this on immigrants instead of Tory austerity policies. So traditional Labour voters will now live under the most right wing government since Thatcher, which will cut public services even more and will also allow wages to stagnate, because after Brexit they'll have lower growth, less corporate taxes and very limited choices. Meanwhile inflation will rise cutting real incomes still further.

One of the brexit lies

There no longer appears to be a place in the politics of the English speaking world for reasoned discussion and debate. You can lie your way to power either with false promises or by creating false scare stories. I fear that we appear to be witnessing some sort of revolution in which voters no longer question, or even need to believe, what candidates say so long as they confirm their supporters’ prejudices at every opportunity. Nothing good ever came from revolutions unless, of course, you like and approve of the violence and the inevitable authoritarian rule which follows. 

It’s impossible to know what Trump will do in office, but I’m sure that he’s more dangerous than bumbling, lying Boris Johnson. The media and politicians appear to have accepted that post-truth "Trumpism" is the new normal and seem prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. We will have to wait and see how he handles the inevitable crises that will soon come, particularly from the East and his friend Putin. Expect some sabre rattling on the borders of the Baltic States.

Hillary Clinton won 1.5 million more votes than Trump in the popular vote, but due to the USA's electoral college system she lost the election. I can't help thinking that if she had won, Trump and his supporters would be claiming the result was fixed, screaming for a McCarthy style witch hunt and dreaming up grounds for impeachment. Liberal minded Democrats don't do that, but perhaps they should learn quickly how to fight loud and dirty! 

Meanwhile the only thing that reasonable and rational people can do is to challenge every lie that you hear from whatever source!

Enemies of the People

Now, amidst a media storm following the announcement of the High Court judgement requiring the government to obtain the consent of Parliament before triggering the start of the brexit negotiations, the foreign-owned right wing tabloid press accuse High Court judges of being enemies of the people for protecting parliamentary sovereignty. But even  Nigel Farage has agreed that the brexit referendum  was only advisory and not legally binding and so it needs a formal legal process, in the form of an Act of Parliament, to confirm it. 

What are we seeing here: ignorance, stupidity, arrogance, doublethink, or the first steps on the road to authoritarian rule by editors of the tabloids behind their chosen right wing leaders? In choosing their headline in 2016 did the Daily Mail deliberately intend to use the tactics of the Nazis in 1933?

What do they want, an executive who can overrule parliament when it suits them, or when the unelected tabloid press want them to?

They claim that brexit means taking back sovereignty from the EU but what sort of sovereignty? The UK is a parliamentary democracy which was established over centuries through hard fought battles between Parliament and the King, including a bloody civil war in which many died. But the tabloids, by launching personal attacks on the judges who supported the supremacy of Parliament, appear to want to throw out all that in favour of government by referendum and executive decree. 

It’s a dangerous road to start down. People don’t vote in referendums because they've made a careful evaluation of the facts. They vote from their emotional instincts and they are easily whipped up by populist politicians who invent lies to support their case and pour scorn on experts. But then the tabloids know this because they were part of it during the brexit campaign, as were some government ministers!

And why are ministers silent concerning the hysterical reaction of the tabloids? Could it be that they are scared of the damage that they could suffer as a result of challenging them, or is it because the tabloids are favouring the government’s position?

It’s in the nature of executive power to want total control and that’s why any democracy has checks and balances built into it, like an independent judiciary and a second chamber in Parliament. If you undermine these safeguards you are facilitating the would-be populist leaders who don't tolerate opposition or reasoned discussion.

Both the government and the tabloids should remember that 48% voted Remain and that the 52% who voted Leave does not represent an overwhelming mandate in favour of a hard brexit. Brexiteers, by talking up their case in this way, like May did at the Tory conference, or the right wing press is now doing, are likely to provoke a backlash. Perhaps the High Court judgement is the trigger.

This whole episode is yet another example of the press exerting power without responsibility “the prerogative of the harlot down the ages”!