Whisper It Murdo

As Payton Quinn  noted on Twitter: “If you’re shocked that May’s gone quiet on the you should remember less that 6 months ago she suggested lists of foreign workers.” We should be wary in our shock and outrage at Trumps rule, to think that this is somehow alien to the British right, or to British values or that this our unelected Prime Minister is bowing down in the face of fascism for purely pragmatic ceremonial reasons. The gilded carriage the Queen will carry Donald Trump in will be familiar to him. The state broadcaster will televise it live. Nicholas Witchell will be on hand. The Dimbleby’s will intone a hushed narrative, a mixture of disdain and reverence.

Trump apologists and appeasers are basically a British fifth column emerging to rationalise the unthinkable. Some like Piers Morgan will be familiar and prominent, others are less high profile but more insidious. The Telegraph yesterday published an apologia for Trump’s Muslim Ban, saying (“Donald Trump’s answer on immigration is questionable, but he’s right that there is a problem to solve”):

“… all nations have a right to control their borders. Indeed, the integrity of the border, the ability to decide who enters and who does not, is a sine qua non of an effective state. And states that give up that ability take a grave risk. “

The descriptions and claims for Theresa May’s American sojourn are pitiful.

Murdo Fraser stated: “Whisper it, but this visit to the US is turning out to be something of a triumph.”

Whisper it Murdo.

The Tory Party in Scotland should be careful, their much-heralded advances in the wake of Labour collapse may not stand as they sit silent or cheerlead the far-right. They may be comfortable in their skins with their support for chilling racism and authoritarianism but it will be noted.

As Zoe Williams writes:

Theresa May changed her mind about Donald Trump’s border policy because “events overtook” her. She failed to lodge any meaningful objection to his religious discrimination because she was “tired”, because she’d been “incommunicado during her flight”. She held Trump’s hand because he’s afraid of heights and her father is a vicar. She had some big wins – she elicited from a man of no character the promise that, even though he believed in torture, he wouldn’t actually try it. The arguments put forward in defence of May’s minibreak with the autocrats have been so bizarre, so feeble, so morally vacuous, so far outside any reasonable account of successful diplomatic relations, that to respond to them one by one would be to miss the only thing that is important.”

And where does this go from here?

News that Steve Bannon has been offered a full seat on the “principals committee” of the National Security Council — while downgrading the roles of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the director of national intelligence” – suggests that what is happening is not just an unprecedented set of policies but a fundamental re-structuring of the systems of government.

In “Trial Balloon for a Coup?” the writer Yonatan Zunger (@yonatanzunger) makes five startling observations:

First: “Priebus made two public statements today. One is that the ban on Muslims will no longer be applied to green card holders. Notably absent from his statement was anything about people with other types of visa (including long-term ones), or anything about the DHS’ power to unilaterally revoke green cards in bulk.”

Second: “the omission of Jews from the statement for Holocaust Remembrance Day was deliberate and is not regretted.” [A point of note here is that Priebus is the one making these statements, which is not normally the Chief of Staff’s job.]

Third: “Rudy Giuliani told Fox News that the intent of yesterday’s order was very much a ban on Muslims, described in those words, and he was among the people Trump asked how they could find a way to do this legally.”

Fourth: “the “mass resignations”of nearly all senior staff at the State Department on Thursday were not, in fact, resignations, but a purge ordered by the White House. As the diagram below (by Emily Roslin v Praze) shows, this leaves almost nobody in the entire senior staff of the State Department at this point.”

See diagram below.

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Fifth: “On Wednesday, Reuters reported (in great detail) how 19.5% of Rosneft, Russia’s state oil company, has been sold to parties unknown.”

In the froth of outrage against the Muslim Ban we need to remember the continuity between the British and the American right and be witness to what’s happening here. In the face of Tory complicity and Labour incompetence, we shouldn’t be waiting for politicians. Resisting fascism is an act of articulating the kind of Scotland you want to live in.

Demonstrations today are in Edinburgh at 6.00 pm from the Mound to Holyrood. In Glasgow at 5.00 pm at the Donald Dewar statue.There are further actions planned by Scotland Against Trump for a national demo on Saturday 11 February. More details to follow.

Comments (18)

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  1. bringiton says:

    The British state’s desperation to fill the forthcoming trade loss with Europe means getting into bed with people like the Groper in Chief.
    The first time May does something he doesn’t like,we can expect an immediate and completely disproportionate response.
    Building a trade portfolio with unstable despots is not how I expect the leader of my country to behave and hopefully not for much longer.
    I suspect that,since the Tories have commited themselves to Brexit,what has happened in Washington with civil servants has been replicated in London (lack of cooperation rather than resignation).
    This is what happens when the lunatics are allowed to run the asylum.

    1. Patrick says:

      And where you let this one Mr. Papagallo.
      Scotland cannot afford to become independent, says Jeremy Corbyn
      Only an ambitious or a pirate who has been promised the patent of Corsican, or perhaps an economic anafabeta it occurs to him to say such ideal ideotes
      we have talent, and resources to be sovereign nation and have more succes than the UK gov.
      What a mistery behaind the Brexit.

  2. Gaga Glasgow says:

    Trump’s alleged fascism doesn’t really scare me. Should I apologise for that?

    Hillary’s plan to face down Russia over the skies of Syria (a sovereign country) certainly scared me a lot more. Perhaps if she had won we would all be vaporised by now.

    My guess is that Trump is doing just enough to allow him to say that he kept his promises on pledges made during the campaign but, let’s not kid ourselves, this is a million miles away from the blanket ban on Muslims entering the US he proposed.

    My guess is he will soon fizzle out. Liberals and the left hopefully will too.

    I’m not an appeaser but I think what we have seen from Trump so far should be put into perspective. There are things worth getting excited about; like so many million Iraqis being slaughtered, the destruction and chaos caused by US foreign policy in Libya, Afghanistan, and Palestine, etc. But Trump’s crimes so far don’t amount to much when compared to all that.

    Going around screaming “fascist” every time Trump tweets isn’t going to be very helpful if / when he really crosses lines.

    As for racism and the potential for fascism in America, well blow me. Does anyone over the age of 12 really think that’s even newsworthy? They’re openly one of the most militaristic nations in the history of mankind. Even well-educated liberals over there hang US flags on their front lawns.

    What’s newsworthy about that? They’ve been like that forever. I don’t mean them all, of course, I’m generalising ; the “UnAmerican” ones aren’t like that.

    Maybe I’m being UnScottish in saying it, sorry, but I’m not impressed by any of this.

    It’s time for level heads. I wish everybody would relax and keep what little powder we have dry for the day that we may need it. This isn’t that day, not yet.

    1. Let us know when you think he’s ‘really crossed lines’ Gaga. What would that look like?

      1. Gaga Glasgow says:

        I’ll do my best, Bella.
        Anyway, don’t get me wrong, I liked this article a lot.
        I’m cursed with memories of Presidents like Reagan, though; and their transgressions were measurable in piles of dead bodies rather than the inconveniences and delays of a few air passengers.
        The real sub-plot in a lot of the current attacks on Trump, as we all know, is that it’s an easy way to put PM May in a crap light since she is trying to cosy up to him.
        That’s fine in itself, I suppose, but it seems to distract from her policies and flaws.

    2. Stefan says:

      Hes had about a week, yeah hes not managed to kill millions yet so must be OK.

  3. lawrenceab says:

    I think you’ll find the sale of a large chunk of Rosneft (gem of the Russian economy and largest company in the world) has been sold to Qatar. That cements the alliance between the world’s two largest gas producers. There is a reason. Look at Syria where Qatar, a key backer of some pretty extreme Islamist fighters, has now quietly ceased its support for its client head-choppers. Russia is steadily building its reputation as the only major power to bring about a solution to the Syrian war and is prepared to pay hard cash to cement its future position in the region.

    1. Thanks Lawrenceab – have you got a reference for that?

      1. c rober says:

        https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-07/glencore-qatar-fund-buy-russia-s-rosneft-stake-for-11-billion

        When the sanctions on Russia started to bite I said that there would be more done in creating a sphere of influence , this can be done by direct action as in Syria and aiding them , or in financial partners – ie those you can sell to outside of sanctions , especially with investment as a business partner for protection.

        Theres more of this to come – expect Trump to want to drop sanctions , but for what in return , say investment into fracking siberia for american companies?

      2. Doubting Thomas says:

        Er I must be missing something here!
        The Russians sell assets to raise cash and somehow this indicates that Russia is the only country looking to resolve the crisis there.
        Don’t see the link.
        It’s a bit like wee Nicola saying that education is her first priority.
        There is no obvious link showing this either.

        1. Doubting Thomas says:

          By there I meant in Syria.
          Oops!

      3. lawrenceab says:

        http://www.voltairenet.org/article194435.html
        La Russie cède 19,5 % de Rosneft à Glencore et au Qatar

        1. lawrenceab says:

          Note that Qatar is already a controlling shareholder in Glencore. For all intents, it is a sale to Qatar.

      4. lawrenceab says:

        Tried to send link but got told I was ‘duplicating’…
        will try again

  4. Patrick says:

    My friends, who know little of the values of the American nation, all this circus, is orchestrated by the perfidious England and others that well dance in Europe.
    You know that we must be concerned, as simple as the Independence of Scotland, lest they not drag our sons and daughters into war. The whole world is anxious for the independence of Scotland, for there to be another progressive and peace-loving nation in the United Nations

  5. Alf Baird says:

    The basis of any colony is the continued oppression of its people. Fixing that is where Scots folk need to focus their attention. We Scots also have a swamp to drain, with many useless public organisation charts to clean out, but it is not in Washington where the visceral global msm and neo liberal fake news agenda points, it is right here in a Scotland that is still controlled and oppressed by the unionist elite.

    1. Gaga Glasgow says:

      Spot on, Alf. And far from draining swamps, this hysterical response to Trump is draining energy and focus that ought to be put elsewhere.
      This is a classic example of the left tripping over itself to express how righteous and moral it is, forgetting in the process that we here in Scotland have a massive unionist plank in our own eye to deal with.

      1. Alf Baird says:

        Have to agree Gaga, Scotland’s unionist elite have become quite relaxed again thanks to such convenient diversions. And notice how quiet things have gone on Brexit, Syria, Putin etc. now the msm neolib ‘target’ has shifted bigtime to Trump? Mind, now might be a good time for the SNPx56 to exit stage left and deliver what’s on the party’s label prior to May’s 30th March ‘trigger’, thereby making Scotland an EU member and independent at the same time. Wid onybody doon thair notis thay’r awa? Wid onybody doon thair bather? It would probably seem like an early Christmas for most English folk to be rid of both the EU and a ‘whinging’ Scotland at the same time, A wid hae thocht.

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