Time to switch it off

FACEBOOK and Twitter have finally stopped Donald Trump from posting, even if it is only for a short time.

This was as a result of his words that encouraged an act of terrorism at the United States capital and his repeated lies about the November 2019 presidential election result. Why has it taken so long?

With a number of Republicans finally standing up to Trump, surely the social media organizations could switch off his vitriol and false claims for the remaining few days although a permanent block would be appreciated by many.

I know freedom of speech is important, but this could be the exception.

***

A world of horror
In the normal world of Washington politics this was meant to be basically a day of boring bureaucratic vote counting but someone moved Washington into an alternative world of horror.

People attacked the capital building, a person was killed, democracy was damaged but will recover, several (ex) Presidents condemned the actions of the MAGA-loving crowd whereas one President was banned from Twitter.

In Hong Kong there were riots in the streets, in America there were riots in the streets.

In Russia, China and North Korea there are narcissistic leaders, in America there are narcissistic leaders.

In England, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand there are leaders elected in a simple, unchallenged, democratic process, in America there is not.

Can we just turn off the TV, Twitter and just wait till that afternoon in January when the normal world returns?

***

Oops, they did it again
One of the skills of leadership is the ability to unite those that work for you and to have their complete support. This has been completely ā€œundemonstratedā€ by Donald Trump with many of his appointees being fired or resigning depending on who made their statement first.

The latest ā€œdeserterā€ who actually did what was right rather than what was wanted is US attorney general William Barr who is not appointing various special counsels.

His Supreme Court appointees have ā€œdesertedā€ him by doing what is actually right and making rulings based on the law. Surely, itā€™s time to notice that people are actually doing what is right, not what is wanted. (dfitzger@melbpc.org.au/PN)

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here