Sunday, July 24, 2016

It Hasn't


Conrad Black lives on another planet than the rest of us. He is untroubled by the anxieties of those of us who are mere mortals. That's why he believes that we've misunderstood Donald Trump. In Friday's National Post he opined:

Even in the week that he is nominated by the Republican party for the presidency of the United States, intelligent people fail in droves to understand what Donald Trump has accomplished. It was disappointing to read the editorial in this newspaper on Tuesday that “a Trump presidency would be a descent into the uncertainties of anger, bitterness, and division … a recipe for disaster.” This is a widespread view, but it is bunk. 

Lord Black believes that Trump has been grievously maligned:

These parrots of gloom should be celebrating the fact that one of the only moderates among the Republican candidates won. Senator Ted Cruz pitched his campaign to the Bible-thumping corn-cobbers with M16 rifles in the rear windows of their pickup trucks and announced that God had told him to run. Trump and Sanders are the only candidates who favour universal health care, and Trump, contrary to a great deal of unfounded over-reactive comment about him, never said anything remotely antagonistic about women, gays, African-Americans or Latinos who came to the U.S. legally.

And, he predicts, Trump will move to the centre and radiate peace, order and good government:

Now that Trump is the nominee, having come from the political wilderness and paid for his own campaign, he will drastically scale back the stylistic infelicities (which are as disagreeable to me as to most serious people, but are just part of his shtick). He is not ideological and will make the system work — he is, as he never tires of telling us, a deal-maker. In foreign policy, he will be neither trigger-happy like George W., nor an other-worldly pacifist like Obama. He will spend a billion dollars of the Republican party’s money reminding the country that legally and ethically, Hillary is carrying more dead weight cargo than the Queen Mary. He and Hillary will now both campaign toward the centre, but whoever wins, this is the last stand of moderation. One more debacle like the past four or five presidential terms, and the animals will be released. The paint-ball parks, the shooting ranges, and the teeming ghettos (scores of millions of Americans unnoticed by Norman Rockwell, Grandma Moses and Walt Disney) will not be gulled again by a limousine liberal in a neon pantsuit or a pseudo-blue-collar billionaire.

The animals have already been released. And they're furious at people like Lord Black. One would have hoped that his stay in a Florida prison would have acquainted  Black with the earthly existence of mere mortals. Obviously, it hasn't.

Image: theglobeandmail.com

18 comments:

Lorne said...

The elites stick together, Owen. That is the only conclusion I can draw from the good Lord's risible assessment and defence of Donald Trump.

zoombats on Georgian Bay said...

All very interesting that Con can have such vision and opinion with regard what we, mere mortals think and that we haven't the intelligence to get the real picture. I would imagine that these two egos wouldn't be able to exist in the same room even though they enjoy the same circles of power and elitism. Does anybody even read Black anymore? He always was and is a bombastic buffoon much like the person he is accusing us of maligning.

Owen Gray said...

They'll retire to a gated community, Lorne. Come to think of it, they already live in one.

Owen Gray said...

"Bombastic buffoon." It fits -- in both cases -- and it's alliterative. I like it, zoombats.

Anonymous said...

Elites stick together: the Koch Bros withdraw funding from any Republican who dares to even mention Trump. They got Hillary's back and Hillary has theirs. (Apparently they must have some really big bucks invested in the TPP. Why bring back slavery? It's 2016!)

Unknown said...

I remember during Blacks trial Owen, Trump came out in support of him. This sounds, in part anyway, a you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours gesture. Trump is an anti-intellectual, I find it interesting that a pseudo intellectual who is constantly trying to impress people with his vocabulary would support a hick like Trump. It really reveals what is true values are.

The Mound of Sound said...


Why is that foreign felon still in Canada? I could understand the favouritism during the Harper era but for some reason he also seems to be in Trudeau's good graces. Having renounced his Canadian citizenship (being sure to smear the Canadian people on his way out), electing to become a British citizen and Lord, only to be convicted and imprisoned for various offences in the United States there is no conceivable justification for permitting this felonious Brit to remain in our nation.

Owen Gray said...

He sounds like he's tailor made for Donald Trump's America, Mound.

Owen Gray said...

Trump's ghost writer -- Tony Schwartz -- claims that Trump is a Hollow Man, Pam. Perhaps Conrad recognizes the kinship.

Anonymous said...

I still don't understand why this felon has not been deported. Since he is no longer a Canadian he should be returned to his beloved England. He fits well Boris Johnson and his ilk.

Owen Gray said...

I understand that Sheldon Adelson is also steering clear of Trump, Anon.

Owen Gray said...

It would appear, Anon, that Boris and Conrad who get along quite well.

John B. said...

I'm so relieved that Lord Black has weighed in. Unlike him, and others from among the most serious people, I had no impression that Trump's vulgarity, pandering and creative divisiveness were just essential parts of a harmless shtick. He saved the country from the Republicans and now he must save it from Hillary.

Now I understand why the Palin endorsement was so important.

Owen Gray said...

Black has boarded a ship of fools, John. The burning question is, "How many Americans will book passage with them?"

Anonymous said...

Hillary's ship of fools: the SS Humanity chugging along in dark frigid waters; an Invisible Hand at the wheel; M&M Enterprises tearing up the ship and selling it off for parts. Giving a thumbs up to this business (and the Clintons have certainly made democratic representation a lucrative business: over $100-million in speaking fees alone) would certainly make Americans colossal fools. No matter how many times they get fooled, they keep coming back for more!

-Bernie Orbust

Owen Gray said...

I've said before that Hillary is a lesser evil choice, Bernie. We rarely get perfect or easy choices.

Anonymous said...

Where I come from, the hard choice is doing the right thing. There's nothing right about supporting Hillary. The only hard part is shredding your values in the process.

People who support business as usual must not understand what the business is (democratic representation for sale) and the damage it has done (hollowed out the Western economy; caused a global financial meltdown and never-ending Great Recession) and the threat it poses to civilization (another financial meltdown will likely trigger fascist revolutions, world war and the Anthropocene.)

The only way civilization can be saved is if the West brings about a New Deal revolution BEFORE the fascist revolutions break out. Hillary is in the way. Trump is along the way to a 2020 New Deal Democratic super-majority led by Elizabeth Warren after the Democratic party cleans house after Hillary's humiliating defeat to Trump. (The establishment media says Trump is Hitler; they are either ignorant of history or lying — or electioneering.)

-Bernie Orbust

Owen Gray said...

I've written before, Bernie, that if the United States elects Trump, they may well not get the chance to elect Warren.