USA: Two weeks before inauguration of the criminal sociopath. Breathless coverage by the Infotainment Complex of every utterance by him and his cronies, especially Musk, a billionaire narcissist, illegal immigrant with a dozen (and counting) offspring, who, through a chunk of the public airspace — X (f/k/a Twitter, now “Xitter”) — he owns, compulsively opines on literally everything. Nominees for important government positions will be in the hands of grifters, Trump’s praetorian guard and channel for billions flowing to him. As the Supreme Court has neutered the republic’s defenses by erasing “corruption” from the law, smash-and-grab will be the new Administration’s theme. And Putin will steer US foreign policy from behind the curtain.
Germany: The coalition has come to an end. Scholz — more president of a local chamber of commerce than chancellor of the world’s third largest economy — will take the SPD into the March election. His chances are slim. The question is how well the (Musk-glorified) AfD will do. Current indications are that the CDU/CSU will get the most votes, though that means only about 30%. Another coalition in the offing. The parlor game over who will dance with whom has already begun. Likely? CDU/CSU and the AfD, the second-place winner. As with other countries, progressives failed to read the room over popular discontent with immigration.
Austria: The color brown, blown up in 1945, returns. The parties representing 70% of the electorate failed to agree on a coalition that would have kept the FPÖ (28%) out of power. Not surprisingly, the center-right ÖVP — whose attitudes and policies are a mere sliver different from the FPÖ‘s — is raring to negotiate a coalition with friends of the SS and Putin [sic] — in order to stay in power. That two-member “blue-black” coalition will barely exceed 50%. Another example of clueless progressives so obsessed with their own virtue, that they’ve smoothed the way to power of the very people repeatedly branded as “dangerous for democracy”. Clearly not dangerous enough .
Canada: Trudeau resigns. He’ll be followed by the “Canadian Trump,” Poilievre. Canadians? The “nice” people? It will be hugely entertaining to see how Poilievre will work with Trump, who repeatedly expressed an interest in acquiring Canada as the 51st state. Most likely: catering to the fossil fuels industry in the country’s west, and limits on immigration (“too many Indians”). The Canadian Right insists that it doesn’t object to immigrants, but to “uncontrolled immigration”. As if there were such a thing.
France: Parliament paralyzed. Government efforts to bring the budget under control have been met with the usual, “let the others pay”. The Left’s response to everything? Expend even more public money, absence of money be damned. And if money is needed, tax the rich more. That this makes good governance impossible doesn’t register. That it enables anti-democratic forces to get to power doesn’t either, even though Le Pen, like Kickl in Austria, is constantly represented as a “threat to democracy”. Small wonder that, as political drama continues, the desire for the strongman becomes more acute.
Next: Good riddance, Joe Biden.
