His own party already hate him enough that they used absolute skullduggery to try to force him out almost a couple of years back - Labour had to rescue him - I’m not sure they could dislike him more or do much worse than that:
Also, (admittedly, with an eye to justifying his actions) as I understand it, he’s non-partisan with respect to the parties in parliament, and as he’s protesting a rare honour that isn’t usually granted even to US presidents for years. (The speech to both houses bit, not the visit), he’s protecting the standing of parliament, against flagrent breach of usual protocol by the government in power, to avoid the dramatic devaluing of both that honour, and both houses, through upsetting many other heads of state, who are insulted because either they haven’t been granted this yet, or because they had to wait much longer to be granted that same honour.
And many of those countries, we’re going to have to negotiate with too - including the other members of the EU to minimise the shafting we get from them over the leaving conditions.
[Is it an honour? Your opinion and mine may not think much of it, but it’s extended as such and generally held in high prestige]
(And if I’m being really cynical, do we really believe that Mr Trump isn’t going to try to screw the UK on a trade deal given his usual business methods, regardless of the shinies we throw at him?)
[Edit: That’s not to say I don’t share your concerns (or your joy ) here. I do, though think a defence of the Speaker’s actions can be mounted, if we want to. He’s knowledgeable and protective of the history and conventions of this ancient parliament, unlike, well, the current government.]
First of all let me address the elephant in that article, David Frum: He is an asshole, fuck him and his advice. Didn’t check the author of that piece until I got to this section and proceeded to gag.
Look at this roster of speakers from the January 21 march. What is Angela Davis doing there? Where are the military women, the women police officers, the officeholders? If Planned Parenthood is on the stage, pro-life women should stand there, too. If you want somebody to speak for immigrants, invite somebody who’s in the country lawfully.
I neither need nor want that shithead’s advice. It is largely because of his political ideology that we are where we are today, he can stick his neo-con opinion right up where the sun don’t shine. As I have recently heard it stated by other mutants on the BBs, the enemy of my enemy is not my friend. Especially not that fucker.
Yes, Frum is a republican. But he’s been a loud and vocal critic of Trump since early days of the campaign. The very fact that he’s offering advice on overcoming Trump means that he’s on our side, whether you want to accept it or not.
So are the fucking Koch brothers! I don’t give a shit what he says or does as long as he keeps his little meddling neo-con hands to himself. Seriously, that dude was in support of the Iraq war, dog whistled his way through the 2nd Bush administration, and has done nothing to redeem himself. He doesn’t get to be all buddy buddy with the left just because he doesn’t like Trump and voted for Hillary.
His advice is also awful, ignores that the TEA Party was made up of a collection of fringe beliefs and actively ignored their actions (and it was a successful protest movement despite everything), and its main thesis is based on the horseshit premise that you must openly display as much red white and blue as possible and court as many white people as possible to an event for it to work.
I appreciate that it belongs in this thread, and I’m glad it was posted but I don’t recommend listening to a pillar of the GOP establishment’s lesson on how the largest nonviolent protest in history could of had a real impact if they just listened to his advice.
This exactly. If he wants to be part of the resistance against Trump, I definitely don’t think he should be turned away. But if he wants to try and take control of a movement being led from the left or make himself out to be a model of resistance, political purity, and advice? He can take a poker right up his smug male white ass.
An effective resistance by a majority of the people to Trump is going to require accepting tactics from people all across the political spectrum, especially including all the #nevertrumpers like Frum. The Atlantic has been one of my go-to sources since the start or this national nightmare, and if Frum is good enough for them, he’s good enough for me. He, like David Brooks, is often discounted as an republican apologist, but I think we ignore those points of view at our peril. And I don’t think Frum is trying to take control. Rather, I think he can offer advice to us lefties for workable tactics that will attract and not alienate centrists and middle-righters to the cause. And he’s right that the Occupy protests were largely discounted and ineffective in part because it dwelt too much in ridiculous and alien things like “up twinkles,” which caused dismissive eye rolls not only in the midwest but everywhere else. So, what’s wrong with carrying an american flag, to reinforce the idea in middle America that we’re proud of our country and want to protect it from Bannon and his goons?
If our goal is to change minds, I think carrying a flag to a protest will win a lot more centrist support than carrying a molatov cocktail or punching a nazi will.
) here. I do, though think a defence of the Speaker’s actions can be mounted, if we want to. He’s knowledgeable and protective of the history and conventions of this ancient parliament, unlike, well, the current government.]
