Trump disrespects fallen soldiers of his own armed forces
Now this is according to an anonymous source in an article in the Atlantic. But everything the article says fits in with the image I have of Donald Trump. I have never met the man, let alone spent enough time in his company to feel like I might know how the man thinks and what he believes. All I have to go off of is his public comments. Some of his comments are weird, like those about pretty much any woman he’s ever come across but particularly his first daughter. Some are utterly nauseating. For example, when he claimed there were ‘very fine people on both sides’ of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, after a woman had been killed by someone driving into a crowd at a counter-protest. And the rest of the time, he is failing to make any sense at all. He jumps about from subject to subject with no connective tissue at all. He also lies openly and then slams anyone who tries to point out that he did indeed lie.
And he has made disparaging comments about soldiers in the past; he famously disparaged John McCain’s navy service in the Vietnam War and his time as a P.O.W, saying ‘John McCain is a hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.’ I’m pretty sure John McCain would have preferred not to have been captured and suffer the rest of his life for it as well. And now, he is being reported as calling dead soldiers ‘losers’ and ‘suckers. He is even reported as having turned to John Kelly, retired Marine general and former White House Chief of Staff in the Trump administration, at the gravestone of his son Robert and saying, ‘I don’t get it. What’s in it for them?’ That alone aligns with my image of Trump, from how I have seen him act in public. Everything is for him and his betterment. He has no sense or concept of sacrifice, honour or putting other’s needs or safety ahead of his own. I’ve never been in a warzone. I don’t particularly want to go to warzone. I hope I never have to go to one. So those who decide they will put their lives at risk so that I can continue to write this blog on my laptop in my bedroom will always have my everlasting respect and admiration. Unlike their Commander-in-Chief.
Johnson’s summer disaster
Boris Johnson has proven all summer long that he has no idea what he is doing. He has clowned around, making stupid comment after stupid comment, only for his spokesperson to have walk it back after the fact. How many times have the government announced something and then had to reverse it? Since late May, the government have changed their position on various policies and other such situations nine times. NINE. What more proof do you need that Johnson ad his merry band of Brexit crusaders are not equipped to do the job? They announce something to be seen to doing something without thinking through any of the possible ramifications, and then have to reverse it when the potential damage is pointed out to them. I have had it with this man and his utterly incompetent cohorts. They bugger up every single domestic issue that crosses their collective desks. And they can’t even do the thing they were elected to do well either.
They’ve now been found out in talks with the EU as well. Firstly, what Johnson promised he would deliver with his version of Brexit, he cannot deliver and never could have delivered. And now, the EU have simply called their bluff. It was reported that Johnson was considering essentially ripping up the EU Withdrawal Agreement, which was a hastily agreed sticking plaster in itself. He had also made comments about how the UK leaving without a trade deal would be a good outcome. Because nothing shows your trustworthiness in negotiations like tearing up the agreement with the single biggest trading block in the world that you signed less than a year ago. The president of the EU Commission has already warned that if Johnson seeks to undermine the Withdrawal Agreement, there will be no partnership at all, and that Britain could be punished under international law. Yeah, great outcome there, Boris.
England’s young lions disgrace the pride
Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood have both been sent home from the England squad for breaching coronavirus rules. The two young players, who both made their England debuts in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Iceland were alleged to have met two girls in a separate part of the hotel where the squad were staying, in breach of the team’s coronavirus quarantine guidelines. I think Gareth Southgate and the FA have done exactly the right thing by sending the two players home. Foden is only 20 while Greenwood is even younger at 18 but there can be no exceptions in these circumstances. It was right for them to apologise to the other members of the squad as well. They had let them down.
These are young men in a privileged position. They have to learn now that there are consequences to their actions. So being sent home from the camp was absolutely necessary. Unfortunately, their youth and possible naiveté has worked against them and they have let themselves and the team down. They will have to learn from this and conduct themselves in a better fashion. Footballers are often held up as role models and our expectations are often for them to behave impeccably all the time. Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood are very promising players who will be at the core of the England team for a long time to come. They need to learn from this mistake and mature quickly from it.
Eat, Sleep, Blog, Repeat 