Dear Banjo,

I just read a joke that might be applicable to Trump.

Trump was severely criticized by his wife for passing
severe wind each morning as he went from room to room
in their beautiful Trump Tower apartment.
His wife told him that if he wasn't careful, one day
he'd poop all of his guts out and make a mess in his pants.

Trump told her not to worry about it. Then along came the
public holiday of Thanksgiving. Trump's wife was in the kitchen
with their cook. She watched while the cook prepared the
turkey, taking out all the gizzards, guts, and insides. Trump was asleep in their bedroom.

Melania got the brilliant idea of how she could teach
Trump a lesson regarding his farting.

She scooped up all the guts and sneaked into the bedroom
placing everything into Trump's underpants.

She then went back to the kitchen. Trump woke up and white-faced
snuck into the kitchen.

"Melania, you were right. When I farted this morning I did
poop everything into my pants. But don't worry. With two
fingers I managed to push everything back in".

It seems you can't beat a man who's in control - right?

ttbn said -

We have 3 flags, representing how divided we are. No other country in the world has more than one official flag.

A- Very good point ttbn.

Banjo Paterson said-

Democracy is collective self-determination which means that we don’t let our political decisions be made by a king or president or whatever, we make them collectively ourselves, we together decide what laws we should abide by. That is the promise of democracy : rule by the people for the people.

It is, however, a fact that populism inevitably leads to a dictatorship, which is why so many of the elite rich and powerful in the US are reneging on their formerly declared values and embracing those of Donald Trump.

A- A leader has to balance action and listening. Democracy is populism or popularism in a sense- someone made a distinction between populism and popularism- I forget the delineation measure- I think at the end of the article I cautiously agreed that some forms of 'popularity' led to a form of 'dictatorship'. But it's important to understand how the author actually defines popularity and dictatorship

Foxy said-

Can we really trust Trump?

A- Is Foxy just trying to create Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt- FUD?? We can't really trust anyone, but we have to trust someone. Trump has a proven track record.

What is the alternative? Biden!- who the Democrats deceived the public about for so long- hiding his mental condition- we don't seem to be able to trust the Democrats- it shows how well the Democrats are able to keep their people under control- and hide the truth. Sounds like dictatorship to me.

Trump needs to get on with his program as soon as possible after the 20th January if not before. I hope that Trump is at the Mexican border on at 11pm on the 19th January waiting for the US military to turn up and shut the border as soon as he takes office. All the surrounding bases need to have their leave cancelled and shipped out to the border by 2am in the morning. I hope that by 5am on the 20th January there is a functional wall in place.

The Democrats have played keep away with US security for too long. I hope that the great people of the US have a long enough memory that they never let the Democrats get into power again, for their contempt of the US people. The Democrats should be burned to the ground. Hopefully another party is formed that can be formed to fill the role that the Democrats are supposed to fill within the US

.

Dear ttbn,

.

You wrote :

« The Republican dominated House moved this week that, for the purposes of sport …

“Sex shall be recognised based solely on a person’s reproductive biology and genetics at birth”. »
.

That sems a logic decision to me, though I don’t know enough about the intricacies of the subject to judge if it is the best decision. What is clear is that there is more to human beings than biology and genetics. We are not just animals. We are far more evolved than that.

Who could possibly doubt that there are more than two clear-cut categories of human beings, men and women ? Nature is not perfect. It operates by trial and error and is sometimes slightly off-target, occasionally producing unusual combinations of male and female that are identifiable by modern science both physically and psychically.

Today, most international sports organisations work on the premise that human beings are either male or female. Consequently, all athletes, including intersex and transgender individuals, must be assigned to compete in one or other of these two categories.

About 3% of American high school students identify as transgender, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in October 2024. But across the U.S., 25 states have so far implemented some laws limiting transgender student-athletes from participating in competition, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank that advocates for transgender rights.

I understand that the bill faces an uncertain future in the U.S. Senate. With a 53-47 majority, Republicans would be able to bring the bill up for a vote but may not be able to pass it given the chamber's filibuster rule that requires 60 members to agree on most legislation.

And it is unclear if any Senate Democrat would support the bill.

.

.

Is Trump a pacifist and an isolationist, or is he a bellicist, and a nationalist – in addition to being a transactionalist ?

Trump often claims “that the United States was at peace during his first administration”, that he is “going to stop the wars”, that he is “against war”, and that there will be “no new wars” during his second term as president.

At the same time he threatens to impose a wide-range of tariffs when he takes office, including a blanket tariff of 10–20% on all imported goods, an additional tariff between 60 and 100% on Chinese goods, a 100% tariff on countries within the BRICS alliance if they attempt to undermine the U.S. dollar’s status as a global reserve currency, and a 25% tariff on all products imported from Mexico and Canada.

That seems like trade war to me.

He declared that “if Israeli hostages held by Hamas are not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East”.

He then threatened to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland, if necessary, by military force, and make Canada the 51st state of the US.

In addition, he swears he will put “America First” and threatens to withdraw the US from the UN and no longer afford US protection to countries that fail to contribute a minimum of 2% of their GDP to their annual defence budget – demand that he increased a few months later to 5% of GDP.

He declared he would seek to "take" manufacturing jobs from foreign countries, including U.S. allies, by offering incentives to encourage companies to relocate to the United States. He promised a "manufacturing renaissance" as the centrepiece of his economic plan and said he would offer foreign companies low taxes and little regulation to entice them.

"We will take other countries' jobs," Trump said during a speech to supporters in Savannah, Georgia, which has one of the largest ports in the U.S. and is a car-manufacturing hub. "We're going to take their factories."

All that sounds nationalist, isolationist, and bellicist.

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Dear Banjo,
The old adage applies in Trump's case.

"Actions speak louder than words".

And the man shall be judged in history by his actions.

The problem with Trump is - he is unpredictable and
unstable. And what he says and does is not always the
same thing. And for many people - the question is -
can the man be trusted?

That's why it is a time of uncertainty.

On a lighter side - perhaps we should go easy on the man.
I heard that Donald Trump was hospitalized last night.
He was hospitalized for an attack of modesty.
(smile).