A Political Spy Novel? If Only It Was..

The leader of a foreign power declares he did not interfere in the US election. Donald Trump believes he is sincere. This is not just just any foreign power, it is Russia. Trump in turn attacks former U.S. intelligence officials labelling them “hacks”. Trump admits he believes the leader of a foreign power over his fellow countrymen and women. 

In all likelihood if Putin did interfered, he wouldn’t admit to it. If Donald Trump and his team conspired with Putin does anyone seriously think Trump will admit to that? He won’t given the  investigation underway in the US. So I’d take what was said with a grain of salt. 

Now for some facts. In the past two weeks, various Trump campaign advisers including George Papadopoulos and Carter Page have confessed to having met with or conspired with the Russian government during the election. I repeat, they confessed they met with or conspired with the Russians. How far this went will probably not be known until the commencement of any court cases following the conclusion of current investigations.  

Papadopoulos and Carter then named higher level Trump campaign officials who were also involved. Some of those officials have now admitted they knew all along about the engagement with the Russians. In addition, Trump’s campaign chairman is under house arrest in relations to the Trump-Russia scandal. 

Despite the above, Putin said he didn’t do it. Trump, said he believes Putin because he is sincere. I’m not sure it’s wise to be so trusting of anyone who is ex-KGB. Particularly someone with a chequered past like Putin. But this is where it gets bizarre. 

If Putin and Trump are telling the truth; with a major emphasis on IF. That would mean Papadopoulos, Carter and the rest have lied.  Why would they lie? It makes no sense for them to risk jail confessing to something that never happened. That would be bizarre in the extreme.  If anyone has an answer as to why anyone would compromise themselves like that I’d love to hear it. 

Following the Putin, Trump declarations, Trump copped a backlash over siding with Putin. In true form Trump took to twitter attacking his fellow Americans as “haters and fools.” According to the latest polls the majority of Americans now believe the Trump campaign and Russia conspired with each other during the election. 59% believe Trump himself knew last year that anyone associated with his campaign had contact with suspected Russian operatives. That means The President of the United States has now called the majority of Americans “haters and fools.” I don’t recall any other President ever doing that. Certainly not siding with the leader of a foreign power and attacking his own people. 

As a script for a political spy novel is might be a riveting story line. As a real life drama involving the President of the United States it’s alarming. 

It’s Time To Go Malcolm

Towards the end of Tony Abbott’s reign I was open in sharing in views that he either had to make changes or hand over to someone who would. He was warned of the consequences of failing to act. When he didn’t, the inevitable happened. Prior to that change I was also vocal in my criticism of Malcolm Turnbull. Albeit I don’t believe he was the major source of white-anting against Abbott. 

I’ve never been a huge fan of Abbott’s. But as a Liberal member I prefer LNP policies to the opposition. My loyalty is to the party so, I supported Abbott and defended his less than desirable actions. That was until there were just too many failures for me. I would have preferred Tony Abbott to have wised up and stepped down but he couldn’t see or accept there was a problem. He paid the price. 

Likewise, I’m not and never have been a huge fan of Malcolm Turnbull. But as the new leader of my party I was prepared to give him a go. To be fair, the Turnbull led government hasn’t done as bad a job as the chatter would have you believe. But we need more than that. We need strong dynamic leadership. We need a voice that can command attention and respect despite the message not always being what people want to hear. We need a voice that can get the message out there and stop the decline. We need a voice that can define the vision and get people enthused about it. Malcolm sadly is not that voice. It’s been two years of hoping for change. It’s not happening. 

I don’t support overthrowing leaders. But if they won’t listen sometimes for the greater good, it’s the only option. It time for someone to knock on Malcolm’s door and convince him it’s time to go. But to go gracefully on his terms if need be but go he must. My dilemma is I can’t see an inspiring replacement. All the usual suspects come with baggage. Perhaps we need a ‘left-fielder’. Someone with no baggage. Who it is I don’t know. But they need to stick their head up now. We’re running out of time.

We Want A Citizenship Audit Now...

I’m becoming increasingly pee’d off with calls for a citizenship audit being ignored (or worse dismissed) by our elected representatives. It’s not good enough for politicians like Finance Minister Mathias Cormann to argue an audit would unfairly put the presumption of guilt on politicians. There is nothing unfair about it Mr Cormann. The refusal is what is leading to the presumption of guilt. What have you got to hide?

Many companies ask for proof of your eligibility to work in this country. Politicians in fact expect business to do it to ensure they are not unwittingly hiring illegal workers. Most reasonable people would say that is fair enough. Therefore, we as the employers of our politicians have every right to demand the same from them. Even more so given the absurdity of the circumstances that has lead to some of those ‘we hired’ having to resign. The High Court has now defined the rules and we need to be ensure (to OUR satisfaction) that everyone who remains in office is in compliance.

It’s a simple request, so why the stalling? Just do it and put this one to bed. Then we can get back to the real business of government.