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July 15, 2018 - Sargon of Akkad - Carl Benjamin
23:42
This Week in Stupid (15⧸07⧸2018)
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Hello everyone, welcome to this week in Stupid for the 15th of July 2018.
This week's been quite a remarkable week because of President Trump's visit to Britain.
And being his usual blunt self, he decided to weigh in on Brexit.
And he did it, for some reason, to the Sun newspaper of all papers.
Now if you're not from Britain, you might not know this, but The Sun is considered to be, quote, a rag, unquote, from everyone I've ever worked with in a regular day job.
Trump's Brexit blast.
Donald Trump told Theresa May how to do Brexit, but she wrecked it and says the US trade deal is off.
So this extraordinary intervention was time to coincide with his UK visit, and Trump said that Theresa May ignored his advice by opting for a soft Brexit strategy.
He warned her that any attempts to maintain close ties with EU would make a lucrative trade deal with the US very unlikely.
He said, if they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the UK, so it would probably kill the deal.
What he's talking about is Theresa May's proposed Checkers plan, which, if the EU accepts, will essentially leave Britain within the single market, but without a voice with which to influence things, as we will be forced to accept EU standards for our goods and regulate other people's goods coming into our country according to EU regulations.
And this is what Trump means when he says that it'll essentially be like dealing with the European Union instead of the UK, and this is what Jacob Riesmog means when he says that the UK will essentially be a vassal state.
They are both correct.
His comments would be damaging to the Prime Minister if everyone else wasn't already thinking the same thing.
Come as he delivers his most brutally honest verdict yet on Britain, in which he also accused EU leaders of destroying its culture and its identity by allowing in millions of migrants.
True.
Tore into London Mayor Sadiq Khan for not standing up to terrorists.
True, in fact Sadiq Khan has defended terrorists, legally, blamed Khan for the spiralling crime in the capital.
True, this is what happened when Sadiq Khan stopped stop and search.
Insisted former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would make a great prime minister.
He probably thinks that he's essentially a clone of himself.
Denied once branding Theresa May a bossy schoolteacher, which is something that I hope he actually did.
Maintained that he would keep ties with Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin despite Salisbury Novichok poisonings.
I've no idea about these poisonings.
They seem to be trying to drum up a story out of very little.
It probably is some kind of espionage, I really don't know.
Demanded Britain another NATO country spend more on defence.
Well, America has been pulling the weight of Europe for quite some time now.
Spoke of his sadness at feeling unwelcome in the capital by anti-Trump protesters.
Honestly, Mr. President, don't feel sad.
Your enemies are ridiculous.
Claimed millions of Brits backed his policies, which they do.
And told of his pride at taking wife Melania to meet the Queen.
His remarks came as he prepared to meet the Prime Minister for a working lunch at Checkers, and he would then board a helicopter for Windsor Castle to meet the Queen before flying up to Scotland for a private two-day visit.
The important thing to note there is that Trump probably isn't the one doing the scheduling.
This will be important later.
A big US-UK trade deal long promised by Mr Trump is cherished by lead campaigners as Brexit's biggest prize.
But the President said Mrs. May's plan will definitely affect trade with the United States, unfortunately in a negative way.
He explained, We have enough difficulty with the European Union.
We are cracking down right now on the European Union because they have not treated the United States fairly on trading.
No, if they do that, I would say they would probably end a major trade relationship with the United States.
The BBC described Donald Trump as giving May's Brexit plan both barrels, because he did.
Because May's Brexit plan is bad.
It's a really, really silly plan, a middle-of-the-road plan that satisfies no one and will not be accepted by the European Union.
They will simply demand further concessions.
Theresa May is setting herself and Britain up to fail.
Of course, when questioned on this, Donald Trump has decided to say that he didn't criticise Theresa May to the sun, even though he clearly did and rightfully so.
You seem rather to have changed your tune from what you said earlier this week when you said that on the current Brexit plan, that would probably kill the possibility of a trade deal with the UK.
Our countries are meant to have a special relationship, yet you publicly criticise the Prime Minister's policy and her personally for not listening to you this week.
Is that really the behavior of a friend?
And Prime Minister, isn't the problem for you that some of the things Mr. Trump has said about your Brexit plan are right?
It will limit the possibilities of doing trade deals easily in the future.
Can you also tell us how it felt for him to criticize you in the way he did in that interview?
Well, maybe I'll go first because I didn't criticize the Prime Minister.
I have a lot of respect for the Prime Minister.
And unfortunately, there was a story that was done, which was generally fine, but it didn't put in what I said about the Prime Minister.
And I said tremendous things.
And fortunately, we tend to record stories now, so we have it for your enjoyment if you'd like it.
But we record when we deal with reporters.
It's called fake news.
We solve a lot of problems with the good old recording instrument.
But what happens is that, look, the Prime Minister, as I really just said, she's going to make a decision as to what she's going to do.
The only thing I ask of Teresa is that we make sure we can trade, that we don't have any restrictions, because we want to trade with the UK, and the UK wants to trade with us.
We're by far their biggest trading partner.
And we have, you know, just a tremendous opportunity to double, triple, quadruple that.
So if they're going a slightly different route, and I know they do want independence, it's going to be independence.
It's just your definition.
But if they're going to go a certain route, I just said that I hope you're going to be able to trade with the United States.
I read reports where that won't be possible, but I believe after speaking with the Prime Minister's people and representatives and trade experts, it will absolutely be possible.
So based on that, and based on just trade in general and our other relationship, which will be fine, but the trade is a little bit tricky.
We want to be able to trade and they want to be able to trade.
And I think we'll be able to do that.
And I think she's doing a terrific job, by the way.
This was actually a really great move by Donald Trump.
What he said to the sun was absolutely true and it needed to be said.
But he also managed to keep Theresa May on side by saying, no, no, I am in support of you.
Basically, he's trying to position himself as a friend who is offering honest criticism.
And apparently the advice that he gave to her was, in his words, too tough for her.
He claimed that his suggestion on how to deliver Brexit was too tough for Theresa May, but that she might take his advice if her plans failed, which they inevitably will.
The US President insisted he had given Mrs. May a suggestion on how to conduct the negotiations, but he refused to clarify any further what his advice had been.
In a rambling hour-long press conference at Checkers, Mr. Trump rode back from his explosive critique of the Prime Minister's Brexit strategy, claiming Mrs. May was a tough negotiator who was doing a terrific job.
See, now that's a really kind thing for him to say, because everyone knows that she's not a tough negotiator, and she's shit.
There is literally no one in doubt about this, but Donald Trump is doing his part to strengthen her position using his position.
Donald Trump is currently fulfilling his side of the special relationship, which is apparently the highest level of special.
Apparently, Donald Trump told Theresa May to sue the EU.
If I'd give her a suggestion, I could fully understand why she thought it was a little bit tough.
Okay, the whole country wants to know, Prime Minister, what was that brutal, tough suggestion?
He told me I should sue the EU.
Sue the EU.
Sue the EU.
Not go into negotiations, sue them.
Actually, no, no.
We're going into that again.
We're going into negotiations with them.
I wish I could critique this, but unfortunately, I have absolutely no idea whether it's possible for Britain to sue the EU over Brexit.
I do think it would be hilarious to do so, though.
But it is really frustrating to see Theresa May negotiating with such a weak position when it comes to the European Union, especially given how Donald Trump's visit to the UK has given her such a strong hand.
For example, last Sunday, the Independent reported that Europe's leaders were scared to death that Donald Trump would pull out US troops from the continent, leaving them at the mercy of Vladimir Putin and their own defences.
Strike one for Theresa May.
During his visit, Trump said that a US-UK trade deal was absolutely possible.
He is lining the US up in our court.
The United States is siding with Britain in Brexit.
That's how much of a powerful ally we have against the failing European Union.
This changes the balance of power immensely.
Trump is on May's side.
He wants her to win, and she is too fucking weak to see it.
The world is apparently begging for trade deals with us, in fact, says the UK's trade chief.
But I mean, what does he know?
He's only the chief of UK trade.
What an amateur.
Apparently, he thinks that voters will look back on Brexit in 10 years after leaving the UN wonder why we were so negative about our future, which is something I've been saying for quite some time.
He said the world is begging for the UK to be able to trade with it, and that the opportunities for new trade deals were enormous.
He said that the EU travels as fast as the slowage carriage in the train, and now Britain can move faster and further with our trading partners.
And he is, of course, right.
And who would our trading partners be?
Oh, that's right.
The United States.
One of the best markets to have open access to in the entire world.
And Donald Trump is lining up to help you.
And he's not wrong.
You've got analysts at the Sunday Times and at The Spectator all saying the same thing.
And that's because what they're saying is true.
It's obvious that if the EU is controlling the regulations by which trade comes into Britain, essentially what Donald Trump says that he will have to deal with the EU to negotiate with us is correct.
And he's going out of his way to strengthen Theresa May's hand and she is too weak or too myopic to change her position.
When Donald Trump is in her corner, she should be the hardest of hard Brexiteers.
She should be spouting fire and brimstone at the European Union, making them realize that the world on which they stand is crumbling and the best option for them is to come to the table on reasonable terms and give us what we want.
Because we don't want to see the European Union destroyed, we want to see a fair deal.
But instead, Theresa May is showing no spine at all.
Theresa May, we risk ending up with no Brexit deal at all.
The Prime Minister has warned rebels on both sides of her party that there is no alternative to her Checkers plan.
Absolute nonsense.
The Checkers Plan is not Brexit.
The Checkers Plan will leave us remaining essentially within the European Union.
The only other alternative is a hard Brexit, where we leave and we start trading with the Anglosphere and others, which is, as you can see, something very likely, given how the rest of the Anglosphere and the rest of the world would love to trade directly with us, because we can actually create trade agreements with them that suit them and us.
Theresa May's intervention followed from demands from Brexiteers that she change her approach or face a leadership challenge.
As we discussed last week, she unfortunately will win a leadership challenge.
Hitting back at accusations made by critics, including the now resigned David Davis and Boris Johnson, May insisted her proposed solution would restore national sovereignty, end the payment of vast membership subscriptions to Brussels, and allow for an independent trade policy and create new economic and security partnership with the EU.
None of that is true.
In fact, I will let the Guardian demonstrate for me just because it's a lot easier.
And I can't actually believe I found a Guardian article that actually is correct.
It has proved in 10 extraordinary days since Theresa May tried to unite her cabinet over Brexit at Checkers.
She bet the entire farm on the Checkers deal holding, said a former cabinet minister on Sunday.
But now we're in a far worse mess than we were before.
Just like when she called a referendum, in fact.
No one in May's team could have predicted in their wildest nightmares how the past week would unravel.
First came the resignations of her secretary David Davis, the Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, just three days after they professed themselves loyal to the Chequers Accord.
Further resignations of more junior figures in the government followed.
Downing Street staff prayed that was the end of it.
Enter Donald Trump.
The US president gave the Brexit crisis a transatlantic rocket boost that propelled it to new heights.
In an interview with The Sun, he laid into the Checkers deal saying it would kill off hopes of a US-UK trade deal, then criticised his host for not listening to his advice on Brexit, and even said Johnson, his eyes on May's job, would make an excellent prime minister.
He would definitely be better than May, and everything else he said was true, and he was working in May's favour just by mentioning this.
There was deep unhappiness at May's attempts at Checkers to foist a soft Brexit on the country, which is evident at all levels of her party, and let's be honest, everyone else is.
The local associations are in complete turmoil, said one senior Tory MP.
In fact, many Conservatives, particularly those who backed Lee in the EU referendum, are in despair, as borne out by an opinion poll published in The Observer today showing Tory support hemorrhaging and a surge in backing UKIP, which had seemed dead on its feet earlier this year.
That's right, ladies and gentlemen.
Join UKIP and save the world.
The numbers who approve on May's leadership in general and on Brexit have nosedived.
The Tories, who were two points ahead of Labour five weeks ago, are now four points behind Jeremy Corbyn's party.
Brexit is fast rising up the list of subjects the public see as most pressing.
I can only imagine why.
A senior Tory backbencher on the 1922 Executive Committee said on Thursday that May had the best chief whip ever that would still save her.
He is called Jeremy Corbyn.
Just mention the threat of a Corbyn government and our people come into line.
Yes, but that's not going to save you if Brexit has been made a shambles.
But while playing the Corbyn card works with many MPs, if their local party associations rise up against May en masse, they will have to move and she is doomed.
She is so weak that Tory Remain voters will back away from trying to inflict a defeat on May over the customs union because, quote, the poor woman is in such a desperate situation, I think we'll have to wait till September.
As one hardline Remainer put it, she is pathetic.
The bigger problem for May, however, could come from the other flank, the hard Tory Brexiteers on the right of the party who see the Checkers plan as an appalling betrayal because it is.
There are strong rumours that some in the European Reform Group led by Jacob Reesmog, I think it's the European Research Group actually, but maybe that's just me, who has put down a series of wrecking amendments, could refuse to either back the bill by abstaining or voting against a third reading.
If all the opposition parties vote against, as most expect them to, it would only take seven Tories to abstain or four to vote against to inflict what would be a devastating blow on the Prime Minister.
To lose key pieces of Brexit-related legislation would suggest the government was unable to govern.
It's not looking good for Theresa May, and as David Davis says, the PM is being dishonest over his Brexit alternative.
There is an alternative, it is a hard Brexit.
The former Brexit secretary accused the government of having blinked in its negotiations with Brussels by abandoning his plan and replacing it with a deal that would see Britain stick to EU laws on the sale of goods.
Saying that she blinked is rather generous.
It looks like she bent over the table and pulled up a skirt.
It is, however, nice to see The Guardian reporting that UKIP is reviving.
Coming back from the dead, as it were, as Labour amazingly opens up the biggest lead over the Tories since the general election, which is honestly incredible.
It's absolutely incredible.
The opinion poll from The Observer puts Labour on 40%, the same score as last month, but four points ahead of the Tories have dropped by six points since early June to 36%.
Theresa May's leadership ratings are nosediving, while Jeremy Corbyn's are remaining stable and relatively low.
And this is in the face of Jeremy Corbyn being such an incompetent buffoon that his own party are deceiving him into thinking that he is running the party when in fact he isn't.
Labour HQ used Facebook ads to deceive Jeremy Corbyn, tricking him into thinking the wasteful left-wing campaign messages that are being sent out on social media are actually being sent.
When in fact, they are doing something different behind his back.
The campaign chiefs at Labour HQ decided to hoodwink their own leader because they disapproved of some of Corbyn's left-wing messages.
They convinced him that they were following his campaign plans by spending £5,000 on ads solely designed to be seen by Corbyn, his aides, and their favourite journalists, while pouring far more money into ads with different messages for ordinary voters.
I wonder why you would need to do that.
Is it the things that Corbyn's asking for are so unbelievably off the wall that the average voter would never agree to them and therefore you can't just contravene the leader, but you also know that the voting base is going to tell you to get fucked, so you have to divorce Jeremy Corbyn's leadership from what the public actually thinks Jeremy Corbyn's leadership is going to be.
That is the kind of unbelievably poor state in which the Labour Party is currently in, and they're still more popular than the Conservatives.
Let that sink fucking in.
In fact, speaking of the absolute state of the left, oh, Trump kept the 92-year-old Queen of England waiting on stage for 15 minutes!
Well, it's the Queen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland and Commonwealth, just so you know Vice News, who have suddenly come over all patriotic for reasons unknown.
But let's be honest, Trump probably isn't in control of when he has to be at a certain place and at what time.
He's probably not even in control of how he gets there.
And then you have this video going around, which has had nearly 40,000 retweets that the lefties are getting up in arms about.
How dare Donald Trump disrespect the Queen?
I don't even know what's happening.
Watch.
Traditionally, the Queen left this duty to the Duke of Edinburgh, who has now retired from public affairs.
Apparently, that's him being absolutely clueless, thoughtless, classless, and lacking in any dignity and without a shred of respect.
Here's a longer clip of the video, I
mean, I don't know about anyone else.
It just looks like he doesn't know what he's supposed to be doing and she's trying to give him instruction.
And we're looking at a 92-year-old and a 71-year-old.
But apparently, this is the world's greatest insult to the Queen of England, a monarch that should never be offended.
And I personally filmed this video at the anti-Trump protest at Parliament Square outside of Parliament because these are the people who are objecting to Donald Trump arriving and also the people who are trying to get him re-elected in 2020.
Absolutely baffling, but they really do seem to be getting Trump re-elected for 2020.
So it's a good thing he's running.
When asked in an interview by Piers Morgan, he said, well, I fully intend to run.
It seems like everybody wants me to.
I'm one of those people.
He said that he did not see any Democrats who could beat him.
I don't see anybody.
I know them all and I don't see anybody.
Neither do I.
I can't even imagine who the Democrats are going to run against Trump that's going to do half as well as him.
Here's Owen Jones at the Trump protest, which I just want to let you know was about 20,000 people, not 250,000 people.
I know because I was there.
But this is Owen Jones leading the Trump re-election campaign.
Take it away, Owen.
We're sending a message to the world that we won't stand for the legitimization of racism, bigotry and misogyny.
That's what, of course, Donald Trump personifies.
But that we weren't going to let him use this as a PR exercise, Britain as campaign fodder for his bigotry and hatred and misogyny.
You know, the red carpet treatment, meeting the Queen.
Instead, we've given a message to the entire world what we think of the bigotry he represents.
But also it's a message to all those who feel legitimized by him.
The far right is on the march in this country and across Europe.
They feel emboldened because they think they have one of their own in the White House.
And we have to send a strong, unambiguous message that we will fight you.
We will drag you back.
We will not allow you, as in the past, to cause the destruction that you have caused then.
But also, it's about a whole range of issues, that we're not going to become the puppet of Donald Trump.
That's what our government want.
Whether it be a trade deal that privatises the NHS and goes to a race to the bottom in standards, like in the environment or workers.
That we won't join another war in the likes of Iran, which many of Donald Trump's key advisors want him to do.
Now, on climate change, we won't tolerate the world's biggest polluter walking away from the Paris Accords on climate change.
We will stand against everything that you represent, that Donald Trump represents, and we will instead build a new politics, which instead of scapegoating migrants and Muslims and refugees for crimes caused by the powerful, builds a new society running the interests of the majority.
Honestly, I am glad that these are the people that are going to be resisting.
Who would vote for this?
Why would anyone choose to be on the same team as these people?
But as the left-wing activists froth themselves up into a disgusting lava, Trump was out playing golf on his golf course in Scotland.
The man just can't stop winning.
When they are busy leading the re-election campaign for him by being vile, disgusting and infested with communists, Donald Trump is busy helping the UK, or at least trying to.
I suppose you can lead Theresa May to water, but you can't make her drink.
And then he's out chilling out playing golf on his day off.
What a bloody good job he is doing.
Oh yeah, and according to Reuters, Trump's ambassador for Britain is lobbying our country on behalf of Tommy Robinson.
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