Making America great again?

There has been enough egg on the faces of journalists both of the Left and the Right since Donald Trump's win to make several omelettes, and not particularly savoury omelettes at that. The Left have indulged in temper tantrums bewailing how someone who is racist, sexist,fascist, misogynistic, xenophobic and Islamophobic could possibly have won the election for President. Incited by this rhetoric which has been the prevailing narrative in the USA over the election cycle, riots have erupted in several of the "blue" states in the USA with mobs (some of whom were paid to perform) throwing stuff, damaging buildings etc. The slogan more or less is "we will not accept this election result, we will make it impossible for Trump to govern". Many in these mobs did not actually bother to vote - or perhaps they were waiting to be paid to do so by GetUp or Soros or whoever.

The Left media obviously never heard the dictum of my old debating tutor who advised: "Once you mention Hitler or compare someone to Hitler, you have lost the debate". While the Left did indulge in some conflating of Trump with Hitler, they have now moved on seamlessly from the demonisation of Trump to the sanctification of Fidel Castro. The recently deceased communist tyrant who murdered somewhere between 50,000 to 70,000 of his own people is lauded as a revolutionary hero. Yes, I know former Cuban President, Batista, was a tyrant too, but Fidel was supposed to liberate Cuba from all that. After his death, American reporters went to Havana to film people crying on their way to honour a dictator who had recommended that the Soviets launch a nuclear attack on the United States.

Jill Stein, the Green Party US presidential candidate who garnered about l.5% of the vote and is working with Hillary Clinton's campaign team to overturn Trump's election win, describes Fidel Castro as "a symbol of the struggle for justice in the shadow of empire."

And it is not just the media: behold Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. Michelle Malkin, senior editor at Conservative Review reports:

Mourning the death of repressive dictator Fidel Castro, Trudeau hailed his longtime family friend as a 'larger than life leader who served his people for almost half a century.' Actually, El Comandante ruled with an iron fist and firing squads - serving himself to all of the island's land, private businesses and media, along with his own private yacht, private island, 20 homes, fleet of Mercedes limos and bevy of mistresses.

Trudeau's ridiculous mash note to the 'legendary revolutionary and orator' caused the social media backlash of the year. The hashtag #TrudeauEulogies erupted to mock Trudeau's soft-soaping of tyranny.

"As we mourn Emperor Caligula, let us always remember his steadfast devotion to Senate reform,' one Twitter user jibed in Trudeau-speak. Another joked. 'Kim Jong Il will always be remembered fondly for his leadership and contributions on climate change.' Stung, the Canadian tundra hunk's office announced Monday that he will not attend services for his beloved Uncle Fidel, who had served as a pallbearer at the funeral of his father, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau."

The reaction of journalists and commentators of the Right on Donald Trump's victory has been fascinating. Most of them adopted a "holier than thou" attitude after a l0-year-old crude conversation by Trump about women was publicised, and indicated they preferred the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.

Ignored by them is that Hillary does not accept any gestational limits on the killing of babies in utero, she and her acolytes in Planned Parenthood (which donated $US38 million to her campaign) are willing to abort babies a day before their due date of birth, presumably by crushing their skulls and siphoning out their brains. Trump has made clear this is unacceptable and that he will appoint strict constituionalist judges to the US Supreme Court, ie judges who do not see a right to abortion in some "penumbra" surrounding the 14th Amendment right to privacy.

The journalists of the Right don't care about this, and that is how they missed the clues about why an overwhelming majority of Evangelicals voted for Trump, and why for the first time in years, a majority of Catholics voted Republican, ie for Trump. Right-wing journalists in Australia blame misleading polls for their misleading commentaries and attributed Trump's win solely to unemployment in the rust-belt states, completely overlooking the pro-life issue.

Phyllis Schlalfy and Sarah Palin did not mislead - they saw something worthwhile in Trump right from the start of the primaries. Schlafly's book The Conservative Case for Trump was released a day after her death on 5th September 2016.

Meanwhile the jokes pile up:

• "Donald Trump is like a boisterous puppy that chased a car and caught it. Now what?"
• And there's a sad picture of Michelle Obama complaining that an illegal immigrant is about to take her job. (Trump's wife, Melania, is from Slovenia)
• Laura Ingraham, radio-talk show host commenting on Trump's decision not to prosecute Hillary Clinton said: "He isn't even President yet but he has already pardoned a turkey for Thanksgiving".
• That matches the cartoon of Hillary covered in feathers strutting around the Oval Office expecting President Obama to continue the tradition of pardoning a turkey for Thanksgiving.
• Another delightful cartoon shows a couple of Mexicans in sombreros on the Mexican side of the border, near a tall wire fence complete with watchtowers, and one saying to the other: "It's to stop Americans getting in if Trump is elected".

But the jokes are no match for the reality.

A Newsweek editor admitted that the infamous Hillary Clinton 'Madam President' issue was not proof read before being shipped out, and no one on the staff at the magazine had any hand in writing it.Appearing on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Newsweek political editor Matt Cooper attempted to defend the fact that Newsweek printed and shipped out commemorative issues declaring Hillary Clinton the next US President, days before the election even took place.The outlet even had Hillary sign some of the 125,000 copies of the magazine, which in its introduction labeled Trump supporters as "deplorable" and described his campaign as "fear and hate-based conservatism".

Cooper admitted to Carlson that he personally did not read the content of the issue before it was sent out, and neither did anyone on his staff. What's more, none of them even know who wrote the thing. "The writing in this is, shall we say, not up to the editorial standards of Newsweek," Cooper said, adding "no one on our staff wrote it. We subcontract out to a company."

"But when you read it before it went out, what did you say?" Carlson asked.

"Well, no, we didn't [read it]," Cooper replied. "We subcontract these commemorative issues to a company … so it's sort of been done on a separate track, and we did not review it before it went out."

Carlson asked what would've happened if the subcontractor printed something insane like the writings of Hitler, and then sent it out under the Newsweek banner, without the staff proof reading it."Well, if they had reprinted Mein Kampf, that would be even worse," Cooper admitted, claiming that in future the magazine will work harder to review the content being printed in such issues. (Try not to laugh - the copies of this issue of Newsweek are now a collector's item and worth thousands of dollars if you can get hold of a copy).

The internet is a veritable joke treasure-trove of editorials written in anticipation of Hillary Clinton winning.

Here's Marin Cogan (contributing editor, New York Magazine) in a piece prepared for Vox.com:

Hillary Clinton's victory is historic - a triumph that should not be overlooked. It marks the end of centuries of exclusion of women from the nation's top job. Even more remarkable was the way she won it: by running as a woman, who championed policies aimed at women, against an avatar of reactionary sexism. She won under politically tainted investigation, in spite of plenty of legitimate criticism, and in the face of an incredible amount of sexism. In voting for her, Americans rejected Donald Trump's old, macho vision of leadership and embraced a new paradigm, one that values not only a new style of leadership but also a policy outlook that prioritizes women and children.

That reference to Hillary Clinton prioritizing children suggests Cogan did not concentrate on her willingness to have babies aborted up to one day before their due date of birth by having their skulls crushed. There are hundreds of these third-trimester abortions in the USA.

Actually, Americans embraced a policy outlook that prioritizes America and Americans, something that does not seem to have dawned on our very own Paul Kelly, who writing in The Australian (30/11/16) asks "How will any Australian PM feel about standing next to Trump at a press conference?" Well I can understand that Bill Shorten if he is elected PM might feel a bit shaky after describing Trump as "barking mad", but I cannot see the urbane Malcolm Turnbull having any difficulty, and if he does, there are several worthy contenders such as Senator Cory Bernardi who would be happy to pose for a selfie with the Donald.

Rumour has it that a colleague was overheard dolefully asking President Obama in the Oval Office: "But what if Trump succeeds in making America great again?" Possibly an apocryphal tale, but we can hope.