Dump Young on Trump

In an On Line Opinion piece “What Australians should understand about Donald J Trump“ On Line Opinion editor Graham Young stated:

Australians, and indeed most of the world, need to broaden their minds, and their sources of information when it comes to Donald J. Trump, 45th, and perhaps 47th, president of the United States of America.

Otherwise, they risk their own, and the world's, security.

Misreading President Trump, and the forces that drive him, seems to be a developed world pastime.

He added:

It appears that most Australians get their U.S. news indirectly from CNN and The New York Times, barely filtered by the local media, or directly, via the internet.

They seem not to realise that CNN is not to be taken seriously at all, and that The New York Times has caught dementia in its old age.

Rather than the source of all the news that's fit to print, the Times has veered off the beaten track, hired a ton of fabulists as its staff, and allowed them to run its operations.

The New York Times no longer produces high quality journalism it was once known for.

I disagree strongly with Graham Young on Donald Trump, It is unlikely that he will publish my disagreement, but at least let me try, and submit it to On Line Opinion.

First is that I regard the New York Times as one of the most reliable newspapers in the world. As of February 2024, New York Times has 10.36 million subscribers, with 9.7 million online subscribers and 660,000 print subscribers and is the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States behind the Wall Street Journal.

But if you want a reliable opinion, ask a web browser “Is the New York Times a reliable newspaper?” You will find that most surveys state it has a left or liberal bias, but that it is believed to be factual. Ask on AI and you get the answer: The New York Times has a long-standing reputation for upholding high editorial standards and rigorous fact-checking processes. The newspaper has a team of experienced editors and fact-checkers who are responsible for ensuring the accuracy and credibility of the information published in their articles.

So much for Graham Young's opinion that the New York Times has caught dementia in its old age.

CNN is Cable News Network, an American basic cable and satellite television channel owned by the CNN Worldwide division of Warner Bros. Full coverage is available on the web, Readers can conclude, as did this writer, that CNN‘s claim to be repositioning itself to be a network that focused on "both sides of every issue”, makes it a balanced news source, neither pro- nor anti-Trump. So why did Graham Young write on Donald Trump.

Otherwise, they (Australians) risk their own, and the world's, security.

Misreading President Trump, and the forces that drive him, seems to be a developed world pastime.

Because he supports Trump. This article argues the opposite. That Trump is a disaster and will be such to the US and the world if elected. I provide five reasons, all supported by factual evidence

First Trump is dishonest. CNN reported:

Former President Donald Trump has responded to his federal indictment the way he has responded to various other crises – with a blizzard of dishonesty.

In posts on his social media platform and in Saturday speeches in Georgia and North Carolina, Trump made numerous false or misleading claims about his handling of classified documents, the FBI’s conduct in the related investigation, the Presidential Records Act, his dealings with the federal government prior to the search of his Mar-a-Lago club and residence,

The 2024 presidential campaign is now a favourite D.C. guessing game: How many guilty verdicts will Trump rack up before the vote? His four criminal cases are in a legal traffic jam, with prosecutors jostling to start trials in New York City, Washington D.C., Atlanta and South Florida

National Public Radio media critic David Folkenflik, editor of the 2011 book “Page One: Inside The New York Times and the Future of Journalism.”

He cited an exhaustive Times report that contended President Donald Trump and his father, Fred, avoided taxes by using a sham corporation, undervaluing their assets and taking improper tax deductions. Much of the 15,000-word story was based on thousands of financial documents, many of them posted on the Times website. The work was authoritative, with the newspaper clearly laying out the facts, Folkenflik said.

“They weren’t being contentious. They weren’t being barbed. They weren’t being snarky,” he said. “They were being direct and writing plainly and clearly and intensively about an issue of great importance.”

Second. Trump is a war monger.

America’s Congress continues to refuse to pass a support package for Ukraine. Add to this Donald Trump’s talk of letting Russia do “whatever the hell they want” with “delinquent” NATO members, and European security is not looking very secure at all.

A second Donald Trump presidency could spell the end of democracy in America and prove “devastating for the world order”, Adam Kinzinger, a Republican former congressman, has warned in an interview with the Guardian.

Third. Australians do not want to import any United States policies, First gun control. Trump, who got an early endorsement from the NRA before he was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate in 2016, gave mixed signals over his views on gun reform in the U.S. while in the White House The former president and his rivals for the Republican nomination have vowed to defend and expand gun rights in the wake of rampages in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Fourth Trump on public executions. A search on the internet will tell you that the former president wants to expand the use of the death penalty, and expand the federal government's options for carrying out death sentences. One website, Rolling Stone claims

Trump Plans to Bring Back Firing Squads, Group Executions if He Retakes White House.

Vanity Fair claims he wants to bring back hangings .It also says he is a is “a disturbed individual with a strong penchant for violence.” Vanity is an American monthly magazine of popular culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast, one of the world's most renowned media companies,

Mr Trump is the country's most prolific execution president in more than a century, overseeing the executions of 13 death row inmates since July of this year. The US Justice Department has announced a halt on federal executions after a historic use of capital punishment by the Trump administration, which killed 13 people in executions over six months.

Australia, as has most of the civilised world, long given up on public executions The last execution in Australia took place in 1967, when Ronald Ryan was hung in Victoria.

Fifth.Trump is a climate change denier. Donald Trump’s withdrawal of his country from the Paris accord adopted in 2015 by 195 nations, with 147 ratifying it - including the United States, which is the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter, thus making the United States the only country in the world that will not participate in the pact.

So the impression that most of us suspect. that a Donald Trump election would be a disaster for the world is correct.

So why did Graham Young, editor of On Line Opinion post “What Australians should understand about Donald J Trump“? He clearly supports Trump.

On Line Opinion is owned and published by Brisbane based conservative political 'think tank.' the Australian Institute for Progress Ltd (AIP). The AIP receives funding from property developers, and according to the Executive Director, it is 'ideologically centre-right', with its criticisms favouring right-wing political parties. Prior to 2014 the AIP was called The National Forum. In 2009, The Age reported that the board of The National Forum had editorial oversight over On Line Opinion.

The answer is clearly political. Both Trump and On Line Opinion are right wing conservative. The Economist newspaper tells us Donald Trump is a voice of the conservative media. Conservatism, according to many definitions, is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values.

There is a conflict here. On Line Opinion is owned by the Australian Institute for Progress, having recently changed its name from The National Forum. But progress and conservatism are in direct conflict. The world has seen much change over the centuries.

The list of social developments over the history of the world is long and inexorable: Ending feudalism, slavery, the divine right of kings, the development of parliamentary democracy, poor laws, public housing for the poor, the 40-hour week, minimum wages, trade unions, national health schemes. If conservatives had won these battles over the centuries, we would still be in the dark ages, nasty, brutish and short, as Thomas Hobbes said in Leviathan, in 1651. Yet even today conservative republicans in the US have rejected a national health scheme – Obama care. Americans have shorter life spans than people in other high-income countries, Australians included, one reason being inadequate health care.

An Institute for Progress promoting conservative values is a misnomer, even misleading. That is my major concern with Graham Young’s article.