The Ebb and Flow
The War on Woke in the United States, and here in New Zealand, is starting to get tricky.
Chris Trotter
Known principally for his political commentaries in The Dominion Post, The ODT, The Press and the late, lamented Independent, and for "No Left Turn", his 2007 history of the Left/Right struggle in NZ.
Trump and the US Gravitational Pull
A determined American president does not need to retreat before the angry objections of globalisation’s defenders: not when he commands the economic and military resources of the world’s most powerful nation state.
These Are Just Impossible Things
The collective memory of the average Kiwi voter warns them that although the promise of a good life for everybody sounds wonderful, the Greens would never entrust the ordinary people of New Zealand with the power to make it happen – and neither would their bosses.
Making Sense of King Donald
Kings, dictators and populist presidents don’t look at the world that way.
Can the Woke Left-Wing Leopards Change Their Spots?
This is Chris Hipkins’ toughest challenge: to persuade the voters that his left-wing leopards have, indeed, become conventionally gendered, non-woke pussy cats.
A Better Idea
Donald Trump’s instinct is to relocate the inhabitants, flatten what’s left and build the sort of city that people from all around the world would want to inhabit.
Having a Chat Over Coffee
The SUP would rather keep control of the losing side, than lose control of the winning side. Labour’s exactly the same.
Which Sort of People?
Only a populist leader can be trusted to give them what they want – which is, usually, to blow the system up.
Fascism in the USA? Not Even Close
Only a rejuvenated and aggressive left, with the working class behind it, could secure the triumph of fascism in America – and no such left exists.
On Writing to the King
Such comments reveal just how frayed the bonds of constitutional loyalty have become and how little stock the opposition parties now put in the democratic norms of representative government.
How They Set the Pattern
Māori and their left-wing allies are both well aware that when the key institutions of the state are in your hands, guns are an unwelcome distraction.
Covid-19 and the State
Exposing the purposes of power. When people come to believe that the danger was exaggerated and measures to combat it are barely effective or even harmful, then the state’s power disintegrates and it can only be buttressed by ever-more-draconian controls.
This Is Such a Shameful Capitulation
We can have democracy or we can have indigenous sovereignty. We can’t have both.
The US Is Now Transformed
The Republican Party can now become a truly ‘national’ political institution.