A frenzy over the temporary disappearance of Trump from his permanent spot in front of a slavering media, ended all too soon with a golf-course sighting - of course.
As Trump’s authoritarianism takes root in America ‘Rotting Old Fart Trashes Everything’ is hardly a new phenomenon but no one as completely stupid has done it as brashly, and with such naked connivance of people who should know better.
The carnage wrought on Britain by the Brexit lunatics is as nothing compared to the US national and global collateral damage since January of this year.
Some Trump supporters are bleating – this isn’t what they wanted. Many – now being thrown off basic healthcare. To them I say – as it’s phrased here in Scotland - ‘get tae f--k’, they did this.
Trump was never subtle. Not sensing the latent now blatant authoritarianism is to be so naïve you should be in nappies (like Trump). Or its wilful ignorance because of a blind addiction to bigotry.
Britain’s weevil Trump, Nigel Farage is also successfully enriching his privileged self while targeting migrants. Note the ugly protests outside migrant facilities, ostensibly because folk are ‘worried about their women’. Meanwhile no protests outside police stations despite the problem Britain has with sexual abuse of women by serving police officers. No protests outside the BBC despite their terrible record of shielding sexual predators (e.g. Jimmy Saville) etc, etc.
My personal teeny tiny trigger this week was an email from an old site I inhabit Bandcamp, popular mainly with musicians but also a few of us poets who do (did) performance poetry, poetry stories and spoken word - click here Casey & the Surfmen (audio)
Bandcamp provides a platform for the sorts of artists who used to be able to get by at the lower end of things and who now find it almost impossible to break through the solid celebrity crust that has formed over both the arts and entertainment industry. Like much else in life – its ALL or NOTHING now, no middle ground. Success has less and less to do with talent and more to do with have you managed that relentless social media frenzy or have you shagged someone who’s been on the telly.
Tariffs – just one part of Trumps wrecking ball approach – reached their poisonous tentacles into my tiny corner of existence this week with Bandcamp having to explaining to artists (mainly musicians) how to suspend sales of merchandise to the US so that they/their fans are not caught in the hideous tariff trap. Until when? Who knows.
Newspapers reported gleefully that last Friday a US appeals court ruled that many of Trump’s tariffs are ‘illegal’. Er – yeah – because the 32x convicted felon and multiple sexual abuser and CLOSE pals of one of the worst known paedophiles in recent US history really cares about the law...
Many artists – including me – find imaginative ways to pay our bills so that we can continue to do what we love / are driven to do. It was hard before covid to make a living from creative endeavours. And in the post-covid, more reactionary, right-wing world – no one in power wants creative, critical thinkers clogging up the route to riches by seeing, saying, singing or sonnetising their truth.
For myself I’ve done cleaning jobs – including public toilets. Currently I work minimum-wage zero-hours contract agency work (the very type I’ve written and cartooned about on this blog) to pay my bills because to go back to Law would mean giving up writing, creative thinking, political examination and all that I value.
So, on behalf of my fellow artists – especially the ones, unlike me, who do the merch thing, while it may not be edifying or subtle - to those who follow, support or supported the rabid wreckers of this world, because they couldn’t resist the gross bigotry, even if it meant the destruction of everything good, they are a massive pile of fewmets who can yes ‘get tae f--k’.
R.O.F.T.E is not a new phenomenon – it’s just spread faster, stinks worse plus – as per my previous post - it may be too late in humanity’s day to fix this time...
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NB; this was a pre-post as I’m busy Tues so – I was picking up on poor economic news Sunday and of course there is always Ukraine, Gaza, starvation, environmental catastrophe so if the world ended between Sunday and Tuesday – SOZ.
* And – because I’ve not said it in a while and folk are asking again – I am NOT on any social media, never have been, do not have a smartphone – in effect I do not exist other than in the fading ‘real’ world… but you can check out my very obscure old scribblings here My BOOKS and my environmental story poem audio on Bandcamp - above.