Better a champagne socialist than a buckfast Tory
Irvine Welsh
#WritingFromIsolationWard
Every morning in the Philippines, a handful of bodies are found littering the streets. Their faces are often covered in black plastic tape. Sometimes there are signs of torture. Usually, they have been shot in the head. Few bother police – they are usually suspected of being responsible.
This is a lead line into a story about a country that embraced “The Good old Days” that never really existed anywhere but in the minds of violent misanthropes. Now though….
Trump will launch a “victory tour” on Thursday in Ohio to thank his supporters. Earlier this month a Trump campaign staffer suggested that the tour will include “the states that we won and the swing states we flipped over,” suggesting that stops in Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are forthcoming.
Warren Ellis, you bastard, you are our oracle. Where is our Spider Jerusalem now?
Trump’s pledge to be “friendlier to businesses by easing regulations and overhauling the corporate tax code” means that the 1,000 jobs Trump reportedly saved—1,000 are still going to Mexico—are now going to be used as a wedge to pass a massive tax cut that will overwhelmingly benefit the Carrier workers’ bosses, while the “easing” of regulations could hurt their ability to make a living wage, stay safe at work, keep their jobs, or all three. So Trump went to Indiana with a deal that benefited the people who wanted to move jobs to Mexico—and are still moving 1,000 jobs there—and declared it a victory for workers when it’s a victory for their bosses.
Many Trump voters went for him for simple reasons that ran a gamut: they didn’t know what else to do, they were fearful, they were entitled, they were angry and embittered, they were racist and malicious, they were confused and without malice, they were ignorant, they were not ignorant — they do not accept life in America as it is today, and they will vote, if courted, for the one guy willing to walk through life as a six foot upraised middle finger to everything known and despised. Maybe some of his promises will come true — and failing that, at least we sent a big “fuck you” up the flagpole.
President-elect Donald J. Trump on Sunday chose Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and a loyal campaign adviser, to be his White House chief of staff, turning to a Washington insider whose friendship with the House speaker, Paul D. Ryan, could help secure early legislative victories.
He’s gonna take on the Establishment! He’s not an insider. Suuuuree