There’s a real “no winners” vibe to both the announcement Donald Trump Jr is postponing his Australian tour and its aftermath. Opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson is probably glad he reached his quota of calling something, anything, “woke” for the day in criticising Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil’s tweets that called Trump Jr a “sore loser” and a “big baby” who “isn’t very popular”. O’Neil had also said that his father, former president Donald Trump, had “lost an election fair and square”.
But content hounds will be disappointed to miss out on the spectacle of a sniffling, sweat-drenched Trump Jr owning the left by talking about his father’s genitals. And it’s certainly not a good day for O’Neil, who was forced to delete the tweets (reportedly under orders from the PM’s office), having publicly mocked the son of a famously chaotic and thin-skinned political figure, and made international headlines doing so, less than 18 months out from an election that might once again make him the president of our most powerful ally.
Trump Jr’s postponement came on Wednesday after an organiser for Turning Point Australia wrote: “It seems America isn’t the only country that makes it difficult for the Trumps … Hold on to your tickets, this is a short delay nothing more #CancelCulture.”
The government has made it clear that Trump Jr got his visa, and both O’Neil and Immigration Minister Andrew Giles have hinted the decision may have more to do with slow ticket sales than cancel culture. Nigel Farage, proving he is incapable of embarrassment by taking a job as Trump Jr’s “support act”, insists tickets are selling well, telling Twitter that 8000 tickets have already been sold but “very late granting of a visa left too little time for travel logistics” and “many are saying that the late visa is in effect a form of cancel culture”.
If Turning Point Australia’s and Farage’s claims are true that the Australian government has made it unduly difficult for a Trump to get into the country, it’s a chilling development. I mean, can you imagine being denied entry to a supposedly free and democratic country, just because of your political beliefs? Who would punish a child for the actions of their parents like this? What’s next, being stopped at the border and interrogated on your personal views about the country’s political leaders? Does Trump Jr’s humanity not come into it?
A very apt description though in proper Austrlian Ms O”Neil could have added sook and spoiled brat. The biggest threat to AUKUS for all the LNP bleaters would be Trump Snr. He is no one’s ally but his own. One thing does bother me in all this though. Why is the treasonous Farage allowed into this country? he has spouted nasty racist crap for years. His party was little more than a wildly successful tool for Putin and indeed had plenty of Russian funding. Certainly the tool of Putin applies to both Donald Trumps as well, but heaven’s why would we want them anyway?
IKR, cancel the fuck out of these N4zis.
IKR, cancel the fck out of these N4zis.
If MFWs did stop it, fanbloodytastic, only nut cases would pay to listen to that nob.
If Farage’s ticket sales information is correct it’s unnerving to think that 8,000 Australians are so misguided & gullible.
I think Farage’s word can be counted on as gospel, don’t you . . . cough . . .
“Nigel Farage” is a splendid anagram of that gentleman’s nemesis. Answer not publishable anywhere since about 1961.
his claimed bank account cancellation…
Whingeing Pom cricketers! Whingeing Trump junior!
Those two events alone make me very grateful for the report of Commissioner Catherine Holmes, released this morning.
MFW posted on facebook that the main/real reason that the Don Jr Show is in limbo, is because MFWs organised boycotts of the venues planning to host young Donnie … and that the fact this is not acknowledged and/or widely reported is because the neo-liberal patriarchy don’t want the general public to know how effective boycotts actually are
i’d be interested in Crikey’s take on this version of events … if not specifically, then at least something on the effectiveness of consumer boycotts in general – thanks
I give up, who are they?
The best that surfaced from Google was Melbourne Writers’ Festival.
It was a name gleefully adopted by activists for their group as a result of a description of them in a text Spud sent to another party (a NewsCorpse hack IIRC) but included one of them in error.
NWS nor would it pass the madBot – think Angy Fornicating Magical Women.
I thought it was in response to something Alan Jones said?
The immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has apologised for calling the political editor of the Sunday Telegraph, Samantha Maiden, “a mad f8cking w1tch” in a text message that he accidentally sent to the journalist herself. Dutton intended to send the text to the ousted former minister Jamie Briggs.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jan/04/peter-dutton-apologises-for-calling-journalist-a-mad-witch-in-text-message
Check mfw dot org dot au
MFW had no control over the logistics of him applying for a visa within appropriate timeframes.