Westministenders: May's Turd Way covered in Donald's Glittery Tickertape from his Parade

[RedToothBrush]

Where next?

Auditions for chief turd polisher to Mrs May are in full action, whilst those who don't believe in the turd, wade about knee deep in their own shit, still searching for that illusive plan for Brexit which doesn't stink to high heaven of crap.

After the dual resignation of Davis and Johnson, amongst the stench there is an air of uncertainity and expectation of all hell breaking loose.

In the last 48 hours we have been told that

1. May is more secure having crushed the brexiteers,
2. May about to be ousted by a no confidence vote, triggering a leadership election,
3. The Tory Party are about to split,
4. Brexiteers are in disarray fighting amongst themselves,
5. We will remain in the EU,
6. We get an EEA deal,
7. We will get no deal,
8. A People's vote is inevitable and
9. There will be a General Election.

Which only serves to merely highlight just how little of a clue ANYONE has about what happens next.

What bothers me now, is that Johnson seems not to have surfaced yet and there are rumours that Gove has gone to ground, whilst Donald Trump is practically on the plane and is stirring the pot praising Johnson.

Instead we seem to have a series of junior ministers and Tory HQ figures quitting in a long drawn out coordinated toy throwing out of the pram exercise, to try and get what hard brexiteers want.

If I had to hazard a guess at the general silence from key figures, I might be tempted to say that someone is going to use Trump's visit to throw a political grenade and actively invite him to endorse them.

That might sound ridiculous given that the public hates Trump, but that loses sight of the fact that the people who will vote for the next leader of the Tory Party are overwhelming authoritarian leaning and likely to be those who like Trump and would be impressed by such a move.

I note this tweet today from the wise Sarah Kendzior:

Sarah Kendzior @sarahkendzior
"There are parallels to past authoritarianism, but what's happening with Trump, in the digital age, is new and transnational. The president's loyalty is not necessarily to a state but to foreign leaders and multinational criminal alliances. The state is just something to sell."

It is clear that others in the parliamentary party will be very alarmed at the prospect. There were Tory MPs who were openly tweeted how please that disgusting Johnson had gone and are no fans of Trump.

May still seems to think that she can get her plan through and approved by the EU in its current form. The White Paper is due on Thursday.

Much speculation is that it will be significant if she fails to produce this on time, as she will have capitulated to the Brexiteers. And this will lead to the EU just giving up on us anyway.

She also announced to the Cabinet today, that preparations for No Deal were to be stepped up significantly.

We still are left wondering who, she is stitching up; the Brexiteers whose heads are currently exploding or the friends she keeps closest to her (friends? or ideological enemies).

The problem is that there just no other viable way forward at the moment, as the country is divided, both Labour and the Conservatives are divided and are more interested in their own future than that of the party and there are far too many ambitious 'celebrity MPs' who want to make their mark. No one gives a shit about ordinary workers or business. Plus there is the divine observation that DGRossetti made at the end of the last thread: The biggest obstacle to Brexit has been Brexiteers

The grab for post-Brexit power shows the whole of Westminister up as the cess pit of self interest it is, with Boris Johnson merely its biggest figure head.

Wait until the GFA officially has its head put on the chopping block awaiting its fate. Perhaps we can flog NI to Donald and get a Brexit Dividend afterall.

I must admit to finding it hard to have a view that is altogether different to this:
James Patrick @J_amesp
There is no way back from all of this. The next seven days simply decide how badly - on a scale of fucked to smouldering crater - it is going to end.

One final predictation, which I am DAMN certain of: Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday are all going to be grim for political watching if you are into democratic values and principles. It will be a 4 day sales pitch for Brand Trump in all its All American Overblown Horror that Brits tend to find utterly distasteful. Expect the red carpet of full of turd glitter to be rolled out for Donald Trump Show. Expect May to embarass herself in her fawning all over him, as if she's star struck. Expect that hideously cringeworthy photo thats totally inevitable.

Politics is going to get worse. It may never get better.

(But yay football gets to cover it all up... Come on England!)

James Landale @BBCJLandale
I understand @realDonaldTrump is expected address his @TheSun interview directly in his forthcoming news conference with @theresa_may and attempt to "reset" his remarks. We shall see.

TAKE COVER!!!! INCOMING!
HIDE WHILST YOU STILL CAN.

TRUMPS ABOUT TO DROP A VERBAL NUKE.

rocks and cries in the corner

Stating with the fact he has a preferred candidate (is Trump actually telling Tories to put Boris up ?).

How dare he.

I'm so pissed off today. It been two years and it never goes away. It's the most absurd cataclysmic self imposed clusterfuck imaginable. I'm sick of it.

Imagine if May, Merkel or Macron wittered on about their preferred US presidential candidate.

Why is the US and it's vile protectionist President ok. Why are Russian threats and incursions to cyber, air and land space not an issue? Yet reasonable cultured right minded European liberal values are reviled? It's so illogical.

Can any xenophobes please explain?
•Why are half brained orange Americans ok?
• Why are educated, cultured eloquent E.U. leaders not ok?

•Why is it ok for us to become a submissive 53rd state?
•Why is it not ok for us to be a joint leader of a 28 country Union?

• Why can we be dictated to by Trump who our next leader is ?
•Why can we not make joint rules about goods and food?

•Is it also ok if Trump's dream team includes an unofficial deputy like Farage.He is a bit Orange too of course? ( Seems to me orange is the new black. Except black is not ok of course)

•Is Trumpy ok because he's half Scottish?

It actually seems to me that the fear -of -brown -foreigner xenophobia doesn't explain the current mindset completely .There's a class element too.

Fake tanned, chavvy and self made new money like Trump is ok. Very posh and aristocratic old money is also ok? Working class is also ok.

However middle class and educated as exemplified by European politicians is just not ok. The E.U. and it's leaders would never have been so reviled here, if only some public figure heads could be a bit more Alf Garnet.

Sorry I'm ranting senselessly. Really pissed off and worried today.

Rolling over 800+ trade deals & arrangements with 3rd countries:

the EU has raised no objection, but can't force those 3rd countries to agree
The UK wanted help from the EU in this, but insisted that they do it Fox's silly way, which would require a lot of valuable EU resources to contact each country indvidually.

Last I heard:
EU saying do it your way then.
Fox has only vague promises of rollover from a few countries and some want to renegotiate, at least after the transition period
e.g. India & visas

Laura Kuenssberg @bbclaurak
From PM's one to one with Trump - May congratulated him on efforts at NATO, he said relatinoship was 'better than ever' after their dinner last night

We're fucked.

Oh fuck just as I was typing my rant my neighbour texted to say she saw the Trump cavalcade just passed 5 mins from my house?

In the 1990s, when rightwing Tories & media supported the Republican candidate, Bill Clinton was totally pissed with John Major for not stopping them.

So, not even anything Major himself said, but just not stopping the "bastards" against Clinton

However, Clinton never forgave this and took every opportunity to embarass Major,
e.g. obviously humiliating him in NI - it's not what Clinton did, but how he did it, without the usual face-saving

So, the US is telling its poodles which PM they should have

I didn't think my opinion of Boris could sink any lower, but Trump pushing him for PM says the worst abut him

order-order.com/2018/07/13/ultra-remainers-defend-deal-in-tory-whatsapp-wars/
Tory Whatsapp Wars

Peter Geoghegan @PeterKGeoghegan
Rees Mogg allowed to declare unchallenged on #r4today that a hard border in Ireland is ‘a red herring’ and will be no change to border. Ffs. No mention that it was day 6 of dissident republican rioting in Derry last night

If you don't want to see it. Magic. If no one mentions it, it isn't important.

Beth Rigby @BethRigby
May must be quietly seething at this pre-summit wrecking ball remarks. Mood music from the top of the bi-lat is that he’s going to be doing a bit of rowing back #Chequers #Trump

And when he doesn't....

I might switch off twitter for the afternoon and pretend its not really happening too.

Paul Waugh @paulwaugh
Extraordinary footage of Trump pulling a face and pointing at female reporter who dared ask if he regretted his Sun interview.

Shoot me. Shoot me now.
2 and a half days.

I note the Brexit and Trump fans are silent about his "interfering in British politics".

All goes to prove how hypocritical they are.

It's all been a while crystalling, but I think we are seeing a New World Order. "Bloodless" war(s).

The ancien regime, perfected by the nations of Empire of Europe through the middle ages to the second world war, were paradigms of how a little "controlled confusion" of war allowed the gentry to stay landed. The rich to stay rich. The aspirational to aspire, and the rest of us schmucks are either cannon or tax fodder ("either suits me").

Worked pretty well for those not at the bottom. Until things gort scary with nuclear weapons. They might just do for the privileged and chosen - we can't have that.

So since WW2 - whether by design (tinfoil hat) or simply as water flows downhill, we've been developing ways of having the chaos of war, without the need (in the main) for bombs and bullets.

Trump is the logical evolution of that direction of travel. Putting aside cosmic coincidences, nominative determinism and library angels, he is the Trump card in chaos. And in the chaos he sews, there will be people who are assuredly doing very well thank you very much.

Brexit is simply another facet of that. I can't help shake a sense that the entire purpose of Brexit was actually .... Brexit. Not in the sense of a decision to leave the EU (whatever that meant). But in the sense that it's a hand grenade that's gone off in the corridors of power of one of the biggest western democracies, and has utterly paralysed it.

The people behind the power behind Brexit really don't care if it happens or not. Nor how it happens. The damage is already done, and they are shoring up their positions as we speak.

I am preparing for Trumps next pronouncement to be a baffling volte-face in some respects. The more baffling the better. Where there is uncertainty, there can be power. It would be a personal wish of mine, but if he says something derogatory about the ERG before he leaves, it would (a) make my day, and (b) tend to back me up.

In fact, he'll probably say it out of the UK ... he'll say he got on really well with May ( she's a smart leader ... she takes advice from me. I give great advice. All the people want my advice. ) and that now he's waved his wand (mind bleach please) Brexits gonna be great. Y'know. I didn't think they were doing too well. But now they've listened to what I say - I give great advice - they're doing well. We're gonna be great together.

It's casino politics. Doesn't matter what you bet on the house always wins.

The question is (assuming I am anywhere near the ball park) - if it really came down to it. If it could be shown there are only two ways we can live - real war, huge (conscripted) armies, bombs bullets and blood. Or faux war - political chaos, and people avoiding death by bullet to enjoy death by poverty, which would you choose ?

False alarm -I think the cavalcade a while back now may have been Melania. I don't care anyway, save for an opportunity to turn my back.

Wish I could turn my back on the whole thing.

I think the bloodless war contains a cyber element DGR.

Excellent theory DGR.

I share your suspicion. What exactly do brexiteers want?

Yeah, so all that voting for “sovereignty” no, no, definitely not xenophobia has put us in a really strong position, hasn’t it?

FFS, I’m actually of the opinion now that the lead proponents of brexit, along with Cameron, should be up for treason. To put our country in such a vulnerable and dangerous position, to mess about with the economy like it’s an inconsequential play thing, to put us in the hands of foreign tyrants. Unpatriotic, self-serving bastards, the lot of them.

Also, that people fall for this crap. How gullible do you have to be to believe that brexit will work out well looking at the current situation?

Brexit services plan will speed up relocation, says Lloyd's boss

Another big name warning about Brexit and moving jobs abroad "full steam ahead"

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44805565

Ms Beale, the chief executive of Lloyd's, said: "Professional and financial services are really not catered for at all and it's very disappointing.

We make up basically 80% of the economy of the UK.

"Lloyd's is to open a subsidiary in Brussels so we will be full steam ahead, and many other banks, insurers and other financial services firms will be moving at pace now."

She said the plans would have a real impact:

"We will no longer be licensed to write business or offer insurance within the EU 27 and this can get right down to personal protection.
"If you've got insurance for your pet and you like to travel to the continent for a holiday, there's a question as to whether your policy will cover you - so this is really serious stuff."

'Bloodless' is a misnomer. Casualties will not be killed on the battlefield but in bedrooms and

On their shanties and through drugs and I'll health.

It's James Patrick's theory too.

The 'enemy' are the undeserving poor, foreigners, people of colour, women and anyone else who opposes them.

What exactly do brexiteers want?

Oh they want what they say they want ... not that they really know, because generally they're not very bright and - like religious zealots - are quite happy to outsource thinking (and blame)to someone else. They're almost a perfect fit for someone who has the tools and intelligence to use them for their own ends.

If the UK had not been in the EU then we'd have seen the reverse process. A massive groundswell of "the will of the people" to buy into the EU. Would have caused just as much chaos, and therefore presented the same opportunities as Brexit.

I guess the ideal situation for those people is a never-ending Brexit, where we don't know from day to day what's going on. Imagine how much you stand to gain from that if it was your game plan all along ?

"Trump the disruptor" has already worked his magic in the US. Because DW has MS, I follow a fuckton of science (the good, the bad, and homoeopathy), and Trump has managed to piss off the loony right Nixon-style drug republicans by quietly pulling back the federal agencies on legalised marijuana -which is actually something he said he'd do ... only no one was really paying attention (are we seeing a theme here ?). After all, partisan media is a godsend if you want to sew conflicting messages (as we know only too well in the UK). FFS, we saw the whole process explained in "The Thick of It". Meanwhile, US big pharma (who on paper are Trumps core demographic) are pissed off beyond belief because they have been tacitly promised that the threat of medical marijuana would be dealt with. Who cares about the actual destination, if you can make something of the journey ?

Would any of this had been possible in a pre social-media age ? Maybe the devil does find work for idle hands

May has boxed herself in.

She made a horrendous strategic error in pandering for so long to the Ultras:
Previous Tory leaders had the nouse to realise that their loony faction would never be satisfied, however many concessions they were given.

The Ultras have always wanted a Year Zero Brexit

How on earth did they find a home in the Conservative Party, when they want to crash & burn the UK for their revolution ?

'Bloodless' is a misnomer. Casualties will not be killed on the battlefield but in bedrooms

er, I did make that point ...

"Blood-lite" ?

Previous Tory leaders had the nouse to realise that their loony faction would never be satisfied,

Cameron didn't.

David Allen Green @ DavidAllengreen
Trump, both in business and in politics, does not do deals.

He reneges on them, so as to gain some perceived advantage.

Was never any chance of a post-Brexit trade deal under Trump.

Him now saying no chance of a deal no more meaningful than when he said there would be one.

Remember Trump never backs down. He only doubles down. Or changes the subject.