General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI just can't work up a hate for Boris Johnson like I can for the TFG.
The former doesn't seem like a fundamentally evil person. The latter does. I once told my friend the TFG is the type of guy who would get two homeless people to fight with a promise of one hundred dollars to the victor and then not pay him.
The type of guy who would just be mean to people for the sake of being mean to people, no. That is my definition of evil. Basically a psychopath. IMHO Trump is a psychopath.
Demsrule86
(68,703 posts)Wales.
moniss
(4,274 posts)you to know that Ireland is not part of the UK.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)moniss
(4,274 posts)but the North would never vote to be independent since they don't have the means economically to survive as an independent country. They are only 6 counties. Their other possibility to "leave" the UK would be to vote for reunification with Ireland and although Sinn Fein has gained ground the Loyalists are still way too strong in number and determination. Part of the unspoken agenda of the Tories/Loyalists has always been to rip up the Good Friday Agreements and the purposeful mess of Brexit has given the Loyalists the spur to call for a return to militant action. A unification vote any time soon will likely bring back the violence. Scotland may well go but I doubt if Wales would.
Demsrule86
(68,703 posts)I can assure you, I expect reunification as Southern Ireland is doing better than Northern Ireland...as those associated wth he UK never do well.
Demsrule86
(68,703 posts)will be a reunification of Ireland in my lifetime. Did you not know there is the Republican of Ireland and Northern Ireland...still part of UK with additional laws that date back to before the Irish Republic. My Grandad came over after WWI in the '20s...just ahead of the hangman's noose...before the Irish Republica was created. My husband's Mom and Dad came over in the 40s, they lived in Southern Ireland, Republic of Ireland. My husband is first-generation and we have the right of return as do our kids...We recently got birth certificates for my Husband's Mom and Dad...and if they go after LGBTQ in this country -having a gay daughter, we may go there.
moniss
(4,274 posts)be a reunification in your lifetime. The most optimistic estimates I've heard for the 6 counties going that way is about 20 years. Memories need to grow less bitter. That's a very hard thing to do when the Tories keep doing things like sandbagging any accountability for the English conduct. I wish you well and hope you and your family find peace. I've been working off and on trying to write a play about Terence MacSwiney. I leave you with this video. You may have seen it before but many never have. She looks so much like her Grandfather.
Demsrule86
(68,703 posts)RANDYWILDMAN
(2,678 posts)if we had a sensible person in charge (Hillary ) Boris would have taken center stage more often and may have been gone sooner.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)I do believe there have been fundamentally evil presidents, not many, and Trump was one of them. I'd throw in Andrew Jackson and Woodrow Wilson, ironically TFG was an admirer of the former, though I doubt he knew very much about him.
moniss
(4,274 posts)Millard Fillmore. Although he did have a couple of great concert venues.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)I know Jackson and Wilson were virulent racists.
Demsrule86
(68,703 posts)Republic...I despise him and hope he dies a miserable death in the end.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)As a God fearing man I'll leave his fate up to God.
Demsrule86
(68,703 posts)crimes. I have no doubt he is responsible for killing people while he played house with the mob...I also believe he meant to assassinate Pence and Pelosi during the insurrection.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)The type of guy who would just be mean to people for the sake of being mean to people, no. That is my definition of evil.
Demsrule86
(68,703 posts)dire.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)Demsrule86
(68,703 posts)MineralMan
(146,336 posts)Makes a difference.
herding cats
(19,568 posts)The Alexander Lebedev story has more to it than what is public at this point. There's definitely more layers to that onion.
The links between TFG and Johnson are strikingly similar, as are their destruction of the nations they led. The differences in their styles and personalities are, to my eyes, reflective of their nations of origin. Meaning, TFG wouldn't have worked in the UK anymore than Johnson would have here in the US. Yet they both inflicted massive damage to their nations.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)Because he's a buffoon?
herding cats
(19,568 posts)It's not that they couldn't be sold on extremist ideology, as Brexit proves, it's that the messenger needs to have different veneer to work there.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,385 posts)Johnson has a genuine sense of humour, and is able to laugh at himself, which has humanised him a lot in voters' eyes.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)AZProgressive
(29,322 posts)Part of the fishhook theory? The centrists in the UK like Starmer.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)Plus I don't think he wants to destroy liberal democracy nor do I think his party does. I believe Trump and most of his party do.
Joinfortmill
(14,474 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,385 posts)I can see what you mean; Boris Johnson and Nixon don't come across as quite "awful in every respect". They have/had decent relations with their children, as far as I know (though Johnson took ages to acknowledge one publicly; I believe he's always paid required child support/divorce settlements, however). But we could see that being as ethically vacant as Nixon could still produce awful results - look at Cambodia.
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)I keep coming back to Trump. His meanness was gratuitous. That makes him special, specially awful. I can name historical figures I especially dislike and he is one of them .
Retrograde
(10,163 posts)younger and stupider brother - he would like to be like TFG but he doesn't have the smarts - or maybe he doesn't have the fundamental mean streak.
vanlassie
(5,692 posts)Kaleva
(36,355 posts)rogue emissary
(3,148 posts)Boomerproud
(7,968 posts)Yikes!
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,716 posts)Look at Trump. He certainly punched above his weight when it came to attracting women.
rogue emissary
(3,148 posts)Mysterian
(4,595 posts)Johnson is an evil person.
BannonsLiver
(16,493 posts)Still doesnt make him as evil as Trump.
DickKessler
(364 posts)In much the same way the Trump mis-administration and his Republican enablers in Congress and in various state capitols are responsible for mass death here.
Fuck all of the right-wing assholes on both sides of the pond.
Kaleva
(36,355 posts)867-5309.
(1,189 posts)and the fact you can think of a bigger turd doesn't change much.
GoneOffShore
(17,342 posts)BoJo is Maggie, but worse.
He's a shrink wrapped weasel.