Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics: God says JD Vance visit 'last straw for Pope'
Online only
Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics is a weekly, mostly satirical column on politics that appears on listener.co.nz.
The Almighty is considering deporting JD Vance to Hell following the US Vice President's deathbed visit to the late Pope Francis. A spokesperson for God said yesterday He
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Elon Musk calls for Donald Trump's impeachment as feud erupts over tax-cut bill
Elon Musk is calling for President Donald Trump's impeachment as the two men's breakup reaches new heights. "Yes," Musk posted on his social media platform X in response to another user who wrote "President vs Elon. Who wins? My money's on Elon. Trump should be impeached and JD Vance should replace him." Musk, not long after his very public falling out with President Donald Trump, asked followers on his X social media platform whether he should create a new political party. "Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80 percent in the middle?" Musk asked his more than 220 million followers on X. Musk has used online polls in the past before making major decisions, including stepping aside as Twitter chief executive, and whether he should reinstate previously banned accounts, including Trump's. Photo: AFP / Allison Robbert Trump appeared to confirm the deterioration of his relationship with Musk , saying he was "very disappointed" in the tech billionaire, who exited his top advisory role at the White House and subsequently railed against the president's sweeping tax and spending package. "Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office less than one week after the two exchanged effusive praise on Musk's last day. Since then, Musk has strongly criticized what Trump calls his "Big, Beautiful Bill" that has passed the House and faces an uncertain path forward in the Senate, calling the bill, which is a major Trump priority, a "disgusting abomination." Trump and Musk have not spoken since Musk lashed out at the legislation, a source familiar with the dynamic told CNN. "He knew every aspect of this bill. He knew it better than almost anybody, and he never had a problem until right after he left," Trump said. The president predicted that though Musk had not personally attacked him, he could soon. Is it time to create a new political party in America that actually represents the 80% in the middle? "I'm sure that'll be next. But I'm very disappointed in Elon. I've helped Elon a lot," Trump said. Trump floated terminating Elon Musk's companies' government subsidies and contracts as a way of saving money, intensifying the two billionaires' feud on Thursday. "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it," the president wrote on Truth Social. Minutes earlier, Trump wrote that he'd asked Musk to leave the White House, and claimed the Tesla chief executive "just went CRAZY!" "Elon was 'wearing thin,' I asked him to leave, I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy Electric Cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!), and he just went CRAZY," the president said. (There has never been a federal mandate that prohibited Americans from buying gasoline-powered cars.) Tesla shares plummeted 15 percent this afternoon as Elon Musk's battle with President Donald Trump intensified. Trump threatened in a social media post to target Musk's business empire. "The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts," Trump wrote on Truth Social. The Tesla selloff has wiped off more than $150 billion off the market value of Telsa, which started the day worth nearly $1.1 trillion. It has also erased a chunk off the net worth of Musk, the world's richest person. - CNN
NZ Herald
a day ago
- NZ Herald
Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics: Jesus, Gandhi and Dalai Lama to sue Ardern over memoir
In the memoir about her life and time in office, Jacinda Ardern says the world needs more empathy. Photos / Supplied Online only Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics is a weekly, mostly satirical column on politics that appears on The Dalai Lama, Jesus of Nazareth and the ghost of Mahatma Gandhi say they will take former prime minister Jacinda Ardern to court for 'nicking our stuff'. The
NZ Herald
29-05-2025
- NZ Herald
Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics: Peters refuses to quit as Deputy PM, barricades himself in office
David Seymour takes up the Deputy PM role this weekend, after Winston Peters spent 18 months in the job. Photos / Getty Images Greg Dixon is an award-winning news reporter, TV reviewer, feature writer and former magazine editor who has written for the NZ Listener since 2017. Online only Greg Dixon's Another Kind of Politics is a weekly, mostly satirical column on politics that appears on Armed police are surrounding the Beehive after Winston Peters announced 'hell would freeze over, sunshine' before he resigned from the office of deputy prime minister. Under New Zealand First's coalition deal, Peters is supposed to hand over the official title and office to Act leader David Seymour on Sunday. However, the NZ First leader is refusing to hand over the office, including the baubles of office. He has instead barricaded himself in the office and issued a five-point list of demands. The first states that 'Winston Raymond Peters shall remain Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand for life, whether he is in government, opposition or not in Parliament. Upon the unlikely event of his death, he shall also remain Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand in the afterlife.' The four other demands relate to the size and colour of his ministerial limousine, use of the Prime Minister's executive toilet on the 9th floor of the Beehive, a limitless tab at Bellamys and exclusive parliamentary use of the word 'sunshine'. The incident began when parliamentary staff told Peters late yesterday he must pack up his office so that Seymour could move in by Monday. Peters then locked the door and began piling the baubles of office against it. Attempts to get him to leave led to a barrage of sarcasm and threats from Peters, after which police were called. It is understood that Peters is holding an Italian-made espresso machine hostage and has armed himself with a stapler and a paperweight. Attempts by a police negotiator to get Peters to release the coffee machine unharmed and to give himself up have so far come to nothing. Seymour told a press conference that Peters' decision not to stand down as deputy prime minister would make no difference. 'As of Sunday, I'm deputy prime minister by right and by name, though Act party supporters should not be worried that this amounts to a demotion. I can assure them I will carry on running the country until the next election by continuing to outmanoeuvre the Prime Minister.' Contacted for comment before his phones were cut off, Peters said he was prepared for a long siege but was not concerned. 'Listen, sunshine, this isn't my first rodeo. I've been holding other political parties and the country to ransom for years. This is child's play.' Willis to wear NZ-designed sackcloth and ashes until next year's Budget Finance Minister and Feminist of the Year Nicola Willis has bowed to demands by local fashionistas that she dress in New Zealand-designed sackcloth and ashes as an act of contrition for her Budget day wardrobe blunder. Willis, who claims to be pro-New Zealand business and asserts she is growing the New Zealand economy, wore what was believed to be a $1100 Nouvelle Sculpt Stretch Crepe frock from British womenswear label The Fold London while she delivered the Budget last Thursday. Local clothes horses were left aghast by the slight, with one saying the Nouvelle Sculpt dress wasn't only 'fashion treason' but made Willis 'look like she was in The Handmaid's Tale'. 'It was like she was channelling Serena Joy, which was very appropriate given that she had just helped shaft other women so that she could balance her budget,' said one local designer who did not wished to be named but was wearing a vintage piece from Karen Walker matched with a very odd hat made by World. Demands for Willis to have to wear locally designed sackcloth and ashes garments as an act of penitence have grown throughout this week, with Willis yesterday agreeing she would do so, though she has refused to wear a hair shirt. In a win for New Zealand business, Willis's sackcloth frocks will be designed by a fashion house in Auckland, although the sackcloth will be manufactured in China, the ashes will come from India and the garment will be sewn by a person in a sweatshop in Bangladesh. Oxford invites Seymour to debate legal status of larvae in school lunches Soon-to-be Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour will take part in an Oxford Union debate next week, opposing the moot that states 'no larva can be illegal if found in a school lunch paid for by the government'. The invitation is perfectly timed after a larva was recently found atop a pile of mashed potato in a meal produced by Seymour's cut-price school lunches programme. Serving commercially made food containing dead insects is illegal under New Zealand food safety regulations. However, Seymour said those rules do not apply to school lunches provided by the government. 'Under the programme I designed, larvae are legal and so is melted plastic.' Joining Seymour to argue that larvae are lawful in state-funded school lunches will be US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has previously said that consuming insects like the one found in his brain is perfectly safe. Political quiz of the week Photo / Facebook What is Minister For Everything Chris Bishop saying to Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown? A/ 'Hallensteins sale or Farmers sale?' B/ 'Should we give each other a heads-up next time?' C/ 'I like the jacket but the Lynx Africa is too much.' D/ 'Seeing you makes me wonder if I should let the wife do my clothes shopping.'
