20 hours ago
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Americans might have ceded government to corrupt oligarchs, but not Australians
Looking for something engaging, I briefly considered getting around to the final season of Succession - the HBO series inspired by the Murdochs.
A discussion ensued in which I explained, as much to myself as to my partner, that in past episodes, I kept wishing that a giant concrete block would drop from above silencing the vulgar combatants - Two Ronnies-style.
There was not a single likeable character and virtually every sentence was an exercise in cruelty and sexual depravity. Of course, this was the satirical point. Here was a vast media company owned by one disgustingly rich family wantonly controlling public discourse and distorting political outcomes. Here, too, was deep unhappiness, familial brutality and toxic competition.
There is no disputing, however, that Succession had tapped into the zeitgeist, just as there is no denying that we, as a culture, derive pleasure from horrible things. Try looking for series that don't feature murder and violence. Most of it, directed at women.
If anything, politics in the US increasingly mimics the ruthless nihilism, shameless cynicism and power-lust of the Roys.
After the Democrats' colossal deceit of installing a decompensating Joe Biden in 2020, American voters have opted for chaos, for tearing down the rotten edifice of orthodox, institution-based politics and replacing it with things wholly more believable - ego, revenge, self-enrichment and power. They didn't elect Trump in spite of the January 6, insurrection, but because of it.
There may not be a single likeable character in which they can feel genuinely invested, but in Trump, there is a superior level of authenticity. He wasn't installed to be restrained or empathetic, or a more politically conservative version of Biden or Obama. Their tinkering proceduralism was the central problem.
Trump is the wrecker of worlds, defier of courts, commander in chief in America's new (un)civil war.
Rules and standards are for breaking. Everything has become about doubling down, obliterating elite outrage on this or that scandal, with something bigger.
Trump's intellectual Svengali, Steve Bannon, invoking his best Successionist imagery, had previously described this as "flooding the zone with shit". And so it is.
Little more than a week ago, the world had been agog at the spectacular - if long-expected - public bust-up between the President and Elon Musk. With all the dignity this pair is known for, they had attacked each other as liars, egomaniacs and moral degenerates.
Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" (seriously, that is its name) was going to add something like US$2.4 trillion to the federal deficit through tax cuts - wiping out the meagre $100 billion or so Musk had tallied by slashing government agencies and sacking "non-patriots". Musk called Trump's spending a disgrace.
Via this glimpse of satire-like insight, there was also truth - a backstage episode of government as reality TV. Musk became the apprentice who had been "fired!".
Yet the whole thing was suddenly washed from the front pages by Trump's militarisation of his immigration crackdown via the federalisation of the National Guard in a Democrat state and the deployment of another 700 United States marines. This, to control a crisis he, the President, had manufactured.
G7 leaders, and invitees such as Australia, are gathering in Canada to discuss the world economy and an increasingly fractious global security environment. Israel has chosen the moment to dramatically ratchet up its aggression, launching missile and drone attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and on civilian structures. Suddenly, even the illegality of a permanent occupation and the unspeakable horror a manufactured famine in Gaza is second-order news.
Trump had let it be known that he had asked the Netanyahu government to hold off launching strikes on Iran as he was close to a deal on nuclear non-proliferation and verification.
No matter. In response to the attacks, he said on Truth Social "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal ... certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!"
In Ukraine - the war Trump was to resolve in a day - Russia's attacks on Kyiv are said to be the most massive of the two-and-half-year invasion.
Trump has apparently lost interest.
MORE MARK KENNY:
The Israel-Iran conflagration may see the American withdraw from the Canada summit, potentially robbing world leaders, including Anthony Albanese, of a chance to hold one-on-one talks on trade, security, and specifically, AUKUS.
The Albanese government has been in damage-control mode in recent days following the announcement of a snap 30-day Pentagon review of the tripartite defence technology partnership in which Australia is already heavily out of pocket.
Between that development (or is it an opportunity?), Australia's non-embrace of Trump administration stipulations that partners spend vastly more of their GDP in defence, and the Albanese government's participation in sanctions on two Israeli ministers, there are new frictions in the US-Australia relationship.
While Albanese may yet be snubbed in Canada - cue opposition outrage - he can take comfort from his recent mandate and from the fact that, unlike Americans, voters here still value the separation of powers, social cohesion, and a free press.
Americans might have ceded government to corrupt oligarchs with the fluid morals of TV scriptwriters, but Australians still believe in sound government.
Logan Roy would hate it.
Looking for something engaging, I briefly considered getting around to the final season of Succession - the HBO series inspired by the Murdochs.
A discussion ensued in which I explained, as much to myself as to my partner, that in past episodes, I kept wishing that a giant concrete block would drop from above silencing the vulgar combatants - Two Ronnies-style.
There was not a single likeable character and virtually every sentence was an exercise in cruelty and sexual depravity. Of course, this was the satirical point. Here was a vast media company owned by one disgustingly rich family wantonly controlling public discourse and distorting political outcomes. Here, too, was deep unhappiness, familial brutality and toxic competition.
There is no disputing, however, that Succession had tapped into the zeitgeist, just as there is no denying that we, as a culture, derive pleasure from horrible things. Try looking for series that don't feature murder and violence. Most of it, directed at women.
If anything, politics in the US increasingly mimics the ruthless nihilism, shameless cynicism and power-lust of the Roys.
After the Democrats' colossal deceit of installing a decompensating Joe Biden in 2020, American voters have opted for chaos, for tearing down the rotten edifice of orthodox, institution-based politics and replacing it with things wholly more believable - ego, revenge, self-enrichment and power. They didn't elect Trump in spite of the January 6, insurrection, but because of it.
There may not be a single likeable character in which they can feel genuinely invested, but in Trump, there is a superior level of authenticity. He wasn't installed to be restrained or empathetic, or a more politically conservative version of Biden or Obama. Their tinkering proceduralism was the central problem.
Trump is the wrecker of worlds, defier of courts, commander in chief in America's new (un)civil war.
Rules and standards are for breaking. Everything has become about doubling down, obliterating elite outrage on this or that scandal, with something bigger.
Trump's intellectual Svengali, Steve Bannon, invoking his best Successionist imagery, had previously described this as "flooding the zone with shit". And so it is.
Little more than a week ago, the world had been agog at the spectacular - if long-expected - public bust-up between the President and Elon Musk. With all the dignity this pair is known for, they had attacked each other as liars, egomaniacs and moral degenerates.
Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" (seriously, that is its name) was going to add something like US$2.4 trillion to the federal deficit through tax cuts - wiping out the meagre $100 billion or so Musk had tallied by slashing government agencies and sacking "non-patriots". Musk called Trump's spending a disgrace.
Via this glimpse of satire-like insight, there was also truth - a backstage episode of government as reality TV. Musk became the apprentice who had been "fired!".
Yet the whole thing was suddenly washed from the front pages by Trump's militarisation of his immigration crackdown via the federalisation of the National Guard in a Democrat state and the deployment of another 700 United States marines. This, to control a crisis he, the President, had manufactured.
G7 leaders, and invitees such as Australia, are gathering in Canada to discuss the world economy and an increasingly fractious global security environment. Israel has chosen the moment to dramatically ratchet up its aggression, launching missile and drone attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and on civilian structures. Suddenly, even the illegality of a permanent occupation and the unspeakable horror a manufactured famine in Gaza is second-order news.
Trump had let it be known that he had asked the Netanyahu government to hold off launching strikes on Iran as he was close to a deal on nuclear non-proliferation and verification.
No matter. In response to the attacks, he said on Truth Social "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal ... certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!"
In Ukraine - the war Trump was to resolve in a day - Russia's attacks on Kyiv are said to be the most massive of the two-and-half-year invasion.
Trump has apparently lost interest.
MORE MARK KENNY:
The Israel-Iran conflagration may see the American withdraw from the Canada summit, potentially robbing world leaders, including Anthony Albanese, of a chance to hold one-on-one talks on trade, security, and specifically, AUKUS.
The Albanese government has been in damage-control mode in recent days following the announcement of a snap 30-day Pentagon review of the tripartite defence technology partnership in which Australia is already heavily out of pocket.
Between that development (or is it an opportunity?), Australia's non-embrace of Trump administration stipulations that partners spend vastly more of their GDP in defence, and the Albanese government's participation in sanctions on two Israeli ministers, there are new frictions in the US-Australia relationship.
While Albanese may yet be snubbed in Canada - cue opposition outrage - he can take comfort from his recent mandate and from the fact that, unlike Americans, voters here still value the separation of powers, social cohesion, and a free press.
Americans might have ceded government to corrupt oligarchs with the fluid morals of TV scriptwriters, but Australians still believe in sound government.
Logan Roy would hate it.
Looking for something engaging, I briefly considered getting around to the final season of Succession - the HBO series inspired by the Murdochs.
A discussion ensued in which I explained, as much to myself as to my partner, that in past episodes, I kept wishing that a giant concrete block would drop from above silencing the vulgar combatants - Two Ronnies-style.
There was not a single likeable character and virtually every sentence was an exercise in cruelty and sexual depravity. Of course, this was the satirical point. Here was a vast media company owned by one disgustingly rich family wantonly controlling public discourse and distorting political outcomes. Here, too, was deep unhappiness, familial brutality and toxic competition.
There is no disputing, however, that Succession had tapped into the zeitgeist, just as there is no denying that we, as a culture, derive pleasure from horrible things. Try looking for series that don't feature murder and violence. Most of it, directed at women.
If anything, politics in the US increasingly mimics the ruthless nihilism, shameless cynicism and power-lust of the Roys.
After the Democrats' colossal deceit of installing a decompensating Joe Biden in 2020, American voters have opted for chaos, for tearing down the rotten edifice of orthodox, institution-based politics and replacing it with things wholly more believable - ego, revenge, self-enrichment and power. They didn't elect Trump in spite of the January 6, insurrection, but because of it.
There may not be a single likeable character in which they can feel genuinely invested, but in Trump, there is a superior level of authenticity. He wasn't installed to be restrained or empathetic, or a more politically conservative version of Biden or Obama. Their tinkering proceduralism was the central problem.
Trump is the wrecker of worlds, defier of courts, commander in chief in America's new (un)civil war.
Rules and standards are for breaking. Everything has become about doubling down, obliterating elite outrage on this or that scandal, with something bigger.
Trump's intellectual Svengali, Steve Bannon, invoking his best Successionist imagery, had previously described this as "flooding the zone with shit". And so it is.
Little more than a week ago, the world had been agog at the spectacular - if long-expected - public bust-up between the President and Elon Musk. With all the dignity this pair is known for, they had attacked each other as liars, egomaniacs and moral degenerates.
Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" (seriously, that is its name) was going to add something like US$2.4 trillion to the federal deficit through tax cuts - wiping out the meagre $100 billion or so Musk had tallied by slashing government agencies and sacking "non-patriots". Musk called Trump's spending a disgrace.
Via this glimpse of satire-like insight, there was also truth - a backstage episode of government as reality TV. Musk became the apprentice who had been "fired!".
Yet the whole thing was suddenly washed from the front pages by Trump's militarisation of his immigration crackdown via the federalisation of the National Guard in a Democrat state and the deployment of another 700 United States marines. This, to control a crisis he, the President, had manufactured.
G7 leaders, and invitees such as Australia, are gathering in Canada to discuss the world economy and an increasingly fractious global security environment. Israel has chosen the moment to dramatically ratchet up its aggression, launching missile and drone attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and on civilian structures. Suddenly, even the illegality of a permanent occupation and the unspeakable horror a manufactured famine in Gaza is second-order news.
Trump had let it be known that he had asked the Netanyahu government to hold off launching strikes on Iran as he was close to a deal on nuclear non-proliferation and verification.
No matter. In response to the attacks, he said on Truth Social "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal ... certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!"
In Ukraine - the war Trump was to resolve in a day - Russia's attacks on Kyiv are said to be the most massive of the two-and-half-year invasion.
Trump has apparently lost interest.
MORE MARK KENNY:
The Israel-Iran conflagration may see the American withdraw from the Canada summit, potentially robbing world leaders, including Anthony Albanese, of a chance to hold one-on-one talks on trade, security, and specifically, AUKUS.
The Albanese government has been in damage-control mode in recent days following the announcement of a snap 30-day Pentagon review of the tripartite defence technology partnership in which Australia is already heavily out of pocket.
Between that development (or is it an opportunity?), Australia's non-embrace of Trump administration stipulations that partners spend vastly more of their GDP in defence, and the Albanese government's participation in sanctions on two Israeli ministers, there are new frictions in the US-Australia relationship.
While Albanese may yet be snubbed in Canada - cue opposition outrage - he can take comfort from his recent mandate and from the fact that, unlike Americans, voters here still value the separation of powers, social cohesion, and a free press.
Americans might have ceded government to corrupt oligarchs with the fluid morals of TV scriptwriters, but Australians still believe in sound government.
Logan Roy would hate it.
Looking for something engaging, I briefly considered getting around to the final season of Succession - the HBO series inspired by the Murdochs.
A discussion ensued in which I explained, as much to myself as to my partner, that in past episodes, I kept wishing that a giant concrete block would drop from above silencing the vulgar combatants - Two Ronnies-style.
There was not a single likeable character and virtually every sentence was an exercise in cruelty and sexual depravity. Of course, this was the satirical point. Here was a vast media company owned by one disgustingly rich family wantonly controlling public discourse and distorting political outcomes. Here, too, was deep unhappiness, familial brutality and toxic competition.
There is no disputing, however, that Succession had tapped into the zeitgeist, just as there is no denying that we, as a culture, derive pleasure from horrible things. Try looking for series that don't feature murder and violence. Most of it, directed at women.
If anything, politics in the US increasingly mimics the ruthless nihilism, shameless cynicism and power-lust of the Roys.
After the Democrats' colossal deceit of installing a decompensating Joe Biden in 2020, American voters have opted for chaos, for tearing down the rotten edifice of orthodox, institution-based politics and replacing it with things wholly more believable - ego, revenge, self-enrichment and power. They didn't elect Trump in spite of the January 6, insurrection, but because of it.
There may not be a single likeable character in which they can feel genuinely invested, but in Trump, there is a superior level of authenticity. He wasn't installed to be restrained or empathetic, or a more politically conservative version of Biden or Obama. Their tinkering proceduralism was the central problem.
Trump is the wrecker of worlds, defier of courts, commander in chief in America's new (un)civil war.
Rules and standards are for breaking. Everything has become about doubling down, obliterating elite outrage on this or that scandal, with something bigger.
Trump's intellectual Svengali, Steve Bannon, invoking his best Successionist imagery, had previously described this as "flooding the zone with shit". And so it is.
Little more than a week ago, the world had been agog at the spectacular - if long-expected - public bust-up between the President and Elon Musk. With all the dignity this pair is known for, they had attacked each other as liars, egomaniacs and moral degenerates.
Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" (seriously, that is its name) was going to add something like US$2.4 trillion to the federal deficit through tax cuts - wiping out the meagre $100 billion or so Musk had tallied by slashing government agencies and sacking "non-patriots". Musk called Trump's spending a disgrace.
Via this glimpse of satire-like insight, there was also truth - a backstage episode of government as reality TV. Musk became the apprentice who had been "fired!".
Yet the whole thing was suddenly washed from the front pages by Trump's militarisation of his immigration crackdown via the federalisation of the National Guard in a Democrat state and the deployment of another 700 United States marines. This, to control a crisis he, the President, had manufactured.
G7 leaders, and invitees such as Australia, are gathering in Canada to discuss the world economy and an increasingly fractious global security environment. Israel has chosen the moment to dramatically ratchet up its aggression, launching missile and drone attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities and on civilian structures. Suddenly, even the illegality of a permanent occupation and the unspeakable horror a manufactured famine in Gaza is second-order news.
Trump had let it be known that he had asked the Netanyahu government to hold off launching strikes on Iran as he was close to a deal on nuclear non-proliferation and verification.
No matter. In response to the attacks, he said on Truth Social "I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal ... certain Iranian hardliners spoke bravely but they didn't know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!"
In Ukraine - the war Trump was to resolve in a day - Russia's attacks on Kyiv are said to be the most massive of the two-and-half-year invasion.
Trump has apparently lost interest.
MORE MARK KENNY:
The Israel-Iran conflagration may see the American withdraw from the Canada summit, potentially robbing world leaders, including Anthony Albanese, of a chance to hold one-on-one talks on trade, security, and specifically, AUKUS.
The Albanese government has been in damage-control mode in recent days following the announcement of a snap 30-day Pentagon review of the tripartite defence technology partnership in which Australia is already heavily out of pocket.
Between that development (or is it an opportunity?), Australia's non-embrace of Trump administration stipulations that partners spend vastly more of their GDP in defence, and the Albanese government's participation in sanctions on two Israeli ministers, there are new frictions in the US-Australia relationship.
While Albanese may yet be snubbed in Canada - cue opposition outrage - he can take comfort from his recent mandate and from the fact that, unlike Americans, voters here still value the separation of powers, social cohesion, and a free press.
Americans might have ceded government to corrupt oligarchs with the fluid morals of TV scriptwriters, but Australians still believe in sound government.
Logan Roy would hate it.
