Latest news with #hypocrisy
Fox News
18 hours ago
- Business
- Fox News
The politics of shamelessness: a survival tactic from Trump to party loyalty
Every politician operates with a certain degree of shamelessness. It's practically in the job description. As they try to navigate in howling political winds, they regularly have to justify changing their positions. Maybe the country's mood has shifted. Maybe it's a matter of party loyalty. Maybe they're bowing to pressure from big donors. And maybe they're being hypocritical because something they opposed during the Biden administration is now perfectly fine in the Trump administration. Whatever the circumstances, it's shameless to offer an explanation that everyone knows is garbage. And they have to do it with a straight face. They can't very well say, Donald Trump is going to make sure I'm primaried if I don't go along on this one. So they offer the transparently bogus explanation. That, you could argue, is the nature of politics. You need to have some flexibility, some wiggle room. In one of my two interviews with President Trump last year, he tried to explain why he had totally flipped on TikTok. After all, he had spent his first term trying to ban the Chinese-owned company on national security grounds, only to be blocked by the courts. Now, suddenly, he had done a 180 and was trying to save the app, despite a congressional ban. Trump told me he changed his mind because outlawing TikTok would help Facebook, which he considered a greater threat. I didn't buy it. He had concluded that TikTok was incredibly popular, especially with younger people, and wanted to position himself as its savior. This, of course, was before Mark Zuckerberg began cozying up to Trump, such as by making a million-dollar donation to his inaugural. Trump may have the biggest shameless gene of them all–and that's part of why he's successful. He doesn't get hung up on what he said the day before or an hour before. He can go from expressing sympathy for Joe Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis to saying he doesn't feel sorry for Biden at all. He can go from blaming the Ukraine war impasse on Volodomyr Zelenskyy to finally condemning Vladimir Putin to calling it Biden's war. Ross Douthat has a smart take on this in his New York Times column: "The willingness to swerve and backpedal and contradict himself is a big part of what keeps the president viable, and the promise of chickening out is part of Trump's implicit pitch to swing voters — reassuring them that anything extreme is also provisional, that he's always testing limits (on policy, on power) but also generally willing to pull back." So MAGA voters trust Trump to go pretty far–but not too far? That brings them into John Kerry territory: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it," referring to military aid to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Republican ads immediately portrayed the 2004 presidential nominee as a flip-flopper. Kerry later allowed that he had been "inarticulate." It's useful to think about flipping the script. In the media furor over Trump's spate of pardons, the president gave one to the leader of a violent Chicago gang, Larry Hoover, a drug dealer who's been serving six consecutive life sentences for killing a man. Largely symbolic? Sure, because Hoover will remain in prison on state charges. Doesn't matter. If Biden had done that, conservative voters would have gone haywire. How dare he side with a murderer? Does Biden have no regard for human life? The man who was killed doesn't get a second chance. The MAGA-driven story would have been on television every 10 minutes. With Trump, it was a blip, barely a story at all. Naturally, Biden's hands aren't exactly clean on the pardon front. He repeatedly promised not to pardon Hunter, then did exactly that after the election. It was a blatant lie and a big story. The other day Trump got angry when a CNBC reporter asked him about his TACO nickname, Trump Always Chickens Out, based on the chatter on Wall Street. He called the question "nasty," this from the king of bestowing derogatory nicknames (see Joe, Sleepy). Poultry metaphor aside, the president does frequently delay draconian tariffs, conduct quick negotiations and declare victory. His supporters like that because the markets usually shoot up, though the turmoil clearly shakes up the global economy. As Trump bounces back a bit in the polls, says Douthat, "with a different president…you might say that this recovery happened in spite of the White House's various backtracks and reversals (plus various rebukes from the judiciary). But with Trump it's more apt to say that it's happened because of these setbacks and recalibrations. Seeing Trump both check himself and be checked by others is what an important group of voters expect from his presidency. They like that Trump pressures institutions they distrust or dislike, from official Washington to elite universities, but their approval is contingent on a dynamic interaction, where he accepts counterpressure and retreats." CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP One reason Trump gets away with all this is that the Democrats don't have a national spokesman. Tim Walz, the VP flop, toying with running for president? People like Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer aren't breaking through. AOC gets some good jabs in on social media, but she's not even a member of the leadership. You also have to credit Trump's political skills. He doesn't have the slightest fear of being shameless.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Calls for 'second homes' row union leader to quit as MoS reveals she has FIVE houses (and a £100k plot of land!)
The top union boss at the centre of a 'second homes' hypocrisy storm is facing calls to resign after it emerged she is sitting on a property empire worth £1MILLION. The Mail on Sunday can reveal Roz Foyer – who has repeatedly condemned second home ownership – has a total of FIVE houses, as well as a £100,000 plot of land. In a dramatic escalation of the hypocrisy row which has engulfed the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), The Mail on Sunday has discovered two further properties in her portfolio. They include a flat in Edinburgh, a terraced house in Glasgow and a plot of unused land which she bought just three months ago. It comes after we revealed Ms Foyer, who earns up to £100,000 a year, has a Spanish flat which she rents out for £1,000 a week AND a holiday cottage on Jura, as well as her four-bedroom family home in the leafy suburbs of north-west Glasgow. That is despite Ms Foyer publicly blaming second home owners for exacerbating the housing and cost-of-living crisis. Now, amid a huge backlash which has seen the trade unionist branded a 'champagne socialist' and 'a sangria-sipping one too', she faces growing pressure to resign. Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay has questioned how she can continue in her role. He said: 'Scotland's leading trade unionist appears to have been more inspired by Donald Trump than Jimmy Reid. 'To secretly build a £1million property empire while railing against the supposed sin of second home ownership is hilariously hypocritical. Just another example of Scotland's self-righteous socialist establishment telling the rest of us how to behave – while doing the complete opposite. 'How Roz Foyer thinks she can continue in her role as self-styled workers' champion is a mystery and I expect her comrades might have something to say about it.' It comes after Mr Findlay joked on Friday that she clearly shared his party's values of working hard and reaping the rewards – and invited her to defect to his party. Ms Foyer was the first woman appointed to the top trade union job in Scotland and represents 500,000 workers. She has repeatedly spoken out about the impact second homes have on communities amid Scotland's 'housing emergency'. In July 2023, she called for a 300 per cent council tax premium on second and empty homes to tackle homelessness. Months later, she said: 'Scotland is facing a simultaneous housing and cost-of-living crisis putting an unbearable strain on working people. 'Second homes and short-term lets can have significantly negative impacts on communities, exacerbating these crises as well as undermining the local economy.' And in February 2024 she highlighted the number of empty properties and second homes in the Highlands, saying workers there faced 'an acute housing crisis'. But an investigation by The Mail on Sunday last week revealed Ms Foyer owns a property on the Isle of Jura with her husband, fellow union official Simon Macfarlane, which is valued at around £150,000. It comes after Holyrood last month heard how a proliferation of holiday homes was making life harder for public sector workers in Scotland – the very people that Ms Foyer claims to represent. Ms Foyer and Mr Macfarlane – a regional manager for the Unison union – are understood to spend most of their time with their two daughters at their Glasgow residence, which cost the family £280,111 in 2015. However, yesterday, the Scottish Daily Mail also revealed Ms Foyer has a holiday home in Spain that is worth around £125,000. Situated in the quaint harbour town of Puerto de Mazarrón in Murcia, the three-bedroomed apartment boasts a private balcony with panoramic views over the Mediterranean Sea and access to two communal pools. While they are not using the flat, Ms Foyer rents it out. A week's stay from June 18 to June 25 this year would cost around £920. Now, The Mail on Sunday can reveal Ms Foyer owns a further TWO properties. Official records show the trade union boss bought a terraced new-build in Glasgow in 2016 for £145,000. Additionally, she owns a 'light' and 'well-presented' two bedroom flat in Scotland's capital, which was bought last year for £240,000. Property brochures say the flat is in an 'ideal' and 'vibrant' location and has 'access to a residents' swimming pool, gym and sauna, a leafy view over a shared courtyard garden, and a secured and gated residents' car park'. The Mail on Sunday understands the properties are occupied by close friends and family. However, in a move which suggests the union official may be looking to expand her property empire even further, Ms Foyer purchased a plot of land in Glasgow for £100,000 in February. Ms Foyer last night defended her five homes, saying: 'I'm proud that the STUC has pushed for and secured a doubling of council tax on second homes and we remain committed to arguing for a proportional property tax. 'I can look in the mirror knowing that I'm actively arguing to increase my fair share to society. 'Fighting every day for fairer taxation and to spread wealth throughout the country brings its critics. 'As a woman from a working- class background, I won't be made to feel ashamed for legitimately owning property that my family and I, like of thousands of families across Scotland, have worked tirelessly for.'
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Scots union boss has THIRD home - this time in Spain - despite condemning 'negative' effects of second homes
The second home hypocrisy scandal surrounding Scotland's top union boss deepened as it was revealed she owns a THIRD home in Spain. Roz Foyer - who has publicaly CONDEMNED the scourge of multiple home ownership - rents her luxury three-bedroomed apartment out for over £1,000 a week, the Mail can reveal. It comes after Ms Foyer, the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), was last week accused of being a hypocrite after it emerged she owned homes in Glasgow and the idyllic isle of Jura. Ms Foyer, who earns up to £100,000 a year, has blamed second home owners for exacerbating the housing and cost-of-living crisis. Last week, the Mail on Sunday revealed she owned a holiday cottage on the Isle of Jura, as well as her four-bedroom family home in the leafy suburbs of the north-west of Glasgow. Now, Ms Foyer is under growing pressure to consider her position as head of the STUC, an umbrella body which oversees a coalition of 40 trade unions. Ms Foyer rents out the tastefully decorated three-bedroom apartment in sunny southern Spain. A week's stay from June 18 to June 25 this year would cost around £920. Situated in an apartment block in the quaint harbour town of Puerto de Mazarrón, the flat boasts a private balcony with panoramic views over the Mediterranean Sea. Although the beautiful Isla beach is just 950 yards from the property, the two well-kept communal swimming pools are even closer-by, should guests like to take a dip to cool off. The revelation comes as Europe is grappling with a housing crisis due to rising house prices and an influx of foreign buyers, prompting the minority socialist Spanish Government to push ahead with a 100 per cent property tax on second homes bought by non-EU member residents. Earlier this month Holyrood heard how a proliferation of holiday homes was making life harder for public sector workers here in Scotland - the very people that Ms Foyer claims to represent. Last night, Scottish Conservative finance and local government spokesman Craig Hoy said: 'After raging against the evils of second home ownership it was staggering to discover Roz Foyer herself had an island bolthole in Scotland in addition to her main residence. 'News that she has a third home in Spain simply beggars belief and highlights the levels of hypocrisy among left-wing union leaders. 'She's not just a champagne socialist she's a sangria-sipping one too.' Trade unionist Ms Foyer was the first woman in 2020 to be appointed to the top job in Scotland, representing 500,000 workers and has repeatedly spoken out about the negative impact second homes have on communities. In July 2023 she said that there should be a 300 per cent council tax premium on second and empty homes to tackle homelessness in Scotland. Months later, in December, she said: 'Scotland is facing a simultaneous housing crisis, a public sector funding crisis and a cost-of-living crisis putting an unbearable strain on working people. 'Second homes and short-term lets can have significantly negative impacts on communities, exacerbating these crises as well as undermining the local economy.' And in February 2024, in a newspaper column, Ms Foyer highlighted the number of long term empty properties and second homes in the Highlands. She wrote that 'workers in the Highlands are facing an acute housing crisis'. Ms Foyer co-owns her property on Jura with husband, fellow trade union official Simon Macfarlane, which they bought for £45,000 in 2012. The pretty cottage enjoys a lovely spot on Jura which is known as one of Europe's 'last lost wildernesses' and boasts a small population of around 220. Similar properties on Jura are valued at around £150,000. Ms Foyer and Mr Macfarlane - who is a regional manager for trade union Unison - are understood to spend most of their time with their two daughters at their residence on a private estate in Glasgow, which cost the family £280,111 in 2015. The Spanish home is in the Murcia region of Spain, close to Alicante. Title deeds show Ms Foyer and Mr Macfarlane purchased the home in August 2021 - just months after Ms Foyer was appointed the General Secretary of the STUC. Locals say the family have been seen enjoying trips around the town and walking along the harbour. While they are not using the flat, Ms Foyer rents it out on holiday letting sites under the banner: 'Stunning 3-Bed Apartment in Puerto De Mazarrón'. At almost 1000 square foot, the property is said to 'offer a spacious layout' and can house up to six guests in its two double bedrooms and one twin room - although it 'will not accommodate hen, stag or similar parties'. One review left in April hailed the apartment's 'perfect location', 'large kitchen' and 'beautiful huge terrace', however one guest lamented the fact there were no beds or shade around the pools and no air conditioning in the bedrooms. The socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said that foreign buyers - such as Ms Foyer - have purchased thousands of properties 'not to live in, but to make money from them which, in the context of the shortage that we are in, we obviously cannot allow'. He has presented a Bill to the Spanish parliament in the hope to impose a 100 per cent property tax on British and other non-EU citizens purchasing holiday homes, as well as an increase of VAT on short-term rentals. Meanwhile the issue of second home ownership in the Scottish Highlands and Islands was debated in the Scottish parliament earlier this month during a motion brought by Ross Greer of the Scottish Greens. The discussion heard concerns that a high concentration of second homes has caused house prices and rents to rocket and reduced the housing supply for local people. Scottish Labour MSP Carol Mochan said holiday homes were making it harder to recruit and retain public sector workers. She said: 'A lack of affordable housing affects not only individuals and communities but local businesses that want to attract workers. Very importantly, a lack of affordable housing also affects the recruitment of public sector workers.' She continued: 'I have strong evidence of that from the Borders area of my South Scotland region. 'Trade unions have told me that people are not coming to work in the area or are having to travel a long distance, which sometimes involves a journey of an hour or more, to get to their work. 'That is not sustainable. The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee has heard compelling evidence on the issue, in oral evidence and on a visit to the islands. 'The health boards have described the situation as a crisis for service delivery. It is a very important issue.' STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer defended owning a second and third home. She said: 'I'm proud that the STUC has pushed for and secured a doubling of council tax on second homes and we remain committed to arguing for a proportional property tax. 'I can look in the mirror knowing that I'm actively arguing to increase my fair share to society. 'Fighting every day for fairer taxation and to spread wealth throughout the country brings its critics. 'As a woman from a working-class background, I won't be made to feel ashamed for legitimately owning property that my family and I, like of thousands of families across Scotland, have worked tirelessly for.'
Daily Mail
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Stephen Glover: Trump's the last man on Earth with the moral right to lecture us. Yet he's the one backing free speech in Britain - while Keir Starmer remains silent
There is a long standing convention that democratic leaders shouldn't lecture other democratic leaders about how to run their countries. That precept has been torn up by Donald Trump. The man who may be the most immoral and mendacious president in American history – which is saying something – has taken it upon himself to lecture the British Government about free speech. Trump has distinct authoritarian tendencies – witness his current assault on the independence of Harvard University and his almost complete disregard for the elected representatives of Congress. His championing of free speech is as egregious an example of rank hypocrisy as one is ever likely to find. He's partly right, of course, and that creates problems for those of us who resent any interference by a foreign leader and abominate Trump while believing that free speech is under attack in modern Britain. Trump's latest hobbyhorse is the case of Lucy Connolly, who during the riots last August sent a nasty and incendiary tweet in which she wrote: 'Mass deportations now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******s for all I care'. Although she deleted the tweet quickly, it was viewed more than 310,000 times. Despite having no criminal record, and there being no evidence that her tweet had incited others to violence, Connolly was sentenced to 31 months in prison. Appeal Court judges declined to reduce that term last week. Given her previous law-abiding record, and the lesser sentences often handed out to violent criminals, Lucy Connolly was undoubtedly treated very harshly. That said, for former Home Secretary Suella Braverman to describe her as 'a political prisoner' is over the top. The White House is reportedly 'monitoring' the case, as though it has every right to question the rulings of British courts. This is only the latest evidence of the Trump administration, itself hardly the acme of probity, sticking its nose into our affairs. In March it dispatched officials from the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour to London to 'affirm the importance of freedom of expression in the UK and across Europe'. What presumption! The American delegation held meetings with Foreign Office officials, and challenged Ofcom about the generally unexceptionable Online Safety Act, which is one of Donald Trump's perennial beefs. It also met five British pro-life activists over their censorship concerns. One of them was anti-abortion campaigner Livia Tossici-Bolt, who was recently found guilty of breaching a public spaces protection order outside a clinic in Bournemouth in March 2023, given a conditional discharge, and ordered to pay costs of £20,000. I was personally on her side since she was only holding a placard some distance from the clinic. But what business is it of officials from the United States to interfere? How would Trump feel if British civil servants were to travel to Washington to investigate miscarriages of justice, some of which are much more serious than Dr Tossici-Bolt's case? Such meddling in our affairs would be annoying if Donald Trump were the Archangel Gabriel. It is unendurable given that he is as far from being such an embodiment of virtue as it's possible to conceive. This professed lover of liberty – egged on by Vice-President JD Vance, who claimed in a speech last February that free speech is 'in retreat' across Britain and the EU – encouraged a mob to storm Congress, the home of American democracy, little more than four years ago. Perhaps we should send a delegation to look into Trump's new cryptocurrency business. At a $1.7 million-a-head dinner in Virginia last Thursday, the sitting President and his family are estimated to have netted $148 million (£109 million). Trump delivered some anodyne remarks. The fare was described as 'worse than airline food'. How can such a venal man put himself on a moral pedestal, and presume to keep tabs on free speech in this country? It is utterly preposterous, beyond satire. Even the novelist Anthony Trollope could not have imagined him. And yet some figures on the Right of British politics evidently think it is acceptable for him to pass judgment on our country. Suella Braverman rushed to Lucy Connolly's defence without it occurring to her that Trump has no business to interfere. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, a close friend of Trump's, claimed 'our American Republican friends seem to care more about free speech in the United Kingdom than our own Government'. Just possibly, although I doubt it, but in any event why can't they keep their views to themselves? Perhaps the silliest response came from someone I admire – Toby Young, director of the Free Speech Union. Without disclosing reservations about the US government monitoring human rights abuses in this country, he declared that 'Britain is becoming the North Korea of the North Sea'. God preserve us. Trump is the last person on this planet with the moral right to tell us how to order our affairs. And yet, as I've said, that doesn't mean all his misgivings are misplaced. Free speech in Britain is threatened, as Lord Young has correctly argued. A retired policeman was arrested and handcuffed in his own home by six police officers armed with batons and pepper spray after he had suggested a pro-Palestinian social media post was anti-Semitic. Julian Foulkes was detained by Kent Police. His electronic devices were seized, and officers described the books scattered around his home as 'very Brexity'. There are countless other cases that give cause for concern. As my colleague Boris Johnson recently pointed out, 'the UK police are now making over 10,000 arrests every year for online comments, more than the police in Russia itself'. But much as I criticise Sir Keir Starmer when he's at fault, this state of affairs can't be blamed on him alone. Julian Foulkes was arrested in November 2023, when the Tories were in power, and had been for more than 13 years. According to the Free Speech Union, there were 12,183 arrests over offensive posts on social media and other platforms in 2023, when Starmer didn't yet have a toe in No 10. The police have been gradually bearing down on free speech for years. The Tories let it happen, and Labour is making things worse. We can't blame Sir Keir Starmer for creating a police state. Nor should we expect him as a politician to involve himself in Lucy Connolly's case – that is for judges – though he was wrong last August to say that he was expecting 'substantive sentencing' of rioters within days. That surely must have influenced the courts. What we should now object to is the Prime Minister's smugness, and his pretence that free speech is safe in Britain. When JD Vance alleged in the Oval Office in February that it was threatened, Starmer replied: 'We've had free speech for a very long time, it will last a long time, and we are very proud of that.' We did have it once, but it's increasingly in peril. Trump is the last man in the world who should be encouraged to say so. Sir Keir Starmer – the British Prime Minister – is the first. Yet he refuses to speak up.
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Harry and Meghan are accused of hypocrisy over Montecito 'royal' court after they decried life as royals - as experts ridicule new group as 'expensive bureaucrats trying to save their brand'
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been accused of 'hypocrisy' over their new 'royal' court in Montecito after they condemned life as royals. The pair, who abandoned their roles as senior royals in 2020, have revamped the structure of their staff to create a similar hierarchical system that has underpinned Harry's family for decades, the Mail on Sunday revealed this weekend. Meredith Kendall Maines, a seasoned communications strategist, will be at the helm of a team of 11, operating out of Montecito, California, and the UK. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams argued the couple has hypocritically created a similar structure for themselves to that of Harry's family, despite recently attacking royal systems. Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Fitzwilliams said: 'The hypocrisy lies in the act that Harry has, especially in his most recent interview, attacked courtiers and the Royal Household, considering them enemies. So it is extremely surprising that he should want a similar structure in Montecito. 'In [Harry's memoir] Spare he excoriated senior courtiers. He, as his mother did, regards them as the enemy.' The expert added: 'The difference is, tragically, that she would not accept police protection as she distrusted it so. Ironically, it's what he wants for himself and his family. He also claimed courtiers or their equivalent used security as a lever to prevent them stepping down as senior working royals. 'So the ''Montecito model'' better be different and they would be wise to pay attention to its advice.' Meanwhile, royal expert Tom Bower has criticised the new reshuffle, claiming it does not resemble a 'royal' court but rather marks the couple's 'final, desperate bid to save their brand'. Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Bower said: 'Undoubtedly, the Sussexes would like to rule over a ''royal court'' from their Montecito mansion. Nothing would give them greater pleasure than courtiers pulling their forelocks as they bow and scrape to please the Duke and Duchess. 'Competing with Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace would delight Meghan. But what the Sussexes have assembled is not a ''royal court''. Rather, it's a hugely expensive group of bureaucrats signalling the Sussexes' final, desperate bid to save their brand.' This week, the MoS revealed the restructuring will see each senior appointee reportedly earn a six-figure salary. Mr Bower said: 'Buckingham Palace's ''royal court' are under-paid, over-worked devoted loyal professionals committed to the traditions of a thousand year monarchy and the country they serve.' He added: 'If Harry follows Meghan to commercialise his title to earn some dollars then his currently minimal chance of reconciliation and return to Britain will be totally extinguished.' Royal expert Mr Fitzwilliams added that the dramatic revamp has brought up questions of how successful the new operation will be, in light of previous 'bullying' accusations plaguing the Duchess. 'We are promised new projects and initiatives in the months to come and obviously can then judge the success of this revamp,' he said. Meredith Kendall Maines (pictured), a seasoned communications strategist, will be at the helm of a team of 11, operating out of Montecito, California, and the UK 'However there are question marks which have haunted the Sussexes entire operation. The first issue is whether the high staff turnover which has characterised their ventures continues, with some 20 having left. 'In the run up to the interview on Oprah, Meghan was accused of bullying, which she strongly denied. However this has been extremely damaging to her image...' The new operation is set to be run separately to Archewell, the Sussex's charity foundation. The MoS revealed that the restructuring will include the duke and duchess each having their own chief of staff. On top of this, Harry will launch his own as-yet-undisclosed commercial venture in the upcoming months, and Meghan's lifestyle business, As Ever, will expand its range of products later in the year. A spokesman for the couple said last night: 'The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have retained the support of Method Communications to support their growing business portfolio and philanthropic interests. 'Serving as an extension of the Sussex communications team, led by chief communications officer Meredith Maines.'
