Events of the weekend have left me in a slightly more positive mood than before, as at last there are some signs of moral rectitude stirring in ‘Murica. All over the country, from New York and Boston across the country to LA and San Fran, down to Texas and Saint Louis, Democrats have been taking to the streets and walking, marching, demonstrating, using their constitutional right to Free Speech and to show their opposition to their idiot orange dictator and his sycophantic black-hearted cronies.
So far, despite news reports saying that the protests have been sighted “all over the country”, I’ve not seen any images coming in from the inbred hicksville states like Alabama, Kentucky or Wyoming, or either of the Dakotas or Alaska, but I’m not sure if Democrats are legal in some of those states.
No Kings they say, and surely we can hope that for a Dic that watches so much TV, I hope that he gets to see some of the signs that so brilliantly skewer him, although of course the poor delicate flower has such a sensitive thin skin that there is a good chance that he will call out the National Guard to slaughter the protestors.
A similar thing is happening in the UK, where sensitive politicians have changed the law so that protesting senior citizens with placards are being locked up by the hundreds for wielding “offensive weapons” or some other such bullshit. And I am sure that you have all seen Banksy’s brilliant “offensive” graffiti of the law lords beating a protestor to death, stencilled almost indelibly on the front of the “Royal Courts of Justice.”
But what, I hear you say, has this to do with Architecture and Urban Design in our capital city? Well, borderline relevance to be sure, but I thought it might be interesting to observe the taste (or lack of) and self-aggrandisement of the Blimp in Chief, who, like Midas, seemingly cannot resist the lure of gold.
The Rump resident has not only concreted over the Rose Garden at the White House in order to spend $250 million on a Ball Room, but has also desecrated almost every room inside the White House with hideous gold tat. No doubt when the Ballroom is completed the world will be subjected to yet more video footage of Rump “dancing”, ie swaying side to side like a drunken bull elephant. There are more important things to be concentrating on – perhaps this is all a giant smokescreen? But from what? This?
He now also wants to build a Triumphal Arch somewhere in the city of Washington DC, directly facing the Lincoln Memorial. An Arch about as big as Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, apparently. And in memory of himself, no doubt.
We all know that there is no end of the vanity of this man, and how closely he is observing the playlist of the Modern Dictator’s Playbook. Quite extraordinary – and all broadcast live so that we can watch him live, although I have to turn the sound off as I can’t stand the sound of him talking / lying / bullshitting (all the same thing really). I’ve been watching reruns of the West Wing on TV at the same time and it is fascinating to observe how principled and hopeful the fictional democrat President Bartlett was, compared to the (fictional?) republican Resident Bump is. Such a contrast. Temper that with some Slow Horses for what seems a lot more real than this weird alternative reality we live in. I mean, seriously, could you make this shit up?
I’m kicking myself – I should have seen the Grand Arch coming, we have all heard about his legendary love for the Golden Arches. And this one is a big one! The impulse he will face will be to plaster his name across it somewhere / everywhere, and probably to cover it in fake gold leaf as well.
As crap as Luxon is as leader of this country, and as incompetent as Willis is at being a Minister of Finance (the worst since Muldoon? or since NZ began?), at least we do not have a despotic tyrant at the helm. Instead we have a man who ran an airline once, and who wonders why we aren’t all buying his bullshit about the country being back on track when clearly we are sliding backwards quite fast.
But maybe it is time that we went back to concentrate on: Why doesn’t NZ have a Constitution? We have a Bill of Rights, that I guarantee that no-one has read (except you Chico…!), and we have two versions of a Treaty, which Seymour wants to flag away (because apparently the poor white folk are not being given enough privileges already). But we don’t have a Constitution, because i think that Geoffrey Palmer forgot to write one? And perhaps with all the palava over Charles and Andrew and Harry and Meghan and all – perhaps it is time that we started saying “No Kings” here as well?
