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GREEKS ARE SET to go to the polls tomorrow and despite recent scandals, the incumbent New Democracy party looks likely to win the largest share of the vote, but with a coalition deal an improbability, a second election later this summer could well be on the cards.
According to polling data, the conservative New Democracy party, led by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has a roughly 7% lead over its nearest rival, the leftist Syriza party led by former prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
Some of the issues that have shaped the campaign include the country’s economic recovery from the debt crisis that engulfed it for over a decade, inflation, access to housing and migration policy.
The opposition has also been keen to criticise high-profile controversies that have occurred during Mitsotakis’ time in government.
Specifically, the wiretapping of journalists as well as the leader of the social-democratic PASOK party, Niko Androukalis, and the handling of a catastrophic head-on train collision earlier this year that left 57 people dead.
The crash and its aftermath led to public outrage with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets in protest.
After a slump in the government’s popularity, that anger seems to have abated to some degree as the election comes into view and economic concerns have come to the fore once again.
The near collapse of the country’s economy is still fresh in the minds of Greek voters.
“We don’t have the imminent threat and risk of economic collapse, an economic crisis, which is something good. On the other hand, of course, the impact of the crisis is still there and the recovery from the crisis is not something which is totally sustainable,” says Othon Anastasakis, director South East European studies at Oxford University.
“So there are always fears,” he says, “as to whether political uncertainty might also be conducive to economic vulnerability and that’s an issue that is being raised mostly by economic analysts.
“Overall, the message certainly that New Democracy wants to give is that this is the party that is much more reliable in terms of its economic performance and economic prospects.
“And that is probably the strongest card that New Democracy and Mitsotakis are throwing in this electoral battle.”
Given this, the focal points for criticism from opposition parties have shifted to areas outside of the country’s economic performance, according to Anastasakis.
“That’s why the whole debate diverted towards issues or has to do with governance and corruption and the wiretapping scandal,” he says.
He describes it as a “very negative thing for New Democracy and some thing that Syriza has been using a lot.”
“The other is of course the train disaster and that is also something that shows how the government wasn’t able to modernise a train line, which is basically, you know, the most important one.
“And that shows the limits and the problems first of all, with how privatisation has been developing and also how the whole system operates, the inefficiencies of the system.”
All in all, there are 27 political parties, 8 alliances and one independent candidate vying for the public’s votes on Sunday, but based on polling and the current make-up of parliament, the majority of those votes look set to go in the direction of the three major parties, New Democracy (36%), Syriza (29%) and PASOK (10%).
Other less popular but notable players include the Communist Party, which is polling at around 7%, the European Realistic Disobedience Front, led by former finance minister Yannis Varoufakis (4%), and the nationalist far-right Greek Solution party (4%).
New Democracy’s main platform for re-election is the maintenance of Greece’s economic recovery following the national debt crisis that resulted from the global financial collapse of 2008.
Mitsotakis has also touted his government’s efforts to repel migration to Greek Islands and at the boarder it shares with its neighbour Turkey.
The ruling conservative party has been in power since 2019 and has been rocked by scandals on more than one occasion.
The most notable of these were the use of state intelligence forces to conduct surveillance on journalists as well as the leader of the PASOK party, Nikos Androulakis, and the government’s response to the fatal train crash earlier this year, which Mitsotakis initially blamed on human error before walking that statement back in the face of public outrage.
The government has remained ahead of the other major parties in opinion polls throughout its term despite its controversies.
Founded in 1974, New Democracy has traditionally represented the centre-right in Greek parliamentary politics.
Mitsotakis, a former consultant at McKinsey, comes from a political dynasty that dates back to the late 19th century.
His father Constantine Mitsotakis was also prime minister three decades ago. His sister is a former minister and was the first woman mayor of Athens. The current Athens Mayor is her son and Mitsotakis’ nephew.
His image as a member of the elite is one the incumbent prime minister has long struggled to shake off but the other major parties have their own reputational problems to deal with, too.
The youngest of the three main parties contesting this weekend’s election is Syriza, a coalition of left-wing parties formed in 2004 and officially registered in 2012.
Syriza is currently the second largest party in Greece’s parliament and is led by former prime minister Alexis Tsipras, who held the office during Greece’s tumultuous debt crisis which reached a head in 2015, during which his government found itself in a standoff with the European troika over bailout conditions.
Eventually, Tsipras relented and accepted the bailout.
That reversal led to a rift in the leadership of the party, most notably with the resignation of prominent finance minister Yannis Varoufakis. Since then Syriza has been seen as moving closer to the political centre and away from its radical roots.
“This is what I believe is the biggest problem (for Syriza),” says Anastasakis. “This is a party that is still very much well weighed down by their far-leftist background.
“It is at the same time, the party of opposition and resistance to authority coming from left wing politics, so there is that type of side. Then on the other hand, it is also forced to have the role of the alternative party in power, and I think those two roles are very, very difficult to marry.”
This, he says, has left much of the public unconvinced of Syriza’s ability to perform in the role of government.
“That’s why in spite of the fact that there are those two major things that have happened, it hasn’t managed to convincingly addressed, you know, an electoral discourse, that can be a real and credible alternative to New Democracy.”
Syriza and its leader are asking for another chance in government, this time without the straightjacket imposed austerity.
“Enough is enough,” the 48-year-old told a rally in Larissa, central Greece last week.
“Enough with profiteering, inequality, nepotism, indifference, arrogance, injustice,” he said, accusing Mitsotakis of showering billions of euros on political and family allies.
While it may have originally been founded as a socialist party, PASOK is seen as the party of the centre-left in Greek politics and until the emergence of Syriza, was New Democracy’s main rival.
Also founded in 1974 after the collapse of Greece’s military dictatorship, PASOK was the most popular party on the Greek left until 2012, when in government it negotiated the first bailout from the European troika.
The terms of that bailout also included enforcing harsh austerity measures and led to a significant loss of popularity for the party.
Having been the largest party in the Hellenic Parliament in 2009 with 160 seats, its support plummeted in the 2015 election which left PASOK with just 13 seats.
In 2017, PASOK merged with other social-democratic parties to take its current form as a centre-left political alliance. The membership of that alliance has changed over the years since with some parties leaving the movement.
The party is led by Nikos Androulakis, who had been seen by analysts as a potential coalition partner for Mitsotakis after his election as party chairman in 2021.
Earlier this month Greece’s Supreme Court banned a party founded by a jailed member of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn group from contesting this weekend’s general election.
The far-right Hellenes party of Ilias Kasidiaris, a convicted leader of the now disbanded Golden Dawn, will not be able to field candidates, the court’s assembly ruled.
The small nationalist party Hellenes was formed in 2020 by Kasidiaris, the former spokesman and lawmaker of Golden Dawn, a few months before he was sent to prison.
He was among several top Golden Dawn members handed heavy prison sentences in October 2020 by a court that labelled the neo-Nazi party a criminal organisation.
Kasidiaris was among nearly 60 Golden Dawn members convicted in 2020 of the murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas and other crimes including murder, assault and running a criminal organisation.
While polling may indicate a win for New Democracy, there are a few things that make this political contest one to watch.
A number of novel factors are at play in tomorrow’s vote, including a swathe of new young voters, the banning of neo-Nazi candidates and a new electoral system which will see the outcome determined by proportional representation for the first time.
Around 440,000 young people will have the chance to vote for the first time this weekend and courting those newcomers has been a feature of the campaign.
Thanks to legislation introduced while Syriza was in power, those turning 17 this year are eligible to vote in the national election.
Young voters have traditionally supported parties on the left and Syriza in particular will be hoping to receive a boost from this new contingent of the electorate.
Despite politicians’ repeated calls and social media stunts, however, young voters are not expected to turn out massively on Sunday as only one in four people aged 17-24 voted in the last election in 2019.
Greece is the country with the second highest level of youth unemployment in the European Union, with 24.2% of people under 25 jobless, according to the latest available data from EU statistics agency Eurostat.
This weekend will see a new proportional representation system determine the outcome of at least the initial election result, although due to the historical lack of coalition government in Greece, as well as diminishing prospects of coalition between the major parties, a re-run without the new system looks likely to be the ultimate decider.
Traditionally, Greek elections have been a contest for 250 of the Hellenic Parliament’s 300 seats. In previous elections, the winning party would receive the remaining seats as a bonus. This meant that strong, single party governments were more common than coalition ones.
But while Syriza was in government, they introduced new legislation changing the system to proportional representation, which the New Democracy government has since changed back to the old system as of the election following this one.
So, if no deal to form a government is reached following Sunday’s result, another vote will take place during the summer under the rules of the old system.
“There’s going to be a second vote. There’s no doubt about it,” says Anastasakis.
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America really is on a scary path.
@Paul Quinlan: Sh17hole
@Paul Quinlan: this is his new tack now, “the law and order” president.
Exploiting the fact that lots of Americans are under curfew in cities across the nation, only I can protect you from those hordes.
When fascism come to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a bible.
@Diaspora’d: bit ironic isn’t it, he has been going on about reopening the country during the height of a pandemic, now his putting them under curfew
@Paul O’Sullivan: #TangerineTwit
@Diaspora’d: Donald will deal with it, he has God on his side.
Trump is the reason these riots are happening. He’s been stoking racial tensions for years.
@Seán Ó Briain: Give me a break with that ole rubbish
@Maurice O Neill: Don’t like facts? Go elsewhere.
@Maurice O Neill: Come on. Last chance on the deaths per million argument. You were on about that for weeks. Let’s have it.
@Seán Ó Briain: Yeah, there was never racially charged riots in America before now. How old are you, 12?
@Seán Ó Briain: Yeah there was never any racial tension in the states until 2016…
@Maurice O Neill: TAS is an awful condition you should seek help for it
@Seán Ó Briain: You need to know what is going on to know what the facts are Sean.
@josephsample: i dunno about that, I clearly remember Obama giving a speech about it in Dallas after the shootings. He told the black community ‘we can do better’ and also showing great temperance telling the police departments ‘we can also do better’. Great speech. Great leader. Leadership we just don’t have now. #TangerineTwit
@Maurice O Neill: you are correct Maurice it’s a lot of ole rubbish. Racial tensions have been going on since the Emancipation Act. In its Modern context since the 1950s through the Civil rights movement but it’s always less tense when there is a Demorcrat President….. why is that ?
@Paul O’Sullivan: Enlighten us. This should be good.
@Louis Jacob: Enlighten yourself get an education.
Remember Birmingham Alabama 1963 ?
Newark riots 1968 ? LA riots 70s 80s and 90s ? Just s few off the top of my hat.
Redneck Yanks will never change they are as dumb as Eton educated Torys.
@Paul O’Sullivan: I was just gonna say Democrats are better leaders ( Unions, Healthcare, Social security, Women’s issues ) and Republicans just don’t give a crap about people ??
@Paul O’Sullivan: soooo, you have no point ; you’re just rainmanning random thoughts
@Wayne Connor: I’m going to sleep ffs some of us have work in the morning
@Paul O’Sullivan: Why do some people always start their comments by speculating about what someone knows when they don’t know anything about them? It means your very first statement is uninformed. I think you were mentioning irony earlier.
No. I was asking you why it is that dem leaders see less interracial violence? And I do think this might be good.
@Paul O’Sullivan: Some of us have work? More uninformed speculation.
@Paul O’Sullivan: I’m in the U.S so I’ve still got hours before my bedtime, but nice try insinuating I don’t work just so you can run away from an argument ! Much the same as the Tangerine Twit cuts off the questions when the going gets tough. Something blowhards have in common I guess
@Seán Ó Briain: about 90% of media is heavily left wing, that’s how people see news which is edited to charge emotions, and it’s in the media interests to stoke the fire and make it all as dramatic as possible for consumers, to keep clicking those links. That’s whose making money out of it all.
@Alan Currie: Ever heard of a chap called Rupert Murdoch?
@Bridget O’Hanlon: the dead guy?
@Seán Ó Briain: give me your facts Sean
@Caoimhín O Neill: lots to choose from really.
The fact that last time someone tried a PEACEFUL kneel down protest for “black lives matter” Trump called the African American NFL player a son of a bitch.
How about the fact that Trump at a rally told cops not to be too nice and not worry about banging suspects’ heads against patrol car doors.
Or how about the fact that Trump refers to certain countries as ‘$*****le’ countries and asked ‘why can’t we get more immigrants from nice countries like Denmark?’
Or the fact he claimed the last President who happened to be black was born in Africa.
I’d say yes he has made it worse..
@Seán Ó Briain:
If it was facts I was after Sean, it wouldn’t be the comments section of the journal.
This is for pure entertainment. And it never ever disappoints.
Thanks Sean and all.
@Alan Currie: Rupert Murdoch is not dead?
@Wayne Connor: obama gave a lot of politically correct speeches but police brutality increased under him. Mass shootings increased. Overseas wars increased. Maybe you should look at what the USA is actually doing instead of what their slick handsome media savvy mouthpiece says?
@JackSimpson: not getting involved in your argument other than to say I turned on the tv this morning to see footage of peaceful protestors being tear gassed outside the White House. Obviously done on the orders of a president who berated CNN a few days ago for impinging on his freedom of speech. What a sad racist country.
@Diaspora’d: lol such nonsense. Did you get these facts from the journal? Did the journal also tell you that he donated his salary to improve the hisbanic and black community? Or how he tried to release a US black rapper from Sweden? It must be very dark in that tinted glasshouse of yours
@Alan Currie: just listening to Newstalk and Pat Kenny played footage from CNN and Don lemon lol the Irish are doomed with this fake news been used as sources lol at least the a few of us that know the truth
@Michael Garvey: CNN lol
@Keith Richardson: are you suggesting that the video is fake? I think not
The land of the free eh… Looking at that country slowly slide downhill the past few years brings home how good we have it here in Ireland.
@Mick Murphy: Speak for yourself, Mick.
@Mick Murphy: You’re not wrong. I’d the chance to return to the US in 2016 and chose to stay in Ireland instead.
I return regularly and every time I go I realise how glad I am that I didn’t move back to the US. I have no interest in living in a country that treats it’s citizens badly unless they have money.
@Dylan: You’ve obliviously never travelled around the world. Ireland is one of the best countries in the world to live. No hurricanes, tornadoes, monsoons, volcanoes, dangerous spiders, snakes… ect The weather never gets too cold or too hot, our water is clean. We have some of the best food in the world. You can travel freely all over with no one bothering you. You can build your own house in the country side. The taxes are high, yes but for quality of life we are way up there.
@great gael of Eire:
And we don’t have 40m unemployed with a nut job at the top advocating taking bleach to treat a virus that’s killing thousands of his citizens. Meanwhile riots on the streets.
Go figure. Period.
Dictator in action, sending the military in on his own citizens. He’s just got himself kicked out in November.
@Uncle Montys oaf: *sending the military in on the vandals and looters.
@JackSimpson: it was a peacefully protest in DC
@bmul: Is that why the city was on fire?
@JackSimpson: That’s a metaphor.
@JackSimpson: the ones he ordered his military to move where they peacefully protesting ? You did hear trump say he stands with the protesters then shoved them out of the way.
@JackSimpson: some of the GOP governors are finally speaking out about trump .
@Uncle Montys oaf: sending the national Gaurd is one thing but sending the military to attack Americans it will be interesting if the Generals will obey his orders?
@Paul O’Sullivan: It could divide the generals. Then what?
@Louis Jacob: a lethal injection he died in his sleep,.
@Paul O’Sullivan: change the narrative much? They would be deployed to control people behaving like criminals burning down buildings, those looting businesses many of which are owned by blacks, often damaging black areas affecting totally innocent people so it’s destroying their very own communities, but sure you just call them “Americans” because orange man bad. Antifa also have been heavily involved in this, so you even got middle class white kids jumping on the riot bandwagon, destroying many black businesses yet claiming to be social justice warriors, it’s so messed up, so how do you suggest making them all stop?
@Alan Currie: Cannot wait for the heavy armed militias around the U.S to come in and fight with their fellow citizens against their governments tyranny against their own citizens..oh wait, they’re more interested in fighting for the cause of getting their hair & nails done..
@Paul O’Sullivan: he can’t send in the military the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the use of active duty personnel to execute the laws, its tough talking nonsense again from him
@JackSimpson: The city isn’t on fire. Really you are just so sad. By any chance is this you Donald??
@Alan Currie: He’s talking nonsense. He doesn’t have the power to send the military into any state unless he is requested to do so by the state government. He is just electioneering and his stunt yesterday, forcibly pushing back peaceful protesters with rubber bullets and teargas so that he could have a photo-op in front of a church, will backfire big time on him. His handling of the whole situation has been abysmal and the language and rhetoric he has been using has only served to inflame tensions. Proper engagement with the communities who are being affected by the systemic racism in the country is the only way to bring an end to these protests. Organisations like black lives matter and the organisers of the protests are trying to police and control their protests better and stop the infiltration by Antifa and other groups but, as you can see, this is very difficult. Honest and meaningful engagement will calm a lot of the protests very quickly.
He just declared war on…..America ????
@Wayne Connor: By restoring law and order? By preventing looters and vandals destroy cities?
@JackSimpson: Jaysus. Yer like Eva Braun. Hang in there until the bitter end. Ye must really love this guy.
@JackSimpson: he just dispersed peaceful protesters with mounted police and rubber bullets. Tangerine Tyrant
@JackSimpson: he just used the military to move peacefully protesters to get a photo opp. He can’t send the military into the states he can in DC but not the states
@Louis Jacob: he’s a sad little troll stirring up the sh!t for attention, much like the bloated buffoon he adores so much
@Louis Jacob: No, I just call out rubbish that’s posted on this forum.
@JackSimpson: Sad sycophant.
@JackSimpson: from where ???
@JackSimpson: how’s the Mirror
@JackSimpson: George Floyd’s own brother asked those who are using violence to stop. That’s more leadership on this crisis than Trump has shown total
@JackSimpson: you’re getting smashed in the comments. Scarlet for you and your orange love child.
@JackSimpson: I’m with you, this forum is a joke. There’s barely a mention about the actual death of George Floyd anymore, it’s turned into the usual Trump bashing orgy that’s been going on for years now.
@Wayne Connor: Pretty sure bmul, Wayne and Louis are the same person. Another symptom of Trump Derangement Syndrome is a need to communicate to oneself on social media /online forums via different accounts as no one else will due to bizarre personality and views. Goodnight Wayne aka Bmul, Louis.
@JackSimpson: you come out with that crap a lot people disagree with you they must all.ve the same person . Bit like your hero and his 3 million fake votes
@JackSimpson: you’re mad and it’s great ! Please keep posting !!
@JackSimpson: pretty sure your employed to stick up for trump also think your sitting in a basement somewhere with no social interaction.
@JackSimpson: Funniest comment I’ve read in a while. Of any 3 people you could have picked to be one account ….
@Eric Gaffney: Because it’s about so much more than him. Stop feeding that sad trump line like a minion.
@JackSimpson: TAS is really bad tonight for you Jack
@JackSimpson: The paranoia is getting to you boy. I use my real account on here. Why would I do that?
@Louis Jacob: Nope, this started because of the death of George Floyd. It was the likes of you that made it about Trump. This is the usual opportunism from the likes of Antifa trying to sway the election, as proven by a lot of the presumptuous comments on here saying Trump is out after this term. The longer this will go on the more George Floyd will be forgotten about. The man has only been dead a week and already you’re saying it’s not just about him.
@Eric Gaffney: This is a tipping point. Don’t insult people’s intelligence with that watery Trump line about not respecting the victim. SAD.. Everybody knows his name.
@Eric Gaffney: Yeah. We’ll forget his name like everybody forgot Trayvon Martin’s name. That’s probably spelled wrong but I remember them. Or Rodney King. I would list them but I’m sick typing.
@Louis Jacob: seriously….if I was gonna make a fake account I would NEVER pick a name like Louis….Jacob …. ( barf ) :-)
@Wayne Connor: Haha. I’d probably call myself the awful abominator or something lethal like that.
@Louis Jacob: considering the way you slay the fools in here like Schwarzenegger I’d go with something like ‘ Da Jurrnal-nay-torr’
@Wayne Connor: looks like it
@Louis Jacob: or Ahmed Aubrey who was murdered in cold blood in Georgia a few weeks ago or Breonna Taylor who was a First Responder/paramedic who was shot and killed as a result of a botched house raid by police.
@JackSimpson: you are like the town of Fermoy, Jackie boy, you are all against one side.
@Louis Jacob: Eva Braun, brilliant, i actually laughed out loud, nice work lad
@Wayne Connor: fair play to him.
@Louis Jacob: The point is this has been turned in to the usual Trump crap. There’s people on here advocating the violence and looting that has been ongoing and basically blamed it all on Trump. And as you’ve proved yourself, America has been like this a long time.
@JackSimpson: sending in the military to enforce the law is illegal. He’s not going to do it.
Disgusting human being
@Pete mc pete: So he should allow these people to destroy their own cities?
@Pete mc pete: For what reason .. He is protecting people and businesses from this carnage
@Pete mc pete: Ice-T predicted this 30 yesterday ago.
https://youtu.be/lMQHVzSPTec
@Rossa Crowe: You do know that you’ll always be one of the people who tried to justify Trump’s behaviour. It’s you guys who have the derangement syndrome.
@Maurice O Neill: Quick. Get in the line about the deaths per million. That window is closing. Next week it will be a novel memory.
@Peter Cavey: Jello Biafra ! CLASSIC !!!
@Louis Jacob: If you owned one of the businesses getting burnt down you may have a different attitude. Clearly its too much for the police to handle and they don’t have the respect of the people at the minute so what alternative does Trump have?
@Maurice O Neill: Ah Maurice Still suffering from TAS. What did you think of Orange Jabba try to hold his bible at various heights for no reason whatsoever. Oh and the tear gassing of the peaceful protest to clear his way
@Rossa Crowe: Resign.
@Rossa Crowe: funnily enough the man that owns Target in the area stands with the protestors having come out in the news saying as much.
Also – how do you know what the business owners think? Are you their rep now?
@Dermot Foley: Rossa cant figure out how anyone could put basic human rights ahead of their own interests so he thinks noone would. Classic stuff.
@Dermot Foley: What about the hundreds of minority owned small businesses that have literally been destroyed in a protest that was supposed to be in the name of rights for minorities?
@Rossa Crowe: gee , I dunno , STOP STOKING RACIAL TENSION ???
@Louis Jacob: So you agree with thrashing a city so that your point gets across. Sounds like you are reasonable and very sound of mind.
@josephsample: Dumbest comment of the day. Business people are business people. What’s the difference?
@Louis Jacob: So you’re saying that someone who owns a small restaurant, for example, and has just gone through a 2 month lockdown and maybe barely survived it from a business perspective should stand with the rioters as they break their windows and destroy their premises? There’s a great irony in you calling my comment the dumbest of the day…
@Rossa Crowe: No. That’s a straw man. I’m not even going to adress it. Intellectually dishonest.
@josephsample: No. Dont put words in my mouth. I’m just saying a business person is a business person. Why should they act any differently to racism because of the colour of their skin.?
@Louis Jacob: I was responding specifically to someone who said that a guy who owns Target in the area stood with the protestors. And also just pointing out the general stupidity in protesting/rioting for racial justice and potentially putting many minorities out of business when they do it…
@johnny onion eye: Reporter : “is that your Bible ? “
Trump : “ it’s ‘A’ Bible “
@Louis Jacob: they can support the protest and also not want their businesses to be destroyed.
@Maurice O Neill:
Why is it that everything turns into “Hate Trump comments”?
He is doing a job in a country far from us, save your pointless anger and get on with improving our own country.
@josephsample: Because you both left and right extremists stoking the fires. The Antifa want to bring down the government by anarchy and the right wing nutjobs want to start a civil war and foment white America
@Pete mc pete: He would be disgusting if he sat back and done nothing.
A true leader and a great President.
Trump looks around the world and sees President Xi of China, President Putin of Russia,his buddy Little fat Kim in North Korea, the Saudi Riyals, and that they all have “Absolute Power”, their word is Law. And he thinks “I want some of that”.
So he he says to his “Yes Men” I want Absolute Power too. So what we are now witnessing is an attempt at a power grab.
@Mick.: his name is Mr Kim
Mad Man… ‘This may be perceived as toxic…” Yes, I know, probably will… He is full to the brim with malice. This is a seminal moment, I think. If the good people don’t speak out NOW the US is on the brink of utter chaos. Call him out for the thing he is. Toxic waste. It’s now or never.
@Wood Jackson: ( this may be perceived as toxic ) made me laugh ! The bane of my existence ; what I’d LOVE to say on here !!
That country has lost it. And it comes from the top.
President Good Brain completely lost in the oblivion at this stage. He’ll be carried away soon I reckon.
A few weeks ago Trump compared himself to President Lincoln. If my history is correct Lincoln sent Americans to fight Americans. Maybe a Trump is telling the truth for a change!
@Malcolm Smith: Only difference is that Trump would be on the side of the slaveholders!
He needs to go..Full Stop.
Deploy military against your own people??? That’s massacre
@Seriousnojoke: Sounds just like Chinaaaa!! Tianamin Square and Hong Kong spring to mind.
@Mick.: No, worse. HK riots been going on for a year and their police didn’t shoot anyone to death and there’s no military on the street. One week in the protests in America, two protesters were shot dead (in Oakland and Louisville) and numerous hurt. Trump constantly tweeting and refusing to communicate are just adding fuel to the anger of the people.
Is there not a rule that conventional military forces cannot be used domestically only National Guard, State, Federal or local forces.
America on verge of complete anarchy. Russia and China must be delighted it’s all working out for them in a big way.
Has Trump crawled out of his bunker yet?
@The Bloody Nine: Yes, with Bible in one hand and armalite in the other.
The separate states of America,place is in melt down
Hoa come this insurrection act wasn’t used against the armed gangs who recently entered state parliaments around the country? How come a white guy that showed up at the Boston protest, openly and heavily armed, in breach of the law, was simply sent home by police and not arrested? What would have happened had he shown up in full military attire and armed, if he was black?
@Connoroconner: how many shots were fired at these events?
He can only see himself.
I wonder if he will burn the Capital Building and blame “Subversives”? Then make himself “President for Life”.
@Mick.: I did see someone recently state that the pandemic was Trump’s Reichstag moment…… .that was before the homicide of George Floyd.
@Mick.: like his friend Putin…?!!
U S A. R I P
Anyone for an Irish protest.
Any layabouts available for an auld march to an embassy or two?
@Seamus McSpud: bellend.
Ah here…
Someone posted that shots were fired at the White House last night, well I suppose a fluorescent orange sack of crap does make a tempting target?
@James Walsh: Let’s not forget ; he turned off all the lights and hid behind the couch ….LMFAO
I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
And I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
Cheaper to just give justice no?
He cant its illegal
Why is the Bible held upside Down
I mean he’s a clown and was one of the reasons for this issue.
But this move is absolutely correct, right? What’s he meant to do, sit back and let them tear the country down?
By the looks of it and looking at all the people committing senseless violence and looting shops, even a new Civil Rights Act and the Death Penalty on those officers wouldn’t stop anything in the streets. There’s a large amount that are protesting peacefully, another large amount just happy to be part of chaos.
@Correct Opinion: so basically replicating thatcher sending in troops to Northern Ireland? How well did that go? (Americans are also armed to the teeth.. will be interesting)
He also did not once mention doing anything to reform the police or enact any social change in his speech… so clearly not interested in taking on board why people are rioting.
This will only get worse I fear!
Trump is a nut job
@Aaron Tynan: that cow wasn’t responsible for operation banner
That’s something you’d expect from the Chinese or Russians
@trebloc01: both of whom have hundreds of native ethnic groups and never had African slaves. Why?
@trebloc01: it would be something you would expect if you didn’t know anything about those countries, didn’t know anyone from those countries and had never been to those countries. They both also had coordinated successful revolutions and overthrew regimes similar to the US.
Go and actually look at the press conference trump is doing the right thing .. he is giving the democrat governers a chance to call the national guard in he is not threatning anyone and if they dont he will deploy the army its simple really what do you expect ? Funny how trump called the looters thugs and it was an outrage but when obama called the looters thugs back in baltimore 2015 it was fine .. i think the media has blood on its hands the way they report things and fire people up to hate … now please dont remove this comment again journal
@sean bergin: they gonna remove it, its pro Trump and states clear facts
Wait til he resurrects some old law which allows him to assume power for lifetime – a bit like Putin is currently doing. Two sides of the same coin.
In the usa white people killed by cops 55% black people 27% hispanic 19% add up last 4 years on statistica.com or look at fbi stats… but wait sean there is more white in america .. yes very true so then look at crime commited black people by far commite the most crime.. sure even the big freindly giant george was done for armed robbery holding up a mother with a gun .. if he wasnt commiting a crime last week the cops would not have been called in the firstcplace it was awful what happend after that rip… look at black on black crime or even black on white crime they kill more white people in the usa than the other way around. Think the black community need to look at themselves more and not blame white people for everything wrong in there life lets start at home how many black people in the states grow up without a father figure ? Look that one up the results are tragic
@sean bergin: correct and the reason there’s no fathers is because these states are run by democrats and in order to get the black vote they give handouts and a single mother will get more money so no father needed it’s so sicking what theses Dems are capable of EVIL
Says the ones safe in their bunkers.
Welcome to Gilead.
Hitler said that too
A crooked narcissist who wants everyone to worship him, shamelessly using the crutch of religion to bolster his corrupt, failing administration. The USA is sick with both Covid-19 and the poison that is Trumpism.
Hope hits the self destruct button by accident
This is Indian (Apache) country
Let the prince of peace reign,God bless America
Is he taking the oath to tell the truth this time.
The bishop of the diocese is totally outraged.
You can see him trying to remember which way they told him to hold the bible.
Its a staged TV moment to distract from the mess he’s making of everything. And he (they) even made a balls of that. Pathetic.
Well, he did teach Elvis how to play karate.
The Hitler comparisons are getting harder and harder to dismiss.
Top man Trump. No place for rioting and looting in any civilized society. If these were peaceful protests there wouldnt be an issue. The police man who was kneeling on Floyds neck has been charged with murder and by all accounts there are more charges coming for the other police involved. White police kill more white people in the US than black people. Gun ownership is at the heart of the problem. Police wouldnt be so heavy handed if there were less guns in civilian hands.
No comment needed here…
Welcome to the Divided States of America. The land of the racist and home of the xenophobe.
Trump condemns China over it handedly of Hongkong, Now is doing the same thing to his own people, nothing but a hypocrite
A simple solution to sort all this out, put the accused cop and his partner in crime on a plane to the middle of Africa and leave them there with nothing, see how far they go
The ignorant Clown couldn’t even manage to turn the bible facing the right way….. Arrogant gob#hite
He fairly grabbed that Bible by the pu55y!
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