Greg’s Dixon Another kind of politics: US Voters to World - Drop Dead

Greg Dixon’s Another Kind of Politics is a weekly column that appears on listener.co.nz on Friday mornings. If you enjoy a “serious laugh” - and complaining about politics and politicians - you’ll enjoy reading Greg’s latest grievances.

Congratulations America, you’ve just elected your first-ever convicted criminal as president. You must be very proud.

In the coming days it will no doubt become clearer why such a sizeable number of you decided a fraudster, serial liar, failed insurrectionist, racist, wannabe “dictator for a day” and, according to a civil court, rapist, was the best person for the job.

But here in New Zealand, or the Great State of Disbelief as I like to call it, we and our government, such as it is, will begin preparing for the worst — and it can only get worse for a tiny trading nation like us.

If Trump’s first term as president proved anything, it was that incoherent as he can be, he should be taken at his word. Which means that he will enact, as he said during his campaign, a minimum 10% tariff on all imports to the US, a move that can only have a major negative effect on an already struggling New Zealand, which, at least for now, exports around $8 billion of goods to the US each year.

It seems quite possible that “Getting New Zealand Back On Track”, as National promised at the election but has thus far not delivered, will become even more difficult. The Prime Minister, the out-of-touch multimillionaire Christopher Luxon, told RNZ this week: “It’s my job to work with every and any leader around the world.”

It will be interesting to see whether that’s possible with Trump given Luxon has repeatedly publicly named Trump’s bête noire, Barack Obama, as one of his political heroes. In the meantime, cheer up, there are much worse things than Donald Trump. For a start, there’s bubonic plague.

Burning down the House Rules

And still it smoulders. Like some ciggie a careless smoker hasn’t stubbed out, a foul reek continues rising from Associate Health Minister Casey Costello, her wacko tobacco policy and the question of how much influence Big Tobacco has on her, NZ First and this coalition government.