I expect that many of you will, like me, feel slightly sickened by Michael Gove’s interview of Donald Trump for The Times. Private Eye has a word for it…
Tim Farron has given a robust response:
Michael Gove has had a rare opportunity to put questions to the most divisive and reactionary President Elect in modern history and all we get is a puff piece from a clearly admiring fan.
In the same interview Trump told a German newspaper that NATO is obsolete, it will make for a more dangerous world if this view is strong enough for him to turn down his invite to this year’s summit.
This president warns that helping refugees, saving people escaping the horrors of war, is a bad idea and instead we should be lifting sanctions on Putin despite him backing Assad. This is a man lacking a moral compass who is about to be inaugurated as the President.
He has picked environmental protection and the desire to show compassion to the most needy as good reasons to leave Europe.”
I don’t know the shape of the Europe that Trump dreams of but I know it frightens me.
* Mary Reid is a contributing editor on Lib Dem Voice. She was a councillor in Kingston upon Thames, where she is still very active with the local party, and is the Hon President of Kingston Lib Dems.
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Back on the campaign trail
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Have resignations led to a rethink?
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27 Comments
I hear this could lead to a trade deal. Once we leave the EU we will be a minnow compared to the US.To whose benefit will the deal be best fixed? If we have to have one negotiations must begin next week AND be in the publoc domain for the people to see who benefits.
Oops should say public.
Did anyone else watch the ‘Trump Roast’ the other night? While it could be seen to be near the knuckle and beyond, ‘the Donald’ pretended to take it like a ‘good sport’ though his body language spoke the opposite.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf5BKAS5o6A
The bottom line is that if you were on the managing committee of a block of apartments, you would not appoint this man to be an elevator attendant. The corollary is that the Democratic National Committee’s assessment of Hilary Clinton’s capability of beating this man in the rust belt states (which is the only place which really mattered in the election) was woefully-inadequate – a matter about which they continue appear to largely exist in a state of denial which is parallel to one rather closer to home.
Why should any of us be sickened by Gove doing an interview with Trump? Thousands of people have done interviews with Trump over the years, and Gove is a journalist by trade whose job is to interview people. It sounds like you’re saying you think Trump should be no-platformed by journalists, which is a very odd line to take given that we didn’t previously have a problem with people like Robert Fisk interviewing people like Osama bin Laden…
Mark
Sickened by Trump is enough. Nearly all the Americans I know hate him.
Trump was very deliberately snubbing the British government and British democracy by talking to Gove. It’s what he does best. If May had a backbone she’d withdraw the Tory whip from the pipsqueak.
All the Americans I know hate him.
Gove and his kind seem to fawn on Trump and others like him such as Putin. The Americans want to break up the EU because they think it will benefit America not Britain which was made quite clear by Trump’s intended envoy to Brussels. It is a perfectly reasonable stance for them but we should be very wary of it. Do those rich men who support this policy expect to benefit personally ? It is interesting how those who despise the UK are such enthusiastic Brexiteers.
Mark
My view of what Mary said , is her , or our , reaction might be to see the non journalism in the interview, a sort of re-run of Tump -Farage! I must say on seeing the two, in the picture that is in the coverage , thumbs up, Trump -Gove, it does look a bit nauseating.
I welcome your comments on the no-platforming , that shames us as a modern democratic society in every single country , particularly in the US, as well as here. I have been saying a lot on here , we must have a range of views.
Mark – it was the sycophantic style of the interview that I objected to. Hardly penetrating questions.
“[Trump says] we should be lifting sanctions on Putin despite him backing Assad. This is a man lacking a moral compass ”
But why should we be so upset that Putin backs Assad?
Sure, Assad is a dictator but then functioning liberal democracies don’t exist in the Middle East; even Turkey, until recently the nearest approximation, no longer qualifies.
In Assad’s defence, at least he runs a state where minority ethnic and religious groups mingle freely and despite the war – or probably because of the likely alternatives – he has the support of the great majority of the people.
The rebels the west supports emphatically do not support the free-within-limits system Assad runs; they have a track record of genocide, extreme sectarianism and murderous homophobia.
For its own reasons the US and others have chosen to demonise Assad and lionise the rebels aided and abetted by the MSM. I am sorry to see Tim Farron falling for the warmongers’ propaganda.
Putin is the only thing standing between yet another failed state in the region with the likelihood that it would fall under ISIS or Al Qaeda control with incalculable but likely terrible consequences for us so I’m backing him on this. And that doesn’t mean I think he’s wonderful – just that I agree with the view that countries have interests, not friends.
Robert Fisk is a journalist and a very good one. Michael Gove may have been a journalist. He is now a Member of Parliament, a former cabinet minister and a leader of the Brexit campaign. There is a difference, isn’t there?
I’ve got no problem with Gove going to America to interview Trump. In fact I’d be deliriously happy if he stayed there.
Tim won’t get much access to the new US administration if he carries on speaking like that. We need to be very diplomatic with Trump. Concerns should be expressed mostly in private.
You could compare Trump to the leaders of China and Saudi Arabia etc, with his authoritarianism, but he is still a democrat and we need to work with him.
When it comes to journalists: I prefer the Andrew Marr style. A lot of journalists seem to think the toughest questions should be asked at all times, but if you antagonise your interviewee you are not likely to get another one anytime soon. I prefer a balanced journalism style, not just an antagonistic style.
@Eddie Sammon
Gove is not a journalist – he’s a backbench MP who is known for being a Tory cabinet member, leading the tawdry and dishonest Brexit campaign, and being sent to the backbenches by the PM. His previous, failed career isn’t relevant. His questions to Trump weren’t in the least bit, well, questioning. The whole pointless exercise was motivated by vanity on Gove’s part and vanity on Trump’s part as well as a very obvious attempt by Trump to undermine and embarrass our government in the same way as his meeting with Farage. If Trump were a ‘democrat’ do you not think he might show some respect to the electorate of the UK by dealing with our elected government rather than a bunch of malcontents and misfits with nothing better to do?
Eddie – I don’t suppose Tim Farron or the Liberal Democrats register the slightest blip on Trump’s radar so Tim has absolutely nothing to lose by being upfront about the man’s shortcomings as leader of the most powerful country in the world. When his administration crashes and burns, as it will, at least the British people might remember that there was one party leader who was prepared to tell the truth as he saw it about the avaricious, racist, misogynistic, bullying, Commie loving dunderhead. Or maybe you think I’m being a bit harsh!
@ Eddie Sammon
Exactly how much access do you think the leader of the UK’s fourth party is likely to have to the White House? I don’t see any down side to UK liberals loudly opposing Trump. If we don’t oppose vile bigots like him whenever we get the chance, what is the point of having a party supposedly committed to liberal values?
‘Liberals’ will look ineffectual once Trump starts creating his new enterprise and jobs ecosystem in the way a businessman can, and a career politician cannot. As an individual you need a narrative and a journey to your life. Trump will provide both. When your good job went, your house got repo’d and the wife and kids had gone, the one thing you had left was your vote, and it was absolutely free.
I just released a song about the modern ‘liberal’, in fact an authoritarian with distain for, and disinterest in the working class man in particular, in spite of the life long SJW guise.
Richard Butler
My whole essence on here, if it has any meaning at all, is the encouragement of many views, having moved over the years more and more from , relatively liberal minded Social Democrat in my youth, to liberal minded Social Democrat as a young man , to relatively social democratically minded Liberal in young middle age !
I am known to anyone who knows me or my vies , as not being on the left or right of this party , or discouraging , radical thinking in either direction.
A more left wing member, and much older member , on getting to know me , told me he believed me to be a typical Liberal, as , he said, I can always see someone else’s point of view .
However, I cannot even barely comprehend , after reading your comment, what brings you here ?!
Richard Butler
There are two notable businessmen who became politicians-
Berlusconi and Thaksin. Neither turned out well.
Crikey, you are all getting a bit dictatorish. Do you know, some of us are grown up and have brains. Stop getting your knickers in a twist.
No one commenting on the looming bigger trump picture, two countries that want the
EU and NATO to fail Russia and USA smaller countries are easier to pick of and asset strip
I think Richard Metters you’re not quite right. The two countries that want Nato to fail are Russia and China. Yes, China, because without a solid Nato the USA’s problems will have multiplied and thus it will be less able to intervene in China’s imperialist aspirations in the South China Sea’s… I think Trump doesn’t actually want Nato to fail, just that it becomes more of a European funded project with different (ie. non-cold war) objectives.
I suggest similarly, for the reason you give of the ineffectiveness of small individual countries in today’s global economy , the USA, Russia and China, will like to see a much weakened EU. I doubt either Russia or China actually want the EU/Single Market to fail totally; just weakened so that they can more easily gain (tariff free) entry and thus further undermine the ideal of a largely self-sufficient Europe.
The question is at what point does Trump realise that he actually needs the EU and Nato if he is to put meaningful pressure on China…
Roland
SEATO was dissolved in 1977.
Manfarang – Most people will have forgotten about SEATO. However, the USA has made other more recent commitments to its allies and interests in South East Asia, including sailing naval ships through the areas China is trying to claim as it’s own…
Hence the question is more about the US retaining friends and influence in the area than honouring formal treaty obligations.
Cllr Mark Wright: read the original comment by Tim. He is NOT saying Gove shouldn’t interview Trump, but that Gove should have asked searching questions on the issues where Trump is most dangerous and been prepared to criticise him.
The press would swoon over President Obama and Hillary Clinton at every opportunity and particularly in this country.
Like it or not, Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. I don’t agree with everything that the man says but finding a way to ostracize what will be our biggest trading partner going forward doesn’t sound very smart to me.
President Obama has killed thousands through his drone strikes, locked up a whistleblower in Chelsea Manning and only just rescinded that on his way out, and has generally made a mockery of the word ‘liberal’ during his time as president. He’s done all these things and yet the mass media still loves him. Trump is roundly and justifiably criticised but it shouldn’t just apply to him and I do believe there is a tendency to exaggerate. Why does the mass media focus on him? Because he’s a threat to the established order or their way of life. That’s why. He may well be a terrible president but many before him have also been unfortunately. I can’t think of a good American president in recent history.