American politics is particularly brutal these days. I guess it always has been, to be fair, but this time there really is a horrible edge to it.
Joe Biden fell over this week. Easy thing to do, tripped on a sandbag getting off stage at a rally.
Almost immediately, Ron DeSantis – running for the Republican nomination – put a statement out saying: “We hope and wish Joe Biden a swift recovery from any injuries he may have sustained. But we also wish the United States a swift recovery from the injuries it has sustained because of Joe Biden and his policies.”
Whoa. Here we go.
They don’t vote until next year but there’s going to be months of this sort of horror show. Trump – already favourite to face Biden at the polls – hasn’t yet got started, although he did this week compare himself with the Mona Lisa, which is the shape of things to come.
No Parliament over here – another holiday – so America has been the only interesting thing knocking about. Although I suppose the Boris Johnson row is mildly entertaining. He’s finally handed over his WhatsApp messages. Imagine having to wade through that.
Have people had enough of him yet? Pretty much all of the Tories have, except that weird little clique that want to bring him back, and surely the wider country have, too.
I could just about see it. The appeal, that is, the idea he’s good on TV and would be nice to have a pint with (he wouldn’t). But that’s got to have worn off by now, hasn’t it?
The struggle now, as much as there is one, is working out what does appeal to voters – who are getting increasingly fed-up with the whole thing. Some stats this week show just 14% of more than 2,000 people polled by The New Britain Project said MPs had the public’s best interests at heart. That’s quite a difficult thing to turn round.
Even the proto-policy coming out of Labour isn’t really capturing the imagination, although it’s stuff that heads in the right direction.
Interesting things around housing, university fees and that kind of thing. I’m not enamoured with any of the NHS offerings but that’s supposed to come with a bit more detail a bit later on.
Keir Starmer really could do with something appealing. The latest news from the Red Wall is that his popularity has dipped a bit – you can only put that down to what he’s not doing rather than is doing.
But there’s a long way to go. Best enjoy the peace and quiet while we can. It really is quiet. Ominously so.
ComRes put a thing out this week that said: “Neither major party, nor their leaders, have had an especially good or bad week.”
Thrilling. Tell you who has had a bad week, though: Leeds United Football Club. When even Big Sam has walked out on you, you know times are hard.
