Idler Tuesday, Nov 26, 2019

International

lookalike

shock

THE most startling thing emerged on-screen in recent days of coverage of the inquiry into possible impeachment of President Donald Trump.

A much-mentioned character in the Ukraine drama is that country's former prosecutor-general, Viktor Shokin.

State Department witnesses have testified that Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had been interacting with Shokin.

Then suddenly - a screenshot of Shokin in person. The guy has an uncanny resemblance to Donald Trump! He's got the same kind of unusual haircut, a quiff projecting forward. He doesn't have Trump's yellow thatch – Shokin is greying – but there's a striking resemblance. They're built much the same as well – solid. It's uncanny.

Now think of Boris Johnson with his tousled blond mop, his heavy build. Do we have here the political look of the 21^st century? Makes ya think.

 

 

Bell rings

A BELL seemed to ring as Fiona Hill, an expert on Russia and a former US National Security Council official, gave evidence to the inquiry.

One of the themes has been Trump's apparent belief that it was not Russia that used social media to interfere in the 2016 US election on his behalf, but the Ukrainians who interfered on behalf of his opponents.

Hill - who is an expert on Russia – could not have been clearer.

"I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimise an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a US adversary, and that Ukraine, not Russia, attacked us in 2016," she said.

She warned that the peddling of Ukraine conspiracy theories is in danger of becoming an extension of the 2016 Russian election scheme that is tearing American politics apart and draining public confidence in its democracy.

Ding! Has America ever been more polarised? What happened to the tradition of both sides coming together again after a presidential election?

Ding! Ding! Has Britain ever been more polarised? The United Kingdom itself could be dismembered by Brexit. The EU and Britain (or what remains of it) would be greatly weakened.

Ding! Ding! Ding! What's a common factor in both the US election and the Brexit referendum? A now-defunct social media manipulation outfit named Cambridge Analytica, which supported both the Trump campaign and Brexit. (Nobody has proved a connection with Russia, though there are suspicions).

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Who was a KGB officer in East Germany as the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet empire collapsed? Why, Vladimir Putin.

Revenge is sweet? Kind of creepy, isn't it?

 

I'm with ya!

STILL with the impeachment inquiry, President Trump has told congressional Republicans that if they vote for impeachment, he'll come to their state and campaign for their re-election, according to the New Yorker.

"In a series of intimidating, early-morning tweets, Trump made it clear that if Republicans wobble on impeachment, 'I will hold rallies in your state and support you with everything I've got.'"

Trump campaigned recently in Louisiana and Kentucky, where the Republicans lost elections for governorship. Yes, this is satirist Andy Borowitz again.

Tailpiece

A TRAVELLING salesman is stranded in a tiny town in the Australian outback. He goes to the small hotel.

"Sorry mate, we don't have a room spare," says the manager. "But you're welcome to share with the little red-headed schoolteacher if that's OK."

"That's great," says the salesman grinning. "And don't worry, I'll be a real gentleman."

"Just as well. So will the little red-headed schoolteacher."

 

Last word

Baseball is 90% mental, the other half is physical. - Yogi Berra