A wretched start to the weekend, with the Ughmann and nattering "Ned"...

 

Before beginning the latest tedious round of domestic reptiles commenting on the mango Mussolini, the pond would like to note the latest Hydeing, dished out in Amazing: of all the books in all the world Mr Free Speech Zuckerberg wants to ban, it’s the one about him

It's a celebration of the Streisand effect - you can try to ban the book but you can't ban the circulation of stories about the cuck Zuck - and great fun, as Hyde gives Zuck the cuck a hard time:

The grounds for Meta calling in emergency lawyers to block Wynn-Williams’s book seem to be that she has gone against the terms of her severance. Luckily, none of us has a “non-disparagement clause” against Zuckerberg, who on this evidence and so much more should be disparaged every minute of every day in the countries where he operates, and even in the ones he doesn’t. There’s a lovely bit in the book where his company is said to be “dangling the possibility that it’ll give the Chinese regime special access to users’ data”.
In conversation, I overuse the phrase “the worst people in the world”, but the Facebook/Meta top brass really are up there. Wynn-Williams’s book is that simultaneously satisfying yet horrifying thing – an insider account that shows you that absolutely every single one of the awful things you already suspected apparently really did go on behind closed doors. As did a few you didn’t suspect. I knew Sheryl Sandberg’s brand of “lean in” feminism was bullshit – but I didn’t think it involved female employees being encouraged to lean into her lap/her bed on private planes.
Shortly after turning this offer down, Wynn-Williams nearly dies in childbirth. Once she’s back at work, her male boss tells her she was insufficiently “responsive” during the period. “In my defence,” says Wynn-Williams, “I was in a coma for some of it.” For light relief, we meet a shadowy Zuckerberg aide who supposedly games his boss’s own algorithm so his posts have mega-engagement. Mark’s senior staff all let him win at Catan.

And so on, but what is it with insecure billionaires cheating at games? Why all the mulligans?

That was rhetorical, the pond doesn't expect an answer, and so to survey the lizard Oz's offerings early this weekend ...

It might be that the pond is beyond jaded, but what a dismal bunch, with simpleton Simon - here no conflict of interest - at the top of the page and still in rampant election mode. 

Pass. Second thoughts, extreme pass ...

Over on the extreme far right, the early appetisers were equally unappealing, a bit like rancid salmon mousse ready to introduce Death to the party ...

 

The idiot Ughmann at the top of the world ma, and using as his angle a truly stupid line, Biggest mistake we could make is to think Donald Trump and his disciples are fools, As Australia learns to navigate the Trumpian chaos, just remember: No one who has managed to dominate US politics for a decade is an idiot.

The reptiles began with a snap, one of those terrible uncredited collages, Anthony Albanese cannot control want Donald Trump will do, so Australia must focus on the things within its command.

The pond thought it might begin with an example of the mango Mussolini and his minions acting the fool, as this carnival of chaotic clown anarchists bungle another idea.

 Courtesy of the WSJ (archive link):

The unreformed seminarian began with a quote:

American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr is credited with writing the prayer now synonymous with Alcoholics Anonymous: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Actually if the prayer's wiki is any guide, Niebuhr's version ran The victorious man in the day of crisis is the man who has the serenity to accept what he cannot help and the courage to change what must be altered, and it was others who refined it into the version quoted by the Ughmann.

Mistake number one. If the pond kept remarking on the thoughts of this idiot, it would be here all day ...

The Albanese government should adopt this as a mantra in dealing with Donald Trump. 
No one can control what the US President will do, so Australia must focus on the things within its command. At the top of the list should be cutting the cost of energy, removing onerous labour laws and slashing the sea of red tape, all of which are making Australia a bad place to do business. If there is to be a full-blown tariff war then this is just the first shot and we need to be fit to fight.
That also means not living a delusion. No one was going to change the President’s mind on tariffs: a different ambassador, a different government or more baksheesh would not have counted for a hill of beans. Sacking Kevin Rudd would be seen as a sign of weakness. No one will work harder than the former prime minister to press Australia’s case, or be less daunted by roadblocks. Rudd is nothing if not relentless.

What's droll about the Ughmann's outing is the way he keeps drawing attention to all sorts of prize fools, with the reptiles offering up an AV distraction, Former Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says Australia “is going to have to” introduce retaliatory tariffs against the US. Mr Newman told Sky News host Caleb Bond that Australia is going to get to a point where it has to “take the US on”. “And I think we’ve got to be very careful about how we do it.”

One term "Noddy" Newman? The pond hasn't thought about him for yonks and has been all the better for it.

It wouldn't be an Ughmann outing without a dissing of renewables, and so it came to pass...

Malcolm Turnbull’s intervention might have been unhelpful but it was wholly unremarkable, as was Trump’s response. And it’s more than a little discordant when those who loudly champion free speech now treat criticising the US President as a thought crime.
But if Turnbull really wants to help he can disavow Australia’s economy-crippling energy “transition”. The energy regulator signalled another hike in electricity prices this week, marking the latest milestone on our pathway to poverty. We are witnessing a wilful demolition of this nation’s wealth by clueless state and federal governments.
The Coalition is walking through a minefield by insinuating that it would have won a tariff reprieve. If, against the odds, every card falls its way and it wins government in May, this claim will rapidly be put to the test. Does it really feel that lucky? And Liberals and Nationals might find walking in Trump’s shadow a cold place to be in the run-up to the poll.
Trump has shown no inclination to help conservative fellow travellers. His trolling of Canada has breathed life back into that country’s Liberal Party, which was on track for an epic defeat at the hands of the Conservatives in an election that must come by October. The Liberals have dumped the dead weights of Justin Trudeau and its commitment to a consumer carbon tax. New Prime Minister Mark Carney – former head of the British and Canada central banks – is building his fight back on campaigning against Trump.
“We didn’t ask for this fight but Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves,” Carney said, referring to the endearing habit of ice hockey players who shake off their mitts to signal a fistfight is about to begin. “The Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country. Think about it. If they succeed, they will destroy our way of life.”
On February 15, that metaphorical brawl was made real in a match between the US and Canada. The Canadians booed as the US anthem played and when the game began it was stopped by three fights in the first nine seconds. There is a price to pay for treating people with contempt.

Did the Ughmann even look at clips at the start of the game? It was the Yanks wot did their imitation of the Hanson brothers, they started the brawls. 

It was different brothers, blathering about it being "our time", but it was the Yanks wot did it, it was the Yanks treating the Canadians with contempt. They won the match, in a sweet irony, lost the final. That was when they paid the price for bunging on a do.

Elbows up, maple syrup lovers and moose herders.

The reptiles snuck in an AV distraction, featuring the final: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau taunted the United States on Thursday night, February 20, after his country won the 4 Nations Face-Off ice hockey tournament in overtime, posting, “You can’t take our country – and you can’t take our game.” Team Canada’s Connor McDavid scored the game-winning goal to give his team the 3-2 win over the US in Boston. The game was played amid heightened rivalry after US President Donald Trump said Canada should become his country’s 51st state, with Trump openly calling Trudeau the “governor” of Canada. Negotiations over increasing tariffs on Canadian goods into the United States have also caused friction. The American national anthem has been regularly booed by Canadian sports fans in recent weeks. The favour was returned when Canada faced Finland in Boston on February 17. Trudeau posted video of him celebrating the overtime win, hugging friends in a bar while wearing a Canada jersey. Credit: Justin Trudeau via Storyful

What a pity the reptiles couldn't offer up an immortal Rowe showing the reality of the roller coaster ride ...

The Ughmann sought to draw lessons for the local scene ...

Most Australians are also leery of the US President so expect Labor, the Greens and the teals to cast Peter Dutton as a Trump clone or ally as the election race heats up. In close races, a handful of votes will count and, with tariffs rises now a given, the risk of blowback on the government is minimal.
Surely the lesson for the Liberal Party from the past week of international and domestic politics is that it also needs to focus on the things it can control. The West Australian state poll was a catastrophe, worse than the near-extinction level event of 2021 because the excuse of pandemic politics was gone. It points to a state division in terminal decline.
The Liberal story is little better in South Australia, where two historically bad by-election losses now leave it with 13 out of 47 seats in the House of Assembly, its equal lowest representation ever.
The Victoria Liberals thought the best way to spend most of the past two years was brawling over the spoils of permanent opposition. The NSW division is under administration.
What part of this screams a May miracle victory to you?
All parties should now be mapping out how they will guide Australia in a world where the road rules have been torn up. All should plan for more disruption from the US, China and Russia.
The biggest mistake in drafting those maps is to start from the position that Trump and his disciples are fools. No one who has managed to dominate US politics for a decade is an idiot. Many on the Trump caravan are highly qualified and have long debated the consequences of their actions. It makes more sense to look for the order in the Trumpian chaos, the method in the madness.
There is a guidebook. The four wilderness years were not wasted. Under the banner of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation produced Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise. It’s a manifesto for the radical reordering of the US and the world.
Among its 887 pages are two essays making the cases for and against free trade.
The case for protection was written by former professor of economics and public policy at the University of California, Peter Navarro. The China hawk and tariff warrior was part of the first Trump administration. He refused to testify before the committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots and was jailed for four months. In a land where loyalty to the king is currency, no one has stored more treasure than Navarro.

Thar he blew again ...

The biggest mistake in drafting those maps is to start from the position that Trump and his disciples are fools. No one who has managed to dominate US politics for a decade is an idiot. Many on the Trump caravan are highly qualified and have long debated the consequences of their actions. It makes more sense to look for the order in the Trumpian chaos, the method in the madness.

And yet Navarro is a cultist, as are many others, and those who realise it's a cult are forced to keep silent for fear of being ravaged by the cult mob... but the biggest idiot is surely the idiot who refuses to call idiocy idiocy even as the idiots produce chaos and there's clearly no method to the madness ...

A quick example. How weird has the tariff situation got? 

Courtesy of the Financial Times, Tesla warns Trump administration it is ‘exposed’ to retaliatory tariffs, Elon Musk’s electric-car maker says levies could make it costlier to produce vehicles in the US (archive link)

The Tesla mob were so terrified nobody dared sign the letter...

Fun Tesla story in the Graudian, Elon Musk targeted me over Tesla protests. That proves our movement is working...

Fun cartoon...

Pathetic attempt at a troll ...

Carry on regardless, just like the Ughmann ...

At this point, the reptiles offered up a snap, in what might be called "throw Ughmann hands in air style", No one can control what the US President will do, so Australia must focus on the things within its command.

The Ughmann seems to think Navarro is more than a delusional cultist ...

Navarro rejects the free trade orthodoxy because he believes it enriches America’s allies and adversaries while hurting the US, weakening its industrial base and strengthening China’s. He believes it benefits Wall Street at the expense of “Main Street manufacturers and workers”. He’s not alone. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent declared this week: “Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream. 
“The American dream is rooted in the concept that any citizen can achieve prosperity, upward mobility and economic security,” Bessent said. “For too long, the designers of multilateral trade deals have lost sight of this.”
These men wager that tariffs will reshore manufacturing and higher prices will be offset by better jobs, better economic and national security and a better society. They expect costs and disruption and wager that, if there is to be a recession, it’s best to have it before the November 2026 congressional elections.
They may be wildly wrong on every element of this but it will be an interesting experiment.

That's the best the Ughmann has got? An interesting experiment?!

Quick waiter, a cartoon, show us how an interesting experiment is planned ...

And so to a final few words from a former seminarian attempting to wrest the title "stupidest reptile scribbler" from many other lizard Oz hot contenders ...

There are scant references to Australia in the conservative manifesto but we should pay heed to page 94. There, on defence, it says: “Support greater spending and collaboration by Taiwan and allies in the Asia-Pacific like Japan and Australia to create a collective defence model.”
Australia’s best defence is to study the form guide and expect that we will have to pay the price for our own economic and national security. Both demand that we use the resources beneath our feet.
Let us pray that we have leaders capable of navigating this era. But I wouldn’t give up drinking.

That's it, after all that his advice is to pray and to hit the piss?

On the other hand, a stiff drink might be needed to help get the pond through this week's Everest climb edition of nattering "Ned", Paul Kelly Inquirer: Donald Trump’s disruption rocks US alliance, Australia confronts an unprecedented task in alliance management under this autocratic US President. Whoever confronts it best may win the next election.

A 10 minute read, so the reptiles say. 

That's ten minutes the pond will never claw back ...and it goes without saying that at no point will "Ned" mention, in this unendurably long hike, one of the prime reasons for the current mess ...

Instead of a useful sticker, the reptiles began with useless artwork, President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton. Artwork by Emilia Tortorella

Oh Emilia, Emilia, better not to have taken the credit, and thereby salvaged a little reputation.

"Ned" was in his usual Chicken Little mode ...

The long-cherished, much-prized, constantly invoked Australian-American alliance has entered its most threatening period for several decades courtesy of Donald Trump’s globally destructive tariff hikes and his unpredictable recasting of the US alliance system.
Australia confronts an unprecedented task in alliance management and dangers under Trump. His tariff decision this week on steel and aluminium damages our jobs and industry, but the greater fear is that his April “reciprocal tariff” campaign may punish our more valuable agricultural and pharmaceutical exports – provoking justified community and political hostility towards Trump.
Yet while Australia is an innocent party in the trade crisis – a victim of Trump’s obsessions – the more alarming concern is that Trump, sooner or later, will publicly criticise Australia for its manifestly inadequate defence spending, injecting himself into the conditions that sustain the alliance under his administration.
This goes to Albanese government policy and culpability. Our defence spending – running at 2.03 per cent of GDP in 2024-25 and rising to 2.33 per cent of GDP in a distant 2033-34 – is on an untenable trajectory in a world of sharply intensifying strategic risk.
It would be extraordinary if Trump overlooked our defence budget inadequacy. He might, but it’s unlikely. During the week, former ALP leader and defence minister Kim Beazley and co-author of the Labor-authorised Defence Strategic Review Peter Dean flagged in The Australian defence spending in the 3 per cent of GDP benchmark – a 50 per cent rise on current levels.
Beazley said Australia had to “up our spending to 3, 3.5 per cent of GDP”, effectively backing Trump’s call for higher defence spending from allies, while Dean said the budget must move to “somewhere around 3 per cent” of GDP, which was advocated the week before last by senior Trump administration official Elbridge Colby. Labor is on notice.

Oh dear, "Bomber" Beazley back again, a dud then, and a dud now, and the reptiles saved the pond with the first of a number of much needed AV distractions Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discusses the new tariffs put in place for Australia by US President Donald Trump. Mr Albanese said the tariff decision is “entirely unjustified”. “This is against the spirit of our two nations enduring friendship and fundamentally at odds with the benefits that our economic partnership has delivered over more than 70 years,” he said.

"Ned" was all in with "Bomber"...

While the March 25 budget seems certain to contain another round of household subsidies to offset escalating power bills following the existing $300 rebate support – such support doing nothing to confront the core problem of rising power prices – Labor needs a budget that responds to the pressure for a higher defence spending trajectory.

Despite the ugly fiscal implications, such a refusal would constitute an abrogation of the national interest. It would risk provoking a Trump intervention perhaps during the campaign – if he has time to worry about Australia – and unlike the trade situation this would be seen as evidence of Labor’s policy inadequacies.
The related problem is Trump’s approach to the Indo-Pacific, given his retreat from security obligations in Europe and from a US grand strategy.
At the week’s end, former security chief and prime architect of the 2017 foreign policy white paper Richard Maude wrote a chilling analysis in The Australian Financial Review warning that Australia faced some of its most consequential challenges for decades centred on the question: is America still committed to a military balance of power in the Indo-Pacific that deters China from the use of force?
This highlights the contradictions and complexity in Australia’s dealings with Trump. As Beazley said, Australia must seek to preserve the US alliance because “we can’t afford to run our own game; people are full of piss and wind on that”. 

Mu'lud, might the pond make an objection. 

Pure, distilled essence of projection. If there was ever a feeble politician addicted to piss weak performance and a lot of wind, surely "Bomber" takes the little Johnny cake...

Why is it that nobody in the herd ever bothers to ask what might happen in a world armed to the teeth? It's as if WWI never happened, yet as the pond learned watching Companion, the nasty looking corkscrew in the first act is surely destined to go off in the third act ...

"Ned" was all in on the craven lickspittle boot licking business ...

Maude said Australia was neither psychologically nor technologically ready for a nuclear deterrent capability and must seek “to work pragmatically with the Trump government”, finding alignments where we could but standing up for our beliefs.
The Albanese government will seek to separate trade conflict from strategic issues. Yet the more Trump punishes Australia on trade, the more public opinion and the Labor faithful will turn hostile towards him. Yet Trump’s adolescent glass jaw means he will retaliate against Australia if faced with personal criticism. The path that must be navigated is strewn with obstacles.

So we've all got to walk on very expensive eggshells while the toddler keeps having tantrums?

Sorry but the only way the pond will make it to the end is with the help of the 'toons ...

Let’s get one thing clear given the pathetic local politics over who is to blame for the imposition of steel and aluminium tariffs. The answer is obvious: Trump is to blame. Not Anthony Albanese or Kevin Rudd or Trade Minister Don Farrell. Trump is attacking global trade in his deluded bid to strengthen the US industrial base. There is neither economic logic nor political justification for this unilateral and destructive project.

There's neither economic logic nor political justification for this unilateral and destructive project designed to get the entire world ready for world war three, and there was no relief when the reptiles interrupted with a snap of "Bomber" looking grandly important, Former ALP leader and defence minister Kim Beazley has flagged defence spending in the 3 per cent of GDP benchmark, a 50 per cent rise on current levels. Picture: Martin Ollman

We could spend 30% and still get creamed by China if they desired, but surely it's cheaper and better business sense for them simply to keep on buying the country until they own it 110% ...

Then "Ned" went on a little rant ...

Nobody asked Trump to launch this tariff war, not just against China but against other nations and allies. At the outset The Wall Street Journal branded Trump’s tariff increases “the dumbest trade war in history” – and the dumbest war is only getting dumber.
Making a considered assessment, Trump’s outlook is a menace to the world and to Australia. Note what he said about allies: that US allies were often “worse than our enemies” on trade issues. It’s part of his fraudulent narrative of poor America as a victim.
Trump functions as an autocrat, driven by a fanatical sense of American grievance, trade policy prejudice, strategic retreat and the quest for retribution. He is smashing not only the norms of global trade but his cavalier “on again, off again” tactical ploys also are undermining market and financial confidence in his presidency.
With Trump, there is no leader’s masterplan, no coherent exposition of how he intends to change the world and deliver a better world and better America. Like a true autocrat, his word is his command. His minions fall into line and execute his orders no matter how damaging and disruptive as they send a wrecking ball through countries long friendly or alliance partners with the US. This is a formula that won’t work.

But it was a formula foisted on the world ...

Sorry, mustn't mention the obvious ...

Unless it’s changed, it will bring Trump undone. It is easy politics but false for the Coalition and its leader, Peter Dutton, to blame Albanese for Australia’s failure to get a tariff exemption. No country got an exemption, and that included Australia. No leader who visited Trump got an exemption. That’s because Trump Mark II is more dangerous and decided the tariff exemptions he offered the first time were a mistake.
The Coalition invoked Malcolm Turnbull’s success in winning a trade exemption the first time around but Turnbull shot its case, saying “this is a very different America, led by a very different president” and an exemption would be “a lot harder”. Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos made the same point.
In his political attack Dutton even implied he could have got an exemption, saying: “We don’t believe an outcome wasn’t possible.” So Dutton, evidently, could have pulled off an exemption that no other leader in the world got and that Turnbull and Sinodinos had discounted. Who would be gullible enough to believe this nonsense?

Oh please sir, please, the pond can answer that one. 

Who would be gullible enough to believe this nonsense? Why, the gullible punters keen to fork out precious cash to get inside the reptile hive mind, and read "Ned"and delight in AV distractions, Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he does not believe Donald Trump's recent moves have jeopardised the Five Eyes alliance. The group is the oldest and one of the world's most significant intelligence-sharing alliances. Mr Morrison believes the US President's decision to pull intelligence from Ukraine does not foreshadow similar threats to the Five Eyes alliance.

Who cares what the liar from the Shire thinks or says? He's yesterday's clown, the AUKUS subs lighting fools on their way to dusty death ...

For months the Coalition has demanded that Albanese visit Trump, a visit that had no hope of changing Trump’s mind but that would have further boosted the opposition’s attack when it failed. For some reason the Australian media treated this Coalition hypocrisy with kid gloves.

For some reason? Call any Murdochian, and there's a chance, just like vegetables, that the Murdochian will respond to you ...

The problem is, of course, that "Ned" doesn't like the Cantaloupe Caligula, but doesn't have a clue who helped him get back into power...

The Coalition misread Trump, thinking personal rapport between leaders could do the job. Personal rapport is fine, but the evidence is clear – it couldn’t do the job on tariffs.
In the end, everything comes back to Trump. In his most recent remarks he refuses to accept Canada’s sovereignty, saying “to be honest with you, Canada only works as a state”; that is, as an American state. He said the border between the US and Canada was an “artificial line” but, being generous, he said Canada could keep its national anthem as a US state. Might he be asked about Australia?
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has put conditions on Trump’s ceasefire proposal that are tantamount to denial or delay. Trump, having repeatedly told the world that Putin was ready for peace, having aligned with Russia and undermined Ukraine, faces the prospect of being humiliated by Putin. No doubt the Russian leader will string him along with a face-saving concession.
Trump is obsessed about being the strong man – imposing tariffs, mocking allies, seeking deals with autocrats – yet is conspicuously reluctant to uphold US strategic commitments and seems equally reluctant to engage in strategic deterrence against China.

Old news "Ned"...

"Ned" continued on doing what he now does best, quoting the thoughts of others ...

In his article, referring to the current situation, Maude said: “None of this suggests Trump is remotely interested in contesting primacy in Asia. Indeed, if Trump approaches Asia as he has NATO and Ukraine, he will want Pacific allies to bear more of the burden of maintaining security and will be sceptical about the United States underwriting peace. The Pacific Ocean would be less a sphere of US influence and more a protective moat for the US homeland.
“Trump’s instincts will be to avoid conflict over Taiwan at almost any cost. He probably would not see US security and prosperity as fundamentally challenged by Chinese dominance over Asia.”
For Australia, a hegemonic China would compromise our sovereignty, create higher expectations of our compliance with China’s interests and face greater risks of coercion, with Beijing able to demand privileged access to Australian resources, markets and infrastructure.
Maude said of Australia: “The task of building a defence force that has more deterrent capability is therefore more urgent than ever. We look exposed now but will be well and truly caught short if even a military balance of power in the region becomes out of reach.”
The events of the week reveal a world sinking into a Trump-induced series of tensions, with Australia so far on the periphery yet being slowly sucked into the vortex. Trump proceeded with 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium across US trade partners following his earlier tariff decisions on imports from China, Canada and Mexico.
Trump has also threatened further “reciprocal tariffs” on countries from April 2, with risks that more Australian exports might be targeted.
The EU and Canada are retaliating against the US over trade worth billions. Canada is engaged in a trade war with Trump, with its incoming prime minister, Mark Carney, after winning the vote to replace Justin Trudeau, saying: “Everything in my life has prepared me for this moment. Donald Trump has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell, on how we earn a living. He’s attacking Canadian workers, families and businesses. We can’t let him succeed.”
Australian steel and aluminium exports to the US are only 0.2 per cent of the total value of our exports worth a touch over $1bn. The damage from Trump’s decision is tangible but minor.
On the way through, however, Trump treated Australia and Albanese with contempt, refusing to even take another phone call from the Prime Minister – that would have been the third – as Albanese sought to pursue his lobbying.
It looks bad and it is bad. The question hangs in the balance: can Albanese establish a tenable working relationship with Trump given their policy and temperamental differences? The jury is out.

Establish a tenable working relationship with a carnival of chaotic clowns?

Good luck with that, and then the reptiles sealed the deal with an AV distraction pumping up the mutton Dutton because, whatever "Ned" says, the reptiles can't help themselves, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese as “weak and incompetent” after he failed to secure exemptions for Australian goods from Donald Trump’s tariffs. The US President has ruled out a tariff exemption for Australian steel and aluminium. “It’s obvious that Anthony Albanese and Kevin Rudd have had a shocker,” Mr Dutton said at a media conference on Wednesday. “The Prime Minister can’t secure a phone call, let alone a meeting with the President of the United States. “How on earth can an outcome be negotiated if the President won’t even take the Prime Minister’s call? “It’s not just Australians who see the Prime Minister as weak and incompetent; it’s our trading partners as well.”

Say what? What was it "Ned" scribbled? Him being so long-winded, the pond almost plumb forgot...

Let’s get one thing clear given the pathetic local politics over who is to blame for the imposition of steel and aluminium tariffs. The answer is obvious: Trump is to blame. Not Anthony Albanese or Kevin Rudd or Trade Minister Don Farrell. Trump is attacking global trade in his deluded bid to strengthen the US industrial base. There is neither economic logic nor political justification for this unilateral and destructive project.

Every bit of dribble scribbled out by "Ned" mocked by the reptiles with a video clip ...

The pond was well over "Ned", and decided to let him ramble on to his finale ...

Albanese said of Trump’s tariff decision: “This is against the spirit of our two nations’ enduring friendship and fundamentally at odds with the benefits that our economic partnership has delivered over more than 70 years.” But he refused to condemn Trump personally, dodging invitations at his media conference to call Trump destructive or erratic.
Labor made an apparently appealing offer to the Trump administration. Farrell said: “Australia was offering a comprehensive critical minerals package in exchange for tariff-free access to US markets. We were extremely disappointed that our generous offer was not accepted.” It will remain on the table for further negotiations.
The government took the right decision not to retaliate with its own tariff hikes against the US. That would have been folly, a useless phony tough gesture that only would have provoked Trump. Whoever wins the election – Albanese or Dutton – will relaunch efforts to win concessions, with the post-election situation offering a better climate.
Obviously, Albanese, as Prime Minister, must carry the political responsibility for the failure to win the exemption. The facts, however, are that the outcome was not the result of any Australian policy or administrative mistakes.
The Australian’s chief international correspondent, Cameron Stewart, nailed the issue, saying: “The truth is that if Liberals Malcolm Turnbull, Julie Bishop and ambassador Joe Hockey were still in power they would also have failed to secure the same exemption they won in 2018. Why? Because Trump Mark II is a fundamentally different beast when it comes to tariffs than he was in his first term.”
Indeed, Sinodinos told the ABC’s 7.30 that Australia should have expected Trump’s decision. He said that even if Albanese had dashed over “in the last few days, I don’t think it would have worked” and that Trump “was determined not to have exemptions”.
Trump remains the unknown factor in the looming Australian campaign. Dutton will argue he is better able to deal with the US President, while Labor will seek to cast Dutton in Trump’s corner. Hopefully, Trump will steer clear of the Australian contest. In reality, Albanese and Dutton have a virtually identical stance on trade: they both reject Trump’s decisions, they oppose tariffs and they will pursue the issue post-election.

Good luck with that ...

Then came a billy goat butt ...

But Trump will drive Australia into decisive policy changes – the nation needs a more competitive economy, a stronger budget position and a higher defence spend. The worse Australian response would be a populist anti-Trump campaign. That would be tempting but futile and counter-productive.
The Australian government elected in May – Labor or Coalition – will find Trump a far more difficult proposition than the president who dealt with Turnbull and Scott Morrison. The world will be dislocated by economic, trade and strategic upheaval, posing a diplomatic and intellectual challenge rare in our history.
Trump is already being exposed at home. More Americans see him as a wrecker, not a builder. Consumer and investor confidence is eroding due to tariff alarms, stubborn inflation and Trump-induced fear of a recession. This raises the pivotal question for countries such as Australia: at what point might Trump be driven to curb his ways?

You might as well ask at what point might Faux Noise be driven to curb its ways? 

You might as well ask at what point might the reptiles in the lizard Oz hive mind be driven to curb their ways? 

Heck, you might as well ask at what point might the pompous, portentous, hand-wringing "Ned" be driven to curb his ways, and say nothing in five minutes rather than ten ...

Or you could just enjoy the chaos emanating from the carnival of clowns ...