Scott Morrison has said that he and Donald Trump “share a lot of the same views“. Just how far does that similarity extend?
Was there a message when Donald Trump bestowed on Scott Morrison the legion of merit, the US’s highest military honour? Should Morrison have accepted the award?
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said that accepting honours from foreign countries is always “fraught” and “questionable”, and suggested it was a pity Morrison had not found a tactful excuse to refuse it. He added that Morrison needed to change direction if Australia is not to be seen as a “Trump-lite refuge in the southern hemisphere”.
The legion of merit was awarded to Morrison for ‘leadership in addressing global challenges and promoting collective security”.
Does that leadership on global challenges include his “actions” to tackle climate change, the lack of which led to him missing out on a speaking slot at a recent UN climate summit?
As for promoting collective security, numerous commentators have noted that Australia has dug itself into a hole in its relationship with China, which began with its demand for an independent international inquiry into the origins of the pandemic. Such a demand was also seen in some quarters as an attempt by Morrison to further ingratiate himself with Trump. Meanwhile, the relationship with Australia’s most significant trading partner by far has only deteriorated.
Then this week the world was treated to violent scenes in the US Capitol, courtesy of Trump supporters who refused to accept the results of the US presidential election.
Leaders from across the world condemned what was happening. They called on Trump to concede and ensure a peaceful transition of power.
When asked whether Trump bore some responsibility for undermining democracy, Morrison said he would not offer further comment on the “terribly distressing” scenes. He said US democracy was ‘‘great’’; dismissed calls to say something meaningful as ‘‘divisive’’; and refused to criticise Trump for sending mixed messages when the president asked his supporters to disperse.
Malcolm Turnbull described Morrison’s response as “a bit weak” in comparison to the condemnation from other world leaders.
Judged by the company you keep?
After becoming prime minister in August 2018, Morrison was invited to the US and treated to a state dinner in September 2019 at the White House, only the second world leader after French President Emmanuel Macron to be given that honour by Mr Trump.
He also attended a Trump rally in Wapakoneta, Ohio and praised Trump’s political priorities, saying the pair “share a lot of the same views”.
What sort of views would they be?
Two years earlier, on August 12, 2017, a young woman who was protesting against a massive white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, was killed when a man drove his car into the crowd of counter protestors. Two days after the death of Heather Heyer, Trump stood in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan and told reporters: “I think there is blame on both sides.”
During one of the 2020 presidential debates with Joe Biden, Trump refused to condemn white supremacists, instead telling the Proud Boys, a far-right group often associated with violent protects, to “stand back and stand by”.
Morrison government’s backbench MP George Christensen has repeatedly claimed that the US election was stolen from President Donald Trump with “dodgy extra votes” and has posted on Facebook about ‘‘Democrat vote fraud’’. Facebook has rebuked him for his misleading claims, but when Morrison was asked to comment, he said:
“You know, Australia is a free country. There’s such a thing as freedom of speech in this country and that will continue.”
Similarly, there’s no rebuke when Liberal backbencher Craig Kelly posts in support of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug touted by Trump and others as a coronavirus treatment.
Associate Professor Julian Elliott, executive director of the National COVID-19 Clinical Evidence Taskforce, says the evidence indicated that hydroxychloroquine is potentially harmful.
“We have reviewed all the scientific data … and we can now say, definitively, that hydroxychloroquine should not be used as a treatment for anyone with COVID-19.’
While Australia is working to stop disinformation from authoritarian states around the world when it comes to his own back yard, Morrison appears to sit on his hands. What was that about people in glass houses?
Comments
20 responses to “Scott Morrison: Trump Lite. A fair moniker for Australia’s Prime Minister?”
There is no doubt Morrison offered himself up on a platter to Trump. He got instant appraisal, exceeding John Howard, the “man of steel”, to Trump’s calling Morrison a “man of titanium”. How much kowtowing was involved in that? Howard was bad enough and he took us into an illegal war.
Trump who in turn rewards sycophants and loyalists, only just gave Morrison a ridiculous award to continue the bromance and reward him for allegiance.
Now why did he get on so well with Trump? It can only be that they hold similar views on a number of issues.
I note that George Christiansen, Joe Hockey, Craig Kelly, and others, are all part of a gang that dispute the US election results in favour of Trump’s nonsensical claims of voter fraud.
Given Morrison’s track record when he was immigration minister, and that there are elements in his government that clearly reflect racist views, I allege that Morrison who represents the electorate where the Cronulla riots took place does support to some degree white supremacist views. It is also clear that even though ASIO not long ago put emphasis on the need to act on white supremacist groups in this country, and that these groups are linked to possible terrorist events (as we saw an Australian do in NZ), Morrison seems reluctant to act, and we never see the politicised raids or opportunism we saw when extremist Muslim terrorism was the focus of the same Liberal government. I have always suspected that Dutton and Abetz hold similar views too, and possibly others including Hastie and Tudge.
Morrison who is not a braggart like Trump, but similarly likes to claim kudos for anything that paints him in a good light, is also a compulsive liar who takes zero responsibility for anything when things go wrong. This has been extended many times to the actions of his ministers and others within his side of government.
You would have to be blind not to notice how much he has learnt from Trump and now regularly displays in his allegiance to similar ideologies in everything he does. If he does not condemn the Capitol building action in the last few days, citing clearly Trump’s sedition-like role, Australians should be horrified. Where is this fool who claims by default to be a believer in Armageddon taking us?
I know this is purely speculation, but I’m not even certain that he wasn’t hoping to cook up a last minute attack on China with Trump, given the megaphone that he has become for Trump’s appallingly racist China policies.
I wonder if Nancy Pelosi’s efforts to stop Trump from ordering a US military conflict, and deploying nuclear weapons, has anything to do with this.
Given that Trump’s post politics options are severely narrow https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/01/01/trump-the-final-daze/ I kind of think that ‘the boys’ will spend their days in glorifying their ambitions in some Russian dacha provided by that other reprehensible authoritarian called Putin.
I suspect these two sees themselves as Le Carre’s last remaining duo of Burgess and McLean.
Thanks for the link, great article.
Thanks Heather. I agree with George re the link, but it only works if one copies and pastes it.
Oops, my bad, usually do!
This will work, Heather:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/01/01/trump-the-final-daze/
Thank you.
Funny how Morrison said only a few days ago that “it’s not for me to offer commentary on other world leaders”.
No, he’s just spent the last two years firing every word-missile possible at China which could only be directed at its leadership.
Its all in the semantics with Scott.
I think a people here are doing their usual thing, attacking Morrison, this time by lumping him with Trump. They forget that mainstream Australian foreign policy is to crawl to the POTUS no matter who he is. The problem is contemptible mainstream Australian foreign policy. If we improve our culture, it will select better leaders. Playing the man does not get to the root of the problem. Journalism needs more philosophy and less gossip.
“Playing the man does not get to the root of the problem.”
…but it does represent the behaviours and attitudes of a very large portion of the Australian population and its culture.
Philosophy is not something of which most ordinary Australians are cogniscent; largely by choice.
Elective ignorance is widespread.
yep. likely all PMs – and Opposition leaders – since Howard wanted to be ‘president’ of Australia i.e. not subject to Parliament. not to mention ‘presidents’ of various States. including those in today. and ‘lite’? which city is in lockdown out of fear?
What you say is true, but Morrison has taken it much further with his bromance with Trump, and also with clear support for the Republican side only.
It will be interesting to see how he goes with Biden who knows full well what sort of ongoing praise relationship he has had with Trump, and clear inability to condemn Trump’s recent actions.
I’ve just been going through media search with what Morrison has said or alluded to concerning Trump and his policies. It’s quite over the top and I think even excels that of Howard and Bush.
If and when the big dog stops barking at China, you would expect the puppy dog to become squeamish, with perhaps the tail dropping between the legs too.
It’s also worth remembering that Simon Crean as leader of the Labor opposition opposed Howard taking us into Iraq, in defiance of America. He also exposed that Howard had already committed us to the war without saying a word. It all revolved around semantics again.
An excerpt from his parliamentary speech prior to the US invasion:
‘What we have just heard from the Prime Minister is a justification for war, not a plan for peace. We have heard the Prime Minister unctuously in this House talk of his abhorrence of war and say that he wants peace, yet he has already committed our troops to war without a mandate from the Australian people, without a mandate from the parliament and without a mandate from the United Nations.’
It seems that with the current Labor, they have seriously lost the nerve with the US. Maybe Crean’s views were tempered with sentiment from his father Frank who was a minister in the Whitlam government. It was probably the only government in Australia that ever really fully stood up to America by withdrawing from Vietnam (another Liberal party disaster) and what a price they paid.
In accepting the Trump Order of Servility, Morrison’s fellow recipients, Japan’s Abe and Indian’s Modi also possess unique pedigrees. Days after stepping down as PM, Shinzo Abe went to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, telling his followers he had “gone there to inform the spirits (that of the Japanese convicted criminal war time leaders) of his resignation.” Narendra Modi was Persona Non Grata until the time he became PM, because he was a leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Indian extremist Hindu organisation. Trump, Morrison, Abe, Modi… a most depressing combo!!
Posting the bleeding obvious, Liz, which is not – unfortunately – even observed in passing by so very many people.
As with most countries Australia is awash with empty heads superimposed on vastly inflated egos, at every level of society.
I have just been in touch with folk in the US explaining pretty much the core of Elizabeth MINTER’s essay here – that the current Australian regime’s PM is a close buddy of Trump – that in effect Australia at government levels is a mini-US – mirroring its worst – Black Deaths in Custody (First Nations) vs Black Lives Matter (Black US citizens) – military bases and war engagements! Morrison should step down – and away – from any engagement in our political system – he is as unfit as Trump.
Nothing surprising here. Morrison is merely showing his true colours. No different from a lot of Australians, I fear, who are equally dazzled by Trump’s antics and are attracted to conspiracy theories. Just look at characters like Christensen (wasn’t he the member for Manilla?) and Kelly who are equally mesmerised by the Trump show and his alternative “facts”.
With all the late courage of a Betsy DeVos, Morrison abruptly disowns his humid Trump bromance. Will the MSM call him out? Not so much. Nothing is more important than preferred access to scoops.
I admire your analysis – have spoken too of the rats jumping the sinking White House pirate ship – so is Morrison now rejecting his best buddy Trump – such a fair weather friend no other world leader would dare shake hands with – another reason for Morrison to step down and away from embarrassing our national gloss! Howard, Abbott, Turnbull Morrison and a couple of other interim ALP characters – this nation has NOT been very well-served by PMs over the past 25 years…