The Opinion Pieces are an eclectic bunch on current affairs & history often with a human interest aspect. The Movie/DVDs reviews are mainly on documentaries with a smattering of movie reviews.
Trump was riding high, surfing his personal tsunami after announcing huge reciprocal tariffs on every country in the world. He then smugly boasted that 50 countries were now “kissing my ass.” Given Trump’s penchant for hyperbole, it might not have been 50 countries but five piss ant countries. Perhaps it even included a delegation of tuxedo attired penguins from the McDonald Islands who arrived to give him the bird and flip him off. But it still played out well with his non-discerning Magalanders especially when Trump threatened to double down if anyone retaliated. This was a tough guy script straight out of a Hollywood Chuck Norris screenplay.
Just about all South Africa’s economic woes of lack of growth, the highest level of unemployment and concomitant widening wealth gap amongst Blacks have their genesis in the race-based legislation enacted by the ANC since 1994. But even after their parlous showing in the 2024 elections which forced them into a coalition government with the ‘white’ DA, they have doubled down on their employment equity and preferential procurement rules. For SMAC’s take on this you can read on.
Trump’s first month in office has been a whirlwind shitshow that has left countries and American citizens rattled and fearful. But what is driving him? SMAC has taken a deep dive into the belly of the beast to try to explain this unprecedented phenomenon that is akin to a massive asteroid hitting the Earth (but we didn’t see it because all NASA employees have been fired by Musk to improve efficiency).
Until he started running for the presidency against Hilary Clinton, what did we know about Donald Trump? Nothing much really except for his successful reality show, The Apprentice. Some who took a deeper interest knew that he wasn’t a particularly successful businessman. In fact, he was disastrous. He managed to bankrupt three hotels and three casinos. You really have to work at bankrupting a cash machine like a casino. He had six other ventures that platzed, the most prominent of which were the Trump Shuttle airline and the Trump University. The latter also left all his graduates with expensive but worthless degrees.
So how did he get to be president … twice? His weapons of choice are mis-directions, lies and exaggerations which he uses like a stripper uses silicone – nothing’s real and it’s just there to attract and distract you to part with your money – and in his latest venture, your votes. Some of his lies are outrageous: In 2015 his personal physician, Dr Borstein, released a letter saying that Trump had “extraordinary physical strength and stamina” and he would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”. The superlatives and the style cast doubt on its authenticity which was confirmed by Borstein before his death in 2021 when he admitted that Trump dictated the letter.
Following the playbook of the Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, where one repeats the lie until it becomes a fact, Trump used the far broader reach of social media where his supporters became unwitting propagandists by retweeting his talking points. An analysis of just Trump’s Twitter feed from June 2015, when he declared his 2016 presidential run, until January 8 2021, when he was booted off, reveals the following: He insulted Hillary Clinton 646 times by calling her a criminal amongst other things with most over less than six months before the November 20 election. That’s an average of 3 to 4 per day. Over the full period of around 260 weeks, he denigrated the legacy media 1288 times and used the phrase “fake news” more than 500 times. This was gaslighting at its worst. Another feature was Trump’s vile and vindictive personal attacks on people he didn’t like.
His second presidency has displayed even more than before that he is a bully. He has declared war on every country. With his BFF, Elon, by his side the next phase of human history might become known as World War X. But it doesn’t stop there. He has also declared war on everyone (federal workers, LGBTQIA+ people, migrants, Democrats, and anyone who did him a perceived injustice including prosecutors and the FBI) and everything (wind turbines, plastic straws, low flow shower heads). The last two show how single-mindedly petty he is all because he has a personal gripe. He does this because he can – firstly, because the USA is by far the most powerful country financially and militarily and whose dollar is effectively the reserve currency of the world and secondly because his toadies in the majority in both the Senate and the House as well as the Supreme Court have got his back not to mention His Master’s Voice, Fox News. In his first term he tested the limits of what he could get away with and then came four years in the wilderness during which he marinaded in his grievances and victimhood during his court cases. This has empowered and emboldened him to be off-the-charts outrageous.
His character is a complex assembly of asinine ideas, half-baked conspiracy theories, festering vindictiveness and many other distasteful traits in his amoral bubbling personal cauldron but the most important idee fixe is the word me. He has no alter ego just ego.
In the first weeks of his presidency Trump has been issuing executive orders at a faster rate than he lies and insults people. Then again, most of his orders are actually vindicative insults in themselves and not only affect one person but millions worldwide. Many are ultra vires but he doesn’t care. SMAC has delved into this and come up with his own insult (not that he cares just like Melania who wore a jacket with that slogan during his last presidency).
Trump loves to insult people. It somehow fuels his outsize ego as much as McDonald burgers with a side order of Diet Coke – hold the paper straws – sustains his outsize body. In fact, he is an equal opportunity serial insulter who will even insult allies if they do not please him sufficiently. One of his least vile insults was reserved for Republicans who were not fully onboard with his ‘T’ party, the MAGAhatters, was to call them RINOs – Republicans In Name Only.
Well, he should be called a PINO – President In Name Only – particularly during his first term when he actually lost the popular vote by a significant amount. Although he now managed to win the popular vote, largely due to Democratic Party ineptness rather than his own brilliance, he is still a PINO as there is nothing presidential about this gloating bully boy with his minions. In fact, his second term could be referred to as Despicable Me 2. But perhaps that’s not a good comparison as Gru turned out to be not so gruesome but a rather schmaltzy character, and his minions just a noisy, chucking rabble who are naughty rather than bad.
So, time to retire my PINO moniker and to introduce a new one – DINO – Democracy In Name Only. It’s appropriate for him that the word, DEMOCRACY, has the vocalisation of MOCK embedded in it as this describes one of the greatest weapons in this bully boy’s thin-skinned armoury. It’s his go-to attack weapon when defending one of his ill-conceived ideas (like Eric and Don jr – meow), or lies, or exaggerations, or etc. His first presidency was a trial run for him, like a baby learning to walk. This time around he’s locked and loaded and is not taking prisoners. He had the support of millions of minions during his four years in the wilderness while he marinaded in his grievances. They drew up a long list of actions that he could take legally, borderline legally and illegally to get into the Democrat’s and the Washington establishment’s faces. Groups like Project 2025 created the poisonous cocktail with a 900 odd page how-to manual and Il Douche has added his sour twist of lemon in the form of petty and vengeful executive orders like renaming the Gulf of Mexico or withdrawing the security details of former top aides who didn’t totally bend to his will first time around.
He has surrounded himself with unqualified and unsuitable toadies and given free rein to a prat manchild to destroy the Federal system which he sees as responsible, not only for America’s ills, but his own legal misfortunes.
Giving him the full name of DINOsaurus Rex who would be king suits him insofar as much was made of his small hands during his 2016 presidential campaign and, although fearsome at the present, he will soon become just a footprint in history.
South African society is plagued by the wealth gap between black and white inherited from the old days. SMAC has nervously dipped his toe into these dangerous waters and reveals that “blacks are good, whites are bad” is just a useful trope for the ANC and it is actually their policies which have made it worse.
In 1970 my elder brother, Dean, was the first in the family to experience the ‘pleasure’ of being called-up to do 9 months compulsory military service at 1 SA Infantry Training Battalion in Oudtshoorn. This was a milestone for the family as he was the first to enter the adult world of hard knocks. Being four years younger and in Standard 8 (grade 10), I was in awe of what he reported in his letters what the Army was like. Little did I know that I would have to serve two years National Service of which a year was spent kakking off on office’s course, 3 months longer than his entire national service. In mid-year he was due for the much awaited 7-day pass and Dad decided to make it a family outing by driving up to fetch him. This was a great event and another milestone for the family. Apart from the odd day trips to van Stadens Pass or Gamtoos River mouth, Dad never ventured out of the Port Elizabeth area except for a weekend at Louterwater 200km away in the Langkloof. I was preschool at the time and Dad worked there building fruit packing sheds for roughly six months c1962 and he decided to fetch us for a short holiday there. We bunked in the basic dusty site huts for the weekend with Mom having to cook on a primus stove! Way to go Dad. You sure knew how to show a gal a good time. It was an excited bunch that set off in the 1966 Vauxhall Victor early on a Saturday hoping to arrive at Oudtshoorn 360km away at around midday. The excitement soon ebbed as we made our way along the long and deary Langkloof (long valley). Being still kids, Cheryl and I had not yet come to appreciate the stark Karoo landscape. The boredom was occasionally relieved by tucking into ham and egg fart sandwiches. Midday was approaching and Oudtshoorn was approaching as we hit the final leg about 10-15km away.
Thanksgiving Day is the day that America gives thanks to their God, Mammon, for the bounty they have received. And for this year, their god has dished up a massive bounty for the majority of Americans. We are talking about the people of God’s Own Party, the Republicans. They have been delivered control of the House, the Senate and the Supreme Court, all guided and ruled over by their Ayatollah, the Supreme Turkey embodied on earth by Trump. The Turkeys are running Thanksgiving and, for at least the next four years, will be running the farm and going feral.
Is the surprising Trump victory going to be like a James Bond martini where the world ends up being shaken but not stirred? Will the ‘Despicable Me 2’ Gru and his Minions lead the post-truth world across an event horizon into a black hole? For SMAC’s look at this conundrum, read on.
TRIGGER WARNING:The excessive and egregious use of outrageous puns might lead to vomiting, induced or involuntary particularly amongst bulimics.
The best thing that can be said about the US presidential election is that the farce is over and what a farce it proved to be. Between the dominating issues of Ukraine, the Middle East, the US Elections and that trusty old standby, the corrupt and incompetent ANC, SMAC has become about as much fun as treating piles. It’s time to put the p (not a typo) back into fun as we move from weighty world issues to weighty personal issues. It’s time to take a weight off our shoulders and lighten the mood as we look into the world of weight loss. For SMAC’s take on that 3-ring circus (Ozempic, Weygovy, Rybelsus) comprising the Ozempic Games, read on.
