The difference between Christopher Luxon and Donald Trump *
Written By:
mickysavage - Date published:
12:15 pm, January 22nd, 2025 - 23 comments
Categories: Christopher Luxon, climate change, Donald Trump, energy, national, politicans, same old national, science, Te Reo Māori -
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Trump’s shock and awe approach made me reflect on what Christopher Luxon did when he gained power. And there are a number of similarities.
Since gaining office Trump has:
- Reversed as many Biden measures as he could.
- Changed energy policies – drill baby drill.
- Established a new Government Efficiency Department (DOZE).
- Mandated that federal officers returned to the office.
- Overturned the electric vehicle mandate.
- Tossed the Green New Deal.
- Taken the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord.
- Renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
- Renamed Mount Denali from its native name to Mt McKinley.
- Claimed he had inherited a hell of a mess
Think back to the beginning of this Government and that Luxon has:
- Reversed as many Labour measures as he could, many under urgency.
- Changed energy policies – drill baby drill.
- Established Seymour’s Ministry of Regulation.
- Issued work from home guidance which requires public servants to return to the office.
- Overturned the Clean Vehicle Discount Scheme and wound back the Clean Car Standards Rules.
- Tossed the Natural and Built Environment Act 2023 and the Spatial Planning Act 2023 as well as weakening the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management, and the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity,
- Stated that it is not interested in meeting it financial obligations under the Paris Climate Accord.
- Renamed a number of ministries removing all reference to Te Reo.
- Refused to rename Petone to Pito One despite the proposal having significant support.
- Claimed he has inherited a hell of a mess.
Check out Mountain Tui’s post for more examples.
And the techniques being used are so similar. Stir up a number of culture wars to divert attention and keep the base happy and in the meantime undermine every environmental policy possible.
And keep moving and apply a blitzkreig of change. The evidence of shock and awe is clear.
It is almost as if they are working from the same songsheet …
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Democracy at work busy being eroded……. extreme partisan polarisation is one of the factors influencing what we are witnessing worldwide with the rise of pernicious far right political parties……..Something to take on board here in New Zealand, our version of MMP appears to unfortunately encourage this polarisation……..The current National party is like an untrained dog being wagged by two tails……..somehow it just doesn't seem like the natural Kiwi way of being adept and doing what's best and fair for all…….
The agendas are not dissimilar, the political cultures are. There is more than one way to skin a cat, and the cat loses either way.
There is definitely massive coordination, open and covert, between the various authoritarian and right wing forces around the globe. NZ needs to leave 5 Eyes and join BRICS, or preferably just be truly non aligned.
Grim days when the vandals in the CoC Govt. go gunning for Unions, Public Transport Food Banks, disabled and respite care for their carers!
Time to organise on a class left basis and look after each other in practical ways until we can show these swine the door.
The comparisons make it obvious that both Trump and Luxon adhere to the Atlas Institute of Greed and Public Misinformation, almost word for word.
Trump can openly defy conventional law and wisdom, whilst in NZ the CoC has to do it with a lot more stealth and discretion but overall they want to do much the same thing – make the rich richer (them! of course), the poor poorer (everyone else) and the masses grateful for the few crumbs that fall their way.
As I understand it the Atlas Network produced a plan for Trump outlining what to do when gaining office. While not publicly acknowledged by Trump, it does appear that he is following it. Seymour is setting the agenda in the ACT1stNat group, and trying to get as much through as possible before Peters starts campaigning for the next election.
New Zealand and Argentina have as usual been the test cases for extreme monetarist capitalism to be then implemented by larger countries.
So trumpy boy better smell the roses, as this is a cluster fuck. Argentina is not much chop.
Argentina are Fifa World Cup champions which is huge in the eyes of the people, but that did not happen under Milei.
Seymour's Treaty Principles Bill, no doubt privately supported by many nats although publicly opposed by the party, including the support ending at the select committee, is our equivalent under a system of parliamentary sovereignty of Trump stacking the Supreme Court to make it easier to alter the Constitution.
An excellent summation, MickySavage.
I was just thinking this morning that someone needed to juxtapose the similarities in playbook, side by side, and here it is – brilliant.
Thanks for the article.
Agreed and fearful Micky. Thanks.
We all knew but to see it summed up in print is horrifying.
You forgot one similarity though. They both claim to be Christians. The real Christian was this courageous Reverend:
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cn4mwe3lk9wo
I'm not religious but I do admire courage when I see it.
Absolutely.
One now wonders what the Donald will do to strike back at her?
Because he sure doesn’t like hearing a few home truths!
Luke 4:16-30 comes to mind.
This is more than spooky! Hopefully the word is spreading. We all need to consider who is pulling the strings and to understand what they are aiming to achieve? More importantly a potential left coalition needs to explain what its alternative is.
Don't be fooled by that tail wagging the dog talk.
Luxon is in there with Seymour, deep. They are a pair.
They may be a pair, but if not for the political vagaries that gerrymandered Seymour into parliament Luxon would most likely not be PM……..
What Mountain Tui said. Thankyou
They aren't similar in all respects, unless Trump has a hairpiece …
If this government welcomes Musk, the anarchists will have a hell of a job.
Shock and Awe
A very good round up of Donald Trump's first few days in office.
Top U.S. & World Headlines — January 24, 2025
Democracy Now!
They both think that running a country is like running a business and both have failed at that!