Missing Chris, and the Chinese strike back

         I wonder if all the people who took issue with president Obama missing Nancy Reagan's funeral have an issue with Chris Christie missing the funeral of that New Jersey state trooper who tragically lost his life, recently?

"New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is skipping the funeral of 31-year-old New Jersey State Trooper Sean Cullen, who was killed in the line duty after being accidentally hit by a motorist last Monday. The governor, who recently became a surrogate for Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, will instead be spending the day campaigning for Trump out-of-state. (Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno is scheduled to attend the funeral.)

Christie’s office and the Trump campaign did not respond to The Daily Beast’s requests for comment.
"We are focused on honoring our fallen brother today, and quite frankly we did not expect someone who has consistently shown disdain for law enforcement to pay his respects to the Cullen & State Police family," Christopher Burgos, president of the State Troopers Fraternal Association of New Jersey, told The Daily Beast in a statement. "May Sean rest in peace. A wonderful family, tragic. [The governor's] decision making is predicated on selfish political opportunism, that much is clear." [Source]

Poor Chris Christie, and to think that just a few years ago he was the rising star in the republican party and was measuring the drapes at 1600 Pennsylvania, Avenue.

I tried not to write about you know who tonight, I really did. And believe me, it's hard, because there is so much that I could be writing about.  But one story in particular is so scary and funny at the same time that I feel compelled to post it.

"An editorial published Monday in the China government-controlled Global Times argues even if Donald Trump isn’t elected president, his ascendance has “opened a Pandora’s Box” for America by exposing both alarming fissures in U.S. society and some of the inherent risks in democracy in general.

“Mussolini and Hitler came to power through elections, a heavy lesson for Western democracy,” the editorial says. “Now, most analysts believe the US election system will stop Trump from being president eventually. The process will be scary but not dangerous.” That is to say, one supposes, we may come close to the edge of a Trump presidency but will not necessarily fall.

Trump’s rise was not anticipated by most analysts and observers. At the beginning of the election, Trump, a rich, narcissist and inflammatory candidate, was only treated as an underdog. His job was basically to act as a clown to attract more voters’ attention to the GOP. However, knocking down most other promising candidates, the clown is now the biggest dark horse.

[…] Big-mouthed, anti-traditional, abusively forthright, he is a perfect populist that could easily provoke the public. Despite candidates’ promises, Americans know elections cannot really change their lives. Then, why not support Trump and vent their spleen?

The rise of a racist in the US political arena worries the whole world. Usually, the tempo of the evolution of US politics can be predicted, while Trump’s ascent indicates all possibilities and unpredictability.

Washington Post‘s Simone Denyer noted that the editorial argues that the unpredictability of democracy is to blame for many of America’s ills, such as income and racial inequality. Denyer writes:

The inherent instability of the democratic system is classic Communist Party propaganda and an argument that resonates with many people here: Indeed, it is one of the pillars of the party’s legitimacy in many people’s eyes.

Democracy is a mess – just look at India – and sometimes violent – viz. the Arab Spring. China’s history before the Communist Party came to power was equally messy. Only strong, purposeful and benevolent one-party rule can guarantee stability.

Of course, there are a couple of glaring lacunae in that argument: The most obvious being the tyranny and mass insanity unleashed by Mao Zedong, who killed tens of millions of his own people, (as indeed Stalin did in the Soviet Union). But hey, that bit of history is officially glossed over here.

The paper may have a point in that the rise of Trump — as well as that of Bernie Sanders — is arguably a reaction to the capture of American politics by big business and lobbyists, and the failure of globalization to deliver economic benefits to the middle class.

But it also ignores the fact that democratic “reactions” can often offer a (long and winding) path to democratic solutions, while dictatorships almost always end in chaos." [Source]

That's right, the Chinese state controlled paper is running editorials about the dangers of having a democracy because of.....you guessed it, Donald trump.

I told you it was both funny and scary at the same time.

*Pic from slate.com