‘Which idiot hired them?’
As his former lawyer Michael Cohen begins a three-year jail term, President Trump has unleashed his traditional Christmas tweetstorm.
In it he wished his fellow Americans a very merry covfefe and made it his ‘‘Number One New Year Resolution’’ to find the idiot in the White House who had hired the long long line of traitors and incompetents he’s had to put up with.
‘‘WHAT A YEAR!’’ Mr Trump tweeted. ‘‘So much winning! Dow at record level! Tremendous mid-term victories! So much wall built! Turkey pardoned! Melania’s bloodred Christmas trees so so beautiful!’’
‘‘But I have been surrounded by FOOLS! Where did they come from? Who appointed them? I will uncover the TRUTH!’’
The series of tweets follows reports the President has told his closest advisors that he is making a list of who has been naughty and who has been nice, and even though he has checked it twice, the naughty column is much much longer, something Mr Trump described as ‘‘very very sad’’.
The President made a point of singling out by name several of those who this year had either stabbed him in the back, were grossly inadequate, or just didn’t turn out right even though they were very fine people, very fine people.
‘‘Michael Cohen let me down bigly! Such a disappointment! Dragged me into mess with Horseface Stormy Daniels.
‘‘So unfair! I cannot wait to discover who had the TERRIBLE JUDGMENT to make him my for him in the first place.
‘‘Rex Tillerson: dumb as a rock and lazy as hell’’ the President tweeted of the former Secretary of State, whom he had appointed in 2017 and who had subsequently described Mr Trump as a ‘moron’.
‘‘Jeff Sessions: world’s worst Attorney-General!’’ he described the nation’s former top legal officer, whom he also appointed last year.
‘‘Unlike Santa he never delivered! Sean Spicer! HR McMaster! Anthony Scaramucci! lawyer!’’ Where do we get these people from?
‘‘John Kelly gone by When I find out HEADS WILL Christmas!’’ Mr Trump tweeted, ROLL!’’
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referring to the retired Marine he President ended his Corp General and former Christmas tweetstorm on Homeland Security Secretary and an upbeat note, praising his personal pick to replace Chief of the wisdom, qualifications Staff Reince Priebus. and experience of his new nominee
‘‘No lump of coal in his stocking for Ambassador to the United because COAL is GOOD! Nations Heather Nauert, bestknown
‘‘Second Chief of Staff in a row as a former Fox News
to let me down! What is going on, anchor. people?’’ ‘‘Heather will make a
The President then took a swipe tremendous ambassador in the UN. at several of his other White House I’ve see her on TV many many staff and Cabinet colleagues, times and she really lights up the continuing his theme of room. determination to get to the bottom ‘‘This is one appointment I will of why they had ended up working never regret!’’
It may not feel quite like Christmas weather wise, nevertheless the season is upon us yet again. I want to take the opportunity to wish everyone reading this a very merry, safe and joyous Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
It is easy to get side tracked with all the hurly burly of the silly season.
However, Christmas is all about making those special connections with family and friends, as well as reflecting on the spiritual significance of the 25th. We all need to take a little time to make the celebration memorable and worthwhile.
The end of the year is a time to reflect on and celebrate the achievements of the past 12 months, which has been occurring across the province in the past few weeks.
I always leave those celebrations with a real sense of reassurance Southland, in particular the Gore District, is in good heart with great people doing great stuff to build the capacity of our communities. This week alone we have seen a number of local heroes saluted by Kiwi Bank for their achievements . . . people like Caroline Dore and Jim Geddes who shun the spotlight and just get on doing what they do well, making this a better place to call home.
The Gore Youth Awards held earlier this month really put the spotlight on our future leaders, young people who have vision and passion for our place, and a burning ambition to be part of charting a course for the next decade and beyond.
Congratulations to the Gore District Youth Council for giving these stunning young people a platform to strut their stuff. We can all be proud of their achievements.
Similar achievement and passion has been on display at school end of year functions. While we seem to be assailed by bad news across the various information channels we inhabit, the hope and faith our youth display is life affirming for me.
The continuing challenge for us, the supposed ‘‘adults’’, is to not lose the faith and passion of our youth. To do not just the traditional and easy things, but the right things. When I consider the ambition of the early settlers of the south to lay the foundations for who we are and what we have today I think we still have a way to go.
It’s great to see the new Southland Regional Development Agency finally taking shape. I believe everyone is looking for tangible results from this Southland-wide connected approach. They say good things take time; let’s hope the saying is correct.
Although 2018 is not completely ushered out the door yet, I can say it has been a year of challenges for me, both from a personal perspective as well as a professional one.
While it can be at times difficult, I am sure it is character building in the long run. Well, that’s the theory anyway.
2019 will be for me another year focusing on doing as much as I can to progress work on the two major challenges facing rural communities – water infrastructure upgrades and our ever-ageing population.
Getting the balance right between doing what’s required to address new and heightened standards demanded of councils, alongside that of recognising community affordability, is the ongoing challenge.
It will require continued discussion with Government to discuss what role they may play in helping ease the burden on small communities.
From my perspective the only way the ageing population challenge can be addressed is to make our communities as attractive as possible for new families to settle in and forge a future. The challenge is large but it’s one that can’t be ignored.
For this to be achievable we must be in a position to sell ourselves to the rest of the world as the best possible place in terms of doing business and as a lifestyle choice.
We certainly have the raw materials in terms of people and place, I just hope we have the vision.
Anyway, I am not sure about you but I am looking forward to a good break to recharge and focus on the next 12 months. Have a great Christmas and all the best for 2019. ❚ Tracy Hicks is the Gore District mayor.