The good:
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday morning, nearly two years after his Labour Party’s historic victory in the 2024 U.K. general election.
In a speech outside Downing Street, Starmer acknowledged that he no longer has the backing of his party.
“The question my party is
asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general
election. I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that
question, and I accept that answer with good grace,” Starmer said.
“Every
decision I have taken has been about putting the country I love first.
That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour Party,” Starmer
continued, adding that he had notified King Charles of his decision
earlier.
Starmer said he would remain in office until his successor is chosen.
“I
will also give my successor my full and unequivocal support, knowing
that they will inherit a Britain that is far stronger and fairer than
the one I inherited two years ago,” he said.
Andy
Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester who won a special
election in Makerfield last week, is the clear favorite to succeed him
as Labour Party leader and prime minister.
Starmer
had been under intense pressure to step down following Burnham’s win.
Burnham defeated a candidate from Reform UK, Nigel Farage’s right-wing
party, which has been leading in the polls for over a year, sparking concern. Burnham is scheduled to be sworn in as a lawmaker later Monday...
Starmer mis-managed his way to imploding the historic 2024 Labour win in a matter of months with a series of unforced errors (or to use the British football term, own goals) that have helped empower fascist loon Nigel Farage's party. He's also failed to show any strength or moral fiber in standing up to the Malignant Fascist on the international stage. Let's see if Burnham can rescue Labour and Britain.
The bad:
As he
defended the US-Iran deal at the White House press briefing on Thursday,
Vice-President JD Vance brushed aside a question about whether
President Donald Trump had positioned him as the "fall guy" for an
agreement that is broadly unpopular with Republicans in Washington.
"I
think the president was joking," Vance said, referring to Trump's
comment the previous day that he might blame the vice-president if the
deal collapses.
Vance has spent the week defending the memorandum of understanding with Iran.
Yet
he was often contradicted or overshadowed by Trump - and his
uncertainty about the logistics of a signing ceremony he was planning to
attend in Switzerland with Iranian leaders only further underscored his
challenges in handling a defining issue of his vice-presidency. [snip]
Some
Republicans said Vance's Iran war portfolio has turned into a thankless
assignment from a president long known for blaming his subordinates for
unpopular policies.
"It's
not in the president's nature to cede the limelight and he's done that
here," said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist. "That does feel
like a deliberate choice."
A longtime Republican operative and critic of the president said Trump was pinning the deal on Vance.
"It's classic Trump to throw JD under the bus," the source, who asked not to be named, said...
Vance would be joining a long list of the MF's supporters under that bus, and it couldn't happen to a sleazier beardo. The problem is, when you've got a bunch of lightweights like Jared "Mr. Ivanka Trump" Kushner and Steve "Witless" Witkoff joining Vance at the negotiating table, and with the MF throwing verbal bombs and kibitzing every move from afar, it's a recipe for a continuing disaster that only harms America. In other words, it's the MF's regime.
The ugly:
Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, advised Donald Trump not to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy
in the Oval Office, having called the Ukrainian president a “little
fucker”, a “special-needs child” and “Mr Bean on crack”, according to a
new book.
The suggestion that a US cabinet
official described a world leader in such terms is included in Regime
Change, a blockbusting account of the second Trump administration by New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, set to be published worldwide on Tuesday.
News
of Bessent’s alleged remarks may embarrass the Trump administration,
although the meeting that did take place on 28 February 2025 proved
outright disastrous, as Trump and JD Vance condemned Zelenskyy for not
being grateful for aid in his fight against Russian invaders, and for
not wearing a suit.
The issue of aid to Ukraine remains at the fore, and was discussed at the G7 summit in France earlier this week.
“Several
Trump aides had been worried” about the potential for a blow-up when
Zelenskyy came to the White House, ostensibly to seal a minerals deal
drafted by Bessent, Swan and Haberman write. Then-national security
adviser Mike Waltz “tried – unsuccessfully – to get the message across
that Zelenskyy should come wearing a suit”, they continue. “Bessent had
strongly recommended to Trump that he not even allow Zelenskyy into the
White House before he had signed” the deal.
“‘I’ve
dealt with this little fucker,’ Bessent would say to associates about
Zelenskyy,” according to the book. “‘He’s tricky. He’s like the
special-needs child for the Europeans. And he’s acting like Mr Bean on
crack.”...
Bessent, who has one of the most punchable faces on the planet, is a weakling who enjoys his power by sucking the ass of the Malignant Fascist. The world knows Zelenskyy as a courageous hero of his people in fighting the war criminal and MF mentor Putin. There's no contest who the "little fucker" is here.
