“I prefer to have bastards in power who claim to be bastards, representing the aristocracy, than bastards in power who claim to be representing the working class.”

That’s a very common picture, same thing in the US. The fundamental difference between Trump and Biden is Trump is by and large honest about being an immoral trickster.

I genuinely think that’s a key reason why voters prefer him. When you’ve always been spoken to by virtue-signaling disingenuous charlatans, you can’t be blamed for thinking someone who owns his awfulness is a breath of fresh air. Which is why none of the attacks by Democrats around Trump’s revendicated awfulness ever worked: the very fact he revendicates it IS the attraction! In fact those attacks probably served him.

None of this is even remotely close to democracy though. It’s meant to be government of the people, by the people, for the people. If your choice is between a disingenuous bastard and an unapologetic bastard, a) they don’t represent the people, b) it isn’t “by the people” because it’s choosing between Scylla and Charybdis, i.e. no choice at all and c) they won’t act for the people because, well, at the end of the day they’re both bastards.

Politics Joe

“Keir Starmer has been complicit in the genocide in Gaza from day one.”

“Spare us of this Labour party.”

@YanisVaroufakis on the authoritarianism that has taken control of the Labour Party under Keir Starmer.

https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1758170261533135273/video/1