By Phillip van Niekerk
Three of the most disliked men in the world have had a very bad, terrible, awful week.
Midterm elections in the US on Tuesday dealt a humiliating blow to former US President Donald Trump as an expected “red wave” of support for his Republican Party failed to show up.
In many contests for Congressional seats, Governorships and other positions, Trump’s hand-appointed extremist candidates suffered defeat. Against all expectations, President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party held onto the Senate and won a number of governorships.
By Thursday many of the former President’s supporters were blaming him for the underwhelming performance of his party. Fox News, the most effective propaganda weapon of the extreme right, went all in for a new champion, Florida Governor Ron de Santis.
An angry, rampaging Trump tore into De Santis, Fox News and anyone in his party whose support he suspected was wavering ahead of an expected announcement next Tuesday of his third run for the Presidency.
While many relished the prospect of a Republican civil war, one-time Republican consultant Rick Wilson warned that the “big orange goon” would “break every one” of his opponents.
“They’ll grovel and beg to lick his elevator shoes.”
Trump might have sought solace from his buddy, Russian President Vladimir in Moscow, who was also having a dreadful week as his war in Ukraine collapsed.
There was jubilation and tears of joy in the critical port city of Kherson as it was liberated on Friday by Ukrainian forces.
In a comradely gesture Putin had apparently delayed the retreat until after the midterms, as such a massive Ukrainian victory might have boosted Joe Biden, who has been steadfast in his support for Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops ended the Russian occupation of Kherson after months of slowly squeezing the Russian forces and driving them across the Dnieper River.
Kherson was the only provincial capital captured by Russia during its brutal and unprovoked February 24 invasion and the rout of their military points to the prospect of a more wide-ranging defeat as winter approaches and the two sides dig in.
Both Putin and Trump had received boosts from Elon Musk, maybe still the richest man in the world, in recent weeks. Musk had Tweeted his support for the Republican Party and floated a Putin-friendly peace plan in Ukraine.
But his week went no better than the others: the implosion of his newest company, Twitter, as advertisers and millions of users headed for the exit days after he blundered in as the new owner.
Musk, who had overpaid $44-billion for Twitter, made a number of badly thought-out changes to the social media platform, fired thousands of employees without proper notice, and warned that Twitter might soon be bankrupt.
The Los Angeles Times wrote that “Elon Musk has mistaken his Tesla and SpaceX successes as testament to his brilliance. His actions since taking over Twitter have been so destructive that the question is raised whether, rather than being a genius, Musk is in fact an idiot.”
The “idiotic” label might as well have been applied to “stable genius” Trump and “master strategist” Putin.
The world loves to see self-important people come short. To see it happen to three in one week is, for a large portion of humanity, a delight.
Pictured above: the front page of the former Trump-supporting New York Post
Picture source: @julian_west
