As if we didn’t already know…
Bryce Edwards writes for The Guardian this week and expresses disappointment that Jacinda, known as the anti-Trump, is clearly nothing of the sort. To be honest, I am somewhat relieved that she does not appear to have been as rude to him as she was at their first meeting. Maybe Jacinda has realised that diplomacy is the only way to get what you want, and calling the POTUS ‘orange’ is probably not the way to get a reduction in tariffs or a free trade deal. She got neither, of course, but at least she appears to have remained civil, thereby increasing our chances for concessions from zero to not much.
Ardern’s liberal supporters see her as the polar opposite of the US president, and she has even been labelled the “anti-Trump”. They expected her in some way to speak truth to power when meeting the man who has become synonymous with the most reactionary problems in politics today. More than anything, Ardern might have been expected to use the opportunity to push Trump hard on the issue of climate change.
Instead, Ardern came out of the meeting typically upbeat, exuding her trademark diplomacy. She described the meeting as a “perfectly productive, warm, solid bilateral”, trotting out the usual platitudes about US-NZ relations, and highlighting Trump’s purported interest in New Zealand.
Her ‘trademark diplomacy’? Is Bryce Edwards being facetious here, or has he forgotten her scowling at Mike Pence, calling Trump ‘orange’ and railing against him when he told the four troublesome Congresswomen to go back to their own countries and fix up the mess there?
Unfortunately for Ardern, the New Zealand media is now giving plenty of coverage of her positivity towards Trump, mixed with reports of dissatisfaction over her failure to push climate change action at the meeting. And to make matters worse for her, Trump has now tweeted that the good news stories about their conversation are “true” and that it was “A wonderful meeting!”
He is still a democratically elected premier (which is more than can be said for Ardern) and deserves some respect as a result. For once, Jacinda seems to have behaved herself.
It will not please many of her supporters though.
Ardern isn’t supposed to be a traditional PM. She came to power riding a wave of enthusiasm for being different. Jacindamania was based on the expectation that she would do politics differently and would reject business as usual. She promised “transformational change”.
Now this anti-Trump politician has had her first formal meeting with the real Trump, and nothing much has changed. While no one can have reasonably expected that her meeting with Trump would produce immediate results, there was certainly an expectation that she would at least emphasise the need for action on climate change.
It seems she was more interested in getting Trump to break the Second Amendment (which he will never do) or pushing her Christchurch Call agenda, where she thinks she can stop the next massacre by depriving law-abiding citizens of guns and stopping downloading live streams on the internet. It is a bit like having to declare all liquids and cosmetics on an aeroplane; the next massacre will use a different method. But Jacinda doesn’t seem to realise that yet.
Ardern is also fighting a rising tide of cynicism at home over whether her actions match her rhetoric. The New Zealand Labour party and, crucially, Ardern’s own office, is currently embroiled in a major sexual assault scandal. This is on the heels of failures to deliver promised changes – most notably the flagship housing policy has turned into a train wreck that her government is trying to salvage, without much success.
It is worse than that. For all that Ardern tries to paint herself as a champion of climate change, the reality at home is somewhat different. The Zero Carbon Bill is failing on all fronts, because there is no agreement between the coalition partners, and it is most unlikely that it will be saved by the opposition. To continue to wear her halo on the international stage, Jacinda has to walk the walk. Much to our relief back home, she clearly isn’t doing that.
It is all very well to parade this virtuous position to the eco-warriors at the UN, but at the moment, this is not being matched with domestic reality. Jacinda will not be able to get away with telling two different stories for much longer.
Ardern’s performance in New York is not going to be enough to assuage the uneasy feeling that for all Ardern’s claims to be different, it’s very much business as usual.
She described climate change in her speech at the UN as an “extraordinary threat” but, right now, her response to that threat is looking – as we say – “pretty ordinary”.
THE GUARDIAN
Don’t get me wrong. The last thing I want is for our farmers to be forced into bankruptcy because of the Zero Carbon Bill, but Jacinda will not be able to have it both ways. Very soon, the world will be able to see that she is nothing more than hot air and good intentions. We already know this, of course, but Jacinda’s saintly international reputation is taking a hit.
I cannot wait for the world to realise how hypocritical and ineffectual Jacinda really is. She is good at championing minor causes that may look good, but will never change anything. We know this.
Now the rest of the adoring world are going to see it too. Yee ha.