LOOKING AGAIN AT OUR NATIONAL HOLIDAYS

 Before going further, I think that its important to note that I agree with ALL of the reasons for Indian Arrival Day and Emancipation Day as public holidays. I also agree with and understand the reasons for fixing the two dates for these holidays on 30th May and 1st August respectively in each and every year. I think that both days are important for the nation to remember and observe these two days.

But (and you knew there was a "but " coming, didn't you?) I was thinking how nice it was for the WHOLE country that these two dates will each be celebrated on a Friday this year. After all, approximately half the country is not Indian and approximately half the country is not African. Yet, it is important that the whole country celebrate and remember these two days and the history behind each one.

Having said that, I think that its time to think about all of our national holidays and recalibrate those that are not international in nature (e.g., Christmas and Divali). Why don't we take those holidays (e.g., Emancipation Day and Indian arrival Day and put them on a Monday instead? For example we could put Indian arrival weekend on the last weekend of May and Emancipation weekend on the first weekend of August, and making the Mondays after each weekend public holidays.

There are good and obvious reasons for this, not the least being that studies have consistently shown that a country's productivity is more adversely affected when a holiday falls in midweek than on a Monday or Friday. After all, there are probably no adults whose birthdays have fallen mid-week who haven't postponed the celebration to the nearest weekend, especially when the next day is a working day. Why can't we do this with days like Emancipation Day and Indian Arrival Day?

It is important to note that this proposal is not to be applied to religious holidays or even days like New Year's Day. There are some other days which we cannot or should not change, e.g., Independence Day, again for reasons that ought to be obvious. But does that mean that we can't or shouldn't look at the rest?

A CASE FOR TOLERANCE

 THE country (T&T) has become noticeably less tolerant of divergent views and opinions over the last few years. Whether this is simply caused by the rise of social media where people feel free to criticize another when he/she is not face-to-face with the person being criticized (as some have suggested) or the causes are more deep rooted and the lack of tolerance for opinions that differ from one's own is the result of genuine differences of opinion on a given topic, is not easy to say.

But it seems clear that at least people feel free to criticize others more today than yesterday. While the reason(s) for this is/are arguable, certainly there appears to be a greater lack of tolerance than there was before.

So the question arises: why? Why is this happening? Is it a good thing? Are we as a society losing our capacity to be tolerant of differing opinions? If so, does this spell a long term danger for us? Will it cause a further fragmentation of our society?

Nobody enjoys criticism nor does anybody enjoy disagreements with his/her beliefs and/or opinions. But if, for example, I thought that it was a good idea (which I don't)  for there to be a law that all men should wear green pants, why should my (rather stupid) opinion matter to you? And if I can persuade others that this  opinion was indeed a good idea , then surely what you should do is put forward arguments that show why my argument is a stupid one; but you don't have to be insulting about it.

Hopefully, by this admittedly stupid argument I have made the point about whether or not  the political Party (whether the People's National Movement -PNM or the United National Congress _ UNC) is in your opinion the one that is best suited for the country at this time. (But, if you ask me,, I support the Free Democratic Action Trinidad & Tobago party - better known as FDATT). 

The short point here is that we -all of us- need to be more tolerant of others whose views might differ from our own without being insulting about it.

GETTING THINGS BETTER?

Evwerybody lies. I read somewhere that the average person lies between twenty to a hundred times a day. But what about the people who we elect/choose to rule us - the politicians?

Politicians usually lie  because they are craven or corrupt - or both. The most dangerous of lies is when  leaders lie to their own people. The truth is more likely to come out sooner or later - e.g., when a politician promises that he/she can fix the problems of the country without borrowing and making life more expensive for his/her citizens.

There are two other forms of deception: concealment and spinning. Unfortunately, it has become far too commonplace for politicians to avoid telling the truth by either spinning the facts in such a way  as to deceive the unwary listener or to conceal the facts in such a way that the average citizen will be decieved. One can argue that either (or both) of these behaviours can be classified as lies.

"Truth telling is when an individual does his best to state the facts and tell a story in a straight forward and honest way"(John J, Mearsheimer= - Why Leaders lie - The truth about lying in International Politics).  Deception (which includes lying) is where an individual actively takes steps to hide the truth or present it in such a way that the listener gets a different idea from the truth of what really took place. 

The clever politician will try to spin the facts in such a way that even when the lie is exposed he can say that he was misinformed, but he will usually be found out anyway, e. g., when he promises that he can fix things and make it better although he knows in his heart that he can't..

The recent general election in T&T is a classic example of this point. People (voters) were clearly  fed  up with the promises and lies of the PNM and as a result, many who identify with that Party simply stayed home and didn't vote or actively voted for the UNC. The biggest problem that the new UNC Government now faces is whether or not they can keep their main promise which was to make life better for the people. If they can they will stand a good chance of winning the next election. If they can't they will face an energized and resurgent PNM that will exploit their failed promise  to make things better.  And make no mistake about it, the ground work on both sides is already being laid down - on BOTH sides.

The PNM has managed to make itself the 'default' Party -i.e., the Party that the country can turn to if the 'experiment' fails. That happened when the NAR came into power in 1986 but then lost to the PNM in 1991.  Can it happen again? Yes, it's possible. Will it happen again?  Maybe. A lot will depend on what the new Government does in its first months in office,  Has the new incoming Government learned anything from 1986? Hard to say, but the signs are not propitious for them at the moment, They would do well to remember that within a few months the NAR was deeply unpopular as it was forced to "turn off the tap" of state largesse. When the new PNM Government under Patrick Manning came in  in 1991 it simply continued the NAR's economic policies - after a failed revolution against the NAR in 1990.That revolution failed because the army refused to back it.

So? Am I hopeful that things can get better?  Maybe. Can they get worse? Maybe.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     es and spin of the PNM                                                                                                  

HAPPY EASTER

 Today (easter Sunday) marks the most important festival (for want of a better word) in the Christian calendar. Indeed, you cannot be a Christian if you don't believe that Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead three days later.

Because I have always had a curious mind and asked three uncomfortable questions, I used to ask; (1) how come Easter always moves every year? (2) Why do we call it Easter? Where did this name come from? (3) Why is there always a full moon in the week just before the Easter weekend?

Well, I found answers to these questions by going back in history. It seems that the Emperor Constantine was having a lot of trouble with the Christians who by 325AD comprised something like 30 percent of the Roman Empire.

 So he called all the Christian Bishops in the Empire to the town of Nicea (which is today somewhere in Turkey). This conference is known in history as the Council of Nicea. At this conference Constantine sought to align  Christian events and beliefs (such as the birth and death of Christ) with pagan beliefs, traditions and holidays.. For example  the Council agreed to move the date for the birth of Christ to December 25th which originally marked a pagan festival celebrating the date on which the sun starts to move North after hitting the Southernmost Tropic on December 21st.

But why do we call it 'Easter' and why does it move every year? Again, we have the pagans to thank for this. It seems that on the Friday in the week which the third full moon of the year was always celebrated by the pagans to commemorate the goddess of Spring, Oestre,  (It is from her name that we get the name 'Easter'). In any case, Spring has always symbolized rebirth and reproduction (represented by eggs and rabbit). Constantine argued that it didn't matter when exactly the relevant dates were (birth and death). What was important was the fact of the actual celebration, so he got his way after a lot of argument and  he converted to Christianity. Remember that in those days everybody had to have the same religion as the Emperor. So in one fell swoop Europe (the Roman Empire) became Christian.

And so, it seems that the pagan festivals have lived on although today they represent very different things.

THE COMING ELECTION

 Well, at the time of writing this post there are less than two weeks before the general election. The UNC continues to pull large crowds - bigger than the PNM's. If crowds or crowd size are an indication of poll strength then (unsurprisingly) the UNC will win hands down. But while there are  a lot of people who are completely fed up with the PNM those people are not being persuaded to vote for the UNC - at least not yet! And this election will be based on the total number of seats won and not votes cast.

Part of the reluctance to vote for the UNC can be attributed to race. But this is only a small part of the whole picture - the biggest part can be laid squarely at the feet of the UNC leader. Many rabid UNC supporters will take umbrage at what is being said here. And it is true that a week is a long time in politics - a lot can change. But present performance on both sides of the political divide suggest (a) that there will be a low poll; (b) that the crowd size in the UNC meetings are from UNC supporters who are from 'safe' seats; and (c) that in a low poll in crucial 'swing' seats the PNM will win - even though the UNC will probably win the popular vote in the country.

My guess is that the PNM has probably given up at least one seat in Tobago, but that their polls are showing them with a small majority of the 39 seats in Trinidad. Win, lose or draw expect Tobago to play a large part in the next Government. Certainly, if the two Tobago seats are lost by the PNM, Tobago's importance will only increase as far as governance is concerned.

But what is noticeably missing, especially from the PNM, is what are they going to do to make our lives better. Unfortunately, while the UNC is making promises, nobody knows how they are going to pay for them - and that is a problem. The political and economic policies from both sides are essentially the same except that both sides are saying that " we (whoever 'we' are) can do it better!

And the truth is that by all that is normal the UNC should win  a whopping majority. But things are not ever normal, are they?

ELECTION MESSAGING

 Clearly, what wins elections is better messaging and better candidates - especially at the top of the ticket. So the questions are, or ought to be, who has the better message? Who has the better candidates? Well we'll find out soon enough what the electorate thinks. Both political Parties seem to be suffering from a dearth of viable candidates and both seem to be relying more on racial voting than on anything else.

Newspapers, television and radio are crammed with opinions from both sides as to who -  PNM or UNC - has the better candidates and who can tackle the big problems of a red ink budget not to mention crime. Frankly, it is a big "if" as to whether or not either of the big Parties, based on their present rhetoric, really have  a clue as to how they will go about fixing things. There has been a lot of talk about what is wrong and a lot of vague proposals as to how to fix what ails us, but nobody has made firm proposals and nobody has said what he/she will do if these proposals don't work. But it is laughable to describe them (the proposals) as rationalizing what is wrong with the country.

I've said it once and I'll say it again: there is only one reason for politics -only one reason for Government - and that is to make life better for the people! Full stop! There is no other reason. Perhaps if there were two Prime Ministerial candidates who were more attractive  the proposed solutions might give us some hope. But as things stand at the moment  the biggest (and mainly unspoken) challenge is race - and we are simply ignoring it and pretending that it doesn't exist. But the message is clear: if you are Black/African vote PNM. If you are Indian vote UNC. And to hell with anything else.

In the meantime (and seriously), whose proposals do YOU think will make YOUR life better within the next five years? And what will you do about it if things do not get better for YOU?

THE COMING ELECTION - A LOW POLL?

 By all that is normal the PNM should lose the coming election in a landslide. That they have screwed up mightily is beyond question and I defy anybody to defend their record. They seem to have forgotten that there is only one reason for politics -only one reason for Government - and that is to make life better for the people! Full stop! There is no other reason. And while there are  a (very) few people who are indeed better off than they were 10 years ago, the vast majority in the country is not. Everything costs more and our energy revenues are seriously down.

But (and there is always a "but") all indications are that the UNC has not captured the public's imagination and that there will be a very low poll. The PNM has historically always done better when there is a low poll; so what should be a walk over for the Opposition is not. There are a few people who say that they will "hold their noses" and vote for the UNC because they feel that the Opposition might as well be given a chance. Unfortunately (but fortunately for the PNM) the amount of these persons are not enough to make a difference.

Both Parties enjoy a block of approximately 30 percent each in support, from the electorate. that leaves  about 40  percent of which about 15 percent lean toward one or the other of the two main Parties. The remaining 10 percent is truly independent BUT unlikely to vote this time around. The gerrymandering of the constituencies by the PNM over the years will ensure that the PNM wins again).

So, it looks like we are going to get another 5 years of PNM rule. If I am right, despite the change at the top of the ruling Party,  gird your loins for another 5 years of PNM rule and all that goes with it. The only bright spot will be that a defeat this time around will spell the end of Mrs. Persad Bissessar's hold on the UNC.  Because, when anybody looks at the UNC's policies and solutions for everything from the economy to energy and everything in between, their solutions and proposals look good. But? Can they sell it to the uncommitted? A week is a long time in politics and we have a month left, so all bets are off. But all indications are that there will be a low poll. If there is then expect the PNM to win - again. And don't look at the crowds (or lack of them) at the various political meetings Crowds don't win elections: votes do!

If you don't like what I am saying, go and vote and prove me wrong. 

THE COMING VOTE

 That everything in the coming election points at the moment to a tight race. On the one hand, the new Prime Minister has signaled that if given a chance he will do some things differently, e.g., he has replaced two serial losers, Colm Imbert the Finance Minister, and Fitzgerald Hinds the National Security Minister. Lost in all this has been the fact that Keith Rowley is the Political Leader of the ruling PNM and none of those changes could have taken place without his express approval. Mr. Young's choice of Attorney General is also curious, She has never distinguished herself at the Bar and has been from day one a fanatical supporter of Dr. Rowley. Her appointment might also be taken as suggesting that no half decent lawyer wanted to be associated at this time with the PNM. So? Is it simply the desperate reshuffling of a poor hand or a signal of changes to come?

But on the other side we have a lady who has proven herself to have no original ideas or even to get out of the mess that we are in. She is also tainted with the label of serial loser and has managed to take complete control of her Party by ensuring that none of the competent people in the UNC who have not exhibited blind loyalty to her are going to be candidates this time around.

The result is that far from being a cakewalk, the UNC finds itself having to rely on race and is struggling to find thinking people to support it. That this could change in the next few weeks is a given. But all indications are that it will be  a low poll with a lot of people simply saying 'a pox on both your houses; I ain't voting'. At this stage it is difficult to say which Party will be hurt more -  the PNM or the UNC - from this attitude.

WHO TO VOTE FOR?

 By all that is normal, the UNC should win the next election (due by August this year) in a cakewalk. Regrettably, for the country, Kamla Persad Bissessar's  recent decimation of her front line has given the ruling PNM some hope for "salvation". They will try and argue that with a new leader there is hope. The  problem here is that the "new" leader is inextricably linked to the old one and the old one's policies. There is no evidence whatsoever that Mr. Young will do anything except to carry on as before.

To counteract the damage that she has inflicted on the UNC, Mrs. Persad Bissessar has started laying out some of her policy decisions and proposals, e.g., she is proposing the abolition of the very unpopular property tax. What she hasn't said as yet is how she intends to pay for the proposals that she wants to implement After looking at her proposals, I think that she is on the right track, But (and it is a big "but") there is a serious question of how these proposals will affect the country's economic position and how we are going to pay for it?

That the PNM has screwed up mightily is beyond question. But it seems unfair to the electorate that the choice we are being faced with is on the one hand a bunch of donkeys who can't  get us out of trouble (which they caused in the first place) and on the other side a populist who is only too happy to make promises that can't be fulfilled.

On balance, perhaps it might be better for the country to vote the UNC into office After all, the PNM has messed up so badly that they really don't deserve another chance. But don't expect that things will automatically get better. Haiti has shown us that when a country starts to sink, there is no bottom.

AND YOU WONDER WHY OUR CRIME RATE IS SO HIGH?

 It is undeniably true that the best deterrent for murder is the fear of getting caught. Put another way, most people would think twice before killing somebody, whether casually or not, if they thought that there was a good chance of getting caught. But if the chances of you getting caught are large then you would think twice before putting yourself in that kind of trouble. Perhaps that is why our crime rate is so high not only for murder, but everything else as well. I haven't seen the latest statistics but the last time I looked  something in the vicinity of LESS than 5% was applicable for solving crimes and arrests. And you wonder why the crime rate is so high?

Then after the police have done their job and actually caught somebody, there is the whole question of inefficiency in the legal system where cases can take years before coming to trial. By the time that they are heard before a judge and jury, many witnesses are dead, or gone abroad, or simply can't be found, or can't remember accurately what happened. In other countries cases take less than a year to be dealt with by both the police as well as the courts. And you wonder why the crime rate is so high?

I have been on the receiving end of two matters : the first is the murder of my cousin who I loved like a brother. His case has never been officially "solved" and nobody has ever been charged with the crime , although everybody knows who did it. The second matter is rather small as compared to the first, but it involves a client of mine being defrauded of the (admittedly small) amount of $600. The problem here is that the police officer who had promised to follow up is never available and no report on the matter has ever been made. Telephone calls to his superior officer have also produced nothing. It is clear that this is considered to be too small to deal with. But then, isn't fraud of any kind a crime? And you wonder why the crime rate is so high?

I could go on with other stories, but you've got the point: those in authority tasked with doing their jobs and keeping the rest of us safe are simply not performing - whether through incompetence, corruption or a mixture of both is irrelevant; they are simply not performing. And you wonder why the crime rate is so high?

PRESIDENT TRUMP AND PANAMA - MIGHT IS RIGHT

 I was intrigued by the American President's seemingly unprovoked attack on Panama. Why would Drumpf (his real family name) just threaten to attack Panama  seemingly out of the blue by saying that "the Panama Canal is American, we built it and we gave it to them?"? This didn't really make a lot of sense, especially when you realize that Panama took over control of the Canal AFTER protracted negotiations with ... you guessed it ... the Americans! What this means in effect that is that you can't really trust the Americans when they make a deal ... especially when they perceive that they aren't in complete agreement and didn't argue or quibble with it ... and even then?

In other words, might is right!

But why would President Drumpf make this pronouncement?  The real answer is that Mr. Drumpf was in partnership with a Panamanian and together they built a hotel. They fell out (why? I don't know) and ended up in Court. the case worked its way up to the Panamanian Supreme Court and was decided in favour of the Panamanian partner. Of course, Drumpf was mad but he couldn't do anything about it.

Now he can. 

Are there any lessons for us here?

CRYING "KORBAN"

 While it is true that democracy has always been both a moral and an instrumental project, it really only works when voters trust and respect the persons who are promoting the particular policies. For example, 100 years ago there was a big issue on whether or not women could/should or even have the right to vote. This was obviously a moral issue, but it was an instrumental one as well  as the protests of the suffragettes  were also done with an aim to achieve a certain objective (the right to vote) and which was ultimately successful.

However, these days these two cornerstones of democracy seem more and more to be in conflict with each other. In my lifetime the two main races in this country have been driven apart by leaders on both sides who have used racist statements  to further their (or their Party's) particular cause. For example, who has forgotten the racist statement by Fitzgerald Hinds just before the second to last election that Keith Rowley could never be Prime Minister because he was "too black"? If ever there was a not so subtle racist statement that basically was saying that all black people should vote for the black leader of the black party, this was it.

In recognizing this particular faux pas Dr. Rowley (who very interestingly  didn't condemn the statement immediately it was made) is now trying to say "hey! We are not racist. Look, we even have a non-black person who will be Prime Minister soon." Of course Dr. Rowley is completely ignoring the fact that in the country, and even in his own Party, Stuart Young has little or no support. Mr. Young has very cleverly furthered his ambition to be Prime Minister by catering to a constituency of one and ignoring everybody else - which means, of course, that he will be completely dependent on Dr. Rowley and his only question to Dr. Rowley when he is told to "jump" is "how high". But that is another story.

Put another way, the PNM will go into the coming general election waving the nationalistic flag as opposed to the racial one, and trying to paint the UNC Leader as incompetent and racist. It is not yet clear how the UNC will respond to this. Certainly, as things now stand both Parties appear to be running neck and neck and  because "a week is a long time in politics" only an idiot will venture to suggest what the outcome will be. And while there is a good argument that the PNM has really messed things up by all that is normal the UNC should be way ahead in the polls - and they are not! There is an equally valid perception that the UNC team appears to be almost completely emasculated by its Leader.

So? The question will be who do you think will better be able to steer us away from the jagged reefs and rocks that we are about to flounder on? Should we be swayed by the two very populist leaders from both sides? Do we honestly believe anything that they say? Or are we going to be like the Pharisee who gets rid of his sins at the gates of the temple by crying "Korban"?

ILLEGAL IMIGRANTS

 The latest "guesstimate" that I have seen is that we have in this country about 300,000 illegal Venezuelans living here. This is in stark contrast to the American figures which say that they have 22,749 illegal Venezuelans. Incidentally, the same official report says that there are 1,197 Trinbagonians eligible for deportation from the USA.

So? How come we have more than ten times more illegal Venezuelans here than there are in the States? I mean, I could understand it if we had 3 or 4 times the American number. After all, we are  (a) that much closer, and (b) easier to get into. But more than ten times?!? Something is wrong here. Do you trust the American figures? As I understand it, most of the illegal Venezuelans have gone to Columbia, Panama and other Spanish speaking countries in Latin America. This makes sense as most people would want to go where they could speak the language.

It has been reported that a little less than ten million Venezuelans have fled their country - which was one of the wealthiest countries in Latin America. That this speaks (nay, shouts) volumes about Maburro's mismanagement speaks volumes, but it still does not answer how many illegal Venezuelans that are here.

I ask the open ended question: is it that the Trini authorities have used the fact that so many Venezuelans have fled their homeland to make excuses  as to why things here are not good? In other words, is there  no real evidence that the illegal Venezuelans have created unsolvable problems for us?And why, if this is a real problem, is the media not only not highlighting the problem, but not giving us the facts? Maybe it's because they think that we are dumb.

And are there other illegal nationalities here? If so, who and how many? Where are these others  from?

CORRECTION

 In my post yesterday on THE LIES OF PRESIDENT DRUMPF I said that "Adolf" Himmler was Hitler's Nazi Minister of Propaganda. This was NOT true. Hitler's Minister of Propaganda was JOSEF GOEBBELS. Goebbels was the one who said "the bigger the lie and the more often it is repeated, the more people will believe it". Heinrich Himmler was the creator of the holocaust and the second most powerful man in Nazi Germany.

I humbly and sincerely apologize for my mistake.

THE LIES OF PRESIDENT DRUMPF

 Well, American democracy has thrown up a man who is not only a big liar but is probably one of the most 'bold-faced' of the biggest liars the world has ever seen. It is difficult to understand how any reasonably intelligent person could vote for or support Donald Trump in any way having regard to things he has said and done. But yet he  received a majority (albeit a very slim one) of the votes cast in the November American elections. Here are a few things that this terrible man has said or done:

(1) He has made unfounded claims that the illegal immigrants in the USA are behind the rise in crime and that many Latin countries are sending their worst criminals and mentally ill people to the USA. There has been absolutely no evidence of the truth in any of these allegations. It's almost as if he has forgotten that his grandfather was a German immigrant who changed the family name from 'Drumpf' to 'Trump' because it "sounded more American".

(2) He claimed that inflation was highest under Biden and he had instituted policies (that Biden canceled) that caused the American cost of living to reach unprecedented proportions, On this issue he seems to have a point. In 2022 inflation had peaked at 9.1% and while some of it might be blamed on Trump - it takes about 6 months for economic policies to work through  the system - inflation had been rising steadily for the 4 years that Trump had been in control. But it is not true that inflation was highest under Biden. At one stage American inflation was over14%!

(3) He has said that Panama has been targeting American ships as they pass through the Canal and that China controls it. This is simply not true. Indeed, while a Hong Kong company won an open bid to control some of the ports in the Canal, the USA also controls some ports in the Canal.

(4) He has consistently denied having anything to do with the January 6th insurrection, but all the evidence points the other way.

(5) He has said on many occasions that he in fact won the 2020 election. That he and his supporters have signally failed to produce any evidence of this and have lost all the dozens of cases that they brought in many States across the country alleging voter fraud speaks volumes. Trump has clearly learned the lesson from Adolf Hitler's Nazi Minister of Propaganda (Adolf Himmler) that "the bigger the lie and the more often it is repeated, the more people will believe it."

(6) He has claimed that he will save the car manufacturing industry by banning the electric vehicle mandate. Fact: no such mandate exists. In April 2023 the Environmental Protection Agency (EVA) announced  strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions. The EVA did say that if these limits were met that by 2032  the limits could be met if 67% of all cars were electric.  But the new rule did not order car manufacturers to go electric, but allowed car manufacturers the latitude on how to meet the limits.

There are numerous other examples of how this man lies and misleads the public. A serious question arises from his behaviour :-  Can he be trusted? For better or worse, we are all subject to whatever the U.S. President does or thinks. The consequences of his misbehaviour  have the potential to seriously affect us. For example, if he carries out his threat to impose tariffs on a whole range of foreign goods, it will have the knock on effect of making things more expensive in the USA, meaning that American imports to T&T (e.g., food) will become more expensive.

That there is a lesson for us down here in T&T in that when we limit our choices between Tweedledum and Tweedledee  we are asking for trouble where  neither Tweedledum nor Tweedledee is acceptable and there is no third option.