Trump and Turnbull

Aractus 06, May, 2017

Watch this:


Video: White House

I love this video. This video sums up everything that’s wrong with Turnbull. Here he is sitting across from one of the most ridiculous first-world State leaders in our generation, and he’s listening to him spew his bullshit. To bring my international readers up-to-speed, Turnbull is well educated, highly intelligent, and knows a lot about history. All the things Trump knows nothing about.

The expression on his face says everything. It says “I can’t believe I have to sit here and listen to this man’s bullshit… I’ll just smile and nod”. You can see he just wants to shake his head, roll his eyes and walk out. Grow some fucking balls Turnbull. The only reason that people aren’t going to lampoon you for being as blissfully uninformed as Trump is because we know you’re smarter than that – why not fucking tell Trump to his face when he spews out bullshit?

Trump: “We’ve been allies for 99 years”

Turnbull: “Yep”

Trump: “Can you imagine that? 99 years”

What the fuck Turnbull? Perhaps he was stunned by Trump’s blatant stupidity? We’ve been formal allies, counting the ANZUS Treaty as the start, for 65 years. And it’s an archaic outdated alliance anyway. More Australians have a negative view of the US than have a positive view. Because the US is a fucking inhumane disgrace of a country that practices the death penalty, criminalises prostitution, and has worse gun violence than any other first world country.

Trump: “Right now we have a failing healthcare … you have better healthcare than we do”

Well – maybe. I think it’s funny that people seem to claim to know whether one country’s healthcare system is “better” than another, and it’s really difficult to objectively measure. The World Health Organization last ranked countries in 2000 – that’s 17 years ago. What is true however, is that the US healthcare  system is grossly overpriced – the US spends greater than 18% of GDP on healthcare services, whereas the rest of the industrialised world spends 9-12%. I don’t see how you can possibly implement a universal healthcare system in the US in a single term of government and not expect to see a huge recession. Reducing healthcare spending from 18% to 12% would result in a lot of job losses, and also many doctors, surgeons, and nurses would have to face pay cuts and/or stagnant wages. That’s a reality because governments and insurers pay less for health services than private citizens do – and you can check that fact if you want. It’s similar in Australia with GPs that bulk-bill vs those that charge a consultation fee, except that in the US there are just many more health services. For example if you need heart surgery and you are covered by an insurance policy in the US, then the insurer will pay out a set amount to the hospital for the service. A private citizen however might be charged much more because he’ll be dealing with a surgeon that charges whatever he wants and doesn’t perform surgeries for insurance companies.

The issue in the US isn’t the quality per se of the healthcare, it’s the accessibility for essential health services, affordability, and the fact that people have to rely on insurance policies. The failure of the US health system is that it doesn’t cover everyone, and (prior to Obamacare) insurance companies didn’t have to cover “high risk patients” (those that had pre-existing health conditions), or could charge people with pre-existing health conditions more than people without. Obama of course lied when he claimed premiums wouldn’t go up – you can’t cover all the high-risk patents and expect premiums to stay the same!! Now, don’t get me wrong, the US absolutely should bring in universal healthcare. But it won’t be a purely straightforward process.

Anyway, Turnbull grow some fucking balls and tell the man that his healthcare plan is fucking atrocious.

Make a Comment

Hey! Pay Attention: