Chlorinated Chicken

Let’s face it, the United States has become one of least popular countries in the world, a fact which probably keeps China from sending her troops into Hong Kong to crush the protestors. They are happier, so far, letting the United States slide further out of favor, lose more influence on global matters, skewer its own people with the obvious disastrous results of its proclivity to wage trade wars, reject multinational treaties, decimate a meaningful role in the Middle East by simply siding with Israel on everything and helping Saudi Arabia bomb Yemini civilians, humiliating allied leaders while elevating brutal despots… even as one of those trade wars is hurting China. If they were to use their military to crush the protestors, China just might make the United States a little less of a global bully by comparison.

But one country faces a particular conundrum over Trump-America unpopularity. The U.K. Specifically, foundering PM Boris Johnson – rejected by an increasing number of his own party, forcing him to lose his parliamentary conservative majority control. As Trump continues to tweet in support of Johnson’s pure-hard-break-Brexit mantra, the position that cost his party that majority, Boris is clearly cringing. As Trump sent Mike Pence over to London to support Johnson with lots of photo ops, mirroring his support for Israel’s right wing PM Benjamin Netanyahu in the last election (Netanyahu still could not put together a ruling coalition forcing another election), our President’s belief that his support alone can sway voters in other countries to support his choice… his version of election interference… may have the opposite result.

“Boris knows how to win,” Trump told reporters in Washington on September 4^th. Wince. But should Boris distance himself from Trump’s toxicity, he faces alienating the biggest trading partner willing to make a post-Brexit agreement of significance. A trading partner the UK will desperately need on a hard exit. An agreement that is itself being greeted with skepticism.

“Mistrust of U.S. motives figured in parliamentary debate on Tuesday [9/3] and Wednesday [9/4], with the opposition Labor Party warning that a Britain bereft of its familial trade relationship with the EU would be vulnerable to unscrupulous practices by big American corporations and would risk being stripped of food-safety and other consumer protections that the United Kingdom has enjoyed as part of the European bloc.

“That led to an odd burst of prominence for the phrase ‘chlorinated chicken’ — a reference to critics’ concerns that U.S. poultry treated with antimicrobial rinses, a practice banned in the EU, would be foisted upon British consumers if the country eventually signs on to a prospective American trade deal touted by both Trump and Johnson.

“But ‘chlorinated chicken’ has also become a catchall descriptor for unease about the prospect of a post-Brexit Britain becoming overly subservient to the United States, even as Brexit backers portray the planned split with the EU as a triumphant assertion of British sovereignty.

“Johnson, who became prime minister in July, tried, with debatable success, to turn the phrase into a scathing insult of rival Jeremy Corbyn, the Labor Party leader. During Wednesday’s parliamentary proceedings, he called Corbyn the only chlorinated chicken in sight — and repeated his gibe about the Labor leader to Pence the next day.

“Another sensitive topic came up in Johnson’s meeting with Pence: the National Health Service, Britain’s flawed but widely revered system that provides universal health coverage. Johnson’s critics have repeatedly suggested that U.S. pharmaceutical and medical companies would seek to muscle in post-Brexit, raising prices for drugs and services.

“Trump did little to allay those concerns in a state visit to the U.K. in June. With Johnson’s predecessor Theresa May by his side, the U.S. leader was asked by a British reporter about potential harm to the NHS arising from Brexit.

“When the president did not appear to understand the question, May quickly interceded, spelling out what the initials stood for, as if simply clarifying an inaudible query. But Trump alarmed many Britons with his response that ‘when you’re dealing on trade, everything is on the table, so — NHS or anything else.’

“Critics pounced on that, with Corbyn tweeting that ‘our NHS is not for sale.’ On that point, Johnson voiced rare agreement with his rival, telling Pence in their meeting that the health service would not be part of future trade talks with Washington.” Laura King writing for the September 6^th Los Angeles Times. Ireland’s equally unhappy with Trump’s hard Brexit support, since one of the biggest and seemingly unsolvable issues concerns a 300-mile open Northern Ireland/Ireland border. Open after decades of bloodshed that no one on that Emerald Isle wants to block with a hard wall.

If the rest of the world is getting tired of Donald Trump, noting that they are not remotely as saturated with all things Trump 24/7 as we are, will the US electorate be so damned worn out by all Trump, all the time that they will vote him office in part for a little piece of mind? After all, the main source of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton mention is Trump himself. And they truly do not matter anymore. Wouldn’t that be a nice result for Donald Trump?

              I’m Peter Dekom, and you have to wonder what reporters on MSNBC, CNN and Fox News will talk about in a post-Trump era… even as the Trumpster will continue to tweet.