Boom.
And Winston is back.
He looked fit, strong and as dapper as ever.
It was a good speech to the Party faithful in Howick, well attended. He can still draw a crowd.
He was funny, he was mischievous, he ranted against Māori elites, demanded an end to Government Departments using Māori names and made some jokes about identity.
Classic Winnie.
Problem was that it just seems very tired now.
If you really hate Māori aspiration, you are voting ACT because you know David Seymour means it when he says he will disband Māori Government Agencies.
Winston is selling a watered down Redneck brew. Is that enough in such polarised times with a far larger youth voting demographic?
I’m not sure to be honest.
What we actually needed from Winston was a back to basic focus on infrastructure in the provinces and a demand to rebuild using some big new ideas.
He should have been arguing for a new Ministry of Works.
He should have been arguing for a stronger foreign policy to counter Chinese and American influence.
He should have been talking about a Bank tax and making sure NZ Corporations who are benefiting are returning more back into the community.
We needed the fearless Winston who championed classic Think Big Muldoonism.
Instead we get Government Departments not using Māori names.
It was so underwhelming and I am simply not sure if his petty polices are the solutions desperate Kiwis are going to be taking to the Ballot Box in October.
There is an electorate that is seeking populist solutions, Winston provided them with very little reason to earn their vote.
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This is bad news, in terms of forming Government, to the following parties
– Labour (NZ First has ruled out Labour after Winston trespass order issued by Trevor Mallard, with Jacinda’s Support)
– Greens, and the Maori Party (without Labour, where are their natural partners…not National/ACT)
Winston Peters is playing to his audience and they’re loving it.
Chippie is winding back policy he was party to and his audience are falling for it.
I’ve learned to never write Winston off, but I agree with you – his tropes against the same 4 things over and over is getting tiresome. He was lucky in 2017, but I’m not so sure Lady Luck will be on his side again this year.
Didn’t we learn last time that Winston, despite strong denials to the contrary, is only interested in the ‘baubles’ of power. Every election he rolls out his normal race based rhetoric and his followers lap it up.
As long as he breaks through the 5% threshold, I don’t care what he says to do this! He’s a Politician! That’s what they do in the run-up to an election! They “all” lie!
Its what happens come post-election and if they’re in the running to get into government or form a government is what matters. That’s when their pre-election promises come back to haunt them, momentarily. They’ll blame their coalition partners for having to dump their policies and take the money until the next election comes up.
Nothing will change if nothing changes.
I’ve hated Winstons politicking since I was old enough to understand politics in my early 30s and I agree he’s just regurgitating the same troupes that use to get him elected but I can’t see him being successful this time because of Seymours populous rhetoric
Tropes or truths.
He will not go against the banks because his votes are drawn from those with bank deposits which are dramatically up and bank shares which are very good value now . He may pull at the heart but he does not dare effect the back pocket . This must be his last attempt at a come back and I hope it is his last . He says he will not go with Labour and I have never heard Luxon say he wants him as a partner so it could be a wasted vote .
He lost any semblance of support from me when he jumped on the anti-vax bandwagon.
Hopefully 2023 will be his last election campaign, for both him and his shitty party.
Fully agree, he didn’t need to go and mingle with the morons (same for the human rights commissioner, whatever he does – that was embarrassing), but he still did. He may as well had an interview with Alex Jones, as far as I care; the second he did that, all his credibility went out the window.
Dodgiest politician ever, always in litigation, always part of some scandal he always managed to litigate his way out of, sick of him tbh
Howick! Isn’t that the place full of Asian immigrants? Didn’t Winston used to say these were the people taking houses and jobs away from Kiwis?
Can it be…? Oh never mind …thinking about this hurts my brain.
He’s an endlessly fun youth.
Being prone to it myself I wonder how much idleness played in his life.
We sighed but as long as he was useful we suppressed it in our hankies. His ego is now ‘nekid’. The old coot has nothing but politics to warm his orchids. Like his mentor, Muldoon.
He had feeling but never any positive alternative programme. Will he drop off like a spent bloom without politics, like Muldoon?
Writing this I remember he was a pre-Rogernome who never accepted that. The most prominent in politics of those people. Why he’s a mixed person in the last forty years.