1/10 I'm concerned that a new epidemic is stalking NZ. Unlike covid, this disease attacks only a select group of the population - ageing men with reputations as left-wing politicos. & it affects the brain, not the respiratory system. Matt McCarten seems to be the latest victim.
2/10 We've seen veteran left-wing journo Chris Trotter & legendary activist John Minto justify Putin's brutal invasion of the Ukraine. Now McCarten, former president of the Alliance Party & face of Unite union, says he's working to get a Trumpite elected as Auckland's mayor.
3/10 Molloy has gotten rich running bars & restaurants. He spent 8 thousand dollars putting a statue of Trump in one of them. He's ridiculed vaccine mandates. He's claimed that immoral 'subterranean gay bars' are spreading covid in NZ.
4/10 Molloy is friends with Brian and Hannah Tamaki, & has attended their church. He says that, if he gets elected mayor, he'll 'crack down' on 'woke pretentious white whingeing wankers'.
5/10 McCarten has announced that he'll be Molloy's campaign manager. Talking to Radio Waatea, he praised Molloy as a 'non-politician'. The same phrase was often used by Trump's advocates when he ran for US President.
6/10 McCarten's decision seems especially puzzling because Molloy's main competitor will be Efeso Collins. Collins sits on the left of the Labour Party, & has been outspoken about issues like inequality & racism. He'd have fitted well into the Alliance during its 1990s heyday.
7/10 Some people have suggested that McCarten have taken a job with Molloy because he needs the money. But McCarten is well-known for his disregard for money, & his almost ascetic lifestyle. It is hard not to think he's backing Molloy out of ideological conviction.
8/10 In recent years we've seen the rise of anti-racism movements like BLM, the revitalisation of feminism & unions in the US, & the election of social democratic govts in half a dozen nations. The triumph of the indigenous-trade union movement in Chile recently was startling.
9/9 At a time when parts of the world are turning left, & the sort of class struggle McCarten preached in the '90s is sharpening in many places, he & several other left-wing veterans seem to be embracing reactionary, right-wing politicians. It's rather bewildering.
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