The USA Presidency

The Mail on Sunday's report about confidential emails from the UK's ambassador in the USA is particularly interesting.

Usually one does not receive information about the real views of ambassadors as those which are published tend to be geared to maintaining cordial if not good relations with the host country. However I have always assumed that the Prime Minister and or Foreign Secretary would receive the real views from ambassadors albeit via confidential channels. On this occasion those most interesting views, have been given a wide audience.

Wikileaks and the like illustrate that in C21 confidential channels are often not as secret as they may have been in earlier times. 

More fascinating though is the reported view of the British Ambassador that President Trump is "inept". My own view is that politicians everywhere have poorer leadership qualities than was the case a few years ago. However the recent comments by Sir John Sawyers the former head of MI6 to the effect that the UK itself is going through a political nervous breakdown, are in my humble opinion, nonsense. He clearly opposes Brexit and probably the whole idea of a referendum on whether to remain or quit the EU, hence his moans.

Reverting to President Trump and the leaked emails reported in the Mail on Sunday, the comments that the US President is "inept" "insecure" and "incompetent" are worrying though probably many ordinary people have similar views.

A problem for the US presidential system, is that so far at least, there is no really attractive alternative candidate, which is surely a worry given the presidential elections due in the USA next year.

The excellent Netflix series "Madam Secretary",  about the USA President's First Secretary  and her family, amazingly seems to keep abreast of many real political life developments, for example in Iran although  a recent episode where nuclear war between Iran about Israel was only narrowly averted, hopefully will remain pure fiction 

The latest episode of  Madam Secretary we have watched, has a president who is elected  despite running independently against Democratic and Republican opposition though a recount in one state is being called for...

An American president independent of both main parties there might provide a refreshing intelligent change.