Scott Morrison Marise Payne israeli embassy

Yesterday, Crikey readers had their say on two sides of the same right-wing coin: firstly, on the lack of sound judgement evident in Scott Morrison’s call to follow Donald Trump in moving the Australian embassy to Jerusalem for a simple domestic victory (as written by Bernard Keane); secondly, on the looming threat of fascist and hard-right movements in Australia signalled by auline Hanson (as written by Guy Rundle).

On the Morrison government’s displayed lack of judgement

graybul writes: The PM has abandoned much more than a middle eastern two state solution. He has abandoned our sovereign independence as a nation in order to secure his political future.

Dog’s breakfast writes: Morrison is looking more and more like the guy who couldn’t run Tourism Australia. He might even outstrip Tony Abbott as worst PM ever, if only he had more time. Six months is hard to beat Abbott’s horrible two years.

Klewso writes: Where winning and party come before the country’s best interests, I wonder how much damage this rabble can do — from welfare, education, health, to the environment and foreign relations — just to appease their alt-right base? And whether Labor is up to fixing this mess : or whether they’ll use this “rabbit warren” for their own ends?

On the potential far-right surge in Australia

Arky writes: Maybe the assorted media types who’ve kept Hanson afloat for 20 years by continually giving her an outsize platform so that her name recognition and that of One Nation swamp all other far-right challengers are doing us a favour by keeping a complete incompetent in that seat. I never thought of it that way, and I doubt they did either, but still. I doubt Hanson could have created a unified force to rival the Greens even with better advisors. Have you seen how unified her own party is now even small as it is?

Alexander Turnbull: I would agree with your broad outline Guy, but I’m not convinced that Hanson’s stupidity is at the core of the failure of a serious and durable reactionary movement to form around her, I think rather that we on the left project our worst fears of what she could be and in doing so miss what she actually is: a suburban grifter first and a reactionary a distant second.

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