‘Well Camp we’re on the eve of the 4^th of July, America’s national holiday, and they are celebrating the Trump led revolution of the rich against the poor. As now enshrined in his ‘Big Beautiful Bill’, which just narrowly was passed by a divided congress. It will add trillions of dollars to the national deficit and deny millions of the poorest people basic support.’ 

‘Yes, it is a big beautiful fairy tale bill devised by the wonks and hawks in the White House fantasyland. Do you know how many zeros in a trillion? A trillion has one million million and 12 zeros.’ Camp said.

‘It’s a big beautiful number. ‘

 ‘This bill basically extends existing, lavish, deficit-financed tax cuts well into the future, as well as boosting spending on defence and immigration enforcement. It offsets some of the cost by cancelling green subsidies and cutting health care and welfare for the poor.’

‘What about the blatant overreach by ICE, (Immigration and Custom Enforcement) which are targeting and forcible disappearing international students, professors and lawful permanent residents, not for criminal activity but for their political engagement. These are not isolated incidents but targeting anyone who dares express their opposition to Trump or his policies.’

‘They are profiling people, meaning anyone that looks Latino or South Asian is a target and thousands are now hiding in their homes, afraid to go out for fear of intimidation or even incarceration. This is a dangerous time for anyone not blue eyed and white skinned.’

‘In 2022, there were approximately 20.4 million Hispanic or Latino immigrants living in the United States, representing about 32% of the total Hispanic population of 63 million. Over 10 million from Mexico. This means that the majority of Hispanics in the U.S. are native-born,’ I quoted from my Google search.  

We both concentrated on our cool drinks for a beat on this beautiful summer evening here on the Sunshine Coast. Very comfortable temps in the mid 20ies unlike that scorching heatwave all over Europe with temps in the mid-thirties.

‘Not so long ago, Trump blatantly wished for more immigrants from nice places like Norway, Switzerland or Denmark instead of having all these people from shit hole countries come here,’ Camp quoted. ‘Now, that he is president, all his nightmare scenarios are coming true.’

 ‘We now have tax cuts for the rich, deportations of the unwanted and also, here I get to quote the Centre of American Progress CAP: A quarter of the present members of congress, 123 from 535, publicly deny the scientific consensus of human-caused climate change while at the same time those same individuals received $ 52,071,133 in lifetime campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry.’

‘All these numbers make my head spin, not totally unlike when I look at my bank account which just makes me go for another beer,’ Camp said. 

‘Coming right up,’ Vicky yelled from the bar, right on time.