Folks, it feels good to be alive in the Year of our Lord 2016.
The latest story hot off the presses is one that many have been anticipating for some time: your boy Cory Bernardi, who is currently forcing feckless coward Malcolm Turnbull to do whatever he wants within the confines of the Liberal Party, is “on the brink” of splitting away and forming his own conservative party.
The Australian reports that Bernardi and Gina Rinehart met key members of Donald Trump‘s campaign and transition team, fuelling rumours that the mining magnate plans to bankroll Bernardi’s exodus from the Coalition. As you can imagine, Libs are extremely not keen on this possible development.
“[Bernardi] is becoming more serious about this as people are losing faith in the Liberal Party and as he is losing faith in Malcolm Turnbull,” one senior Liberal said.
Another key Bernardi ally said that all Bernardi’s past bluster is actually getting quite real nowadays. “I don’t think this is a flippant thing; this is now serious,” the ally told The Australian. “I am worried about it, and I will do everything I can to try to keep him in our tent.”
The fear among the Coalition is that a Bernardi defection would embolden others – particularly George Christensen, who is doing his darndest to establish himself as a conservative heavy-hitter. That’d be something to behold.
(policy committee)
BERNARDI: ABC news bulletins should start with the Lords Prayer
GEORGE: you shouldnt have to put on a shirt to go in KFC— keen online poster (@jonathonio) December 21, 2016
I for one would be interested to see whether a Bernardi-led party would actually capture enough of the vote to be a viable threat. Pauline Hanson, for all her myriad failures once she actually gets her hands on the levers of power, is very good at getting people to listen to her – she comes across as unpolished but passionate and clearly speaks to some segment of the Australian population.
Bernardi, on the other hand, is a weird, slippery lizard man with the unmistakable aura of a disgraced geography teacher. Christensen tries to do the Trump routine of saying the unsayable and being wilfully politically incorrect, but jeez. The guy’s a bit of a nut, objectively speaking. He’s also obsessed with Doctor Who, which is immediately disqualifying.
Let’s see what happens. Bernardi has been teasing big announcements for early 2017 through his Australian Conservatives newsletter… so we might not have to wait long.
Source: The Australian.
Photo: Twitter / @CoryBernardi.
