https://www.instagram.com/p/DFEepAtMCSu/

Referring to the Biden administration, she said: “They focused on pushing a woke, extreme left-wing agenda that offended basic common sense and morality, overturned the norms of civilized public life, disoriented and mutilated children, censored and cancelled dissenting views, disparaged religious and conservative values, fueled wars around the world, weaponized the judicial system against political opponents and increased nepotism, corruption, crime, poverty, homelessness and wealth inequality.”

Her statement on Monday said: “President Trump is the leader America needs right now, and I wish him and his Government God’s richest blessings and guidance in all their actions for the greater good of America and the rest of the world.”

She saluted Trump’s “resilience, commitment, and fighting spirit.”

“He has survived assassination attempts, political persecution, and years of personal attacks, but he triumphed in the end,” she said.

She said she anticipates “significant and dramatic changes in international cooperation, diplomacy, foreign affairs, and bilateral relations” under Trump’s presidency.

“I look forward to the return of meritocracy, excellence and intelligence as a standard criterion for accessing equal opportunities,” Persad-Bissessar said.

I’ve watched every UNC livestream that has happened so far, trying to stay informed with what both parties are offering. The UNC has promised a huge laundry list of things, what it boils down to is the government will reduce taxes and give more benefits and pay to everyone.

But NONE of it makes sense. The PNM over the last 10 years has basically run an austerity government. There’s massive shortages of forex, our government revenues dwindle every year. The budget decreases every year. The government borrows money for back pay.

I’ve listened to Kamla, and every single UNC member speak for multiple Monday night forums and live streams, no one has mentioned how they are planning to pay for their plan, especially if they plan to cut taxes.

Am I missing something? Can someone explain how their economic plan actually works and where is the money coming from?

More than 40% of this country did not vote in the last election. Come out to vote and vote for someone else. Kamla is not solving most of the core issues in this country. She's mainly treating the symptoms. Her views on guns ain't it, for a country with mental illness issues and heavy American imperialism. Trinidad has experienced road rage attacks and even shooting of random people in recent years.

It is not a duopoly. I will be voting for a third party. Even if that party does not win, it sends a message to the two big parties that there is growing competition. I personally think, Panday could give those two a run for their money. Even if you're not down with her, fine. There are other parties too that may be running in your area.

It happened in Tobago, it could happen here too.

I does disagree with some of you .. but we still trinbagonians and I like to listen to my fellow trinbagonians perspectives still...

I mean in terms of economy tourism environmental policies etc.
How will it affect the gas deal with venezuela?
Immigration and foreign policy etc

This is a genuine question so keep the opinions and prejudices to a minimum (zero) please.

I’m seeing a lot of comparisons between the American political parties but it confuses me. Between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party there are drastic differences in their ideals i.e. one is more conservative than the other. With T&T now, I don’t see much of a difference. Like I’d say our both parties are pretty conservative and none have a solid trend of being more progressive than the other. Also, from my observations, foreign investment is a priority for both parties as well.

Which then begs the question, what are the ideologies we look for when voting? Do we vote based on their ideologies or do we vote based on how we’re expected to vote?

I have a firm belief we have three important elections in our lifetimes,
1)Our general election
2)Our local elections
3)U.S. presidential elections

Now that two of them have past;
2)With PNM and UNC pretty much tied but UNC won the popular vote

3)And Trump winning a second term in the White House.

We now have our own general elections in 2025 and it seems to be the trend in Western nations that the incumbent party that had to handle COVID-19 got booted from power, so it will be interesting to see how folks vote. I'm currently undecided myself but I'm reading up on the options I have and trying to gauge the policies both parties plan to run with. I'd like to know how people generally feel about it and whom they would vote for.

I can see the country going through a major economic disaster with a lot of Trinis migrating to Guyana and other places.

Trinidad will be way less influential in Caricom.

I have a feeling Tobago will secede from Trinidad in the next 2 decades. It will be less beneficial to be partnered with Trinidad.

Trinidad's demographics may change, I feel like more Indos will migrate than Afros. More Indos will go to Guyana as Guyana becomes more prosperous and lucrative.

China will have a greater role in Trinidad's economy as they will come with a big bail out.

A new political party will emerge that may be an merging of out current parties or a whole new party but PNM hegemony will wane.

Crime will eventually subside, but the social damage will still be evident.

I'm queer and trans and so is my girlfriend. Unfortunately we both live in the us. My mom is from Trinidad and I miss visiting so much, I am thinking about trying to emigrate after the election news. I know the legal protections for queer people are not great there but I would honestly rather be among family where I feel I belong and have not great protections than be here and experience the racism that I'm sure is going to skyrocket after he gets inaugurated. I'm just wondering what the general attitude is around queer people in the country right now--I haven't been back since I came out.

ETA: The vast majority of you seem to think it will be much safer for me to stay here and if possible move to a blue city. Point taken; I have still not eliminated Trinidad entirely as a possibility, but I suppose for me it will depend on how bad the racism gets again--there was a marked difference in how poorly I was treated from 2016-2020 than in the last four years. I love Trinidad with my whole heart and still plan to visit. It's been extremely heartening to hear from those of you who live there now as part of the queer community and carry on despite the bigotry you encounter. You're all wonderful and I think you should be proud of yourselves.

With this year being an election year whenever i'm on facebook i see people claiming the PNM is the embodiment of evil and corruption or when i turn on the TV i see the UNC ads saying times were better when they were in power

Which begs the question by did we not stick with the UNC in 2015 if times was so good? and why has the party not been successful in the last general election and local government elections. If the PNM was as evil as people claim wouldn't we see big wins for the UNC in the last local government election or general election?

I'm really interested to know what people here think the average citizen can do to make T&T better?

Any and all comments welcome.

Thanks.

Stuart Young has been appointed to act as PM in the absence of the incumbent twice in the past two months or so. While I think this is simply because the regular person (Colm Imbert) was either absent himself or busy some analysts believe that he is being groomed as the next leader of the PNM. With the current PM probably retiring at the end of his term next year I started thinking about which current politician I would potentially want as the next PM. On the PNM side I actually think Stuart Young would be a good choice as he is educated, relatively young and doesn't belong to either one of the two major racial groups. In the case of the UNC I think Dave Tancoo would be a good choice because of his extensive knowledge of economics and he is also relatively young. Forgive me for dividing our political class into a binary two party equation but I honestly don't think any party besides the ones I have called have any chance to succeed.

If you want to suggest another person who is not a current politician feel free to do so as well.

Politicians and their careers live and die on the altar of trust. After thirteen or so consecutive losses at the polls, it can be inferred that the general voting population, or at least swing voters, no longer trusts her decision making skills. This post is not about defenders, backseat for today. It’s for the skeptics: Why don’t you trust this woman? What has she done to earn your mistrust?

It is high time politics in Trinidad and Tobago become more transparent. Debating will help bring clarity and facts to their rhetoric on the campaign trail. So am hoping there is still time for the relevant authorities to organize debates this is greatly needed by the populace where their rhetoric can be fact checked and they will actually have to back up what they say with facts let’s hope someone sees this and puts thought into action. First though what are y’all thoughts?

I was watching a news story about the recent Venezuelan polls and there was an accusation that the Venezuelan government made it difficult for Venezuelans abroad to vote. This got me thinking that there wouldn't even be any such conversation in T&T because members of our diaspora aren't allowed to vote in our elections. I personally support this because I do not believe that people who don't live in a country should have a say in local politics that don't affect them. Maybe some provision can be made for trinis who are living abroad only temporarily or who haven't attained residency/citizenship in the country they live in but other than that I see no reason to allow anyone who is domiciled abroad to vote and quite frankly I'm not even sure why they'd want too.

But I was curious what other people people thought about this topic, would you or would you not support such an idea and why?

I can't think of 5 achievements the present administration has accomplished in close to two consecutive terms of power , so the question remains, should they be given another term?

Almost all politicians are subjected to hatred or dislike. But something about this particular man irks the soul of many in the population. The recent hints of his potential retirement has raised that hornets nest of hatred yet again. This post is not about defenders, backseat for today, it’s all for the haters: Why do you hate this man? What has he done to deserve your ire?