SLEEPING WITH PENGOVSKY

Karl the Komeback Kid

With the return of Karl Erjavec to the helm of DeSUS this past weekend, things are shaping up for some serious end-of-the-year fireworks in Muddy Hollows.

Karl Erjavec featured in a meme. — *Erjavec may have qualities but looking good in a mask is not one of them (source)*

The fact that Komeback Karl made, well, a comeback, may seem a beautifully executed political long-play. In reality, it is anything but. Then again, Erjavec will be trying to milk the situation for all it might be worth. Including making a play for the post of the prime minister.

Janša’s Letter To EU Leaders, Annotated

Prime Minister Janša is in the news again. This time he took it upon himself to write a monstrosity of a letter regarding the latest EU spat over rule of law in Poland and Hungary and the union’s seven-year budget connected to it. In the letter addressed to EU Council president Charles Michel, Janša manages to come across as a spineless toady for Viktor Orbán and Jarosław Kaczyński, a person with serious delusions of grandeur, and a failed metaphor writer, at the same time.

*The letter that even made the Politico Brussels Playbook*

To put it in a nutshell, the letter is yet another shit-show of epic proportions. Not only did Janša copy the letter to every EU leader, as if he’s on a some kind of a grand diplomatic initiative, he did it at the time when he’s got people at home dying by the hundreds on a weekly basis due to Covid-19. And, in a well-executed maneuver of opening mouth and inserting foot, the Glorious Leader is now crying foul over the very same package his own government voted in favour of in Brussels, only days ago. Thus he backstabbed his own diplomatic apparatus for the second time as many weeks.

Janez Janša’s Tweetpocalypse Now

After trying very hard to ignore it for days, Slovenian political class finally started weighing in on the slow-motion car crash that was PM Janša’s Twitter meltdown over the course of the past week.

*With apologies to Francis Ford Coppola and Manon Champredon (source)*

But, drawing the ire several prominent US diplomats and then becoming the poster-boy for European flavour of trumpism in the eyes of numerous media outlets, only emboldened the Glorious Leader who then proceeded to all but destroy, in a matter of days, what little standing Muddy Hollows had in European and international diplomacy.

PM Janša Declares Trump Winner, Starts A Dumpster Fire

It doesn’t take a lot to do a horribly bad take on Twitter these days. But to do a bad take, have it go viral internationally and then double down on it, only to get slapped with a disinformation label, that takes special skill.

This, you know by now, is exactly what PM Janša has done on Wednesday after US presidential elections, when – to the disbelief of many – congratulated Donald Trump on winning the vote. Only that Donald Trump by then hadn’t won the vote. And it doesn’t look good for him at the time of this post, either.

DeSUS Christ, What A Shitshow

In all likelihood, by tomorrow evening Alenksandra Pivec will no longer be minister of agriculture in the government of Janez Janša. Last Thursday the PM asked the parliament to dismiss the former DeSUS president from her post, following a request by the party leadership.

*2020. When even soap operas aren’t wehat they used to be.*

However, keeping in line with the DeSUS cringefest Muddy Hollows has been force-fed for the last few months, Pivec will continue as catetaker agriculture minister until such time the PM has found a suitable candidate to replace her. Which may take a while. Because of course this is what happens when a pair of gutless politicos want to oust an ambitious-yet-petty minister who is egged on by a scheming prime minister. (UPDATE: In the end, Pivec resigned of her own volition, which changes the dynamics a little bit. More on that at the end of the post)

Slovenian Lessons for Trump’s Election Delaying Antics

The collective hand-wringing on Twitter that followed Donald Trump’s tweet about possibly delaying election due to potential voter fraud with mail-in voting is – as per usual – more or less unnecessary.

As enraging as it is, Trump’s tweet is only the latest in the long line of distractions, a crude attempt to divert attention from his car-crash of an interview on Russian bounty for US soldiers and the fact that US GDP in Q2 dropped off a cliff.

Aleš Hojs in Hotel California

Despite resigning in writing and in no uncertain terms, Aleš Hojs continued as interior minister in the Janša government. This, in spite of the deadline set forth in the parliamentary rules and procedures which state that the PM is required to notify the parliament of the resignation within seven days of a minister’s resignation.

*Aleš Hojs writing that he resigns the post, effective immediately. And yet… (source)*

As it is the parliament that appoints the ministers, this requirement is not a mere formality. The notification of resignation is to start the constitutional clock on nominating and ultimately appointing a new minister. As of Wednesday, at 0000 hrs, no such notification was forthcoming, meaning Aleš Hojs still gets to be driven in a fancy car with a security detail.