Spot on. Trump's behaviour needs to be viewed through the lens of narcissistic personality disorder combined with ADHD. All of his actions are in pursuit of narcissistic supply. We have a crisis of sane washing in mainstream media. He has no strategies. He acts based on his psychological needs. He doesn't have beliefs, he has dispositional states. He is easily manipulated by those who can see that. This is why sucking up to him fails. Anyone who has lived with a narcissist can understand this.

I can relate to her feelings here. But as others have pointed out, this type of lifestyle relies on financial support from others. I lived like this in my early 20s. For a while in the same area as her. Working on farms for food and board, and WOOFing in permaculture communities. Living without earning money. Looking back, I realised that all of the people who set up the farms and communities I lived in were boomers who bought land cheaply, and got family support to set up their lifestyles. None of this is accessible to younger people. For me, coming to terms with reality meant not living the kind of life I really wanted which was consistent with my ecological principles, but changing myself to accept things about society I can't change. This meant learning how to adapt to the "urban hive" and develop skills to earn money. I'm not judging her, but most of us have to figure out how to pay the big rents and bills that come with not having the financial support of family or friends. So I shaved off my dreads and got an engineering degree. I don't think going off grid is a good message. It reminds me of David Holmgren's attitude. As if we should all have such a charmed life to be able to live in the country side and grow our own food. It's a very insular and privileged message.

Thanks mate, appreciate that. I'm not a malcontent, I can appreciate good things when I see them. I just haven't seen many good things come to fruition during the course of my millennial life observing politics. I feel there is something about the Australian mindset that makes apologies for those in power who don't improve things. We have this idea that change is hard. The government has limited power etc. I remind people that during the lockdowns we had a 9pm curfew. In the 2010s, most people would have said the government couldn't do that. They absolutely have power to make change. They choose not to, because the status quo benefits them. They could fix housing. They could fix wealth inequality. We've been conditioned to believe that change is impossible. I don't buy it.

I hear you, but this guy always wanted to have it both ways. He is more mature and has more integrity than Abbott and Morrison, but he still pandered to the worst elements of his party to maintain his career. The same sex marriage plebiscite conversation was damaging. He fucked the NBN for political points. There's a social media interaction where he told a woman if her house had bad internet she should buy somewhere better. He's just another rich dick. And he only grew a backbone once he left office and had no skin in the game.

"Whether their target is Asians, Aboriginal people or Muslims the formula is the same – identify a minority group and blame them for our current discontents.

This type of politics has been denounced by Liberal and Labor leaders for decades."

This guy is so lacking in self awareness. Took over from Howard and Abbott, was followed by Morrison. Chose the liberal party and thinks he is better than them.

Missing out on superannuation due to taking on domestic duties with kids, succumbing to financial coercion by male partners who prioritise their careers over child rearing, being aged out of the workforce. Blokes who grew up with single mothers know all about this.

I can totally understand the frustration at the boomer generation. But there is an underlying issue at play here which is unfair. There's an assumption that older people should have forseen the future and made the right choices about housing. I was born in 1990, and I didn't even see this housing crisis coming when I was in my mid 20s. Lots of people are being blamed for not making the right choices before the gate closed. The fact is that gate shouldn't be closing. We shouldn't have to live our lives focused on accumulating wealth just to be OK.

There is some nostalgia distortion at play here, but a 30 year old can still study history. Some of us have parents who bought houses in capital cities on single incomes working for the public service in the 70s.

Yeah but we can't let that overshadow a very real and justified frustration at the devaluation of labour in a world where asset inflation is hurting a lot of people.

Great. Meanwhile lots of people have fucked up families they can't live with and I guess those people are shit out of luck. What a privilege.

Labor have no viable opposition, so it shouldn't matter if they receive criticism. They should do what is necessary to help those at the bottom of the economic hierarchy who are struggling most.

He's always been like this. You can hear it whenever he has to answer questions he doesn't like. Always sounds like "I'm the boss, don't bother me".