Scott Morrison stands by Liberal ad promoting government's bushfire response

Here's the advertisement itself: https://twitter.com/ScottMorrisonMP/status/1213330419044638722

For the non-Aussies, and for the Aussies who aren't political tragics like me... the reason everyone's up in arms is that this video has been released by the Liberal Party, not by the Australian government. We can tell by the "Authorised by" statement in the final frame. Government information comes with the Commonwealth coat of arms and says "Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra". Party political advertisements have to be "authorised by" someone within the political party. In other words, this is a political ad, not a government press release. The Liberal Party (not the government!) is promoting itself on the basis of what the government is doing for the bushfires.

Scott Morrison has already been an utter failure during this crisis. He went on holiday after the fires started. He's done as little as possible since he returned. And people have noticed. People have abused him when he turned up to visit their town. People have literally refused to shake his hand (but he grabs their hands and shakes them anyway!).

But, despite all this wrong-footedness, this new advertisement is the most tone-deaf thing he's done (so far!). It reflects his background in marketing. Everything's a message for him. Unfortunately for him, the message here is "I'm using your suffering to promote myself".

Scott Morrison has fucked up yet again.

Axios articles:

• Trump impeached for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress

• Trump mocks Rep. Debbie Dingell, suggests John Dingell may be in hell

CNN live updates:

• President Trump has been impeached

Reddit megathread (copied below):

• House Votes to Impeach President Donald J. Trump

The United States House of Representatives has passed two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Article 1, Abuse of Power, was adopted with a vote of 230 to 197 with one member voting present. Article 2, Obstruction of Congress, was adopted with a vote of 229 to 198, with one member again voting present.