It's insult time in US and UK leadership campaigns

It never takes long before political candidates aiming for top leadership start insulting their rivals. Trump has been dismissing his main rival for the White House, Joe Biden, for some time. But now he has dug deeper and the insults and abuse are flyng around like cow pats in a hurricane. The same will soon be the case in the UK where ten politicians are making their case to succeed Theresa May as prime minister. They are beginning to turn on each other. It's slightly more subtle, so far, in the UK. Criticisms are often made without actually naming the individul. For example one candidate, let's say Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, will talk about the need to vote for a serious leader, not some blond-haired joker. In other words, Boris Johnson. I suspect the pointed attacks on Boris will get much worse over the next few days as MPs prepare to cast their first-round votes for the next leader. Trump, on the other hand, doesn't hold back. Nor, in fact, does Biden. Both are slagging each other off because, according to the polls, the former vice-president is way ahead of his rivals which means Trump has to regard him as the Democratic candidate most likely to be up against him for the 2020 presidency. Trump says Biden hasn't got it mentally or physically to be president. Biden may be ahead in the Democratic race but he has already made one big mistake, by reversing his long-held belief that the government should not supply funds for abortions. Woops. That is such a sensitive issue in the US. He backed down - definitely a sign of weakness - after being harangued by those on the political left. He had always supported the so-called Hyde amendment which banned federal funding for abortions. But all his Democratic rivals said the ban discriminated in particular against black and/or poor women. Biden reversed his position just 24 hours after confirming his support for the Hyde amendment. That gave ammunition to Trump who of course has never reversed any of his decisions! But with still a long way to go before the 2020 election day, the personal attacks are only going to get worse. Biden has attacked Trump for cosying up to dictatorial leaders such as Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin. You do wonder what a President Biden would do with Kim Jong-un. Boris Johnson in the UK is going to get a hard time as his rivals get frustrated at the polls which show the former Mayor of London and ex-foreign secretary is miles ahead in the race. The dirt about the blond bloke is going to get much dirtier I suspect. Such is the way in the world of politics.