Hearty congratulations shines a prescient light on dark days for democracy in the US of A.

Has Singapore’s PM Lee Hsien Loong delivered the world’s best ‘hot take’ when it comes to US President-elect Donald J Trump?

In the wake of the megalomaniac, mandarin-skinned mogul’s election win yesterday, PM Lee was quick to register his hearty congratulations on Facebook.

But while the rest of the world reeled in shock, Lee also showed all the sprightly political acumen and wit that helped him romp to victory in the world’s fairest elections last year.

“US voters have elected a President whom they feel best represents them,” he wrote.

Ouch!

Trump, after all, is a man who during his election campaign was open about his racism, his misogyny, his xenophobia, told a few big porkies (including an outrageous claim about black on black deaths in the US), and has now been accused of helping accelerate the globe’s out of control spin towards a post-fact world.

We think PM Lee’s ‘congratulations’ represents some serious shade. For New Mandala readers born before 1995, (and let’s face it that’s a damn lot of you), ‘throwing shade’ refers to a subtle jibe or insult.

The sad thing is that the joke’s not just on Trump – it’s on the system and the media that created him.

A leader of the free world?
Meanwhile, Australian parliamentarian Tony Burke hasn’t held back the punches with his assessment of the President-elect.

Here’s what the manager of opposition business had to say on his Facebook page today:

While President elect Trump is no doubt going to be President of the United States, I think we should also note that it’s not taken as a given that whoever holds that office can be considered Leader of the Free World. A world where women are sexually assaulted, where people with a disability are mocked, and where people are discriminated against on the colour of their skin or their religious faith is not a free world.

James Giggacher is editor of New Mandala.