NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Claire Trevett: Is Winston Peters NZ's Donald Trump?

Claire Trevett
By Claire Trevett
Political Editor, NZ Herald·NZ Herald·
16 Mar, 2016 07:10 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Winston Peters. Photo / NZME.

Winston Peters. Photo / NZME.

Claire Trevett
Opinion by Claire Trevett
Claire Trevett is the New Zealand Herald’s Political Editor, based at Parliament in Wellington.
Learn more

While the rest of the world try to calculate whether a Donald Trump presidency would be more or less dangerous to the world than North Korea, MPs in New Zealand have embarked on a contest to anoint the Donald Trump of New Zealand.

Calling somebody Trumpesque has become the insult du jour in Parliament, way up there with calling somebody Muldoonist or the offpsring of Margaret Thatcher. Many insults have been ruled out of order in the past but so far calling somebody a Trump has passed the Speaker's taste-o-meter.

One of the joys about it is that it is a true multipartisan insult - an insult built for the MMP times.

Thus far, Labour's Grant Robertson has called National's Chris Bishop "Donald Trump Junior". National's Paula Bennett called Labour's Phil Twyford the Donald Trump of New Zealand politics. "Like Donald, he has got bad ties and thinning hair, and he too has decided to mock people based on their surname." It is possible Labour leader Andrew Little is making a belated bid for the title with his new immigration policy which appears to be aimed at keeping out Chinese and Indian cooks. Little is clearly yet to learn that the way to a voter's heart is through the stomach.

But thus far Peters is the frontrunner to be crowned the Trump of New Zealand - The Tonz.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

For a start, Peters appears to be the only one on a first-name basis with the Don. When Chris Finlayson heckled Winston Peters by calling out "come on, Donald Trump," Peters responded with a somewhat inaccurate "yeah, well, Donald has got hair like you."

Peters has also been likened to Trump more than any other MP. National's David Bennett announced NZ First leader Winston Peters was "the Don Trump of New Zealand politics" because he wanted to build a wall around New Zealand. He went on to insist Peters would never be able to build a wall as high as Trump, clearly forgetting Peters' 2002 Bob the Builder campaign slogan.

Finlayson also described Peters as "nothing more than the Donald Trump of New Zealand politics" but his rationale was that Peters "wants nothing more than a cheap headline".

Then there is the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump has a lot of love to give - so far he has professed to "love the poorly educated" and to love the potatoes of Idaho. This is cupboard love - a love only declared after the poorly educated and potato eaters of Idaho voted for him. Nor is it necessarily reciprocated - after Trump pledged to protect the Idaho potato growers' market, US media pointed out the potato industry was in favour of the TPP because they wanted to export those loved-up potatoes.

But Trump has no love to spare for the TPP. That is a great delight to Peters who also has no love for the TPP and is trying to turn Trump's sentiments into a hot potato for Key.

Discover more

Opinion

Claire Trevett: Key faces more colds as farming sneezes

10 Mar 12:24 AM
Opinion

Barry Soper: Conspiracy theories run up the flagpole

09 Mar 10:22 PM
Opinion

Toby Manhire: Donald Trump's top tips for Kiwis

10 Mar 04:00 PM
New Zealand

Peters claims second blunder in translation

12 Mar 03:39 AM

Every time Little or Peters tackle Key on farmers struggling to keep up loan payments, Key simply replies if they really wanted to help farmers they would support the TPP.

When Peters tackled Key about the prospects of the TPP hitting the wall if Trump was President of the United States, Key insisted Trump was actually complimenting New Zealand.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"The reason he thinks it is a bad deal is that he thinks that the United States has done a bad job of negotiating the terms, which, by definition, means that we did a good job of negotiating the terms, because we got a better deal."

While Peters is the frontrunner as The Tonz, it might be more accurate to describe Trump as the Peters of the USA. Trump's slogan is "Make America Great Again".

In 2008, Peters gave a speech in which he spoke of NZ First's determination to "make New Zealand great again". He touched on it again in his campaign launch in 2014, setting out his recipe for New Zealand "to be great again".

If Peters is to take anything from Trump's playbook in return, Peters will have to learn to show a little love. This month he will celebrate his first anniversary as MP for Northland. Having taken Manhattan, he is now in the process of trying to take Berlin - or at least Whangarei. Kumara of Dargaville, beware.

Debate on this article is now closed.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey briefed on death of Auckland baby

03 Jul 06:21 AM
New Zealand

$1 million Ferrari hits man's prized Honda Civic

New Zealand

Smokefreerockquest Showquest Nelson Final

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey briefed on death of Auckland baby

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey briefed on death of Auckland baby

03 Jul 06:21 AM

A baby's body was found in a wheelie bin on Renall St in Freemans Bay, Auckland.

$1 million Ferrari hits man's prized Honda Civic

$1 million Ferrari hits man's prized Honda Civic

Smokefreerockquest Showquest Nelson Final

Smokefreerockquest Showquest Nelson Final

Premium
Court holds forestry directors accountable for environmental compliance

Court holds forestry directors accountable for environmental compliance

03 Jul 06:00 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP