The candidates to tackle Donald Trump are very keen on the New Zealand prime minister.

It could be because Vogue called her “the anti-Trump”. It could be the desperate shortage of tolerable left-leaning leaders in the Anglosphere. Or it could be because everyone knows it’s illegal to be mean about people from New Zealand. Whatever it is, our humble South Pacific nation has become a recurring reference point in the mud pit of American politics. And not just because of the cavalcades of people threatening to move here in protest, but also the repeated name-checks for Jacinda Ardern in the contest to win the Democratic Party nomination to take on actual president Donald Trump.

The most recent example is Bernie Sanders. Having previously praised gun control reforms, he linked on a website called Facebook to a story acclaiming Ardern for the Carbon Zero Bill, issuing his congratulations, and writing, hoarsely: “When I am president, we will be a leader in this fight.”

Another leading candidate, Pete Buttigieg, who is more often described as “Mayor Pete” because spelling is difficult, cited Ardern as an inspiration as far as youth was concerned. Buttigieg, who is 37 and could be the grandchild of most candidates in the race, said: “I do think it matters we have a new generation of leaders stepping up around the world,” offering by way of example Ardern.

“I actually think it’s good the prime minister of New Zealand has gotten a lot of attention in Democratic debates,” he said. “She’s masterful, she’s younger than I would be when I take office.”

That’s factually wrong (Ardern is 39), which is very on-brand for contemporary American politics.

Certainly and by some distance, however, the greatest invocation of the New Zealand PM came from an outside runner for the presidency – the karmic author and spiritual advisor to Oprah, Marianne Williamson, who shouted out Jacinda Ardern during the primary debate in Miami in June.

She had gotten wind of the New Zealand prime minister’s ambition for children.

When asked for her first action as president, she said: “My first call is to the prime minister of New Zealand, who said that her goal is to make New Zealand the best place in the world for a child in the world to grow up.”

What might she say?

“I will tell her, ‘Girlfriend, you are so on, because the United States of America is going to be the best place in the world for a child to grow up’.”

We’re only a few candidates away from the royal flush. Joe Biden, whose CV includes being vice president and playing rugby, has a clear affection for New Zealand, so the shout-out can only be days away in the event he can assemble the words in the right order. Probably he’s waiting for Obama to tweet about us. It’s only been 600-odd days.

Which leaves (please let’s just agree to ignore Michael Bloomberg for now) Elizabeth Warren. According to current projections by The Spinoff’s binders full of psephologists, she’s going to win the Democratic nomination. She’s praised Ardern, along with everyone else, for her response to the March 15 tragedy. But if you’re looking for omens, there’s also this: she unseated Scott Brown, Trump pal and current US ambassador to New Zealand, as a senator in 2017. Everything is falling into place.

Vernon Tava, the leader of the Sustainable NZ party, used to be part of the Greens. So how did he fit in there? Former MP Catherine Delahunty shares her impressions of him from then, and analyses where his new party will fit in.

I first met Vernon Tava when he joined the Greens in Auckland. He seemed to be a bright young law student whose passions were apparently veganism, animal rights and Te Tiriti o Waitangi based constitutional issues.

I thought he brought some good energy to the party, even though I was not a vegan campaigner. It was good to have someone with a legal background who might support the work for Te Tiriti based constitutional change.

Listening to him now launching his new party for “the environment” and attacking social justice politics, I have to smile. Some people start out in politics with a degree of idealism and find it is not a fast track to power. They quickly join the mainstream with an adjusted rhetoric. They are darlings of the right-wing media because they can be used to attack the aspects of the green left that are about fundamental change.

Vernon tried to win the co-leadership of the Greens in 2015, running on a blue-green narrative. The attempt failed. James Shaw was so much better at articulating a virtually identical narrative. So what could he do?

He could start a new party for “ the environment” to help maintain the status quo economy. The Opportunities Party tried to do a version of that at the last election, with poor results. But Vernon is clearly undeterred.

I really wish that the Greens were the hotbed of anti-capitalism that Vernon describes. I wish there was enough strength in the Greens to clearly stand for an end to growth based economics and capitalist materialism.

The Greens have some very good policies and good people but are not a united force for fundamental change. They are, however, a party that recognises the interconnection between environmental and social justice, while the new Sustainable NZ party actively denies this.

It is ludicrous to talk about ‘the environment’ as separate from people, as if the sabotage of biodiversity, the climate and clean water is magically separate from corporate agriculture and forestry. As if poverty and indigenous rights are less important than protecting rare species.

It does, however, make sense if you are only talking to the upper and middle classes – and to hell with everyone else. This is hardly a new political angle.

Vernon could have achieved promotion of “the environment in a box” idea from within the National party, but perhaps it would take too long to get up the rankings. However, the National party will welcome this attempt because MMP, damn it, requires parties to have friends.

There is a romantic appeal to greening capitalism. It is clean and tidy, there is no difficult analysis required. You can make the argument that clean technology will save us all.

There is no need to talk about system change or anything uncomfortable. Consensus now means we will work with anyone on our issues and ignore what giving them power does to everyone else.

I loved the comment that the new party would basically support action on climate change but not upset the farmers, despite supposedly putting the environment first. However, Sustainable NZ has a problem here. Why vote for them when all the parties actually in Parliament have already said they would try and do exactly that?

They’d be better off having a cup of tea and a think for a more original premise. Perhaps romantic capitalism, in a green sustainable cotton outfit, led by privileged people, can be spun again.

Catherine Delahunty was a Green MP between 2008 and 2017.