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When Donald Trump won the White House for the second time, I was not unhappy with the result in spite of his evident character flaws so blatantly \u2013 even proudly – on display. I agreed with many of the things he attempted to do in his first term and the alternative candidate was so much worse.<\/p>\n
The credit Trump accumulated in my mind was squandered yesterday in his meeting with Ukraine\u2019s President Zelensky.<\/p>\n
Even during Trump\u2019s first term, he struck me as a character extracted from a comic book; a cardboard cutout, two dimensional, a Marvell hero or villain, depending on your viewpoint. If I were to compare Trump to a character in literature, it would be Rex Mottram in Brideshead Revisited. Here is Mottram’s wife\u2019s assessment of her husband:<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn’t a complete human being at all.\u00a0 He was a tiny bit of one, unnaturally developed; something in a bottle, an organ kept alive in a laboratory. I thought he was a sort of primitive savage, but he was something absolutely modern and up-to-date that only this ghastly age could produce. A tiny bit of a man pretending to be whole.<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
One could argue that Trump\u2019s arrogance, braggadocio, pomposity, and hyper-inflated ego are all part of the package, as is the frequent nonsense he spouts with such relish. After all, it\u2019s the end result that counts. I probably did say that to myself; but no more.<\/p>\n
The pilgrimages foreign leaders have been making to the Oval Office remind me that in the exercise of raw power, nothing ever changes. Just as weaker kings used to bring offerings to stronger kings to appease them, so they continue to do so. Kier Starmer\u2019s was the most nauseating, particularly when he produced the Letter From the King<\/em>. Trump lapped it up.<\/p>\n
Zelensky\u2019s visit was very different. He didn\u2019t grovel enough. He was insufficiently grateful for the beneficence of the dominant super-power. He didn\u2019t say thank you enough.<\/p>\n
When Zelensky attempted to make his case in a language that was not his native tongue, he was shouted down, bullied and ejected.<\/p>\n
Quite possibly Trump\u2019s attempt to come up with a peaceful solution was genuine; perhaps Zelensky should have abased himself more thoroughly. Either way, what we witnessed was the exercise of raw power of the strong over the weak.<\/p>\n
Although one probably shouldn\u2019t apply this to nation states, Malcolm Muggeridge had a point when he used to say \u201cYou can have love or power, but you can\u2019t have both\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n
Peter Hitchens was correct in this article<\/a>\u00a0published today:<\/p>\n
Well, at least the silly myth that America is the world\u2019s kindly sugar daddy has been killed off forever. I do not like Donald Trump and I feel quite sorry for Ukraine\u2019s President Zelensky. But Friday night\u2019s White House melodrama will be good for the world, if only we heed it. And if you think nothing like it has ever happened before, you are gravely wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
It is indeed a wake-up call for Canada and Europe. The US is not our friend<\/em>; nation\u2019s do not have friends, they have allies; sometimes the allies are rather disagreeable regimes. Whether the US is Canada\u2019s ally remains to be seen; either way, we can no longer depend on the US to be our sugar daddy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Donald Trump won the White House for the second time, I was not unhappy with the result in spite of his evident character flaws so blatantly \u2013 even proudly – on display. I agreed with many of the things … Continue reading