According to the last
person but one to become a disgraced former PM of the UK, what the world
really needs is another four years of a Trump presidency in America. For
context, and to help establish the degree of credibility which his words should
be accorded, it’s worth noting that he almost certainly also believes that the
UK needs another decade or two under his own leadership, although he didn’t
actually say that on this occasion.
His logic, to the
extent that the word can ever be applied to any of Johnson’s utterances, is
that he simply doesn’t believe that Trump will do what he says he will do. In
itself, given Trump’s somewhat loose relationship with truth, that’s not a
wholly unreasonable assumption; and given Johnson’s own passing acquaintance with
the truth, it’s easy enough to see how he might believe that saying one thing
to get elected and then doing the opposite is an entirely normal political
process. The problem, though, is that he is assuming that, in departing from
what he says on the campaign trail, Trump will back down rather than double
down. Nothing, so it is said, is impossible, although the idea of a truthful
statement emerging from the mouth of either Trump or Johnson might come pretty
close to that.
Johnson’s faith in
the idea that Trump will agree a trade deal with the UK which favours anyone
except the USA at the same time as launching a trade war with the EU may be
touching, but it is surely the stuff of fantasy. The only thing that we can
prophesy with any degree of confidence about a second Trump presidency is four
years of chaos. And given his reluctance to leave office last time, coupled
with his disregard for the law and determination to take virtually absolute
power to himself, there’s no certainty that it would only last four years
either. Still, I suppose ‘chaos’ is what Johnson would regard as normality.
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