Michael, I have no idea what Trump is like in private. But his public persona is unattractive: he is boastful, he is a bad loser, his judgments on other people seem to be either highly flattering or extremely rude depending on whether, he regards them as friends or enemies, he makes absurd statements e.g. Ukraine started the war with Russia. Even so some of the abuse he receives is unjustified. Calling him morally degenerate is completely over the top. There is no evidence that he is a racist. I don’t even think he is a misogynist, though his crude locker room remarks about women were distasteful. The only thing I admire about him is that I think he has a genuine dislike of unnecessary bloodshed (unlike some of his predecessors).But all this is, or should be, irrelevant. What counts is not his character but his actions. As far as the American public is concerned, he enjoys an approval rating of 46%, a figure which most European leaders, including Keir Starmer, would love to have. That is because he is putting his country first. If he thinks other countries are enjoying an unfair balance of trade with America, he will slap tariffs on them. If European nations can afford to give their citizens benefits which Americans do not enjoy by keeping their defence budgets low, he won’t spend American money to defend them. If American security is jeopardised by a possible Russian or Chinese incursion into Greenland, he will get an agreement with Denmark to build American bases there. He is also trying to secure the Southern border against illegal immigration. And he is determined to eliminate some of the woke nonsense which has gripped American society.Unfortunately American interests do not necessarily coincide with those of Europe, particularly as regards Ukraine. I am horrified by the fact that Trump seems to be taking Putin’s side against Zelensky, even to the extent of blaming Ukraine for starting the war. When he goes to Washington next week, Keir Starmer needs to persuade Trump that a) peace in Ukraine cannot be achieved by undermining Ukrainian sovereignty and b) it is in American interests to maintain the Nato alliance. Unfortunately I don’t think Trump has much regard for Starmer. Boris Johnson would have stood a better chance of winning him over.
Steven Rose ● 415d