More bad news for Trump
The pot, as it were, just called the kettle black. Again. Donald Trump’s MAGA goons are apoplectic after learning that Britain’s Labour Party has recruited some of its members to go to the US to campaign for Kamala in battleground states. Never mind that it happens every election with conservatives and liberals alike. Never mind that it’s perfectly legal. Even though Trump’s team has inveighed against it, their alleged incandescence is strictly counterfeit rage signalling. They’re just laying more groundwork for future complaints should Trump lose the election.
Of course, when former Prime Ministers Liz Truss and Boris Johnson openly endorsed Trump, the 34-count convicted felon was okay with that. And the ubiquitous racist, onetime Brexit spokesman and now MP Nigel Farage is a personal friend of Trump’s. Never mind all the hacking and illegal election interference from Russia, and personal invitations from Trump (“Russia, if you’re listening?”) for more. Never mind the secret Trump Tower meetings with Russians. Never mind that Trump is under indictment and awaiting trial for ACTUAL illegal election interference. Never mind that he has been convicted on 34 counts of ACTUAL election interference. Team Trump still unabashedly objects to Brits coming to America and speaking out for Kamala. Hypocrisy is, after all, the compliment that vice pays to virtue, as Foucault once put it.
Naturally British prime minister Keir Starmer realises he could incur some trouble from Trump should he be elected president again. Nevertheless, Starmer must think it’s worth it because he’s endorsing Labour’s support of Kamala Harris as well.
Indeed, all of Europe will be collectively holding its breath for the next twelve days. The prospect of another Trump presidency is nothing less than horrifying to most Europeans. And most of them know instinctively, bad as the first Trump term was, a second Trump term would be an unmitigated disaster for Europe, and, by extension, the world.
When it comes to U.S. elections, the truth is that “everyone is invested,” as Anand Menon, the director of London-based think tank “UK in a Changing Europe,” says. “I don’t think [Starmer] has bungled it in the sense that he’s done stuff that everyone always used to do. But he’s done it in a context where you have a candidate who’s willing to lash out about things like this.”
The truth remains that Trump couldn’t get elected dogcatcher in Britain, let alone most of Europe. Certainly he has his adherents here, but nothing like the numbers to be found in the United States. And with Russia virtually knocking on Europe’s door, in preparation to kick it in, the last thing Europeans want is a friend of Putin in the Oval Office.
Of course, global warming has its conspiracy theory wingnuts in Europe too, but it’s not so tightly wound up with politics as it is in the United States. So more people here understand that the political world isn’t just at risk from a Trump presidency, but the entire planet — and human existence as well. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.