Alliances Do Not Last Forever

 

Although one might have been critical of America from time to time, succumbing to the usual British semi-sneer about the frequent vulgarity of public life in America and the inexplicable way its population embraces much of the extraordinarily dumb pronouncements and behaviour of its decision-makers,  STILL, America was always there; big; wealthy, taking the lead in world affairs and speaking its own version of easily understood English [so comforting to the linguistically lazy Brits]; different from us but sort of descended from us and with many ways and customs comfortingly familiar to us. It did not occur to me not to send my eldest, when she was just 12 to stay with American friends in a swap with their daughter of similar age. Now I would hesitate.  

 

Trump wins a second term; a stunning victory

When the last political decision anyone here wanted, was made and Trump managed to be voted in for a second term as President, disbelief was high. Although it was not the huge majority consistently claimed by the President’s men, he won, in part thanks to the over-large ego of Joe Biden who clung on too long to his intention to run again despite the real handicap of his obvious ageing.  But Trump won and we feared the worst. But the imagined worst was nowhere bad enough! Trump’s frantic avalanche of legislation and sweeping anti-Constitutional decisions made since, his election a few months ago have frightened and outraged many Americans and appalled much of the Western world. He is deliberately targeting agencies and individuals that might constrain the freedom of action of this administration. Universities, think tanks, the media, regulators are all in his sights. Trump is fracturing the American system of checks and balances and it seems that no one dares stop him.

 .   

J.D.Vance in the centre, with an impressive life story
built on high intelligence, ruthlessness and audacity

He has two loyal  lieutenants; J.D. Vance [Vice-President] and Elon Musk, unelected but Trump-selected, as Chief Trouble-shooter and these two have leapt into action; Vance has directed clumsy ignorant insults masquerading as advice to Europe’s leaders, America's allies for 80 years, advising that the greatest threat to Western democracies comes from within its liberal democracies. All this plus his outrageous meddling in the recent German national elections when he openly supported the neo-Nazi AfD.
While Musk, Head of the Trump-appointed DOGE [Dept. of Government Efficiency] has recruited bright young

Elon Musk
A.I. entrepreneur and designer extraordinaire;
world's richest man.
Worryingly, now Vice-President of the U.S.A.

men to run around extracting nationally sensitive statistics on population and policy to use one knows not how, and generally degrading formerly trusted American national systems. Incomes to national bodies have been slashed, many thousands of workers in ‘industries’ such as the F.B.I. Education, Health, have been summarily sacked without any apparent understanding of the overall necessity or effects of these wide-ranging removals; all in the trumpeted drive to cut Government expenditure.  In
addition, Trump has been enraged apparently by D.E.I. initiatives which have been summarily cancelled; he has pardoned Jan 6 rioters [remember: protesting against the results of a perfectly legal Presidential election] including those who seriously injured policemen; and banned biological men from women’s sports. This welter of changes has amounted to what aide Bannon calls, ‘flooding the zone’. The idea is that, by promoting a dizzying array of initiatives and announcements, your opponents are wrong-footed, not knowing what to take seriously. It is interesting to note the terminology; not ‘fellow Americans’ but ‘opponents.’

Trump in full, misinformed flow

 In the meantime, Donald is trying to create a global trade war through widespread use of tariffs [tariffs being one of his ‘favourite’ words.] Outrage is only now starting in America as Trump’s approval ratings begin to plummet in what one hopes will be a landslide. One tariff example will suffice: Sterling Heights, outside of Detroit, is ‘an auto-industry-dominated city’ that could see massive numbers of jobs lost if the President makes good on his tariff threats to Canada and Mexico. There are no other local employment possibilities of scale available and most of the population is in some capacity, ‘in 

the auto industry’. This will be a disaster for ordinary workers and certainly, not a good look for Trump!

Negotiating to end the Russo-Ukrainian war

Meanwhile, Trump has followed up his suspected admiration for Putin with a reportedly productive conversation with Vladimir on February 12 resulting in the proclamation that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine would start ‘immediately’. Ukrainian membership of NATO was ruled out and Ukraine itself accused of starting the war while Zelinsky was labelled a dictator for avoiding national elections, [suspended because of the Russian invasion and continuing war]. Neither the Ukrainians nor Nato allies had been consulted prior to these decisions and were evidently not considered to be essential to subsequent
discussions. Eventually it was conceded that the Ukrainians should be present in discussions about their existential future, though Russia was 'not keen' on a European presence.

Self-explanatory graph

A recent YouGov poll showed that 73% of the British population overall sees Trump 'unfavourably'. They see him as a criminal, misogynist, egotist with a hugely inflated self-belief; someone who sees national and international life as a business in which he is engaged in a constant search to profit from losers. There is no special relationship with the Donald only a small opportunity for the other person to persuade him that another's suggestion might be in Trump’s own interest. Generally, in Trump-world, if one wins, the other loses. Zero sum game.

All of the above is actually an explanation of why the long, long alliance of the U.K. with the U.S.A. since WW2, beneficial to both, comfortable mostly, constant and reliably familiar, has changed. We can no longer think of America as a trusted friend; only an occasional co-conspirator and slightly dodgy 

An emaciated, already-imprisoned Alexei Navalny,
June 23rd 2023, being sentenced to life in a prison camp
 north of the Arctic Circle.
He died on February 16th 2024, murdered by Putin's men..
His crime had been to criticise and challenge Putin
and his huge popularity among the Russian people had
in effect, ensured his death.

neighbour which has unsavoury alliances and relationships with gangster states like Russia where opposing political contenders are pursued and murdered. Aka Alexei Navalny among many. But this changed relationship is not merely with the UK; it is almost universal. As the editorial board of the Financial Times noted on February 24th "in the past ten days, Trump has all but incinerated 80 years of postwar American leadership. Instead, it has become an unabashed predator, allied with Russia and other countries the U.S. formerly saw as adversaries."  As Friedrich Merz, the newly-elected Chancellor of Germany has opined, Musk's blatant  interference in German national elections and the description of his general behaviour, is "what Russia does" and he adds that there is an urgent need now for complete security independence from the U.S.

Macron's brave attempt to establish a good relationship 
with Trump while defending Europe and Ukraine.
Feb 23rd.2025

Post Script

Just a month into Trump's second presidency, the American delegation to the United Nations voted against a resolution condemning Russia for its aggression in Ukraine and calling for it to end its occupation. It voted with Russia, Israel, North Korea, Belarus and fourteen other Russia-friendly countries against the measure, which passed overwhelmingly; China and India abstained. It is worth noting that the statement 'nation must not invade nation', is one of the founding principles of the United Nations and one of its original signatories was America. That was when the U.S. displayed its character as global leader and one among many moments which defined the world's idea of America.

  

 Idealogical harmony shattered.

Stop Press

To add the absolute latest news just caught on CNN online. Donald Trump is offering a path to citizenshiip. In around two weeks' time, the U.S. will start selling 'gold cards' to wealthy foreigners, giving them the right to live and work in the U.S. in exchange for a $5million fee. That boy never disappoints!