Mr Cowley’s piece neatly summarises the mess Western democracies are in but instead of seeking a way to counter the growing hegemony of the Right it endorses even welcomes it. Perhaps the author is ignorant of how once civilised nations fell into years of darkness in the 1930s as regimes took power in Germany, Italy, Spain and elsewhere and committed indescribable horrors against their people.
But however vile the fascistic dictators were, and however powerful, I doubt that any informed observer thought that it could happen in the cosy democratic Anglo-Saxon world of Britain and America. Flaky democracies we may be with murky imperialist and institutionally discriminatory pasts but we’ve just about avoided descent into totalitarianism of Left or Right. Up to now that is.
Trump, like many of his predecessors of the authoritarian Right, is not an authentic politician at all. Nor are any of the leaders of Reform UK. They are polemical disrupters and in mainland Europe there are similar dark forces at work. Yes their seeking of power is via the ballot box, but then so was that of Hitler and Mussolini – initially.
The argument that we should seek to work with Trump has clear echoes of the Appeasement strategy of Chamberlain and his gang. This article normalises extremism – the past tells us that this is a very dangerous thing to do. We should have principles – and unlike Groucho Marx we should stick to them rather than “pragmatically” grab opportunistic alternatives. Now is not a time for Appeasement of the Right – we must fight it.
Paddy’s Blogs in a crazy world 
It’s a great philosophy Paddy, fight the right.
However European leaders will face difficulty opposing the Trump administration because of Trump’s instinct for revenge. It’s his tried-and-tested business ethos. They almost certainly may lose more than they gain. US -UK relationships are important. I have never believed in the so-called ‘special relationship’. It amounts to little more than a shared language. Yet it’s been nurtured and promoted by successive leaders since Roosevelt and Churchill shared a bathroom.
Trump is quite capable of freezing out Britain if he senses opposition. The nation is then isolated with few friends in Europe. The electorate brought it down upon their own heads by believing the rightist propaganda.
The next four years are going to be dire.
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