Could Orwell have even imagined Trump?

Iwonder, might the fact that we’re at a point in history when ostensibly the most powerful elected leader in the world routinely refuses to answer legitimate questions, belittles questioners, abruptly walks out on press conferences, and spreads halfbaked conspiracy theories, have surprised even George Orwell?

Probably not, given all he saw in his short life, particularly in World War II, but I’d like to think that even his fabled dystopian foreshadowings would not have brought him to a character as flawed, self-absorbed and ultimately ineffective in a crisis as the current American president.

But they may well have. Orwell saw Hitler treat the media in a similarly contemptuous way to what Donald Trump has. You’d like to hope, though, that there would be a little more critical thinking operating in 2020 America than in the chastened Germany of around 90 years ago.

Unfortunately, what a lot of people will already be saying at this point is: ‘‘He’ll be re-elected in November.’’

They won’t be doing that to spite me – they’ll be doing it because they honestly believe that, and sadly that is the way a lot of people think about the forthcoming election in the United States.

There’s a reason, though. Trump continues to get away with it without being effectively held to account. There was plenty to disqualify him even before the allegedly unthinkable outcome of the 2016 presidential election, not least the Access Hollywood tape in which he was caught boasting of grabbing women ‘‘by the p .... ’’. A misogynist who skited about, essentially, sexually assaulting women, given the absence of consent in that narrative, was still fine and dandy by enough of the American people to make the crucial difference.

The people who can see what an utter mess the former reality TV host is making of his role, his tweetstorms, his blatant narcissism, his insistence that he’s always doing a great job, no matter the issue, a response to Covid-19 that is all over the place, have in many cases given up hoping with each new crisis to befall him that this is the one that will finally unseat him.

So why am I writing about him now? Good question. Basically, this week’s performance feels like a low point, a marker, hopefully on the road to Trump’s inevitable selfdestruction.

It struck me more fully, watching several excerpts from press conferences, how unaccountable Trump is to the people of his great and vast country, including those who elected him. He seems to hardly ever directly answer a question, at least not one he doesn’t like.

‘‘That’s such a nasty question’’; ‘‘you are such a terrible person’’; ‘‘you know the way [your organisation] covers it is all fake’’.

I’ve heard each of those answers more than once to questions put to Trump in the past few weeks, as the United States has become by some margin the country worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

No responsibility accepted, no criticism entertained, he’s done everything perfectly. He doesn’t wear a mask in the White House because, as he said this week, ‘‘I don’t feel vulnerable’’. Does that mean he thinks he can bluster his way past Covid-19 in the same way he skirts legitimate questions from the media? Honestly, nothing would surprise at this point.

But then I read that when a White House staffer who was taking him his meals, and other duties, was diagnosed with Covid-19, Trump hit ‘‘lava levels’’ of anger in berating staff for not doing enough to protect him.

This week, as legitimate criticism emerged from his predecessor, Barack Obama, of his administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, Trump as usual deflected – criticising Obama’s handling of Sars in 2009.

Then he upped the ante, unleashing a series of 126 Mother’s Day tweets that started with one simply screaming ‘‘#OBAMAGATE!’’.

According to Al Jazeera, Obamagate is an unproven conspiracy theory that Obama, along with his then-vice president Joe Biden, former FBI director

You’d like to hope there would be a little more critical thinking operating in 2020 America than in the chastened Germany of around 90 years ago.

James Comey, multiple intelligence services in both the US and abroad, former National Intelligence director James Clapper, and a few Ukrainian oligarchs, planted a phoney theory that Trump was colluding with Russia in order to win the 2016 election.

The point is, though, it’s another case of Trump resorting to distraction to avoid directly answering a legitimate question. Along with the ‘‘fake news’’ rhetoric he has so willingly peddled for so long, which has been taken on board by many, it’s clear he is not in control of his country’s response to this crisis and the outcome could be disastrous.

All of which makes our situation here sound positively utopian. The Government has, in large part, been accountable, and where it may have slipped up, we have usually found out about that. Which is part of the reason a strong Fourth Estate is so vitally important in a democracy.

There have been missteps and revisions, like that around funerals/tangi in level 2, but we’ve been aware of them. As I write, other urgent legislation is still being criticised. But our Government has shown genuine leadership in this crisis.

Being able to move back to level 2 seven weeks after going into lockdown is a remarkable endorsement of that leadership.

But spare a thought as we try to hold our gains for those in countries like the US, where the virus is by no means controlled and leadership vacuums could make it worse.