Enemy of my enemy not a friend
President Trump throws doubt on the ancient saying: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” In war, this might be true. In June 1941, when Nazi Germany invaded Communist Russia, Winston Churchill, a lifelong opponent of communism, immediately threw British support behind Russia. He was right.
Peace is more complicated. Trump has a wide range of political enemies who loathe him. These include the Washington and London political establishments, elitist newspapers like the New York Times and the Guardian, condescending broadcasters like CNN and the BBC and other rich, socialist bigots. I am dismayed when decent people say: “If these ghastly snobs hate him so much, he must be good.”
He isn’t. Trump might have done some useful things in his short presidency but mainly he has been boorish, inconsistent, prejudiced and wrong. In many instances, he has followed the policies of those who hate him and whom he hates.
He is protectionist like the hardline Democrat socialist Bernie Sanders. Like Sanders, he believes open trade with other countries is bad for American people – it isn’t, it enriches them. He even repeated the anticapitalist nonsense that he wanted “fair trade” rather than “free trade”.
This is the sort of slogan you’d expect from wealthy green imperialists such as Greenpeace or Oxfam, who want to dictate to poor countries how they should trade. Free trade is clear and simple and good for everyone. It can mean anything anyone wants it to mean.
Trump also copies the bullying nonsense of the climate alarmists. It is easy to show scientifically that mankind is not changing the climate in a dangerous way. Trump doesn’t do so. Instead, he makes the idiotic claim that climate alarm “is a hoax invented by the Chinese”. This is as bad as the drivel of the alarmists that “97% of scientists” support the alarm.
Trump wants the US to spend even more on its military. But it already spends far more than necessary, more than the next 14 countries put together.
How can anyone who believes in small government – which surely is what Republicans should believe – support a man who wants to increase government spending so outrageously?
Trump seems to be mesmerising the world. We should wake out of our trance and judge him objectively, regardless of his enemies.