His toppling marks end Of the age of populism

DONALD Trump became the biggest liar to lead a country since Henry VIII vowed to love and cherish his wives.

Trump’s opponents made the mistake of taking him literally, but not seriously.

Supporters did the opposite – luckily so, when he told them to drink disinfectant to cure Covid-19. The jobless Pennsylvania steel workers scoffed at plans to brick up

Mexico but believed Trump’s promise of a job. And he delivered, though steel tariffs meant each job cost the US economy £700,000. Before coronavirus, employment and business confidence

soared, while poor workers’ wages rose and business regulations were axed.

The earning steel worker did not mind if oil, gas and coal power belched out 1.8 billion extra tons of lethal chemicals or that migrant kids were being locked up.

Internationally, Trump did not start any new wars and moved to end the one in Afghanistan while chatting up North

Korea. It was worth a punt for peace but the negatives outweighed the positives.

The world was aghast at his contempt for truth, cosying up to the Kremlin and mixed messages with China. The UK-US special relationship hit breaking point.

Politics is cyclical. Trump’s toppling marks the end of the age of populism. Boris Johnson will not be far behind.