Trump and Boris: The Blind Leading The Blind
Trump is tempting the UK PM out of the EU with a trade deal, and his brand of democratic backsliding is rubbing off on Boris.
I’ve resisted the temptation to make comparisons between the leaders of the UK and US since the latter’s appointment, but it’s becoming harder to do so.
They are different — Boris is undoubtedly more intelligent than Trump, and has a more intelligent advisor in Dominic Cummings. But both do make smart, devious, Machiavellian perhaps, moves to get to the goals.
Democratic backsliding is when a leader or institution slowly makes changes and commits acts which undermine democracy, rather than attempting to overthrow a leader and take absolute control.
Trump has done this on a number of occasions and there are some worrying trends: the number of judges he is appointing is of particular concern.
With the announcement that Parliament will be prorogued for 5 weeks, which, despite the government's protestations of normality, is designed to prevent Parliament blocking a ‘no-deal’ Brexit, Britain is falling into this worrying trend too, and Boris seems to have learnt from Trump.
